© by Gerald So | 8:30 a.m.
As much as I know Tom Cruise doesn't fit Lee Child's literary image of die-hard 6' 5" former U.S. Army MP Jack Reacher, I'm an unabashed fan of Child and the first Cruise Reacher movie. I rooted for and was excited to hear of a sequel, but when the theatrical reviews were mostly negative, I couldn't convince myself to see it in a theater or buy it on Blu-ray for $20 this January. Blu-ray for $13 last week? Sold.
Adapted from the novel Never Go Back, which I own but haven't read, Reacher hitchhikes to D.C. to take his phone friend Maj. Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) to dinner. When he arrives, though, Reacher learns Turner has been arrested on espionage charges. He tries to find out more, but the people he talks with wind up murdered, so he has to save Turner and himself while investigating the crime.
The producers chose to adapt this particular book because it compelled loner Reacher into a cooperative, quasi-familial situation meant to bring out more sides of him than the first movie. That makes sense theoretically. Such a situation would bring up emotions for Reacher, but he wouldn't do much to show them.
In print, he reveals himself to readers in myriad ways his fellow characters don't see. Translating them to a movie would get more showy than Reacher ever would, so a brusque attitude is all viewers and characters see. That's the movie's biggest flaw, not enough to sink it, but too big a part to ignore. Summing up, I'm glad Jack Reacher got a sequel, and I'm glad I waited to pay what I did to own it.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
So Busy
© by Gerald So | 7:00 p.m.
In April, National Poetry Month, the normally weekly Five-Two becomes daily featuring prose reactions to poetry. This year, I've picked poems from across the Web to expand visitors' horizons.
Meanwhile, the Short Mystery Fiction Society announced its 2017 Derringer finalists April 1. I haven't held Society office in three years, but I'm still asked to advise, which is tricky because, though I have no current authority, my voice carries the weight of my 2008–10 presidency and 2012–2014 vice presidency.
Since leaving office, I've tried to speak for those not being heard. At any given time, those may be the current officers, members, or bystanders' views of the group. Yet I tend to be misheard as speaking from self-interest.
I take a wider view of the Society, as teammates helping each other win ever-greater respect for our craft. My latest way of doing that is interviewing Derringer finalists ahead of the May 1 winners announcement.
In April, National Poetry Month, the normally weekly Five-Two becomes daily featuring prose reactions to poetry. This year, I've picked poems from across the Web to expand visitors' horizons.
Meanwhile, the Short Mystery Fiction Society announced its 2017 Derringer finalists April 1. I haven't held Society office in three years, but I'm still asked to advise, which is tricky because, though I have no current authority, my voice carries the weight of my 2008–10 presidency and 2012–2014 vice presidency.
Since leaving office, I've tried to speak for those not being heard. At any given time, those may be the current officers, members, or bystanders' views of the group. Yet I tend to be misheard as speaking from self-interest.
I take a wider view of the Society, as teammates helping each other win ever-greater respect for our craft. My latest way of doing that is interviewing Derringer finalists ahead of the May 1 winners announcement.
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