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 )

r
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: 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!

New Booklist on BookGuide: "Have Yourself a Merry Hard-Edged Christmas!"

“Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?”

This has been a common pop-culture question in recent years, especially when the holidays roll around at the end of the year! Whether you believe this classic 1988 action film is a Christmas Movie or not, there’s no question that there have been a lot of action/adventure films set during the Christmas or year-end holiday season.

Becky W.C. compiled a list of those films for a display at the Lincoln City Libraries' Walt Branch Library in December 2023, and submitted her “video” list to be included in the resources of the libraries’ BookGuide readers advisory pages online.

Check out this new video "booklist" on BookGuide at the following link:

If You Like…Die Hard
a.k.a. “Have Yourself a Merry Hard-Edged Christmas!”

DVD Review: Bullet Train

Bullet Train
(DVD Bullet)

This 2022 action/comedy film is based on a 2010 novel by Japanese author Kotaro Isaka, previously untranslated but subsequently translated into English based on the success of the film.

 

Brad Pitt headlines an eclectic cast of oddballs and misfits. He plays an assassin, codenamed Ladybug, who just wants to be left alone because he feels like he's been beset by bad luck on all of his recent assignments. He reluctantly agrees to a quick job -- board a Japanese bullet train, steal a briefcase, and leave at the next stop. Unfortunately, his mission forces him to cross paths with a series of other assassins on the train, whose stories all criss-cross and become enmeshed.

 

Everyone in the cast does a tremendous job, particularly Pitt as Ladybug, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Tangerine and Brian Tyree Henry as Lemon (two bickering British brothers, one of whom constantly quotes lines from the TV series Thomas the Tank Engine), Joey King as "Prince", and many more. The humor is quirky, the dialog is snappy (though frequently laced with profanity) and the action is close to non-stop! The setting aboard a high-speed Japanese bullet train is unique and challenging for all the stunt work.

 

As long as you have a tolerance for foul language and extreme bloodshed, I strongly recommend this one. I didn't know anything about it before seeing it and ended up quite impressed. The DVD available from the libraries has a couple of special features, including a "making of" documentary.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the action films of Quentin Tarantino, like Kill Bill.)

 

(Also available in traditional print format.)

 

( 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!

DVD Review: The King's Man

The King’s Man

(DVD King’s)

 

The first two films of the Kingsman saga — Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) were prime examples of stylish violence and cheeky humor in cinema. Based on a series of graphic novels by Mark Millar, those films captured the style and tone of the comic books very well.

 

Then came The King’s Man (2021), a prequel movie that explores how the Kingsman organization was first established in the early decades of the 20th century. While there’s a certain amount of violent action, and it still follows the “stylized” look of the action in the earlier two films, it felt like there was a lot more serious drama in this one.

 

Ralph Fiennes plays Orlando Oxford, Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou play Oxford’s partners in spycraft, Polly and Shola. All turn in good performances, as does Harris Dickerson as Oxford’s son Conrad, and Charles Dance as Kitchener. But the most memorable (and over-the-top) performance is Rhys Ifans as Grigori Rasputin, the “mad monk” of history, turned into a supernatural supervillain in this story. I would have never thought of Ralph Fiennes as an action hero (especially at this stage in his career), but then I wouldn’t have thought of Liam Neeson in that vein, and he continues to do a never-ending series of action films.

 

The story doesn’t really hold together all that well, and there are moments that it is hard to suspend your sense of disbelief, but the lush visuals, spectacular stunts and special effects usually make up for it. There isn’t quite as much dark humor as there was in the earlier two films, but if you feel invested in the world of the Kingsman films, I felt The King’s Man to be a worthy addition.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Kingsman: The Secret Service, or Kingsman: The Golden Circle.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official The King’s Man Facebook page )

 

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 355

The 355

(DVD 355)

 

The 355 is a fast-paced and intelligent suspense thriller, from writer/director Simon Kinberg, better known as the producer of numerous similar action films from the past 15-20 years.

 

The key difference in this one is that most of the main characters are women, instead of the stereotypical men. Jessica Chastain is Mace, a disgraced American agent, out to avenge the death of the ex-flame she had recently reignited with (played by Sebastian Stan — Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes in the Avengers movies). Diane Kruger is vengeful German intelligence agent Marie. Penelope Cruz is Graciela Rivera, a psychologist called upon to become a woman of action. And Lupita Nyong’o is Khadijah Adiyeme, a wizard with surveillance technology. When all four women end up on the run and being hunted, they decide the turn the tables on the leaders of an international conspiracy (and attempt to clear their own names while they’re at it).

 

There’s a tremendous amount of well-choreographed action, fight sequences, chases sequences, and explosion, all in service of a plot that, if not brilliant, at least holds together well enough. All the performances across the board were excellent, but especially Chastain and Kruger, who grow from antagonists to allies.

