Book Review: "Breaking the Dark" by Lisa Jewell

I’ll admit I was a bit dubious when I heard that a book series featuring the grittier side of Marvel superheroes was being launched. But being a Marvel fan, I couldn’t resist the idea of a thriller featuring Jessica Jones written by Lisa Jewell. And I thought it was great!

Jessica Jones is still reeling from some serious psychological trauma, which she’s nursing with alcohol. By day, she’s a private investigator; by night, she’s drinking herself into a stupor.

She is visited by a distraught mother, who claims that her 16-year-old twins returned visiting their father in England and are now acting strangely. Their skin is flawless, they’re strangely serene and don’t look at their phones at all, and they claim that everything is “perfect.” When Jessica spies on Fox and Lark, she does observe that something isn’t right.

Jessica travels to the UK to try and figure out what might have happened to the twins while they were visiting. She can’t shake a strange feeling she’s having, and when she visits an old farmhouse to find the girl Fox was smitten with, she realizes that this girl, Belle, is being kept captive. Can she get Belle out of her captor’s clutches?

What Jessica finds is far more disturbing than she imagined. And she must solve the mystery at the core of what is happening before it’s too late. But Jessica is battling her own demons as well as the feelings that this mystery has evoked in her.

I thought this was a bit creepy but I was hooked completely. Jewell is in great form once again, and she really fleshed out Jessica’s character well. I’ll be looking forward to the next book in the series, which will feature Luke Cage, written by S.A. Cosby.

Book Review: "Victor and Nora: A Gotham Love Story" by Lauren Myracle, illustrated by Isaac Goodhart

Victor lives a solitary existence, wracked with guilt about the death of his older brother Otto, and closing himself off to the world. The only bright spot is his job as a scientist, where he hopes to make significant contributions.⁣

Nora believes in living every day to the fullest. But that’s not just a mantra: she has a terminal illness that will rob her of everything—movement, speech, memory. She’s determined not to let that get her down until it’s time, and she has a plan.⁣

⁣ Victor and Nora have a not-quite meet-cute in the cemetery where his brother and her mother are buried. Little by little, Nora’s devil-may-care attitude thaws Victor’s frozen heart. But when he discovers the secret Nora’s been hiding, he’s determined to use science to save her—but what will the consequences be?⁣

⁣ This graphic novel, beautifully drawn and full of emotion, is essentially the origin story of Mr. Freeze, who resurfaces in Batman comics (and a movie). There’s no hint of his ultimate supervillain future here, but obviously there’s a tinge of sadness along with hopefulness.⁣

⁣ I’m a fan of graphic novels, especially ones with some emotional heft to them. I really enjoyed this.⁣

Book Review: "Heat Wave" by TJ Klune

With Heat Wave, TJ Klune's fantastic Extraordinaries series comes to a powerful and satisfying conclusion.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that Klune is one of my absolute favorite writers; in fact, two of his books were my #1 favorite in 2020 and 2021. I love his balance of fantasy, emotion, humor, hope, and queer characters.

Heat Wave is the perfect conclusion to this series—although I’m sad it's over. All together, this is a tremendous series of books about making your way in the world when you feel different than others. More than that, it’s about friendship, love, hope, grief, loyalty, and superheroes. But it is definitely a series that should be read in order, so I'm avoiding spoilers.

This book made me feel a range of emotions. It made me laugh and cry, and it made me happy that despite the threats we face in our world today, books like this exist, to give us hope where many of us so desperately need it.

