gilda_elise: (Movies-Projector)
gilda_elise ([personal profile] gilda_elise) wrote2025-08-06 02:42 pm
Entry tags:

Documentaries and such

I seemed to have gone from a comedy kick to watching more documentaries. Still are some movies thrown in for good measure. But a couple of slow months helped by one with a bit more.

MOVIES WATCHED IN MAY

May 3-4 - The Four Seasons (2025)
Three suburban couples vacation together each season, but tensions arise when one couple splits up and the husband brings a much younger woman on subsequent trips.
Stars: Tina Fey, Will Forte, Kerri Kenney, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Alan Alda


I didn’t think it was as good as the movie, but still worth watching, especially considering the changes made to take into account the changing times.


May 27 - Garbo, Where Did You Go? (2024)
An urgent, timely and compelling portrait of Hollywood icon Greta Garbo, whose fame, isolation and loneliness still captures us.
Director: Lorna Tucker
Stars: Greta Garbo, Noomi Rapace, Orson Welles, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich


I certainly understand why she gave up her career; I’m surprised more celebrities don’t. I didn’t know much about the woman before watching this, so it was quite interesting.


MOVIES WATCHED IN JUNE

Jun 7 - Good Night and Good Luck (2025)
A live broadcast of the Broadway play "Good Night, and Good Luck."
Directors: Micah Bickham, David Cromer
Stars: George Clooney, Mac Brandt, Will Dagger


I saw the 2005 movie and was interested in how this would hold up against it. It does. It was just as compelling. Certainly just as timely.

Jun 8 - The Fountain of Youth (2025)
Two estranged siblings join forces to seek the legendary Fountain of Youth. Using historical clues, they embark on an epic quest filled with adventure. If successful, the mythical fountain could grant them immortality.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: John Krasinski, Natalie Portman, Eiza González, Stanely Tucci


Entertaining with a good cast. Maybe not a movie I’d watch again, but I’m glad I gave it a shot.

Jun 8 - Audrey: More Than an Icon (2020)
Filmmaker Helena Coan examines the remarkable life and career of actress, fashion icon and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn.
Director: Helena Coan
Stars: Audrey Hepburn, Alessandra Ferri, Francesca Hayward, Richard Dreyfuss


An amazing woman with quite a bit of tragedy in her life. She’s a favorite actress of mine, so I really enjoyed watching this.

Jun 8 - Sarah Silverman: Postmortem (2025)
After losing both parents, Sarah Silverman turns grief into comedy, finding humor in funeral planning and final moments with her mother while maintaining her characteristic wit.
Director: Sarah Silverman
Star: Sarah Silverman


Amazing how Silverman can find humor in the darkest situations. Well worth watching.

Jun 10 - The Farthest: Voyager In Space (2017)
It is one of humankind's greatest achievements. More than 12 billion miles away a tiny spaceship is leaving our Solar System and entering the void of deep space - the first human-made object ever to do so.
Director: Emer Reynolds
Stars
: Frank Drake, Carolyn Porco, John Casani


An amazing documentary about an amazing achievement. Hight recommended.

June 18 - Titan: The Oceangate Submersible Disaster (2025)
Titan: The OceanGate Disaster examines CEO Stockton Rush's quest to become the next billionaire innovator and the doomed underwater endeavor that called into question the price of ambition in the depths of the ocean.
Director: Mark Monroe
Stars: Stockton Rush, Emily Hammermeister, David Lochridge


Wow, it’s amazing that Rush was able to talk people into getting in his highly flawed submersible. The documentary glaringly shows how having too much money can make a person think that they can do no wrong.

Jun 28 - Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders (2025)
It explores 1980s Chicago deaths from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. The case led to tamper-proof packaging and became one of America's largest criminal investigations.
Stars: Jeff Flock, James Lewis, Michelle Rosen


I vividly remember when this happened. It was so strange. Horrifying that they never caught the person who did it.

Jun 29 - Grenfell Uncovered (2025)
Reveals decisions by officials and companies before the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire that made it preventable. Survivors, families, and firefighters share their accounts of the tragedy that took 72 lives.
Director: Olaide Sadiq
Stars: Mohammad Alhaj Ali, Omar Alhaj Ali, Peter Apps


Such a tragedy that didn’t have to happen. But could still happen again.


