As soon as I saw Natalie Portman in Leon: The Professional (1994) I knew she was going to be a star. I felt the same way when I saw Lindsey Lohan in the remake of Parent Trap (but Lohan’s career that didn’t turn out the way I thought). Director Luc Besson, best known in the U.S. for the science fiction thriller The Fifth Element, made his American directorial debut with this quirky action movie. An Italian hit man, Jean Reno, finds himself taking care of a young American girl played by the perky Natalie Portman. Natalie is being tracked by a twisted cop, Gary Oldman. Oldman specializes in portraying crazy characters and he’s genuinely evil in this movie. The relationship between Reno and Portman could have been phony or mawkish, but Luc Besson develops a believable rapport between them. If you haven’t seen this gem of an action movie, this Blu-ray version is the way to go!

Larry Rosen opens his interesting book with two situations. The first is at a movie theater. While Rosen tries to watch the movie, people around him are texting and talking on their smartphones. And, as soon as the movie is over, Rosen notes that just about everyone in the theater immediately checks their cell phones. The second story involves dinner in a restaurant. Rosen sees that at EVERY table, people have their smartphones next to their plates. They’re constantly checking their phones and ignoring the people they’re with. Larry Rosen thinks hand-held devices like smartphones and iPads and iPods are creating a society of narcissistic, AD/HD addled loners. I can add fuel to this fire. Walk into any of my classrooms and you’ll see the majority of students constantly texting and checking their phones. How much of my brilliant lectures are these students absorbing? Sadly, very little. Their distracted listening, their fragmented attention isn’t conducive to learning. Rosen offers a number of solutions, chiefly limits on use of these devices. I doubt if that will work with smartphone-addicts. GRADE: B

Tonight we finally find out who killed Rosie Larsen. AMC’s The Killing is based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen (The Crime). I’ve continued to watch The Killing even with its glacial pacing and tons of red herrings. For those of you not familiar with The Killing it’s basically a blend of Twin Peaks and 24. Each episode is roughly a day (we’re up to Day 26) and the police investigation centers on who killed Laura Palmer…er, Rosie Larsen. The cast, especially Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden (the lead homicide detective) and her quirky partner, Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder, kept me watching even as the lack of action in many of the episodes made my eyes glaze over. Yet, the intensity of Sarah Linden’s search to find the killer fascinated me and kept me watching over two seasons. It all gets wrapped up tonight. Or will there be another plot twist so a third season can be filmed?

I confess, I liked Rock of Ages. Consider it a Guilty Pleasure. How could I not like a movie with a cast of Julianne Hough, Diego Boneta, Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand, Mary J. Blige, Paul Giamatti, and Debbie Gibson? I would have loved to see more of Catherine Zeta-Jones who plays an anti-Rock&Roll crusader with a steamy past. And Russell Brand should have been given more to do. There were almost too many stars in Rock of Ages. Yes, the movie is silly. Oh, but the music! If you love Eighties music as much as I do, you’re going to want to listen to the Rock of Ages soundtrack over and over again (check out the songs below!). Rock of Ages radiates energy and fun. Plenty of critics are going to dismiss Rock of Ages as a glorified 2-hour music video. Who cares? It’s a GOOD music video! GRADE: B+ (for both)
TRACK LIST:
Paradise City (3:43) Performed by Tom Cruise
Sister Christian/Just Like Paradise/Nothin’ But a Good Time (5:41) Performed by Diego Boneta
Juke Box Hero/I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll (2:23) Performed by Diego Boneta
Hit Me With Your Best Shot (2:28) Performed by Catherine Zeta-Jones
Waiting For a Girl Like You (3:24) Performed by Diego Boneta
More Than Words/Heaven (3:08) Performed by Diego Boneta
Wanted Dead or Alive (4:19) Performed by Julianne Hough
I Want To Know What Love is (3:32) Performed by Malin Akerman
I Wanna Rock (2:26) Performed by Diego Boneta
Pour Some Sugar On Me (3:13) Performed by Tom Cruise
Harden My Heart (2:40) Performed by Julianne Hough
Shadows of the Night/Harden My Heart (1:57) Performed by Julianne Hough
Here I Go Again (3:07) Performed by Diego Boneta
Can’t Fight This Feeling (3:05) Performed by Russell Brand
Any Way You Want It (2:31) Performed by Julianne Hough
Undercover Love (3:06) Performed by Diego Boneta
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (2:57) Performed by Diego Boneta
Rock You Like a Hurricane (2:40) Performed by Julianne Hough
We Built This City/We’re Not Gonna Take It (2:18) Performed by Russell Brand
Don’t Stop Believin’ (4:10) Performed by Diego Boneta

