What if you died and no one noticed for three years? That’s what happened to Joyce Carol Vincent. I have to admit when I first read the basis for the documentary Dreams of a Life I thought the subject would be a drug addict. Maybe someone morbidly obese with no relatives and withdrawn from society so no one noticed with the calls for pizza delivery stopped. I didn’t image it would be a young vibrant woman who had, had lovers and was admired by many. I didn’t image it was someone with sisters and her father still living. I didn’t image… so I watched. How does someone 28 years old wind up dead for three years and no one notice?
I’m sorry to say there aren’t any pat answers. No answers as to how she died, was it natural? was it murder? No answers as to why no one came in three years to collect bills or rent. The answer comes in our society where we have any acquaintances but few true connections. People are transient we move on and assume so do they. But in the case of Joyce – she wasn’t moving.
I found that in many ways I understood Joyce. I move a lot and here in Kenosha I have acquaintances but no real friends. Same could be said of Oak Ridge and Kalamazoo. I think after a few military moves I learned not to connect to people easily, it’s hard to keep up long distance friendships so best to be choosy – very choosy. Which leaves me with few regular contacts here where I live and it has been that way for years.
But unlike poor Joyce, I do have those I keep in touch with – my best friend and I haven’t lived in the same county since I was in 8th grade – rarely have we lived in the same state. My husband and I talk daily when at all possible even if he’s traveling. So there are connections, there are those who would notice. Yet, would work check? I think so but it might be a bit before they did. Would my on-line friends check? No, people cyber-fade it’s a fact of on-line life. We just figure real life took them in another direction.
By the same token, if I didn’t see a neighbor for sometime would I check on them? The lady that walks the big rottweiler would I learn her name, check to see why they haven’t been by in some time? No. It’s not maliciousness or total lack of caring – it’s just we don’t know each other. I look back in old pictures and how intertwined my parents life growing up was with the neighbors. Now, I’d be hard pressed to tell you my two side neighbors names much less front and back neighbor or at angles. People keep to themselves, watch tv, play on computers, chat with cyber-acquaintances half a world away.
There are good and bad things to modern society but the saddest things are when good souls slip away through the cracks… good ones like Joyce. We are left wondering what if… I ponder what if we were disturbed by her story enough to make a change and connect with more people?
Manhattan Skyline from the Staten Island Ferry 05/1973 from the US National Archives via Flickr’s The Commons no copyright restrictions.
~The following was inspired by watching the 2006 documentary The Falling Man. A link to it is below, it deals directly with the victims of 9/11 those who fell and/or jumped from the towers. If such things are too disturbing for you I recommend you don’t read further and you don’t watch the documentary. ~
Have you ever thought ‘why can’t I do this? it’s so simple!’ or when someone points out a simple better approach to a problem ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ or wonder why some days you can bust the problem of the day but others you are stymied by three simple problems? Well in this book David Rock explains the answers to those questions and much more.
No he doesn’t tell you how to think. Instead he takes the latest neurological understanding of how our brains operate and puts it in every day terms. He makes so we understand what the limitations and the strengths. He then takes normal every day situations and applies what science has learned. There are two takes to each scene. The first is how I’d do it if I were in that situation. No, Rock didn’t interview me but instead took the typical approach of an adult to real world situations. Then he explains what the brain was doing and why we think it works that way. Finally he redoes the scene taking the new information into account.
I was amazed at what I learned. First off just what a power (glucose) monster the brain is! Really, all these years when I’ve complained of mental fatigue I was right. Next how to approach layered problems by grouping things before approaching them. Prefrontal cortex is where we do our fresh thinking. It’s the most powerful part of the brain, the most energy hungry, and surprisingly the most limited. It’s a serial processor. He illustrates it well in the start of this talk from 2009.
Actually that talk is just a glimpse into what the book is about. I found the book more entertaining and of course more informative. No disrespect to his talk, it’s great but there is much more room in the book to go into more detail. Oh and the applying things to everyday life helped me immensely.
