French still flock to bookstores

New York Times story: As bookstores in the United States and Britain struggle, a centuries-old reverence for the printed page persists in France, where sales have risen. Above, a book exchange.

Back to the Future

Having seen Michael J. Fox on a PBS program on Parkinson's disease, I immediately decided to see this film again. It holds up fairly well, though some of the jokes are less hysterical now than I remember them being then. Still, it really works well.

The topic of time travel, which has been treated numerous times by varied writers (a Wikipedia article puts it back to the 19th century), is treated with humor. And it works. At one point Doc Brown asks Marty McFly who the president is in 1985; when Marty replies Ronald Reagan, Doc is incredulous, and quips and I suppose Jerry Lewis is VicePresident. The DeLorean is still a nice touch.

Searching for music, I found this book, and while I was not sure if I would read it, I did, and rather enjoyed it.

Kastin, David. (2011. Nica's dream: the life and legend of the jazz baroness.  New York: W. W. Norton.

My cousin Vinny

A good one. In rottentomatoes, 85% from critics, 81% from the audience approved. It has aged fairly well, though the difference in age between Vinny and Mona Lisa is a little obvious now. I don't remember thinking that then.

The film deals with two young New Yorkers traveling through rural Alabama who are put on trial for a murder they did not commit, and the comic attempts of a cousin, Vincent Gambini, a newly minted lawyer, to defend them. Much of the humor comes from the contrasting personalities of the brash Italian-American New Yorkers, Vinny and his fiancée Mona Lisa, and the more laid back Southern townspeople.
Lawyers have praised the comedy's realistic depiction of courtroom procedure and trial strategy. Pesci and Tomei received critical praise for their performances, and Tomei won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

 She was fabulous.

Next stop, Greenwich Village

Just a few days ago, I saw an item on Twitter, from Time.com (I believe), in its 'reading for lunchtime' feature, Wes Anderson's favorite New York films. This is one of those films.

It has a 6.9 rating in IMDb.com: An aspiring Jewish actor moves out of his parents' Brooklyn apartment to seek his fortune in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village in 1953.

Critics give it 80% in Rotten Tomatoes, the audience 66% (there is not accounting for taste, is there?).

Larry Lipinski is a Brooklyn Jew, 22 years old, and is moving out of his parents's home, to grow up, to be with his liberated girlfriend, to pursue acting. (In a voiceover, which I watched a bit of, Paul Mazursky says that Larry is partly him.) It is 1953. The Rosenbergs are on the brink of being executed. Yet Larry and his friends, while politically aware, are more interested in other matters: sex, the meaning of life, whether to go to Mexico or not, and suicide.

Chris Walken plays Robert, a handosme ladies man whose libido is only matched in size by his ego. Jeff Goldblum plays a small but discernible role as a pushy, loud actor. Bill Murray has a small speakign part in a bar. Vincent Schiavelli is a party guest who drinks and laughs.

Shelley Winters overplays the Jewish mother who can't let go of her boy, can't stop meddling, and can't (or won't) see how she is hurting the very ones she loves. Yet, in her overplaying, Winters does super work. Antonio Fargas does nice work as an openly gay black man (remember, the 1976 movie was portraying 1953), and Lou Jacobi shines as the juice bar shopowner where Larry gets a job while he waits for his big break.

Larry and his friends go to a coffeehouse, to hang out and philosophize. I recognized it immediately, or so I thought, though the street outside seemed not to fit. But a shot confirmed that it was Cafe Reggio.

Ebert gave it 3 stars. I liked it, too.