Book Review: "Flash Fire" by T.J. Klune

Sure, T.J. Klune's Flash Fire is a gay superhero novel but it’s so much more, too!⁣

⁣ It’s funny, two years ago I hadn’t heard of Klune at all, but having just read and loved his fourth book, he’s become one of my favorite authors. And even though his books may be considered “fantasy,” they have contained some of the realest, most powerful, memorable emotions I’ve seen.⁣

⁣ Flash Fire is the sequel to last year’s The Extraordinaries. You really need to read the first book so I won’t spoil anything, but the book is about Nick, a teenager with ADHD, who has a bit of an obsession with the superheroes who protect (and sometimes traumatize) his town. He imagines what it would be like to be an Extraordinary.⁣

⁣ But while the book does focus a bit on the Extraordinaries (and one particular one quite often), at its heart this book is about relationships. Nick and Seth are adorable; their best friends, Gibby and Jazz, are seriously kick-ass (and an adorable couple as well); and his relationship with his dad provides some of the book’s most tender and most hysterical moments. (Imagine watching porn on your phone only to discover it’s on Bluetooth—in your dad’s car.)

⁣ ⁣ The book is also an important look at the relationship between police and the society they are supposed to be protecting. It touches on racial inequity and the way police officers often get a pass on their brutality and mistreatment, particularly toward and of racial minorities.⁣

⁣ Maybe you’re thinking you don’t like superheroes, so these books might not be for you, and maybe they’re not. But if they intrigue you in the slightest, give them a try. Klune’s books tend to leave me in tears—sometimes from laughter, sometimes from the profound emotions he provokes—and to me, that’s some of the best stuff to find in books.⁣

⁣ NetGalley and Tor Teen provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "You Brought Me the Ocean" by Alex Sanchez and Julie Maroh

You Brought Me the Ocean is a captivating, poignant graphic novel about a young man trying to figure out who he is.

For reasons he can’t explain, Jake has always been obsessed with the ocean, and with water in general. He's even constantly thirsty. He dreams of studying marine biology, which would require him to leave his New Mexico hometown and all of those who are close to him.

His mother has always been overprotective, perhaps because his father drowned when Jake was a baby. He spends all of his spare time with his best friend, Maria. She knows Jake dreams of going to Miami for college to study the ocean, but she hopes he’ll stay closer to home with her.

Lately Jake has been feeling strange. His feelings confuse him until he starts talking to a classmate, Kenny, who has always been bullied because he’s gay. The more time Jake spends with Kenny the more he realizes he’s been hiding a part of him for far too long.

The other thing he’s been struggling with is that strange things happen to him when he’s around water. He’s always had these distinctive markings on his arms—suddenly they’re giving him the power to control water. Is something wrong with him? Or is there a secret someone has been hiding?

I didn’t know that this was an origin story for Aqualad, but obviously that makes sense. I love superhero stories and love when they first start to discover their abilities. But the storyline of Jake’s sexuality really added depth to this book.

This is beautifully illustrated by Julie Maroh and well-written by Alex Sanchez. (I loved one of his books, Rainbow Boys, earlier this year.) Looking forward to (hopefully) another book in this series!

Book Review: "The Extraordinaries" by TJ Klune

TJ Klune's newest book, The Extraordinaries, is a book that truly lives up to its name!

We all have crushes on celebrities when we’re teenagers. It just so happens that Nick Bell worships Shadow Star, the bravest Extraordinary in Nick’s home of Nova City. Shadow Star has vowed to fight the evil in the city, and he is the subject of all of Nick’s popular fanfiction (in which he may or may not have feelings for a Nick-like character).

After a chance encounter with his hero, Nick realizes he needs to become an Extraordinary too in order to have a chance at being noticed. That’s a tall order for anyone, much less a teenager with ADHD and anxiety and an overprotective police officer father.

Nick will try to enlist the help of his best friends—Seth (with whom he may be head over heels in love), Gibby, and Jazz—none of whom want to indulge this fantasy. But Nick is determined that his hero will notice him, even if it may jeopardize his friendships, his relationship with his dad, or even his life.

"Love is such a weapon in the face of darkness, if you only know how to wield it."

This book was utterly squee-inducing. Nick and Seth are utterly adorable, Jazz and Gibby are a hysterical “power lesbian” couple, and Nick’s relationship with his dad definitely choked me up more than a time or two. There’s definitely humor here, too. The scene when Nick finally meets his crush made me laugh out loud, as did some of the things his father said.

But there was so much more to love about this book as well, such as the friendships, and the story of a young man trying so hard to make sense of a world that often doesn’t make sense.

