Book, Movie Recommendations

There’s nothing like reading something good. I swear this fuels me. I don’t know why God (or whoever, or nothing) put us here on this earth, but I’m pretty sure enjoying art — in the most expansive sense, one that includes rap music — is a key thing.

I read a lot and a lot of times I’m disappointed with it. I read two of the three big best-sellers from the last year and thought they were both sort of meh, I thought. (The Correspondant, Strangers.) Writers, I know a lot of people discourage you, but I would say shoot your shot, because if those books are turning their authors into literary superstars, there’s hope for just about anyone.

It’s hard to find the good stuff, but when you do, life is SO MUCH BETTER I think. We all need that. So it’s in that spirit, I wanted to offer some recommendations. I’m always dying for recommendations myself.

First, I actually saw a couple movies I like lately. I hardly have time to watch movies.

The Invite

I saw this movie on a split-second whim. My kids were seeing Minions and Monsters and I did not want to sit through that. The theater was also showing this, which I had never heard of and knew nothing about. But I like Seth Rogan. So I took a chance and paid their ungodly Movie Theater price.

I am so glad I did because this was such a wild ride and so surprising. It was basically about married sex, which everyone (including myself, a married person) thinks is gross. Too much emotional baggage! No one wants to think about that!

But this movie kind of turned it into a joke? AND it was very funny. I saw it live in the theater and I can verify that other people were kind of snorting and gasping. The acting was top notch. The cast is amazing. The dialogue was so wild. The whole movie takes place over a single night. A lot of the humor is derived from awkwardness that can come up in everyday social encounters.

I have never seen a movie like this.

One qualification, I missed the end. Because Minions and Monsters ended first and I had to get my kids. Still, would recommend, especially for middle aged types. It’s definitely NSFW though.

Hamnet

I watched this on Netflix or something recently. Again without much clue what it was about. Since then I’ve been dying to talk about it with someone.

First of all, it was a very beautiful movie. It’s a period piece in medieval England, mostly in the countryside. The cast, Paul Mescal, is very uh photogenic also, if you get my drift.

What was kind of mind blowing about this movie, though, was the way an ordinary mom was the undisputed hero/protagonist.

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