Becky's Greatest Hits Vol. II

Since I'm such a fan of Michael Showalter , I have to see pretty much anything his hand touches.  And since I'm always comparing everything of his to The Baxter, I will have to say up front that this is no The Baxter.  But it is a cute movie.  Sally Field is wonderful as always and I like the tongue in cheek way it pokes at Milennials (everyone either makes something like handmade candy bars wrapped in papers printed with haiku or everyone works at a job that is questionable like an LGBT preschool) all the while looking at some more serious personal issues like aging, loneliness and hoarding.  Can I just say something, for the record, that I know other Sally Field fans will understand?  I hate to see or hear her cry.  She has one really good crying scene in this film and it just about broke my heart.  Sally is just such a great crier.....it's like she wants to take you over the edge with her.  It was no Shelby-just-died-at-the-cemeter...

I will tell you right up front that, no, it wasn't as good as the original.  But let's be fair here.....how many movie re-makes are?  But even admitting that, I still think it was a good movie. I think the biggest reason it wasn't as good as the first was because it was a 2 hour cable television movie with commercials.  There just wasn't enough time to develop each character's personal story as in the first movie.   And while the stellar cast of women was pretty much the best you could get, the male co-stars were pretty forgettable......no Sam Shepard or Tom Skerrit here.   But let me tell you what I did like...... Jill Scott as Truvy.  She was excellent as the saucy hairdresser. (She also has some past experience as the neglected wife which she plays well.)  Alfre Woodard was also great, and I loved her twangy accent. I loved that while the scenes were very close copies, they weren't identical.  I love Queen Latifah, but we...

So we finally got around to seeing Lincoln . And I can't even believe I took this long considering how much I lurve all that is Daniel Day-Lewis.  (And FYI, his wife's name is Rebecca which makes me wonder if he calls her Becky and if so, I need to, at some point in time, hear him saying "Becky" just so I can store it in my memory bank and replay it at will.  Not unlike the very quick moment in Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason when Colin Firth says "who is it, Becky ?" when coming to the door and I immediately melted into a puddle on the dirty theater floor.  But I digress.  I digressed quite a bit there.....) So anyhow, this movie.  It wasn't bad, but I didn't really love it.  I guess the story of Abe Lincoln has been told so many times that this one had to go the way of telling one particular part of his story, i.e. how he fought hard for the abolition of slavery.  And that is a good story, but I thought it was a little too long, a little too b...

Hands down one of the best memoirs I've read in a while for it's utter truth and honesty.  I think a lot of amateur readers go for celebrity memoirs looking for dirt and scandal.  Mature readers go for insight and character, and sheesh, does Sally bring it here.  From her early childhood in the "house of women", to abuse by a stepfather, to a summer of folly and teenage stardom, to honing her craft and finding her voice.....every step is a building block to becoming.  And look at what she became.  The romance with Burt Reynolds didn't shock me, but it did disappoint me.  Reminded me a lot of the romance of Linda Thompson with the ailing Elvis .  As a lifetime lover of all things Sally , reading this book was a no-brainer.  Often when I read books, I want to reach out to the author personally (and sometimes do) to thank them for their contribution and what it meant to me.  This is memoir is no exception.  So thank you, Ms. Field....