eclipse by stephenie meyer

This series only gets better. It was worth aggravating the CTS lugging around this hefty tome! Now I know why one thousand teenagers showed up to her last event. This is like a Jane Austen novel ... with young vampires.

Keep on the lookout for Book 4 later this summer.

Official Website:

"BELLA?"

Edward's soft voice came from behind me. I turned to see him spring lightly up the porch steps, his hair windblown from running. He pulled me into his arms at once, just like he had in the parking lot, and kissed me again.

This kiss frightened me. There was too much tension, too strong an edge to the way his lips crushed mine—like he was afraid we had only so much time left to us.

* * *

As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob—knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which?

Tripping the Rift: The Movie

Official Site: "What begins for Chode and crew as a routine mission to protect a pissed-off princess will soon become a filth- splattered saga of dismembered royalty, indestructible clown assassins and desperately horny housewives. What vile act has Chode committed to bring down the ultimate wrath of Bobo? Can Gus, Six, T’nuk, Whip and Bob stop a time-traveling killing machine from ruining a booze-soaked birthday party? How much does a lap- dance cost at the Grope-A-Cabana on Omicron 9? The voices of Stephen Root, Maurice LaMarche, Jenny McCarthy, John Melendez, Gayle Garfinkle and Rick Jones star in this all-new feature length movie packed with plenty of sex, violence and &^%!#* too extreme for broadcast TV!"

Starring: Jenny McCarthy, Stephen Root, John Melendez

This film is so offensive on so many levels, but yet so funny.

The Invasion

Wikipedia: "A NASA space shuttle crashes to Earth under mysterious circumstances, and an extraterrestrial disease in the wreckage begins infecting human beings. A psychiatrist from Washington, D.C., Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman), and her colleague Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) discover that once infected, a transformation which robs the victims of their humanity is triggered by hormones released during REM sleep. As the infection spreads, fewer people can be trusted. Fighting to stay awake, Carol looks for her son, who may hold the answer to stopping the invasion.^[2] "

The Golden Compass

Now on DVD. The trilogy of "His Dark Materials" are more robust. Get to the library quick!

Jacket: "In a wondrous parallel world where witches soar the skies and Ice Bears rule from the frozen North, one special girl is destined hold the fate of the universe in her hands. When Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Blue Richards) becomes the keeper of the Golden Compass, she discovers that her world - and all those beyond - is threatened by the secret plans of Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman). With the help of Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) and a group of unlikely allies ready to stand at her side, Lyra embarks on an extraordinary quest that celebrates friendship and courage against all odds."

Italian crime film "Gomorrah" a killer thriller

By Natasha Senjanovic

ROME (Hollywood Reporter) - Powerful, stripped to its essence and featuring a spectacular cast of mostly nonprofessionals, "Gomorrah," goes beyond Quentin Tarantino's gratuitous violence and even Martin Scorsese's Hollywood sensibility in depicting the everyday reality of organized crime's foot soldiers.

The characters of the five stories in Matteo Garrone's sixth feature film, all work for the Camorra -- the Neapolitan "mafia" behind more than 4,000 murders in 30 years in Italy, and countless illegal activities -- and besides being extremely dangerous are relentless, petty and anything but wise.

Success at home is virtually guaranteed for "Gomorrah" as it's based on Roberto Saviano's eponymous 2006 best-seller (1.2 million copies sold, translated into 33 languages) and the buildup to its release at Cannes -- where it shared the Grand Prix runner-up prize -- have created a huge buzz in Italy.

... "Gomorrah" is one of the rare dramatic films to come out of Italy in recent years that has the appeal to play well theatrically, at least in Europe, and in festivals worldwide. In the U.S., it should play to the widest possible range of art house audiences looking for a thinking person's mafia movie.

Click title for full article

Sydney Pollack dies in Los Angeles

A great artist will be missed.

