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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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Widows (8/10) by Tony Medley Runtime 126 minutes. R. Based on a British TV mini-series by Lynda La Plante, director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) takes a script by Gillian Flynn, who wrote the best seller “Gone Girl” and the screenplay for it, and moved the locale from London to Chicago and the time from the 1980s to the present. But it’s still the story of four women, Veronica Rawlins (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), and Belle (Cynthia Erivo), not a widow but someone who joins them to help out, of disparate backgrounds and ethnicity (McQueen emphasizes he was making a statement) who perform a heist after their bank robber husbands are all killed. It starts because their husbands, led by Harry Rawlins (Liam Neeson), were killed robbing some real bad guys, led by Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry) who also is running to become the next Alderman for the 18th Ward against Jack Mulligan (Colin Farrell). Jack is running to succeed his father, Tom (Robert Duvall who, for my money, gives the best performance in the movie), who has been the Alderman for many, many years. Jamal visits Veronica after Harry’s funeral and demands the $2 million that Harry and his friends have stolen. He gives her a month to come up with it. She bands together with the other widows with a plan to do it. This is a harsh indictment of Chicago, where it was shot. That was important to McQueen, who was a stickler that the film be as realistic as possible. He said, “Chicago has so many levels of interest to me. Political, racial, religion, policing and criminality and how all of these networks at some point crossover and have a relationship to each other.” In an editorial statement, Davis says, “(Y)ou have this vibrant city with great restaurants and beautiful high-rises on Lakeshore Drive, and beautifully manicured lawns and, God, what a great artistic scene and all of that. But, then you have the other. You have the Lawndales, the Garfield Parks, the Inglewoods, you know, the neighborhoods that have a high crime rate. You have the segregation, and that only happens with corruption.” The movie is loaded with violence, mostly emotional, but physical, too. The acting is outstanding.
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