Cathay Williams makes everyone else seem small

I recently watched the historically inspired, but wholly fictional The Harder They Fall (2021). I am a fan of westerns and this one got me interested, but Jonathan Majors is a real life horrible person so I avoided it. Watching They Will Kill You with Zazie Beetz, brought me back to it. I decided to give it a shot after all, and I'm glad I did. Everyone in this movie shines, and most are significantly better than Majors. The biggest standout is Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Cuffee, inspired by Cathay Williams. Add in Zazie Beetz, who play the real life Stagecoach Mary and Regina King who plays the fictional Trudy Smith and you have three very strong women who stand out in this film. Cuffee is the best character in the film, in my opinion, and Danielle does an amazing job as her. I can recommend this movie to all because of it, the inclusion of majors notwithstanding.

Coincidentally, I happened upon the western Surrounded (2023) on Tubi as a movie that was leaving soon. The Harder They Fall created a bigger itch for another western and this one looked interesting so I decided to give it a shot. I had no idea that Cathay Williams inspired yet another character in Mo Williams in this film. This time Letitia Wright (most know her as Shuri from Black Panther) plays "Cathay," and the role is more significant as it's the main character. It is just as impactful as the previous iteration and just make you like the character even more. 

All of this to say, I learned who Cathay Williams was, but certainly not enough about her to really talk about this amazing woman. I have order a biography on her and will be reading it later this year. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone else out there to look up these movies, and see if they amaze you like they did me. If not, you're, at worst, watching two good westerns. 

I will give the warning that they are violent, They Harder They Fall more so, but not as bad as many other action/horror films out there. 

They Will Kill You

 Introduce Zazie Beetz as a bad ass with a sad backstory on a quest to find/save/avenge her sister and add in a mix of Heather Graham, Tom Felton and Patricia Arquette as key member of a satanic cult who cannot be killed and you get They Will Kill You. Weirdly this movie came out the same time as a similarly themed Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. While I haven't yet seen RoN2 yet, They Will Kill You was my most anticipated movie of the year. I really like cult movies and a killer heroine only makes that better. 

Zazie Beetz is awesome as Asia Reaves and shines in the action scenes, that are truly the highlight of the movie. There isn't too much to dig into here, and it does an effective job of making this tiny snippet of the world feel "real." The acting is a bit over the top, but that's not entirely a bad thing in a movie like this. There is a scene that truly gives you the ick, men really suck, but it doesn't last too long and there's hell to pay for the act. Honestly this is not the best movie I've seen this year, not even close, but it was entertaining enough and I will buy it (when it goes on sale, I don't buy anything full price anymore). If you're interested in it at all, give it a watch at some point, it's well done. If you want something similar and probably better the first Ready or Not and Gunpowder Milkshake are both objectively better.

7/10

Close Encounters of a Hail Mary

 So the whole family went to see Project Hail Mary and we loved it. It was a darn near perfect movie (I know Rish, the book is better and it makes the movie a disappointment but as I haven't read it yet I cannot comment). It brought back the sense of wonder and awe into a movie and it really is one that deserves to be seen on the big screen. I encourage everyone to go see it! It's even more amazing to learn how little CGI and how much practical effects were used. The more I learn about the movie the more I appreciate it. Lord and Miller knocked it out of the park and Ryan Gosling is a much better actor than I thought.

9.5/10

Of course it made me think of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, even before the tip of the hat to the tune. So I had to rewatch that movie too and I finally saw the director's cut of it. While it has aged a bit, overall it holds up so well. I always preferred it to ET, and its probably more the ongoing sense of something wrong is going on that I like. I will say though that Richard Dreyfuss's Roy Neary is a total @$$. He only wants to play or have his kids do what he wants, not actually parent them, putting that on his wife. His irrational obsession on the aliens, whic
h isn't all his fault as shown by the others in the same obsessive state, further drives his wife from him, not that she needed much more of a push. Roy has much more of a connection with Jillian Guiler, a fellow alien experiencer and actually seems to care for her, unlike any emotion shown to his wife. At the end *SPOILER* Roy has no hesitation to join the aliens, and doesn't even think about HIS FAMILY AND CHILDREN!!! This is not just tied to the alien influence as Jillian does crave to go with the aliens as she is more about her child and being with him, you know, like a LOVING PARENT!! All this doesn't take away from an awesome story about contact with aliens, it's just too bad that this part of the movie hasn't aged well, although it's not a unique way to have a man view his family from this time period.

8/10

Both of these movies have such a sense of wonder, amazement and hope. It something that is finally returning to stories it feels like after the morally gray and dark stories we've had lately. I can go for more of this!!!

Marching my way through some pages.

It was a busy end of March/start of April so this post is a little later than expected. But I read so much in March. It was more than expected for sure! Travelling around and spring cleaning really help me listen to more audiobooks.

I read my third reality show in a secluded area goes wrong book. We Won't All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall was the best of the bunch so far. It wasn't the best written (One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware) or have the best twist (How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates) but it was the most satisfying. Coates' book was a bit too gory/violent for my tastes. And Ware's just fell flat. Marshall's was the most entertaining, even if it was ridiculous.

7/10

I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman at the very start of the month, just in time for a bookclub. I will say that it was one of the better audiobooks I've listened to, and it was heaps better than any LitRPG books I've listened to up to this point. If you're interested in the series at all it's worth it. I don't know that I'll continue with it though, it's not completely my bag, even as entertaining it as it is.

8/10

The wife and I listened to several books this month and they were almost all decent. There was The Rush by Michelle Prak, Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston, and Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh. The Rush was an Australian thriller and it was the best of the bunch if terrifying. Cavanagh's book was the first we've listened to that wasn't part of his Eddie Flynn series. It was thrilling, but left you unsure how to feel about things at the end. Anatomy of an Alibi had potential but felt flat by the end. It wasn't an awful but just didn't hit the way you'd hope.

8/10

8/10

5/10

I read the next in The Expanse series, Persepolis Rising by James SA Corey. This was a darn hear perfect addition to the series. I don't understand how such massive tomes can be so engrossing and move so fast. The pacing is perfect. Bobby is a total badass and this book represents it better than any other. I cannot recommend this series any more and this is the start of the last three that the show didn't cover.

9.5/10

The last two books were both a bit of comfort reads after the intensity that James SA Corey brings to the table. I listened to Countess by Suzan Palumbo which is a sci-fi Caribbean inspired Count of Monte Cristo retelling. It was interesting and worth a read, if not as good as the original work. I followed it up with book five in the Fred the Vampire Accountant series, Deadly Assessments by Drew Hayes. This series is amazing pulp joy. It's a found family series and has good humor and makes you really care about so many characters. It's the perfect relaxing comfort food to offset the intensity of The Expanse.

6.5/10

8/10