Run, Fat Boy, Run and The Brothers Bloom

I have this desire to be a runner. Part of me wants to the person out there, running, who cares the weather, all leav, and svelte, and being able to talk about things like hamstrings, or running times, or Personal Bests. The clout. the bravado... The quiet yet very present attitude of, yeah I'm awesome that comes across.
And I even do run. I attempt to run the fields on our family's farm. Dodging bears, coyotes, and falling trees. I plug in my Ipod and go. (This might be bad because I can't hear all the goblins and ghosties out int he woods that I'm running so near. Part of me still expects to see one of the monsters from the Village come walking out of the trees.)
But honestly, I don't have that addiction to it. I try. I hoenstly do. But yeah. I'm normal. I'm not one of the elite athletes who will be doing a marathon anytime soon. (Instead I'm here blogging about it.. Go fig.)

So when I saw the title and read the back of the dvd case of the film Run Fat Boy Run! I was instantly sympathetic.

As my husband said, "Can I be horrified at everything this guy does wrong?" and I replied, "As long as I can be sympathetic." (See, my husband is one of those running elite.)

It immediately became one of my all time favorites.

This film isn't in Tunkhannock Public Library's collection. We found it in the Keystone College collection. It's available via Netflix or Amazon.com

Run Fatboy Run is directed by David Schwimmer aka Ross Geller from Friends.

So here's the trailer.




I don't think I have laughed this hard in a long time. We had to stop the film, pause it until we were done, and rewind to catch the parts we were laughing too hard through.

What may appear as a simple. war between two guys over a beautiful woman - great guy, average guy/slightly loser-ish guy... turns out to be a great story about friendship, heart, finding yourself, and all sorts of things.

And oh my gosh it's funny. Not little laughs. But laughing like oh my gosh I might just pee myself.

I cannot recommend it highly enough.

You see hints in here about what is infamously known on the interweb as The Blister Scene.
Do I put the scene in here? *insert thinking noise here.* Yeah I think I will.





And then my other favorite movie that no one seems to know about:
The Brothers Bloom.

Here's what hooked me.



When I finally saw it, I loved it. It held up to the opening sequence, and I didn't stop smiling through the entire film.

The cast is just lovely. Mark Ruffalo as the big brother, Adrien Brody is the younger brother (oh how I love Adrien Brody....), Rachel Weiz is the woman who collects hobbies, and the nitro glycerin artist... It's just a great big fantastic film with moments that seem preposterously silly but completely true in the context of the film. And for as much as this is a film about an amazingly complex Con, the truth is never too far from the surface. They are so close that we often find ourselves wondering which is truth and which is the con?

The writing is great. Quirky, fun, smart. There's no bad writing moments in this entire film. It's all so randomly eccentric that it makes complete sense and the authenticity of the story resonates.

I don't know why it's not better known. It should be. Also, not in our locla library's collection, but available via Redbox, Netflix, or Amazon.com (Maybe Santa will come late tot he library this year...)

This is one of the very few movies that I immediately wanted to watch it again the moment it ended, into the next day, into the next week. So much that it we found it used by someone on amazon.com.

Thsi film holds up, time after time. It's longer. It has a lot going into it. It's intricate, complex and the ultimate con. Fantastic story, and just amazing. LOVE IT.

Sherlock Holmes

You probably don't know this, but I have had a long standing literary crush on Sherlock Holmes. Yes I know. How much nerdier can I get? (At least it's not like crushing on Albert Einstein..) Pretty much since I was about thirteen years old. I find myself fascinated by the whole enigma. What can I say, I go for brains over brawn any day. And with a brain like Sherlock Holmes' it's almost porn.

When I was tweleve and reading the stories for the first time, certainly "porn" that wasn't even in the vocabulary, I just knew I liked it. I loved the stories. I loved that for once the smart people won. It didn't hurt that the smart guy was also a bad@$$. It was all the things I wanted to be. It was like I had found my own people.

