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“Educated” and the Difficulty of Radical Self-Change

I had seen this book everywhere since its release and heard nothing but rave reviews, so I was so excited when NetGalley and Random House granted me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This memoir follows Tara Westover’s remarkable childhood growing up in a Mormon survivalist family that renounced education as a form of indoctrination from the devil, and the “medical establishment” as poisonous and against God’s will. Against this backdrop, we follow Tara through her childhood, adolescence and adulthood grappling with the ideas her family holds and her harrowing experiences within that environment as she gives herself enough education to make it to college, then to a PhD from Cambridge University.

Her style was propulsive, yet lyrical in a lot of places and made this book a quick, easy read, despite the heaviness of the subject. I became completely absorbed in the story and could perfectly picture her house, the junk yard she worked in, the mountain she lived on, and her family members — all were rendered in wonderful clarity that her story came off sharp and genuine. I was impressed by the fluidity of the memoir, how it moved easily from one part of her life to the next without any glaring gaps that left me wondering if there was anything missing.

Simply put, her journey to education was amazing and inspiring, but the book wasn’t meant to be a hero’s story of overcoming the odds to reach a goal the hero never thought possible. Rather than focusing on her growth and how her education propelled her onward and upward, this book is an emotional recounting of the impact her education had on her relationship with her family, and how her newfound diversity of knowledge gave her insight into the often perverse nature of her family dynamics, which, in turn, eroded her relationship with her parents and siblings. You can tell through her writing how hard this was for her, and the conflict she illustrates between sticking to your beliefs and the person you’ve gone to great lengths to become, and preserving your relationship with your family is palpable and relatable — to some degree — to all of us.

My only (very mild) critique of this book is that it breezes over her education and her research in favor of recounting events with her family, which is understandable. I just wish I could have seen more of how her philosophical research affected her on a personal level, in turn affecting how she handled her family. There is a bit of that in the book already, but a more illuminating look at her time in higher education may have been interesting to read about.

Overall, this is a very readable, very compelling account of Ms. Westover’s life journey and one that I think people will continue to read for decades. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys memoirs, or has interest in learning more about what some may consider “radical” religious beliefs.

4.5 Stars

**Thanks again to NetGalley and Random House who gifted me this book in return for an honest review.**

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Book Reviews

It’s All Desolation and Downward Spirals in “Play It As It Lays”

I’m starting to wonder if I intentionally seek out books with depressing narratives- if something in the books I choose reveals some truth about my own inner emotional state. Am I the fragile and emotionally-destroyed women portrayed in these books? Anyways… Enough introspection, that’s not what you’re all here for. This week, I’m reviewing “Play It As It Lays,” the 1970 novel by Joan Didion.

I picked up this book impulsively while scanning the bookshelves the last time I made a trip to my local book store (Book People- the largest independently-owned book store!) because the cover was vibrant and simple and also quietly sinister, featuring only a coiled, black snake and a pink, desert sky. This was my first Didion novel, and hearing so much about her, I was excited to delve into her apparently-powerful prose. And it was powerful, packing so many emotions and raw, purely-human interactions into one short, punchy novel that will stay with me for a very long time.

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“Play It As It Lays” by Joan Didion

The plot of this book is relatively simple, so it relies on the development of the tightly-woven cast of characters to move the story along. We begin with a first-person monologue by Maria (Mar-eye-a) who has been admitted to a psychiatric facility to recover from a mental breakdown that the rest of the novel will lead up to. After the opening monologues by Maria, her friend Helene, and her ex-husband Carter, the remainder of the narrative is told in a close third person that follows Maria as her marriage crumbles, her daughter is sequestered away in a hospital, and her friends all proceed to royally screw up each other’s lives.

While the characters and the ever-shifting relationships between them make up a bulk of the story, the setting- 1960s LA and the surrounding desert- almost acts as a separate character itself, as it sprawls around Maria and seems to swallow her up. After escaping a small town in Nevada for New York City, Maria becomes an actress and a model, but she quickly retires her life as a model when she marries Carter, a film director, and is sucked into the vacuous, artificial world of Hollywood. While Carter initially helped Maria to get a few meager roles, her Hollywood career starts to wane and the veneer of their marriage seems to wear off, as the couple grapples with the reality that is their empty lives.

The book weaves such a potent image of complete desolation, you start to understand why Maria ends up the way she does. Everything in her life lacks meaning. Her personal interactions seem rife with the duplicity of fake friendship. Her husband is constantly absent while working on movies. Men are worried about using artificial lemon in their drinks, and women are worried that their hairdresser is out of town. Around every corner, a snake lies in waiting to snap at Maria and cause her to tumble further in her downward spiral toward complete nihilism. Maria even spends most of her days aimlessly driving along the freeway with no destination, mirroring her complete directionlessness in life. And while she was teetering on the edge of collapse, one heart-wrenching loss sends her crashing over and into oblivion (what it is, you’ll have to read to find out).