 

Is it the best action film ever? No, but for taking the chance and breaking the mold from what audiences are used to seeing, I really enjoyed this one. Although the explanation for where the title of the movie came from could have been clearer.

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Facebook page for The 355 )

 

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

 

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: From Russia With Love (1963)

From Russia With Love (1963)
based on a novel by Ian Fleming (DVD From)

Mad at Bond (Sean Connery) for taking out Dr No, members of SPECTRE devise a plan to lure him out. They trick a Russian agent named Tatiana Romanov (Daniela Bianchi) into claiming she wishes to defect and will also turn over a Russian decoder machine called a “Lektor” as part of the deal. MI6 and Bond know this is a trap but as it’s too good to be true they send him anyway. Bond meets Tatiana in Istanbul where they break into the Russian Consulate and steal the Lektor. They then board a train posing as a married couple. A Soviet Secret Agent (Robert Shaw) is also aboard the train. Bond kills him and jumps off the train with Tatiana. Following that there is a boat chase scene where the bad guys try to throw explosives at him from their boats. Bond releases fuel barrels which were on his boat and then shoots at them with a flare gun, alighting the fuel and the bad guys. It seems that Bond and Tatiana have succeeded and make it all the way to Venice when Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), the SPECTRE Agent in charge of this plan, shows up at the hotel and holds Bond at gunpoint. Tatiana knocks the gun out of her hands, Bond kills Klebb, and as always, the movie ends with Bond and the Babe getting together.

 

There were a lot of random moments in the one, including a whole scene where Bond hid at a Gypsy camp and was forced to pick a woman to marry another man…but it also had its moments and with a few good one-liners it was a worthy addition to the Bond collection.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the James Bond movies or books — check out our exhaustive The Name is Bond…James Bond list here on BookGuide!]

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official James Bond web site ]

 

Recommended by Carrie R.
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: Dr. No (1962)

Dr. No (1962)
based on a novel by Ian Fleming (DVD Dr)

A British agent and his secretary go missing in Jamaica. Agent 007, aka James Bond (Sean Connery), is assigned the case and goes to Jamaica where he gets help from a boat captain named Quarrel and a CIA agent named Felix Leiter (Jack Lord, before he starred in Hawaii 5-O). Bond learns the missing British agent was investigating a mysterious island called Crab Key. Upon his arrival at Crab Key he meets Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), a blonde in a bikini (of course) collecting sea shells. They’re soon under attack by armed guards and are forced to hide. Unfortunately, they’re caught and are covered in radiation. After being cleaned of the radiation by the staffers of Crab Key they’re then tricked into drinking spiked coffee, and forced to eat supper with a mysterious metal-handed man named Dr. No. After further investigation Bond discovers Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) is planning to destroy a NASA rocket that is about to be launched. Dr. No places him in a prison cell, which Bond breaks out of. He then disguises himself as a worker and sabotages Dr. No’s plan by blowing up his base. Bond and Honey Ryder escape Crab Key in the nick of time before it’s blown to pieces. The movie ends, as most Bond movies do, with him and the Bond Babe getting together.

 

While this movie was not the first James Bond movie to be filmed (there was a 1954 adaptation of “Casino Royale” for the American TV series “Climax”, which starred Barry Nelson as an Americanized James Bond), it is still considered by many to be the first “official” James Bond movie. I had never really seen any of the early Bond movies but did enjoy this one as it introduced many of the important characters — M, Moneypenny, Felix, Q, etc. — while also laying the groundwork for future recognizable James Bond themes.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the James Bond movies or books — check out our exhaustive The Name is Bond…James Bond list here on BookGuide!]

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official James Bond web site ]

 

Recommended by Carrie R.
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 Hitman's Bodyguard

The Hitman’s Bodyguard
(DVD Hitman’s)

Having been a fan of both Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson in their own individual movies, I was intrigued to find out what a comedy-action film starring both of them would be like. It’s exactly what you’d expect —- raucous, excessively violent, sarcastically humorous, with copious amounts of swearing in practically every scene!

 

I was curious to see if one actor of the other would dominate the film, but the filmmakers wisely gave them about equal quality screen time. Elodie Yung gets a pretty significant role as Amelia Roussel, and Gary Oldman gets to chew the scenery as bad guy Vladislav Duhkovich. Vladislav is a Eastern European dictator on trial in the Hague for crimes against humanity, but all the witnesses who could testify against him keep disappearing or dying. Except Darius Kincaid (Jackson), a hitman-for-hire who’s currently in custody but has been convinced to testify against Duhkovich in exchange for his girlfriend being released from prison. But Duhkovich has people everywhere, and the first attempt to deliver Kincaid for trial leads to a bunch of dead bodies and Kincaid on the loose. Intelligence operative Roussel brings in her old boyfriend, disgraced personal bodyguard Michael Bryce (Reynolds), to shepherd Kincaid to the Hague, dodging Duhkovich’s thugs the entire way. The only problem is — Kincaid and Bryce have a history, and it ain’t pretty. Can they get to The Hague without killing each other first?