I am nowhere near that smart, though if there was a class based on the Science of Deduction, or a way to train my brain to do some of those things, I might just attempt it. Minus the cocaine, morphine, tobacco, and opium.



Every Halloween, I start to yearn for certain movies. One of them is Young Sherlock Holmes. Directed by Barry Levinson, written by Chris Columbus, and produced by Spielberg (I think), it's quality from the get go. There's no one that you'll recognize. Absolutely no one. (But Nicholas Sebastien Rowe who plays Holmes has extremely curly hair, and I think that is where I can trace my attraction to guys with curly hair comes from.)




The film takes place at a boarding school. Sherlock is there as a young man, John Watson is a transfer student from a school in the country. They meet and Watson is brought into the world of Sherlock Holmes, just at the moment when a puzzling series of events has occurred. There's human sacrifice, murders, hallucinations, guilt, betrayal, blackmail, chanting Egyptian Cults, revenge, lost love, murder... And a whole score with moments that echo back to Carmina Burana by Karl Orf.


This is made in 1986, and was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best visual effects. But it was also 1986. So those amazing effects then may seem common place now. But they never seem hokey.


An excellent story, with great acting, and a wonderful imaginative beginning to the Holmes and Watson world, Young Sherlock Holmes is perfect for a cold autumn night, or any other time really.


Here's a scene. (funny how it hearkens to the new Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes....)





Then of course, the next Sherlock Holmes was the Jeremy Brett incarnation from Granada TV. This is the version you probably watched in Middle School when you read Sherlock Holmes. Jeremy Brett is awesome, and stands as the touchstone for most Sherlockians. He passed away, sadly, some years ago, while portraying Holmes... Also stragely enough, when you get into Brett's biography, he began to almost FEAR Holmes as a person, or as a part of himself. He found it very difficult to leave that role on the stage and to continue outside life. Brett referred to Holmes as You-Know-Who or HIM.


He's more of the well refined, almost extravagent, theatrical, closest to the literary depiction. While there's nothing to garner attention sensually or attractively, he's still classic.

This is a clip from The Final Problem between Holmes and Moriarty.



But my new love is the BBC Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cummerbatch as Holmes.

A reimagination, placing Holmes and Watson in the 21st century. John Watson is a British soldier/dr veteran, wounded in the Middle East. Holmes is a scientist who works at a university and freelances with the police. Lestrade is there and calls on him, while the rest of the force views Holmes with disdain and call him Freak. The interpertation is excellent. That keen deduction is all there. The rapid fire shooting of intellect, adventure and mystery is all over the place. But unlike Jeremy Brett's portrayal which is almost at points a little too saintly, we see this Holmes with all his warts. (When Lestrade decides to harass Holmes, they call a Drug bust on his flat. Watson, newly moved in is certain it's all unfounded, while Holmes is sweating bullets..)

I absolutely LOVE this. And he has the curly hair.
Just awesome. Amazingly written, fantastically interperted, just awesome. Nothing but awesome. Go watch it. Netflix it. Amazon or pbs.org it. But go watch it. It has been picked up for a second season on the BBC, though it will probably only be about three 90 minutes episodes. Still amazing though. You will absolutely not be disappointed.

By Way of Introduction

Let's be up front. I love movies. I love books. I love little random bits of little known facts, tidbits. I love secrets. I love good food. I love a good story, a good song, and I just can't help sharing those things with people.


Far from being a blog just about movies, and books and music, I thought I'd look at the little gems I come into contact with every day. Those little things that make me smile, that make me want to hold on to that moments forever. And maybe they'll resonate with you too.


Right now I feel like SNL character Brian Fellow (portrayed by Tracey Morgan). So, at the risk of infringing on SNL - Hi, I'm Brian Fellow.




The reviews from the Tunkhannock Public Library's website under Rebecca's Reviews will also be posted here. Feel free to stay up to date with all the activities of the library. Also, we invite you to comment or discuss the reviews, or make suggestions to be highlighted. www.tunkhannock.com/library