It’s amazing that before this year I had never heard of TJ Klune and now he’s written what will unarguably be two of my favorite books of the year, The House in the Cerulean Sea and this one. I want more of these characters!!

Book Review: "Get in Trouble: Stories" by Kelly Link

With her latest story collection, Get in Trouble, Kelly Link takes readers to some fascinating and sometimes unique places, populated with tremendously intriguing and compelling characters. While I've seen this book classified as science fiction and fantasy, I think it's probably more the latter than the former. But neither term can accurately convey the appeal of these stories.

Many of the stories in this collection are about relationships—between siblings (when one has technically sprung from the other's shadow); best friends (when one of them has a lifelike, life-size, animated doll that another covets); ex-lovers and former actors (one of whom is hosting a ghost hunting show); and total strangers (when one is a 15-year-old girl who pretended to be an adult while playing an online game, and goes to a hotel to meet her much older onscreen companion). But while the core themes of these stories are typical, the way Link lets the stories unfold is anything but.

So many story collections these days have what I call "nuggets": stories that seem to end before they really pick up momentum. The stories in Get in Trouble are substantive, and really wrap you up in a fully-fleshed narrative. (Longer stories are great as long as you like them.)

I really enjoyed eight of the nine stories in this collection, but some of my favorites included: "The Lesson," in which a gay couple attends an old friend's wedding on a remote island while they're awaiting the birth of their child via a surrogate they're not 100 percent sure about; "The Summer People," which tells the story of a teenage girl growing up in rural North Carolina, who is the caretaker of a house occupied by mysterious residents who make good—and bad—things happen; "I Can See Right Through You," about when a pair of former ex-lovers and actors who are always tied to each other emotionally have a reunion in Florida, where one is hosting a ghost-hunting television show; "The New Boyfriend," about a group of best friends and one's life-size, likelike, doll "boyfriends"; and "Light," a unique story about a woman plagued by her twin brother, who actually sprung from her extra shadow.

I had never read anything Link has written before, but I am utterly enamored of her storytelling ability. Even though I do read some fantasy and science fiction books, I tend to be more of a traditionalist when it comes to short stories, but these really hooked me. They're unique and different and well-written and memorable, and they deserve to be read.

Movie Review: "Thor: The Dark World"

No matter how old I get, I'll never tire of superhero movies. That's a good thing, because Hollywood doesn't seem to be getting tired of making them. But fortunately, many of them are worth watching, even some of the sequels.

Thor: The Dark World definitely falls into that category. While, like many sequels, it doesn't quite capture the magic and charm of the original, it's fun, familiar and everyone plays their parts well. And these days, could you really ask for much more?

The plot is a little more complicated than it should be. A long time ago, in a galaxy—oh, wait. Years and years ago, the Asgardians faced off against a race of evil dark elves (who looked like a cross between the Sand People from Star Wars without the desert garb and the Teletubbies), led by Malekith, who was prepared to release a powerful substance called aether (pronounced like the old-fashioned sleeping gas), a force of energy which was pure evil. But Odin's ancestors were able to defeat the elves, purportedly destroy the aether (although it was actually buried far underground), and Malekith was doomed to a life of comatose exile, much like General Zod and his crew in Man of Steel.

Fast forward a while. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is trying to bring peace and order to the kingdoms of the Nine Realms, while Jane (Natalie Portman, perkier than normal), who hasn't spoken with Thor in two years, is in London trying to move forward with her life. But when Jane suddenly becomes a host for the aether (well, it's complicated), Thor reappears, and brings her to Asgard. Of course, Jane's brush with the aether has awoken Malekith and his crew, who are determined to recapture this evil force and destroy Asgard and its people once and for all, before taking control of the universe.

The fact is, it's more entertaining and interesting than it sounds, although the preamble which explains this takes a bit longer than it should. But needless to say, Thor must both save Jane and Asgard from Malekith and the elves, a battle which takes them throughout the Nine Realms and takes more of a toll on everyone than they would have hoped. Thor must enlist the help of his troublesome stepbrother, Loki (a dastardly fabulous Tom Hiddleston), who has been imprisoned for life for his treachery, although he knows inherently he shouldn't.

