Movie Review: Year of the Dog

Year of the Dog directed by Mike White
rated PG-13 for some suggestive content

This week's movie review is on a charming new film from Mike White, the man responsible for School of Rock and Nacho Libre.

This time, White sits in the director's chair in this tale of animal cruelty and pet/owner love. Year of the Dog stars Molly Shannon (of SNL fame) as Peggy, a 40 something secretary who seems happy at work and especially at home with her dog, Pencil. One night, Pencil wanders away and gets into some poison, which in turn causes him to die- devestating Peggy.

After this the film follows Peggy as she struggles with her love life, her love of animals, and her family. Peggy becomes a vegan, becomes an animal rights activist, and lovingly sponsers farm animals for her brother's family for Christmas. Along this personal journey, Peggy learns what it means to take something too far, and also what it means to be given a second chance.

While this film may not end the way we want it to, it is certainly far from a sad ending. Overall this was a great film , well told with a LOT of character development and it attacked a subject that most film makers shy away from.

Morally this film was pretty clean. The language was a minimal two B words, which were incidently used in the correct appropriate usage. The suggestive content that garnered the PG-13 rating was not heavy, but enough to make you squirm uncomfortably a couple of times. This was mostly due to dialogue from Peggy's friend (played by the lovely Regina King), and from the is he-or isn't he gay friend at the Vet.

Overall however, this was an excellent film that will definitely find a home on my DVD shelf alongside Mike White's other hits.

My rating: Very Good

Moral: Better than Average ****

Film Making: Excellent ****

Overall: Very Good ****

Audio Adrenaline says "Adios" to Memphis for last time

In a sad but moving show, Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline said goodbye for the last time to Memphis last night at the MercyMe "Coming Up To Breathe" tour at the Desoto Civic Center. The group has been a leader in Christian music for over 15 years and decided to call it quits after frontman Mark Stuart began having vocal problems. The group sang their new song "Goodbye" as their banner was lowered, prompting a standing ovation that lasted well over 5 minutes. Show opener Aaron Schust, as well as all of the MercyMe members, came out on stage to say their goodbyes to Audio A, and MercyMe even performed one of Audio Adrenaline's lesser known songs in tribute to them.

I had the privelege of being able to work at the concert and it was amazing. The first thing I did upon arriving was go to the stage area where MercyMe was doing a sound check. We sat on the front row for a couple of minutes before heading on up to the main floor. An hour before the show began, we started passing out fliers for the next concert. Afterwards we passed out FCS coupons. The Audio Adrenaline merchandise, as you can imagine, flew off the tables, as it was the last time any of their merch would be available. I didn't buy anything, but was able to obtain (as a volunteer having priveleges) a cymbal from Audio Adrenaline, signed by the band.

Back to the show.

Aaron Schust was the opener. He played for roughly 15 minutes, including his hit, "My Savior, My God." This was followed by an hour from Audio A, and then headliner MercyMe.

MercyMe was phenomenal, singing most of their big hits, and several from the new CD. Compared to last time, this show was bigger and flashier. The lights they had working were amazing, and a huge screen was behind them, which they used for video and music videos.

Overall, The Coming Up To Breathe tour was one of the best I have seen in a long time, enhanced by the farewell performance of Audio Adrenaline, and the autographed cymbal I got.

Great things coming soon!

May will be a booming month at Bilbo's Red Book. To kick it off, we will have a completely brand new movie review every week. Then, I will give you guys and inside look at the art exhibit from the Louvre that is in America this year. Plus, many other cool and exciting things.
Here is a preview for what is coming this summer to your favorite blog. (Okay, one of your favorite blogs).
Late April:
Book review: Children of Hurin by J.R.R.Tolkien
Book review: Skin by Ted Dekker
Movie review: Year of the Dog directed by Mike White
May 4th: Movie review: Spiderman 3
May 27: Movie review: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Late May: Louvre art exhibit review (plus some other surprises along the way from Atlanta)
Stay tuned in for more!

Idol votes off Senjaya

In a relieving moment, Senjaya Malakar was voted off of the popular FOX show American Idol. Many people were of the opinion that he should not have made it to the finals. Senjaya was known for his crazy hairstyles and clothing and became a celebrity because of the way people despised him. Why then, wasn't he voted off earlier? Probably because of support from groups such as votefortheworst.com, and statements made by radio and TV show hosts who said that "everybody hates Senjaya, but lets vote for him anyway, just to bug Simon Cowell."

For the past few weeks, Senjaya had only managed to sing one reasonably good song. Senjaya, we are going to miss you!

Iron Man Picture Released!

Paramount Studios has just released the first picture from its new comic book movie Iron Man, which is due in theaters Summer 2008. The film is being directed by Jon Favreau.