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Maria played by Tuesday Weld in the 1972 film adaptation of the novel.

A complaint that many people have about this novel is that they don’t like Maria enough to care about her emotional turmoil throughout the book. And it’s true, at some points, I couldn’t understand why she said certain things or acted in certain ways, but in other moments, like those where the book talks about her daughter in the hospital, show so much warmth and tenderness and emotional honesty that I can’t help but feel for her. In a way, I can relate to Maria’s pessimistic vision of life as a highway stretching into a desert riddled with rattlesnakes waiting to uncoil their twisting, sun-baked bodies and punish you for venturing out. I can also relate to her attitude that she should still go on anyways. While her equally-nihilistic friend BZ asks “Why?” she asks “Why not?” which reveals her warm, molten core that is not dead yet.

All of this to say that the book is a stunner that will leave you breathless at some points with its, short, laser-focused chapters that come in hot and burn out just as quickly like a firework. I finished the book in just a couple of sittings because it flowed that easily. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that wants to read something that not only has wicked prose, but will also leave an impression on you.

I’m looking forward to reading more Didion.

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Book Reviews

“Nobody Is Ever Missing” Is a Study In Self Excavation

Ever since I read “Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger in high school, I’ve been enamored with the format of the stream of consciousness narrative. It’s just so cool to be with a character inside of their own head, tip-toeing around their thoughts and falling into their long, looping spirals of emotion as they navigate the world, or their memories. There is something so compelling about telling a story that way, entirely through the characters own biased sense of reality. It has been my favorite form to write in ever since.

“Nobody Is Ever Missing” by Catherine Lacey isn’t like any other stream of consciousness story I have ever read. The story is essentially a retelling of when the main character, Elyria, a married woman with a respectable job, runs away to New Zealand after realizing she feels completely unhappy in life. The way I’m describing this is oversimplifying it, really. The plot of her stay in New Zealand and struggle with reconciling her relationship with her husband is relatively simple in structure. The real story emerges in the narrator’s reflection on these events and the emotions and memories surrounding them. It is a deep dive into her psyche to salvage the wreckage of her life, a meandering walk through the fractured mind of someone grieving deeply.

new zealand nobody is ever missing book review catherine lacey

At the heart of the story lies the central issue that Elyria’s adopted sister, with whom she shared her age, unexpectedly commits suicide by jumping out of her apartment window. This is something that Elyria will never get over, which rots her from the inside out, even while she falls in love with and marries the professor that last saw her sister alive. It is this mutual tragedy that originally connects them, then subsequently destroys them later on.

Anyways, Elyria runs away to New Zealand and begins living a hermit life where she’s alone with her thoughts, and she has a lot of them. One of the most compelling aspects of this book is the way its written, in long, rambling sentences that bring to mind the image of someone trying to say a very long thought in one breath. It’s a rush, pulling you along to read more and more, while simultaneously making you very exhausted. Almost as exhausted as the narrator is as she pulls each memory out from the depths and examines every painful corner in sharp detail. Here’s an example of one particularly striking passage toward the middle of the book:

Someone said once that they’d never heard of a crime they couldn’t imagine committing, and I realized then that if I had a daughter and she had a rabbit and that rabbit was alone with me and I was feeling the way I felt right now and I had a way to kill that rabbit and the time to spend killing that rabbit then killing that rabbit was something I could imagine myself possibly doing or at least considering doing or being on the edge of doing.

Elyria in “Nobody Is Ever Missing” by Catherine Lacey

Because of the tiring nature of each heavy chunk of thought the narrator gives us, I found myself having to digest this book in small bites, rather than bulldozing through it to get to the next plot point. That wasn’t the point of this book. The point was to work through all of the narrator’s incoherent feelings about her sister’s death, her failed marriage to her husband, and her subsequent mental breakdown that led her to flee to New Zealand for months, until she was forced to come back due to an injury and overstaying her travel visa. As I said before, the plot is simple, which is fine. If it was any more complicated, the book would have tried to tackle too much.

And while the lyrical, frantic voice of the novel was one of its best features, it was also one of its worst features because it made some sections of the book move too slowly and become frustrating to read. The narrator often repeats the same thoughts and ideas, which is realistic to how people think about things and process emotions, but doesn’t make for a smooth, enjoyable reading experience. Also, the lackluster ending left me wishing the conclusion had a little more impact. Then again, this book wasn’t about resolution, or satisfaction. It played out almost like a drawn out therapy session transcribed to help the narrator understand her own issues, which in and of itself made the book a worthwhile and interesting read.

While I enjoyed this book, I probably wouldn’t read it again and would give it a 3.5/5 for its thought-provoking prose.

