I love YA. I love that it explores the nooks and crannies of adolescence. I love that it's even better written then when I was a YA. I love that I can read it quickly. Here are my top YA books I read this year, divided into two categories: A Top 10 (plus honorable mentions) of YA books that have romance as the main (or a large part of their) plot. I also include A Top 5 (plus honorable mentions) of YA books that do not concern themselves with romance.
As before, links will send you to the Goodreads page for the book, with all the information you will need to find the book.
Top 10 YA With Romance
(I should note that I like the romance part a lot, so some might quibble with me as to whether some of these stories are actually concerned with romance.)
Dodger
Maybe you want to catch up with the Artful Dodger? Terry Pratchett has a delightful bit of historical fiction for you.
Eleanor & Park
Both of the title characters don't fit into their worlds in different ways. They find each other through a love of books and music and their connection helps one support the other. An incredible story by my new favorite author.
Fangirl
The same person who wrote Eleanor & Park also gives us Cath, the incredibly awkward college freshman who is a master at writing fan fiction. So. Funny. And also sweet and dramatic.
If I Stay / Where She Went
The first of this two-book series is gripping and incredible and I think you should just read it, instead of reading a synopsis. It will be that much better, trust me. The second book is also quite good. This is by my other new favorite author.
Just One Day / Just One Year
Man, sometimes a book just catches you and it becomes difficult to go to bed on time, or fix dinner or even go to work, because all you want to do is read. Just One Day was that book for me. And Just One Year was nearly as consuming.
Love and Other Perishable Items
It wasn't quite as consuming as Just One Day, but nearly so. Having worked in a grocery store, I loved that perspective, and the twin unrequited loves the two leads felt were well written.
Openly Straight
Rafe is gay and out of the closet and fine with it. But when he decides to attend a boarding school for his junior year of high school, he decides not mention to anyone that he is gay. Very interesting setup.
Out of the Easy
What's a daughter of a French Quarter prostitute to do with her life? That's the question in this grand bit of historical fiction, set in the 1950s.
September Girls
Sam's dad drags him to a beach house on an island for the summer and said island is populated with a ton of incredibly beautiful girls, who all seem to be very interested in Sam. The rest of the book doesn't go the way you are thinking it will.
The Infinite Moment of Us
True confession: This is one of my favorites because it's very explicit in its description of sex, and what comes before sex. However, that said, I like the way the characters experience sex and what comes before it.
YA With Romance--Honorable Mentions
All the Truth That's In Me
Far Far Away
Hattie Big Sky
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
OCD Love Story
Top 5 YA No Romance
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Leonard has plans to murder a classmate and kill himself. Not at all as horrifying as it sounds.
One Came Home
Aside from the title, which I hate, I loved everything about this book which has a little bit of everything in a not-overwhelming way.
Shift
Kinda mystery, kinda adventure. Good bicycle book.
The Different Girl
The kind of book that will probably stick with me for a very long time.
The Thing About Luck
Tragically funny in that way that books can be sometimes.
YA No Romance--Honorable Mentions
In Darkness
Winger
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Top Books Read in 2013. Part I: The kid books, including picture and j-level.
Just because you are over eighteen doesn't mean you won't love these books. Or maybe you have a young reader who is interested? The links in the title will take you to the Goodreads page for the book, which lists all the information you will need. If you are my friend on Goodreads, it will also be easy to see my review.
All lists are in alphabetical order.
Picture Books
A Long Way Away
Take a long journey through space. If you liked following that kid in the Family Circus as he wanders around the comic strip, this book is for you.
Mr. Wuffles!
Mr. Wuffles is a cat who spurns all toys except for one. But this toy is not like any other. Find out why.
Year of the Jungle
Suzanne Collins (she of the Hunger Games and the Gregor series) tells us about the year her dad went to Vietnam. Good capture of a child's sense of time and making sense of what she can.
Tiger in my Soup
Fabulous illustrations and fun for all the little brothers out there. And the big sisters who might recognize themselves.
Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great
The title says it all. See the world through Goat's eyes.
Picture Book Honorable Mentions:
Carnivores
Xander's Panda Party
Juvenile Chapter Books
I'm not the biggest fan of these, so I didn't even have five for my list. But the four I had were good.
Counting By 7's
My library lists this as YA, but I put it in the "J" category because the girl is 12 and I think kids tend to read about children older than them, not younger. I loved this main character and how she just kept on chugging through her troubles.
Doll Bones
If your middle-school student (or you) likes to be creeped out by stories, this is a book for him/her. Also a good depiction of middle school kids being at different places in their maturity.
Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse
Great story told using poems. Perfect for introducing elementary school kids to different forms of poetry.
P.S. Be Eleven
Not a story set in a New York City Public School (P.S. 11) as I first thought, but a story of three sisters in Brooklyn in the 1960s. Very well done. It's also the second book, so you might want to read One Crazy Summer first.
All lists are in alphabetical order.
Picture Books
A Long Way Away
Take a long journey through space. If you liked following that kid in the Family Circus as he wanders around the comic strip, this book is for you.
Mr. Wuffles!
Mr. Wuffles is a cat who spurns all toys except for one. But this toy is not like any other. Find out why.
Year of the Jungle
Suzanne Collins (she of the Hunger Games and the Gregor series) tells us about the year her dad went to Vietnam. Good capture of a child's sense of time and making sense of what she can.
Tiger in my Soup
Fabulous illustrations and fun for all the little brothers out there. And the big sisters who might recognize themselves.
Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great
The title says it all. See the world through Goat's eyes.
Picture Book Honorable Mentions:
Carnivores
Xander's Panda Party
Juvenile Chapter Books
I'm not the biggest fan of these, so I didn't even have five for my list. But the four I had were good.
