Movie Mini-Review: THX-1138

Last week while I was at the library, I was browsing the DVD section trying to see if there was something exciting to watch. I came across THX-1138, and knew I had to watch it. I knew it was George Lucas’s first directing work, so my expectations weren’t very high. However, watching it was important to me so I could see how Lucas has grown over the years, and to finally get some of the references to THX and 1138 that have been made in Lucasfilm / Lucasarts products over the last 30 years.

I’m not really sure what to say about the movie; it’s a futuristic story of a dystopia full of drug-controlled people living in a enclosed city. It’s not really my favorite genre of movie, and there were times that it was just too artsy for me. [The austere sets, though, allowed me to visualize parts of Brave New World for the first time.] Also, I’m not sure that George Lucas has really grown at all in his love scene writing skills over the past 40 years, even after he recut the film (I watched the Director’s Cut, which is the only form available on DVD at the moment.) That being said, it’s still interesting to watch as a way to see how George Lucas started off. Believe me, you could pick plenty of worse films to watch.

Mini-Review: Something Wicked by Carolyn G. Hart

Book: Something Wicked
Author: Carolyn G. Hart
Awards Won: 1989 Agatha Award for Best Novel

Third in the Death on Demand series, this book features Annie Laurence and her (as of this book) fiancé, Max Darling, in their attempts to figure out who’s behind a series of pranks being pulled on a local summer production of the classic play Arsenic and Old Lace. The pranks escalate to a murder (but of course; what would be a mystery without a murder in it?), and Max falls under suspicion. Annie works not only to clear Max’s name but to figure out who’s actually behind it all.

One reason I liked the book so much (like the previous ones in the series) is all of the allusions to other works. Annie works as a manager of a mystery store that she inherited from her uncle, so her deliberations about various clues are filled with references to all sorts of works from the classic ones to the  obscure (to me) ones. In addition, her store runs a monthly contest that gives a free book to the first person who can identify which mysteries are portrayed in five different paintings.

Summary: Good read if you like mysteries in the ilk of Agatha Christie or enjoy stories focusing on the theater. It’s not necessary to start from the beginning in the series, but the earlier two books are both excellent reads in the same style.