 

As long as you can stomach the foul language and gratuitous violence, this is a roller coaster of a film, with lots of humor and tons of great stuntwork.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official The Hitman’s Bodyguard web site ]

 

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: Stuber

Stuber
(DVD Stuber)

I checked this DVD out initially for background noise as I worked on other projects. The preview made it look funny enough but once it started I couldn’t look away.

Vic – a police officer – watches his partner die at the hands of a drug dealer. He becomes so focused on revenge that he loses sight of the rest of his life. His superior officer tells him to take a vacation and he uses this time to get Lasik surgery. Later that day he gets a tip about the drug dealer but unfortunately he is unable to see due to his surgery. He orders an Uber to take him to the guy who gave him the tip and the driver – Stu – becomes involved in the whole ordeal when members of the drug cartel come after them both.

I was surprised to have enjoyed it so much – there were many laugh out loud moments – and I would definitely watch it again.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Rush Hour,]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Stuber web site ]

Recommended by Carrie R.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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!

Review: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (on DVD)

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
[DVD Indiana] 

An archaeology adventure of Professor Indiana Jones, spurred by the U.S. Government to retrieve the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do. He gets to travel around the world, meet up with an old friends and locate the Ark, all the while out-smarting and combating Nazis. It was pretty good, though I have only seen one other Indiana Jones movie, so I’m not sure how I would rank them. I think it’s worth watching if you are looking for an action adventure movie with some history.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Indiana Jones Facebook page ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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 reviewers recommendations!

Hardcore Henry (on DVD)

Hardcore Henry [DVD Hardcore] 

I had heard the buzz about this movie when it came out in the theaters, back in 2015, but missed seeing it at the time. So I was glad to see it come out on DVD! I’m glad to have seen it now, but I’ll be the first to admit that Hardcore Henry is not going to be for everyone…in fact, it is probably only for a niche group of viewers.

Hardcore Henry is an extremely violent action/thriller film with some strong science fiction elements thrown in. It is told/shown from the visual point-of-view of the main character — Henry — with Henry’s eyes providing our camera angle. In other words, we (almost) never actually see what Henry himself looks like. The film opens with Henry on an operating table, having artificial limbs (with superhuman strength) attached to one arm and one leg. Henry doesn’t know who he is or where he is, and his throat has been damaged so he cannot speak. Henry is almost immediately thrown into a state of chaos and disorder, when the medical lab he is in is attacked by military types, and he and the doctor escape in an escape pod, from what turns out to be a top secret facility high in the atmosphere.

Reaching the ground, Henry finds himself constantly on the run, pursued by violent military groups, and starts to piece together his own story — he appears to be a highly trained killer. He keeps running into different versions of the same man (played by Sharlto Copley), and receives mysterious instructions to get to a particular place to receive more answers to who he is and what is purpose is. To tell anything more about the plot would be to spoil several surprises.

What I can say is that this movie is visually compelling. Hardcore Henry is literally told like many modern day combat video games — in First Person Shooter style. The action is bloody, EXTREMELY violent, and non-stop. If you like FPS games, you’ll probably love this film. For fans of experimental movie-telling, this will hold appeal. If, however, you’re in the slightly bit sensitive to violence, avoid this one like the plague.
Intriguing, and recommended with considerable reservations!

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Hardcore Henry web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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 reviewers recommendations!

The Expendables 3

The Expendables 3
[DVD Expendables]

When one of his team members is shot on a mission, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) is shaken. He is assigned a new mission that has a poor chance of success, so Barney selects a new team so he will have no emotional ties to anyone in case there would be fatalities along the way. So I admit I have never seen the first movie in this series, but I enjoyed the 2nd one. I appreciated the cast in this third installment, my favorite character being Galgo (played by Antonio Banderas). I have never seen Antonia Banderas play this type of quirky, wacky character, and it made me laugh-out-loud more than once. The action was non-stop, and I was entertained from start to finish. -- recommended by Marie P. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Expendables 3 web site ]

Have you seen this? 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 reviewers recommendations!

