THE SPECTACULAR NOW * FIREFLY BEACH

The Spectacular Now - This movie was a "staff pick" at Redbox, so I went for it on the strength of the last "staff pick", which was The Way Way Back.  The "staff" is consistent with their choices of great coming of age movies.  This one follows an 18 year old high school senior named Sutton.  He and the other high schoolers are like adults in this movie, which I suppose is how seniors are, and you think I'd know since I have one, abut still, they are so young!  The title is about what the movie is about - Sutton lives in the now, blocking out the past and ignoring any deep thoughts about the impending future.  He's got some other issues as well, but I'm not one to give away the show - it's good, so I hope you'll put this one on your list and enjoy it as much as I did.  

Firefly Beach by Luanne Rice - Firefly Beach is a nice formulaic romance novel.  Here's the formula for Firefly:  three unique sisters + one dead famous artist father + one tragic event each for the oldest and youngest sisters + they live in a beautiful place near a beach and have money + the dad had been a philanderer and drinker + one of the tragic events sort of involved a guy who grew up to be a rich hunk but whom they'd never met + rich hunk has a darling half brother who also shows up + one sister has a jerk husband + one sister is happily married + one sister is beautiful, haunted and alone by choice and is the family caregiver because the mom has always been a bit selfish + sexual tension between the rich hunk and the beautiful single sister etc etc. + you know where this is going, and you know it's going to get there with misunderstandings and barely concealed emotions bubbling inside the quiet intense beautiful characters.  I prefer stories that surprise, where you don't really know if they are going to get together, but this formula is a proven success as evidenced by the best seller status of the authors who write the formula books.