Book Review - The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

Title: The Villa
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Mystery
Published: 2023
 
Description: As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bons has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girl trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
 
Villa Aestes in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1947, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album – and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
 
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred. And that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
 
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge. And it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
 
Review: Emily and Chess, two best friends since childhood, decide to take a trip to Italy, staying in Villa Aestes in Orvieto. Both want to take time to write their books, but especially Emily doesn’t feel inspired. Until she hears about a murder that occurred in the 70s, at the villa the two women are staying at.
 
The story follows two timelines, the current one with Emily and Chess, and the one in 1974, about writer Mari, her rock star friends and step sister Lara. The story sounds interesting and I always enjoy reading dual timelines. But this book feels more like a historical fiction with a mystery element, than a mystery thriller.
 
I expected more twists, reveals and suspense, but there was one of that. I was still invested in the story, especially the mystery in 1974, but it was all very predictable. And I really did not like the conclusion of both the timelines.
 
It was just okay, I will probably forget most of this book withing a few days.
 
Rating: 2,5/ 5

Movie Review - Twisters

Director: Lee Isaac Chung
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 122 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Maura Tierney
 
Description: Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist, is persuaded to return to Oklahoma two work with a new team and new technologies.

Review: “Twister” came out in 1996, directed by my fellow Dutchie Jan de Bont. Even though it was never a masterpiece, the visual effects of the disaster film about a bunch of tornado chasers was groundbreaking at the time. I don’t know the details of how they decided to make a sequel so long after “Twister”. I don’t believe anyone was asking for it, nor did we need it. And it is not linked to the 1996 film either. But, surprisingly, I absolutely loved this film. “Twisters”: the sequel no one knew they needed.

After tornado-chaser Kate Carter lost her friends to a powerful tornado, she leaves Oklahoma for New York to work as a meteorologist in an office. Save, far away from the actual tornados. Five years later, fellow survivor Javi convinces her to get back on the road in Oklahoma anyway. In fact, he helped develop equipment in the military that can capture powerful tornadoes in 3D. Placing these instruments is quite an undertaking, though. Moreover, Kate still has plans for an experiment to pull the moisture out of the whirlwinds to kill the weather phenomenon.

In the original, the tornado-chasers were thwarted by commercially challenged cowboys. This time it’s YouTuber Tyler Owens. His crew seems to want to make money from the tornados that draw many tourists to the areas. But, there is more then meets the eye.

Scientifically this sequel is very good and so is the technical aspect. The actions scenes are and look spectacular, even in repeat sequence. Although this time there are now flying cows, the aerial parts look even more threatening and realistic.

The screenwriters efforts to add body to the story and characters also worked. It impresses when he is shown the unimaginable misery of tornado victims. The fact that Kate and her fellow chasers are not blind to this is significant, and furthermore, it also exposes the fact that not everyone is so humanitarian. As a viewer, you get to look at certain characters and their motives differently. And you would be surprised by some of them.

But, it’s still, for the most of it, a disaster film with a high entertainment level. A movie which I can see myself rewatching, probably more then once. Absolutely loved this movie, and I’m so surprised I did.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Random Hearts

Director: Sydney Pollack
Genre: Drama/ Romance/ Mystery
Runtime: 132 minutes
Year: 1999
Starring: Harrison Ford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Charles S. Dutton, Bonnie Hunt, Dennis Haysbert, Sydney Pollack, Richard Jenkins, Paul Guilfoyle, Peter Coyote, Dylan Baker, Bill Cobbs, Kate Mara

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 46: A FILM FROM YOUR TEEN YEARS
 
Description: Police Seargeant Dutch Van den Broeck (Harrison Ford) and U.S. Representative Kay Chandler (Kristin Scott Thomas) lose their spouses in a plane crash, and they soon discover that their partners were having an affair with each other.

Review: The wife of tough Internal Affairs Sergeant Dutch was killed in a plane crash, as was the husband of politician Kay. Kay and Dutch find out that their spouses were sitting next to each other on the plane, but were also having an affair. Dutch wants to find out why.

On paper, this film sounds interesting. But in practice, it doesn’t work. Mainly because it does not really know in which direction it wants to go. At first, it’s a drama. Two people losing their other half in a tragic accident. Then it turns into a mystery, when they are trying to discover why they were on that plane and why Dutch’s wife didn’t use her real name. And eventually some romance is sprinkled in as well. And it has some strange side-plot of this case that Dutch is working on, that has nothing to do with the actual plot. It just feels very messy. And it’s also very boring, especially given that this film is over two hours long.

Great cast, making the best of it. But really a dull film with little to interest me.

Rating: 2/ 5

TV Show Review - Agatha All Along (Season 1)

Season: 1
Genre: Fantasy/ Adventure/ Action
Number of episodes: 9
Year: 2024
Starring: Kathryn Hahn, Joe Locke, Sasheer Zamata, Ali Ahn, Patti LuPone, Debra Jo Rupp, Aubrey Plaza

Description: A spell-bound Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) regains freedom thanks to a teen’s (Joe Locke) help. Intrigues by his plea, she embarks on the Withes’ Road trials to reclaim her powers and discover the teen’s motivations.

Review: Agatha Harkness pretended to be the meddling neighbor Agnes in the successful “WadnaVision” (2021), but actually turned out to be the be a very powerful with who was after Wanda’s powers. At the end of the series, however, she is dicovered and Wanda traps her in Westview, New Jersey, without her memory and magical powers. In the spin-off series “Agatha All Along”, after she is released, still without powers, she decides to found her own coven of witches. After all, she needs them to walk The Witches’ Road and regain her powers.

