[August dog-days often mean slim pickin’s for movies, unless you want to hear Streep sing off key or lewd sausage jokes, but here are two “sleepers” I enjoyed…]

Pete’s Dragon. David Lowery, dir.  A pleasant movie that leaves you with a good feeling, a bit like Free Willy with a dragon taking the place of the swimming mammal. It’s also a bit like The Jungle Book (it is Disney) where the kid is raised by a dragon, not wolves.  Old-timer Meachan (Robert Redford) spins stories about dragons in the deep woods, his daughter Grace (Boyce Dallas Howard, Ron’s daughter) thinks he’s nuts until she discovers Pete (Oakes Fegley). Boyce plays a forest ranger, and she’s the weakest.  The kid is OK, but Redford, in his few minutes on screen, steals the show. Forest and mountain scenes (filmed in New Zealand, by the way)—definitely a film for nature lovers, maybe dragon ones too. St. George wouldn’t recognize this dragon, though, because the dragon looks like a cross between a mangy mongrel who escaped the town’s dogcatcher and Shrek, with puny wings that could never provide enough lift for such a massive body.  Don’t let the aerodynamics turn you off, though—this one is a lot of fun, and your kids will love it.  (Like The Jungle Book, it’s much better than the stupid cartoon.)

War Dogs. Todd Phillips, dir. Actors Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Miles Teller are the Dogs, the first a sleazy jerk who will do anything for a buck, the second his reluctant school chum with a wife and a kid who is born during the movie. They let their greed carry them to dangerous extremes as they make gun and ammo sales taking advantage of a Pentagon procurement process that was and still is out of control.  There’s a lot of sexual innuendos, violent situations, and drug use—the film definitely deserves its R-rating. Producer Bradley Cooper’s near cameo appearance is mesmerizing as he portrays the serious version of an arms dealer (returning favors to director Phillips?).  This movie is based on actual events, by the way, and has its serious side as an indictment of the entire military industrial complex. I never thought the Iraq War could be funny, or Pentagon procurement processes for that matter, and maybe a lot of moviegoers can’t get past all that, but this black humor comedy is entertaining and one of the best movies of the summer in my book.

***

On sale: The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This sci-fi thriller will be on sale at Smashwords for $0.99, reduced from $2.99 (67% discount) from now until September 1. Use the coupon code FU54W. First question: what will the U.S. in the future do with retirees with Top Secret information? Second question: how do you prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate? Third question: is there room for romance in the life of an old agent? This fast-moving story’s main character is a woman who shows perseverance and strength to survive while unmasking a terrible conspiracy. Don’t miss the thrills!

In libris libertas!

Star Trek Beyond is too confined. Justin Lin, director. This is #3 in the new parallel universe of the franchise. The screenplay by Simon Pegg (Scotty) and Doug Jung (Ben) is a wee bit slow at the start, but it soon becomes another breathless summer action film. I could have done without the futuristic Harley.  I like Chris Pine (Kirk), but Patrick Stewart (Picard) was and will always be my idea of what a starship captain should be. Maybe Pine is channeling Shatner? Nothing logical about his portrayal. No wonder Spock (Zachary Quinto) has problems with him. Idris Elba (Krall) shows masterful villainy—I just wish the black guy wasn’t always the villain (is he typecast in too many of these roles now?). The movie is an entertaining wham-bam shootout, although there is too much action and not much sci-fi—or the usual morality story either.  I’m getting almost as tired of these movies as the Star Wars movies. Let the trekkies go and worship at their altar. Definitely a mixed bag, although enough to make you happy on a rainy day with thunder storms.

Jason Bourne is born again. Paul Greenglass, director. Screnplay: Chris Rouse. Ten years ago we saw Bourne floating at the bottom of the murky Hudson. This cat has more than nine lives. At the beginning of the film, Bourne is making a living beating the crap out of guys in bareknuckle fights—sort of mirrors that austerity movement in Greece too. Jason (Matt Damon) looks old and tired and wired, but the pace is still relentless—not a moment’s peace for the old duffer. Somehow the music keeps up with that pace, echoing previous films and leaving me with a similar headache. We learn why Bourne volunteered for the program in the first place, and a new and ambitious CIA operator Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander), more hacker than agent (but she can wield a gun), steps up as the next villain—maybe? typical miscasting—while wrinkled old prune Tommy Lee Jones retires as director (great miscasting again). Lots of privacy v. national security concerns are given lip service (did Apple participate in the script writing?). A good time was had by all, but I liked #2 and #3 better. There’s room for a sequel, by the way, if you’re a Bourne-again type. Again, good when the summer weather drives you into the theater.

