Well, there’s no doubt about what March will be remembered for: my discovering CJ Box’s “Joe Pickett” series and instantly becoming hooked on it. I started the month in a mild funk, burned out a little by some of the nonfiction I’d been reading, and roaming the wildlands of Wyoming with Joe and his horse was just the ticket. After reading the first book, I just couldn’t stop — something I think has only happened with two other authors, Isaac Asimov and Bernard Cornwell. They just happen to be my two most-read authors. The Pickett obsession bled over into electronic entertainment, as I also watched the first season of Joe Pickett on Paramount Plus. Since I didn’t do much anything in any of my challenges this month, and I didn’t do a lot of movies, I’m going to include Moviewatch in this post. Reviews for another Box book and The Innovators to come today or tomorrow if I have power. I’m also posting this early, because — not to sound like I’m repeating myself — but we’re in for another night and day of potential tornadoes. Schools across the state closing in anticipation. Ah, spring.

Coming up in April

April is always Read of England here at Reading Freely, a celebration of English history and literature. I’m staring down the barrel of a finals project, though, so I sadly expect this one to be a bit muted. (Plus, there will be competition from Box and baseball. Is there such a thing as a British cowboy? ‘I say old boy, this is a bit of a sticky wicket, but I think if you ride on and cut them off at the pass, we’ll have them nicked!”) I do have a read in progress, though, and I’m hoping I can use it as a science read.

Moviewatch: March 2025

I Saw the Light, 2015. Hank Williams biopic.  I enjoyed the movie well enough but not nearly as much as the Johnny Cash biopic  I Walk the Line.  Hiddlleson’s acting was great, I just didn’t get into the story.

It Happens Every Spring, 1949. A baseball crashing into a chemistry set creates a new substance, and the unwitting creator goes pro, playing for St. Louis so he can do some fund-raising and marry his girl.  

The Conversation, 1974. It has Gene Hackman: he’s a private investigator whose audio surveillance hears something more serious than he bargained for, and he’s thrust into a moral quandry.

Dinner in America, a….comedy-drama-romance from 2022 about a criminal punk rocker in the mid-eighties (based on tech and the mention of the DARE program) who is saved from the police by an awkward store clerk. He uses her for shelter but then discovers her to be a really promising punk songwriter. Also? She happens to be a HUGE fan of his band and his stage persona. John Q, though she doesn’t realize this moody abusive dude she just let into her life is him. The rocker is an unlikable jerk for most of the film, but the relationship is believable and I liked seeing the awkward girl blossom into a confident songwriter.  The picture above links to a song the two of them compose together; it’s an absolute ear-worm, but the refrain is obscene.

Rule Breakers, 2025, about a group of four Afghan teenage girls who overcome cultural pressure, financial difficulties, and their own self-doubts to begin competing with teenagers across the world in robotics competitions. Based in some degree on a true story; beautiful music, solid acting, satisfying ending. 

Quadrophenia, 1979. Rock opera about some doofuses wearing suits and scooters (“Mods”)  improbably beating up a bunch of Rockers on proper bikes in the 1960s. Music  by The Who.

The Straight Story, 1999. Excellent film about an old retired farmer who, upon learning his brother had a stroke, decides their ten-year silence after a bitter argument needs to be ended. Since he is old and prideful, he decides to visit said brother on….a lawnmower. Phenom acting.

10 Cloverfield Lane. Horror-suspense film.  A young woman is hit in a car wreck and wakes up chained in a basement, and soon meets her captor, John Goodman, who alleges that the United States has been attacked and that the outside air is now toxic. Although she’s dubious and tries to escape,  she becomes convinced after seeing evidence of an attack outside – but  that doesn’t mean Goodman’s character still isn’t unhinged and and dangerous.  Very effective.

All About Eve, 1950. A young woman who loves the The Theater lands a job helping her idol, a Betty Davis who has just turned 40 and is insecure about her future in The Theater. (“The Theater” is pronounced with audible capital letters in this book: it’s set during a time when the stage was still king and Hollywood was something thespians looked down on.) Fascinating character study, both Davis’ struggle to work out her feelings toward the future, and the ingenue (Anne Baxter)’s rise to fame and what she’s willing to do to achieve it. Interestingly, the musical theme reminded me and my movie buddy strongly of a theme used in Gone with the Wind, and I wondered — given that Davis and Baxter’s careers are both tied to the role of a southern belle in a play, and given Baxter’s combination of innocent charm and cold-blooded machinations — if it wasn’t a reference to Scarlett O’Hara herself.