star-is-born-review-2018-by-richard-cummings

A Star is Born Review: Did Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper Make a Great Movie?

Richard Cummings

star-is-born-reviewIn a Star is Born, we have the actor Bradley Cooper playing a singer and the singer Lady Gaga acting.  Did this role reversal work?  Were they able to pull off a great movie?  Read on to find out!

First, a disclaimer:  I’m not impartial — I am a huge fan of both Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.  I’ve always respected Lady Gaga’s independent spirit and enjoyed her music.  And, Bradley Cooper  has an equally interesting backstory.    Did you know he speaks fluent French and wanted to be Ninja?

And then, I watched the preview for the movie, and BOOM – there’s Dave Chappelle acting.  A singer, an actor, a comedian?  All my favorites!  What’s not to love?  I’m so in.

But, viewer beware, high expectations are often the death knell for a movie.  Even if it’s good, you’re disappointed as you expected great.

I went to see A Star is Born the first day I could.

So what did I think?

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book-of-eli-review

The Book of Eli: Is Eli Blind?

Richard Cummings

book-of-eli-reviewI just noticed that the Book of Eli is number one on the latest list of DVD Movies New Releases.

I saw this movie in the theaters when it came out and remember a discussion that ensued afterward: Is Eli blind in the movie? After visiting the Book of Eli IMDB page, I realize that many people have this question.

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funny-people-review

Funny People is Deadly Serious…And Funny Too

Richard Cummings

funny-people-reviewLast night, I watched the movie Funny People with Adam Sandler and many other great young comedians.

20 years ago, you knew what to expect with an Adam Sandler movie; now you don’t.  I like that.

20 years ago, all was simply slapstick and often very funny.  Now, we still get slapstick but with serious, and sometimes slightly demented, undertones.  It is often said that great comedians and great comedy comes from the darkest of places where the only means of survival is through comedy.  In the recent career of Adam Sandler, he seems more comfortable exposing some of those dark places.

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michael-jackson-obituary

A Reaction to Michael Jackson’s Death

Richard Cummings

michael-jackson-obituaryLast night, I sat down to watch the evening news when I heard:  Michael Jackson is dead.

My first reaction was utter disbelief–he’s too young to be dead!  We received no clues, no warnings, no serious ill-health reports.  For a moment, I thought they must have the report wrong.  How could Michael Jackson be dead?

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21-movie-review

21 Movie Review: No BlackJack but It’s Not a Bad Hand

Richard Cummings

21-movie-reviewIf you’re a fan of gambling (and seeing people bring down the house), you’ll enjoy the movie 21. I certainly did…here is my review of the movie 21!

I was anxious to see the movie 21 as I had read the book Bringing Down the House, the book on which the movie is based.  However, aside from the idea of a bunch of MIT kids taking on Vegas, there are few similarities between the book and the movie.

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my-favorite-books

My Favorite Books

Richard Cummings

my-favorite-booksWhat are your favorite books? This page is filled with my favorite books. Do you like my choices? Let me know what you think in the comments…

Often, a person’s personal library says a lot about them.

I have no idea what mine says about me, but I’d thought I’d share with you some of my favorite books. These are the books that I usually have near the nightstand and am apt to pick up and read time and time again.

Also, as I am traveling now and had to part with physical book collection, this list will be helpful to me as I will be re-buying all of these in their Kindle version so I can take them with me anywhere.

Without further ado, here she is!

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jitterbug-perfume-review

Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins: The Review [Best Book in Your Life?]

Richard Cummings

jitterbug-perfume-reviewJitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins may be one of my favorite books of all time.

Tom Robbins combines profound and playful in perfect proportion.  Also, he teaches you how to live forever.  Two of the remedies are:  lots of sex and lots of baths.  Two things I love!

Every Tom Robbins book is similar in this respect: expect the unexpected…like utensils having a conversation or a love story that takes place inside a pack of camel cigarettes.  I usually would not be a fan of such absurd notions, but with Tom Robbins, it all just works.

Have you ever seen an author speak?

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The-Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being-review

The Unbearable Lightness of Being Book Review: One of the Best of All Time?

Richard Cummings

The-Unbearable-Lightness-of-Being-reviewThe Unbearable Lightness of Being is an outstanding book and a horrific movie, unless you like depressing European movies with little dialogue that slowly plod along.  (If so, make sure you also see 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days). 

But really, one of the challenges of life is to live lightly, but not too lightly.   Montainge mentions that in his essays:

“The most manifest sign of wisdom is a continual cheerfulness; her state is like that in the regions above the moon, always clear and serene.”

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Magical-Thinking-book-review

Magical Thinking by Augusten Burrroughs: A Review

Richard Cummings

Magical-Thinking-book-reviewThe book Magical Thinking by Augusten Burrroughs may not be his first book, or his most popular, but it’s definitely the best!

The first Augusten Burroughs book that I read was Running With Scissors.  This was more of a novel and I enjoyed it.  However, after this book, all of his other books have been filled with short stories about his life.  I have enjoyed all of them but my favorite is Magical Thinking.

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The-Century-Peter-Jennings-and-Todd-Brewster-Review

The Century: Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster [A Review]

Richard Cummings

The-Century-Peter-Jennings-and-Todd-Brewster-ReviewIf you want to read one of the best books about the 20th century, pick up a copy of The Century by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster.

When the change of the century occurred, many books came out chronicling the 20th century.

One of the most popular was Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation.  My parents have this book on their shelves and I’m sure they enjoy reading the stories of selflessness and patriotism that embodied America back then.  I too have read many of these stories and enjoyed them immensely.

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The-Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand-Review

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: A Review

Richard Cummings

The-Fountainhead-Ayn-Rand-ReviewYou will not often find me endorsing books of an overly serious nature but The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, and Atlas Shrugged, for some reason, defy my usually aversion to topics of seriousness and self-absorption.

The Fountainhead is written by Ayn Rand and many of you, yes you, were suppose to read it in one of your college courses.  But you didn’t!  So, now it’s time to go buy it on Amazon and see what all the fuss is about.

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The-Best-Poems-of-the-English-Language-Review

The Best Poems of the English Language: A Review

Richard Cummings

The-Best-Poems-of-the-English-Language-ReviewIf you’re not familiar with the book The Best Poems of the English Language, you may be missing a chance to drastically improve your love life!

I always have a book of poetry by my bed.  Ok, yes, that me seem a completely prop, a ruse.

But, I swear, it’s not.

In college, my teacher challenged me to memorize 10 poems of substantial length.  If I did, I would get no lower than a B.  Perfect, I thought, I will do this and nothing else.  I’m comfortable with a B.  I’m an English major after all, who cares what my grade point will be when I graduate?

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