Brimstone (2004) – Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

  It’s time to rejoin Special Agent Pendergast in his literary adventures in Brimstone, the next novel in the series from authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. I found it rather interesting that the Doctor Who story this Saturday past features some cloven hooves burned into the country side, and this novel, features a murder (apparently…

Still Life with Crows (2003) – Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

  FBI Special Agent Pendergast is back, and this time, he’s in the middle of nowhere, a tiny, small town, Medicine Creek, set amongst the cornfields of Kansas, where someone (something) has committed a terrible murder. Leaving the body, in a strange tableaux surrounded by crows pierced by arrowheads, the crime scene is unusual, and as…

Mississippi Burning (1988) – Alan Parker

  The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book for my screening of On the Waterfront is this dramatic film featuring standout performances from Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as FBI agents investigating a highly charged case in the South. In 1964, two FBI agents, Ward (Dafoe) and Anderson (Hackman)…

The Cabinet of Curiosities (2002) – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

  The third novel featuring FBI agent Pendergast is set, once again, in New York. It’s been a number of years since the journey into the sublevels of the Big Apple, but a curious discovery has drawn Pendergast back to the city. A charnel house has been discovered while the foundation of a new building…

Relic (1995) – Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

  I read this one back when it first came out, though I definitely didn’t recall much in the way of details, I think because after I read it, I saw the film adaptation, which, in my opinion dropped the ball (though now that I have read the book again, I may rewatch the film,…

Boardwalk Empire Season 4

  Releasing today on Blu-Ray and DVD, is the latest installment, season 4, of HBO’s Emmy winning period gangster piece, Boardwalk Empire. I was lucky enough to get a look at it ahead of time, and once again, I love how HBO has pulled out all the stops, to make it the best that it can…

Hot Docs 2014: An Honest Liar (Justin Weinstein & Tyler Measom)

Put this one at the top of your list of films to check out today! With one last screening at the Lightbox at 6:30 this brilliant film is nothing short of engaging, powerful, funny, and heartfelt. I went into this one almost blind, knowing that it was about a former stage magician and escape artist,…

Face/Off (1997) – John Woo

  Hong Kong action meets big budget Hollywood in this entry on the 101 Action Movies list as John Woo fills the screens with stand-offs, explosions, and his signature balletic gunplay. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage play interchangeable roles as FBI agent Sean Archer and terrorist Castor Troy. Travolta as Archer is desperate, and obsessed…

The Rock (1996) – Michael Bay

Michael Bay finds his way back onto the 101 Action Movies to see before you die, and brings an impressive cast with him, in this, my favorite of his films. With his usual pacing and editing, Bay makes a full-out action movies with a surprisingly sympathetic villain. Ed Harris plays General Hummel, who has lost…