Counting By 7's
My library lists this as YA, but I put it in the "J" category because the girl is 12 and I think kids tend to read about children older than them, not younger. I loved this main character and how she just kept on chugging through her troubles.
Doll Bones
If your middle-school student (or you) likes to be creeped out by stories, this is a book for him/her. Also a good depiction of middle school kids being at different places in their maturity.
Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse
Great story told using poems. Perfect for introducing elementary school kids to different forms of poetry.
P.S. Be Eleven
Not a story set in a New York City Public School (P.S. 11) as I first thought, but a story of three sisters in Brooklyn in the 1960s. Very well done. It's also the second book, so you might want to read One Crazy Summer first.
Power Ballads. A Blog Post.
My recent viewing of Rock of Ages got me thinking about the power ballad. Here are some things the power ballad and their videos all have in common:
And I hope you understand the way I spin the word "favorites" to mean something like: at one time I desperately loved these songs and so I still feel a strong affection for them, even if now I find some of them a little silly.
To view, click the links, or, if the site lets you, you can watch the embedded videos.
Patience
Guns & Roses
"The record company made Guns & Roses write 'Patience'," said boyfriend #2 with a steely glint of admiration in his voice, "because the crowds were getting too out of control and they wanted the band to play something to calm them down."
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I prefer this song to "November Rain" which has also has its merits.
Watch for:
Heaven
Warrant
Watch this and look for:
I Remember You
Skid Row
Their other ballad "18 and Life" is also good, but more sad-sad than sad-romance-ballad sad.
Look for:
High Enough
Damn Yankees
Look for:
(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection
Nelson
Look for:
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Poison
I won't lie. I still love this song, it's probably a top-10 from the 80s. I probably love it partially because Bret Michaels sings in my range, something that was quite rare for the time period. But the video, I have to say, is a bit disturbing. At some point in his writing, Chuck Klosterman pointed out how this video is a "sobering examination of Poison's alcoholism" and he's not wrong.
Look for:
Love Song
Tesla
I think this one holds up rather well, though I have to sing along an octave lower
Look for:
When the Children Cry
White Lion
This was actually painful to both watch and listen to. It has not held up well. At all.
Look for:
Living in Sin
Bon Jovi
I loved this album and liked this song a lot--enough to transcribe it into a journal. But watching the video now! Yow! It seems fairly racy for my then-eighth-grade self. O! MTV. Such promises you made to us about romance. That said, the "kids" in this video look like they are in their early 20s, too old for their parents to be so interfering.
Look for:
Love Bites
Def Leppard
I may have slow-danced to this song at a junior high dance. Or I may have wished I was slow dancing to this song at a junior high dance.
Look for:
- They show the band (mostly) but often have a side story or theme with actors, or sexy ladies
- They are nearly all sung much higher than my range (What did all the bass singers in the 80s do?)
- The band members almost always have very awesome clothing (with Damn Yankees being the exception)
- There are usually a multitude of shots of sexy women, either models/actresses hired, or snippets of crowd shots
- The lyrics are sometimes quite excellent in their banality
- And, as I write this, not a single one of these videos has a commercial playing before you can view it
And I hope you understand the way I spin the word "favorites" to mean something like: at one time I desperately loved these songs and so I still feel a strong affection for them, even if now I find some of them a little silly.
To view, click the links, or, if the site lets you, you can watch the embedded videos.
Patience
Guns & Roses
"The record company made Guns & Roses write 'Patience'," said boyfriend #2 with a steely glint of admiration in his voice, "because the crowds were getting too out of control and they wanted the band to play something to calm them down."
I have no idea if this is true or not, but I prefer this song to "November Rain" which has also has its merits.
Watch for:
- Axl having to read the lyrics to this song while they are filming the video
- Slash more interested in a snake than the many scantily clad women at his bedside
- Panning over the sound guys, who look normal-80s and not rock-star-80s
- The disappearing hotel hallway people
- Axl's pants
- The smashing of the neon phone
- Axl watching himself singing "Welcome to the Jungle" while looking a bit morose
- The "ah" at the end of the song
Heaven
Warrant
Watch this and look for:
- Jani Lane's headband
- Moving Polaroids of the band with names--perhaps J.K. Rowling saw this video?
- Much footage of the band playing live
- Hot woman serving as photographer
- Excellence in lyrics: how I love the way you move/and the sparkle in your eyes/there's a color deep inside them/ like blue suburban skies
- I'm also noticing that the lead guitarist is much better looking than the singer.
- Riding of motorcycle through empty stadium
- Classic 80s double guitar
- All-white outfits with their names on the jacket sleeves (!!!!!)
- Jani Lane shaking the mother finger for emphasis in one spot
- Fireworks on stage
- Many candid shots of fans
- Band posing in towels, with their long hair twisted up
- Sexy wink.
- "Yeah" ending
I Remember You
Skid Row
Their other ballad "18 and Life" is also good, but more sad-sad than sad-romance-ballad sad.
Look for:
- Many shots of the band looking solitary, despite the fact they are playing the song together
- Narrative of sad homeless man walking alone and staring at photos
- Excellence in Lyrics: "All the tears you cry, they call my name"
- Shots of a classic 80s 12-string guitar
- Bass player singing along
- A bridge
- Really, there are many more excellence in lyrics moments in this song
- Sad homeless man dropping pictures on the ground and in the homeless guy fire in the garbage can
High Enough
Damn Yankees
Look for:
- Opening plot that works in the band's name
- Good gum chewing by the lead female in the story
- Good gum chewing by Ted Nugent.
- Also sunglasses
- Lead singer's haircut, which was much like mine my senior year of high school
- Slowest running from the police ever
- Ted Nugent kicking down a door
- Ted Nugent playing the guitar solo while being shot at by the police
- Shirtless drummer
- Apparently being the getaway driver leads one to the gas chamber in some states?
