Capsules of Critical Commentary...Two Books, A Play, and a Movie

I have been immersing myself in "The Arts" of late, so today's Critical Commentary will consist of Quickie Capsules of Commentary, served to you in chronological order....

David McCullough's 2011 book "The Greater Journey" tells the tale of expatriate Americans - artists, writers, and medical students - who traveled to Paris in the 19th century to absorb and learn from the culture that was (and remains to this day) that city.  Did you know that Samuel F.B. Morse, before he invented the electric telegraph, was a renowned artist? I didn't, but he was.  I learned a lot about Paris, French history, and American art from reading his book.  (If you decide to read this book, keep your Google Machine handy so you can look up and view some for the many famous paintings about which McCullough writes.  It will add to your enjoyment of the book.) It is a perfect book to read if you are, say, planning on taking trip to Paris in the near future.

Four Stars.

This 1962 Tony Award winning musical is currently being presented by the Pittsburgh Public Theater.  It has been described as the funniest American musical ever written.  I was anxious to see if the humor of a fifty-six year old play would hold up, and I am happy to say that indeed it does.  A con man Roman slave, beautiful courtesans in skimpy outfits, mistaken identity, and a wild chase scene proves that some kind of humor, if presented correctly, is indeed timeless. Another winner from the PPT.

Four Stars.

The newest entry in Jonathan Kellerman's "Alex Delaware" series was released this month, and I got through it only two days.  A horribly disfigured dead body is discovered in a suburban Los Angeles home.  The body can't be identified, and the home owners have no idea why someone would deposit a corpse in their living room.  LA police Lt. Milo Sturgis calls upon his psychologist friend Alex to consult and assist in solving the mystery.  As I said, four hundred pages that will go by in a flash as the whole case is unravelled.

Four Stars.

Yes, we took ourselves out to see the first big blockbuster movie of 2018 today.  I enjoyed the movie a lot.  It's a beautifully filmed movie, beautiful scenery, well acted, has a terrific musical score, and is an exciting story when you put it into the perspective that it's a "comic book, superhero" movie.   Marilyn and I enjoyed it, but we were certainly not in the same thrall of it that many in the theater today were, folks that obviously are more into comic books than are we.  

The movie starred Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'O, Danal Gurira, Angela Bassett, and Forrest Whittaker, Daniel Kaluuya, and Sterling K. Brown, and was directed by Ryan Coogler.  Some critics have said that this will be the best movie of 2018 and said that it was "Shakespearean" in scope.  I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it is a good movie, and well worth seeing.

Three Stars.