Lorene Scafaria wrote and directed The Meddler. Scafaria also wrote and directed Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and Seeking a Frined for the End of the World. I mention this because what I’m about to criticize isn’t some rookie mistake. Scafaria should know better.
The Meddler begins with a mind-numbing half hour of filler. Susan Sarandon is a widow from New York City who has moved to Los Angeles to be near her narcissistic scriptwriter daughter. Scafaria’s script has Sarandon volunteering at a hospital, taking care of dogs, and spraying plants with water. The movie actually begins when Sarandon meets a retired cop played by J. K. Simmons who raises chickens and rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. For five brief minutes the movie screen was alive with two stars acting. Then Scafaria’s script sends Sarandon to New York City to watch her daughter’s TV pilot. Yawn. Finally, Sarandon flies back to California, there’s some nonsense with pregnancy tests, and the movie ends.

I complained in my recent review of Money Monster that George Clooney and Julia Roberts were on-screen together for about one minute. In The Meddler Susan Sarandon and J. K. Simmons are on-screen together for maybe five minutes out of the 100 minutes of running time. Movies who waste their stars deserve to fail. The story in The Meddler should have been about Susan Sarandon and J. K. Simmons. Instead, we don’t get story, we get incidents: Sarandon gets into a car accident, Sarandon gets her car stolen, Sarandon eats some marijuana. Incidents are not stories. The actual story in this movie is five minutes long, the rest is filler. GRADE: C

Cyndi Lauper singing Country & Western classic songs. You have to admit it’s a strange idea. But, believe it or not, Cyndi Lauper manages to carry this High Concept off. My favorite song on this CD is “Hard Candy Christms” with the wonderful Alison Krauss helping Cyndi out. The only clunker is “Night Life” because Willie Nelson cannot sing anymore, but he tries (and fails) on this song. If you’re in the mood for something different, give Cowgirl Cyndi a try. I’m providing a sample below. GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
1. “Funnel of Love” Charlie McCoy · Kent Westbury 3:15
2. “Detour” (featuring Emmylou Harris) Paul Westmoreland 2:55
3. “Misty Blue” Bob Montgomery 3:19
4. “Walkin’ After Midnight” Alan Block · Don Hecht 2:16
5. “Heartaches by the Number” Harlan Howard 3:10
6. “The End of the World” Sylvia Dee · Arthur Kent 3:12
7. “Night Life” (featuring Willie Nelson) Walt Breeland · Paul Buskirk · Willie Nelson 2:58
8. “Begging to You” Marty Robbins 3:24
9. “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly” (featuring Vince Gill) Lola Jean Dillon · L.E. White 3:42
10. “I Fall to Pieces” Hank Cochran · Howard 3:00
11. “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” (featuring Jewel) Patsy Montana 3:13
12. “Hard Candy Christmas” (featuring Alison Krauss) Carol Hall 3:54

The first mutant on Earth, En Sabah Nur (aka, Apocalypse, played by Isaac Oscar), gets buried thousands of years ago but wakes up in the 1980s and all hell breaks loose. Apocalypse decides the world needs to be “cleansed” and recruits Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), and Angel (Ben Hardy) to help him destroy civilization. James McAvoy returns as Professor X, Jennifer Lawrence returns as Mystique (and doesn’t have enough to do in this movie). My favorite character in this movie is Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters, steals every scene he’s in with his fabulous super-speed. I love the speed effects in this movie! There’s plenty of incredible battles and catastrophic disasters. Great Summer popcorn movie! GRADE: B+

When I was reading GALAXY as a kid, I loved the covers and interior illustrations of Wally Wood. Later, I collected Wood’s comic book, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. I loved Wood’s artistic style and vision. Now, all the GALAXY artwork that Wally Wood drew has been collected in a wonderful volume by Roger Hill. This book includes nearly 200 covers and illustrations with Hill’s commentary. Wally Wood was an artist for Will Eisner’s The Spirit and MAD magazine. But I think some of Wally Wood’s finest artwork can be found between these two covers! If you love great SF illustrations, this new book is a must-buy!

