Invasive Procedures review

Hard to believe this is an Orson Scott Card book (I think it was a favor to Aaron Johnson). Big steaming pile of dreck - avoid.

Surface Detail (Culture Novels) review

Does a society of immortals need a virtual hell to keep it's citizens in line? That's just one of the big questions than Iain Banks splendidly presents to the reader.

11/22/63 review

What a page turner - could not put it down. A hair slow in the middle, and lots of long details on Lee Harvey Oswald, but fascinating. I was transported.

Good Shephard - slow but interesting.

Admittedly, the movie was not what I expected. It showed very little spycraft, very little action, but was ultimately interesting and good. Totally agree twith prior review that it was plodding and didn't pay out a whole lot, but still very enjoyable.

Not really a movie

My wife and I watched 911 and walked away feeling it was less like a movie, more like a documentary. It was very hard to "enjoy" but in it's own unique way was excellent.

Lady in the Water Barely Floats

Overall, I felt there was lots to like about LITW, less to dislike, and plenty to feel mediocre about. I was captivated at times, but felt the last 30 minutes stumbled, and ultimately I was left wanting something more. This is my first M. Night Shyamalan disappointment, loving ALL of his other pics. Enjoyable, and I can recommend, but with reservations.

The Concrete Blonde - Certainly no dye j

This was my fourth Harry Bosch read - the third that Connolly wrote, and I was enveloped. I love Connolly's natural dialogue - nobody reads strangely, yet everyone has character. Solid story and mystery. Very enjoyable.

A Smiler With No Big Laughs

The Break-Up was an amusing movie with lots of resonance for married and dating couples. I never really laughed during the movie - it was just a "smiler", but I did enjoy it. I was left unpleased by the ending, like they did not quite know how to finish the movie. Jennifer Aniston is fun, but unremarkable. The thing that bugs me is the characters don't make a lot of sense - yes it's only a comedy, but is seems to be trying to say something profound about relationships. Personally, I did not get the message.

The Wild - Quite Tame

I recently saw The Wild in the theater with my 4-year old, and I came away finding it lacking. The Wild is an uninspired rehash of several movies - most notably Madagascar. How they could possibly come up with a movie so similar is beyond me - not that Madagascar was anything to emulate. The animation is very good, but like MGSCR, the characters are uninspired. I also thought it had shades of Nemo - the dad trying to find his son. Just a bit too drab and unoriginal for my taste. My four-year-old liked it - but couldn't tell me much she liked about it, and didn't talk much about it, so I would say it was 5 out of 10 for her too.

Good, but nothing special.

I was surprised at how unsexy Kate Beckinsdale was in this movie - she looks pissed off all the time, and is basically running throughout the entire movie. There was a suprisingly decent plot - it just got stretched a bit thin trying to come up with reasons to have certain scenes. I felt unsatisfied at the end, but it was by no means bad - just not very good.