I always wondered how things became easier as we did them. No I get that practice makes perfect but how does it make perfect. Why is it the first time I drive to a job getting there consumes me but three months down the road I can listen to a book on tape and get there just fine without thinking about it. Or when I learn a new crochet stitch – I’m consumed in getting it right, reciting the steps as I do them but a week later I’m doing it while watching TV and chatting with Mike. What happened? Well, the short answer is the activity moved from the prefontal cortex to deeper regions of the brain that don’t require so much of the body or myself to run.
There’s a lot of information in this book. I’ve already started using some of the tips and mastering them. I know that if I read it or listen to it again (I got the audiobook version now too) I’ll pick up new steps to try. It’s the kind of book that you process in layers, and now I know why startling new things are like that.
I heartily recommend it to everyone who has a brain and wants to use it. Until next time!
I’m always looking for a good book series. I enjoy watching characters develop. I guess that’s why I still enjoy comic books. I keep my ears open for new series to try. Generally, speaking the first book of a series that’s intended to be a series is one of the weaker books because it sets up the world, the characters, plot lines to carry for many books, and an episodic plot. That’s a lot to get done in about 300 pages. So if a series can grab me in the first one I figure it’s a keeper.
The Anatomist’s Apprentice by Tessa Harris is the first book of the Dr. Thomas Silkstone mysteries. It’s set in England during King George III’s reign, during our Revolution here in the states. Anatomy was a newish science and our hero Dr. Silkstone is burgeoning into forensic science. He’s treading new territory about the time Vidocq, the father of modern forensic thought, was being born. He attempts to determine not just the cause of death but the method of murder or should I say murders. The initial one leads to a few more all needing to be solved.
There are enough twists, red herrings, and dead ends to keep the reader guessing. The story has a great pace to build interest without being rushed or lagging. I have to say I enjoyed it very much and will be reading the second book The Dead Shall Not Rest.
Even though I enjoyed the book there were a few issues with the book that threw me out of the story as a reader. The first was remembering it was set in the Georgian era not the Victorian era. For me take away a few references to tricron hats, powdered wigs, Colonies in revolt, and men in stockings and the setting was perfectly Victorian. Actually it seemed more so than Georgian, from medical school operations, to newspapers frequency, to conversational phrasing, to servants mannerisms and so on. The feel was off so I gave up ignored the few dropped hints that it was the 1700s and imagined it in the 1800s.
The second issue was head hopping. You see in a scene you can only be in one person’s head. If you keep hopping about from inner thoughts to inner thoughts it gets confusing. The few times in one scene where we jump from his head to her head and back I was totally out of the scene and confused. Inside one head per scene please!
The third was events seemed to be known before they were known. I can’t think of specific examples but I do remember at least twice thinking “Hmm, we know that? How did I miss that?” Then shortly after that we do come to know it. As I writer I recognize this as forgetting to clean up moving a scene. It happens and a good editor will kick it back to you to fix.
Finally the fourth and to me the biggest one – don’t play your hero of the series to be stupid. There’s a scene where he explains how a unique poison works. Then right after that the very person who gave him the sample – has the systems of the poison but dammit he doesn’t notice. It takes too long for him to put it together when as a reader I was shouting it at him. YOU JUST DESCRIBED THIS HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE IT?!?
Honestly I put the others on the editor’s shoulders. A great editor takes a story and helps the writer make it the best it can be. Unless there’s a reason to have it in the 1700s a few snips and it’s fitting the feel. Head hopping is something editors are always harping upon and looking for changes in the point of view (POV). Writers tend to do it when creating because we are trying to account for everyone and their motivations so their movements hold true. Decent editors get it out very quickly. I’ve already addressed the rewrite remnants of what is known when. So I think it’s a good strong story with weak editing.
