Book 1 of Kevin Sands’ Middle Grade series about apothecaries and alchemists in the 1600’s. Well written mystery and adventure without introducing the supernatural. The hunt for the Archangel’s Fire, an explosive recipe, is behind a string of murders.
Clever song inclusions and staging retold the tale, but the modern gender twists got in the way of the story rather than aiding the modern audience in taking in Shakespeare’s language. Duke Senior, and the other female leads were excellent, but being called Duke and mother was less than satisfying,…
Neal Stephenson sci.fi. about digital life-after-death in a virtual analogue of the real world populated by animated connectomes that faithfully map all a live brain’s neuronal connections. But even in a virtual world with a virtual brain, the thread of consciousness can be severed.
Fun, but uneven, adventure. Psychedelic jungle flowers and all the animated sequences and characters could have been eliminated and made the movie stronger.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) – Quintessential Tarantinio, brilliant and flawed. Great performances by Pitt and DiCaprio. Several terrific set pieces and Julia Butters’ performance saved the film from Tarantino’s signature violence. With a great editor, this film could have caught another star.
Fine Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland collaboration. Starts by positing a scientific basis for witchcraft and time travel and goesn on from there.
Neal Stephenson and J. Frederick George thriller. Very engaging drama of a fanciful Iraqi scheme to build bio-weapons near an Iowa university. Equally interesting is the government compartmentalization that tries to avoid discovering what’s going on.
Totally entertaining romantic comedy of a down-and-out musician who slips into an alternate reality where he seems to be the only one who’s heard of a rock band called the Beatles. Now he’s the hottest songwriter on earth.
Excellent follow-on to 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Story wins out over special effects proving once again what folks really go to the movies for.
Movie ***** The American President (1995) – Douglas and Benning Movie ***** As Good as it Gets (2000) – Nicholson and…