Best of the Week - Third Week of March

Best TV show I saw: Still not really enjoying anything on TV. Is there just nothing good on, or am I missing stuff. Besides always enjoying The Daily Show or reruns of Curb Your Enthusiasm, there has been nothing of note on TV for me.

Best movie I saw: Let Me In – A decent remake of the original Norway film Let The Right One In which I watched and really enjoyed a few years ago. This had great work by the two child-actors as the leads. The only thing I did not enjoy about this version was the use of some unnecessary and low quality CGI for the little girl when she “vamped out” from time to time. The reason the original was so good was because of its restraint and not necessarily showing everything that was going on. But the new version kept the atmosphere and plot very similar and I was quite happy with it. If you have not seen the original, this one will be worth seeing. If you have seen the original, it may be redundant, but the kids really were great actors (as far as kids usually go).

I also enjoyed: Death Race 2000 - I rewatched this on Netflix streaming and it is still simple, good fun and worth watching if you’ve never seen it before.

The Fourth Kind – This movie was just odd for me. It’s like it didn’t know if it wanted to pass itself off as “real” like Blair Witch and Paranormal Activities, or “Based on a True Story” like the original Amityville Horror, so they did some sort of weird hybrid. A very strange story told in an even stranger way.

Best thing I read: The Book Thief – Everywhere I go someone seems to mention this book to me. I finally got around to reading it and I enjoyed it for the most part. I loved the fact that the narrator was Death and its point of view was very matter-of-fact and sounded kind of bored by everything.

This book is the story of a young girl that is growing up in a small town in Germany during the early parts of WWII. The book does not really break new ground by being a Holocaust story in a sense, but there are some truly great characters and an impending sense of hope throughout the book which was equally surprising since Death is telling the tale.

I found myself at times bored by the main character, but she was also the central figure that we were able to learn more about the much more interesting supporting character. Most notably, her friend Rudy, her adopted father Hans, and their dirty little secret Max were all written so well and believable that they kept me coming back for more. I am happy that these types of stories are timeless and will continue being written though.

I also read: Cross Fire by James Patterson. I have read the entire Alex Cross library and although they are all the same, they are also all really a ton of fun. They are 350 pages that take 2 days to read because of how they are written and as dumb as it is, I feel like I know all of these characters so well that I need to find out what happens in each installment, even though it is always pretty much the same.