Set in New York during the Twenties, Thomas Mallon’s comic novel Bandbox (2004) chronicles the doings of those who put out fictitious Bandbox magazine for men.  Indeed, they struggle to keep the magazine afloat in the face of such realities as gangster involvement and the recalcitrance of film star Rosemary LaRoche, intended for a cover shoot.

A man who values animals (sometimes treated cruelly, to be sure), not people.  The gangster activity of selling illegal narcotics.  A strictly non-intellectual mag which may be considered the Maxim of its day.  Bandbox presents all this–and what we understand, of course, is that much in America never changes (also true of other countries).  And yet, simultaneously, there is that early 20th century innocence among Mallon’s people which many of us today apprehend and which will never exist again.

Great novels, it seems, are no longer being written, and it’s probably undeniable that this one isn’t great.  Still, it’s bouncy and shrewd and enjoyable, the work of a talented writer.

Cover of Bandbox: A Novel

 

Pirates–i.e., evildoers–are sanitized and trivialized in the clay-animation feature, The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012), and there is a conspicuously silly plot, but a lot of good jokes crop up as well.  Even something weird will occur now and then, as witness the presence of Jane Austen and the Elephant Man (the year is 1837).  Also, surprise, there is no love interest.

A product of Britain’s Aardman Animations, Pirates! is a rowdy family film proffering the voices of Hugh Grant, Imelda Staunton, and Salma Hayek.  Miss Staunton “plays” a mean Queen Victoria, who looks like a fat Helena Bonham Carter. 

Film poster for The Pirates! - Courtesy of Columbia Pictures (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Anyone who’s a music lover should check out the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major.

It’s an outstanding composition whose first movement gets feverish as well as lightheartedly lovely, whose second movement is strikingly jaunty, and whose third movement is poignant and highly melodic.  It may be the best thing Prokofiev ever wrote.

For pared-down strings, I recommend Leos Janacek’s String Quartet No. 1 (inspired by the Tolstoy story, “The Kreutzer Sonata”)–just as rich and accessible as the Prokofiev piece.

English: Sergei Prokofiev playing his 3d Piano Concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique de Brussel under Désiré Defauw pencil on paper 22.8 x 16.9 cm signed l.l.: HW signed by performer l.r.: Serge Prokofieff February 1936 Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The first half of the new version of Spider-Man—The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)–is quite captivating and even disturbing as it tells of Peter Parker’s becoming the titular hero and his fighting the Big Mutant.  But the second half is clunky and somewhat boring.  Why, I have to ask, is Gwen Stacy’s policeman father such a fool?  He obviously thinks he can take on the Big Mutant without Spider-Man’s help.  (He can’t.)

Andrew Garfield is fine as Spider-Man.  So is Emma Stone as Gwen, and although the role is underwritten, Gwen is plainly both a strong female and a romantic.  In a pleasing scene, Peter Parker hesitantly begins to tell the girl about the astonishing spider bite he recently received.  “I’ve been bitten,” he murmurs.  “So have I,” Gwen replies, looking softly at Peter.

But a lot of not-so-pleasing stuff is here too.  I actually consider Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002), insipid as it occasionally is, a somewhat better entertainment.

The Amazing Spider-Man #121: "The Night Gwen Stacy Died". Cover art by John Romita Sr. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have no use for Oliver Stone’s wrongheaded movies, and not surprisingly his latest, Savages (2012), is more interesting than truly good.  It is very interesting, though, in my view; an intriguing drug-cartel drama.  For the most part it is poorly written–forget the film’s dumb suggestion that there are “beautiful savages” here–but it’s dramatically sobering and visually seductive nonetheless.  Or at least it’s visually seductive when it avoids Stone’s filmic pretentiousness; it is Don Mindel’s fine cinematography with its seaside colors that gives the movie its look.

Histrionically Benicio Del Toro (as a drug-trade bully), Salma Hayek (as the Baja cartel leader) and John Travolta (as a corrupt cop) carry the film.  Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively do not.  Travolta gives it all he’s got, with acting that’s tough-fibered and unself-conscious.  Hayek is pleasantly solemn.

David Thomson, on the Internet, is right:  Savages is trashy, and not because Kitsch bares his bottom.  It’s quite a sensationalistic stew.  Even so, Thomson accepts the film and so do I.  Reluctantly.

Taylor Kitsch (Photo credit: Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer)