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Review #13: The Man in the Iron Mask

The book by Alexandre Dumas — the 1977 movie — the 1998 movie Alexandre Dumas was my favorite author in my pre-teen years. I read at the time in French, first The Count of Monte-Cristo, then The Three Musketeers, and then whatever Dumas book I could lay my hands on. However, now, half a centuryContinue reading “Review #13: The Man in the Iron Mask”

Review #12: Japanese Murder Mysteries

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders — 2. Murder in the Crooked House — 3. The Decagon House Murders I hadn’t been aware of the popularity of murder mysteries by Japanese authors until now. So I read three in a row. The Tokyo Zodiac Murders and Murder in the Crooked House are by Soji Shimada, while TheContinue reading “Review #12: Japanese Murder Mysteries”

Review #11: How to Murder Your Wife

1965 movie directed by Richard Quine, starring Jack Lemmon, Virna Lisi, and Terry-Thomas This of course, is the 1965 poster, a very misleading one, by the way, while the new one on Amazon Prime is much more attractive. I hesitated before watching it, since the premise seems rather dark and not comedy material. I alsoContinue reading “Review #11: How to Murder Your Wife”

Review #10: Queen Marie

I’m always unabashedly drawn to historical movies with strong women figures, and stumbling on this 2019 movie on Prime caused a knee-jerk reaction: gotta see this one! My immediate reaction, during and right after the viewing was, Men! What jerks! So, Queen Marie was queen of Romania; in fact she was the last queen ofContinue reading “Review #10: Queen Marie”

Review #9

Mucize (Turkish movie) “Mucize” (pronounced moo-jee-zay), meaning Miracle, is a Turkish movie produced in 2015. It is available on Netflix with English subtitles. It never won any awards, and only gathered 69% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it was popular enough to spur the production of a Miracle 2: Love in 2019. It’s not difficult toContinue reading “Review #9”

Review #8

RESET (Chinese TV Drama) Yes, I have been seduced by my children to watch a Chinese drama, but the saving grace is that it’s only 15 episodes of 45 minutes each. And for a change, the main thread was not a romance, though as of Episode 14, the main girl character told the police thatContinue reading “Review #8”

Review #7

THANK YOU, JEEVES! By P.G. Wodehouse Where have I been my whole life? Do I live under a rock? I decided to purchase this audio book because it was on sale and also because the author’s name rang a bell, though I’d be at a loss to describe what kind of bell. Just a pageContinue reading “Review #7”

Review #6

The Red Thread, by Ann Hood I usually try to avoid critiquing books or movies that I know are going to make me spew out negative after negative remark. I “read” this book on Audible a couple of weeks ago, and tried avoiding reviewing it, but somehow cannot. I must speak out on cultural appropriation.Continue reading “Review #6”

Review #5: The week’s harvest

This week, I watched All About Eve, Tick, Tick… Boom!, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower; and I listened to: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and Hiding in the Spotlight. I couldn’t decide which one to review, so I’m going to pile my comments on all of them. Actually, I was wondering whetherContinue reading “Review #5: The week’s harvest”

Ramble#4: Goat Days

by Benyamin [I’ve changed the title from Review to Ramble because I find that I’m not just reviewing the book but rambling about other related topics.] I was looking for a novel, in the world literature category, preferably from Asia, from the 20th century or later. What attracted me to Goat Days was the premise,Continue reading “Ramble#4: Goat Days”