Not since Tom Hanks’ s Academy Award winning role in Philadelphia has such a remarkable film been made. A stunning, sensitive, subtle and gutsy performance by Sean Penn, who carries this film almost single-handedly. The story of Harvy Milk, what he stood for, what he advocated, is one that will resonate throughout society for decades to come. Definitely one of the ‘must-see’ films for anyone with a social conscience.
With a subject like the controversial George W. Bush, and the directorial pedigree of Oliver Stone, W captured my attention right from the first trailers. Watching the film was capivating. Without descending to stand-up comedy punches, or perpetuating cliches, Oliver Stone presents a frank, spell-binding film, with remarkable performances by Josh Brolin (George W. Bush), Richard Dreyfuss portraying a convincingly spider-like Dick Cheney, and Scott Glenn the cool trough-guzzler Donald Rumsfeld. The film is packed…
The following review of Shadow Song appeared on Chapters Community from Robert Runte, former editor of Tesseracts, and sometime reviewer at NeoOpsis. Superior writing backed by meticulous research and authentic characterization elevates this cultural fantasy to candidate for Great Canadian Novel. Historical romance has ten year old girl thrust into life in 1830s Upper Canada (after sheltered aristocratic upbringing in England) and eventually into learning from First nation’s shaman. Fantasy elements based on First Nation’s…
Huge hype. Best-seller lists. Major motion picture. And for the life of me I cannot fathom why Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer is so widely acclaimed. By page 17 I’d found four grammatical errors. Stephenie, my dear, one is tanned, not tan. One is not tan, as in pink, blue or green. One is tanned, as in leathery. Where were the editors? Where were the proof-readers? Did you not proof the galleys yourself? Ah, but, one…
This was the third reading for me of House of Dreams, by Canadian author, Pauline Gedge. The novel still stands up. Set in ancient Egypt, House of Dreams takes you through political machinations and the vain dreams of an ambitious and fiesty girl known as Thu. Gedge’s ability to raise an ancient world, complete with the arid atmosphere pinching your nose and the feel fine linen on your burning skin is utterly spell-binding. A power-house…