- Ted Nugent as gum chewing priest
(Can't Live Without Your) Love and Affection
Nelson
Look for:
- Disinterested twin brothers in backstage-like black and white setting
- Harmony!!--not a usual feature of 80s Rock
- Sudden transition to big set, in full color
- Girl in bikini on set
- One brother in torn jeans, one brother in over-the knee red boots. Maybe those are chaps?
- Same set, but clothing change for verse two
- Interesting botanical setting, but with foofy material on the ceiling
- Brothers who play guitar leaving the guitar solo to yet another guitarist?
- Expressive hand gestures that don't involve playing music, yet music is still playing?
- A LOT of twin brothers singing directly into the camera
- Snow coming from the ground? Not sure what that fluffy stuff is.
- End with just twins playing guitar back in the backstage-like setting
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
Poison
I won't lie. I still love this song, it's probably a top-10 from the 80s. I probably love it partially because Bret Michaels sings in my range, something that was quite rare for the time period. But the video, I have to say, is a bit disturbing. At some point in his writing, Chuck Klosterman pointed out how this video is a "sobering examination of Poison's alcoholism" and he's not wrong.
Look for:
- Sad and sighing Bret Michaels
- Sad and sighing scantily clad woman
- Shots of the band onstage
- Many rather disturbing clips of the band in states of inebriation
- Band hi-jinks
- Smashing of guitar on stage
- Wet drummer in slow-mo
- Fan biting lip
- Bret Michaels on a pole
Love Song
Tesla
I think this one holds up rather well, though I have to sing along an octave lower
Look for:
- Day in the life of a concert from empty through setup, fan arrival and the concert itself
- Band on the bus looking mellow
- Band in rehearsal
- White pants with black footprints on them (!)
- Crowd shots, including attractive women singing along
- Classic 80s double guitar
- High kick by lead singer
- Girl sitting on boyfriend's shoulders
- Many devil signs by the crowd
- Playing while smoking
- Headbands on the lead singer and the drummer
- Airplane writing the word LOVE
When the Children Cry
White Lion
This was actually painful to both watch and listen to. It has not held up well. At all.
Look for:
- Opening stills of the band
- Lead singer looking sad and serious
- Guitarist on playground, sitting on merry-go-round
- Very serious message about being born into a world where "man is killing man, and no one knows why"
- Picture of little child
- All the band looking sad and serious
- Despite all the serious, some quick cuts to band in concert
- Excellence in lyrics: "no more presidents/one united world/under god"
- Interesting geometrical shirt worn by guitarist during solo
- Many shots of children looking serious
- Excellence in lyrics: "when the children fight/let them know it ain't right"
Living in Sin
Bon Jovi
I loved this album and liked this song a lot--enough to transcribe it into a journal. But watching the video now! Yow! It seems fairly racy for my then-eighth-grade self. O! MTV. Such promises you made to us about romance. That said, the "kids" in this video look like they are in their early 20s, too old for their parents to be so interfering.
Look for:
- Voice over by Jon Bon Jovi
- Couple having sex in motel room (though just hinting at it in a PG way)
- Couple on beach with waves crashing over them
- Jon and Richie singing into the same microphone
- Sex in car (we've moved to PG-13 sex)
- Jon snapping with a cute smile
- Catholic scenes of communion followed with the juxtaposition of man's finger in woman's mouth
- Disgruntled look at parents by main male actor
- More sex in motel
- Parents sleeping in twin beds with dad looking sad
- Jon looking sad while singing and crossing himself
- Couple being discovered in motel room by parents, who are very angry
- Sad glances by couple as they are separated by parents
- Couple anticipating the hand-on-window scene in Titanic (perhaps James Cameron watched this video?)
- Girl in couple running off with hot guy in couple, leaving her parents angry and in the house
Love Bites
Def Leppard
I may have slow-danced to this song at a junior high dance. Or I may have wished I was slow dancing to this song at a junior high dance.
Look for:
- Girl on mattress reading magazine, but really lolling about in a sexy way
- Lead singer in silhouette/half light
- Sexy girl looking at the landscape while wearing gloves
- Sighting of guitarist
- Jean jacket with pin
- Various band members singing up into the microphones. Why did they not lower them?
- Woman in red dress walking
- Sexy gloved woman removing sunglasses while sitting by water
- Singer and guitarist singing into same microphone
- Woman running up spiral staircase to nowhere
- Other various sexy women looking at the camera
- Distorted final line: "if you've got love in your sights/Watch out: love bites"
Motley Crue
There is no embedded video for this song because Motley Crue's "Official Video" for this song is from 1991 and has black and white stills and old photos and that was not what I was looking for. It was only by googling "Where is the original version of Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home?" that I found a link. But there it was, just as I remembered it, in all its trashy glory.
Look for:
Look for:
- Tour bus driving
- Stage being set
- Band taking the stage, but not before kissing all the posters of hot girls
- Fireworks
- Drummer spinning sticks
- Decorative scarf on microphone
- Jumping off risers on stage
- White chaps
- Pointing up when singing "up in lights"
- Fans jumping on stage
- Fans being carried off stage
- Fan flashing the camera
- Various things being swung around on stage
- Drummer singing along to guitar solo
- Iconic playing of piano riff at the end
- Band taking a bow
- Band walking off stage indicating they are number one
- Tour bus that says "Rockin & Rollin"
Aerosmith
This is another favorite. It has all the elements of a classic power ballad. And so many fun details, I had to pause the video so I could type them all.
Look for:
- Band on stage, and due to video magic also in several different rooms and landscapes. Joe Perry is partial to the desert.
- Stephen Tyler singing on the moon, but no! It's reflection of Stephen Tyler in Stephen Tyler's own pupil (!!!!)
