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California Literary Review

Permanent Link to Video Game Review: <em>Mafia II</em>

Video Game Review: Mafia II

August 30th, 2010

by William Bibbiani

The story is secondhand Scorsese, hitting all the familiar tropes even the most casual audience member will recognize: Loyalty will be questioned, stool pigeons will get what’s coming to them and the hero learns a valuable lesson about the life he chose for himself.

Permanent Link to Movie Review: <em>The Last Exorcism</em>

Movie Review: The Last Exorcism

August 28th, 2010

by Dan Fields

To this end, he brings a documentary crew along to an isolated farm, where a troubled father is convinced his gentle but sorely repressed young daughter, Nell (Ashley Bell) is possessed of a demon and mutilating his cattle. Marcus walks us through his exorcism con game, unbeknownst to the father and daughter, who swallow the act all the way. His job done, he counts his absurdly large fee and hits the road. Everyone is happy. Until Nell shows up, much worse off than before.

Permanent Link to Video Game Review: <em>Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days</em>

Video Game Review: Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

August 23rd, 2010

by Adam Robert Thomas

Former criminal compatriots Adam ‘Kane’ Marcus and James Seth Lynch are brought together again after spending a few years trying to forget the dismal sales and controversy of their original outing, 2007’s Dead Men. The roles of the two get heavily reversed and the focus is on a sober Lynch, who has set up something resembling a peaceful life in Shanghai; at least as peaceful a life as a lunatic enforcer working for a local ex-pat mob boss can get.

Permanent Link to Art Review: <em>Energy Effects</em> at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver

Art Review: Energy Effects at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver

August 18th, 2010

by Holly Hunt

The exhibition brings such elements together to form a compelling meditation on the extreme reaches of art, technology, and militarism, and on the role of the vast, sun-struck spaces of the American West as an arena for all these forces.

Permanent Link to Video Game Review: <em>Monday Night Combat</em>

Video Game Review: Monday Night Combat

August 16th, 2010

by Adam Robert Thomas

For while the game is about a futuristic death sport, it’s light and upbeat, full of wacky characters and doesn’t dwell on the carnage as much as the fun that comes from causing it. It’s wholly derivative, but doesn’t care; it’s too concerned with trying to provide a maximum of fun in a minimum of time while looking good doing it.

Permanent Link to Movie Review: <em>The Expendables</em>

Movie Review: The Expendables

August 14th, 2010

by Dan Fields

Overkill is the name of the game in this gleeful throwback to the shoot-em-up favorites of the 1980s. Director, star, and co-writer Sylvester Stallone gathers action stars old and new, wrestlers, professional fighters and football players in the dueling ring. Wind them up and watch them go!

Permanent Link to Movie Review: <em>Scott Pilgrim vs. the World</em>

Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

August 14th, 2010

by Julia Rhodes

Scott Pilgrim may be a “ladykiller wannabe” with no cash, aspirations of rock stardom, and a slightly emo outlook, but he’s also the most awesome thing in theaters this weekend.

Permanent Link to Movie Review: <em>Step Up 3D</em>

Movie Review: Step Up 3D

August 7th, 2010

by William Bibbiani

Step Up 3D is a good movie. Not an instant classic, but a genuine celebration of music, dance, filmmaking, and yes, even 3D, and their power to entertain. Step Up 3D will leave audiences smiling from ear to ear, and probably bobbing their heads in residual rhythm to the movie’s pounding soundtrack. The best part is that you don’t have to feel guilty about it this time.

Book Review: The Music Instinct by Philip Ball

September 1st, 2010

by Ed Voves

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>The Music Instinct</em> by Philip Ball

The amount of factual detail and insights that Ball brings to the themes under discussion is impressive in the extreme. On just one page, in the chapter dealing with rhythm, he weaves relevant examples ranging from Gyorgy Ligeti’s composition used in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Karlheinz Stockhausen’s electronic work, Kontakte, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Chinese zither music and songs by Australian Aborigines that are accompanied by the clicking of rhythm sticks.