A series about Agatha was not actually in the Marvel master plan. It was due to Agatha’s popularity in “WandaVision” that the series was made at all. In the comics, the witch is only an obscure character, but Marvel wanted her to be featured in “WandaVision” because she plays an important role in the story of Scarlet Witch. And I’m glad Marvel decided to give Agatha her own she, because this is amazing.

Kathryn Hahn, who portrays Agatha, loved getting to the bottom of what lay beneath Agatha's sarcasm and big mouth. And that combination is exactly what you get in “Agatha All Along”: a delightful witch who says what she thinks, but as the season progesses she peels off some layers.

Hahn’s movements and facial expressions are a joy to watch. But once she is no longer alone its delightful to see the actress carry the dramatic edge as well.

The pace is slow. Once The Road has emerged (not me constantly singing that song in my head ever since), it also becomes clear that the coven have several so-called trials to overcome and thus, as a viewer, you have a long journey ahead of you. The acting is fantastic. At first, the women cannot stand each other, but still have to work together. In the process they help each other see where their personal strengths lie.

You get sucked into the coven as if you were part of it yourself and I’m so happy this series focuses on female empowerment.

“Agatha All Along” was very well-received and each episode gets high ratings, Not below a 7.3. But my favorite episode, and I’m in the majority here, was episode 7: Death’s Hand in Mine. That episode was perfection.

The end of the series hints to a second season, which I wouldn’t be mad about. But “Agatha All Along” is a fantastic series I’m glad Marvel decided to make.

Book Review - What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall

Title: What Lies in the Woods
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Genre: Mystery/ Thriller
Published: 2023
 
Description: Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two years ago, she and her two best friends, Casiddy and Olivia, spent the summer roaming the woods, imagining a world of ceremony and wonder. They called it the Goddess Game. The summer ended suddenly when Naomi was attacked. Miraculously, she survived her seventeen stab wounds and lived to identify the man who had hurt her. The girls’ testimony put away a serial killer, wanted for murdering six women. They were heroes.
 
For decades afterwards, the friends have kept a secret worth killing for. But now Olivia wants to tell, and Naomi sets out to find out what really happened in the woods – no matter how dangerous the truth turns out to be.
 
Review: “What Lies in the Woods” is  slow-burn mystery that is hard to put down. Before this, I only read one other book by Kate Alice Marshall, which was “Rules for Vanishing”, a young adult. “What Lies in the Woods” is an adult thriller.
 
Naomi survived a brutal attack when she was only eleven years old. She and her two best friends Olivia and Cassidy where exploring the woods when it happened. Cassidy and Olivia manages to identify the attacker as Alan Michael Stahl and he went to prison for it. Now, over twenty years later, Stahl has died in prison and it bring the three friends back together. But back in the woods, so many years ago, the girls discovered something that they have kept a secret. And now Naomi is doubting her memories from the attack.
 
Marshall shows us that, as time goes by, you can convince yourself that certain memories are true, even when they aren’t. Naomi starts doubting her own memory and doesn’t know whether Stahl was the man that Olivia and saw that night.
 
The characters in the book are interesting and have depth, although you never really get to like or love any of them. They are all very flawed, but also damaged and dealing with their trauma each in a different way.
 
The story had some predictable moments, and some obvious red herrings, but the twist in the end was really good.
 
Rating: 4/ 5

20s Movie Review - Call Jane

Director: Phyllis Nagy
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 121 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina, Kate Mara

Description: Joy (Elizabeth Banks) is a married woman with a pregnancy endangering her life, in a time in America when she can’t get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.

Review: 1968. Joy is an exemplary housewife. She married her college sweetheart, a lawyer, a lives in the suburbs of Chicago, together with their 15-year-old daughter. She is pregnant, but the pregnancy endangers her life due to a heart condition. Being pregnant might cost Joy her life. Terminating her pregnancy is the only way to make Joy better, but in 1968 this was still illegal. Only if it was a life-threatening situation, she is allowed to have an abortion. The hospital board, all men, are the ones to decide if Joy’s pregnancy can be terminated. But the 50/ 50 chance of her surviving this pregnancy, is not urgent enough. She is denied the abortion. Joy takes matters in own hands.

Jane rolls into a network of activist women, who arrange women with unwanted pregnancies to have an abortion.

The message of the film is very clear. I loved that about “Call Jane”. Especially since the current elections, it’s still a very topical film. Many Americans are still strongly against abortion and in several states it’s still illegal. By creating a fictional main character, a model housewife, the creators try to reach a broader audience. I don’t think this message will sit well with the more conservative Americans. The story is based on the real “The Jane Collective”, but the characters are fictional and not based on specific people.

The ending of the film feels a bit rushed, but the overall message and the story is very gripping, powerful and strong. I really loved this film that sadly still is very topical.

Rating: 4/ 5

90s Movie Review - The Virgin Suicides

Director: Sofia Coppola
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 1999
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Josh Hartnett, Danny DeVito, A.J. Cook, Hanna Hall, Leslie Hayman, Chelse Swain

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 45: A FILM FROM A DIRECTOR KNOW FOR THEIR CHARACTER-DRIVEN NARRATIVE
 
Description: A group a male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents (James Woods, Kathleen Turner) in suburban Detroit in the mid-1970s.

Review: Cecilia Lisbon is only 13-years-old when she attempts suicide for the first time. She and her four sisters live a very protected life with their strict and religious parents.

Director Sofia Coppola manages to show the audience what this strict life can do to teenage girls. The five sister all deal with it in a different way, eventually ending in the same fate.

It’s beautifully filmed and it focused on the sisters. The story told from the perspective of the boy next door, twenty five years later.

Rating: 3,5/ 5