Movie Review: 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) flees from her fiance. As she is driving at night, another car runs her off the road. She wakes up in a concrete room. She's chained to the wall and has a IV in her arm. She soon finds out she was saved by Howard (John Goodman), who brought her to the bunker and has saved her from certain death. He built this survival shelter under his farm and is waiting for the fallout to dissipate from whatever biological or nuclear attack has happened in the outside world. Michelle only has his word for it. And that of fellow bunkermate Emmet (John Gallagher Jr.). Emmet claims to know Howard, hinting Howard is both a survivalist and a conspiracy theorist. What is Michelle to believe?

The story unwinds in a tense fashion. Howard definitely isn't right in the head but is he the good kind of crazy or the bad kind? Goodman's performance keeps viewers guessing. As a character, Howard clearly sees himself as good but Michelle is unsure. She wants to get out and has more than one riveting escape attempt. More details are revealed about Howard throughout the film, making it a satisfying mystery since most questions are answered by the end. Michelle is a likable and intelligent heroine well played by Winstead.

The movie has a very superficial relationship to Cloverfield. Occasional hints at connections can be caught by astute viewers but they don't amount to much and are only a distraction from this story. Both movies are thrilling but I found this one much more satisfying. The characters here are more interesting and likable than in Cloverfield. The story is more believable and more tense, making it a much better movie.

TV Review: The Returned (2015)

The Returned (2015) executive produced by Carlton Cuse

This show starts out as an almost scene for scene remake of the sensational French television series from 2012. The story is switched from an isolated mountain town in France to an isolated mountain town in northwestern United States. The town is planning memorials for a dam break that killed a bunch of people 30 years ago and for a busload of children who crashed on a mountain road four years ago. One of the girls from the bus accident, Camille, walks out of the woods not a day older and with no memory of the accident. She goes back home to her sister and now-separated parents. A wife of one of the dam workers, Helen, returns to her husband after nearly 30 years of absence; he's too ill to understand or accept her. A fiance who died six years ago, Simon, revisits his former-wife-to-be who has a six-year old daughter and is about to marry a local cop, another awkward situation. A spooky young boy shows up with no apparent family; he's taken in by a young doctor who is moved by his seeming innocence and quiet. And a serial killer returns from seven years ago. Situations are virtually identical to the French version at the beginning; even many of the names are exactly the same with occasional substitutions of English for French version (e.g. Peter was originally Pierre, Jack was Jerome).

Unfortunately, the actors aren't quite as good as the French actors. And the music is not as evocative or distinctive as in the French version. And some story points are made with a lot less subtlety. If you've seen the original version, it's hard to watch through to the more original and more divergent material in the last third of the season.

Some of the character's story arcs are changed from the French series. And an out-of-town reporter shows up asking questions about the dead who have come back. Intriguing new questions and dramatic possibilities open up, similar to the way the television show Lost went along (Carlton Cuse was executive producer for Lost as well as this show). I had that nagging feeling that answers would always bring more questions, like it continued to do for Lost. That became a little disappointing in that show's final season. Sadly, this American version of the Returned has been canceled by its network, so I guess no answers will ever come.

My advice is to watch the original French series and skip this version.

McCracken House, Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum

On our visit to the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum, we saw the McCracken House, an example of houses with no electricity.

McCracken House

On the porch were a pair of rollerskates from back in the day. We did not get to try them on.

Old-fashioned skates

The first room inside was the family room with a wood burning stove and a hand-cranked record player. It took a little while to explain how the records played to my daughter. She was fascinated.

Family room

Just behind the family room is the kitchen. The kitchen has both a wood burning stove and a kerosene stove. I liked the big wood burner better.

Two stoves

The kitchen cabinet has a flour sifter which did a lot of work back in the day. If you had the "run of the mill" flour, there would be plenty of other bits in the flour that need to be sifted out before making bread, cereal, and other foods.

Cabinet with flour sifter installed

The other fun non-electric appliance is the ice box. Ice was delivered every day or every other day and put inside the box to keep perishables refrigerated. Neat!

