When I was a little girl, a relative gave me a beautiful book filled with illustrations of unicorns and blank facing pages to write on. I wrote a story around each illustration, trying to tie all the different unicorns and locations together. When I was older, I read this story to some girls I babysat. [...]
The Fall: like melted fine chocolates
June 21st, 2008 by Lauren Hutchison · No Comments
Speed Racer: Not bad, no really!
June 5th, 2008 by Lauren Hutchison · 2 Comments
Everyone panned the Matrix sequels and groaned at Speed Racer, but it’s not that bad. At the very least, there’s value in seeing the eye-popping art direction, even if the flimsy story doesn’t grip you. With V for Vendetta, the Animatrix, and the collective experience of John Goodman, Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon behind their [...]
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
June 1st, 2008 by Karen · 1 Comment
In King Solomon’s Mines, the 1885 adventure novel introducing Allan Quartermain (a definite proto-Indiana Jones), the quest for the ancient mine’s diamonds concludes with our heroes unable to transport all the treasure home - but rather, just enough so that each is able to live comfortably to the end of their days.
Indiana Jones and his [...]
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
May 21st, 2008 by Karen · No Comments
Prince Caspian promises you that everything you know is about to change. (Forever!) Certainly this must refer to Narnia, indeed a changed place since our last visit in 2005’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Disney’s life-action, big-budget adaptations of C.S. Lewis’s classics of children’s literature also reach for an more mature audience this [...]
Iron Man
May 14th, 2008 by Karen · 1 Comment
The best superhero movie yet? Iron Man is certainly vying hard for the title. While not clearly trumping past and recent classics like Superman (1978), Spider-Man (2002), or Batman Begins (2005), Tony Stark’s adventures can stand proudly alongside the genre’s elite.
Iron Man tweaks the formula in that it isn’t set in a heightened comic [...]
Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon
April 28th, 2008 by Lauren Hutchison · No Comments
Kay Kenyon’s first book in the Entire and the Rose series has something of an identity crisis. No one seems to know how to market this: sci-fi or fantasy? Bright of the Sky neatly strides both worlds - literally - to create a universe rich with culture, sympathetic characters that are truly flawed, and a [...]
The Forbidden Kingdom
April 24th, 2008 by Lauren Hutchison · 1 Comment
If you’re not a 13 year-old boy, Forbidden Kingdom was not really made for you. I understand the appeal of Jet Li and Jackie Chan, together at last, and everyone’s hopes for a harmonious combination like peanut butter and chocolate. I shared this hope, but was served something more like canned cheese with crackers. It’s [...]
Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews
March 27th, 2008 by Lauren Hutchison · No Comments
Lions and mermaids and shaman, oh my! Magic Burns is the second book in the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Kate is a mercenary in magic-torn Atlanta, eliminating the magical anomalies that surface each time a wave of magic hits. In Magic Bites, she investigates the murder of her guardian and ruffles a few [...]
Justice League: The New Frontier
March 1st, 2008 by Karen · No Comments
The DC animated universe is experiencing growing pains. While its television series, beginning with Batman: The Animated Series in the early ’90s, have always attracted older viewers as well as the kiddies, the producers are now focusing their efforts almost exclusively on teenage and adult fans. The PG-13 rating for Justice League: The New Frontier [...]
Sunshine
March 1st, 2008 by Karen · 3 Comments
” We should split up.”
” I’m not sure that’s such a good idea . . .”
“You’re probably right. We might get picked off one at a time by aliens.”
Sunshine is smart enough to recognize a cliché, but dumb enough to follow it anyway. The crew splits up, and let’s just say it really wasn’t a [...]