Enjoy!

Movie Review: The Last Mimzy

Rated PG for some thematic elements, mild peril, and language

Sci Fi or Fantasy?

That is the question you should ask yourself when you watch The Last Mimzy, a bizarre and slightly disturbing tale from the producers of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. While watching it, I kept thinking, gosh this is weird!, yet I somehow was attracted to it.

The Last Mimzy is based loosely on the book Mimzy Were Borogoves which is in turn based loosely upon an abstract line from a Lewis Caroll poem. It tells the story of two young children who find an odd box at their beach house and upon opening it, find bizarre objects including a strange stuffed bunny, that in turn gives them extraordinary abilities. They keep their find a secret, until strange things begin to happen, and their parents find out. At this point, the film goes from weird to weirder. The parents call in a mysticist and palm reader and begin to freak out when they find out some of the crazy things their kids can do because of these "toys" as the kids call them.

From here the film takes odd turns that will have you slightly confused and feeling kind of weird. At times this film is reminiscent of "The Forgotten", or other psychological thrillers. Even though this film is rated PG, it seems to be more of an adult film, mainly because of the themes and dark content. Offensive content was minimal however, with only 1 curse word and one scene in which the word "sucks" is used about twelve times in less than 1 minute.

I reccomend this film, with reservations, because of the odd and dark sci-fi things happening; but I did enjoy it myself.

This makes for an enjoyable evening, if you want something that is heavy. Don't expect another kiddie film out of this one.

Moral Rating: *****

Film Making: ****

Overall:****

Children of Hurin book release

In a few days, LOTR lovers everywhere will have yet another slice of their Middle-earth pie.

Children of Hurin, which is written by Christopher Tolkien from the writings of his father J.R.R. will be released on April 17th at bookstores everywhere.

It is the first LOTR book to be written in 30 years and certainly looks good. Christopher Tolkien will be in America coming up soon to sign the books. I know for certain that he will be signing books at the NYC Barnes and Noble.

This is definitely one I would pre-order! With the surge of interest in Middle-earth writings, this books will be flying off the shelves!

Check back later on for a book review.

Maggie Gyllenhaal on board for The Dark Knight

This just in:
Maggie Gyllenhaal, brother of actor Jake Gyllenhall, has officially been cast as Rachel Dawes in the sequel to Batmin Begins, The Dark Knight. She has worked in films alongside stars such as Julia Roberts (in Mona Lisa Smile). This comes after months of speculations on who Katie Holmes replacement would be. Maggie will costar with Christian Bale as Bruce/Batman, Michael Caine as Alfred and Heath Ledger as The Joker.
The film, which is directed by Christopher Nolan (The Prestige), is slated to hit theaters in Summer of 2008.

Spider-man 4 back in the running!

This is just in.
After much speculation that Spidey 3 would be the last film in the series, it was reported that Tobey MaGuire and Kirsten Dunst said in an interview that if the story was good and if Sam Raimi directed, they would do a Spidey 4.
This is positive new after speculation that Tobey would step down as our world's favorite superhero because of back injuries he sustained while filming Seabiscuit. Guess he likes the spandex a little more than we thought!
More news on this can be found at IGN.com and comicbookmovie.com

Collector's Hunting tips

Hello everyone!
In the wake of the Star Wars 3oth anniversary collection being released, I decided to share some of my collectors tips.
It is true that some collectibles are extremely rare and might only be released one per case (Such as many of the Clone Commanders recently released), but that does not mean you are out of luck.
Most stores will receive shipments of new figures at least once a week, depending on sales, so it is quite easy to get that chase figure your heart desires.

1. Call ahead:
Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. If you call the store and ask if they have a new shipment in, or if they have a certain figure, often times the employees will help you out. I am sure they know how important this stuff is to us.
2. Keep checking in:
For me that would be almost every morning, but if that is too extreme, every 3 days or so is usually adequate. If a new shipment came in between those days however, you are probably out of luck.
3.Find out the stores shipment schedule:
This is the one that has been most valuable to me. I can't always go to the store every day, but if I find out when they get their shipments, I can check on those days, and that has helped me get every chase clone since Episode 3 waves came out.
4. Be patient!
I know it is extremely frustrating when you can't find the figure you need, but if you wait it out, you WILL get one. Hasbro is not out there to frustrate collectors, they are out there to make money. That means they will make more, and keep releasing them until they stop selling.
5.Websites:
This has been the key to me getting a couple of chase figures before you could find them in stores, such as Commander Bacara. Wal-mart, Target, and K-Mart are excellent websites for finding figures.

I hope this has been helpful to you out there!
Remember, just be patient and happy hunting!