Ice box

Out on the porch are the washer and dryer. Washing by hand looks hard but the dryer is pretty simple.  The docent thought that people wouldn't know what clothespins are in a few years but I think that we'll probably be using them anyway, regardless of how easy it is to use an electric clothes dryer.

Washer

Dryer

Back inside we saw the dining room set for breakfast. The dining room has a high chair and a wheel chair, items donated to the museum.

Dining Room

Wheel chair with spitoon?

We went upstairs to see the bedrooms. The house has one master bedroom, a children's room, and a sewing room.

Stairs

Master bedroom

Children's bedroom

Crib in the children's room

Desk and dresser in the children's room

The sewing room is another example of non-electric tools in use. The clothes iron would be heated on the stove downstairs. The sewing machine is powered by feet; the spindle by hand.

The sewing room

Like many other places, the McCracken House was a fun place to visit but I don't know that we'd want to live there!

Main and School Houses at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum

The Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum has several buildings on the property. Many of them are just sheds. A handful are little museums in and of themselves.

Right by the road is a large home that looks like it's in use. It is, in fact, the first bit of the museum, with several display rooms.

Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum

A sparsely decorated living room

The dining room had a fun, low-tech checkers set on the table. We were tempted to play but were nervous that we'd get in trouble.

Dining room

Checkers with stones (good luck stacking two for a king!)

The kitchen looked like it was ready to be used, but still old-fashioned enough to put off those inexperienced with older appliances!

Kitchen (cool phone on the wall!)

The back of the house has a double-decker porch. I would love to have such a deck, in the front or in the back!

Back of the house

Side view of the house

We visited was the One Room Schoolhouse, an example of education from a hundred year ago.

Our daughter on her way to school

A brouchure explains the typical day when the school was open from 1885 to 1946. Before the start of school, the teacher swept the floor. In winter, the teacher came in an hour early to start the pot belly stove. The academic day started with a Bible reading, opening prayer, hymn, or the Pledge of Allegiance. The teacher had to cover penmanship, spelling, reading, geography, arithmetic, science, and languages. The children did have lunch and recess. They went home with homework to be turned in the next day.

The schoolhouse has all the classics--chalk boards, books, and 3D viewers.

Writing on the slate

She snuck some into school!

Bookshelf with globe

Old-fashioned and new-fashioned 3D viewers

The room also has some interesting toys, including a miniature cast-iron stove.

Playing cooking

One of the displays has the original Seal of Maryland. It's based on the Calvert Family, whose coat of arms inspired the Maryland State flag.

Great Seal of Maryland

Another display talks about the National Road, a route from east to west that used to follow right in front of the Museum. A fun puzzle was using refrigerator magnets to put the six states through which the road went in proper order.

National Road info

My daughter snuck out back to enjoy her bag of chips!

A child's size bench

In the next post, we'll see the McCracken House, an example of housing without electricity.

Cute Kid Pix September 2016

More pictures from events that weren't big enough to have their own post!

My wife and children went to visit her cousin and her children at the National Zoo. They didn't take too many pictures and the ones they did take were all too shocking!

They visited the elephant exhibit which has a display about how much elephants eat and what that turns into later on. Why are they showing actual samples of the final result!?!

My son next to a tube of turds

The outside exhibit was more pleasant, featuring a big pool for the elephants. I wonder if the kiddie elephants are like the kiddie humans and don't get out of the pool if they have to do number one...

Why does the water look green?

My daughter tried to convince herself of the innocence of what is going on. The sign was helpful.

Reading a G-rated version of Asian Elephant Life

In other news, we had to buy new kitchen scissors. You'd think it would be a simple process, but the pair I brought home had a problem...

A nice pair of kitchen shears featuring...

...one small problem

That little cable tie meant I needed a pair of scissors to open up my pair of scissors!

Desk scissors to the rescue!

The first day of school went well. The only problem was the toddler, who also wanted to get on the bus with his brother and sister. Hopefully he will remember this enthusiasm in three years!