***

On sale: The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan. This sci-fi thriller will be on sale at Smashwords for $0.99, reduced from $2.99 (67% discount) from now until September 1. Use the coupon code FU54W. First question: what will the U.S. in the future do with retirees with Top Secret information? Second question: how do you prevent the assassination of a presidential candidate? Third question: is there room for romance in the life of an old agent? This fast-moving story’s main character is a woman who shows perseverance and strength to survive while unmasking a terrible conspiracy. Don’t miss the thrills!

In libris libertas!

The Innocents. Anne Fontaine, dir. This is one of those movies where you see the worst in humanity and also the best. It has violence, but it’s mostly a noir history of women as victims of men inspired by Red Cross doctor Madeleine Pauliac’s war memories.

A young female French intern Mathilde (Lou de Laâge), working with the Red Cross in Poland in December 1945 as World War Two is drawing to a close, is asked to help deliver some babies in a convent. It turns out the Nazis went through there three times raping the nuns. Many struggle even to accept the doctor’s help, who has promised not to divulge their secret. The Mother Superior takes the newborns and…well, that’s her secret. The French woman’s boss Samuel, who’s also Mathilde’s lover (workplace romances are always trouble) ends up helping too.

Samuel has the best two lines in the movie when he meets the Mother Superior for the first time: “Yes, I’m Jewish. There are still some of us left.” (This isn’t from the subtitle—by this point I was remembering a lot of my French.) The actors don’t have many notable lines, though, because so much is said via facial expressions and other body language, where they give some understated but masterful performances. Watch for the Mother Superior’s confession at the end, though, although her face telegraphs the words too.

There are graphic scenes in the French field ER and during the births at the convent—not for the squeamish. The languages are French and Polish with good subtitles (first time I’ve seen the subtitlist recognized, but this is a European film). This movie should do well in the foreign film categories—it’s dark and broodin and much better than your average summer fare. It definitely leaves a lasting impression.

***

The “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” are on sale. Mary Jo is inviting you to celebrate with her for leaving Amazon exclusivity and appearing on Smashwords too. She’s an ex-USN Master-at-Arms who manages to get into a lot of trouble as a civilian; she also manages to beat the odds and survive, though. Muddlin’ Through (Smashwords coupon code KY27A) is an international thriller where she works to clear her name and pay back the group that framed her. In the process, she discovers the MECHs, Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans, and romance as she runs around the U.S., South American, and Europe. Silicon Slummin’…and Just Gettin’ By (Smashwords coupon code VT64E) takes place almost exclusively in the Silicon Valley where she has two government groups pursuing her, one U.S., the other Russian. She also has a stalker on a revenge mission. Both books, normally $2.99, are $0.99 on Smashwords, using the coupon codes, until August 1—lots of entertaining summer reading for $2!

In libris libertas!

Legend of Tarzan. David Yates, dir. Wow, did the reviewers ever get this one wrong! This is the best Tarzan ever. I went in with few expectations, generated by the negative reviews, but the film was astonishing and entertaining. (Unlike book reviewers, you can’t use the “peek inside” to prove them wrong—movie trailers are so misleading.) The origins of Tarzan AKA John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, well played by Alexander Skarsgård, are handled by easily understood flashbacks (I guess the reviewers who didn’t like them never read a serious book) and asides from Jane, Lady Greystoke (Margot Robbie), to Dr. George Washington Williams (Samuel L. Jackson). If you need more background, see Greystoke (it’s a good movie but lackluster in comparison) or read the Burroughs’s novels.

This movie had a cast of thousands (that’s only the humans); they all did a fantastic job. The weakest characters were the old Brits only because they were stereotypes—apparently they’d read too much Dickens, but they hadn’t seemed to get past Mr. Pickwick. (If that’s a bit obscure for you, think of Mr. Banks’s bosses in Mary Poppins.) Robbie and Jackson shine in their supporting roles, with GW providing both a lot of help to Tarzan and much humor, including some great lines. Christoph Waltz as Rom does a great job providing the villainous face of colonialism (you have to give the actors who make you hate their characters a lot of credit). The entire cast of Africans does well too, especially Sidney Ralisoele as Wasimbu.