Machete

Machete
[DVD Machete]

Strange movie. Very violent yet not too serious. When I say it's not too serious, I mean the amount of major injuries that are inflicted on people only cause minor effects. For example, a gun shot wound to the shoulder only causes a limp while the action continues. The character is taken to the hospital, receives some bandages then springs into action again - literally pulling out someone's guts. What is also ridiculous is that almost anything in this movie can turn into a weapon including a cork screw and a weed whacker. This movie is action scene after action scene from the rooftop to a hospital to a church to a taco truck. It's not that the violence is funny it's that the settings and weapon choices are so odd and that the good guys can't really get hurt or die that makes the movie amusing. The main character, Machete, is an ex Mexican Federale living in Texas. A politician running for election forces him into killing a politician he is running against. Just as Machete is about to pull the trigger, he himself is shot. Turns out it was a set up to turn the public against Mexican immigrants and sway the election. Once the story hits TV and officials believe that Machete was self motivated to shoot the politician, the manhunt for him begins. This movie is rated R and does contain rather extreme violence throughout the whole film as well as some nudity scenes; I would not recommend this to those who dislike that sort of thing. I think this movie would appeal to those like cheesy action films where the plot really takes a back seat to the action and humor. -- recommended by Kristen A. - Gere Branch Library

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

 Have you seen 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 reviewers recommendations!

White House Down

White House Down
[DVD White]

Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum star in this action-adventure drama. While touring the White House with his daughter, Agent Cale (Tatum), finds himself forced to save the President when terrorists take over the White House. Good storyline, humor was there but not enough to make it the focus... -- recommended by Carrie K. - Bennett Martin Public Library [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Olympus Has Fallen; it came out the same year with almost the same plot.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official White House Down web site ]

Have you seen 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 reviewers recommendations!

Red 2

Red 2
[DVD Red 2]

Red's all-star cast returns in this sequel, along with some new characters played by more all-stars, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung-hun Lee. In this one Frank, Marvin and Sarah track down the nuclear weapon known as Nightshade with help from scientist Edward Bailey (played by Hopkins) all while being hunted by Victoria (Helen Mirren) and the new assassin played by Byung-hun Lee. It was good, but not as good as the first one. -- recommended by Carrie K. - Bennett Martin Public Library [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Red, or the Die Hard series.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Red and Red 2 web site ]

Have you seen 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 reviewers recommendations!

Jumanji (on DVD)

Jumanji
[DVD j Jumanji]

A board game brings the jungle to life. After a little boy gets swallowed into the game, each passing turn creates a new scenario which brings the jungle to life, but the game turns into survival of the fittest--things aren't so easy in the jungle. Featuring Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst, truly remarkable special effects. Or enjoy the kids picture book. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Zathura DVD or jP, other Chris VanAllburg books: Probuditi!, Two Bad Ants.] -- recommended by Jeremiah J. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in picture book format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] 

Have you seen 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 reviewers recommendations!

The Greatest American Hero

The Greatest American Hero

One of my all-time favorite television series, which ran on ABC from 1981 to 1983. What do you get when you combine an idealistic, liberal school teacher with a conservative guns-blazing FBI agent and then throw in mysterious aliens, a super-powered super-hero suit, and a mandate to save the world? What about if they lose the instruction manual to the supersuit and have to learn how to use it by trial and error? This early 1980s series from Stephen J. Cannell (The Rockford Files, 21 Jump Street, The A-Team, Wiseguy) starred William Katt, Robert "I Spy" Culp and Connie Selleca, with a supporting cast that included Michael "Houston Knights" Pare and Faye "V" Grant. GAH managed to find a nice mix of both serious and comical storylines, with quirky new powers of the suit popping up when least expected. One of the series absolute best episodes, "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys", was in this first season. Fun extras on this first-season DVD set include retrospective interviews with the cast and producers. The series lasted three seasons -- here's hoping the libraries pick up seasons 2 and 3! [Note: This series has been optioned for a feature film remake. Whether it comes to pass or not remains to be seen.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library


[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] [ Greatest American Hero at epguides.com ]

Have you seen 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 web site. 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.

Staff Recommendations - The 47th Samurai

The 47th Samurai

by Stephen Hunter

The newest thriller in the Bob Lee Swagger series is highly recommended to those who like their heroes with a highly developed sense of duty and honor. In 47th Samurai, Swagger is asked to return a sword his father had taken from a Japanese soldier in a battle at Iwo Jima. Swagger makes a special trip to Japan to return the sword and shortly after discovers that the sword has been stolen and the family brutally murdered. Bob Lee begins a quest for atonement and along the way becomes immersed in Japanese organized crime, history, and culture. If you like high-action, all-out thrillers you'll love Stephen Hunter and the Swagger novels. If you shy away from graphic fight sequences, this may not be the novel for you. While the action is intense, the characters are well-developed and the plot tightly researched. -- recommended by Sean S. -- Eiseley Branch Library

[ Publisher's page for Stephen Hunter ] [ The Unofficial Stephen Hunter web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.