When I asked my wife what she wanted for Valentine’s Day, she relied: “I want to see The LEGO Movie. So we went to an AMC theater about 10 minutes away. At 10:45 A.M. not many people were in the theater: eight adults and five children including us. The plot of The LEGO Movie is fairly straight-forward: An ordinary LEGO construction figure named Emmet is recruited to join a quest to stop the evil LEGO tyrant–President Business–from threatening the Universe. Batman (voiced by Will Arnett) steals every scene he’s in. As with most of these animated movies, there’s a kid level and an adult level. There are plenty of liens kids won’t “get” but the adults will…and they’ll laugh. If you’re looking for some silly fun, go see The LEGO movie! GRADE: B+

Someone in Hollywood must have thought remaking the classic Paul Verhoeven movie Robocop was a Great Idea. Sadly, this new version of Robocop offers no new surprises. In a near-future Detroit, crime is out of control. The Omnicorp company makes drones and military robots, but they are banned for use in the United States. The CEO of Omnicorp decides to subvert the laws by rebuilding a damaged policeman (played admirably by Joel Kinnaman–he plays Detective Holder in The Killing). Plenty of CGI special effects follow. The predictable plot, the lack of a compelling villain, and zero suspense sinks this film. GRADE: C

Harvard professor Anita Elbere provides an informative and surprising analysis of blockbusters. Blockbusters: Hit-Making, Risk-Taking, and the Big Business of Entertainment shows how blockbusters are made. For example, major Hollywood studios who used to produce many more movies than they do today have adopted the “home-run” strategy to making movies. That’s great when a movie like The Avengers makes over a billion dollars. That approach doesn’t work so well as Disney found out when John Carter flopped. I learned a lot blockbusters from Elberse’s book. For example, Disney paid Robert Downey, Jr. $50 million to play Tony Stark in The Avengers. Was the money worth it or not? Elberse has her own ideas about investing in Superstars. We’re stuck with this Blockbuster mentality In entertainment it seems. Now, I have a better understanding of how it works. GRADE: A
Table of Contents

Prologue: Show Business—a Business of Blockbusters 1

One: Betting on Blockbusters 15
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Grand Central Publishing, Marvel Entertainment

Two: Launching and Managing Blockbusters 56
Lady Gaga, Octone Records

Three: Investing in Superstars 83
Real Madrid, Boca Juniors

Four: How Superstars Use Their Powers 118
MGM and Tom Cruise, Maria Sharapova, LeBron James

Five: Will Digital Technology End the Dominance of Blockbusters? 150
YouTube, Hulu, the Metropolitan Opera

Six: Will Digital Technology Threaten Powerful Producers? 187
Radiohead, Major League Baseball, the National Football League

Seven: The Future of Blockbuster Strategies 220
Jay-Z, Lady Gaga

Epilogue: No Business Like Show Business? 251
Marquee New York City

Notes 267
Acknowledgments 289
Index 295

I like Robert E. Howard’s quirky Puritan adventurer, Solomon Kane. For some unknown reason, Howard sent Solomon Kane to Africa in story after story (some of the best in the series). I was curious about the movie version of Solomon Kane which did not make it to a theater around here. When I found a copy of Solomon Kane in Wal-Mart for $5.00 I immediately bought it. I watched the movie and can report the movie Solomon Kane has little to do with the Robert E. Howard stories. Other than the title Solomon Kane and Kane’s Pilgrim hat, this predictable adventure is devoid of anything in the Solomon Kane saga and holds few surprises for the viewer. I did like the performance of James Purefoy who plays Solomon Kane (and takes a lot of punishment). There are some nice supernatural elements which I wanted to see more of. If there’s a sequel, I’d watch it. But I wish the script for Solomon Kane followed one of Howard’s stories. GRADE: C+

You can lose yourself browsing through David Thomson’s addictive Moments That Made the Movies.” With over 250 photos, David Thomson presents what he thinks are the most classic, most iconic scenes in film history. This is not a “best movie” book. Thomson disclaims that Moments That Made the Movies” is a book about his favorite movies. Instead, Thomson tries to capture the essence of movies in a series of still photographs, some in color but most in black & white. I also found plenty to learn by reading Thomson’s commentary. I never realized that in Taxi Driver director Martin Scorsese is the passenger in the backseat of Travis Bickle’s cab who watches his wife having an affair. There are dozens of great movie tidbits in Thomson’s mini-essays on each film. I loved everything about this book! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
One Woman Stand. Another Sitting and Crossing Legs
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Sunrise
Pandora’s Box
Morocco
M
20,000 Years in Sing Sing
Doswoth
Bringing Up Baby
Gone With the Wind
The Shop Around the Corner
The Letter
Citizen Kane
The Lady Eve
Casablanca
Laura
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Big Sleep
The Red Shoes
The Third Man
White Heat
Sunset Blvd
A Place in the Sun
Strangers on a Train
Tokyo Story
The Band Wagon
A Star is Born
Sansho the Bailiff
Lola Montes
The Night of the Hunter
The Searchers
Sweet Smell of Success
Touch of Evil
Anatomy of a Murder
North By Northwest
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Psycho
Jules and Jim
The Exterminating Angel
Vivre Sa Vie
L’Eclisse/The Eclipse
Pierrot le Fou
Mickey One
Blow-up
Point Blank
Bonnie and Clyde
The Conformist
Klute
The King of Marvin Gardens
The Godfather
Pat Garrett & Billey the Kid
Don’t Look Now
Celine and Julie Go Boating
Chinatown
The Passenger
Taxi Driver
The Shining
The Right Stuff
Blue Velvet
When Harry Met Sally…
Hoffa
One False Move
Heat
The Piano Teacher
In the Cut
Birth
A History of Violence
Zodiac
Burn After Reading
Still Photograph, Vancouver
Index
Acknowledgements
Photo Credits