Will Thor save the day? Will Loki betray him once again? Will true love win, or will Thor and Jane continue to truly live in two separate worlds?

What do you think?

Hemsworth still looks appropriately super in his third outing as Thor (after the first movie and The Avengers), although because his character is so conflicted, he seems a little less commanding. Hiddleston is twisted and evil and entertaining, and he is the one you can't take your eyes off of every time he's on screen. Portman has far less to do in this movie except play the classic woman-who-needs-saving-by-the-superhero (see Kim Basinger, Nicole Kidman, Katie Holmes, or Maggie Gyllenhaal in any of the Batman movies, etc.), although she did get to spout some authentic-sounding scientific dialogue. And Anthony Hopkins, as Odin, gets to chew the scenery as only Hopkins can.

But despite all that I've said, this is a fun, entertaining romp, that you'll enjoy if you liked the first movie. I'm guessing the next Avengers movie should bring these folks back again, and I'm looking forward to that. I guess as long as they keep making these movies, I'll keep watching.

Movie Review: "Man of Steel"

There's a moment in many superhero movies when the main character first realizes they possess special powers that set them apart. The joy, surprise, and feeling of power that crosses their face when they start trying out their newfound abilities often fuels the movie with a few minutes of entertainment and exhilaration.

It's hard to say for sure, but the segment where Kal-El/Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) finally realizes who he is and why he has always been different than his friends and neighbors is probably one of the more uplifting moments in Man of Steel, Zack Snyder's brooding, introspective take on Superman's story. But despite the movie's dark, soul-searching nature, it's well-done and well-acted, although a tad slow and perhaps a bit too long.

If you're familiar with the story of Superman or have seen the original movie (which is 35(!) years old this year), you probably know the plot. The planet Krypton is on the verge of destruction, but noble Jor-El (Russell Crowe, less taciturn than in Les Mis) and his wife, Lara (Ayelet Zurer) make the decision to send their infant son, Kal-El, to Earth, the only hope for Krypton's (and his) future. This makes General Zod (Michael Shannon, playing yet another character who is utterly unhinged), who has staged a coup against Krypton's leaders, very unhappy, and he vows to one day find this little child.

Fast forward, and Kal-El has become Clark Kent of Smallville, raised by Jonathan (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane—is she really old enough to be Henry Cavill's mom?). Clark knows he has special abilities and wishes he could just be a normal boy, and is warned by his father that the time will come for him to show the world his powers, but he needs to hide them away until then.

Clark becomes a mysterious drifter, saving those in crisis and quickly moving on before he is discovered. But when he follows a trail he hopes will lead him to his true self, he runs into Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams, less shrill than usual), who knows something is just a wee bit different with our hero and is determined to find out the truth. And then things get pretty cray-cray for all involved.

The fighting scenes are tumultuous but the villains are almost annoyingly super-powerful, and the fights lasted a little too long for me. As I've commented before, I get a little tired of the scenes of destruction of a big city—still too eerily like 9/11 for me—and while the explosions and throwing people into buildings is cool, wouldn't people have been killed all over the place because of these fights? (Maybe I think too much.)

There's no doubt that Henry Cavill looks the part of Superman (an understatement, in my opinion) and handles the brooding nature of his character—as well as the suit—quite well. And Michael Shannon gives good evil, although I always love the point in these movies where the villain delivers a long monologue about why they're bent on destruction. Amy Adams gives a bit more sass to her Lois Lane than Margot Kidder did, although her chemistry with Cavill doesn't quite heat up until the end.

This is a very good movie, but perhaps not as good as I had hoped. I guess it is, in essence, a Superman for a more introspective time in our lives. And given the box office success, I'd imagine we'll see the return of Superman after Zack Snyder finishes the follow-up to 300.

