Freddy Goes to Florida

Altogether, Walter R. Brooks published 26 Freddy the Pig books. I'd never read this one before I picked it up on a momentary whim while waiting for my kids in the children's section at our public library last week.

Recently I had re-read Freddy the Detective, and while it was at least interesting, and amusing in spots, it didn't rekindle any warm childhood memories or feel particularly fulfilling. Not a disappointment, exactly, but not what I had hoped for.

Freddy Goes to Florida, on the other hand, felt more like the genuine article. The first in the entire Freddy series, it was originally published in 1927 under what must be a contender for Worst Title of All Time ("To and Away"). In it, Freddy is only a bit player among the many animals involved; in fact, here his name has a comma. (Having to remind the reader about which animal is which, they keep referring to him as "Freddy, the pig.") On the whole, this book was a satisfying read. Lots of adventures--crocodiles, bad guys, buried treasure--kind of like a road trip movie, only with richly-drawn humanized animal characters.

21

Supposedly based on a true story about some MIT students who employed a card-counting scheme in Las Vegas casinos to try and make a bundle of money. The real story probably has some interesting components, but somehow the life has been squeezed out of this mutt. Sadly, this movie is to worthwhile cinema as a paint-by-number is to Van Gogh--and they didn't even bother filling in all the numbered spaces.

So okay, I understand that movies have to use a certain narrative shorthand to get the story across, but the filmmaker's first duty is also to suspend the viewer's disbelief. So: If these MIT kids are so smart, how come they keep going to Las Vegas one weekend after another, and even to the same casinos? Why couldn't they have gone to Reno or Atlantic City once in awhile to avoid drawing attention to themselves? And if this kid is so smart, how come it never occurs to him to stash his six-figure winnings in a safe deposit box instead of hiding them above his dorm room ceiling tile? And why is Kevin Spacey's mastermind character so intent on going back again and again, rather than just making a bundle and walking away?

Grade: D.

88 Minutes

After we started watching this, I found that it was nominated for a Razzie last year for both Worst Picture and Worst Actor.

It didn't win either, and sometimes the Razzies are way wrong, but this time I'm with them on the Worst Picture part. Hard to believe that a psychological thriller with Al Pacino in it could be so utterly uninteresting, but it was. Not only is it impossible to care about any of the characters in this show, but--well, the basic premise is that Pacino's character gets a phone call from an old enemy and is told that he has 88 minutes to live--and before the movie is half over, you find yourself wishing they would speed up time and make good on their threat, just to get it over with.

Neither of us were able to sit through the whole thing. Don't know whodunit, and don't care.

All About Eve

Hadn't seen this one in a long time, so when I came across it at the library I thought I'd give it another try. In retrospect, I won't stay that I wish I hadn't, but I will say that I don't think I'll need to see it again for another couple of decades.

I have a great deal of respect for Bette Davis, but I'm not quite sure why. I've never been crazy about her looks or any of her characters or anything. And she turns in a solid performance here as a self-absorbed star actress, so the movie didn't do anything to change my opinion of her one way or the other. For what it is, though, and for the times in which it was released, I guess the movie remains indestructible, as does Ms. Davis.

Best Part: George Sanders as the self-serving unscrupulous drama critic Addison DeWitt. I've always enjoyed listening to him ever since I first heard him as the voice of Shere Khan in Disney's The Jungle Book. Marilyn Monroe also has a few lines in this show, and--as it was before they made her into Marilyn Monroe(TM)--she looks gorgeous and is fun to watch.