Those are mostly small things, some are just writer hang-ups. Still if it’s stuff that will bug you be warned it’s there but the story is strong enough to get through it. If you don’t notice these things or they don’t bother you, then you’re in for a fun read.
You know I like action movies. I want something to entertain me as I find most plots don’t keep me guessing but the action is where I get my thrills. Also you know I love wisecrackin’ Deadpool. Well in this movie I got them both! Action and a wise crackin’ reluctant hero. Not to mention a female lead that wasn’t the screaming damsel in distress. All in all good fun.
Sure there’s a lot to be desired in the plot. You see there’s a prison of the world worst criminals in orbit. Yep in space orbit around the earth. There they are put into hibernation. Why it requires the expense of putting them in orbit, moving the staff back and forth from earth to the platform and all I dunno. Harder to escape I’d guess but still the cost must be exorbitant per prisoner.
Then there’s this nonsense that they’d let the President’s daughter not only go to a prison like that but wake up and talk to one of the most psychotic prisoners of the bunch. Yeah like the Secret Service would agree to that. BUT they did and you can guess what goes wrong. Yep and our wonderfully quipping reluctant hero has to go in and save her. Only thing is this woman can save herself, she’s one tough cookie. True with trained help she does much better but she wasn’t some crying wilting flower either.
I’d put this movie down as a popcorn watcher that was kinda fun but not great if it wasn’t for the character Snow. He was awesome, no awesomesauce! He cracked the funny one liner I adored in the craptastic 80s action flicks and that make Deadpool the nutty merc with a mouth that’s dear to my soul. His character alone pumped this up to a B movie from a D. Just because he could make this girl laugh. Really guys don’t wasn’t money on covering your grey, learn to make a girl laugh that’ll bring them in more than dyed hair.
There is nothing to this movie beyond action and quips. The insane inmate character is over played. The inmate rebellion leader has no where to go but down in firey debris as they crash into the atmosphere or starve to death in orbit so naturally he wakes ALL the prisoners. For some reason the prisoners are identifiable by bad Scottish accents. Not much to recommend this beyond the joy of silly word play and some good ole fighting. Oh and Guy Pierce isn’t hard on the eyes…
I always have a hard time answering the question “What’s your favorite movie?” I mean really can you compare a comedy to a historic drama to a noir to a novel adaption of a genre work? No because what is a good point in one might be a weak point in another. If I think say Elizabeth I’s coronation was hysterical in a historic drama it has failed but in a comedy it has succeeded. So my answer is “Depends on the type of movie.” This one wouldn’t my top list of any genre but it is good for what it is.
I know I’m a huge fan of story but sometimes I go to a movie for the visual – the special effect and/or the action. That’s where Act of Valor falls. The plot is there but it’s thin and developed to tie together various types of action in various types of terrain and conditions. The acting is stiff and not even high quality by high school standards. Yet it was awesome for what it is – a movie of real Seal teams showing the cool stuff they can do.
Yep that’s what it is. A big ooohhh-rahhh action movie of here’s how we do a jungle attack. Here’s how we do a city extraction. Here’s how we’d attack a compound (uh any fairly recent events come to mind?). It’s shouting, explosions, shooting, verification procedures that who you got is who you were sent to get. You know those questions in your file about obscure facts from your life that only you’d know – that’s what they are for. The rescue team gets the answers and uses them to verify you are you.
I found the movie fun. The poignant moment of a funeral was hard because the uniforms are ones I know too well. The SEAL team is Navy after all. Still I had the bonus of having someone who had real world experience working with teams like this. No Mike was never on these teams but yes he did have a senior officer position in many exercises and during the year plus he was activated. So he can explain some of the great nuances like the questions asked the hostage they freed (M’mam I hate to make you answer but what was your dog’s name when you were in first grade?) It’s quick and over and if you caught it you might think – what the heck was he asking her that right then? Shouldn’t they be hauling ass outta there? I think Mike’s commentary made it better and made me appreciate the slower scenes of tactical planning and information sharing.