I was struck by the appearance of the text in Verlyn Klinenborg’s Several short sentences about writing. It looks like an epic poem. A whole page made up of one-line paragraphs is unusual. Klinkenborg espouses the Ernest Hemingway approach to writing: short sentences and clarity. Toward the end of Several short sentences about writing Klinkenborg includes some great examples of wonderful sentences by John McPhee, A. J. Liebling, Rebecca West, Guy Davenport, George Orwell, W. H. Auden, John Cheever, Joan Didion, Tom McGuane, Joyce Carol Oates, and Charles Lamb. I wish there were more examples like that in the book. Klinkenborg also provides sentences with “problems” written by his students with suggestions of how to repair them. If you want to read a small book about improving your writing, Klinenborg will give you plenty to think about when you’re writing. GRADE: B

The Monuments Men has garnered mixed reviews and I’m going to add to them. The Monuments Men is based on a the true story of a group approved by FDR to save and preserve European art that the Nazis were stealing. George Clooney leads this group of artists including an architect into European war zones to save masterpieces. The cast of Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, and Hugh Bonneville carry the story even when they aren’t given much to do for patches during the movie. I found George Clooney’s voice-overs a bit preachy. There are some very melodramatic moments I could have done without. But, that being said, The Monuments Men could not have been made in today’s Hollywood unless Clooney used his clout to push the project. Talking the talented actors into becoming part of this ensemble movie is another thing Clooney should get credit for. I enjoyed The Monuments Men despite its flaws. GRADE: B

When I was a kid, I read “The Lottery” and immediately wanted more. I hunted down Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (better than the movie) and read her unique We Have Always Lived in the Castle. From time to time I’d discover some of Shirley Jackson’s short stories in anthologies and always enjoyed them. But in 2010, the Library of America finally published this volume of Shirley Jackson’s work that I knew all along she deserved. There are plenty of gems in this collection. I really liked “One Ordinary Day, With Peanuts.” If you want to see the world through a complete different lens, read Shirley Jackson. If you become a fan like I am, you’ll want this wonderful Library of America volume.
Table of Contents:
THE LOTTERY; OR, THE ADVENTURES OF JAMES HARRIS
I The Intoxicated, 5
The Daemon Lover, 10
Like Mother Used to Make, 26
Trial by Combat, 35
The Villager, 41
My Life with R.H. Macy, 47
II The Witch, 53
The Renegade, 57
After You, My Dear Alphonse, 69
Charles, 73
Afternoon in Linen, 78
Flower Garden, 83
Dorothy and My Grandmother and the Sailors, 108
III Colloquy, 117
Elizabeth, 119
A Fine Old Firm, 153
The Dummy, 157
Seven Types of Ambiguity, 164
Come Dance with Me in Ireland, 171
IV Of Course, 179
Pillar of Salt, 184
Men with Their Big Shoes, 199
The Tooth, 207
Got a Letter from Jimmy, 225
The Lottery, 227
V Epilogue, 239
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, 243
WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE, 421
OTHER STORIES AND SKETCHES
I UNCOLLECTED
Janice, 565
A Cauliflower in Her Hair, 567
Behold the Child Among His Newborn Misses, 572
It Isn’t the Money I Mind, 579
The Third Baby’s the Easiest, 583
The Summer People, 594
Island, 608
The Night We All Had Grippe, 621
A Visit; or, The Lovely House, 627
This Is the Life; or, Journey with a Lady, 651
One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts, 662
Louisa, Please Come Home, 673
The Little House, 691
The Bus, 700
The Possibility of Evil, 714
II UNPUBLISHED
Portrait, 727
The Mouse, 729
I Know Who I Love, 733
The Beautiful Stranger, 745
The Rock, 753
The Honeymoon of Mrs. Smith, 772
APPENDIX
Biography of a Story, 787
Chronology, 805
Note on the Texts, 814
Notes, 820

Anyone involved in our conflict in Afghanistan, or anyone trying to understand that trouble country, should read William Dalrymple’s brilliant Return of a King. Although Dalrymple’s book deals with only three years, he takes the time to give his story historical context. Here’s a sample:

Then there were the different tribal, ethnic and linguistic fissures fragmenting Afghan society: the rivalry between the Tajiks, Uzbecks, Sunni and Shia; the endemic factionalism within clans and tribes, and especially the blood feuds within closely related lineages. These blood foods rolled malevolently down from generation to generation, symbols of the impotence of state-run systems of justice. In many places blood feuds became almost a national pastime–the Afghan equivalent of country cricket in the English shires–and the killings they engendered were often on a spectacular scale. Under the guise of reconciliation, one of Shah Shuja’s chiefs invited some sixty of his feuding cousins “to dine with him,” wrote one observer, “having previously laid bags of gunpowder under the apartment. During the meal, having gone out on some pretext, he blew them all up.” A country like this could only be governed only with skill, strategy and a full treasure chest. (p. 5)

I particularly enjoyed Dalrymple’s inclusion of aspects of “The Great Game,” the spies from Russia and Britain dueling in the shadows. Those of you who’ve read Kipling’s Kim know how exciting these stories cam be. Although Return of a King is 515 pages, the pages flew by! This is military history at its best. Highly recommended! GRADE: A