The first day's bus

At our local playground (popularly known as the "purple playground"), the toddler has slowly been working his nerve up to try slides by himself, without holding hands or anything. So far, he rides with his brother to the delight of all.

Action shot!

A good ending

Book Review: Guardians of the Louvre by Jiro Taniguchi

Guardians of the Louvre written and illustrated by Jiro Taniguchi and translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

A Japanese artist stops off in Paris on his way home from a conference in Spain. Why not add an extra week to the trip and see the museums of Paris? Unfortunately he gets stuck in his hotel for a few days with an illness. He recovers a bit and heads off to the Louvre. Once inside with the other crowds, he has a feverish relapse. He wakes up in an almost empty Louvre. He's led around to various works by the Guardians of the Louvre, spirits inspired by some of the famous works on display. He finds out more about the artists and the art, even traveling through history to visit Van Gogh in the French countryside and the museum when the art was evacuated at the beginning of World War II.

The set up isn't all that compelling--is it a fever dream, is it actually happening, is he in some halfway state? Those issues are mentioned but are really unimportant. The set up is an excuse to explore different artists, events, and works. Since the author and the main character are Japanese, readers also find out about the influence of some art pieces on 20th century Japanese art. The book has a lot of fascinating stories and trivia from the art world.

The book is also fun for anyone who has visited the Louvre, since the drawings authentically capture the interiors and many famous works like the Mona Lisa. Reading is like visiting again.

The book is published manga-style, reading comic panels right to left and beginning with what, in America, is the back of the book. I quickly adapted to the style, so I don't think it should be any challenge for other readers, but it is something to be aware of.

A very enjoyable and creative slice of art history!

TV Review: And Then There Were None (2015)

And Then There Were None (2015) directed by Craig Viveiros and script by Sarah Phelps based on Agatha Christie's novel

Ten strangers meet on a Soldier Island to either meet with or work for U. N. Owen. He's hired a couple as house servants and a woman as secretary; the others are invited under various pretenses, all of which turn out to be false. Everyone except the host is present when an album is played after dinner. An ominous voice accuses all ten people of various murders for which none of them have been punished. One by one they die under mysterious circumstances, all following a nursery rhyme that has been framed and put in every room in the house: "Ten little soldier boys went out to dine;/ one choked his little self and then there were nine...." U. N. Owen is obviously "unknown," so is there an eleventh person on the island killing them or is one of them the killer? It's 1939 and the island is private with only one boat coming and going, only it's not coming anymore. With no phone to signal the mainland for help, they are on their own, facing harsh and inevitable justice.

Agatha Christie's novel is a classic and possibly her best work (at least, it's my favorite). The characters are fascinating--sympathetic but obviously guilty. The least guilty are the first ones to go, building up the tension and the theme of vengeful justice as the story proceeds. The mystery is fascinating and the resolution highly satisfying.

This television adaptation is in three hour-long episodes. They are quite faithful to the book with some minor changes. The poem is "Ten little soldier boys," a politically correct adaptation from the version I read in my youth, when it was "Ten little Indians," though apparently the original name was even less PC. Apparently the current version of the published novel follows the "soldier boy" version. This change didn't really bother me but I did notice it. Another change was the characters occasionally dropping f-bombs, which was more surprising to me. And there's an odd scene when the last four people have a drinking and coke snorting party, presumably to relieve the tension of their immanent demises. I can see why the film makers put the scene in but it goes on too long and doesn't fit too well into the narrative.

The biggest change is a tonal shift. This adaptation is more of a psychological horror thriller. Most of the characters are haunted by their past misdeeds. In addition to flashbacks showing some of the homicides, there are scenes where the present-day characters see their victims on the island. The on-island scares go overboard once or twice but otherwise are great, adding to the tension and giving the show a very cinematic feel. But it looks more like a horror film than a whodunit.

The acting is top notch, what you would expect from a BBC production. The actors communicate their guilt, denial, fear, and suspicion with a realism that draws the viewers in. The period costumes and setting are also convincing.

Overall, this is a fine adaptation of Christie's book and definitely worth watching.