I picked up another book by Catherine Lacey called “The Answers,” which was actually a coincidence, but I’ll leave a review here when I finish that one as well, so keep an eye out!

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Movie Reviews

Alita: Battle Angel- A Gorgeous Journey Through an Ugly Future

Welcome back to another episode of Extremely Late Film Reviews, a show that leaves you questioning “Is this movie even relevant anymore?” and the answer is almost always “Probably not.” This week, we’re going to be talking about “Alita: Battle Angel,” an action flick based on the manga “Battle Angel Alita” that was produced by James Cameron and directed by Robert Rodriguez. The story in both the movie and the manga takes us to a distant future where most humans are half robot, and the rich live in a luxurious, floating city (Zalem), while the rest of society ekes out a meager existence in the blasted out wasteland of Iron City, which exists in the shadow of Zalem, living off the waste of the rich.

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Alita in the manga “Battle Angel Alita,” the source material of the film.

Our story opens when Dr. Ido, who helps cyborgs maintain their robot bodies, finds an armless and legless full-replacement cyborg (meaning only the brain is human) in the garbage heap under Zalem. When he fixes her up, he dubs her “Alita” and our adventure begins. Not only does Alita have no recollection of who she is, or where she came from, she also has immense strength and fighting prowess of unknown origin. Throughout the movie, we learn more about who she is and where she came from. But honestly, all of that meant astonishingly little to the overall plot.

I’ll be the first to say that I am in no way a fan of action films, but I conceded that I would see this movie almost solely because I read the manga a few years back and was interested to see how the story would play out on screen. While they pretty much stuck with the same storyline, which follows Alita as she fights villains as a bounty hunter, falls in love with a human boy, and attempts to bring down Zalem, the plot was in no way the best part of the movie. It was predictable and focused too much energy on elements that weren’t even resolved in this film (leaving room for a series of sequels, I’m assuming). It was the visuals that had me absolutely entranced. I mean, the film was gorgeous. The city was alive and breathing, and Rose Salazar’s computer-generated face and body looked so natural and real, I almost forgot that she wasn’t. Honestly, y’all. I would see it just for the well-choreographed fight sequences and the motorball scenes (their most popular sport.)

alita battle angel movie film rose salazar robert rodriguez james cameron 2019 manga anime
Rose Salazar as Alita in “Alita: Battle Angel.”

“The fight scenes were very well done, though there were not nearly enough of them,” Jaden, who saw the film with me, recalls.

“It was over the top, but not so much so that it warranted an eye roll. Every time Alita figured out something new about her hidden combat expertise looked like something straight out of my favorite anime, which I suppose is appropriate given the source material for the movie.”

One of the worst aspects of the film was definitely the dialogue. Jaden and I had to roll our eyes on several occasions after a particularly bad line, they were just that cheesy.

“Here’s the thing though: I don’t think the lines would have been perceived as being as cheesy if they were in a Japanese production or had they come from the manga,” said Jaden.

“As we have seen many, many times before, the type of over the top, dramatic, trope-filled dialogue seen in Japanese media just does not fit the live action genre on the big screen most of the time. This glaring problem really sticks out in Battle Angel. “

But, where the film blundered in the character development arena and dialogue arenas, it certainly made up for in immersiveness and pure fun. In fact, Cameron and Rodriguez have created such an immersive world, they even put together the Alita Experience- Passport to Iron City, an interactive, in-person game that takes participants through a miniature version of Iron City to play games and earn credits. After learning that one of these experiences was located in Austin, Jaden and I decided to go on a whim after seeing the film and enjoying it, and we had a blast! It really did a lot to make you feel like you were a part of their world, and offered a ton of challenging puzzles and feats of teamwork to keep your heart pounding for the entire 45 minutes.

The Cybernetics Lab activity from the Alita Experience event that immersed you in the rich world of Iron City. The event was held in New York, Los Angeles and Austin.

“It should be noted that my opinion of the movie was bolstered significantly with my attendance of this event, so take some of my opinions with a grain of salt,” Jaden adds.

Overall, the film was generally fun, easy to follow, and visually stunning- definitely worth checking out if you like action films or anime adaptions. And if you happen to live in New York, Los Angeles, or Austin and the Passport to Iron City event is still happening, go! The experience is almost better than the film itself. Here’s to hoping that James Cameron doesn’t take 10 years to make the next film in this series.

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Book Reviews

I Hate “You,” I Love “You,” I Just Can’t Forget “You”

Book Review – Anna

I picked up the book “You,” by Caroline Kepnes from my library last year after reading some glowing reviews, and I fully expected to read something completely cheesy and cliche- the totally predictable narrative of the depraved mind of a stalker/killer obsessed with his victims, something I had read before and probably will read again. However, instead of being met with an insane and disgusting, or insanely disgusting, creep of a character that I would instantly hate, I was met with Joe Goldberg, who did not instantly put me off with his murder-y behavior, but charmed me with his humor and wit. And thus it began this way, my love-hate relationship with Joe Golderberg, serial killer and obsessive stalker. Who knew one book would make me question my very fundamental ethical standards??