Movie Review: "Iron Man 3"

The third film in a series can be sublime—think The Dark Knight Rises, The Bourne Ultimatum or even Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—or ridiculous—anyone for Ocean's Thirteen, Batman Forever, or, heaven help us, Jaws 3-D?

While the first Iron Man was pretty fantastic and the sequel was somewhat disappointing, I'm pleased to say that the third outing with Tony Stark definitely hews more toward the former than the latter. Not only is it a truly worthy start to the summer movie season despite the fact it's only the first week in May, but it has taken the series into an exciting yet introspective and—dare I say—more mature direction, in the hands of director Shane Black, who is new to the series.

Iron Man 3 takes place sometime after the hullabaloo following the cataclysmic events in The Avengers. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is still a bit shaken by what he was a part of, and regardless of the bravado he wears, he's suffering real people problems, namely an inability to sleep and periodic anxiety attacks. His inventor-on-speed mentality isn't helping him execute his new idea, namely a system that allows pieces of the Iron Man suit to come hurling toward him with just one simple gesture. (The suit almost seems to attack him as much as it attaches itself to him.) And this mania isn't helping his relationship with Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow, looking quite deserving of her recently bestowed upon title of Sexiest Woman Alive) one bit; in fact, she's tired of playing second fiddle to a metal suit.

And then trouble comes calling, in the form of The Mandarin (a marvelous Ben Kingsley), a mysterious dictator of epic proportion, who is systematically raining terror down on the world, and letting them know what's coming next in dramatic broadcasts that take control of the airwaves. The Mandarin is allied with dweeb-turned-dashingly evil scientist Aldrich Killian (a suavely unhinged Guy Pearce), who was once snubbed by Tony Stark and now has harnessed the scientific power to turn damaged and maimed people into mercenary human weapons with molten flesh. Tony challenges The Mandarin mano a mano, and he obliges, with rocket launchers aimed at Stark's cliffside house, in one of the film's tense and dazzling action sequences.

The Mandarin and Killian constantly up the ante to deadlier levels that threaten the safety of the world (not to mention Tony and Pepper), and even involve Tony's sidekick-yet-rival, Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle, sporting one seriously impressive pair of biceps). You think you know where the movie will lead but you aren't sure, given the movie's almost plaintive tone, not to mention Tony's emotional upheaval. Yet as the action and the spectacle build and build, so too does the plot, so you're not just left with fighting to the death and explosions and gunfights (although there's plenty of those)—you're being stimulated emotionally and (again, dare I say) intellectually as well.

Robert Downey Jr. is a tremendously talented actor who has had a number of memorable roles in his career to date, yet I think Tony Stark may be his best. I don't know where Downey's true personality ends and Stark's begins, and I don't care. He truly wears this character as easily as he does the suit. Much like Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series, I felt as if every character in this movie was well-acted; there are none of the overacted roles we're so used to seeing in summer blockbusters.

Iron Man 3 may not be as good as the original, but it's pretty darned close. And if the rest of the summer movie season is even half as satisfying and enjoyable as this film, we're in for one hell of a ride this year.

Book Review: "What the Family Needed" by Steven Amsterdam

I don't know about you, but when I was growing up (and sometimes even now as an adult), I dreamed of having superpowers. The desire for those powers—of flight, invisibility, super-speed, x-ray vision, etc.—changed based on the situation I was in at the time, but I felt fairly certain that my life, or at least that moment, would improve significantly if I possessed those skills.

When Steven Amsterdam's What the Family Needed begins, 15-year-old Giordana and her older brother, Ben, are the pawns in their parents' struggling marriage, and one day their mother decides to leave their father and take them to live with her sister's family. Despite the perpetual animosity between her parents, this move is a shock for Giordana, who had planned her entire summer around hanging out with her friends and working at an ice cream store in town. Yet when they arrive, her anger is quickly tempered when her younger cousin, Alek, asks, "Tell me which you want, to be able to fly or to be invisible." She chooses invisibility, and she discovers her ability to will herself so gives her more insight into her parents' relationship and the path her life was headed down, than she'd ever imagined.

