David Denby is best known for his movie reviews in The New Yorker and for his brilliant GREAT BOOKS and his story about his porno addiction and day-trading fiasco in American Sucker. SNARK is nothing like anything Denby has written. The text meanders around its 128 pages in a schizophrenic fashion. First, Denby is concerned about snarky behavior on the Internet, but he admits not much can be done about it. Then Denby goes back into time to claim the Roman writer, Juvenal, was the original snarky writer. Finally, Denby rambles around writing about contemporary writers he finds snarky: Maureen Dowd, Gore Vidal, and Joe Queenan. Not to be snarky, but this book sucked.

The BBC version of State of Play is 335 minutes long compared to the 1 hour and 57 minutes of the U. S. movie version. There are many more minor characters in the British version. Much more detail to the tangled plot. Bill Nighy is terrific as the crusty managing Editor. Comparing the mini-series to the movie is like comparing apples and kumquats. Both have completely different pacing and dramatic moments. The movie is sleeker, with more tension and suspense. The mini-series has more humor, most of it centering around Dominic Foy (the bi-sexual PR agent) and it’s sexier. My recommendation is to see both versions. GRADE: B+

State of Play is a very tricky movie. It has more twists than a pretzel. Bill Crider suggested that it should be called Russell Crowe’s Bad Haircut and I have to admit it’s distracting. Crowe plays a scruffy reporter for a Washington, D.C. newspaper. He’s investigating the mysterious death of a Congressional staffer. So is the fetching Rachel McAdams. And Helen Mirren is the Iron Maiden managing Editor. There’s good acting here to burn. This movie is based on a BBC mini-series which I’ll review tomorrow. Until then, if you’re in the mood for a suspenseful thriller, State of Play is the movie to see. GRADE: B+.

Robert Silverberg once wrote an introduction to a James Tiptree, Jr. book where he “proves” that Tiptree is a male writer. Of course, he was wrong. Tiptree’s identity was uncovered by my friend, Jeff Smith, which lead to a friendship with Alice Sheldon. You can read all about that incident in Julie Phillips’ excellent biography, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. I almost chose this collection and one of its great novelettes for Patti Abbott’s FORGOTTEN SHORT STORIES last week. There are some great tales in Her Smoke Rose Up Forever: “The Girl Who Was Plugged In,” “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” “Love is the Plan the Plan is Death,” and one of the most haunting stories I’ve ever read, “The Screwfly Solution.” If you haven’t read any of these classic Tiptree stories, you’re in for quite an experience.

Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood is an example of Thomas Rick’s comment: “Our military is better than we deserve.” Donovan Campbell relates the events of his platoon on their tour of Iraq in 2004. Their mission was to defend Ramadi from the insurgents. What happens to Campbell and his men is chilling, heart-breaking, and inspiring. If you want to understand the Iraq war from the viewpoint of the men who fight in this war, Joker One gives you plenty to think about.

Run, don’t walk, to your local movie theater and see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3-D! I had a blast watching this homage to “creature features” of the past. Reese Witherspoon plays Susan, bride-to-be, when she’s hit by a mysterious meteor that turns her into a giant (homage to Attack of the 50-Foot Woman). The U. S. military takes her to a secret base where they keep their other “monsters.” Susan meets Dr. Cockroach (voice by Hugh Laurie) the smartest insect on the planet (homage to The Fly) and the jello-like Bob (The Blob) and The Missing Link (Creature From the Black Lagoon). And, of course, the Earth faces invasion by galactic aliens. Monster time! GRADE: A-

Okay, I’m going to be in the minority here. I did not like Joe Gores Spade & Archer. It’s a prequel to The Maltese Falcon with none of the original’s charm, menace, and characters. The “Sam Spade” of Spade & Archer doesn’t seem like the private eye I remember from Dashiell Hammett’s classic. The writing style isn’t close to Hammett’s distinctive prose. I respect Joe Gores’ work, but this was a mistake. I know Gore’s admires Hammett (he wrote a novel about Hammett), but there must be another way to render a homage to a great writer other than writing a bad novel. GRADE: C.

This is one of the weirder books I’ve read lately. Simon Critchley writes about 200 philosophers. He gives a brief description of their lives, but what he is really interested in is how they died. Take Seneca for an example. Critchley says Seneca was condemned to death by Caligula in AD 39, managed to escape, then was banished by Claudius on the charge of adultery with the emperor’s niece in AD 41. Finally, Seneca was forced to commit suicide by Nero in AD 65. While all this was going on, Seneca was the most important intellectual in the Roman world and one of its most powerful administrators. Critchley provides plenty of irony and wit as well as a wealth of detail on these philosophers. If you’re looking for a unique reading experience, try The Book of the Dead Philosophers. GRADE: A

When I was a kid, I read a few issues of The House of Secrets. Distribution of this title was spotty in my area. So you can imagine my delight to see over 500 pages of The House of Secrets collected in this DC SHOWCASE edition. Issues #81-98 are drawn by Wally Wood, Bernie Wrightson, Alex Toth, and Neal Adams. The House of Secrets was an anthology of spooky, Twilight Zone, type stories. There are hours of delight here!