Initially, I was more than a little skeptical about Sony’s new Spider-Man film. In the past 15 years, we have had six Spider-Man movies, two reboots, and three different actors playing the character. And it’s only been three years since the previous reboot fizzled out. However, seeing Spider-Man’s cameo in
A film about heists and car chases isn’t normally the kind of movie that immediately catches my interest. However, “Baby Driver” had something special going for it, and that’s the magic words “written and directed by Edgar Wright.” I’ve been a fan of Wright’s since I saw his quirky zombie
WORLD, CHASE ME DOWN By Andrew Hilleman Penguin Books 332 pgs At the turn of the century, Pat Crowe and an associate kidnapped the teenage son of one of the wealthiest meatpacking tycoons of Ohmaha, Nebraska, Edward Cudahy. The they were paid twenty-five thousands dollars in gold coins as a
CUT ME IN By Ed McBain Hard Case Crime 237 pages As a high school student in the early 1960s, we discovered the paperback crime fiction of writer Ed McBain and instantly became enamored of his enormous talent. He was and remains to this very day our favorite author. “Cut
It’s fair to say that DC Comics and Warner Bros. have had their struggles as they’ve launched the DC Cinematic Universe. Their first few movies in the DCCU have received decidedly mixed reactions from fans and critics, and they’ve struggled to escape from the shadow cast by Christopher Nolan’s Batman
It’s been almost 15 years (if you can believe it!) since fans first set sail with Captain Jack Sparrow and the crew of the Black Pearl in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. The first movie was a thrilling, swashbuckling adventure that was far better than a movie based on
If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. We all probably heard that piece of advice as kids, and while it may be an old cliche, it usually turns out to be accurate. Unfortunately, characters in movies often seem to disregard this bit of wisdom, and such
The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie was a colorful, quirky, and hilarious shot of adrenaline to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the film owes part of its success to its soundtrack full of fun retro tunes, called, appropriately enough, the “Awesome Mix.” The film kicked things off with “Come
Although “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” will likely end up as the biggest money-maker of the summer, it’s interesting to look back and remember that the first Guardians movie was actually an underdog at the box office. There was real concern it might be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first
VIC CHALLENGER – FAST! By Jerry Gill Ann Darrow Co. 203 pages (http://www.vicplanet.com/) The old adage about not judging a book by its cover has never been more valid than with this particular paperback novel. But we’ll get to that aspect at the end of our review. We’d much rather
“Rogue One,” the first of the Star Wars anthology films, was released on home video earlier this month after a successful run in theaters worldwide that brought in more than $1 billion. Overall reviews from fans and critics were positive and confirmed that Disney is on the right track in
THE BODY SNATCHERS AFFAIR A Carpenter & Quincannon Mystery By Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini Forge Books 219 pages This is the second Carpenter & Quincannon mystery we’ve had the pleasure of reading and are eager to point you in its direction. Authors Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini are both