- Breaking down a wall when singing "break the walls between us"
- Opening a trap door to look into another room where Stephen Tyler is singing
- Floaty sexy angel
- Stephen Tyler as lonely detective-type person
- Sexy lady in silhouette while dancing naked
- Who disappears when Stephen Tyler pulls down the sheet!
- Stephen Tyler writhing and singing in bed while singing "sleeping in this bed alone"
- Stephen Tyler reaching for sexy floaty angel
- Joe Perry without a shirt
- Floaty angel in concert
- Floaty angel touching Stephen Tyler in a certain "area"
- Stephen Tyler in two very good outfits. One white and sparkly, one grey with tails and stripes.
- Stretching out the two syllable word "angel" into 8 or 9 syllables
- Band (except drummer) all singing on one mike
- Stephen Tyler spitting something at us
Top 10 movies of 2013 (Part II)
Here are my top rankings of movies I watched in 2013 (that were from other years.) Just because it took me a while to get around to them doesn't mean they aren't good. You can see my best of 2013 (from 2013) by reading this other post. See my original Three Sentence Reviews by clicking on the links.
Listed in alphabetical order:
Bernie
Jack Black playing a very un-Jack Black character. Plus Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, residents of small Texas towns and TWO musical production numbers.
Paper Heart
Weird girl! But so fun! And Michael Cera in a fabulous quasi-documentary. Words fail me to paint the proper picture of just how enjoyable this movie is.
Platoon
So it took me a while. But I watched it and I liked it. Travel back in time when all those guys were young. Twitch at all the grody war stuff. Realize your Charlie Sheen thing wasn't all that strange.
Premium Rush
Joseph Gordon-Levett as bicycle messenger in a "map" movie meaning they several times trace maps through New York City. Michael Shannon as the very bad guy. Plus, one of the best bar kisses on film. Perhaps the best.
Rock of Ages
I'm totally the target audience, but even so, this was incredibly fun. And Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand make up for their lack of singing pipes as a very funny comedy duo. Catherine Zeta-Jones should just restrict herself to over-the-top characters.
Safety Not Guaranteed
There are the good movies everyone natters on about and then there are the good movies that are unexpected. This was the second kind. It had a bit of a bizarre plot, but by investing your time in this movie you will be served with a full meal of good movie. There is character growth, humor, a few tears. Also, the entire time I just wasn't sure if we were watching a movie making fun of a weird guy, or a quasi-sci-fi drama. I'll let you find out which way the wind blew.
Silver Linings Playbook
Perfect story, in that I wasn't "in" from the get go. It seemed a bit off, I wasn't totally sold and then, wham! They got me. Upon repeat viewing with Matt, I felt him experience the exact same distance and the exact same locking-in at the same point. Perfect cast, main and supporting, quirky characters, captivating story. When watching the preview, I was annoyed that Jennifer Lawrence was in this because she is too young, but she played older and was fabulous and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world.
Take this Waltz
A movie about a young married woman drawn to another man. The longing is palpable, so much so that I ended up feeling like I was cheating on her poor husband. This has not only an interesting love triangle, but all three characters are fully developed. The film is also quite hot, as longing tends to be. Plus, Sara Silverman has a minor role. So it was a good film and then, where the ending usually would be, the film just kept going to deposit us in an entirely different space. And that's what made it a great film.
The Help
I was ready not to like it because the book was so good and also complex and there was no way they were going to be able to transfer all that to the movie. But they did! And the acting was superb. And the men were actually minimized in the book-to-movie transfer, which is something that never happens.
The Master
This is probably not the best movie to watch while you are knitting, or letting the dog in and out of the house or stopping the film to answer the phone. Because you might become distracted and just stop watching, because it's that kind of film. However, if you can set aside the time to just watch this movie, you will be bowled over by an intense plot and stellar acting. It's also fantastically weird. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams standing over a sink are permanently burned in my brain.
Listed in alphabetical order:
Bernie
Jack Black playing a very un-Jack Black character. Plus Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, residents of small Texas towns and TWO musical production numbers.
Weird girl! But so fun! And Michael Cera in a fabulous quasi-documentary. Words fail me to paint the proper picture of just how enjoyable this movie is.
So it took me a while. But I watched it and I liked it. Travel back in time when all those guys were young. Twitch at all the grody war stuff. Realize your Charlie Sheen thing wasn't all that strange.
Premium Rush
Joseph Gordon-Levett as bicycle messenger in a "map" movie meaning they several times trace maps through New York City. Michael Shannon as the very bad guy. Plus, one of the best bar kisses on film. Perhaps the best.
I'm totally the target audience, but even so, this was incredibly fun. And Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand make up for their lack of singing pipes as a very funny comedy duo. Catherine Zeta-Jones should just restrict herself to over-the-top characters.
There are the good movies everyone natters on about and then there are the good movies that are unexpected. This was the second kind. It had a bit of a bizarre plot, but by investing your time in this movie you will be served with a full meal of good movie. There is character growth, humor, a few tears. Also, the entire time I just wasn't sure if we were watching a movie making fun of a weird guy, or a quasi-sci-fi drama. I'll let you find out which way the wind blew.
Silver Linings Playbook
Perfect story, in that I wasn't "in" from the get go. It seemed a bit off, I wasn't totally sold and then, wham! They got me. Upon repeat viewing with Matt, I felt him experience the exact same distance and the exact same locking-in at the same point. Perfect cast, main and supporting, quirky characters, captivating story. When watching the preview, I was annoyed that Jennifer Lawrence was in this because she is too young, but she played older and was fabulous and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world.
