City of Ember

Jeanne DuPrau blends fantasy and mystery to create City of Ember, the first book in the Books of Ember series.

Built by the Founders, Ember was meant to be a temporary home. A place where their descendants could live until the surface world was safe. Leaving behind instructions to guide their children home, the Founders disappeared.

For 200 years the people of Ember have lived underground with no knowledge of their origins. The city survives by living off vast warehouses of food and supplies. Workers struggle to maintain the technology of the Founders, their only source of light. But with frequent blackouts and shortages of supplies the people of Ember are beginning to succumb to the darkness.

Explore the city through the eyes of Lina Mayfleet, a 12-year old laborer, struggling to find a better place for her grandmother and sister. A place beyond the chaos of Ember. With nowhere to turn and time running out, Lina accepts the help of former-friend and classmate, Doon Harrow. Together they race to decode a message from the past and save the city from itself.

The City of Ember is an easy-to-read chapter book best-suited for readers 10-17. While the vocabulary is not particularly challenging, younger readers may have some difficulty with the social and political concepts central to the plot. The slow pace of the story may cause some children to outright lose interest.

Despite their age both the main characters are complex. Their roundness makes them occasionally inaccessible and opaque. Similarly, their relationship with each other can be isolating for the reader. Due to this depth, the book will easily hold the attention of preteens and adolescents.

Although written for a young audience, City of Ember has a dark tone throughout. The first pages of the novel create tension and concern for a world that is falling apart. The physical darkness of the city streets is carried into the characters, particularly the Mayor and his attendants. DuPrau openly writes about starvation, social turmoil, death, political corruption and romance. Mature themes may be inappropriate for children reading alone. However, City of Ember provides an excellent companion book for class discussions of world hunger, overpopulation and social responsibility. The morality of the story, though evident, is not forced. And the final chapters leave much room for interpretation and discussion.

Consider reading the book as a family. The chapter breaks are evenly-paced making it easy to keep a regular reading time, however the cliffhanger sequences may keep you all up past bedtime.

Be sure to look for the movie adaptation, City of Ember (2008). The cinematic adaptation has a much faster pace, but remains true to the dark atmosphere and characterizations of the book.

Old Dogs

Dear Viewer,

Dan (Robin Williams) and Charles (John Travolta) have been life-long friends and business partners. With a big business deal around the corner their lives couldn't be further from perfect. They have the bachelor pads, the women and the cars. Only Dan seems  to think there might be more to life...

Throw in a long-lost love and a couple of kids and you've got yourself an adventure, my friends!

Old Dogs is a cookie-cutter family flick. The surprise plot is predictable. The problems are expected and the solutions seem too easy. If you were expecting a deep and moving dramatic piece...What were you smoking? This is simply not that kind of movie.

Safe, warm and simple as a blanket, Old Dogs will entertain for sure. There's nothing like watching a grown man being cradled by a gorilla or Robin Williams tripping on drugs to give you a fit of the giggles. Your kids are sure to love the slapstick and potty humor - even if you don't. And the ending, as satisfying as it is corny, reminds us that even if old dogs can't learn new tricks...people certainly can.

Besides with fewer options for the crowd stuck between watching the Lion King and Twilight, Old Dogs should be top of the list for any family movie night.

-Sylvia

P.S. This movie is a popcorn combo!

Revisiting The Last Airbender

Dear Viewer,

It seems Mr. Ebert had all of the words I did not. (The Last Airbender Review)


-Sylvia

P. S. This movie is awful! Check Nickelodeon.com for some great clips and episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Netflix pick: Sanctuary

Viewer,

It would be nice to say the Syfy show Sanctuary is something that could become a guilty pleasure.

It does star Amanda Tapping of Stargate SG-1 fame, she's easy on the eyes. It also stars Emilie Ullerup, who has the makings of a TV hottie of the highest order. But that's about it.

Guilty pleasures tend to have some dark humor, or social commentary or something. Sanctuary, to me, falls short.

Don't get me wrong the concept is a good one. Have a place where monsters of myth and legend can have a place to call home. Every episode means you can see anything from a mermaid to a lizard monster. Any fan of B-movies would love it.

In theory it's a great idea. It's the application that seems a bit off.

Now I can understand bad special effects on a TV show; budgets aren't high and time frames are short. But I get the feeling the producers didn't give the audience credit for knowing what a fake fire elemental would look like. Each set seemed to be a 3-D work in progress, with the actors working in front of a green screen every 3 minutes.

The acting is wooden, which can be attributed to a new cast working together for the first time. That should improve over the course of a season. But after watching the first three episodes, I wonder how many fans should have the patience to keep watching.

Apparently enough people kept watching for Syfy to renew the show for a third season, which means the initial headaches the show gave me would disappear over time.

Or people just need an excuse to look at women in tight plastic suits.

Whichever.

-Paul


P. S. This series is a box of candy.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

Dear Viewer,

If you waited in line for tickets to Watchmen or kicked your rear catching the midnight showing of Kick Ass, then whip out your plastic and head to Fandango.com you are going to want tickets to see SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD.

Michael Cera stars as Scott, the underachieving Canadian bassist, whose life gets turned upside down when he meets Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

As if struggling to dump his underage Asian girlfriend isn't hard enough, Scott soon finds himself in the midst of an epic battle against the League of Evil Ex-Boyfriends. The prize--Ramona. 

The best video game/comic book movie since The Dark Knight (2008), Scott Pilgrim has it all. With plenty of romance, rock and action this movie is sure to be a hit. Gamers, look forward to the references to 8-bit classics. Parents, watch out--some of the jokes are gosh-darn racy. This is definitely a mature PG-13 flik.

