DVD Review: Anna and the Apocalypse

Anna and the Apocalypse
(DVD Anna)

This movie started as a short film in 2011, Zombie Musical, written and directed by Ryan McHenry. It was then expanded to this full-length feature film, following McHenry’s death, by writers Alan McDonald and Tommy Reilly, with music by Roddy Hart and Reilly. And the music is integral to this film’s success — there are over 15 songs, sung by various cast members, who break into song-and-dance numbers that seamlessly merge into the chaos and zombie killing.

 

Teenager Anna is looking forward to traipsing around the globe following the end of her senior year — a prospect that neither her over-protective father and her best friend don’t relish. Anna isn’t part of the “popular crowd” but she and her fellow misfit outsiders still form a tight bond. They tend to ignore the news reports of a global pandemic that appears to be turning people into zombies — until it starts to affect the people in their sleepy Scottish town of Little Haven. As the entire world appears to be dissolving into total chaos, Anna and her friends (and enemies) must fight their way through their zombie-infested town to their high school, which may or may not be the last safe haven.

 

The entire cast of this is terrific, particularly Ella Hunt as Anna and Malcolm Cumming as her lifelong platonic best friend John. The songs are at first a bit jarring, but quickly become one of the best parts of the film — it reminded me of watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode “Once More, With Feeling” — and all the actors have excellent singing voices. The make-up and special effects are grotesque but impressive. If the film verges occasionally into cartoonishness, it is allowable, as the entire concept seems outlandish. And yet, somehow it works!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to see the If You Like…Die Hard list of harder-edged action/suspense films set at Christmas-time.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds by Stan Tekiela (eBook on Hoopla)

Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds
by Stan Tekiela (Hoopla eBook)

This little 48-page guide is part of the “Backyard Bird Feeding Guide” series focusing on numerous species of birds you might encounter in your yard, many of these have been authored by naturalist and photographer Stan Tekiela. The book is broken up into three sections — the first identifies all the hummingbird species native to the United States (and their normal breeding and migration zones) — only one of which (the Ruby Throated Hummingbird) can normally be found east of the Rocky Mountains. Next, Tekiela discusses the proper formula for hummingbird food and some of the “do and don’t” tips for keeping hummingbirds healthy — quick note: you don’t need to put unnecessary red dyes in the liquid as long as your feeder has lots of red accents to attract their attention. The dies can often be unhealthy for the birds to ingest. And the book also covers popular hummingbird feeder designs and the positives and negatives for each style.

 

Tekiela is know as much for his nature photography as he is for his writing — I really enjoyed the beautiful photos he uses to illustrate this short book!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood by Teresa E. Masear, A Field Guide to the Hummingbirds of North America by Sheri Williamson, The Hummingbirds of North America by Nebraska author Paul Johnsgard, The Hummingbird Book: The Complete Guide to Attracting, Identifying, and Enjoying Hummingbirds by Donald W. Stokes. I also recommend A Hummingbird in My House: The Story of Squeak and Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests, both by Arnette Heidcamp — although they are no longer in the libraries’ collection, they are available to borrow through InterLibrary Loan.)

 

( Stan Tekiela’s official NatureSmart.com web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests by Arnette Heidcamp in the August 2004 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See Scott C.’s review of Fastest Things on Wings by Teresa Masear in the July 2016 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

Music Review: Weather by Huey Lewis and the News (2020)

Weather
by Huey Lewis and the News (Hoopla Music)

This final new album from the veteran rockers was released in 2020, and features a mere 7 songs. It was also Huey Lewis and the News’ first new album in 10 years, and their eleventh original album overall. Subsequent to Weather‘s release, Lewis revealed that he was suffering from Meniere’s Disease, a hearing disorder that will prevent him from further live performances or music-writing.

But if they had to go out, at least they went out with an album that captures the essence of what the band has been about for the many decades they’ve performed together. 6 of the 7 songs on the album, more an EP than a full LP, are upbeat, fun, pop rock. Only the very last song, “One of the Boys”, takes on an introspective tone and leaves the listener a bit wistful. Otherwise, the rest of this small collection recaptures the “feel good” sound of classic Huey Lewis, and will leave you nodding and tapping your foot as you listen.