In each of the book's related vignettes, which take place over the years, each of the characters suddenly discovers they possess a superpower. Some are truly meaningful—Alek's older brother finds he suddenly has the ability to forge romantic connections between people by simply touching both of them; Giordana's mother, a nurse, finds she suddenly can hear people's thoughts—and others' are somewhat arbitrary, such as Alek's mother, who discovers she can swim with almost superhuman endurance. But all of these characters (mostly) use their powers for good, not evil, and find that the powers changed them in different ways than they imagined.

Although I found some of the stories more compelling and emotionally engaging than others, I really enjoyed this book and the magical world it created. I did wish that Amsterdam did more to resolve each of the characters' stories—while we see all of them years after we've learned of their superpowers, we don't know if these skills were temporarily inherited or permanent, and how they made it to a later point possessing those powers. And I loved the emotion of the final story, which finally gave more insight into Alek, who is somehow at the center of everyone's stories, although its resolution had the potential to negate everything that happened before it.

This is a beautifully written book, almost lyrical at times, and if you have the power to suspend your disbelief, you'll find yourself emotionally engaged in an utterly unique set of stories, which while fantastical, don't require you to like fantasy or science fiction.

My favorite movies of 2012...

Okay, so I know that a year-end best-of list is a little tardy given it's early February, but here's the deal. I'm not a movie critic, so I don't have the option to see every movie that's released in time for Oscar consideration before the end of the calendar year, plus I don't live in New York or Los Angeles, so many of the "big" movies don't make it here until some time in January. So humor me, please!

We saw 45 movies that were technically released in 2012. The truth is, we saw very few awful movies, a lot of reasonably good ones, some really good ones, and some pretty freaking fantastic ones as well. I couldn't pick just 10, so you'll have to settle for a list of my 15 favorite movies from last year. For the most part, I tried to review every movie I saw, although I didn't get to a few I saw earlier in the year. When I did write a review, you'll find a link to the full blog post.

In random order, my favorite movies of 2012 are:

Les Misérables: Well, of course. It was one of two movies I had been anticipating since they first announced the casting, and despite all the hype, and the fact that I have seen the musical more times than I can count, the movie more than lived up to my expectations. Beautifully filmed (at times even a little disturbing), spectacularly sung and acted by nearly everyone in the film (cough, Russell Crowe, cough), and it made me sob more than a few times. Almost certain to net Anne Hathaway a Best Supporting Actress Oscar later this month, I hope it makes a star out of Samantha Barks, who made her film debut as Eponine. Read my original review.

The Hunger Games: This was the other movie I absolutely couldn't wait to see, having devoured all three of Suzanne Collins' dystopian trilogy. Director Gary Ross (Seabiscuit) brought Collins' vision to life so vividly, with exceptional performances depicting characters exactly the way I pictured them. Jennifer Lawrence dazzled as Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, while Josh Hutcherson overcame the objections of tween girls all over the world as he skillfully inhabited the character of Peeta Mallark. Cannot wait for movie number two, Catching Fire, later this year.

Argo: Ben Affleck really came into his own as a director with this gripping, tautly emotional thriller about six State Department employees who escaped the Iran hostage crisis to take shelter in the Canadian ambassador's residence, and the daring yet outlandish effort undertaken to rescue them. Well-acted and terrifically directed, the movie is tremendously suspenseful even though you know what will happen. Affleck should have been nominated for a Best Director Oscar (he should have for The Town as well, but the film deserves every accolade it receives. Read my original review.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Maybe it's because I identified far too well with the desire to fit in but never really feeling that way through most of high school, or maybe some of the wounds I have from those years have never quite healed, but this movie utterly knocked me out. Stephen Chbosky's adaptation of his fantastic novel is poignant, funny, tragic, and enlightening, with fantastic performances from Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and, in her first post-Harry Potter "grownup" role, Emma Watson. May hit a little too close to home, but so worth it. Read my original review.

