Suicidal Blonde, NOT!

Family Movie Night

By Karyn Bowman

This has been one of those weeks where the good and bad of life seems tipped towards the bad.

The Bradley Christmas parade was fun with the weather being optimal for a night time parade. It was cold but not too cold. It was not windy, raining, or snowing. We had fun, the kids in the band looked like they were having fun.

My friends and I were standing near the Mexican bakery and had great hot chocolate to drink. We laughed at the princesses who didn’t stay in their car but made a point of taking pictures and shaking hands with the crowds. That was Friday night.

Saturday afternoon I found out a friend who lives in Indiana has had the bottom drop out of her world. Her son and his children were in a car accident that took the lives of the children and put her son with life threatening injuries in the burn unit. His girlfriend had lesser injuries. But still, they lost their children, ages 2 and 7 months.

The only good news is that my friend’s son is still alive but in a coma. It’s unknown if he is going to make it. However, the police were able to catch the person who caused the accident.

When the world gets crazy, I need a movie like Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron. I need a movie with a strong character who is good at solving problems or getting herself out of sticky problems.

In this movie, Theron plays an MI6 spy who is sent to Berlin just as the wall is about to come down. She is sent to retrieve something or someone. But just as it appears it is going as plan it goes all wrong. And our spy has to do whatever it takes to keep her mission on track.

There are several elements that makes this movie fantastic.

First are the fight scenes which are choreographed well. They are tough to watch, long drawn out events, and feature fighters who might be a bit tired near what could be the end.

Secondly the soundtrack is all–out euro-techno pop. It reminded me so much of the 80s with music by Nina, Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, and so many others. I was having flashbacks just by the soundtrack.

Lastly, while it was a standard spy double-crossed movie I was sucked into the story line. I need to find out who was supposed to be who. Of course there is a double agent and I wanted to know exactly who it was, even if I was completely wrong in the end.

Some of you may have seen the end and knows what happens. I’m not telling about that. For me, it was thrilling and electric. But I need to warn those who do not like swearing, violence in a movie, or more graphic love scenes. There is plenty of that stuff in this movie and if it makes you queasy or upset, perhaps it is best to not watch.

For me the most terrifying things were her constant baths in ice cold water. There is a purpose to it and I get it that it is a spy thing. Still gave me chills up and down the spine. I had a feeling I knew exactly where it was leading. And I was right.

In the end, the problems were solved with biting violence that made everything irrevocable, Problems erased with a great deal of finality.

Maybe that is not how we do it in real life. But sometimes when life throws bricks at us, I want a way to throw them right back with twice as much force. That is the feeling Atomic Blonde leaves me. Violence with the hope of redemption.

Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.

Reading Challenge – The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Remember when I said I was participating in a reading Challenge from ChickLit Plus?  The rules are that I have to read a book of Chick Lit once a month and review it on the blog.

I think I picked a good one this month.

Book Cover Image from barnesandnoble.com

I went for a historical fiction romance novel called The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig that I found in Paperback Reader in Kankakee. This is one of those stories that is a book within a book, a story within a story. The overlying story is about a history graduate student going to England to research a historical figure known as the Pink Carnation. This takes Eloise to London and the home of a grande dame as well as in the way of a handsome lord.

The second story is set in the Regency period during the semi-peaceful era between France and England, this book sets to tell the tale of the Purple Gentian and the Pink Carnation.

These are fictional spies in the manner of the Scarlet Pimpernel who foiled the French as they try to kill off their aristocracy. In this book, the Purple Gentian takes over for the Scarlet Pimpernel, rescuing English aristocracy accused of being spies.

That means we get cold-war type action, gothic Parisian houses and maidens looking for action. Not sexual but as spies. Our heroine, Amy, gets both but not before she before she brings in an entire family when a rescue is needed.

The hero of our story, Richard, is a complex character who is trying to remember all of his duties to God and country while his mother is trying to find him a wife. His work is as a scholar with the French government, placing him in Paris most of the time.

Amy is the daughter of an English woman and a French Duke who lost his life to Madame Guillotine. But now her brother is grown up and needs a ‘lady of the house.’ So Amy plans to find the Purple Gentian and join his group to save her beloved France from Napoleon.

While Amy can grow tiresome – I swear the girl has ADD or at least too much energy and enthusiasm – other characters spring into action to bring reason and a plan into action. That is what keeps the book interesting. The story with Eloise could be interesting but it is really a wrapper for the Purple Gentian. By not giving it enough depth, I found I was not really interested in Eloise and her battles with the lord who did not want her looking at family papers and solving the mystery.

I think I would read this book again and I am currently thinking about getting the sequel, The Masque of the Black Tulip, which I also saw at the Paperback Reader.

Do you have any Chick Lit suggestions for my challenge?