Sadly, the libraries don’t own this on CD, but Weather is accessible via the digital Hoopla Music service.

Oh, and Huey Lewis isn’t fading into the background — he recently was involved in bring his music to life in the Back to the Future stage musical, and a new “jukebox musical”, The Heart of Rock and Roll, just opened on Broadway!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to listen to the rest of Huey Lewis and the News’ output, especially the albums Sports, Small World and Greatest Hits.)

( official Huey Lewis and the News web site )

Recommended by Scott C.

Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

DVD Review: The Retirement Plan

The Retirement Plan
(DVD Retirement)

I’ll have to admit, Nicolas Cage stars in a lot of my “guilty pleasure” films — such as The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, the National Treasure series, the Ghost Rider series and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Usually, I find that a Nicolas Cage film is one where I can turn my brain off and just be entertained by mindless action and/or quirky characters.

 

The Retirement Plan is one of those types of films, but it doesn’t even live up to the promise of the others I already listed. In this film, Cage plays Matt, an ex-intelligence operative and assassin, who is trying to quietly live his post-employment life of leisure in the Cayman Islands, off the radar of past allies and enemies alike. When his estranged daughter gets sucked into her husband’s theft of a flashdrive filled with information critical to a Miami mobster, she sends her daughter to the Caymans (with the flashdrive hidden in her carry-on), hoping the girl’s grandfather (who’s never met her) will protect her.

 

What follows is a madcap adventure, as one of the mobster’s low-level henchmen sends team-after-team of thugs to get the little girl and flashdrive back. No-one (including his own daughter) is aware of Matt’s true history, so no one expects a grey-haired 60-year-old to be a threat, but Matt keeps eliminating bad guy after bad guy.

 

The plot is extremely predictable and the dialog is often cringe-worthy. But some of the performances are terrific, particularly Ron Perlman as Bobo, a philosophical but not particularly reluctant bad guy, and Ernie Hudson as one of Matt’s fellow retirees.

 

But you’ll definitely want to turn your logical brain off and don’t expect any Shakespeare (even though you’ll get some!).

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try pretty much any other Nicolas Cage action film, including the ones linked above.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Audiobook Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, narrated by David Suchet + Just Desserts reminder

Death on the Nile
by Agatha Christie, audiobook narrated by David Suchet (Compact Disc Christie – also available in Hoopla eAudiobook)

In the past couple of years, I made it a goal for myself to listen to all of the Hercule Poirot novels and short story collections by Agatha Christie, as audiobooks. The actor Hugh Fraser (who placed Captain Hastings in the long-running series of Poirot adaptations to television) narrates many of them, but for certain key titles, actor David Suchet (who played Poirot on television from 1989 to 2013) does the audio narration. That is the case with Death on the Nile.

 

Of all of Poirot’s famed cases, the two which are probably most recognizable to casual readers are Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Death on the Nile is a twisty tale, with a group of characters all trapped on a luxury excursion boat on a tour of Egypt’s Nile river. When a wealthy young American heiress is murdered (following various threats against her), and her newlywed husband is badly injured, fellow passenger Hercule Poirot is called upon to solve the case. The suspects and motives are plenty. One of Christie’s other recurring sleuths, Col. Race, is also present to partner with Poirot. And the exotic location is put to good use.

Suchet’s voice as Poirot very effectively pulls you into the story, but it is his deftness at creating distinctive vocal personalities for every other character in the story that is truly amazing. I know that Kenneth Branagh narrated a new audiobook version in conjunction with his recent movie version of the story, but Suchet really inhabits Poirot much more successfully than Branagh, and I highly recommend his version of Death on the Nile. It is truly one of the “crown jewels” of Christie’s works.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Suchet’s audiobook version of Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. There have been multiple film/tv adaptations of this story, starring actors such as Peter Ustinov, David Suchet and Kenneth Branagh in the role of Poirot.)

 

( official Agatha Christie web site )

 

Read Kristen A.'s review of Death on the Nile in the February 2017 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

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If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, March 28th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October.

Tonight, we'll be discussing the the first six entries in the Flavia de Luce series by British author Alan Bradley.

