Nostalgia is the prime reason for this CD. Carole King has toured several times playing her classic hits. James Taylor did the same thing. Now, they joined forces and present an entertaining evening of music and fun. Despite her wonderful song-writing skills, I’ve never been fond of Carole King’s voice. Same with James Taylor. But having these great songs song by both singers or King and Taylor alternating, makes for a satisfying experience. If you’re in the mood to stroll down Memory Lane, this CD/DVD combo is just the ticket. If you’d like to hear a sample, just click below. GRADE: B+
PLAY LIST:
1 Blossom 3:09
2 So Far Away 4:41
3 Machine Gun Kelly 2:59
4 Carolina in My Mind 4:16
5 It’s Too Late 4:59
6 Smackwater Jack 5:25
7 Something in the Way She Moves 4:04
8 Will You Love Me Tomorrow 4:12
9 Country Road 3:49
10 Fire and Rain 5:44
11 Sweet Baby James 3:34
12 I Feel the Earth Move 4:05
13 You’ve Got a Friend 5:51
14 Up on the Roof 4:09
15 You Can Close Your Eyes 2:49

The Addams Family: An Evilution presents more than 200 cartoons (50 for the first time) as part of the first book to trace The Addams Family history. H. Kevin Miserocchi, director of the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation, develops a chronology of each character’s evolution (Addams originally named Pugsley “Pubert” for example). Addams’s own character descriptions, originally developed for The Addams Family television show producers, introduce each chapter. If you’re a fan of Charles Addams and his quirky creation, The Addams Family: An Evilution is a must-buy. GRADE: A

Iron Man 2 launches the Summer Movie season with plenty of action. Tony Stark finds that the palladium in the power source that keeps him alive is also poisoning him. Meanwhile, Stark’s enemy, Hammer, finds a renegade Russian physicist (played my Michael Rourke) who can duplicate the Iron Man armor to create an army of drones. Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson (as Black Widow) are eye candy. There’s nothing profound here, just mindless summer entertainment. GRADE: B+

I read Manly Wade Wellman’s Who Fears the Devil? back in the 1960s when Ballantine Books first published it. But Wellman kept writing about Silver John, a wanderer and balladeer, both in short stories and in five novels. Now, PLANET STORIES has published the complete stories of Silver John. John confronts evil in the little communities of the South. You’ll not find more satisfying collection of domestic fantasy stories anywhere. Wellman was a master of this type of rustic story-telling. If you haven’t read these stories, I encourage you to give them a try. You’ll be delighted!

This completes the May part of Carl V.’s fantasy challenge. To learn more about the fantasy challenge, click here.

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Robert Harris’ stylish thriller, The Ghost. Yesterday, I saw the movie based on Harris’ novel, The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. Ewan McGregor is hired to ghost-write the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, obviously based on Tony Blair. Pierce Brosnan plays the ex-Prime Minister with panache. Olivia Williams plays Brosnan’s quirky wife, and Kim Cattrall is Brosnan’s personal assistant–and more. As McGregor finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into Brosnan’s political crisis, he finds critical information that changes everything. The Ghost Writer follows Harris’ book faithfully, until the ending. Polanski opts for a more dramatic ending that was fine by me. The Ghost Writer isn’t Chinatown, but it’s the most clever thriller you’re likely to see this year. GRADE: A

Diane and I saw Jersey Boys last night. For those of you who have been vacationing on Jupiter the past couple of years, Jersey Boys is the story of the famous Sixties group, The Four Seasons. Plenty of music and drama. If the touring company shows up in your neighborhood, this musical is well worth seeing. Here’s a partial song list and a sample of what we saw:
1. Ces Soirees
2. The Early Years: A Scrapbook Jersey Boys
3. Cry For Me
4. Backup Sessions
5. Sherry
6. Big Girls Don’t Cry
7. Walk Like A Man
8. December 1963 [Oh, What A Night]
9. My Boyfriend’s Back
10. My Eyes Adored You
11. Dawn [Go Away]
12. Big Man In Town
13. Dialogue: A Little Trouble
14. Beggin’
15. Dialogue: See How You Handle It
16. Medley: Stay/Let’s Hang On/Opus 17 [Don’t You Worry ‘Bout Me/Bye, Bye, Baby]
17. C’Mon Marianne
18. Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You
19. Working My Way Back To You
20. Fallen Angel
21. Rag Doll
22. Who Loves You

Justice: What’s the Right Thing To Do presents a glimpse of what college education may be in the future. “Justice” is the most popular class on the Harvard campus. This 3-DVD set presents Micheal Sandel’s class in 12 hours. Sandel is an engaging professor. His dry humor and quick wit keep the lectures moving even when confronted by the mind-numbing philosophies of Kant and Bentham. Some of this performance centers on getting the students involved by using Jerry Springer techniques: challenging cases of cannibalism and suicide and surrogate mothers allows Sandel to indulge in audience interaction. I can see colleges and universities offering courses in this DVD format (perhaps available on the educational institution’s web site) in order to cut costs. Sandel also wrote a useful book to accompany the course. I enjoyed taking the course and highly recommend it. I’ve included a sample episode below. GRADE: A

Disney’s elves have remastered this animated feature from the 1980s. The Great Mouse Detective is based on Eve Titus’s book Basil of Baker Street, about a Victorian-era mouse who mirrors Sherlock Holmes. Basil’s arch-villain is Professor Ratigan, voiced by Vincent Price, who plans a diabolical crime of colossal proportions. There’s spirited music by Henry Mancini. If you’re a Sherlockean, you’ll be amused by this pastiche. If you’re just looking for 74 minutes of clever entertainment, you can’t go wrong with The Great Mouse Detective. GRADE: B

The only reason to watch The Back-Up Plan is Jennifer Lopez. I’ve admired Lopez since her marvelous performance as U. S. Marshall Karen Sisco in Out of Sight. But that Jennifer Lopez is not to be found in this film. Lopez plays an owner of a pet shop in New York City who desperately wants a family. She’s artificially inseminated by her doctor (Robert Klein) and then meets Alex O’Loughlin, owner of a goat cheese farm. Their relationship is rocky, but there’s real chemistry between Lopez and O’Loughlin. The familiar “boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back again” template is followed rigorously. No surprises here. If you’re a Jennifer Lopez fan, you’ll want to see this routine romantic comedy. GRADE: C