A movie about a young married woman drawn to another man. The longing is palpable, so much so that I ended up feeling like I was cheating on her poor husband. This has not only an interesting love triangle, but all three characters are fully developed. The film is also quite hot, as longing tends to be. Plus, Sara Silverman has a minor role. So it was a good film and then, where the ending usually would be, the film just kept going to deposit us in an entirely different space. And that's what made it a great film.
I was ready not to like it because the book was so good and also complex and there was no way they were going to be able to transfer all that to the movie. But they did! And the acting was superb. And the men were actually minimized in the book-to-movie transfer, which is something that never happens.
This is probably not the best movie to watch while you are knitting, or letting the dog in and out of the house or stopping the film to answer the phone. Because you might become distracted and just stop watching, because it's that kind of film. However, if you can set aside the time to just watch this movie, you will be bowled over by an intense plot and stellar acting. It's also fantastically weird. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams standing over a sink are permanently burned in my brain.
Top 10 Movies of 2013 (Part I)
I've got two separate posts for you and a bonus list. Or, if you want sentences instead of paragraphs, you can go to the Patricia Awards for Movies.
Let me begin by saying I think ranking Top 10 lists is dumb. Flim/Movies covers a lot of ground, and how can you compare the best documentary to the best film you saw with 'splosions? That said, I do have a #1 choice: Frances Ha. But everything after that is too hard to rank. So here are my lists in alphabetical order. Link(s) to the original three sentence reviews by clicking on the titles.
I have no ability to critically regard any of the "Before" movies because I am crazy about them. I love that I am two years younger than the characters, I love that they keep catching me in life stages, I love that they are well written, witty, thoughtful and superbly acted. And I love that Julie Delpy's Celine is a piece of work. No shaving off the rough edges of that character. If you haven't already partaken, plan a day, or series of days, and watch all three: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight.
Fast & Furious 6
This movie made my list partially because Filmspotting's Poll question this week was "Which of these 2013 box office hits would you most like to see make some 'best of' lists?" and this was my pick. (It's currently losing with only 6.16% of the vote.) So I couldn't not include it in my Top 10 list. But it's also here representing films made for the masses. I like to be challenged in my movie watching, I like to be transported to other places and times, I like to experience things through characters. And sometimes I just like big, dumb action movies which are not only fun IN the theater, but fun to recount dramatically to people who find such films stupid. They are also fun to read about online. This one not only had a How it Should Have Ended treatment, but the movie franchise has also spawned much debate about the physics of the Fast universe. Now that's a great movie franchise.
Frances Ha
Those of you who know me know that the lack of women in cinema drives me crazy. I love movies, I love women's stories and it frustrates me that we don't get to see more of them. Or even two women in a movie. Or even a sub-plot with a woman in a movie. Or a film that doesn't just have the woman in the girlfriend role. I could go on, and have. But enter Frances Ha, making my movie dreams come true. I also hated that mid-20s period of floundering in my own life, so it was wonderful to see that life passage writ large on the big screen. Also, its fun and funny.
Kings of Summer
Until they start making good movies about teenage girls, I will have to slack my thirst for adolescent life passages with movies about boy teenagers. Fun fact: when I was in high school (and even college) Hollywood produced basically NO movies about teenagers. The sun had set on the Brat Pack and wouldn't rise again until the late-90s with Can't Hardly Wait, American Pie and their like. Except for Heathers, we had nothing after Say Anything, and that classic came out when I was in eighth grade. So a vast yearning need to see my adolescent story played out while I was an adolescent was not fulfilled and thus I tend to watch every single (non-horror) teenage film that appears. This one hit every note of high school summer with three very memorable actors. Plus all the supporting cast was excellent. My teeth dried out from smiling.
Philomina
Judy Dench usually does right, so I expected this to be good. I was surprised at just how good it was. What could have ended up a sort of dramatized-for-television level of emotion was ratcheted up quite a few notches. Aside from the main thrust of the story, Judy Dench's portrayal of Philomina is fun to watch just from the "oh, mother really!" perspective. Bring tissue. It's a weeper.
The Place Beyond the Pines
I'm guessing that the vast majority of straight women have the same bad-boy fixation I have. Hopefully y'all have found a very nice boy to settle down with and confine all your bad boy urges to the screen, as I have. It really works much better if the bad boy is ephemeral celluloid. I've gone on the record (multiple times) as NOT having a thing for Ryan Gosling. However, blond Ryan Gosling with face tattoos is another story entirely. This is a film in three acts, and blond Ryan Gosling is only around for the first act. But the story that starts with him and then flows through the picture is breathtaking. Also, this movie I can never remember the title. I call it "that Pines film."
Stories We Tell
Sarah Polly has been a great actress and director and it turns out makes a darn good documentary too. It's interesting to tell people the premise--Sarah Polly explores rumor that her father is not actually her father--and see what their reaction is. Polly layers her story with her siblings and father (her mother died when she was 11) and as we go deeper into the stories the story we are listening to gets complicated in interesting ways. This movie is good for a gasp or two. And maybe a tissue.
The To Do List
This movie makes my list because I'm stubborn and I'm willing to write off a movie's failings (this one was a bit uneven) if it gives me something I never get. Remember up there in the Frances Ha review where I talk about wanting to see more women in film? Well, this deals directly with emerging female adolescent sexuality. A lot of the reviews of this film said the same thing: It's American Pie from a girl's perspective but not very well done. But guess what? It is FROM A GIRL'S PERSPECTIVE! It's not the film for every one. Or most people. But how often do I get to see a female set out to explore her own sexuality? Not very often. I liked it so much I wrote an essay about it.
This is the End
Whereas dirty female movies get written off as being crude, dirty boy movies are celebrated. And this is a very dirty boy movie. And it is very, very, very funny. And what makes it a fabulous film is that it never stops. It manages to introduce untold scenes and stories and it never once stops and it never once drags.