 

Even if you haven't read any of the Flavia de Luce entries for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about other great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Book Review: The Only One Left by Riley Sager + Just Desserts meeting reminder

The Only One Left
by Riley Sager (Sager)

When the libraries’ Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group used Riley Sager’s The Only One Left as our book for discussion at the February 2024 meeting, it was my first time reading anything by thriller writer Riley Sager (a pseudonym for Todd Ritter), despite the fact that he’s had a string of hit novels in the past several years.

 

The Only One Left is definitely a psychological suspense thriller, with numerous twists and turns to its plot. After being penalized for a lapse of judgement which led to the death of her last client, home healthcare worker Kit McDeere is offered a “take it or kiss your job goodbye” position providing round-the-clock aid to reclusive and paralyzed senior Lenora Hope in her decaying old mansion on the Maine coast. The catch? Lenora Hope was the young woman who was the only survivor when her family was all killed when she was 17 — the police (and most of the populace) believe she killed the rest of her clan but could never prove it. But the case remained so notorious that a sing-song schoolyard chant permeates the local culture:

 

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

 

Kit’s introduction to the household has her meeting a colorful cast of supporting players, but it is initial interactions with the enfeebled Lenora, mute and paralyzed except for limited use of one of her arms/hands, that sets a series of mysterious events in motion. After building up some mutual trust, Kit helps Lenora use a typewriter, and one of her first messages is “I want to tell you everything”. But can Kit believe what Lenora types out? And is there anyone else who’d rather not have Lenora sharing secrets, even after 50 years have passed?

 

I fond The Only One Left to be a suspenseful, engaging story, filled with intriguing characters. Unfortunately, both I and most of the other Just Desserts attendees at our discussion agreed that we found the ending disappointing. But the journey of getting to that ending was still worth the trip!

 

( official Riley Sager web site )

 

See the handout The Works of Riley Sager prepared for the libraries Just Desserts mystery fiction discussion group

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

---

If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting this Thursday, March 28th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. Tonight, we'll be discussing the the first six entries in the Flavia de Luce series by British author Alan Bradley.

 

Even if you haven't read any of the Flavia de Luce entries for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about other great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

DVD/Movie Review: The Frighteners

The Frighteners
written and directed by Peter Jackson (DVD Frighteners)

In January, I was invited to go to the Filmstreams theater in downtown Omaha to serve on a discussion panel following a showing of Peter Jackson’s 1995 film The Frighteners. Why me? Because I’m the Lincoln City Libraries’ resident “expert” on the Charles Starkweather murder spree case from 1958/1959, and in the movie The Frighteners, Charlie Starkweather’s killing spree is mentioned several times — he serves as an inspiration for the “big bad” in the film.

 

I was pleased to see that the Lincoln City Libraries do still have The Frighteners in our DVD collection. In the film, Michael J. Fox is Frank Bannister, a man who can see the spirits of the deceased, but who uses this ability to con gullible people. He has partnered with three ghosts to “haunt” houses, after which Frank swoops in to offer his expensive services to de-ghost those properties. But multiple mysterious deaths by heart attack in Fairhaven. When one his latest ghostbusting clients has a chilling number appear engraved in his forehead (which only Frank can see), and then he turns up to be the next victim of a mysterious death, Frank ends up working with the man’s widow (played by Trini Alvarado) to figure out what’s going on in his town (and clear his own name as a suspect). It turns out that the ghost of a serial killer from the 1960s has managed to come back and is adding to his body count.

 

Some great performances, some spectacular special effects, a little humor, a little scare — this one’s got it all. Fox gives a great performance in his last feature film role before his Parkinson’s symptoms made it impossible for him to work. And the Nebraska connection is really played up, even though the film (made in New Zealand) is supposed to be set in the Eastern U.S. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the schlock horror Jackson had been known for, before being given the opportunity to direct this — and he soon went on to make the Lord of the Rings trilogy!

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Masterpiece: The Best Science Fiction of the (20th) Century edited by Orson Scott Card

Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century
edited by Orson Scott Card (813.08 Car)

This collection, released in 2001, was overseen by author/editor Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), and in addition to an introductory essay to open the book, Card contributes a biographical essay about each of the included authors before their stories. My Lincoln science fiction club recently read and discussed it for our 200th monthly book discussion.

