I have been discussing the film Inglourious Basterds on Facebook again following a post from Claude Laliumere and then I was referred to a review by Daniel Mendelsohn in Newsweek.  Mendelsohn pans the film because he believes it tells the following message: Do you really want audiences cheering for a revenge that turns Jews into carboncopies of Nazis, that makes Jews into “sickening” perpetrators? I’m not so sure. An alternative, and morally superior, form of “revenge” for Jews would be to do precisely what Jews have been doing since World War …

One of the hallmarks of a good film is this: you know what’s going to happen because you’ve seen it before, and yet it’s still fun to watch. We know the rebels will destroy the Death Star in Episode IV, yet, damn, that ending is exciting to watch again and again. We know Roy will make it over Devil’s Tower to see the aliens land in Close Encounters, but hey, our hearts still race when they’re chasing him with helicopters. [spoilers below] Unfortunately, I don’t think the new Indiana Jones …

The Best Movies of 2007 By Mercurio D. Rivera It’s difficult for me to construct a Top 10 list this year because a number of otherwise entertaining films suffer from the same ailment: a disappointing ending. Among the culprits is Oscar nominee Atonement, a period-piece melodrama that evokes no sympathy for the character seeking atonement and finally culminates in a maddening “it was all a dream”-type of twist ending. The equally lauded Zodiac starts like gangbusters before disintegrating into one obsessed character’s tiresome investigation of countless red herrings. Before …

Subterranean Magazine, Issue #7, guest edited by Ellen Datlow Reviewed by Eugene Myers This review was long in coming, one might even say overdue but hopefully not too late. It turns out that I’m not just a slow reader, but I’m an even slower reviewer. Subterranean #7 is the penultimate print issue of Subterranean, which successfully transitioned to a fully online magazine last year. Their second print issue, themed “Science Fiction Clichés”, was guest edited by John Scalzi; the refreshing practice resumes in issue #7 with Ellen Datlow taking the reigns. Though this …

Blaze by Richard Bachman (a.k.a. Stephen King) Published by Scribner Review by Angela Crockett Stephen King’s latest novel, Blaze, is being released under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. It’s a trunk novel, written in 1973, during the time the other Bachman books were written. King wrote Blaze just before Carrie. There’s a similarity between the two because both share an outcast protagonist who is a hero and also a villain at the same time. In Blaze, Clayton Blaisdell Jr., known as Blaze, is a mentally slow man. His condition and hardships throughout his life bring out …