The story is about 19^th century colonialism, slavery, racism, and the rape of a continent—crimes against Africa’s ecology, wild animals, and stealing of ores and jewels. Tarzan is a larger-than-life hero who leaves his comfortable life as Lord Greystoke to return to fight all those colonial sins. His legend has already been made; he returns to live up to it. British colonialism, responsible for many later problems in our world, plays second fiddle to Belgium’s in this film (hints of BREXIT?); King Leopold and his lackeys, led by Rom, are the bad guys as they try to enslave the Africans to further their evil agenda. The Africans are the victims here (as they were and are in real life). There are some nice twists in the story, although some of it is predictable (Tarzan and Jane wanting a kid, for example).

(more…)

Independence Day. Resurgence. Roland Emmerich, dir. Great special effects, driving score, but sloppy screenplay. Theme: The older generation passes the baton to the younger. Jake Morrison (Liam Hemsworth) is the cocky, arrogant main character—hard to figure out whose son he is, but I’m guessing he’s the son of the alcoholic UFO nut in #1. His main squeeze, Patricia Whitmore (Maika Monroe), is the daughter of ex-Pres Whitmore (Bill Pullman), who helped save the world in #1—a repeat performance here, sort of. #1’s Will Smith character flyboy Hiller’s son has a long-standing feud with Jake. And so forth. You get the idea.

It’s 30 years after #1 (1996 to 2026 in this parallel universe), so the united people of Earth (not so united, or peaceful, considering the aggressive warlord and friends at the beginning) have combined military tech with ET military tech. They think they’re well prepared for the next invasion. Ha! The ET bad guys are a lot more visible here and see a lot more action, thanks to the progress of special effects, enough to please all the space opera fans. The ubiquitous hive concept of classic sci-fi (see Ender’s Game, for example), is used to make the ETs seem, well, more alien, but the queen reminded me too much of Sigourney Weaver’s nemesis in Alien.

There are many superfluous characters and parallel story threads: Julius Levinson (Judd Hirsch) and the kids he picks up on his way from his beached boat to Area 51; the African warlord and the nerdy white guy he ends up calling a warrior; and the whole boatload of treasure hunters. I never could figure out what the latter were doing out there watching an alien ship drill into the Earth’s mantle (where’s the EPA when you need them?)—their contribution to the defense of Earth didn’t seem worth that cool hundred million Washington offered them (“united Earth” still means the Yanks are in charge, I guess—more arrogance).

Confusing? You bet! Insanely sappy at times too. Don’t look for logic AKA reasonable scientific extrapolation in this nod to the 50’s B-movies about alien invasions, or the earlier “War of the Worlds.” I suspect later summer sci-fi extravaganzas or the new Bourne movie will be much more interesting.  And don’t forget that forgetful fish and prehistoric squirrel.  But a good time was had by all watching Independence Day #2.

***

In libris libertas….

[I’ve decided to put these on Mondays for the rest of the summer because kids are off and even grownup moms and dads are looking to get out of the house and heat.]

Now You See Me #2. Jon Chu, Dir. Belies the adage because this sequel is much better! Still confusing (it’s about magicians, after all), and I could have done without the lady mago (Lizzy Caplan) and Woody Harrelson’s evil twin bro, but Morgan Freeman plays a more important role and shines this time, which is always good for a film. I didn’t see enough of Sanaa Lathan as the FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo’s boss); she did a far better job than Ms. Caplan. I hope to see more of her. That Harry Potter kid is OK, but it’s hard to think of him as a villain. Where’s Voldemort when you need him? Definitely preposterous, mind-bending fun, though.

Finding Dory. Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane, Dirs. Confusing title because is looking for her parents. This annoying and forgetful fish is upstaged by the septopus (octopus who lost a leg). Nemo has a smaller role. Judging by the laugh track (kids in the audience), this is more successful than #1 too. But you have to wonder: sharks were the bad guys in #1; here a lady shark helps Dory. Maybe only guy sharks are bad? There’s some unscientific takes—a whale’s echolocation used out of water to track a truck, for example—but nothing more than you’ll find in your average Star Trek movie. The animation is fantastic and better than #1 also. But I still like Zootopia better.