 

There are 27 stories included in this moderately hefty volume (the trade paperback was 432 pages). Authors included are: Isaac Asimov • Arthur C. Clarke • Robert A. Heinlein • Ursula K. Le Guin • Ray Bradbury • Frederik Pohl • Harlan Ellison • George Alec Effinger • Brian W. Aldiss • William Gibson & Michael Swanwick • Theodore Sturgeon • Larry Niven • Robert Silverberg • Harry Turtledove • James Blish • George R. R. Martin • James Patrick Kelly • Karen Joy Fowler • Lloyd Biggle, Jr. • Terry Bisson • Poul Anderson • John Kessel • R.A. Lafferty • C.J. Cherryh • Lisa Goldstein • Edmond Hamilton. I had read several of the included stories previously, as I’ve been a life-long fan of science fiction, however quite a few in this collection were new to me. There were a few “clunkers”, which haven’t really held up well in the decades since they were originally published — either with regards to scientific developments or lack of good representation of female, or non-caucasian characters.

 

The collection is divided into thirds, roughly, with the first third featuring “classic” or “Golden Age” stories, the second third is New Wave (late 1960s to late 1970s) and the final third focusing on the “modern era” (the 1980s and 1990s). Some of the stories are incredible stand-outs! Oddly enough, the collection has a melancholy tone to it — a majority of the stories have sad or depressing endings.

 

None-the-less, enough of these stories are excellent, and highly representative of the times they were written in, and I have no problem giving this book a recommendation as a good introduction to short science fiction of the 20th century.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the multi-volume Science Fiction Hall of Fame series, where the selections were made from a survey of writers, editors, publishers and fans — unlike the Masterpieces collection, where Orson Scott Card was the sole selector.)

 

( Wikipedia entry for Masterpieces anthology )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World by Eliza Boxer and Alianna Rozentsveig

The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust Sapling Inspired the World
by Elisa Boxer (author) and Alianna Rozentsveig (illutrator) (j 940.531 Box)

This is an attractive little non-fiction historical book for youth readers, done in picture book format, written by Elisa Boxer with illustrations by Alianna Rozentsveig. It tells a story that begins during World War II in the Terezin concentration camp but which has repercussions through today.

 

Jewish teacher Irma Lauscher risked breaking protocols in the camp by asking one of the other prisoner workers to smuggle in a tree sapling, which she could use to give the children in the camp a project to occupy their time. That fellow worker managed to conceal a small maple tree sapling in his boot as he returned to the camp one evening. Irma and her illicit class of students planted the sapling and each child shared part of their meager daily allotment of water to help the small tree flourish.

 

The book details how the tree survived, and its seeds have been shared around the world, to create other trees that are offspring of the original — to show that even during the worst possible hardships, it is possible to keep something alive through love and concerted efforts.

 

This was a moving story, and one I’d never heard about before reading the book. It provides a marvelous introduction to children on a difficult subject. And the art is terrific. Strongly recommended.

 

( official Elisa Boxer web site ) | ( official Alianna Rozentsveig web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Books Review: The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Core Rule Books: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual

The Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition Core Rule Books: Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual
by various authors/editors (all 793.93 Dun)

The very first version of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) came out in primitive form in 1974. I first started playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) with a small group of friends in 1981, using what is now known as 1st Edition rules — the first “core rulebooks” were released between 1977 and 1979. My group’s “campaign” world grew in size and complexity, and my group of players played together until around 2003, with new players joining and old players dropping out…until we all eventually drifted away from the game due to time constraints related to families and jobs. But even when we were still actively playing, we had decided not to embrace the 2nd (1989) and 3rd (2000) Editions of the core rule books.

 

Now, over 20 years later, the opportunity to lead a new group, comprised mainly of players who are new to the game, has lately had me refreshing my knowledge of the current rules and mechanics of how the game is played. Dungeons & Dragons is currently using 5th Edition rulebooks, and much has changed since the 1st Edition version of the game I played back in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the changes are aimed at streamlining gameplay and giving players more variety in the choices of characters they can create.

