Saturday movie review: Far from the Madding Crowd

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I have a confession: When it comes to reading classic literature, I'm woefully lacking. Though I vaguely recall reading a few classics in high school and college literature classes, I'm relatively ignorant of most classics that seem common knowledge among many of my more educated friends.

Another confession: Every time I've seen mentions of Thomas Hardy's 1874 classic, Far from the Madding Crowd, my mind interpreted the M-word in the title as maddening, not madding. Forever. Even up to my pressing play on the movie FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD and through to the end of my screening of the romantic drama over Valentine's Day weekend. It was only after I pressed stop that I realized the word is madding.

Did I mention my ignorance?

Far from the Madding Crowd movie

Thank heavens for films based on classic novels for I now...

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Saturday movie review: The Martian

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When I first saw previews for THE MARTIAN starring Matt Damon, I thought, Meh... seems just like GRAVITY.

THE MARTIAN isn't just like GRAVITY, but it is very much like it. An astronaut gets lost in space and fellow astronauts do their darnedest to save him or her. Only in THE MARTIAN, Matt Damon is stuck on Mars instead of floating about far off in space as Sandra Bullock did in GRAVITY.

THE MARTIAN dvd

That said, though, THE MARTIAN, based on the novel by Andy Weir, is light...

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Saturday movie review: Cake

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Five minutes into CAKE, I asked my husband, who was watching along with me, if watching it was going to give him nightmares. Jim chuckled and said, "I was wondering the same thing." 

We had the exchange not because CAKE is a scary movie and my husband is a chicken, but because CAKE is about chronic pain and my husband has suffered from such for more than a decade. He managed to watch it all the way through, though, with nary a nightmare that night.

Cake movie

CAKE, starring Jennifer Aniston in a dark, powerful role, is about...

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