I’ve been featuring songwriting duos from the Sixties in my last few Forgotten Music posts. I started with Goffin and King here, Mann and Weil here, and Greenwich and Barry here. But maybe my favorite songwriting duo is Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Songs like “Don’t Make Me Over,” “Any Day Now,” “Tower of Strength,” “Only Love Can Break a Heart,” “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With My Self,” and a dozen other hits became part of the soundtrack of the Sixties for me. Who can forget Joanie Sommers’s “Johnny Get Angry”? This 2-CD set costs $13.99 on AMAZAON and it’s packed with 60 songs. Lots of great listening here! What’s your favorite Hal David/Burt Bacharach song?
TRACK LIST:
Disc: 1
1. Don’t Make Me Over (Dionne Warwick)
2. Any Day Now (My Wild, Beautiful Bird) (Chuck Jackson)
3. Tower Of Strength (Gene McDaniels)
4. Baby It’s You (The Shirelles)
5. Only Love Can Break A Heart (Gene Pitney)
6. The Answer To Everything (Del Shannon)
7. Forgive Me (For Giving You Such A Bad Time) (Babs Tino)
8. My Heart Is An Open Book (Carl Dobkins Jr)
9. Mexican Divorce (The Drifters)
10. Make It Easy On Yourself (Jerry Butler)
11. You’re Telling Our Secrets (Dee Clark)
12. Crazy Time (Gene Vincent)
13. I Looked For You (Charlie Grace)
14. Sea Of Heartbreak (Don Gibson)
15. Johnny Get Angry (Joanie Sommers)
16. Dream Big (Sonny James)
17. Winter Warm (Gale Storm)
18. The Story Of My Life (Michael Holliday)
19. Sittin’ In A Tree House (Marty Robbins)
20. Loneliness Or Happiness (The Drifters)
21. Another Tear Falls (Gene McDaniels)
22. I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself (Tommy Hunt)
23. Anonymous Phone Call (Bobby Vee)
24. The Blob (The Five Blobs)
25. Two Hour Honeymoon (Paul Hampton)
26. Keep Away From Other Girls (Helen Shapiro)
27. I Smiled Yesterday (Dionne Warwick)
28. Waiting For Charlie (To Come Home) (Etta James)
29. True Love Never Runs Smooth (Gene Pitney)
30. The Love Of A Boy (Timi Yuro)
Disc: 2
1. Please Stay (The Drifters)
2. Wishing And Hoping (Dionne Warwick)
3. Broken-Hearted Melody (Sarah Vaughan)
4. (You Don’t Have To Be) A Tower Of Strength (Gloria Lynne)
5. Donna Means Heartbreak (Gene Pitney)
6. It’s Love That Really Counts (The Shirelles)
7. This Empty Place (Dionne Warwick)
8. I Wake Up Crying (Del Shannon)
9. Don’t Envy Me (Joey Powers)
10. Boys Were Made For Girls (Everit Herter)
11. Feelin’ No Pain (Paul Evans)
12. Come Completely To Me (Steve Rossi)
13. Third Window From The Right (Dean Barlow)
14. Three Friends (Two Lovers) (The Turbans)
15. (There Goes) The Forgotten Man (Jimmy Radcliffe)
16. Someone Else’s Sweetheart (The Wanderers)
17. The Breaking Point (Chuck Jackson)
18. In Times Like These (Gene McDaniels)
19. Warm And Tender (Johnny Mathis)
20. Loving Is A Way Of Living (Steve Lawrence)
21. Magic Moments (Perry Como)
22. (It’s) Wonderful To Be Young (Cliff Richard)
23. Love In A Goldfish Bowl (Tommy Sands)
24. Don’t You Believe It (Andy Williams)
25. Out Of My Continental Mind (Lena Horne)
26. Faker Faker (The Eligibles)
27. Don’t Unless You Love Me (Paul Hampton)
28. Along Came Joe (Merv Griffin)
29. Take Me To Your Ladder (I’ll See Your Leader Later) (Buddy Clinton)
30. Three Wheels On My Wagon (Dick Van Dyke)