 

The three core rule books remain the same though — the Player’s Handbook gives new (and veteran) players the basics of what they need to know about creating original characters and how to play the game; the Dungeon Master’s Guide is designed for the person who is going to run the game, giving them far more information than the basic Players need, including more rule explanations, tables and charts, and suggestions on how to design a game campaign or an entire world. And the Monster Manual is an encyclopedia of all the creatures (mostly magical or imaginary) that the Players may encounter in their various adventures, with detailed backgrounds and statistics for how they behave and how helpful or dangerous they may be. Together, these three hardback volumes, in the hands of a dedicated DM (Dungeon Master) and a group of regular game players, are more than enough for an interested group to start their own game of D&D. But, there have been dozens of additional books put out by Wizards of the Coast since the 2014 release of the 5th Edition rules, offering new rules, new magic items, and new world-building backgrounds.

 

If you’re interested in starting to play Dungeons & Dragons, you’ll find the three core rule books to be essential reading. And check with the libraries — various branches offer opportunity for new and intermediate players to learn how to play the game, or to join a beginners group for some fun and imagination-challenging adventures.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to watch the movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, released in 2023.)

 

( official Dungeons & Dragons web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD/Movie Review: Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer
(DVD Oppenheimer)

Oppenheimer is one of the front runners for Oscars on March 10th, leading all other films with 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.) and Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), plus numerous technical nominations.

 

At 3 full hours, Oppenheimer requires a commitment in its audience, but it ultimately pays off. The first third of the film is relatively slow going, but tension and pace gradually increase, set to Ludwig Goransson’s nerve-wracking score. This is part biography of Oppenheimer the man, and part historical recreation of one of the most pivotal eras in U.S. and World history.

 

The performances in this film are outstanding, especially Cillian Murphy’s haunting take as Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss. I particularly enjoyed Tom Conti as Albert Einstein in a couple of short but critical scenes. The production design, costume design, editing, cinematography (particularly around Los Alamos and the bomb testing site) are all top notch.

 

Though I was a bit bored by the first third of the film, and ended up breaking it up into two viewings, I’m glad I returned to it, because by the end of this movie I was so impressed that I ended up buying the DVD for my personal collection.

 

Oppenheimer was part of a unique cultural phenomenon in the summer of 2023. It opened the same day as Barbie, and many filmgoers called that pairing Barbenheimer — challenging each other to watch both landmark movies the same day or weekend. Both films were smash successes, and now find themselves up against each other in multiple Oscar categories (Barbie earned 8 nominations). Personally, I preferred Barbie, but that’s just my own taste. I certainly recognize that Oppenheimer is an exceptionally well-made film…and I strongly recommend it for anyone who hasn’t yet seen it — especially those interested in world history.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird, The Oppenheimer Alternative by Robert J. Sawyer.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Third to Die by Allison Brennan + Just Desserts meets tonight

The Third to Die
by Allison Brennan (Brennan)

In January 2024, the libraries’ Just Desserts mystery book group reading assignment was “any of the thriller/suspense novels by American author Allison Brennan. Since most of Brennan’s works fall into series, and I had jumping in the middle of a series, I managed to get my hands on a copy of The Third to Die, which is the first entry in Brennan’s “Quinn & Costa” series, released in 2020 (there have been four more in that series since then).

 

Kara Quinn is an L.A.P.D. detective specializing in deep undercover work. She’s got a checkered past, and is currently on an enforced leave/vacation to her old hometown in Washington state, to let a complicated situation in L.A. cool down. While jogging early one morning, she ends up discovering a murder victim at the side of a local lake. It turns out that this victim is the latest in a serial killer’s pattern of killing on March 3rd, 6th and 9th, every third year. This brings FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt Costa and his newly former (in fact, still-being-formed) rapid-response team to Liberty Lake, in hopes of preventing the killer from striking again.

 

The Third to Die is a solid, well-plotted thriller, dealing with police procedures, inter-agency squabbling, and psychological profiling. Chapters alternate being told from the points of view of Costa, Quinn and the killer themself. Pacing is brisk, and characterizations are well-done. Even if I thought there was a lot of coincidental stuff happening in the plot, I was still carried along by what was happening, and feel I can give this a fairly strong recommendation!.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the rest of Allison Brennan‘s body of work, especially the other four entries in the Quinn & Costa series.)

 

( official Allison Brennan web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

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If you're a mystery fan, you're invited to join us for this month's Just Desserts meeting tonight, February 29th, at 6:30 p.m. in the 4th floor auditorium of the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown at 14th & "N" St. -- this mystery-themed discussion group meets on the last Thursday of each month, January through October. Tonight, we'll be discussing the recent thriller The Only One Left by American thriller/suspense author Riley Sager.

 

Even if you haven't read The Only One Left for this specific discussion, you can still participate, and learn about great new mysteries to try! For more information, check out the Just Desserts schedule at https://lincolnlibraries.org/bookguide/book-groups/#justdesserts

Book Review: The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

The Man Who Fell to Earth
by Walter Tevis (Tevis) and
The Man Who Fell to Earth (graphic novel)
by Dan Watters and Dev Pramanik, adapted from the 1976 film version of The Man Who Fell to Earth by Nicolas Roeg, which was adapted from the Tevis novel (741.5 Tev)

If you ask most people nowadays if they’ve heard of The Man Who Fell to Earth, they’d probably mention having seen David Bowie (in his first major acting role) in the 1976 film by director Nicholas Roeg of that title. But is was actually a classic scifi novel before that film adapted the story (with some changes) for the big screen.

 

Thomas Jerome Newton may look human, but he’s not. He’s a visitor from a distant planet — an emissary from his own dying people, sent to Earth to manipulate both events and technological developments in order to surreptitiously build a spacecraft that can be used to return to his dying planet and ferry the rest of his people to our world. But he’s supposed to do it without attracting dangerous attention to himself. He is only partially successful.

 

This is a quiet, thoughtful science fiction novel that fits more into the “social science fiction” category. It is “scifi as written by a mainstream author”. Newton is a highly sympathetic character, separated from all he knows and values and surrounded by those he considers to be only rudimentally intelligent. It is a profile of loneliness and isolation and self-reflection, as Newton eventually grows to question the value of his own underlying mission.

 

In addition to the famed 1976 film, this story was adapted into the unsold pilot for a 1986 TV series (available on YouTube in its entirety), and a 2022 10-part Showtime series, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, was an official “sequel” to the David Bowie movie, with Bill Nighy taking over the Bowie role as Newton.

 

The 1963 novel is definitely a thing of its time, with certain glimpses of futuristic technology now looking absurdly quaint. But it is still well-written and I believe it justifies its place in the series of “SF Masterworks” of the 20th century. If you like it — check out Walter Tevis’ other novels, including Mockingbird, The Queen’s Gambit (turned into a 7-episode limited series on Netflix in 2020), The Hustler and The Color of Money (both adapted into classic feature films starring Paul Newman), among others.

 

If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Man Who Fell to Earth (graphic novel adaptation of the 1974 film by Nicolas Roeg starring David Bowie) by Dan Watters and Dev Pramanik. The film (and thus this graphic novel adaptation of the film) differs in several key facets from the original novel, notably in the presence of sex scenes and slightly different end fates for some of the characters. Having just read the novel, I was amused at the changes that are clearly evident in the graphic novel, but even then, it still gets across its messages about isolation, loneliness, addiction and corrupt power. And the artist does a good job of capturing the appearances of cast members David Bowie, Rip Torn, Bucky Henry, Candy Clark and Bernie Casey. I give both versions a 7 on our 1-10 rating scale.

 

( Wikipedia page for Walter Tevis, with links to info about all versions of The Man Who Fell to Earth )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Peppermint (2018)

Peppermint
(DVD Peppermint)

This 2018 film stars Jennifer Garner and is a hard-core hard-bitten action thriller. Garner stars as Riley North, a young woman whose husband and daughter are gunned down by members of a street gang. Even though she is able to identify the killers, her testimony is not taken seriously during the trial, the killers go free, and she herself is labeled a dangerous psychotic. Riley manages to escape from medical personnel and goes underground. A few years later, having trained with some of the best physical and mental trainers she could find, she returns to her old city and starts to take violent revenge on those who wronged her: corrupt judges, lawyers, gang-bangers, etc.

 

As Riley works her way up the ranks of organization led by the drug lord who was ultimately responsible for the death of her family, both the bad guys and the good guys are out to find and stop her.

