madameblogalot

The Red Baron: This movie seemed a bit disjointed. Even my son said after a few minutes that the movie was poorly made. It was so-so. I did enjoy the brief bios at the end of the movie. I think this movie was mostly a MISS with us.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame: It took me nearly three months to get through this book. I wanted to finish it as it is apparently the inspiration behind the writing of the Phantom of the Opera. The story was gruesome and not “enjoyable”. All I kept wondering is how Disney made this into a movie for children. This was a MISS for me.

Death of a Salesman: An easy to read script I read in one day. While it is more of a MISS in the sense of “enjoying” the story, in the sense of the depressing accuracy of life it is HIT on the head.

Be Kind Rewind: While not a great show, it had just enough silly/stupid humor and enough “goodness” to make it pretty much a HIT with us. (My son did wish they had done more “remakes”; I wished they had done Star Wars.)

Ivanhoe: I enjoyed the story of Ivanhoe (though I thought he was no more the hero of the story than several others.) I was able to figure out the identity of the Black Knight only a few pages before he was revealed. I also enjoyed Robin Hood being a part of the story (I’m not sure if his identity was supposed to be a surprise or not.) I do wish I had read a version of the story that was not so “King James”; it would have been a little easier to read then! I also don’t like how the author kept referring to the reader. This really detracts from the story for me. I want to get lost in the story, not be reminded that I am outside the story reading it! (I guess this must have something to do w/ the time period or style as I noticed it a bit in Hunchback and my daughter said it is also like that in Jane Eyre.) Even so, I will still call this book a HIT.

Jane Eyre: I only read this book because my daughter wanted me to. Not because she enjoyed it, but something more akin to “misery loves company” (it was required reading for her.) While I did not share her hatred of the book, I did not love it either. While I found some good messages (be true to yourself, avoid temptation) I don’t really find this a book for kids, especially not Freshmen. The one thing I especially did not like is how the author addresses the reader-that drove me crazy! I was surprised by a few things in the story, others found to be too similar to other stories (say Oliver Twist for example.) I would rate this book as neither a HIT or MISS.