Don’t come to this movie for a story. Don’t come to this movie for award winning acting. Come to this movie to see what our forces can do. Come to this movie to appreciate what these family give so that our forces can answer the call. Come to this movie to see what planning goes into taking action. And by all means come to this movie to see action, tonnes of it, in spades. If those things don’t appeal to you – then this movie isn’t for you.
I discovered the Dresden files when he was on book 5 Death Masks. I liked it so much my next vacation at the beach I read books 1-4 in a week. I’ve kept up with them since then. I generally devour them the week they are released. I love the audiobooks too. James Marsters does a great job reading them except Ghost Story which was read by John Glover. Well Cold Days is book 17 and Ghost Story was book 16.
In the last book Harry was for all intensive purposes a ghost. Which was interesting but being in that state it took away one of his traits that I like so much – the ability to kick ass in any kind of fight. Yes when you are all wispy you can’t toss spells around or throw punches or use any weapons. So the fun underdog wins the battle part of the typical entry in the series was gone. **SIGH** I did miss it but in this book Jim Butcher made up for it by a final battle that was chapters long. I kid you not CHAPTERS long.
You see due to some technicalities Harry has his body back. Now he also is the human knight to the winter queen who happens to be the faerie Queen Mab of legend. She’s always been a terrifying presence on the edge of Harry’s life. Since the books are written in first person the only view we get of her and others is through Harry’s perspective. He’s always seen her as a malevolent character. Even at the start of the story when she’s personally over seeing his physical rehab by trying to kill him each day – she’s not seen as a wonderful benefactress. Yet as this story unfolds there are things we learn about her that make her more sympathetic. She has a large weight of responsibility to the real world both mundane and magic that Harry (and thus we) weren’t aware. Also in a private moment we learn the Queen like all fae folk was once human. Fae are born as halflings and have to choose which side they will take, just how or when the choice is usually made we aren’t told. We do see one halfling be forced into a side but it’s an extraordinary circumstance made by battle and insanity of courtly fae that sets up the situation.
I have to say I like glimpsing the magical beings but my heart lies with the magical humans like what Harry was when he was just a wizard. This story spends a good amount of time in the Winter Court in Never Never which is the magical realm occupied by the fae. Not my favorite setting in Dresden. I don’t mind the White Court, vampires in Chicago as much as I do the Never Never. I guess that’s because what brought me into Dresden was the concept of a wizard private investigator. We’re far from that now but the roots of seeing the magic world in the mundane is what I loved. I didn’t want to live all in magic in this urban fantasy – when we do it’s just fantasy and that’s way down my genre list from urban fantasy. I’m a picky reader I know but hey there is so much out there I have to be. Only so many reading hours per life ya know.
What I did enjoy in this book was the return of action. Dresden isn’t just his bad self again – he’s his bad self augmented by the Winter Knight mantel and Queen Mab’s daily attempted murder training sessions. So he can really kick ass as seen when the final battle rages for a quarter of the book. Ya know I kinda think Jim Butcher missed writing the action too. As much as I was glad to have it back, even I – the action glutton – thought this was a bit much. Still it was fun but didn’t touch reanimating Sue the T-Rex to ride her through Chicago to get to the big supernatural battle though. Nope that’s still my happy geek moment in the Dresden Files.
The other thing that was good to see back was Molly. She’s not the terrified, tortured, homeless waif we saw in the last book. Actually we learn why she was being trained so harshly by Harry’s godmother. Molly is now a not just a good wizard in her own right but a a powerful one. She works as a full team member without any issues on Harry’s part, except well the effects of the Winter Knight but I’ll let you discover that for yourself. To see the team back together – Butters, Molly, Thomas, Karrin, and Bob along with Toot-Toot!!! (I adore Toot-toot!) working together to solve all the emergencies that are colliding at the same time. It’s wonderful to see them and awesome to see the characters have grown.