MOVIES WATCHED IN JULY

Jul 6 - Dune: Part 1 (2021)
Paul Atreides arrives on Arrakis after his father accepts the stewardship of the dangerous planet. However, chaos ensues after a betrayal as forces clash to control melange, a precious resource.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Stars:Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac


So much better than the 1984 movie. Looking forward to watching the second half.


Jul 12 - Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story (2025)
A tribute to Jaws (1975), the movie that sparked a lasting fascination with the ocean's most misunderstood predator.
Director: Laurent Bouzereau
Stars: Steven Spielberg, Janet Maslin, Cameron Crowe, James Cameron, J. J. Abrams, Guillermo del Toro, Emily Blunt, George Lucas


I already knew most of the information about the making of the movie, but there was enough new stuff to make it worth watching.

Jul 26 - Death of a Unicorn (2025)
A father and daughter accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature's miraculous curative properties.

Director: Alex Scharfman
Stars: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni


Quite entertaining, though the ending was somewhat predictable. Still, I think it was worth the time.

Jul 29 - Secrets of the Civiil War (2019)
The land battles of the American Civil War are well known, but it's the war on the seas that shaped the outcome of the war. Maritime archaeologists and historians go in search of Civil War secrets, hidden deep underwater. Scientific data combines with computer graphics to drain the oceans to investigate the lost wrecks of the war.
Director: Marc Tiley
Stars: Russell Boulter, Craig Sechler, Craig L. Symonds


There were actually more “secrets” - such as the creation of the precursor to the MASH units used during the Korean War. Though maybe not the most professionally made, there was still quite a bit of information that I wasn’t aware of to make the documentary well worth watching.
gilda_elise: (Books-Owl with books)
gilda_elise ([personal profile] gilda_elise) wrote2025-07-28 11:20 am

The Bones Beneath My Skin by T.J. Klune

The Bone Beneath My Skin


A spine-tingling thriller by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about a 10-year-old girl with an impossible power, her father, and an unlikely stranger, who come together to confront the dangerous forces that want her at all costs. A strange story of family, love, comets, and bacon. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things.

In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his older brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington DC. With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not. Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary little girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.

Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.


I was beginning to lose hope with Klune; most of the recent books I’ve read of his have been something of a disappointment. Luckily, this one wasn’t. While maybe not at the level of The House in the Cerulean Sea, it was still an enjoyable read, an adventure that leans more toward science fiction than Klune’s usual fantasy.

Was it a romance? There seems to be a real argument about that. I think it was. Maybe there were no hearts and flowers, but there is a budding relationship that slowly develops. Make that two relationships, because the relationship between Nate and Artemis is just as deep, just as important, and that between him and Alex.

Actually, I have a bigger complaint with Artemis, “who isn’t exactly as she appears.” Mostly, she doesn’t seem to be exactly anything. Is she a little girl? She sometimes acts like one, but sometimes she acts like something else. Her inability to be one thing or the other reminded me of the aliens in Third Rock from the Sun. Sometimes they knew how to act; sometimes they didn’t, not seeming to remember the ways of humans. So I wasn’t ever sure if Artemis was playing a con when she acted like a little girl, or just wasn’t able to retain the knowledge she had gleaned about how humans act. She’s been around long enough that she should have.

So, a good book? Yes, and one I’d probably recommend. A great book? Unfortunately, no.


Mount TBR

Mount TBR 2025 Book Links 1-25 )

26. Lost and Found by Marilyn Harris
27. Strange Weather: Four Short Novels by Joe Hill
28. Three Wild Dogs by Markus Zusak
29. Full Throttle by Joe Hill
30. Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next #2) by Jasper Fforde
31. Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky
32. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
33. Pearly Everlasting by Tammy Armstrong
34. The Women of Troy (Women of Troy #2) by Pat Barker
35. The Conjurers by Marilyn Harris
36. The Regulators by Richard Bachman (Pseudonym), Stephen King
37. Islands of Abandonment: Nature Rebounding in the Post-Human Landscape by Cal Flyn
38. The Nun's Story by Kathryn Hulme
39. The Bones Beneath My Skin by T.J. Klune


Goodreads 42