"A person's a person, no matter how small!" So runs the motto of the title character in "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who" (20th Century Fox), an enchanting computer-generated animated adaptation of Theodore Geisel's classic 1954 children's book.
[ In Movies ]
The film begins with some portentous narration solemnly intoned by Omar Sharif putting the film in its fictional historical perspective. But once the action gets going, "10,000 B.C." (Warner Bros.) proves an all too familiar and only fitfully involving epic taking place at the end of the Ice Age.
[ In Movies ]
"College Road Trip" (Disney) is an unobjectionable, though uninspired, family comedy. While the film conveys good messages about parental concern and the need for trust, most of its humor is too implausible to really work.
[ In Movies ]
This modest little film is just endearing enough to earn some sort of cult status before long.
[ In Movies ]
As a wise man once said, it all depends on how you look at it. The aptly named "Vantage Point" (Columbia), a propulsive thriller about an attempted assassination of a U.S. president (William Hurt), gives us the same events in the same time frame from eight disparate perspectives.
[ In Movies ]
Charlie Bartlett
"Heart speaks to heart." This motto, popularized by the great Victorian churchman Cardinal John Henry Newman, establishes the ambitious theme of "Charlie Bartlett".
[ In Movies ]
"Heart speaks to heart." This motto, popularized by the great Victorian churchman Cardinal John Henry Newman, establishes the ambitious theme of "Charlie Bartlett".
[ In Movies ]
In an unseen world of goblins, sprites and ogres, an ordinary family gets caught up in the epic struggle between good and evil, discovering the need for teamwork along the way. Such is the worthy theme of "The Spiderwick Chronicles"
[ In Movies ]
Imagine yourself in a terrible scrape, your life about to end, and in no time flat, you can disappear and re-emerge safely in Paris, Tokyo, among the pyramids, or in your very own bedroom.
[ In Movies ]
Life for early 20th century Oregon farmers was gritty
Using Martha as the lead rider, author Molly Gloss canters down a literary trail along the valley of the Little Bird Woman River in Elwha County, encountering families and individuals who face the gritty reality of life in 1917 that is both raw and often deeply painful.
[ In Books ]
Using Martha as the lead rider, author Molly Gloss canters down a literary trail along the valley of the Little Bird Woman River in Elwha County, encountering families and individuals who face the gritty reality of life in 1917 that is both raw and often deeply painful.
[ In Books ]
Historical fiction underscores pain of discrimination and intolerance
In a book written with a teen-age audience in mind, author Libby Sternberg projects an “unsinkable Molly Brown” quality in the protagonist, 15-year-old Carl Matuski, whose contagious energy is certain to maintain the interest of today’s multi-tasking young adult readers.
[ In Books ]
In a book written with a teen-age audience in mind, author Libby Sternberg projects an “unsinkable Molly Brown” quality in the protagonist, 15-year-old Carl Matuski, whose contagious energy is certain to maintain the interest of today’s multi-tasking young adult readers.
[ In Books ]
An analysis of faith professions inside the Oval Office
In a charged environment where primary presidential hopefuls such as Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, acknowledged their religious beliefs while at the same time made it plain that for them church and state are sacred but separate entities, Randall Balmer’s book, “God in the White House”—an examination of the U.S. presidents’ responses and reactions to religion from 1960 until 2004—is a timely release.
[ In Books ]
In a charged environment where primary presidential hopefuls such as Mitt Romney, a Mormon, and Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, acknowledged their religious beliefs while at the same time made it plain that for them church and state are sacred but separate entities, Randall Balmer’s book, “God in the White House”—an examination of the U.S. presidents’ responses and reactions to religion from 1960 until 2004—is a timely release.
[ In Books ]
"Rambo" (Lionsgate), the latest offering in a franchise begun in 1982, is remarkable only for the toxic level of graphic violence enabled by recent advances in special effects.
[ In Movies ]
"Untraceable" (Screen Gems) is a grimly unpleasant thriller concerning an Internet killer who tortures kidnapped victims on a Web site he calls "killswithme.com."
[ In Movies ]
1893 Exposition is backdrop for young woman’s coming of age
With a flavor and style reminiscent of Victorian writer Jane Austin and a hint of Nancy Drew in the protagonist, author Lynn Austin has fashioned a novel likely to appeal to readers who appreciate a blend of history and fiction.
[ In Books ]
With a flavor and style reminiscent of Victorian writer Jane Austin and a hint of Nancy Drew in the protagonist, author Lynn Austin has fashioned a novel likely to appeal to readers who appreciate a blend of history and fiction.
[ In Books ]
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage/Miramax) is an extraordinarily fine drama loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 muckraking novel, "Oil!" set during the early 20th century.
[ In Movies ]
Answers and questions
Two books, one about answers and the other about questions, make a nice coupling for family perusal during the Christmas season, as folks relax a bit and ponder the past, enjoy the present and prepare to plunge into the New Year.
[ In Books ]
Two books, one about answers and the other about questions, make a nice coupling for family perusal during the Christmas season, as folks relax a bit and ponder the past, enjoy the present and prepare to plunge into the New Year.
[ In Books ]
At the start of "I Am Legend" (Warner Bros.), a grim but effective thriller, Emma Thompson, in a delicious cameo, plays a self-satisfied doctor informing an incredulous news interviewer that she has found the cure for cancer.
(WARNING: Review contains a possible spoiler!)
[ In Movies ]
The movie "The Golden Compass" has prompted a blizzard of words assailing the movie and the books on which it is based, as well as defenses of the film.
[ In Movies ]
Whoa! Armored warrior bears! How cool is that! Add flying witches and airborne schooners along with one’s soul which lives outside of your body in an animal shape called a daemon (demon) that walks by your side—and ...wow! You’ve got yourself one heck of a Christmas film. Simply beautiful to look at—sort of like the forbidden fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. Looks great but in the end, nothing there, only despair.
[ In Movies ]
"The Savages" (Fox Searchlight) is a strongly acted, perceptive study of middle-aged brother and sister Jon and Wendy Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney), called upon to care for their emotionally and geographically distant father, Lenny (Philip Bosco), who has had a stroke at his Arizona home and is being kicked out by the owner, the daughter of his late live-in companion.
[ In Movies ]
One strong limb is missing from Amazon forest
The book cover is a dead giveaway. In a close-up photo, Notre Dame de Namur Sister Dorothy Stang flashes a joyously friendly smile and the expression in her eyes is vision-like—one has to believe that she really could see the forest for the trees.
[ In Books ]
The book cover is a dead giveaway. In a close-up photo, Notre Dame de Namur Sister Dorothy Stang flashes a joyously friendly smile and the expression in her eyes is vision-like—one has to believe that she really could see the forest for the trees.
[ In Books ]