-Sylvia


P. S. This movie is a Hot Dog Combo! Yum.

Be sure to check out:

• The Complete Scott Pilgrim Series by Bryan Lee O'Malley
• I Love You, Man (2009)
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2009)
• Pineapple Express (2008)
• The Incredible Hulk (2008)
• 8-Bit Theater on Nuklear Power.com--A sure laugh for any Scott Pilgrim fan.

Netflix Pick: No Impact Man

Viewer,

Imagine if you will a man who was willing to forgo most common comforts for the sake of improving the planet. How would he do it? Go on a pilgrimage maybe, search for answers on the top of a mountain?

No, he does it by cutting off his electricity in lower Manhattan.

That's the story of No Impact Man. A documentary filmed in 2009 and available on Netflix.

Colin Beavan was a writer of non-fiction and Internet blogger when the idea hit him to decrease his environmental impact to zero.

Not lower it, like a credit score. Not like cholesterol, no, he wants to make no impact on a struggling eco-system. Pun intended.

To his credit he does it incrementally, first changing the way he eats, and buys food. It is a gradual growth he undertakes to change his life.

Problem is, he's married to a pop-culture/coffee junkie and has a young baby while living in one of the most populated and cosmopolitan centers on Earth.

The story of Beavan and his family is an engaging one, with small lessons about how to be better for our environment sprinkled throughout.

While it is important for the question "how much consumption is too much consumption?" to be raised. It also, without trying, makes you wonder who else could do this but someone with enough money to shop at a farmer's market, or go to upstate New York and go directly to a farm to get real milk.

And should someone undertake that kind of transformation when they have a baby on board?

It's definitely a conversation starter, the kind of movie that starts good debates and some self exploration. It's also the kind of movie that makes you feel bad for the bottle of water you're drinking.

-Paul

P.S. This movie is a Popcorn Combo. Give it a look.

Ahvahtahr Ahng, we need you!

Viewer,

You don't have to go far to read a poor review of The Last Airbender.

As the first live-action adaptation of the popular Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, many people had high hopes for this film. However, it seems that fans and critics alike have slammed the movie for poor casting, poor acting, rushed plot and blatant racism.

Die-hard fans of the series are furious at the absence of key characters and background story. M. Night's groupies are sure the fault lies anywhere but on an egotistical director/writer.

Reviewing the movie as it stands....most of the complaints are still valid. (To save time, I'm just going to discuss the script.)
 
This movie has a lot to convey. In 103 minutes, we're covering the entire first season. At 20 minutes a show, and 20 episodes total, that's 400 minutes of plot. Even if you cut out time for filler and non-essential asides you still have several hours of information. The script of this movie simply does not do justice to the amount of source material.

The areas of plot which require the most explanation are eerily silent. Explanations of interesting concepts are cut short, as if the movie were trying to reach an even younger demographic than the original Nick crowd.

The dialogue is stilted and unbelievable. The characters speak as if they didn't live in their world. ("Yes we have a very spiritual place", "we could be friends you know", "may I introduce you to the mysterious ocean and moon spirits?")

The conversations between characters do little to convey a sense of the social hierarchy or cultural traditions that brought the show to life. Adults speak to children as if they were on equal ground. The lord of the fire nation speaks to his generals casually during times of war and turmoil. Honestly, what boss spends that much time listening to an employee complain before thinking "I hired you to take care of stuff....why can't you do it?" Not mine!

As a movie on its own, The Last Airbender it's AWFUL....as a live-action representation of an animated show it's worse than my humble vocabulary can hope to express.

M. Night must be the Ahvahtahr himself. I certainly feel subdued by all the elements....

-Sylvia

P.S. This movie is a stick of gum. SKIP IT. Or get it on DVD and stage your own Mystery Science Theater special from the couch.


In case you still aren't sure whether you should watch this movie, I listed a few other complaints....
1.    There is no main character. You don't care about anyone because you don't know who they are or where they are coming from. There is no emotional connection.
2.    There's no comic relief. (Unless you count the people coming out of the ground with drill bits on their heads...it was funny that we were supposed to take that seriously.)
3.    The race criticisms are legit. Eastern-looking characters are evil. The good guys are Caucasian. M. Night's explanation doesn't show a relation to the show or social commentary. The original show was pretty clear about the physical attributes of each nation. They were all identifiable races.
4.    None of the kids act like kids. Aang doesn't act like Aang did in the first season.
5.    Zuko has no noticeable scar tissue. A little odd for a character whose scar tissue is one of his defining physical and psychological traits.
6.    The characters lack interest in their own story. How about the scene where we all stand still and watch someone kill the spirit of the moon? Why didn't anyone do anything?
7.    "He's making fire out of nothing!?" Why would other firebenders fail to understand the concept of personal body heat in its relation to fire? It is clearly stated in the show that this is a fundamental lesson in the world of firebending.
8.    "Show them the power of one"? Why would the Avatar guide be on a power trip? Sounds a little unbalanced...
9.    The monks NEVER tell him he can't have a FAMILY in the show. Why would this be added to the script? At best it sounds like a misinterpretation of the GURU episode. At worst it is a harmful revision that will alter the entire process of becoming the Avatar.
10.    Most of the movie reflected the activity of the first and last two episodes. But the content of these scenes is lost in the movie representation. The humor and confusion of Aang's awakening and the fear and anger of that final battle in the North is nowhere to be found.....

Come on...Why not save yourself the trouble and watch the real AVATAR at work. Check YouTube.com or Nickelodeon.com for some great clips and episodes. Or buy it today on Amazon.com.