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The first and second editions of Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge by H. Anthony Medley comprised the fastest selling beginning bridge book, going through more than 10 printings. This updated Third Edition includes a detailed Guide to Bids and Responses, along with the most detailed, 12-page Glossary ever published, as well as examples to make learning the game even easier. Click book to order. Available in all bookstores and on Kindle. | |
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Sicario: Day of the Soldado (9/10) by Tony Medley Runtime 119 minutes. R In this second of an apparent series, the American government realizes that the drug cartels are now trafficking terrorists across the border. In order to stop this, federal agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is put in charge and gets Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) to be the prime mover in a plan to put a stop to it. Alejandro’s family was murdered by a cartel boss, so he has incentive to wreak havoc on that cartel. The movie has interesting twists as it proceeds with escalating tension. The acting is very good, especially Del Toro and Isabela Moner, who plays the 12-year-old daughter of one the cartel’s boss, Isabela Reyes. Directed by Stefano Sollima from a script by Taylor Sheridan, and based on characters created by Taylor Sheridan, this is much better than its predecessor, which had a lot of problems with cohesion and comprehension. This story is clear and right in your face. There is no problem figuring out what’s going on, and a lot of that credit probably goes to Sollima who replaces Denis Villeneuve, who didn’t seem to know what the point was of his movie. Brolin and Del Toro return from the first, but missing is any kind of romantic angle that Emily Blunt provided in the first, as she was dumped from this one. As usual in this type of movie, the music (Hildur Guđnadóttir) is key to creating and escalating the tension. Guđnadóttir replaces Jóhann Jóhannsson from the first movie. So there were three big changes from the first, a new director, new composer, and no female lead. Since Sheridan wrote both films, it’s clear that all the changes led to a much better, cohesive film.
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