***

The “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” is on sale.  Some authors bundle a series or part of a series.  Here’s an alternative: from now until July 1, all three books in the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” are on sale AT SMASHWORDS, $0.99 for each ebook, reduced from $2.99.  The clones make their appearance in Full Medical (coupon code VJ44L) as part of a complex government conspiracy, they combine forces with the mutant in Evil Agenda (coupon code LE48D) to thwart another plot, and they all save the world in No Amber Waves of Grain (coupon code PZ86X).  These aren’t comic book characters like X-Men—they’re real people who work to halt an apocalyptic future.  Use the links and go directly to Smashwords to enter the coupon codes and get hours of summer reading for only $3.  (Amazon addicts, did you know Smashwords also sells .mobi files for your Kindle? They handle all popular ebook formats.) Pass the word about this sale to your relatives and friends.

In libris libertas….

This question is generated by the goings-on in New York now. The leader of the corrections workers union was just indicted. Several cops in managerial positions in the NYPD were indicted. Two state legislature VIPs, one from the Assembly and the other from the Senate, are going to jail for taking bribes. Bill de Blasio’s mayoral campaign has been accused of illegally channeling donations to candidates for that state legislature to try to ensure a Democratic legislature that is favorable to the mayor and his policies. I won’t name names, except for the mayor, who figures prominently in the discussion, because these cases haven’t been decided, and I wouldn’t be surprised if many of them were partisan motivated.

The question also has a NJ motivation, Bridgegate. How much did Chris Christie, ardent Trump supporter, even of his latest racist attack on a judge born in Indiana, really know about the payback plot against a NJ mayor not supporting Christie in an re-election bid? Two Christie confidants are already indicted. Someone on the list of suspects not indicted has filed a motion not to release that list. Again, partisan motivation might be suspected, first for coming up with Bridgegate scheme, and second for going after Christie.

Tip O’Neill stated that all politics is local. I would suggest there’s a corollary: politicians train for corruption locally. Corruption can include unethical but not illegal behavior—state legislators carving out congressional districts that guarantee one party’s dominance falls into that category. Corruption can include perverse or sketchy actions by a politician in the public spotlight. Wiener and Spitzer fall into this category—again, not illegal actions, but something that makes the general public wonder about a politician’s other ethical choices. And corruption can also include numerous illegal activities, often for personal gain. The media often can’t distinguish these types of corruption and declares them all scandalous; the majority of the electorate just follows what the media says, at least that particular brand of media they read, watch, or listen to.

(more…)

Money Monster.  Jodie Foster, dir.  With Hollywood A-listers like Julia Roberts and George Clooney, Jodie can’t miss, right?  Wrong!  First, Jack O’Connell, as the mad guy waving the gun and holding the dead-man’s switch to a suicide vest, steals the show, as does the crowd at the end who sympathize with him in his quest to expose yet another Wall Street sleazebag.  Unlike Flash Boys, the book, which is real, this story about e-trading’s excesses seems a wee bit dated, contrived, and as farfetched as Clooney’s Jim Cramer-like character shapeshifting from Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyll in ninety minutes—par for the course for a movie using a screenplay not based on a book, I suppose.

And Mr. Clooney really doesn’t have to act to play the role of a one-percenter, does he, considering his $30K per plate dinner invitations for Wall Street’s favorite candidate?  Roberts is OK stepping out of her comfort zone as everybody’s darling to take the role of the producer who tolerates the narcissism of Clooney’s character (again, some of that might be real).  But, in the end, I really liked that Wall Street crowd rooting for the guy brandishing the gun.  I felt like standing up and cheering like audiences did when Congress is destroyed in Mars Attacks or Debt of Honor, but Wall Street still survives, in real life and this movie. (Strong language and violence.)

The Man Who Knew Infinity. Matthew Brown, dir. Based on the book with the same title by Robert Kanigel. The moment I saw they released this movie, I knew I must see it. It is a celebration of genius and a tragedy, the story of Indian number theorist Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel) and his journey to greatness under the tutelage of G. H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons). The film takes place in Madras (now Chennai) and Cambridge, England, contrasting the two different worlds Ramanujan had to bridge over a very short time on this road to greatness.