It was a bit too long, but otherwise fabulous.
Enough Said.
Great chemistry, good story.
Gravity.
Everyone is seeing it for a reason.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
If they are going to make a favorite book series into a movie series, they might as well be doing it well.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Shakespeare. But fun.
Rush.
Go for the dreamy lead, stay for the story.
The Spectacular Now.
Fabulous acting. Unfortunately culminates into a hideous rewriting resulting in a stupid Hollywood ending.
Thor: The Dark World.
I like superhero movies. Though I was surprised how much I liked this one.
White House Down.
Went for Channing Tatum, was surprised that I really enjoyed the film itself.
20 Feet From Stardom
The women who haven't made it big
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Casey Affleck!
August: Osage County
Ensemble full of people I love
Blue is the Warmest Color
All the straight male critics like it. I need to weigh in my straight female point of view.
Blue Jasmine
Cate Blanchett!
Fruitville Station
Vince from Friday Night Lights!
Her
My secret nearly-twin Joaquin Pheonix in a hideous mustache.
In a World
Ridiculous that I have yet to see this!
Inside Llewellyn Davis
I'm getting that I will like the music, even if I end up not liking the film.
Out of the Furnace
Casey Affleck!
Prince Avalanche
Supposedly underrated.
Short Term 12
Excellent murmuring about this film.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Go for Leo, stay for the misogynist behavior.
Wadjda
Saudi Arabia. Girl and her bike!
Let me begin by saying I think ranking Top 10 lists is dumb. Flim/Movies covers a lot of ground, and how can you compare the best documentary to the best film you saw with 'splosions? That said, I do have a #1 choice: Frances Ha. But everything after that is too hard to rank. So here are my lists in alphabetical order. Link(s) to the original three sentence reviews by clicking on the titles.
My Top 10 Movies (that were released in 2013):
I have no ability to critically regard any of the "Before" movies because I am crazy about them. I love that I am two years younger than the characters, I love that they keep catching me in life stages, I love that they are well written, witty, thoughtful and superbly acted. And I love that Julie Delpy's Celine is a piece of work. No shaving off the rough edges of that character. If you haven't already partaken, plan a day, or series of days, and watch all three: Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight.
Fast & Furious 6
This movie made my list partially because Filmspotting's Poll question this week was "Which of these 2013 box office hits would you most like to see make some 'best of' lists?" and this was my pick. (It's currently losing with only 6.16% of the vote.) So I couldn't not include it in my Top 10 list. But it's also here representing films made for the masses. I like to be challenged in my movie watching, I like to be transported to other places and times, I like to experience things through characters. And sometimes I just like big, dumb action movies which are not only fun IN the theater, but fun to recount dramatically to people who find such films stupid. They are also fun to read about online. This one not only had a How it Should Have Ended treatment, but the movie franchise has also spawned much debate about the physics of the Fast universe. Now that's a great movie franchise.
Frances Ha
Those of you who know me know that the lack of women in cinema drives me crazy. I love movies, I love women's stories and it frustrates me that we don't get to see more of them. Or even two women in a movie. Or even a sub-plot with a woman in a movie. Or a film that doesn't just have the woman in the girlfriend role. I could go on, and have. But enter Frances Ha, making my movie dreams come true. I also hated that mid-20s period of floundering in my own life, so it was wonderful to see that life passage writ large on the big screen. Also, its fun and funny.
Kings of Summer
Until they start making good movies about teenage girls, I will have to slack my thirst for adolescent life passages with movies about boy teenagers. Fun fact: when I was in high school (and even college) Hollywood produced basically NO movies about teenagers. The sun had set on the Brat Pack and wouldn't rise again until the late-90s with Can't Hardly Wait, American Pie and their like. Except for Heathers, we had nothing after Say Anything, and that classic came out when I was in eighth grade. So a vast yearning need to see my adolescent story played out while I was an adolescent was not fulfilled and thus I tend to watch every single (non-horror) teenage film that appears. This one hit every note of high school summer with three very memorable actors. Plus all the supporting cast was excellent. My teeth dried out from smiling.
Judy Dench usually does right, so I expected this to be good. I was surprised at just how good it was. What could have ended up a sort of dramatized-for-television level of emotion was ratcheted up quite a few notches. Aside from the main thrust of the story, Judy Dench's portrayal of Philomina is fun to watch just from the "oh, mother really!" perspective. Bring tissue. It's a weeper.
The Place Beyond the Pines
I'm guessing that the vast majority of straight women have the same bad-boy fixation I have. Hopefully y'all have found a very nice boy to settle down with and confine all your bad boy urges to the screen, as I have. It really works much better if the bad boy is ephemeral celluloid. I've gone on the record (multiple times) as NOT having a thing for Ryan Gosling. However, blond Ryan Gosling with face tattoos is another story entirely. This is a film in three acts, and blond Ryan Gosling is only around for the first act. But the story that starts with him and then flows through the picture is breathtaking. Also, this movie I can never remember the title. I call it "that Pines film."
Stories We Tell
Sarah Polly has been a great actress and director and it turns out makes a darn good documentary too. It's interesting to tell people the premise--Sarah Polly explores rumor that her father is not actually her father--and see what their reaction is. Polly layers her story with her siblings and father (her mother died when she was 11) and as we go deeper into the stories the story we are listening to gets complicated in interesting ways. This movie is good for a gasp or two. And maybe a tissue.
This movie makes my list because I'm stubborn and I'm willing to write off a movie's failings (this one was a bit uneven) if it gives me something I never get. Remember up there in the Frances Ha review where I talk about wanting to see more women in film? Well, this deals directly with emerging female adolescent sexuality. A lot of the reviews of this film said the same thing: It's American Pie from a girl's perspective but not very well done. But guess what? It is FROM A GIRL'S PERSPECTIVE! It's not the film for every one. Or most people. But how often do I get to see a female set out to explore her own sexuality? Not very often. I liked it so much I wrote an essay about it.
Whereas dirty female movies get written off as being crude, dirty boy movies are celebrated. And this is a very dirty boy movie. And it is very, very, very funny. And what makes it a fabulous film is that it never stops. It manages to introduce untold scenes and stories and it never once stops and it never once drags.
The rest of the best
American Hustle. It was a bit too long, but otherwise fabulous.
Enough Said.
Great chemistry, good story.
Gravity.
Everyone is seeing it for a reason.
Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
If they are going to make a favorite book series into a movie series, they might as well be doing it well.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Shakespeare. But fun.
Rush.
Go for the dreamy lead, stay for the story.
The Spectacular Now.
Fabulous acting. Unfortunately culminates into a hideous rewriting resulting in a stupid Hollywood ending.
Thor: The Dark World.
I like superhero movies. Though I was surprised how much I liked this one.
White House Down.
Went for Channing Tatum, was surprised that I really enjoyed the film itself.
Bonus List:
Movies that might have made my Top-10 but I've yet to see them.
Those movie critics get to see those movies for free. Not me. I've got to find time and money to see them. Plus, a bunch haven't opened yet in Portland.
20 Feet From Stardom
The women who haven't made it big
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Casey Affleck!
August: Osage County
Ensemble full of people I love
Blue is the Warmest Color
All the straight male critics like it. I need to weigh in my straight female point of view.
Blue Jasmine
Cate Blanchett!
Fruitville Station
Vince from Friday Night Lights!
Her
My secret nearly-twin Joaquin Pheonix in a hideous mustache.
In a World
Ridiculous that I have yet to see this!
Inside Llewellyn Davis
I'm getting that I will like the music, even if I end up not liking the film.
Out of the Furnace
Casey Affleck!
Prince Avalanche
Supposedly underrated.
Short Term 12
Excellent murmuring about this film.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Go for Leo, stay for the misogynist behavior.
Wadjda
Saudi Arabia. Girl and her bike!
The Patricia Awards: Books
Here we have the Patricia Awards for books! Looking for a good book? Have at it. All reviews can be found by searching this blog, or on Goodreads. Note that I probably misspelled a few author's names. So sorry.
I knew this was a good book, I didn't anticipate it would be so quietly funny:
White Teeth
Zadie Smith
Had to return it and then put on hold again, but it was worth it:
Telegraph Ave
Michael Chabon
Maybe you were interested in seeing what the Artful Dodger was up to as a teenager?
Dodger
Terry Pratchett
Most hilarious sports novel I read all year:
Love's Winning Plays
Inman Majors
Best photo book:
Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows
Cahan & Williams
Best YA historical fiction set in past and present Haiti:
In Darkness
Nick Lake
Best YA set in a grocery store in Australia:
and
Best YA where the push-pull of the characters is particularly dramatic, due to age differences:
Love and Other Perishable Objects
Laura Buzo
Read aloud that had an incredible number of characters:
The Graveyard Book
Neil Gaiman
Best book about teenagers set outside of Omaha, Nebraska during the 1980s:
Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell
Best YA set on a World War I era Montana homestead:
Hattie Big Sky
Kirby Lawson
Worst sequel I read this year:
Hattie Ever After
Kirby Lawson
Fabulous YA title:
and
Reminded me a bit of one of my high school friends (still alive):
A Love Story Starring my Dead Best Friend
Emily Horner
Funniest picture book for anyone with an older sister:
Tiger in My Soup
Sheth/Ebbeler
Best book I read this year written by an actor who also appeared in a movie in my Top-10 list:
Ash Wednesday
Ethan Hawke
Fabulous dystopian novel full of love and hope:
The Different Girl
Gordan Dahlquist
Most whimsical picture book starring a girl and a flamingo:
Flora and the Flamingo
Molly Idle
YA with a very unsatisfying ending, though upon reflection amusing throughout:
The Whole Stupid Way We Are
N. Griffin
Fun/creepy J-novel:
Doll Bones
Holly Black
Grown-up book I perhaps expected a bit too much from:
The Good House
Anne Leary
Best YA novel with a main character who shares the name of a family member:
Shift
Jennifer Bradbury
Best book set in Brooklyn in the 60s:
P.S. Be 11
Rita Williams Garcia
A picture book for all, but especially the youngest in your family:
Black Dog
Levi Penfold
Solid dystopian, slightly disturbing book:
Maggot Moon
Sally Gardner
Book I felt like I probably read before, but never really was 100% sure, even after I finished it:
The Man of My Dreams
Curtis Sittenfeld
Best book set in an Omaha Newspaper office:
and
Best separation of main characters since Sleepless in Seattle:
Attachments
Rainbow Rowell
Best sour grapes picture book:
Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great
Greg Pizzoli
Best children's book to use poetry:
Gone Fishin'
Wissinger/Cordell
Best book to turn the objectification of women on its head:
September Girls
Bennett Madison
Best book to have Jacob Grimm's Ghost as a narrator:
and
Book I was completely in love with until it took an abrupt Chelsea Cain/Gretchen Lowell turn for the last quarter of the book:
Far Far Away
Tom McNeal
Best book to read after you are dissatisfied with the Hollywood end of the movie adaption to find that the book ending is much more in keeping with the characters:
The Spectacular Now
Tim Tharp
Book I didn't want to read because it opened with raccoons as characters, but which totally won me over:
The True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp
Appelt
Book I adored and whose title I feel does it a gave disservice:
One Came Home
Amy Timberlake
Book I liked, but had to put post-it notes on the front and back because I didn't want to look at a bloody nose:
Winger
Andrew Smith
Book I was entirely obsessed with and spread my obsession to at least five other readers:
and
Book that caused me to immediately read nearly everything the author has written:
Just One Day
Gayle Foreman
Book with the funniest grandparents:
The Thing About Luck
Cynthia Kadohata
Best book about awkwardly going off to college while your twin sister is spurning you:
Fangirl
Rainbow Rowell
Best book that you should just read and not read about, because it will be that much better:
If I Stay
Gayle Forman
Hottest YA book I read this year:
The Infinite Moment of Us
Lauren Myracle
Best book about an out-and-proud gay kid who wanders back into the closet voluntarily:
Openly Straight
Bill Konigsberg
Best book about a teenager's upbringing in an Evangelical Christian home:
Rapture Practice
Aaron Hartzler
Best books with (as Danielle termed it) "sexy ghosts":
and
Interesting historical fiction:
In the Shadow of Blackbirds
Cat Winters
Picture book that sums up my feelings about the whole carnivore thing:
Carnivores
Reynolds & Santat
Best underdog character of the year:
Out of the Easy
Ruta Sepetys
Good story with forgettable title:
Picture Me Gone
Meg Rosoff
Best historical fiction of the year to include many enjoyable paragraphs about moss:
The Signature of All Things
Elizabeth Gilbert
Best plucky heroine:
Counting by 7s
Holly Goldberg Sloan
Funniest picture book with a cat:
Mr. Wuffles!