I found this First Edition of Lightning at a library book sale. I’d read most of the 87th Precinct series, but not Lightning. Lightning was published in 1984. It’s the 37th volume in the 87th Precinct series. The body of a girl attending a local college is found hanging from a lamp post. In a parallel plotline, women are being preyed upon by a serial rapist. The rapist is raping the same women over and over. Although this novel is 27 years old, it holds up well. Yes, the computer is just being used in police investigations so it has a novelty factor in this book. But the characters, Carella, Meyer, Kling, Burke, and Fat Ollie Weeks carry the action to a satisfactory conclusion.

If you’re a fan of 1950s-style Rhythm & Blues, you’ll enjoy Memphis: The Musical. The gossamer plot merely holds the songs together. As you might expect, race plays a role in the plot and the music. A nerdy character named Huey Calhoun (based on real-life Dewey Phillips who was one of the first white DJs to play “Negro music” on the radio) causes a sensation when he promotes music written and performed by African-Americans. There’s a love story, too. My chief complaint is that the music should have been better. Couldn’t the producers have gotten the rights to some of the classic R&B songs of this era? Memphis: The Musical is entertaining, but it could have been a lot better with great songs. GRADE: B

I’m a fan of Alastair Reynolds’ space operas so as soon as Blue Remembered Earth arrived, I immediately dropped everything to read it. At 505 pages, it qualifies as a Summer Reading Book. And, as Reynolds has announced, Blue Remembered Earth is the first book in a “loose” trilogy. All three books will stand on their own (and characters of one book won’t be included in other books) but will share a similar universe. Basically, Blue Remembered Earth is a puzzle novel. A powerful and famous woman dies and leaves her family clues to a mystery. Two of the family members follow the clues to the Moon and Mars (and, eventually, farther). There’s plenty of politics and double-dealing. No, Blue Remembered Earth isn’t one of Alastair Reynolds’ best books. The novel takes about 100 pages to get started. The “mystery” is obvious (at least it was to me). But Reynolds is a master of creating innovative groups like the Aquatics (who are colonizing the oceans of Earth) and the intelligence machines on Mars. If you’re looking for a diverting beach book, I’d recommend Blue Remembered Earth. GRADE: B

After watching Prometheus, the prequel to Alien, I figured I’d watch the Blu-ray versions of Alien and Aliens that I’ve had for some time. It didn’t take long for me to re-appreciate Sigourney Weaver’s acting in these two movies. Ridley Scott directed Alien back in 1979. It’s basically a Haunted House movie. The creepy alien sneaks around the space ship killing everyone and Sigourney Weaver ends up going one-on-one with it. James Cameron directed Aliens (1986) and it is very different movie from its predecessor. Sigourney Weaver duels the Alien Queen. Yikes! For their times, both films were ground-breaking and should be re-visited.

I had moments of deja-vu while watching Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Prometheus is a prequel to Alien (1979), and like Alien the focus is on a feisty woman character. In Alien it was Sigourney Weaver and in Prometheus it’s Noomi Rapace (from the Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movies). Noomi plays an archeologist who believes she’s found evidence that life on Earth originated and was “engineered” by advanced beings from another planet. She convinces one of the Koch brothers to spend a trillion dollars on a mission to a moon that may hold the answers. And, like Alien, the crew violates every safety protocol. And, there’s a treacherous android. As you might expect, this is a visual feast. I enjoyed the 3D effects. Prometheus will be one of the summer’s blockbusters. For a brilliant but snarky review of Prometheus, click here. GRADE: A-

Season Five of Mad Men has been one of my favorites. So much happened this season: Roger took LSD, there was an entertaining fist fight between Lane Pryce and Pete Campbell, a surprising suicide, an equally surprising decision by one of the advertising firm’s creative stars to leave for another agency, and a decision by a female employee to eventually give in to what amounted to prostitution (to win the coveted Jaguar account) after haggling over the price (a partnership in the firm). Tonight will probably provide another cliff-hanger so I’ll be counting the days until Mad Men returns. This may be the best cable series ever.