Book Review: Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

August 12th, 2010

by Ed Voves

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>Corduroy Mansions</em> by Alexander McCall Smith

The legions of admirers of Smith’s other novels, notably The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, will find a great deal to keep them happily reading Corduroy Mansions. The twist with this book, however, is that it is the print version of the author’s first online novel.

Book Review: Walks With Men by Ann Beattie

August 3rd, 2010

by Mark Fitzgerald

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>Walks With Men</em> by Ann Beattie

Beattie, like in so much of her earlier work, leaves a lot to the imagination. Between the dialogue and the action, certain assumptions, even leaps of faith, are sometimes necessary to get from one paragraph to the next. There are better ways to render suspense—less does not always mean more—but you get the sense from the very first sentence that something important is about to be revealed.

Book Review: Lucy by Laurence Gonzales

July 28th, 2010

by Katie Cappello

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>Lucy</em> by Laurence Gonzales

Lucy, half human, half bonobo monkey, was genetically engineered by her scientist father, so that “humans can be moved into a more favorable spot in the evolutionary matrix, a position in which we may enjoy some of the superior qualities of our bonobo cousins.” His mission was to create “a new race of people, more like the bonobo but with human intelligence and language—therefore better suited to living in harmony with nature.”

Book Review: Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk

July 20th, 2010

by Ryan Van Cleave

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>Tell-All</em> by Chuck Palahniuk

Tell-All follows the general plotline of the movie Sunset Boulevard, which pairs a down-and-out young writer with an aging actress seeking to reclaim her former glory. If you’re going to base a novel off of a movie, this 1950 noir classic is a terrific place to start.

Book Review: The Nearest Exit by Olen Steinhauer

July 13th, 2010

by Ryan Van Cleave

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>The Nearest Exit</em> by Olen Steinhauer

Stephen King said that Olen Steinhauer’s spy book, The Tourist, is “the best spy novel I’ve ever read that wasn’t written by John le Carré.” Here’s the good news—The Nearest Exit, a continuation of that same story, is no letdown (though the background gained in reading that first book makes the first 100 pages of this one much more manageable).

Book Review: The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman

July 8th, 2010

by Jem Bloomfeld

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ</em> by Philip Pullman

The premise of Philip Pullman’s new book is brilliant. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ offers us a version of the gospel narratives in which not one, but two boys were born to Mary. Jesus grew up to be a millenarian preacher, who prophesied the coming of the Kingdom of God, whilst his brother Christ skulked around in the background, recording and (more often) distorting his brother’s words for posterity.

Book Review: Chords of Strength by David Archuleta

July 7th, 2010

by Ryan Van Cleave

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>Chords of Strength</em> by David Archuleta

It’s no surprise that David has musical talent in his DNA. His father is a jazz trumpet player, his mother is a gifted singer, his grandmother sang in TV commercials and acted in a few movies (and was known in Utah as “the little lady with the big voice”) and his grandfather sang in a barbershop quartet. Talk about stacking the genetic deck!

Book Review: Winston’s War: Churchill, 1940-1945 by Max Hastings

June 29th, 2010

by Ed Voves

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>Winston’s War: Churchill, 1940-1945</em> by Max Hastings

The next two years of the war for Churchill were a harrowing march through what his wife, Clementine called the “valley of humiliation.” Defeats in Greece, in the Battle of Crete and in North Africa in 1941 were followed by the Japanese capture of Singapore in February 1942. That same month, the daring “Channel Dash” by German warships under siege in Cherbourg to their home naval bases stung British pride to its core. Great Britain, the nation of Marlborough, Churchill’s warrior ancestor, and Lord Nelson was losing the war on land and sea.

Book Review: The Passage by Justin Cronin

June 17th, 2010

by Katherine Tomlinson

Permanent Link to Book Review: <em>The Passage</em> by Justin Cronin

Justin Cronin has written an epic here. Like Stephen King’s The Stand and Robert McCammon’s Swan Song, this book is a character-driven apocalyptic road trip of a novel that takes us on a journey both physical and metaphysical. His writing transcends genre in every way, including a haunting description of death by nuclear fire.

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