This is equally a tale about Hardy. The fight for opportunity defines the great debates currently going on in the U.S. at this time. It took Hardy’s genius to recognize another genius from a Third World country who deserved a chance, to be big enough to see that the man had an incredible gift that the world of mathematics needed to experience. Genius can come from anywhere, and so too the ability to recognize it, even in the stodgy, monastic halls of Trinity College at Cambridge University.

You’ll meet other mathematical giants like John Littlewood (Toby Jones), a frequent Hardy collaborator, and mathematician/philosopher Bertrand Russell (Jeremy Northam), who befriended Ramanujan but was later banned from Cambridge for his antiwar views.  The other Brits populating the place were less forward-thinking and filled with jealousy and bigotry, viewing Ramanujan as an upstart heathen. Like Mozart, the Indian genius died much too young at 32—the raw and damp climate at Cambridge, combined with malnutrition from the diet dictated by his religion and the lack of vegetables in a time of war, killed him. I’m inclined to blame some health problems on mental anguish too, caused by the hostile academic environment and a controlling mother who nearly ruined his marriage with her campaign to get him to return home.

Jeremy Irons is excellent as Hardy and Dev Patel does a convincing job of portraying the man who knew infinity in many ways. Hardy’s famous cricket bat only makes one appearance, though, and the famous cab with its plate number 1729 that caught Ramanujan’s interest when Hardy visited him in the hospital makes a cameo appearance twice—I suspect the second time shown in the movie never occurred.  The number theorist remarked that 1729 is the smallest number that is the sum of the cubes of two positive numbers. (Ever since, these numbers are called “taxicab numbers.”)  He said he received his insights from the Hindu goddess Namagiri. Like Hardy, I won’t give that old girl the credit—Ramanujan possessed a unique gift not seen before him and most likely not after.

The written epilogue at the end of the film represented a bit of new information for me: another notebook (two figured in the movie) discovered after Ramanujan’s death confirmed his claim in a letter to Hardy when Ramanujan lay dying that he had discovered a new type of function, what in later mathematical research came to be called mock modular forms.  Ken Ono, a mathematician from Emory University, in 2012 showed how Ramanujan’s functions could be used to help explain black hole entropy, making a direct connection between the Indian mathematician and Stephen Hawking, perhaps a better known genius at Cambridge University.

Considering recent movies about mathematicians—A Beautiful Mind (John Nash), The Imitation Game (Alan Turing), and The Theory of Everything (Stephen Hawking)—The Man Who Knew Infinity is the best by far and a must for fans of such movies, as it should be for anyone who likes powerful acting and well-drawn characters and wants to go beyond Marvel comics and other Hollywood schlock to fine movie making.

***

Rogue Planet is now available for all reviewers on Net Galley.

The Golden Years of Virginia Morgan.  This novel, which is a bridge between the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” and the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy,” considers the following question: how will the U.S. government in the future handle all those old people with classified secrets in their head?  This is just a Smashwords sale.  The book will be priced at $0.99 until June 1, reduced from $2.99.  The coupon code is MP45S (type that in when you order—be sure and specify the format you want).  Pass the word to your relatives and friends.

In libris libertas…

[Two good, one bad—not too bad compared to most of the crap coming out of Hollywood.]

Eye in the Sky. Gavid Hood, dir.  Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) has been pursuing a British compatriot turned terrorist for six years.  The colonel is part of a multinational team led by Lieutenant General Frank Benson (Alan Rickman) that uses drones to surgically remove terrorist leaders.  Moviegoers will see this different ways.  Some will say that such strikes aren’t morally correct for any reason.  Others like me will agree with Colonel Powell—if one strike that takes out a terrorist cell prevents the murder of hundreds of innocents at a shopping mall, it’s justified.  In this case, the eye in the sky (the drone) is aided by bird and bug drones that eventually show young radicalized American boys strapping on the suicide vests after the Brit terrorist and her husband plan the attacks.

No spoilers here, but the ending did nothing to change my mind that drone attacks and special ops represent the best ways to fight terrorism.  You might feel otherwise—so be it.  This movie will generate this kind of controversy, to be sure.  The plot is jerky at first as the team is introduced, but then it settles down to a tense bit of storytelling.  Rickman is great (what a loss!); both Mirren and he portray the decision-making stress often associated with counterterrorism command decisions.

