Becky's Book Reviews: Week in Review #12

Saturday, March 21, 2026

Week in Review #12

This week I reviewed one book. I read The French Kitchen by Kristy Cambron.

I am reading books. But they are LONG books, thick books, books that are taking me a good bit of time to read. I did check out some picture books a few days ago, so at the very least I should be able to read and review those next week.

Century of Viewing #12

1950s

1957 The Brain from Planet Arous If you love sci-fi with "horror" elements, then I highly recommend this film from the 1950s. It was silly and fun. The premise, MYSTERY MOUNTAIN is a dangerous, dangerous place. Two scientists--presumably friends--investigate strange readings of radiation that they can pinpoint from their lab to a specific spot on Mystery Mountain. They investigate...but one never returns...and one returns as another....because he has met THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS. The brain has TWO things on his mind. SALLY (whom he definitely, definitely "elated" by (his words) and world domination. Can the world be saved from this amorous power-loving alien????
1958 The Day the Sky Exploded. Italian science fiction. The audio was English. I'm assuming dubbed at some point. This meteor movie lacks intensity. Unless you are thrilled about a showdown over air conditioners. It's good the earth was saved because the air conditioner was turned back on. This movie was strange but not in a great way.

1960s

1967 Those Fantastic Flying Fools (Blast Off) Changing the name doesn't help this movie be more than one star. I think it was supposed to be a comedy, perhaps a slapstick comedy, but it's just a mess of a movie. Too many actors. Too little story. Not enough comedy. It isn't as simple as well, not funny enough to be a comedy it must be something else...like a drama or tragedy. But nope. It's a void. So bumbling fools are trying to get to the moon via a cannon. This makes The Great Race (1965) look intelligent. Neither movie is funny. Both are too long.
1968 Finian's Rainbow. WHAT is this movie?!?! Well, it's a long movie. It's a song and dance movie. It's got an amorous leprechaun. It's got several weird stories going on. It's extremely unique. I guess a one sentence description would be, "Be careful what you wish for." It hasn't been a great year for watching Fred Astaire movies. Though I suppose I'm glad enough I persevered through this one.

1980s

1988 The Bourne Identity. Two part made for television movie. IT had suspense, action, and romance. I definitely am glad I watched this one!!! It has been so long since I watched the newer Bourne Identity, but, this one was GOOD and according to the comments on YT faithful to the book (which I haven't read so I can't judge for myself).

2020s

2022 Jurassic World Dominion. I loved seeing some of the characters from the Jurassic Park series come back for this one. The story is dinosaur-packed. It's action-y. It's dinosaur-y. I liked it well enough.
2023 Shari & Lamb Chop A documentary film on Shari Lewis (and her wonderful, wonderful, wonderful puppets). IT was a good documentary. I wanted more, more, more of Lambchop. But it was fascinating to see her whole life and not just a small bit of it. Would recommend.