The plot of the book basically goes like this: Joe meets Beck at the used book shop he pretty much runs and instantly becomes obsessed with her, immediately beginning his stalker behaviors by looking her up online and following her around New York City. They “by chance” (I say this because to her, it seemed that way, but it was definitely not) meet again and hit it off officially when she drunkenly falls onto the subway tracks and he is magically there to save her from her impending death. What unfolds is his attempting to eradicate everything in her life that would take her away from him, leading him to kill multiple people in the process. It’s a wild ride, y’all. I mean, I devoured this book in the span of only a few sittings, wanting to find out what Joe had in store for us all next.

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And while the plot itself was pretty full of twists and surprises to keep you interested, it was the way the book was written that really made it unique. It was written as almost a stream of consciousness inside of the mind of Joe, where we see all of his cleverness, witty humor, and charming asides to make you want him to succeed just to see what else he will say about the world around him. For all of his insanity in wanting to stalk and kill for a girl that is not very interesting (just saying- I did not like Beck’s character), Joe had a lot of actually valid critiques of the world and the people that Beck surrounded herself with, making me believe Kepnes wrote this fully intending it to be a cultural satire of sorts. That becomes even more apparent in the second book, where Joe finds his way to LA to tell us just what he thinks of that culture and lifestyle (that book is great too- seriously, y’all, read it!).

As I mentioned breifly before, and as Jaden will mention again in his review of the TV show, the only thing I hated about this book was Beck, Joe’s obsession. She was the very epitome of a shallow, wannabe-bestselling-author trying to “make it” in New York that lived the most inane lifestyle that would never lead to her writing anything good. While this may have been the point, I thought it made the whole thing a little unbelievable. I mean, Joe was smart enough to critique these very kinds of people, so why would he fall in love with one? Beck was not a good person- she lied and cheated, and ultimately had very little interesting qualities to redeem her in my eyes. I actually think that they did a much better job of creating her character in the show. She was kind and caring, and I did actually feel bad for her when things didn’t go her way. In the book, I didn’t care at all, and maybe that’s what made it so easy to root for Joe, instead.

I give the book an 8/10 and would highly recommend it, and its sequel, to anyone interested in novels with dark, yet simultaneously funny, plots.

TV Review – Jaden

After my girlfriend recommended that I sit down with her to start watching “You,” I was skeptical. She had previously read the book, and didn’t seem to care much for it (not true!!! see my review above 🙂). Much to our surprise, however, the show actually turned out to be pretty good.

“You” does a great job of putting the viewer into the mind of a serial stalker/murderer. Joe Goldberg, the protagonist, is such an ordinary guy that I often found myself laughing at his antics and even rooting for him at times. I had to constantly remind myself what an awful person this protagonist was, and every time I did I found myself liking the show more and more. In this regard, the show nailed it.

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Penn Badgley did a great job of playing the part of an equal parts charming and creepy Joe Goldberg. (Lifetime)

I did have some problems with the show, however. I found the protagonist to be a little too stupid to be believable. This isn’t to say that he was stupid objectively, he was actually of much higher than average intelligence. Rather, he was too stupid not to get caught kidnapping, stalking, and murdering people immediately. Also, I really hated the character of Beck, Joe’s love interest. She has no depth to her, and most of the things she said and did were pretty annoying.

“You” is by no means the best show I’ve ever seen, but it is pretty good. The first season was made for cable, so it isn’t some super intelligent look into the mind of an evil genius. It’s a weird, kind of awkward mix of a stalker/murderer psychological thriller and romantic comedy, and I’m not sure that it quite landed. But I was thoroughly entertained by season 1, and it left enough loose ends that I plan on watching season 2 as well.

Overall, “You” is entertaining, and tries to get the viewers to sympathize with the evil protagonist, and few shows succeed at this as much as “You” did.

6.8/10 would recommend

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TV Reviews

Bad-Ass Women Hunt Each Other Down in “Killing Eve”- and I’m Obsessed

I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t have high expectations for ‘Killing Eve’ when I lazily clicked into it on Hulu one night after entering the “show hole” yet again when I finished a different television series. There was just so much hype surrounding it and I don’t usually indulge in shows that EVERYONE likes, because shows like ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘Big Bang Theory’ are among the most popular on television and well… you know… they’re not the most quality programs you could be wasting your time on. So forgive me for being a little skeptical of a show I’ve heard nothing but good things about. All of this to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I’m not one to enjoy “espionage” or action shows- there was so much about this show that broke it out of the norm that it kept me watching (I finished the 10- episode first season in about three days).