 

This is “revenge porn” — with a mercenary taking out the people who wronged her, in increasingly violent ways. But Garner still pulls off a completely sympathetic character. She also proves that at age 46 (13 years after her action-espionage series Alias ended) she still has massive “action film” chops and is wholly believable as this avenging angel.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Garner’s TV series, Alias, which ran for five seasons in 2001-2005.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this 2018 film )

 

See Scott C.’s review of the first season of the TV series Alias, in the July 2009 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: The Creator, written and directed by Gareth Edwads

The Creator
(DVD Creator)

The Creator was a spectacular original science fiction concept — refreshing to see when so many SF/F films are franchise entries. Director Gareth Edwards (he also co-wrote this with Chris Weitz) gives us a world in which Artificial Intelligences have struck back at humans in the United States, detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. When the action picks up years later, U.S. special forces are actively seeking out and destroying AIs around the world — but in New Asia, AIs are still valued and American intervention is opposed. Deep cover special U.S. special forces agent Joshua is married to an Asian woman and expecting a child, while still working on his mission to find the chief scientist creating new AIs. A strike force blows his cover, kills his wife and badly injures him…but when a mission to infiltrate and destroy a super weapon (that will take out the orbiting defense platform that is the primary U.S. weapon against AIs), Joshua is forced back into active service.

 

Joshua’s team is inserted into New Asia to try to find Nirmata, the creator of the ultimate weapon, and destroy both the weapon and Nirmata themself. The missions goes awry, and Joshua finds himself on the run with “the weapon”…which has been designed as a six-year-old little girl (who’s learning how to manipulate the technology around herself). Joshua believes his wife, Maya, may still be alive and he’s determined to use “the weapon” to find his wife and reclaim part of the life that was stolen from him. But he starts to bond with the little girl…and there’s still people out to destroy her.

 

John David Washington does a terrific job as the tortured Joshua, and there are some excellent supporting performances by Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Gemma Chan and several other adult actors. But the film is literally stolen by Madeleine Yuna Voyles, in her film debut, as the young weapon, “Alphie”. The Creator is complex and fast moving, and a lot of it is set in darkness. It is far from perfect, but it is still an excellent movie, and I highly recommend it. Particularly for the Hans Zimmer score.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Gareth Edwards’ other films, including Rogue One – A Star Wars Movie, Godzilla (2014) or Monsters.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this 2023 film )

 

See Kristen A.’s review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (directed by Gareth Edwards) in the September 2017 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Only in Theaters - a documentary by Raphael Sbarge

Only in Theaters
a documentary by actor/filmmaker Raphael Sbarge (DVD 791.43 Onl)

Fascinating documentary about the Laemmle family (pronounced Lem-lee) and the chain of independent arthouse movie theaters they established in the Los Angeles area. This documentary started filming in 2018/2019 and its focus was going to be on the decline of independent movie theaters, and the Laemmle family facing hard decisions on whether to sell their chain or continue to cater to arthouse movie crowds.

But the documentary was still filming when COVID-19 arrived and movie theaters in California all had to shut down. The documentary focus shifted to how a family-owned-for-80-years business can survive during a period of forced social isolation.

 

I loved the sections of this film, particularly the interviews with film critics and fans (like Leonard Maltin), which dealt with the history of the Laemmle chain and how essential it has been to the film-loving community of Southern California. The interviews with both movie fans and movie makers was absolutely marvelous. While I certainly feel badly for the current generation of Laemmle family leadership on the hard decisions they have had to make in the pandemic era, those portions of the documentary eventually became somewhat repetitive.

 

But I do still recommend this film to cinemaphiles and anyone who loves the experience of seeing movies with a crowd in a movie theater…an experience that continues to become less and less common in an era in which streaming and home theaters continue to replace the actual movie-going tradition.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Last Blockbuster (a documentary on DVD), Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace by April Wright, American Picture Palaces: The Architecture of Fantasy by David Naylor, Ticket to Paradise: American Movie Theaters and How We Had Fun by John Margolies (Heritage Room only) or The Projectionist by Nicholas Nicolaou.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this 2022 documentary film )

 

See Scott C.’s review of the documentary The Last Blockbuster in the August 2021 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!