The Sitter(2011)

Stars:Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor and Sam Rockwell|

The Sitter is a remake of the 1987 film
 Adventures in babysitting starring

Elisabeth Shue, Maia Brewton and Keith Coogan

In Adventures in Babysitting, Elisabeth Shue’s character Chris Parker agrees to baby-sit after her date stands her up. When Chris’s frantic friend Brenda calls and needs to be rescued from the bus station in downtown Chicago. Babysitter and kids leave their safe suburban surroundings and head for the heart of the big city, never imagining how terrifyingly funny their expedition will become!

In the The Sitter, Noah Griffith played by (Jonah Hill), has been kicked out of college, and finds himself living back at home with his lonely divorced mother. Reluctantly, Noah agrees to baby-sit the kids next door so his lonely mother can make a love connection. When Ari Graynor, who plays’ Noah’s user blond girlfriend, calls dangling sex for picking up some of cocaine, our hero packs his charges into their family minivan and heads out to a dope dealer's den.

One of the big differences better the two movies is in The Sitter is funnier, and a bit more realistic than it’s predecessors. The children are not just cast for their cuteness, the three mini terrors, include perpetually angry Rodrigo (Kevin Hernandez), a Venezuelan adoptee who is also a enthusiastic pyrotechnician.; little Blithe (Landry Bender), a tarted-up Britney Spears want to be; and Slater (Max Records), a neurotic teen ("I've got issues!").

The best part of The Sitter me was Sam Rockwell who played, Karl the coke dealer with the strangest man cave, gym, lab and lounge I have ever seen. This ostentatious boy palace adored with grotesque body-builders heaving weights. Karl is a whacked-out sociopath who is just fun to watch. One of my favorite lines from Karl, (Hugging Noah, he gushes, "You're so gorgeous and shy ... you remind me of my Aunt Shirley!")

Normally, the original is the better choice, Adventures in Babysitting certainly had a closer relationship between the characters. But, The Sitter has better laughs, more believability and character diversity. Watch both and see what you think but for now...

In the words of Noah's too-cool buddy, the doorman at one of the dives our hero visits, the movie's final good advice: "Make love to the night, m-----f-----!"

The Lucky one ( the Movie)

Nicholas Sparks

The Lucky One is a romantic movie is based on Nicholas Sparks' book and starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling.

First, let me say I never expect books converted to movies to reflect the book perfectly. My thinking on this issue is if you have 100 readers, you also have 100 imaginations who see each character differently. By the way my imagination never saw Zac Efron as Thibault. There is one exception, Tom Hank’s movie adaptation of Stephen King’s the Green Mile.

For the most part The Lucky one movie is hampered with Hollywood stereotypical characters: from the beautiful single mom, the chivalrous ex-solider, the feisty grandmother, the controlling ex. and the precocious son. The movie does do one thing better than the book, Efron’s character is touched by post traumatic stress, after all as soldier he would have lived thru to sleeping in a trenches, to hear the sounds of weapons being fired at all hours, and seeing friends die. The book just says Thibault hit’s the road on foot with his dog in search of his lucky charm. The movie shows the aftermath of the Iraq war on Thibault goes home to Colorado, he jumps at every loud noise, and accidentally attacks his nephew who touches him while he is sleeping. This is the seg-way to hitting the road, and it works.

Like the book, this is more of a lifetime movie with no surprises, but enjoyable for what it was. It was the nicest stocker movie I have ever seen. By the way my imagination didn’t mind Zac Efron as Thibault.

Watch the movie for yourself and tell me what you thought

T Portlock

The Lucky one (book)

The Lucky one (book)

Nicholas Sparks

You have probably seen the unsmiling serious image of a military person in his or her dress uniforms and thought how strong they appear to be. The question is, can we understand what it takes: for a person to sleep in a trench, to hear the sounds of weapons being fired at all hours, and to see the amount of death a soldier has to endure?   To answer the question, probably not. I am reminded of an old saying, “there are no atheists in foxholes.”

Nicholas Sparks’ fictional book The Lucky one, explores how far a soldier will go to have something to believe in. Thibault, is a soldier in the Iraq war. He finds a photo amongst the rumble. At first Thibault attempts to find the person who lost the picture.  Over time,the photo of a young women wearing a shirt that says lucky lady across the front,  becomes Thibault’s  life line. Thibault’s best friend Victor convinces him that the photo is his lucky charm.

When Victor doesn’t make it home and Thibault does, the journey to find Thibault’s lucky charm begins.

Don't pick it up expecting something earth-shaking, but if you pick it up looking for a light read with a dash of mystery, a splash of action and some tender romance, then you're in for a treat. Overall the book is predictable, but it isn’t a bad thing.Sparks reminds us “there are no atheists in foxholes.” Thank God.


 T Portlock

http://nicholassparks.com/

Alone

Alone by Lisa Gardner

　

Catherine Rose Gagnon endured a month-long nightmare of abduction and abuse, but that was Twenty-five years ago, but for some nightmares never end.

A madman survived solitary confinement in a maximum security prison where he'd done hard time for the most sadistic of crimes. Mr. Umbrio is released from prison, Now he walks the streets a free man, invisible, anonymous...and filled with an unquenchable rage for vengeance.