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Jodie Comer’s assassin character Villanelle gleefully demands dinner from Sandra Oh’s Eve, knife in hand.

The first thing I could go on and on about is the fact that the main cast of the show is almost entirely women. Just let that sink in. In a society where most forms of media are about men, this in and of itself was a reason the show intrigued me in the first place. And the show wasn’t in-your-face about it, and didn’t try too hard to make it a statement. The characters were just women, and that was that. No fanfare required, even if they were powerful, intelligent badasses that deserve the attention.

My boyfriend Jaden, who I easily convinced to join me in watching the show (he enjoys a good cat and mouse storyline) had a similar opinion.

” I’m not one who usually cares about the demographic breakdown of characters in media, and often find myself rolling my eyes at the so-often shoehorned female characters in action movies, but ‘Killing Eve’ actually does it right. This show does a great job of not being in your face about the fact that strong women make up most of the main cast, and actually treats them as regular characters in a thriller, only mentioning their sex when it would realistically be necessary,” he said.

Eve, played by a magnificent Sandra Oh, and Villanelle, an equally magnificent Jodie Comer, have such a great dynamic, that I was never bored with the plotline. Villanelle is a ruthless, psychopathic assassin obsessed with Eve, and Eve is a British intelligence officer equally obsessed with Villanelle, a relationship that culminates in an entirely surprising, yet strangely satisfying interaction in the season finale- one that leaves me eagerly awaiting the next installment.

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The show weaves an interesting and complicated dynamic between Eve, an intelligence officer and Villanelle, a psychopathic assassin with a penchant for curly-haired women.

A few other points that make the show so damn irresistible are that many of the characters are queer (Villanelle is openly bisexual), something we don’t see a lot of, and the action sequences are actually realistic (wait so there aren’t chase scenes where people easily scale buildings and blow up cars by merely shooting at them? Is it even an action show??).

“… the action is never over the top or unrealistic. The attention to realism in the action, as well as the development of the main characters, gives me hope for the future of female actors portraying more traditionally masculine roles,” Jaden remarked on the action in the show.

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Villanelle in a sharp suit, one of my favorite looks she wore during the season.

And the fashion, you guys. Villanelle is such a flamboyant dresser, and I enjoyed all of the looks she created. I could write an entire article about the outfits in this show and how they communicate the emotional state of the characters at the time, or even just a reflection on how good the wardrobe in this show really was, but this is something that has already been written about at length (like in this article, and this one). But the scene where she wears the oversized, bright pink Molly Goddard dress is definitely iconic and is going into my ever-growing pool of potential Halloween costume ideas.

Needless to say, I am highly anticipating the next season, and can’t wait to see where Eve and Villanelle’s life and death game of cat and mouse will take them next. In Jaden’s words:

” At the end of the day, ‘Killing Eve’ is an excellent show, and anyone with an affinity for spy/assassin thrillers with characters that are actually down to Earth and fun to watch should check it out. I’m eagerly awaiting season two.”

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Movie Reviews

Guadagnino’s Suspiria: 2.5 Hours of Femininity Unhinged

It seems, to society, that there are few things more simultaneously fascinating and terrifying than a witch. As a woman with unmatched power and strength to protect herself and her sisters, the witch has become a powerful symbol of the mysteries of womanhood and female empowerment, a theme that is entangled at the core of Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of the 1977 Dario Argento cult classic, Suspiria. 

If you haven’t seen the film, and want to, I would not read any further, as this article will contain spoilers!

In both versions of the film, the story follows a naive American dancer, Susie Bannion, as she joins a prestigious dance school/company (depending on what version you are watching), where there are mysterious forces at work- namely, a coven of covert witches working under the watchful eye of matriarch Helena Markos. This general plot framework, along with a memorable soundtrack, is just about where the shared aspects of the two films stop. While both offer a lush, visceral experience to cause absolute dread, the original accomplishes this through a string of gloriously gory kills, frantic music and garish lighting that transforms the dance academy into a nightmarish rave. Guadagnino’s update, however, is the definition of slow burn.

Dakota Johnson as the innocent, Mennonite runaway, Susie Bannion, that we meet at the beginning of the film, complete with a harmless braid. (Photo: Amazon Studios)

Our hero, Susie (Dakota Johnson), arrives at the dance company as a repressed Mennonite runaway, a virginal beauty with a wicked talent for dance- the perfect formula to fit the archetype of the pure and innocent final girl. While I fully expected our childish Susie, who arrived at the company with a long, wholesome, ginger braid, to be subjected to the horrors that lie within the company, then work to dismantle it with her goodness and charm, this movie delightfully subverts the tropes in exchange for something much more impactful.

