To understand is to perceive patterns

Do you believe in patterns? I do. And by the looks of it, I am currently in the Mystery+Law+Crime+Drama pattern with books and movies. And I figured that out after I finished two movies , a documentary and a book recently.

When I started watching “Fracture” I felt a sense of deja vu, but it turned out that I had actually watched this movie earlier. I realized that almost half an hour into the movie but since I had forgotten how it ended, I continued with it. Anthony Hopkins didn’t scare me in Hannibal or in Instinct as much as he scared me in this one. In fact when I went to my afternoon siesta (which is a very rare thing for me) after watching this movie, I dreamt of him and I woke up scared and sweating. I don’t remember the dream, just the feeling that I saw him and I was really very scared (I am not a person who gets scared easily) And the story of Fracture is a mystery, crime, law drama and very well executed too. Ryan Gosling is there too 😉

The second movie I watched after Fracture was “The Lincoln Lawyer”  I chose this because it kept coming up on my recco (short form for recommendation) list. And 15 mins into this movie and I realized that I had seen this too and yet again had no idea how this unfolds. Its been a long time and my memory isn’t what it used to be. And it has Ryan Phillipe too. (There is that other connection between these two movies. Two of my favorite Ryan’s). This is another mystery, crime, law drama and there are enough twists in it to keep you at the edge of your seat. Thankfully I wasn’t scared of anyone in this movie.

After that movie, I decided that I should get on with my book. I had finished some romances earlier and was ready for a mystery. I picked one that was there on my Kindle Unlimited list. I had added it sometime back but hadn’t got around to start it. This one was called ‘Not Proven: A Pete Morris Mystery‘ It started off very very good. I was very much impressed with the first chapter. At the end of it, I knew that I had another mystery, crime, law drama in my hand. I rolled my eyes and went ahead. It was very well written, had lot of law based references  which seemed very genuine (I don’t know anything about law and haven’t read many law based mysteries) and the twists and turns and the not so cliched ending made it a very great read. This is the first one in the series. Now I would have to hunt down the other books in the series.

By now I had realized that I was falling into a pattern and decided to break it. I didn’t want it to get boring after a while and since work has started I won’t be able to concentrate too much on mysteries at least for a couple of weeks until I get settled with the work and catch up on it. But I was glad that I managed to get these three together. All three were awesome in their story line and execution. If you haven’t watched them yet, you might want to give it a try.

All in the game, yo!

I have heard good reviews about this TV Series ‘The Wire’ but never got around to watching it. After a series of comments and replies from D F Lovett on his blog post and given that I really like ‘The Night Of’, the ongoing series (which is a rarity) I decided to take the plunge. I was hooked. So instead of completing my Cursed Child, I ended up binge watching the whole of The Wire Season 1. It was really gripping. Honestly, I haven’t watched any such police drama. Detective series are a different genre, according to me. So this was a new territory.

Idris Elba is so hot. I knew he was…but this is the first time I am watching him in a series. I liked Omar , played by Michael Williams too. Irrespective of the line of work, be it police or IT , the politics that is played by the players are too similar. Sometimes you are left wondering ‘what the f**k did I do?’ just like McNulty 😉 The screenplay was very impressive. It all ended very beautifully in a full circle, not entirely the way McNulty wanted it to end. I should say that I was kind of in a haze yesterday after doing a full day of The Wire on Sunday. And yesterday it was a full day shopping trip ( it wasn’t me who did the shopping yo! ) and by the end of it I couldn’t see the roads clearly while driving back. It is not a easy thing to actually get back to work today especially with tight deadlines with my head still reeling in all that happened in Season 1. But I got to do what I got to do. Just like Omar says at the end of the season, ‘It all in the game yo!, all in the game’.

A Book & a Movie

What better way to spend your flight time than to spend it on a book and a movie, both good enough to keep your interests engaged. And add in some sleep in between too. It would make the flight duration pass on very quickly.
The Lady in the Van(2015) – Movie

I am a huge fan of Maggie Smith. So it was only natural that I would watch this movie. It was hilarious and fun in a different way. I always love how she is so full of life in every movie and how she can make people roll their eyes heavenwards looking for some divine intervention 😉 It takes place in a very small area near Camden (Borough of Camden, to be precise), London. Since I am aware of that place I was excited to see it. I might just pop in to take a look there to see if they still have that blue plaque installed. I totally get why there are two of those authors. I tend to do that sometimes. Might sound a bit crazy. But it helps sometimes. If you love Maggie Smith or a good English drama, then you will like this.