That is why I’m okay that it’s not a series about a PI who is a wizard in Chicago any more. The characters out grew it. Every character including Bob have grown and changed given the stories that have happened and the time passed. That’s why I can keep coming back, it’s formula with growth. That’s why I don’t miss the PI stuff but I do miss Chicago. I want Harry back there not living off in fantasy land. That’s all.
I love how threads and points from earlier books are paid off here in this story. We learn more about Harry’s island Demonreach and what his role is with it. We learn why Harry’s godmother was frozen in Mab’s garden in a past book. We learn more about the Outsiders. More about the structure and nature of the fae’s courts. So it’s a big world expander that ties up some things.
All in all it took me a day and half to read, yes it was a page turner. I loved it and am left waiting at least a year to find out how the heck Harry gets out of being the Winter Knight without being a ghost for real the next time. I suspect Santa Claus and Demonreach will have a hand in helping him with this one. Yes you read that right Santa Claus – he’s the Winter King don’t ya know. Oh and he’s more if you read the subtle clues in the final scene where he chats with Harry after the huge battle. Hint – brush up on the pre-Christian origins of our jolly one in red.
If you’ve not been introduced to Dresden Files let me have the honor of highly recommending them. You can’t go wrong starting at the beginning in book or in audio book and working your way through. It’ll be an adventurous action filled ride that leaves you longing for the next one. I just warn you when you get here to book 17 Cold Days it’s gonna be a long wait for the next one -but it’s coming!
As I sat down to write this I thought who am I to review Stephen King a modern master of the novel?
As a writer, no one was the first answer. As a writer I study him for some of the best example of modern description. Short quick phrases that set the scene and help keep the action moving. He’s a master at it. I’ve heard it called Blitzkrieg characterization. How he moves from type of tone and genres in 11/22/63 is masterful. As a writer I’ve not got a leg to stand on and offer any judgement.
As a reader, I stand upon a mountain of books read over a lifetime of loving story. I’m in a strong position as a reader to comment on what I like and don’t like. I read multiple books at a time across multiple genres of fiction and non-fiction. So I figure I’m in a good place as a reader to offer my comments on King’s latest novel 11-22-63. It’ll be on that stance I’ll make comments.
11-22-63 left me in an odd place as a reader – I wanted more or less story. When I finished I was very unsatisfied despite it being a long 849 pages. This story blends genres. It’s publicized to be about going back in time to attempt to stop the assassination of Kennedy. Along the way to the point of the story it visits the territories of sci-fi, horror, alternate history, and romance. I’m not against blending genres but the only one I thought that got a full story arc was the romance, the other aspects of the story were left feeling unfinished for me.
I’ll be the first to admit as a reader the genre of this blend I like the least is romance. I loved it as a teenager but my taste changed. So during the pages of romance and lyrical waxing on the two lovebirds jitterbugging – I was bored, bored, bored and wondered when the heck were we going to return to the sci-fi of time travel, or the horror of the It creature, or start the alternate history of interfering with Oswald? Instead I was stuck in an overly sentimentalized non-existent Texas town reading a romance.
As for the sci-fi part I wanted to know more about Al, the man who discovered time travel and developed the mission the main character Jake/George carries out. I wanted to see how the rules were figured out by Al. I wanted to know more about his diner’s relationship with the phenomena he found. I was frustrated because King broke the first rule – don’t tell show. We were told the rules of time travel and I wanted to see how they were discovered.
As for the horror part I liked the references to the It creature by starting the story out in the middle of the It story. Having read the novel long ago I recognized Pennywise and a few of the characters in the town. Carrying Pennywise forward in the story and linking him with the assassination by suggestion was great! I wanted to know how this dark force was related to Oswald! But alas that thread was never completed. I liked how it was going but once the event of interfering with the assassination started that was pushed aside and forgotten. I closed the book thinking – so what the hell did Pennywise have to do with it? Was it just pages and pages of a distraction?