As we wind throughout Guadagnino’s generous 2.5 hours of film, we witness a radical transformation in Susie’s identity, as she leaves behind her life as a sweet farm girl and blooms into a fiercely free and indescribably powerful woman. In one scene, she dances maniacally, each move of her body gruesomely crumpling a woman to death in another room of the company. Later, to her director, Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), she quietly describes the experience of dancing as “what it feels like to f**k”- but not a man, something more primal and animal.

In the end, it seems like she dutifully accepts her submissive role in the coven as the vessel for the ancient, omnipresent and ailing Mother Markos, who claims to be one of the original three mothers, a trio of powerful witches that represent pain, darkness and sadness. But in a subversive twist in the dizzying, and surreal final act, Susie herself claims the ultimate power, revealing herself to be one of the true mothers, while simultaneously killing any member of the coven that stood with Markos. And when I say surreal, I mean insane- like heads exploding while Dakota Johnson rips her own chest open insane- all to the haunting vocals of Thom Yorke. To put it simply, this film sticks with you, crawls under your skin and insists on staying the night. 

A new, more powerful and free Susie dances the lead in the company’s show, Volk, which doubles as an occult ritual. (Photo: Amazon Studios)

When I returned from my 10:20pm viewing of the film, I crawled into bed and thought endlessly about it- the intoxicating dance scenes, the overwhelming themes of guilt and shame and motherhood, the impeccable costuming and rich setting. It all culminated into a work that tasks us with considering what it all means together. The film ends with a surprisingly tender scene in which the newly-revealed Mother Suspiriorum in the form of Susie visits an ailing, old psychiatrist plagued by the guilt of losing his wife to the holocaust- that the coven had been tormenting throughout the film- to rid him of all of the memories of any woman that had caused him pain, including his missing wife. I couldn’t help but think this scene showed the magical quality of female power- a power that can be vicious but is ultimately, at its core, maternal and empathetic. 

Although the film is long and slow at times, and although I struggled to grasp the meaning of it in the end, it is a story so entirely female that even the one important male character (the old psychiatrist) is played by Tilda Swinton in a crazy amount of prosthetics. And in a media landscape entirely tailored to men and the male perspective, it was refreshing, to say the least.

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Movie Reviews

Walking the Line with “Bad Times at the El Royal”

“Bad Times at the El Royale” is a newly-released mystery thriller written and directed by Drew Goddard (who also wrote and directed “Cabin in the Woods,” and wrote the screenplay for “The Martian”). This noir-esque film takes place in the late 1960s at a peculiar and once-bustling hotel, called the El Royale, that is affixed directly on the California-Nevada border. We are introduced immediately to the five protagonists of the film: a priest, a vacuum salesman, a singer, a bellboy (who is simultaneously the head of hospitality, the bartender, and every other job in the hotel), and a young angry woman. After their introduction the story unfolds in a classic “several strangers meet at a mysterious place and their stories slowly intertwine” kind of tale, which some may find trope-y, but I personally almost always find charming.

Perhaps the most interesting part of “Bad Times…” is the way that it transforms every single character. We are introduced to five not-so-interesting people at the beginning, and as the true nature of the El Royale is revealed, so too are the true natures of our main characters until we are left with five completely different people (with the addition of a couple more, but I’m going to avoid spoilers in this review) by the end. Everyone’s backstory is fleshed out just enough so that you think you have a good idea as to what type of people they are, save the singer, which leads me to my first gripe about this film: the singers’ story is criminally underdeveloped, and her evolution as a whole throughout the film is lackluster.

bad times at the el royal neo noir film movie
In the beginning, we meet a singer, a priest and a southern vacuum salesman who are all vying for a room at the El Royal.

The theme of the entire film is that of “choosing a side” in the moral landscape. Everyone in the film deals with challenges that push them to one side or the other, with a few landing right in the middle. I urge anyone planning to see this movie to watch for “choose a side or walk the line between good and evil” symbolism that the film is laden with. Even the hotel, evenly split by a literal state border, represents this theme well, just watch how every character interacts with this line drawn on the ground, and you will have an entirely new appreciation for the attention to detail that Goddard has. The way this theme is expressed, to me, is the best thing about this film. Even one character’s means of selecting a song at a jukebox hint at this theme. Goddard’s subtle hints at this throughout are nothing short of genius, and he has created a universe that truly has no mercy on those who choose “good” or “evil” too early on. The viewers’ perception of every character shifts wildly throughout this movie, and it really feeds into the air of mystery surrounding everything.

