I enjoyed Alan Bradley’s first Flavia de Luce mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is an 11-year-old genius at chemistry. In the second book in the series, The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, Flavia is drawn into two crimes: the death of a puppeteer and the death of a child. In typical Flavia fashion, the clues to these crimes can be unlocked through chemistry. Alan Bradley has his tongue pressed firmly in his check at times as he has Flavia deal with her eccentric father and her mean older sisters. But the mysteries are clever and their solutions will stir memories of that chemistry class you took back in High School. If you’re looking for something different to read, I’d recommend the Flavia de Luce series. GRADE: B+

Yeah, yeah, I know the European Union (EU) has struck another “deal” with Greece to save their economy. But if you read James Angelos’ The Full Catastrophe: Travels Among the New Greek Ruins you’ll be as skeptical of this new bail-out of Greece as I am. Greece is deep in debt. Their economy is stalled. The Greeks lead the world in not paying their taxes. The last two EU bail-outs did not solve the Greek financial crisis. Promises were made to “fix” the problems–but little was done. The problem of Greece leads to the problems of Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Ireland–countries that share the same budget problems Greece has. The EU can throw money at their problems, but that’s not going to solve anything. Our economy and stock market will be affected if the debt crisis in Europe spreads. And, of course, the U.S. has debt problems, too. James Angelos’ insightful book deserves a wide audience. GRADE: B+

This qualifies as a Bargain of the Week! I found Mission Impossible: Complete Season One at BJ’s Warehouse for $7.99. That’s all 28 episodes on seven DVDs. I remember looking forward to Mission Impossible each week. The episodes were clever and suspenseful. Were you a fan of Mission Impossible? Do you remember any of these episodes?

Here’s a summary list of the episodes in this box set:

1 “Pilot” Bernard L. Kowalski Bruce Geller September 17, 1966 1
In order to remove two nuclear warheads from a Caribbean island (and prevent their imminent use), the Impossible Missions Force (“IMF”) team enters a hotel being used as the headquarters of the island’s dictator so that the team members may gain access to the hotel’s vault where the warheads are being kept. Martin Landau plays the role of the dictator as well as his regular role of Rollin Hand (throughout the first season, Landau does not appear in the opening credits but is credited during the Dossier scene). Wally Cox appears as IMF agent Terry Targo, a skilled safe cracker. The Los Angeles Griffith Park Observatory is used to film the exterior of the hotel. This episode is notable because the mission instructions voiced by Bob Johnson are delivered from a vinyl LP instead of a tape, and it is also the only episode of the series written by creator Bruce Geller.

2 “Memory” Charles R. Rondeau Robert Lewin September 24, 1966 3
An IMF agent with a photographic memory (Albert Paulsen) allows himself to be captured and subjected to a harsh interrogation to help destroy a politically connected mass murderer. This is the only “regular-format” episode in which the IMF does not receive its mission instructions from a recording during the Tape scene) and, as such, the voice of Bob Johnson is not heard; instead, IMF team leader Dan Briggs is handed a card with printed instructions.

3 “Operation Rogosh” Leonard J. Horn Jerome Ross October 1, 1966 4
When an unbreakable foreign agent (Fritz Weaver) known as “The Murderer” who specializes in mass murder is discovered in Los Angeles, the IMF team needs to break him (only to discover a planned biological attack on Los Angeles area water system). The team must trick him into revealing the location of his biological devices by convincing him that it is three years into the future, he is back in his own country, and he is on trial for being an American spy. This is the first episode in which the Apartment scene is not used in the opening act.

4 “Old Man Out: Part 1” Charles R. Rondeau Ellis Marcus October 8, 1966 2A
With the rest of IMF team posing as a traveling circus performing in a city park next to an impregnable prison, Rollin allows himself to be imprisoned to rescue physically infirm Catholic Cardinal Vossek (Cyril Delevanti), the leader of a country’s freedom movement who was arrested and held in the prison for interrogation (and then scheduled for execution). Vosseck is overtly based upon Cardinal Cardinal József Mindszenty and his high-profile imprisonment by a totalitarian government in the Eastern Bloc. Mary Ann Mobley appears as IMF agent Crystal Walker.

5 “Old Man Out: Part 2” Charles R. Rondeau Ellis Marcus October 15, 1966 2B
Continuation of the previous episode. The team’s rescue plan hit a snag at the end of the previous episode when Cardinal Vossek was transferred to another cell.

6 “Odds on Evil” Charles R. Rondeau William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter October 22, 1966 5
In order to prevent an arms delivery to the prince (Nehemiah Persoff) of a principality by an arms dealer (Vincent Van Lynn) and to make sure that he cannot buy more (so that he is prevented from attacking an oil-rich, neighboring state), the IMF team enters a casino, utilizes a wearable computer to predict the winning number in a game of roulette (with the winning number being displayed as the date on an analog watch), and rigs a game of baccarat through the use of marked cards and special contact lenses. Nico Minardos appears as IMF agent Andre Malif. This episode has similarities with Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale.

7 “Wheels” Tom Gries Laurence Heath October 29, 1966 8
In order to unfix the election result in a foreign country (and prevent the police-controlled Nationalist party from establishing a terrorist dictatorship), the IMF team enters a police station being used as both a polling place and the headquarters of the party so that Barney Collier may gain access to the station’s backroom where the fixed voting machines rigged with three “zero” wheels are being kept. Landau plays a proprietor of a bookstore as well as his regular role of Rollin. Mark Lenard appears as the party’s unscrupulous candidate.

8 “The Ransom” Harry Harris William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter November 5, 1966 9
When a friend’s daughter is kidnapped by a crime boss and held as ransom for the exchange of an informant held in protective custody, Briggs calls in the IMF team to rescue her. This is the first episode in which the Tape scene is not used to provide mission instructions; instead, the mission is developed by the team as an “off-book” mission (and the only one led by Briggs). Also, this is the first instance in which the team confronts members of a domestic criminal organization.

9 “A Spool There Was” Bernard L. Kowalski Ellis Marcus November 12, 1966 6
Rollin and Cinnamon Carter pose as reunited ex-lovers in an unfriendly country in order to retrieve a spool of recording wire hidden by an agent killed while evading capture. Neither Barney nor Willy Armitage appears in this episode. Michael Shea appears as Pieter Stakovar.

10 “The Carriers” Sherman Marks William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter November 19, 1966 13
In order to stop an expert in American traditions, slang, and customs (Arthur Hill) from conducting his plan of bacteriology warfare against the U.S. and to put him permanently out of business, the IMF team infiltrates a mock-up of an American town located behind the Iron Curtain where enemy agents learn to act as Americans. George Takei appears as IMF agent Roger Lee. The theme of using a mock-up of a town for training enemy agents was employed previously in the second-season episode “Colony Three” (S02/E03) of Danger Man and later in the fourth-season episode “Welcome to Liberty Village” (S04/E05) of Alias. Also, this episode has similarities with Ian Fleming’s novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

11 “Zubrovnik’s Ghost” Leonard J. Horn Robert Lewin November 26, 1966 11
In this “haunted house” episode, a scientist (Beatrice Straight) is being asked to defect by the ghost of her late husband. In order to keep her from going behind the Iron Curtain and to get her working for the IMF again, Rollin, Barney, and IMF agent Ariana Domi (Martine Bartlett) pose as a psychic research team, countering the efforts of a medium (Donald Davis) who is pressuring her to work from behind the Iron Curtain. Neither Cinnamon nor Willy appears in this episode. The laboratory set (including the hallway and elevator) from “The Carriers” (the previous episode) is featured in the Tape scene of this episode.

12 “Fakeout” Bernard L. Kowalski Leigh Chapman December 3, 1966 7
With an ill-mannered leader of an international narcotics syndicate (Lloyd Bridges) living in a country that has no extradition treaty with the U.S., Cinnamon romances him in order to get him out of the country so that he can be legally arrested and stand trial in the U.S. (kidnapping him has been ruled out as being politically embarrassing). Neither Rollin nor Willie appears in this episode.

13 “Elena” Marc Daniels Ellis Marcus December 10, 1966 10
When a woman named Elena (Barbara Luna) acting as a key agent of the IMF begins to behave in a bizarre manner indicating a severe emotional disturbance, Rollin and a psychiatrist (Barry Atwater) need to find out in six days why she is behaving so strongly and decide whether she will continue to be a dangerous threat to the IMF; if not, she will be killed. Neither Cinnamon, Barney, nor Willy appear in this episode, making it the only episode of the entire series in which none of the series regulars featured in the opening credits are chosen by the IMF team leader for the mission during the Dossier scene. The laboratory set (including the hallway and elevator) from “The Carriers” (S01/E10) is featured in this episode.

14 “The Short Tail Spy” Leonard J. Horn Julian Barry December 17, 1966 14
Two feuding assassins of different ages representing two groups of an enemy country are focused on assassinating a professor who recently defected to the U.S. In order to prevent the assassinations and totally discredit the younger assassin and the group for whom he represents, Cinnamon feigns her love for the younger assassin (Eric Braeden), Dan works to move the older assassin (Albert Dekker) out of the way, and Barney protects the professor (Edward Colmans). Neither Rollin nor Willie appears in this episode.

15 “The Legacy” Michael O’Herlihy William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter January 7, 1967 15
In this “treasure hunt” episode, sons of Adolf Hitler’s most trusted Nazi officers gather in Zurich, Switzerland, to locate Hitler’s “personal fortune” believed to be worth more than $300 million. Rollin infiltrates the group in order to get the money before they do (and prevent them from launching the Fourth Reich). This episode was remade as “The Legacy“ (S01/E05) in the series remake (wherein “sons” was changed to “grandsons”). There are three other episodes of the original series that have been remade for the series remake: “The Condemned” (S02/E19 & S01/E04), “The System” (S03/E15 & S01/E02), and “The Killer” (S05/E01 & S01/E01). This is also the only episode of either incarnation in which the villain escapes at the end.

16 “The Reluctant Dragon” Leonard J. Horn Chester Krumholz January 14, 1967 16
An expert in rocket control (Joseph Campanella) working from behind the Iron Curtain was supposed to follow his wife (Mala Powers) in defecting to the U.S. a year earlier, but he was reluctant in leaving. Now that he has made a simple but extremely effective anti-ballistic missile system that could completely destroy the balance of power in the world if it were to fall into the wrong hands, Rollin poses as a police deputy commissioner of East Germany in order to get him out before his government discovers what he has achieved. John Colicos appears as the head of security who is suspicious of the expert. Neither Cinnamon nor Willie appears in this episode.

17 “The Frame” Allen Miner William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter January 21, 1967 17
When four elected officials are killed in “accidents” and replaced with persons favorably disposed toward organized crime, Dan and Rollin pose as caterers for a lavish get-together at the home of the U.S. syndicate boss (Simon Oakland) in order to stop him from expanding into government. Arthur Batanides appears as IMF agent known as Tino.

18 “The Trial” Lewis Allan Laurence Heath January 28, 1967 12
Dan allows himself to be arrested, charged, and subjected to a show trial as a would-be saboteur in order to stop and discredit a public prosecutor and the head of the secret police (Carroll O’Connor) so that he will never be a political threat or threaten international peace. Neither Cinnamon nor Barney appears in this episode.

19 “The Diamond” Robert Douglas William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter February 4, 1967 18
When the despotic prime minister of a white-supremacist West African regime attempts to sell the world’s largest uncut diamond in order to finance a campaign driving the native majority off their tribal trust lands, the IM Force is sent to destroy him.

20 “The Legend” Richard Benedict Mann Rubin February 11, 1967 19
Briggs and Cinammon impersonate a former Nazi and his daughter who are invited to attend a reunion of aged Nazi leaders at the home of Nazi fugitive Martin Bormann, who is planning the creation of the Fourth Reich. This episode shares many similarities with Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious.

21 “Snowball in Hell” Lee H. Katzin Judith & Robert Guy Barrows February 18, 1967 21
The IMF must recover or destroy a vital component for a nuclear weapon that is in the hands of an evil prison warden (Ricardo Montalbán), and make sure that the warden does not give the formula to anyone else.

22 “The Confession” Herschel Daugherty William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter February 25, 1967 20
When the assassination of a U.S. senator by a Communist bloc agent threatens to lead to war between America and the Communist Bloc, Briggs and the IMF set out to prove the killing was actually orchestrated by the senator’s principal backer.

23 “Action!” Leonard J. Horn Robert Lewin March 4, 1967 22
An Eastern European filmmaker plans to release a film he created to falsely allege an American war crime in Vietnam; the IMF must prove the film to be a fake. Cinnamon Carter receives the recorded instructions in this episode, the only time in the show’s history that someone other than Dan Briggs or Jim Phelps ever received the briefing. The character of Dan Briggs does not appear in the episode.

24 “The Train” Ralph Senensky William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter March 18, 1967 23
The IMF team must simulate a train ride carrying a dying prime minister to a Swiss hospital, to convince the leader that his chosen successor would become an oppressive dictator upon his ascension. Beginning with this episode, appearances by Steven Hill as Dan Briggs were scaled back in preparation for his departure from the series.

25 “Shock” Lee H. Katzin Laurence Heath March 25, 1967 24
When an American envoy is kidnapped and replaced by a disguised agent planning to assassinate a U.S. diplomat, the IMF must stop the assassination and elicit the whereabouts of the real envoy out of the enemy agent. The envoy, the imposter and a disguised Dan Briggs are all played by James Daly, allowing Steven Hill to be absent for most of this episode.

26 “A Cube of Sugar” Joseph Pevney William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter April 1, 1967 25
The IMF meets drug culture as Rollin and Cinammon infiltrate a prison to recover a kidnapped agent as well as a microchip hidden within an LSD-laced sugar cube.

27 “The Traitor” Lee H. Katzin Edward J. Lakso April 15, 1967 26
Eartha Kitt guest stars as a contortionist recruited by Briggs to help discredit an agent who has defected to the enemy.

28 “The Psychic” Charles R. Rondeau William Read Woodfield & Allan Balter April 22, 1967 27
Cinnamon poses as a psychic to convince a tycoon that his life is in danger, leading to a high-stakes poker game against Rollin. This is the final episode in which Steven Hill appears as Dan Briggs.

“The novel’s spirit is the spirit of complexity. Every novel says to the reader: ‘Things are not as simple as you think.’ That is the novel’s eternal truth, but it grows steadily hard to hear amid the din of the easy, quick answers that come faster than the questions and block it off. In the spirit of our time, it’s either Anna or Karenin who is right, and the ancient wisdom of Cervantes, telling us about the difficulty of knowing and the elusiveness of truth, seems cumbersome and useless.” (p. 18) When I read Milan Kundera’s The Art of the Novel translated from the French by Linda Asher, I learned a lot about James Joyce, Kafka, Laurence Stern, Robert Musil, Proust, and Thomas Mann. Kundera’s slim book (165 pages) is a very subjective look at the Novel. Fascinating, but I prefer a book with the same title, The Art of the Novel, written by Henry James. GRADE: B

This latest installment of The Laundry features Mo, a trouble-shooter who welds a ghoulish violin made by Erich Zann. Charles Stross’s The Laundry novels are a mash-up of H. P. Lovecraft and James Bond. The previous novels were narrated by Bob Howard, Mo’s husband. Mo gets center stage as an outbreak of ordinary people suddenly acquire superpowers. Mo is given a vampire and a mermaid and a “good” superhero to deal with the crisis. I like Mo (she’s a redhead and smart) but too much of The Annihilation Score centers on team-building and PowerPoint slides. And, unfortunately, knowledge of the previous books in the series is probably a necessity in order to make sense of what’s going on. I enjoy this sort of stuff, but you many not. GRADE: B

Minions, those yellow caplets who wear goggles and speak in gibberish, get their own movie after playing backup in Despicable Me 1 & 2. There’s a lot of silliness in this movie (as you might expect). A large chunk of the movie is set in the 1960s so there’s plenty of Golden Oldie music in the background (just check out the soundtrack below). Some critics didn’t like Sandra Bullock as Scarlett Overkill (a Super-Villainess) but I thought she was okay. If you’re looking for a funny animated feature film on a hot Summer day, I’d recommend Minions. B+
TRACK LIST:
1. Lighting Up the Tunnel – Owl City
2. This Bastard’s Life – Swingin’ Utters
3. Night Boat to Cairo – Madness
4. Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants – The Dillinger Escape Plan
5. Keep It Comin’ Love – KC & The Sunshine Band
6. Same Old Song and Dance – Aerosmith
7. Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
8. Break On Through (To the Other Side) – The Doors
9. I’ve Done Everything for You – Rick Springfield
10. Foxy Lady – Jimi Hendrix
11. Universal Fanfare – The Minions
12. Happy Together – The Turtles
13. I’m a Man – The Spencer Davis Group
14. You Really Got Me – The Kinks
15. My Generation – The Who
16. Mellow Yellow – Donovan
17. Revolution – The Minions
Original music composed by Heitor Pereira
Score album tracklist:
1. Minions Through Time
2. Kevin, Stuart and Bob
3. Minions Run Amok
4. Orlando
5. Scarlet Overkill
6. Ruby Fight
7. Make ‘Em Laugh – The Minions
8. Scarlet’s Fortress
9. Traveling Tribe
10. Tower of London
11. Hair – The Minions
12. Fighting the Crown Keeper
13. King Bob
14. Theme from the Monkees – The Minions
15. Dungeon Mayhem
16. Goodbye Fabrice
17. Minion Mission
18. Sneaking In
19. King Kong Kevin
20. Our Hero is Back
21. Minions Victory
22. Greatest Renegade Unveiling (GRU)
Additional film music – songs that are not included in the official soundtrack list,
but are playing in the movie.
1. We Wish You A Merry Christmas – Pierre Coffin
2. We Wish You A Merry Christmas – Houseman
3. Aura Lee (traditional) – Pierre Coffin
4. 19th Nervous Breakdown – The Rolling Stones
5. The Saint (the Saint) – Edwin Astley
6. Bewitched – Howard Greenfield, Jack Keller
7. The Dating Game – Chuck Barris, David Mook
8. Ride Of The Valkyries – Marian Pivka & The Budapest Symphonic Orchestra
9. Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix
10. Peter And The Wolf, Op. 67, Allegro – St. Petersburg Radio & Tv Symphony Orchestra
11. Rule Britannia – Thomas Augustine Arne, James Thomson
12. The Letter – The Box Tops
13. Pomp And Circumstance – Edward Elgar
14. Love Me Do – John Lennon, Paul Mccartney
15. Auld Lang Syne – Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
16. Rocky Road To Dublin – The Dubliners
17. Taps – Pierre Coffin
18. Eruption – Van Halen
19. Got To Get You Into My Life – The Beatles

Continue reading http://www.songonlyrics.net/soundtracks/minions-soundtrack-list.html#ixzz3fVISQRjT

While reading THE JOHN DICKSON CARR COMPANION by James E. Keirans, I was intrigued by Keirans’s mention that Edward D. Hoch had come up with a list of the best locked-room mystery novels ever. Hoch presented this list in the Introduction to All But Impossible!: An Anthology of Locked Room & Impossible Crime Stories by Members of the Mystery Writers of America publihed by Ticknor & Fields (remember them?) in 1981. So I tracked down a copy of All But Impossible! and read the introduction. Hoch’s list has some interesting aspects. Hoch had a panel of experts choose the best locked-room mysteries.

“The panel of 17 consisted of Robert Adey, Jack Adrian, Jacques Barzun, John L. Breen, Robert E. Briney, Jan Broberg, Fredrick Dannay (Ellery Queen), Douglas G. Greene, Howard Haycraft, Edward d. Hoch, Marvin Lachman, Richard Levinson & William Link, Francis N. Nevins, Otto Penzler, Bill Pronzini, Julian Symons, and Donald A. Yates. In all, they listed exactly 50 novels, though only 21 appeared on more than one list.”

Here’s the list:
1. THE THREE COFFINS-John Dickson Carr (104 points)
2. RIM OF THE PIT-Hake Talbot (59 points)
3. MYSTERY OF THE YELLOW ROOM-Gaston Leroux (57 points)
4. THE CROOKED HINGE-John Dickson Carr (55 points)
5. THE JUDAS WINDOW-Carter Dickson (51 points)
6. THE BIG BOW MYSTERY-Israel Zangwill (47 points)
7. DEATH FROM A TOP HAT-Clayton Rawson (39 points)
8. THE CHINESE ORANGE MYSTERY-Ellery Queen (35 points)
9. NINE TIMES NINE-H. H. Holmes (Anthony Boucher) (30 points)
10. THE PEACOCK FEATHER MURDERS-Carter Dickson (22 points)
11. THE KING IS DEAD-Ellery Queen (20 points)
12. THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY-Helen McCloy (19 points)
13. HE WOULDN’T KILL PATIENCE-Carter Dickson (18 points)
14. (tie) TOO MANY MAGICIANS-Randall Garrett (13 points)
INVISIBLE GREEN-John Sladek (13 points)

The stories in All But Impossible! are pretty good, too. My favorites were “The Day the Children Vanished” by Hugh Pentecost, “The Arrowmont Prison Riddle” by Bill Pronzini, and Hoch’s own “The Problem of the Covered Bridge.” If you’re a fan of locked room mysteries and impossible crimes, yo’ll find this an entertaining collection.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
The Shadow of the Goat-John Dickson Carr
The Little House at Croix-Rousse-George Simenon
The Problem of the Emperor’s Mushrooms-James Yaffe
For Another World-Clayton Rawson
Through a Glass, Darkly-Helen McCloy
Snowball in July-Ellery Queen
The Newtonian Egg-Peter Godfrey
The Triple-Lock’d Room-Lillian de la Torre
The Brazen Locked Room-Isaac Asimov
The Martian Crown Jewels-Paul Anderson
The Day the Children Vanished-Hugh Pentecost
As If By Magic-Julian Symons
the Impossible Theft-John F. Suter
Mr. Strang Takes a Field Trip-William Brittain
No One Likes to Be Played for a Sucker-Michael Collins
The Arrowmont Prison Riddle-Bill Pronzini
Box in a Box-Jack Ritchie
the Number 12 Jinx-Jon L. Breen
The Magician’s Wife-J. f. Peirce
The Problem of the Covered Bridge-Edward D. Hoch

“IT WAS REASSURING TO THE INSECURE TO HEAR THEMSELVES CLAMORING FOR THE BLOOD OF THE HERETICS, AS IF ONE MORE ACT OF AIMLESS VIOLENCE WOULD CURE A WORLD WHOSE MALADY WAS AIMLESS VIOLENCE.” (p. 36)
When we were studying the Armada in Sixth Grade, we were taught the Invincible Armada was defeated by the weather. That was the story the Spanish and Catholics spread after the failure of their mission to invade England in 1588. But in Garrett Mattingly’s dazzling The Armada readers will learn what really happened. Part of the problem was that many of the 130 ships in the Armada were poorly constructed. The English ships had more guns, more speed, and more maneuverability. Although the English ships–about 30–were outnumbered, they were led by Sir Francis Drake who the Spanish feared. Mattingly skillfully sets up the battles and keeps the action as exciting as a novel. In addition, Mattingly captures the politics of the English Court, the French Court, and the Spanish Court. Plenty of decisions by Queen Elizabeth, King Henry III, and King Philip II affected the outcome of the Armada even before one ship had sailed. If you love history as much as I do, pick up a copy of The Armada and prepare to be swept away! GRADE: A

Once again, my PSA (Prostate-specific antigen) test results came back with a scintillating 1.0 score. Anything under 5.0 is normal. Scores over 5 point to Trouble. If you’re a guy over 50 you should be getting a PSA test every year. If you’re with a guy over 50, make sure he gets his yearly PSA test. It’s a simple blood test covered by insurance. Early detection of prostate cancer can be a life saver.

Riley is an 11-year-old girl whose family just moved from Minnesota to San Francisco. She’s dealing with a lot of issues. We see Riley’s emotional life play out through Pixar’s “Headquarters” where Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader), and Sadness (Phyllis Smith) try to keep Riley on an even keel. But, of course, things go wrong. In fact, plenty goes wrong. Riley’s emotions have to deal with crisis after crisis. I thought Inside Out presented an innovative way to view our emotions. This is NOT a movie for five-year-olds. Concepts like long-term memory and abstract thinking come into play. But for kids 10 and up and adults, Inside Out is one of the best movies of the year. Check out the interview with director Pete Doctor below. GRADE: A