Then there’s one of my favorites – alternate history! I thought surely with a book about time travel to stop with the Kennedy assassination I’d get some alternate history either way the mission went. If Jake/George is successful or not he’s change history in many ways waiting out the years to get to the event, just like Al had to change it in his discoveries. Just like the green card man explained to Jake/George (a second case of telling NOT showing). As a reader I got a glimpse of what the mission did to the future but not HOW it did it in the third case of telling not showing. The bulk of the book was eaten up by getting to the assassination and the ending was rushed. The alternate history was short changed. I didn’t get to live the world after the interference with the main event, the whole thrust of the plot – instead I glimpsed it and was told the payoff that I’d waded through 100s of pages of romance to see.
Finally the fatal flaw for me was Jake/George’s supposed worry about effecting history before the event? Heck you are setting out to change a lynch pin event in history who cares if you start that change a few years earlier? You are changing ALL OF TIME AFTER THE INTERFERENCE FOR ALL ETERNITY what does a few years, heck decades, heck even centuries matter? There’s eternity on the other side of the mission! Unknown-illions of lives from 1963 to the end of time shifted – what’s a few billion changed for less than a decade matter in balance with that? His reasoning doesn’t make sense. Sure it’s fun to stalk about the edges of Oswald’s life for years but that’s not why I picked up the book. I picked up the book on the promise of time-travel interfering with the Kennedy assassination and for me what happens after that.
I also didn’t pick up the book to read an idyllic look at small town America in the late 50s early 60s. I felt the touching on the social ills was there just to give a nod to the modern reader. Yeah I know it was a time when women weren’t liberated, black were segregated, and domestic abuse wasn’t seen as a police but rather a family matter. After a few periphery nods he goes on with the almost “Leave It To Beaver” tone of the story. Sure there are dark events but they all pull together, have a talent show, and deal with them as a white happy community! I choked back my barf and pressed on hoping for more time travel mission.
When I closed the book I spent a long time thinking about why I felt disappointed as a reader. What would have made me happier with the story – the answer was an odd one. Either make it a series of books covering Al’s adventures through Jake/George through the alternate history and end with Jake/George telling us how it ended. So one answer was give me more so I’m not left hanging on these issues that felt unfinished. Second sell it as a romance with some time travel mission to it and cut down the first part of the book. Third keep it as a time travel book cut Pennywise, romance, and tighten the focus. Fourth make it a pure genre not a blend. King’s best books have been that way in my opinion as a King reader.
So as a reader I walked away with too many questions to call it a great read, it was a good read. As a writer I’ve learned look for plot holes have beta readers look for unanswered questions, know when to cut threads out if you can’t tie them up at the end. I think my biggest lesson as a writer is that genres exist to satisfy the reader – so that the book has focus and the reader can get the full story. Successful blending of genres means you answer all the plot elements you raise be they sci-fi, horror, alternate history, or romance.
In the end I’d quiz someone about what are they looking for in a read before I’d recommend they open this book. It has a lot to offer as most stories by masterful writers do – but it’s not perfect.
I love spy drama. I especially love spy drama of the Cold War period. I’m hoping to see a movie about 26 Sept 1983 the day the world almost died and didn’t know it. Until then I enjoy fiction inspired by the mood of the times.
The original BBC Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is one of my favorite spy movies. When the remake came out recently I was hoping for a new take on telling a favorite tale. Like most movies I don’t catch them in the theater but do catch them later. This was one of our weekend movies.
I can’t say I didn’t like the movie. I did. I can say it was true to the BBC original. I enjoyed the twisted tale as always where who is who and where do loyalties fall is always fun. Except when it was over I pondered why the remake? Did we really need to make a copy of the classic? Nope. I walked away from this one with nothing more than I got from the original. It wasn’t updated. It wasn’t tweaked as far as fashion, setting, or anything. It was all the same tale with fresh faces and new names playing the parts.