The rest of the team does a good job of showing how throwing in incompetent people in the chain of command can be an effective tool for the terrorists.  Angela Northman (Monica Northam) exhibits particular incompetency, probably not reacting positively to Benson’s quiet tongue-lashing at the end of the movie.  The drone pilots’ superior (played by director Hood) is an incompetent who has no problem letting other people do the dirty work.  A British minister’s bout with food poisoning at a trade show featuring armored suits for soldiers provides some levity, but this movie is a serious portrayal of the most serious problem facing Western civilization today: how to fight terrorism when terrorists hide among an innocent civilian population.

Batman v. Superman.  Zack Snyder, dir.  As a fellow who grew up reading comics, I have to put my purist prejudices aside when I go see movies based on DC or Marvel comics.  Most are genuinely awful extravaganzas featuring bad acting, high-powered special effects, and a bowel-wrenching musical score.  The two protagonists in this one, Ben Affleck (Batman) and Henry Cavill (Superman), are good examples of the typical bad acting.  Matt Damon completely eclipsed Affleck in Good Will Hunting and Affleck did an acceptable job in Argo, old Ben’s best movies to date, but that’s not much of a curriculum vitae.  Cavill just can’t act, period.  In fact, Jesse Eisenberg, as Lex Luthor, stole the show completely, adding a new dimension to this demented genius.  And did we really need Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) to prance around with her magic rope in lieu of acting?

(more…)

[Two different movies.  FYI: Nobody pays me to attend, and I don’t receive free tickets from anyone.  That way I can rap Hollywood’s knuckles as much as I want and give you an honest review.  Oh yes, I don’t often agree with the pro reviewers, but most of them have an axe to grind.  I’m also a throw-back.  I don’t like all that cable TV and streaming video schlock.  I like my movies on the big screen with a good sound system.  You can watch them on your laptop if you want—that’s not my thing.]

Zootopia.  Byron Howard and Rich Moore, dirs.  Ginnifer Goodwin (the rabbit cop), Jason Bateman (the fox con artist), Idris Elba (the water buffalo police chief), and others do a great job with the character voices.  This movie probably has more meaning for adults.  Not only are many cultural and pop references way above little kids’ heads, but the overall theme is a take-off on the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing discussion of racism in America (that’s a positive, by the way, not a criticism)—many times prey aren’t prey and predators aren’t predators.  In some parallel universe, the lamb has lain down by the lion and all the animals live in peace?  Yeah, right.  If you’re waiting for an allegory on a par with Animal Farm, you’ll be thrilled.

There’s a wee bit of toon-on-toon violence that left some three- and four-year-olds bawling (the scary critters might look a bit too rabid, methinks), but most kids in the audience seemed to enjoy this movie as much as the adults.  If you allow for the spilled popcorn and cokes the adults had to suffer through, it all balances out to a good time for all.  One of the best Disney animations in a long time, and, even better, it clobbered Frozen at the box office (that movie’s song is almost as annoyingly overplayed as the one from Titanic).  Recommended, unless you hate animation.

10 Cloverfield Lane.  Dan Trachtenberg, dir.  Is it a horror movie, mystery, thriller, or sci-fi?  A tense and apocalyptic experience that beats anything Stephen King could imagine?  My answer is yes to all those questions.  It’s a damn good film, a delightful exception from a Hollywood in decay.  It’s one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.  John Goodman provides a stellar, award-winning performance as the crazy and violent survivalist and conspiracy theorist.  Mary Elizabeth Winstead almost matches him as the needy woman who runs away from problems but finds herself in the clutches of her kidnapper/savior.  And John Gallagher Jr. provides good backup for her as the surrogate brother who always defends her.

That’s it for the cast—no cast of thousands for this movie—but you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat the whole movie trying to figure out Howard’s (Goodman) secret.  A real nail-biter, this is the kind of quality movie M. Night Shyamalan can only dream about making.  Bear McCreary’s driving score is a perfect mix, tense in the quite tames and driving frenzy in the action scenes.  Watch for all the details, right down to the lampshades and ice cream.  There’s some twists and misdirects during the ride too.  Highly recommended, but not for the squeamish.

In libris libertas…