Overall, “Bad Times at the El Royale” is a fun film that really makes you care about five strangers meeting in a dusty desert hotel, and blows you away with how easily it can manipulate your perception of said strangers. My only complaint, as I’ve previously stated, is the underdevelopment of one of the protagonists. Aside from this, I would recommend this film to anyone who loves a good mystery/thriller/noir/sorryidontknowwhatgenrethisfilmreallyisandneitherwillyou. My numerical rating for the film, as well as my reasoning is provided below.

dakota johnson bad times at the el toyal emily shotgun movie film neo noir thriller
Dakota Johnson’s character faces some tough times at the seedy El Royal motel.

Setting: 10/10

The setting portrays the theme of the film excellently. And who doesn’t love a good noir set in the dusty 1960/70s American West?

Plot: 8/10

The plot is simple, but not really the point of the movie. It’s more like five plots that become one, and it’s really well done.

Characters: 8/10

Two points for every character, save one singer, who is unfortunately not very well developed.

Theme: 10/10

Read my second-to-last paragraph. The theme is great, one that is very difficult to execute properly, and Goddard nailed it.

Ending: 9/10

I won’t go into detail here to avoid spoilers, but I almost cried when we had to say goodbye to the character I was initially least interested in, so it’s got that going for it.

Soundtrack: 10/10

From the singer’s performances to the music played from the jukebox, the songs really immerse the viewer in the setting, and work perfectly within the film.

Overall: 9/10

Great acting supports some very well-written characters in an intriguing story in Goddard’s newest film. Excellent film, go see it and support original screenplays. Hollywood desperately needs them.

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The Gut-Wrenching & Emotional Journey of Love and Fame in “A Star Is Born”

I was an “A Star Is Born” virgin, meaning I had never seen any of the previous three versions of the film that have been circulating through our culture since the 1930s. While this means I got to experience the film with fresh perspective, it also means I was entirely unprepared for the emotional warfare that this movie thrusts you right into the middle of. It was fantastic. It was ugly. It was incredible. It was despicable. And the music was pretty good, too. This is a review of the Bradly Cooper-directed “A Star Is Born.”

If you live under a rock, and have no idea what this movie is about, it is essentially the story of how a famous musician, whose career is on the outs, meets and falls in love with a nobody that was gifted vocal cords from the gods. He takes her on tour and her talent gets her noticed, launching her into a music career of her own. As she gains popularity, his continues to wane and he spirals into destructive habits, putting a lot of strain on their budding relationship. Now that you know what it’s all about, let me tell you what I think.

lady gaga as ally in a star is born 2018
Lady Gaga lends her incredible musical talent to the film, contributing to a dynamite soundtrack.

To start off this review, let me give you all a little context for my opinions. I am a HUGE Lady Gaga fan- and that’s an understatement. I recently dropped $330 on a ticket to see her at her upcoming residency in Las Vegas, and that doesn’t even include the cost of travel and living accommodations. So, in short, I was really excited to see this movie, if not to see Lady Gaga star in a major motion picture, then to at least hear her sing. I was impressed on both fronts.

Without spoiling any of the details of the plot, here is my brief review:

Wow! I was honestly blown away by how effective the storytelling was. Going into it, I thought it was going to be a super cliche storyline, one we’ve all seen before. Famous guy meets not famous girl, pulls him into his famous lifestyle and it turns out fame isn’t as great as everyone thinks and the couple ends up going their separate ways after drinking a lot and doing a lot of drugs. THAT IS NOT THIS STORY. I know I’m late to the party for this, so many of you probably already know how it goes, but I thought the story went somewhere totally unexpected. I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about it for the rest of the day, which I think is one of the true marks of a compelling story.

To speak on the acting: I was pleasantly surprised by Gaga. I know she can sing, and her soaring vocals were a pleasure to listen to, but I wasn’t sure how good she would be, despite the fact that she previously won a Golden Globe for her performance in American Horror Story. That being said, her acting paled in comparison to Bradley Cooper’s excellent performance, and there were a few scenes where I thought her performance lacked authenticity. Bradley Cooper was incredible. If he didn’t look like Bradley Cooper, I wouldn’t have even known it was him. His voice and mannerisms were completely transformed, which was refreshing, because I feel like he is often cast in similar roles. He also directed this film, which is a true testament to his passion and talent because it was a tumultuous journey that made an emotional impact. I really cared about Ally and Jackson, so much that they almost felt real.

bradley cooper as jackson maine in a star is born 2018
The moment Jackson meets (and falls for) the movie’s ingenue, Ally, as she sings “La Vie En Rose” at a drag bar.

To get into the nitty gritty (which means if you haven’t seen the movie- STOP READING NOW!), there are a few details of the story that I particularly appreciated that I feel differentiated this movie from a lot of others with similar storylines:

  1. Jackson Maine is an alcoholic. This often means there will be some kind of abuse or emotional neglect on his part, but that never happens in this film. Both of them continue to love each other through the depths of his illness, which is both heartwarming and unexpected.