Some movies are so well done, so powerful, so masterfully made the first time they don’t need remakes. Casablanca comes to mind. It doesn’t need to be copied with fresh faces and color. It stands as the best it can be as it is. So what if the new generation doesn’t know Bogie let them be introduced to him at his best. That’s how I feel about the ’79 version of TTSS. It’s Cold War drama at its best. Let it stand as the masterpiece that it is.
I felt for the cast of the new one. The best they could do is live up to the first. When up against something like this – you are set to fall short. Gary Oldman turns in a powerful performance but it is only equal to Alec Guinness’s in the original. Hard to exceed a master in one of his best performances ever.
I’m not sure what I wanted when I sat down to watch. I generally stay away from remakes of movies I think are the final say on that particular story. When it was over I was left with the thought that this added nothing nor took anything from the original, that it was just eh – new faces in familiar places. I don’t think I needed that. Despite the sets being spot on to period, fashions being grand, pacing and delivery top-notch I was left thinking I could have just watched the ’79 one and gotten the same thing saving the world millions.
If you’ve not seen the first and you don’t want to watch actors of a previous generation at the top of their game then this version is for you. Otherwise – get thee to a library and look up the original. It’s excellent and it was the first. Until next time!
We watched this movie recently and I enjoyed it greatly. The Ryan Reynolds character comes to the realization of how dirty politics is through some brutal events. The candidates aren’t the stars here it’s the back room men (yes they are white males) that are the stars of the tale. The differences aren’t about ideals which are mocked but about what can “I” get, what can “we” get from doing this, or what damage can we inflict on the other side? It’s not a pretty picture but it’s a fascinating one to watch. Being a cynic wearing a hopeful human coat I could relate to the Ryan character. However honestly it’s the Marisa Tormei reporter character that sums up my true thoughts. Her statement in the bar to Ryan near the beginning of the tale was the most eloquent and succinct statement of my thoughts on politics today.
The painful disillusionment of Ryan’s character is interesting and powerful to watch. I think any of us that have seen a few elections know how it feels on some scale regardless of what side of the aisle come your political leanings. Oh of course it’s ramped up to add drama to the movie. The brutal crush of innocence and the innocent in the chase of the ultimate political power is a very old human story. To see it retold yet again with modern trappings is striking. Like most tragedies you want to look away, to not see it. Yet you can’t. I’m not sure if it’s morbid curiosity morbid fascination, lessons of a cautionary tale, or hope of redemption that kept me watching. I’d like to think it’s the latter but my gut said it’s the first and second.
This movie isn’t action driven. It’s a character driven tale. It moves subtly and builds with small but emotionally impactful turns for the main characters. Sometimes the off the cuff decisions change our life the most and that’s the start of this ride. Those decisions don’t always change it for the better. Once you see behind the curtain of how it works and what it takes to work you can’t unsee it. The magic is gone and the brutal knowledge will change a person. The question at the center of the movie is what will the main character do with his full knowledge of what goes on behind the curtain. THAT’S what kept me watching, THAT’S why I liked this move very much.
The slow destruction and reconstruction of a character is something amazing to watch. Good stories (as opposed to movie rides or comfort beach reading) are about the character arc – start here, experience story, then end there. A truly good story leaves the characters irrevocably changed. The change doesn’t have to be for the better, but it is drastic enough they can’t go back to who/where they were at the beginning. The Ides of March has that in spades for the main character played by Ryan. The events of the movie make him a different man. The tensions comes in not in the destruction of who he was but in the construction of who he is to be – what choices will he make, what events will push him to be that final incarnation of the character at the end. The power of this tale was I wasn’t sure just what I wanted that reconstruction to be given the setting. In the end I think Ryan’s acting gave us the answer unequivocally in his eyes in the final scene. The new character steps into his next story a changed man. The movie goer is left to ponder just what that change means.
Mary Louise Eklund 