The publishing industry often looks down its elitist nose at so-called “young adult” literature, but writers aiming at a teen audience have given us a lot of our most beloved stories and characters. Not just Harry Potter and his wonderful Hogwarts, but The Hobbit, The Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn, The Chronicles of Narnia and so many more. And add to that the delightful trilogy that starts with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom…Read More
Review: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Do superheroes get bored? Is it possible that being constantly on call to save the world every time something bad happens might get just a bit in the way of having a pleasant life, a family and a social life? That’s the central question of the terrific new Marvel movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. And I’ll make this easy: Just go see it. The story is propelled by a question that’s on a lot of…Read More
Review: Robocop
Let me start right out with a surprise: I liked the new Robocop movie. I admit, I went into the theater expecting a dumb retread of a classic sci-fi film and was pleasantly surprised with director José Padilha’s take on half-man, half-robot Alex Murphy. Is it better than the original? Well, the 1987 film hasn’t aged gracefully and while I will forgive a lot because Peter Weller’s in the title role, there’s a lot of…Read More
Review: The Other Guys
I take notes as I watch films so that I can remember salient plot points, great effects, and idiotic story twists. During The Other Guys, I wrote down “buddy cop film from hell”. That might well sum up the weird mashup that is The Other Guys, a movie that can’t decide if it’s a straight-up action film, a satire that skewers the well-worn buddy cop genre, or a daft, sophomoric comedy in the vein of…Read More
Review: Iron Man 2
Sequels are rarely as good as the original, but Iron Man 2 is one of the few exceptions. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, but it’s sure darn fun and engaging, and the new story twists, the health issue that Tony “Iron Man” Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) faces and the half-baked but disturbing archenemy Whiplash (Mickey Rourke), all add up to create a film that’s sure to be the first summer blockbuster. The…Read More