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alobearAfter months of anticipation, I went to see Suicide Squad last night. Now, there are various aspects of this film that could be labelled as quite problematical - however, I decided early on to switch off my critical brain and just enjoy it. I'm glad I did. Much like Star Trek: Beyond and Finding Dory, this film had scattered moments of brilliance, in amongst less interesting (but not actually bad) action sequences and exposition. It was bright and colourful and irreverent, and I mostly found it rather fun, though it wasn't as gloriously OTT or wildly abandoned as I had hoped. While I found the basic presentation of Harley's relationship with the Joker, and Deadshot's relationship with his daughter, quite disturbing, once I had decided not to let this bother me, I thought the development of both Harley's and Deadshot's arcs over the course of the film were the best thing about it. So, I was perhaps a little conflicted, but I allowed the film to take me along for the ride, and concluded it was a good night out overall.
Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell is this month's Thinking Bob Book Club book, and another one that I would never have read otherwise. It tells the story of two women who were abducted and held together in a cabin in the woods for six weeks when they were twelve. The book is narrated by them both alternately, as they approach the age of thirty. One has written a book, loosely based on the experience, and the other is offered the lead role of the female police detective in the film adaptation, which brings them together again in the present. So far, so standard premise. However, the author makes several bold choices that subvert the traditional tropes of this kind of 'dark secret to be revealed' story. The two protagonists have multiple glaring faults, which they point out themselves in their narratives and are entirely unapologetic about - this could have made them unsympathetic, but I thought actually made them more realistic and more interesting. The story points the reader towards various possible events and outcomes, but avoids any really cliched happenings, and remains mostly focused on the internal consequences for the women, rather than falling back on shock tactics or melodrama. So, I found it very satisfying and very well put together in the end, despite the fact that not an awful lot actually happened.
Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell is this month's Thinking Bob Book Club book, and another one that I would never have read otherwise. It tells the story of two women who were abducted and held together in a cabin in the woods for six weeks when they were twelve. The book is narrated by them both alternately, as they approach the age of thirty. One has written a book, loosely based on the experience, and the other is offered the lead role of the female police detective in the film adaptation, which brings them together again in the present. So far, so standard premise. However, the author makes several bold choices that subvert the traditional tropes of this kind of 'dark secret to be revealed' story. The two protagonists have multiple glaring faults, which they point out themselves in their narratives and are entirely unapologetic about - this could have made them unsympathetic, but I thought actually made them more realistic and more interesting. The story points the reader towards various possible events and outcomes, but avoids any really cliched happenings, and remains mostly focused on the internal consequences for the women, rather than falling back on shock tactics or melodrama. So, I found it very satisfying and very well put together in the end, despite the fact that not an awful lot actually happened.
