The Upside. A film by Neil Burger. With Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston, Nicole Kidman, Julianna Margulies. **** I went to this movie because I hadn’t been to the movies for a while, I was looking for something not too heavy, and I had seen the trailer any number of times, of Kevin Hart looking after … Continue reading Better Than I Expected
Monthly Archives: January 2019
The Shammes Is a Patzer, but no Shlemiel
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon. Harper Perennial. 411 pp. $16.99 ***** I must admit that I was slightly discouraged when I discovered that this famous novel by Michael Chabon, which I’ve anticipated reading for years, concerns an imaginary reality in which the Jews were expelled from Israel in 1948, and relocated to a … Continue reading The Shammes Is a Patzer, but no Shlemiel
Unlikely Master
Ambivalent Zen: A Memoir by Lawrence Shainberg. Pantheon. 318 pp. $24.00. ****1/2 After sesshin this year, I felt an urge to read books about Zen (usually I want to read anything but), not dharma books, but memoirs of Zen experience. First I turned to a book that only a sideways look at Zen, by a … Continue reading Unlikely Master
Why Am I Laughing?
Vice a film by Adam McKay. With Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell. **** I have weirdly mixed feelings about Vice. I want to give it five stars and want to give it one. The performances are brilliant: Christian Bale as Dick Cheney (he gained 45 pounds for the role, and has … Continue reading Why Am I Laughing?