Rick Robinson recommended James Swain’s Funny Money as one of his Friday’s Forgotten Books posts. You can read Rick’s review here. I had some James Swain books on my shelves (surprise!) so I figured this is a good time to read one. The first book in the Tony Valentine series is Grift Snese from 2001. Valentine retired as a cop and began consulting on casino security. Nick, the owner of the Acropolis Casino in Vegas, hires Tony Valentine in investigate a player that has taken his casino for big money. Nick suspects a beautiful dealer. who he had a relationship with years ago, is involved. Valentine’s investigation finds a much bigger threat to the casino on the eve of a Heavyweight Boxing match. If you’re looking for a quick read in the Ocean’s Eleven mode, Grift Sense delivers. GRADE: B
THE TONY VALENTINE SERIES
Grift Sense, 2001 Hardback, 2005 Softback, Balantine Books, 336 pages, Softback ISBN 0-345-48035-X ISBN 978-0-345-48035-4
Funny Money, 2002 Hardback, 2007 Softback, Atria, 304 pages, ISBN 1-4165-7502-2 ISBN 978-1-4165-7502-3
Sucker Bet, 2003 Hardback, 2004 Softback, Fawcett, 336 pages, ISBN 0-345-46323-4 ISBN 978-0-345-46323-4
Loaded Dice, 2004 Hardback, 2005 Softback, Balantine Books, 320 pages, Softback ISBN 0-345-46327-7 ISBN 978-0-345-46327-2
Mr. Lucky, 2005 Hardback, 2007 Softback, Balantine Books, 432 pages, Softback ISBN 0-345-47545-3 ISBN 978-0-345-47545-9
Deadman’s Poker, 2006 Hardback, 2006 Softback, Fawcett, 384 pages, ISBN 0-345-47549-6 ISBN 978-0-345-47549-7
Deadman’s Bluff, 2006 Hardback, 2004 Softback, Fawcett, Page 384, ISBN 0-345-47551-8 ISBN 978-0-345-47551-0
Wild Card, 2010 eBook
Jackpot, 2010 eBook

George Clooney plays a stock market guru TV guy (think Jim Cramer on CNBC) and Julia Roberts is his producer in the Control Room. During one of his shows, Clooney gets taken hostage by a disgruntled investor who followed Clooney’s advice on a stock that instead of going up went down down down. The investor, Kyle, lost his entire $60,000 investment and now he wants payback. Jodie Foster directed this movie, but the result is muddled. Is a a thriller? Not really, not enough action. Is it a psychological suspense movie? No, because we all pretty much know how this is going to end. Clooney and Roberts are polished and don’t break a sweat despite some of the antics of the police. I enjoyed this predictable movie, but I’m a fan of movies about the stock market. Your mileage (and interest) might differ. GRADE: B-

My College is offering an Incentive to Retire to senior faculty (like me) in hopes of reducing the overhead of the organization. The College is struggling, as most colleges and universities are, with declining enrollments and steadily increasing costs. In December 2015, the College offered an incentive and 49 faculty members accepted it. The average Incentive was around $50,000. I considered the offer, but I wasn’t ready to put down my chalk and laser pointer yet. But this Incentive is rumored to be more money–and probably the last Incentive for a long long time since the College is running on fumes financially. Diane says she’ll go along with whatever decision I decide on, but I have a feeling she’d like me to be retired like she is. In fact, Diane will begin her 13th year of retirement in September. Astonishing! My original plan was to continue to teach until I turned 70, then retire and collect Social Security and my New York State Teacher’s pension. But now this Retirement Incentive and Social Security Spousal Benefits have changed the equation. As The Clash asks: “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?”

I’ve been a big fan of Jennifer Nettles’s singing since her days in Sugarland. This solo CD features songs that display her versatility. There are traditional Country & Western songs, ballads, and pop songs on this CD. I liked “Unlove You” a lot. “Three Days in Bed” brought back some memories, some good some bad. If you’re in the mood for a special singer with talent to burn, I’d recommend a listen to Playing With Fire.. I included a sample below. GRADE: B+
TRACK LIST:
Playing with Fire
Unlove You
Hey Heartbreak
Drunk in Heels
Stupid Girl
Three Days in Bed
Sugar
Chaser
ing Over
Salvation Works
Way Back Home
My House [Feat Jennifer Lopez]