Monday Morning News and Movies

First up, how cool is this:


That's a list of bestselling mystery ebooks at bn.com and look at the company I'm keeping. :) Many thanks to all my loyal readers who helped make it happen!

Second up - movie reviews.

Most of you know I'm a big horror movie fan, and I've seen quite a few lately. So let me give you some brief reviews and perhaps save you some dollars in a couple of places.

Apollo 18 - A good premise wasted on bad execution. The Blair Witch method of filming is old news. You actually need a really good plot and creepy stuff (think Paranormal Activity) in order to have a good movie these days.

Creature - This movie only lasted at the theater one weekend. What does that tell you? I am fairly sure, I am one of ten or so people that saw it and wanted the 1.5 hours of their life back. You couldn't pay me enough money to get over it.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark - A remake of an old movie that, in its day, was creepy. This remake was not creepy, unfortunately. IMHO, they lost momentum by showing the creatures too soon and making the movie more of a gremlins type show than a great horror flick, which should tease you with flashes of the evil things and only expose it completely at the end. Disappointing, as I usually love movies by this director.

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil - Absolutely hilarious. If you can get your hands on this, watch it now. It's the Cable Guy meets Friday the 13th. There were scenes so funny, I had to rewind and watch them multiple times.

On a completely different note:

I read The Help and absolutely, positively thought it was one of the best books I've read in years. Saw the movie and it was also excellent. It kept very in line with the book, but of course, the book was better because it could go into more depth with the characters. If you're inclined to do both, I suggest reading the book first so the movie doesn't give away some of the best parts for you.

What about you guys - seen or read anything great lately?

Deadly DeLeon