Reuters
By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who won a pair of Academy Awards for the epic romance "Out of Africa" and earned praise for acting stints in films including "Tootsie" and "Michael Clayton," died on Monday after a battle with cancer, his spokeswoman said. He was 73.

During a varied career spanning almost half a century, Pollack directed such stars as Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford in "The Way We Were," Tom Cruise in "The Firm" and Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie." Redford starred in seven of his films, including "Out of Africa," alongside Meryl Streep.

Click title for full article.

HBO Film About 2000 Recount Draws Protests From Democrats

New York Times
By EDWARD WYATT
Published: May 14, 2008

Wounds from the Florida recount, still healing for many Democrats, are being ripped open again for some prominent former advisers to Al Gore. They say that a coming HBO film dramatizing the ballot battle after the 2000 election unfairly blames them for the Democrats’ failure to secure the White House.

The film, which has its premiere on May 25 on HBO, stars John Hurt as Mr. Christopher, Tom Wilkinson as Mr. Baker, Mitch Pileggi as Mr. Daley and Laura Dern as Katherine Harris, then the Florida secretary of state. Kevin Spacey plays Ron Klain, the Gore lawyer who led the on-the-ground recount effort and through whose eyes much of the action is seen.

Click post title to learn about "Recount"

Into the Mist (Land of Elyon Series)

This was a great addition to the series and leaves you wanting more.

Children's Literature
"Alexa Daley and Yipes from the "Land of Elyon" series, are traveling aboard the ship, Warwick Beacon, captained by Roland Warvold. While out on the Lonely Sea sailing to Five Stone Pillars, Roland reveals in flashbacks the story about his older brother and himself. The two young brothers, Thomas and Roland, were sent to live at Madam Vicker's House on the Hill, an institution for homeless children. The ruthless Madam Vickers with the help of her son and snarling watch dogs kept a close eye on all the youngsters who were forced to dig for "treasure" in the hill of garbage. Roland and Thomas planned an escape from the House on the Hill with hopes of discovering the meaning of the circle and square symbol, along with a cryptic message which was found during the digging. Although the brothers left the miserable conditions, they faced unknown dangers in a world where they had no choice but to place their trust in a talking mountain lion in order to find the Western Kingdom. Roland's story draws to a close once the ship approaches the Five Stone Pillars, marking the start of a new adventure to be continued in a sequel."

Kirkus Reviews
"Carman returns to the Land of Elyon with a second series set in the dystopian world. After the events ending in The Tenth City (2006), Alexa and her friend Yipes set sail with Roland Warvold on a long sea voyage to an undisclosed destination. With their journey reaching an end, Roland reveals many details of the childhood he shared with his brother Thomas, casting light on the characters and motivations of the mysterious Warvolds and their role in the fight against the tyrant Grindall. The cast of characters will be familiar to readers of the trilogy, and Carman provides an introduction and list of short descriptions of people and places for non-initiates. What will keep readers involved, however, is the nonstop action of the plot, which moves from crisis to crisis and ends on a classic Carman cliffhanger. The unresolved ending, which comes as a great surprise, is a perfect setup for subsequent books. This can stand on its own merits but will be a surefire winner wherever the original series is popular." (Fantasy. 9-12)

Iron Man

Don't worry, this one is WORTH the ten bucks!

Wikipedia: "Iron Man is a 2008 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and master engineer who is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan. Ordered by them to build a missile, Stark instead builds a powered exoskeleton and escapes. He then returns to the United States where he improves his armor and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays military liaison James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays the villainous Obadiah Stane.

The film's stars have signed on for two sequels, the first of them scheduled for release on April 30, 2010, and Downey also cameos as Stark in the upcoming The Incredible Hulk.