David Weisner
Sweetest book with a suicidal, homicidal teenager:
Forgive Me Leonard Peacock
Matthew Quick
Best example of two odd characters finding each other:
OCD Love Story
Corey Ann Haydu
Best basic book of cocktails:
The Cocktail Primer
Eben Kleman
Best book set in a frustratingly unidentifiable time period:
All the Truth That's In Me
Julie Berry
Best book I spurned several times before actually sitting down to, you know, read it:
Glaciers
Alexis M. Smith
The Patricia Awards: Movies
It was a good movie year and I have many awards to present. To read all the original Three Sentence Reviews use the search box.
In chronological order of viewing:
In chronological order of viewing:
Best way to begin the New Year:
Silver Linings Playbook
Movie that spawned an 1800-word blog post:
The Notebook
Movie that should have ended 30 minutes before it did:
and
Movie with horrible ageist casting (the opposite way) that even resulted in an Oscar Nomination because Hollywood is stupid about women:
Lincoln
Joaquin Phoenix and I are linked, though he was icky in this role:
The Master
Good review of a fine teen classic:
10 Things I Hate About You
Delightful somewhat-documentary for romantics:
Paper Heart
It turns out that Ryan Gosling with face tattoos cancels out the hamster effect:
The Place Beyond the Pines
Solid movie that I would recommend nearly across the board:
Safety Not Guaranteed
Incredibly hot movie of longing that ends just past where you think it will:
Take this Waltz
Yep. These guys are still assholes:
On the Road
Surprisingly good "map" movie with bike messengers and the always delightful Joseph Gordon-Levitt:
Premium Rush
Kind of hot December/May romance, but also a bit weird:
P.S.
All-consuming TV series that I just caught up with:
Friday Night Lights
Hideously annoying, stupid movie that I hated which also happened to have a top-five best kiss.
Drive
I was pressing seams. Any movie will do. Really:
Tower Heist
They killed off my guy 10 minutes in. There ought to be a warning:
GI Joe Retaliation
Tim Riggins as space explorer in a very bad film:
John Carter
A gift that only comes around every nine years, but that I hope will appear again in 2022
Before Midnight
Best documentary of the year (and by a woman!):
Stories We Tell
Action adventure that I didn't anticipate enjoying as much as I did:
White House Down
Best capture of mid-20s floundering and possibly my favorite movie of the year:
Frances Ha
Best Shakespeare movie adaptation I've ever seen:
Much Ado About Nothing
A bite of pure sugar delight and a stupid movie that I loved:
Fast & Furious 6
Best movie directed by someone I went to high school with:
and
Great depiction of female sexuality:
The To Do List
Mediocre movie that was saved by Sam Rockwell:
and
Best use of a Bonnie Tyler song this year:
The Way Way Back
Movie you might want to watch if you haven't gotten around to it:
Bernie
Fabulous acting, great teen romance, fabulous teen life passages, and then the ending stinks it all up:
The Spectacular Now
Pure delight and you must see it now:
and
Movie that had not one, but TWO plot points hinge on the game of Monopoly:
Kings of Summer
Movie I am frustrated that no one told me about for years:
and
Best movie to make a point about tennis shoe wearing that was heard:
and
Best movie to use Dirty Dancing as a plot point:
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Movie with much too much porn imagery:
Don Jon
Boy-humor plot that had me gasping for air through my laughter:
This is the End
Best movie to make the point of how lovely it is that oxygen is free and plentiful:
Gravity
Much, much better than I thought it would be:
and
Most excellent final, final scene that few people saw because they left the theater:
Thor: The Dark World
The most hideous entry in the Channing Tatum Personal Film Festival:
Havoc
Still good after all these years:
Goodfellas
Watched just to see one of the stars and the plot caught me:
Rush
Even more wonderful film than one would guess, and with the ability to slay audiences by a simple turn of plot:
Philomina
Man, it just got that much better:
Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Best movie to use trampolines in a dance sequence:
Step-Up 2
Best movie to feature Amy Adams' clavicle:
American Hustle
Worst movie about dumb criminals:
Pain and Gain
Best capture of middle age romance:
Enough Said
The "Yep. It turns out I like it too." award:
Platoon
Inadvertent Paul Giamatti double feature:
Saving Mr. Banks
(driver Ralph)
and
Rock of Ages
(smarmy manager Paul)
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