Safety Not Guaranteed
{4.5/5} “‘Have you ever faced certain death?’ ‘If it was so certain I wouldn’t be here, would I?’” A magazine writer and two interns visit a guy who posted an ad in the paper looking for a companion for time travel. Of course, none of them expects the guy to really be able to travel […]
Crazy Heart
{4.5/5} “Those are the ugliest… boots I’ve ever seen in my life. Did the salesman threaten to shoot your dog?” Bad Blake is an aging country singer who now plays mostly in smaller venues. He hasn’t written any new songs lately, but he still has some fans from the old days. When Jean, a music […]
Unstoppable
{4.5/5} “Hey, don’t get sentimental on me. Makes me think I’m gonna die.” There’s a runaway train going at 70 miles per hour and it’s going to derail when it hits a curve in a large Pennsylvania town. Along with fuel, it’s carrying several cars of toxic chemicals. The only people who can stop it are Frank and Will, train […]
State of Play
{5/5} “‘I see you redecorated.’ ‘Yeah, I moved the couch a couple of feet.’” Cal is a well-known and well-liked newspaper reporter, and Della is a young reporter who writes a blog for the same paper. They’re thrown together on the story of a congressman caught in a scandal — the congressman, Stephen, happens to be […]
Sleeping Beauty
{3.5/5} “Rise up and walk, none of your bones are broken.” Lucy is a university student — she works several jobs in order to pay tuition and rent. Even though she lives with her sister and brother-in-law, they get upset when she doesn’t pay the rent on time. Lucy is always ready to try something […]
The Brothers Bloom
{4.5/5} “He writes his cons the way dead Russians write novels — with thematic arcs and embedded symbolism.” Stephen and Bloom are brothers. They have been con men since they were kids and, along with their associate Bang Bang, they’re very successful at it. But Bloom wants out — he wants to live an unscripted life. […]
The Last Dragonlord
{4.5/5} “He landed, claws scraping against stone, the sound harsh in the crystalline air. A red mist surrounded him and the great dragon became a wraith; the mist contracted, then disappeared, leaving behind the figure of a tall man.” Linden is a dragonlord, a human who can turn into a dragon. But he’s the last […]
Brightly Burning
{4/5} “Lan stared at the wine the color of old embers glowing in the heart of his glass. ‘I would like to toast my family,’ he said, taking an absolute malicious pleasure in choosing words heavily weighted with irony and loaded with a definite double meaning. ‘For without your actions, I would not be where […]
Parks and Recreation (season 4)
{5/5} “Turns out when you think the world’s ending you don’t aim so carefully in the porta potties.” Leslie runs for city council, a dream of hers since she was a child — Ben is her campaign manager and her other friends all help out too. Ron’s first ex-wife pays a visit, Andy takes a […]
Quick Change
{4.5/5} “‘Is that our plane?’ ‘No, if it were our plane it would be crashing.’” Grimm robs a bank dressed as a clown — he has a clever scheme to get away with the money without anyone knowing who he is. The problem is, once he gets away from the bank he has to make […]