Cliffhanger – T.J. Middleton – Book

I have always been proud to invest in my Kindle Paper-white and more so in Kindle Unlimited now. This was part of the new releases in Kindle Unlimited. Another British drama-thriller-mystery. Not your usual fast paced one. But a decent paced and consists of only a handful of characters. It starts off with a bang. You will not help but laugh out loud in the initial chapter and then it starts taking a very unusual turn in its events and at the end you will even feel a little bad on how things went. You can see a little bit of Gone Girl in it. But not too much. There is that dry British humor all through. Those one liners that make you smile. The twists that make you go ‘aah!’  I gave 4 stars to this book.

Eye in the Sky & Foster Jenkins

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about the movies I have watched. It is because I haven’t seen one in a long time. But I compensated for it by watching two over the last week.

Eye in the Sky:

When we had a choice as to which one to choose among the currently showing movies, my friend and I picked this one. Both aren’t a fan of MCU so we skipped Civil War. I might watch it sometime later just for the star cast. And we were glad by our choice. With a very powerful star cast in this too, I did not have any doubts about the performances. I wasn’t very sure about the plot. Since I just read a small synopsis and not the entire story, I was wondering if it would become too dull with ethical and moral issues discussed and such sort. But it was brilliantly executed. I am not going into the story or anything but it was a very powerful drama. RIP Alan Rickman. It was quite funny too in many places with very well placed one-liners. Loved it.

One of our friends treated us to this movie to share her joy with us.

Florence Foster Jenkins:

I love Meryl Streep but to be very honest, I loved Hugh Grant in this movie a lot more than Meryl Streep. Her performance is amazing no doubt, but that is her norm. She does her part very well that you forget that it is her and it is Florence you are hearing and it does annoy us from time to time when she sings off key. That says a lot about Meryl’s acting. But I have never seen Hugh Grant in such a role. A little bit gray but still very lovable. The actor playing McMoon was hilarious and had me in splits every now and then. It wasn’t a very great movie as such, but it had very lovely performances by the artists. We both chose this only for Meryl Streep and she did deliver it for us. We did wonder if we were going to hear that voice in our sleep that night and thankfully, I promptly forgot about those songs. Don’t know about the rest of them who watched 😉

 

A-Z Book List: O for One

Every once in a while (which is becoming more in a while nowadays) I need a book which doesn’t put too much pressure on my mind. That is when I pick up the romance genre. But even in that, they can be various levels. Some are intense, some are browsable, some hilarious and some are sure shot HEA feel good books. Depending on how I feel, I pick up (going with my gut feeling after reading the blurb of course) one. One name you will find associated with the romance genre for the feel good and HEA (Happy Ever After, just in case you didn’t know) books is Danielle Steel.

Name: One Day at a Time by Danielle Steel

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Drama, Fiction

The friend of mine who was my supplier of books, when I started reading novels as a part time thing after work (back in 1999), had a couple of Danielle Steel books even though she was a huge fan of Sidney Sheldon (and yes, I have read almost all of his works). I remember reading a book of hers called ‘The Long Road Home‘ and feeling so depressed and sad for a day (so much for feel-good books heh!) But I do realize why my friend had that book with her. I guess I am digressing. Back to the topic. So yeah, that was when I was introduced to Danielle Steel and maybe it was that book back then that made me buy this one on a sale. I wanted a feel good love story because I was feeling so down and this was when I did not have access to e-books and such. And this book did just that. Made me feel good about love, as does a couple of her other books. I agree I haven’t read too many books of hers, but what I have read have accomplished the set goal. Tell you that love is worth it, it’s OK to have a bad phase and so on.

This story is about three people and their lives and how they find love. I gave it three stars because I wanted something out of this book and it gave me that. It is as simple as that. Recently I loaned this book to my friend’s mom and she too loved it. So far, she has loved my collection and she wants more of romance (she is about 60 years I think) but sadly I have more thrillers and mysteries than romance 😳

If I wanted a very nice relaxed contemporary love story, I would go to Danielle Steel and a couple of such authors I have found over the period of time.

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here