The Dark Knight Rises: Once you strip away the tragedy of the Aurora movie theater massacre, you realize that Christopher Nolan once again struck cinematic gold from the purported end of his Batman trilogy. It's the return of the players we love—Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine—along with the introduction of a new hellacious villain (Tom Hardy's Bane has the soul of darkness and the voice of Darth Vader), a new hero (the always amazing Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and some twisted new characters, including Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard. Beautifully done, bleak, violent, and hopeful. Read my original review.

Lincoln: Not thinking about Daniel Day-Lewis' breathtaking portrayal of our 16th president, which is so authentic you expect him to step off the penny, Steven Spielberg's movie is still a triumph. Whether it's because of passionate performances from Sally Field (as Mary Todd Lincoln) and Tommy Lee Jones (as abolition-supporting Thaddeus Stevens), the dialogue which is funny and surprisingly on target for today's politically charged world, or the way you get so invested in the film you still hope it ends differently, the movie is far more than a long history lesson. Far more entertaining and emotionally compelling, too. Read my original review.

Moonrise Kingdom: This charmer from the king of quirk, Wes Anderson, should have been on the list of Best Picture nominees at this year's Oscars. A sweetly odd little movie set in 1965 on an island off the coast of New England, the movie follows young Khaki Scout Sam Shakusky (Jared Gilman), a foster child struggling with fitting in with the other scouts, as he disappears one night to meet his pen pal, Suzy Bishop (Kara Hayward), who has run away from her tumultuous home life to meet Sam and set off on a new life together. Anderson gives the runaways' encounters the right amount of humor, awkwardness, and poignancy, that moment when you realize there is someone out there who feels exactly the way you do. The movie definitely has its slapsticky moments, but it also has a lot of heart. Read my original review.

Django Unchained: Combining an homage to the old spaghetti westerns with the blaxploitation theme Quentin Tarantino loves to revisit, Django Unchained is amazingly violent (more so than Inglourious Basterds but less so than Kill Bill), hysterically funny, surprisingly astute, and unbelievably foul-mouthed. The story of the unlikely pairing of bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (the always magnificent Christoph Waltz) and Django, a slave (Jamie Foxx), on the hunt for Django's wife, who was bought by the odious plantation owner Calvin Candie (a loathsome Leonardo DiCaprio), the movie is a little too long but it's still worthy of a place in the Tarantino pantheon. Read my original review.

Movie Review: "The Amazing Spider-Man"

When it was announced that they were restarting the Spider-Man franchise with a reboot of the first movie, I was really skeptical. Why would a movie that was super popular and released only 10 years ago (with the last movie in the series released only five years ago) need to be remade so soon? Was there really something different that director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) and Andrew Garfield could bring to Spider-Man?

Now that I've seen The Amazing Spider-Man, I can absolutely say yes. While there are definite similarities between this movie and Sam Raimi's movie starring Tobey Maguire which originally launched the franchise, I thought that this movie went a little deeper into Peter Parker's emotional journey and his recognition of the responsibilities that came with the red and blue suit. But don't get me wrong, there's plenty of high-flying action, great fight sequences, and peril to save the citizens of New York from.

In this version, Peter, who has been living with his Aunt May and Uncle Ben (Sally Field and Martin Sheen) since his scientist father and mother disappeared, stumbles upon his father's old briefcase, which contains some old files he hid. He shares this information with his father's old partner, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), who thinks this might be the link he needs to regenerate people's limbs and make their lives better. After an encounter with an irradiated spider, he discovers his newfound powers and feels bold enough to pursue his crush on super-smart Gwen Stacy (the always-cool Emma Stone). And as his escapades raise the ire of police, including Gwen's police chief father (Denis Leary), Dr. Connors' transformation into a giant lizard causes the greatest threat.

While I really enjoyed Tobey Maguire's performance in the original movies, I thought Andrew Garfield did a terrific job, partially because I think his acting has a sensitivity and a power that Maguire lacks. The movie may not be as flashy as Sam Raimi's, but it is a fun summer movie without a doubt, a thoughtful one, with some strong performances and great action thrown in. (Plus it has Emma Stone, which is often enough for me to buy a ticket.) Can't wait for the next one!