Cameos include Iron Man co-creator Stan Lee (whom Stark mistakes for Hugh Hefner at a party),^[16] and director Jon Favreau as Stark's bodyguard/chauffeur Happy Hogan.^[6] Ghostface Killah cameoed in a scene where Stark briefly stays in Dubai while returning to Afghanistan, but it was cut for pacing reasons.^[17] Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who provides additional guitar music for the film, has a brief cameo as a guard.^[18] Clark Gregg appears throughout the film as Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D,^[19] and Samuel L. Jackson appears as their head Nick Fury following the credits. Jim Cramer, star of CNBC's Mad Money also appeared as himself, commenting on the investment opportunities ("Sell, Sell, Sell") of Stark Industries.^[20]

Among the major trade journals, Todd McCarthy in Variety called the film an "expansively entertaining special effects extravaganza" with "fresh energy and stylistic polish",^[70] while Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter praised the film while nonetheless finding "disappointment [in] a climactic battle between different Iron Man prototypes [...] how did Tony's nemesis learn how to use the suit?"^[71] In one of the first major-daily newspaper reviews, Frank Lovece of Newsday lauded the film's "emotional truth [...] pitch-perfect casting and plausibly rendered super-science" that made it "faithful to the source material while updating it – and recognizing what's made that material so enduring isn't just the high-tech cool of a man in a metal suit, but the human condition that got him there".^[72] A.O. Scott of the New York Times called the film “ an unusually good superhero picture. Or at least — since it certainly has its problems — a superhero movie that’s good in unusual ways.”^[73]

Among the specialty press, Garth Franklin of Dark Horizons commended the "impressive sets and mechanics that combine smoothly with relatively seamless CG", and said, "Robert Downey Jr., along with director Jon Favreau [...] help this rise above formula. The result is something that, whilst hardly original or groundbreaking, is nevertheless refreshing in its earnestness to avoid dark dramatic stylings in favor of an easy-going, crowd-pleasing action movie with a sprinkle of anti-war and redemption themes".^[74] IGN's Todd Gilchrist recognized Downey as "the best thing" in a film that "functions on autopilot, providing requisite story developments and character details to fill in this default 'origin story' while the actors successfully breathe life into their otherwise conventional roles".^[75]

"Spirit" rises to Christmas release

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Lionsgate has moved up the nationwide release of its comic-book adaptation "The Spirit" to Christmas Day.

The film, written and directed by Frank Miller ("Sin City") and based on the comic-book series created by the late Will Eisner, originally was slated to open January 16, 2009.

"The Spirit" stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Stana Katic, Dan Lauria, Jaime King, Paz Vega and Louis Lombardi.

Also slated to open on December 25 are Disney's "Bedtime Stories" and Fox 2000 Pictures' adaptation of the bestseller "Marley & Me."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Ellen Page books a classic with "Jane Eyre" role

By Steven Zeitchik

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Jane Eyre could be taking another swoon on the big screen -- with Ellen Page playing the iconic British character.

BBC Films has signed on to develop an adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel and has attached Page to play Jane. Moira Buffini wrote the screenplay; a director has not yet been chosen.

The role would mark the first period piece for Page, who has signed on to a number of contemporary films since her Oscar-nominated turn in "Juno," including the roller-derby comedy "Whip It!" and the dramatic thriller "Peacock." She opted out of Sam Raimi's supernatural tale "Drag Me to Hell" this year, citing scheduling conflicts.

Bronte's 1847 novel tells the love story of a governess and her master, Edward Rochester, with Gothic flourishes. It's among the most-filmed English novels of all time, with well over a dozen productions reaching the big and small screens, including BBC-produced miniseries in 1973 and 2006. Among the actresses to play the title character over the years are Joan Fontaine, Susannah York and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Waters' "Fruitcake" entices Knoxville and Posey

By Gregg Goldstein

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey are attached to star in John Waters' Christmas film "Fruitcake."

The plot is under wraps but is said to center on the title character, a boy named after his favorite dessert. He runs away from home during the holidays after he and his parents are caught shoplifting meat, then meets a runaway girl raised by two gay men and searching for her birth mother.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter