WILD * THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU * DAVID COPPERFIELD * 99 RIVER STREET

Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed - It's a really good book. Wild is Cheryl's memoir about the times in her early 20s when her young mom died and Cheryl went off the rails before deciding to hike the mountainous Pacific Crest Trail through California and Oregon. She had no experience for this kind of a physical journey, but she knew that she had to save herself, and this was the way she decided to do it. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

This Is Where I Leave You - Jane Fonda plays the unusual matriarch of a family whose dad has just died. Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Adam Driver round out the cast (sorry to the actor who plays the fourth sibling) as the kids. All together under one roof for the first time in years, old and new family stuff swirls together to make the story. It's pretty good for free.

David Copperfield - I watched the 1935 version with W.C. Fields as Mr. Macrowber and it was wonderful. I haven't read much Dickens (practically none), but am so happy to finally know the story of David from beginning to end. As with all the 1930s movies, I wonder whether my mom, dad and their families saw the movie in the movie theater when it first came out. If so, this was a good one. Uncle Bob and Auntie Kaye would have known and recognized all the actors. There were so many good scenes and characters in this movie; for years I've known Uriah Heep and Dora as crossword puzzle answers, and now I know who they are as characters.

99 River Street - Film noir from 1955. As with others of the genre, this movie had unknown actors, lots of drama, lots of plot, and wasn't as good as my little 1979 guide to every movie ever made told me it would be. Still it's fun to watch for the fashions, scenery and general history of those times. At some point, someone decided to market the black and white movies with colorful dvd covers loaded with fonts and exclamation points. I prefer a black and white still shot.