  2. Ally still loves Jackson through it all. The main crux of this story is that while Ally continues to accumulate more fame and recognition, Jackson’s life falls apart. His drug problems get out of control and he becomes a washed-up nobody in a matter of months (or it seems that way- time progression in this film wasn’t too clear). Yet, despite the fact that Jackson makes a complete fool of Ally while she accepts her Grammy award, he was always her priority. She was even willing to cancel her tour to stay home and help him recover. 

  3. Fame isn’t glamorized. The story is told from a perspective that stays very close to the main characters, so we never really see how much fame and recognition Ally or Jackson really have, save for a few fan interactions with Jackson at the start of the film. This makes it so that we can continue to see the main characters in the same light, despite the fact that their fame fluctuates wildly throughout the plot. I even came away with the impression that Ally probably would have been happier if she had never been discovered, as her rise to fame and relationship with Jackson brought her a lot of strife and emotional pain.

  4. Ally’s story mirrors Gaga’s own rise to fame. When we meet Ally, she works as a waitress and performs at bars in her free time. Gaga began her career playing shows in bars all over New York City. We also see Ally abandon her more soulful, meaningful singing and songwriting for a career as a pop star with backup dancers and songs that talk about how good someone’s ass looks in their jeans. A producer even recommends that she bleach her hair for a more distinctive look. These are all things Gaga, too, had to do to begin her successful musical career, and now that she’s made it big, she can actually create the kind of art that she wants (hello Joanne). 

Overall, I LOVED this movie because of how unique and emotional the story was, how authentic the characters were, and how much passion everyone had for the project. You could really tell that Gaga and Bradley Cooper put so much love and energy into the film, which definitely translates on screen, and I think it deserves all of the praise that it’s getting. If you haven’t already seen this version of “A Star Is Born,” I would highly recommend it. The music alone makes it all worth it. 

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“Ubik” by Philip K Dick Takes Us On a Mind-Melding Trip

“What is this?” you may be asking- “Nothing to do with fashion, style, or runway? I can’t believe it!” Well, believe it! And welcome to the very first book review (one of may to come) to be posted on this site. First up: Ubik by Philip K Dick, one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction writers of all time. 

Let me start by saying that science fiction is one of my all-time favorite genres. I’ve always loved to revel in the visions of the future conjured up inside of the writers’ minds. There are endless possibilities in creating a science fiction world, something that reminds me of how endless the possibilities of the future are for our own reality. 

But speaking of science fiction world-building- wow, PKD is a true master of this art. I previously read one of his other novels, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the novel that inspired the Blade Runner films) and was completely absorbed in the fantastical, yet totally believable and conceivable world he had created. I was met with the same luscious, totally addicting world-building in Ubik, a tale I would place into an entirely different vein than Do Androids Dream.

Ubik takes place in the distant future of 1992 (the book was written in 1969 lol) in a world where people have developed psychic powers and tells the story of Glen Runciter, Joe Chip and their company of “inertials,” or anti-telepaths that are employed to counter the telepathic powers of psychics who are paid to mine the general populace for trade secrets. When things take a turn for the worse for Glen Runciter and his band of eccentric inertials, stuff starts to get really weird, like Runciter’s face appearing on money and every cigarette in the world becoming so old and dry they crumble to pieces at the slightest touch. And here is where the story unfolds, in a reality where Glen Runciter, Joe Chip and crew are trying to figure out, along with the reader, just what the heck is actually going on.

A cover of Ubik by Philip K Dick that features the enigmatic product that may or may not have something to do with the mystery that unfolds.

Although I love science fiction, I’m always hesitant to pick up a new science fiction story because of all of the disappointments I’ve had with the genre in the past. I first heard about Ubik because it is on nearly every list of must-read science fictions, and even earned the title of one of Time‘s 100 greatest novels since 1923. Needless to say, I had high hopes for this one, but plenty of promising science fiction books get bogged down and suffer from a heavy-handed approach to world-building that shifts the focus of the story from plot and character to the world itself and how it operates. I get that part of the appeal of science fiction is the world, the technology and how society functions within it, but I’m a character gal, meaning I need a good set of characters to keep me invested.

This was not a problem with Ubik, or for any of Philip K Dick’s stories, really. PKD thrusts you directly into the world with little to no introduction or explanation of anything, preferring to let the world organically unfold around his characters of choice, something that makes the stories deeply enthralling and intriguing. He doesn’t hold your hand, or give long-winded, tell-rather-than-show histories. The world just is, and we’re left to figure things out on our own, which you can usually manage pretty quickly because the story is well-crafted enough that anyone can easily follow it after acclimating.

Now I would like to delve a little deeper into the meat and potatoes of the story so, if you haven’t read the book and would like to, STOP READING NOW! *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Proceed to the next page if you would like to continue reading.

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