ALONE... Massachusetts State Trooper Bobby Dodge watches a tense hostage standoff unfold through the scope of his sniper rifle. Just across the street, in wealthy Back Bay, Boston, an armed man has barricaded himself with his wife and child.

ALONE... Bobby Dodge’s finger tightens on the trigger and in a split second, Catherine’s husband Jimmy Gagnon's lay dead.

Garner has woven an intricate web in Alone. This book is worth the read. Why, it’s not predictable. The twists and turns grasped your interest. And if you love a secret this book has a good one.

I would say read Alone, read it and tell me what you think?

T Portlock

Blue Nowhere, Jeffery Deavers

Reviewed by Carlos Vazquez

           
 I felt that even though Jeffery Deavers did a wonderful job, with this psychological mystery, some of the of the character development was a bit weak. Personally, I thought that the villain could have been stronger, and a lot more vicious, that isn't saying that "Phate" wasn't bad enough but I thought it could' be worse.   Still, the book was incredible and insatiably delightful, in a wickedly psychotically delicious and yet disturbing way.
                            

 The Blue Nowhere, was written in 2001, so some of the computer terms such  IBM are a bit  obsolete, for todays' technical norms. Mr. Deavers has invited readers to experience a  somewhat mentally unstable, villain.  Our villain is a suffering, wicked computer hacker, named  Phate. Phate is a stalker, that takes his targets out one by one, using disguises, and his base tool of elimination is the internet.  

   The good guy is Wyatt Gillette although  he is a unlikely hero.  Wyatt was locked up for hacking the Federal Reserve. The question that I pose is How do you catch a hacker? The answer, get a better hacker.  

 I liked the book because it was fascinating and disturbing. However this story is incredible and yes I would recommend it to anyone who likes to be scared. Now don't take my word for it read it for yourself.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

IN DEFENSE OF FOOD considers the relatively new science of “nutritonism,” whose purpose is to make the consumer believe that he or she is getting the most nutritional bang for the buck. Not so, says Pollan. The “Western Diet” consists of “lots of processed foods, lots of added fats and sugar, lots of everything --- except real vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.” Pollan attributes American attitudes about eating are mostly to blame. We want our food quick, easy and now! We are overfed, but undernourished. And I would agree with Pollan, more young people and children are suffering with obesity.

One of the brightest parts of this is book are the ideas Pollan offers is :“You are what you eat eats.” So, for example you ate a steak, the cow was grain fed and the grain, was grown in composted soil. As the end-user, you got the maximum benefit. I tookthis to be  a reminder we are all apart of the food chain.

The downfall of the book for me is when Pollan brings all these topics to light, but he can offer
no real resolutions. Topics like: Don't eat too many seeds because those are full of omega 6 and too much of that can kill you. So can too little of it. And by the way, everything we eat is seeds, or everything we eat ate seeds before it became our food. Yep, I thought the same thing.

The concept of not eating things with more than 5 ingredients kind of threw me. My homemade gumbo has more then 5 ingredients and it‘s the bomb. I really wanted to have solutions to today’s food issues until I realized Pollan may not have an answer for me either. Perhaps, Pollan is saying why aren’t there any answers?

Lastly, Pollan states we should not eat anything our grandmother wouldn’t recognize.  Grandma would reconize the mac and cheese for mac and cheese.The real issue is all those recipes such as grandmas’ mac and cheese are now filled with lots of added fats and sugar, none of which are not in Granny’s recipe. Ok, except butter. But I’m not referring to the butter, but to the chemical additives most of us can barely pronounce. I thought  Pollan spent a lot of time talking about the western diet, but the book was informative. I think some of Pollan’s concepts such as You are what you eat eats are eye openers. but now I have more questions then answers. Perhaps that was the real point.

I do have a question of my own, if all this fast, quick and easy food is so good for us, why are so many Americans’ suffering from obesity, food allergies, colon disorders,A.D.D and/or cancer?

Read In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan for your self and tell me what you think.

T Portlock

　

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter


Seth Grahame-Smith

Book review

Essentially, the book is a biography of Abraham Lincoln, just add vampires. Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, weaves another fun tale of gore, blood and an axe-wielding president. And pretty much the plot is

Grahame-Smith, chronicling Honest Abe’s life with the same historic care of any well taught history class. The injection of the vampires is seamlessly. It all begins with Lincoln’s personal tragedy at a young age caused by, none other than, you guessed it, vampires! I found the more the book took itself seriously, the more I found the humor in the whole concept.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a book you will either love or hate, after all it is history. If every man has a secret, hunting vampires seems to be a bit cleaner than closet cross dressers, and the socially tabooed mistress. Grahame-Smith gives our 16th President a tall hat and an axe. So the future President vows to slaughter every vampire in the United States. The only problem, well Lincoln died at a fairly young age. ( spoiler alert.)

Oh, lets hope the movie is violent, bloody and an entertaining ride!

So read the book for yourself, this is my review what is yours….

　

Note**This book was recommended to me by my book brother A. Morrow. We share a love for books and  some very twisted views. Morrow is the smarter of the two of us, so I enjoy reading his picks. Over the years he has suggested some interesting authors and books.

Such as

Christopher Moore’s  Lamb: The Gossip according to Bif
Going Bovine by Libba Bray

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse, Robert Rankin

I read everyone  and complain… while he laughs. T Portlock