The Ricochet Reviewer: Books, Movies, and Comics

  RANDOM MARVELS PROJECT Dipping my net into the ocean of Marvel and seeing what comes up. Writer: Cullen Bunn Artist: Salva Espin  Cletus Kasady AKA Carnage breaks out of prison and goes on a killing spree.  But his movements are so random that the authorities cannot predict where he might strike next.  Watching the news reports on television, Deadpool has the epiphany that one madman can  track down another if he opens himself to the signs that the universe places before him.  Really good artwork helps to sell a story that is light and humorous but otherwise feels pretty padded. 

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Writers: John Michael Hayes, from a story by Cornell Woolrich Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter, Raymond Burr, Irene Winston, Wendell Corey Jimmy Stewart plays L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries, a photographer  laid up with a broken leg who has taken to spying on his neighbors to alleviate his boredom.  He becomes suspicious that one of his neighbors, Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), has murdered his wife (Irene Winston) and enlists his beautiful girlfriend, Lisa (Grace Kelly), and visiting nurse, Stella (Thelma Ritter), to investigate.  There is a lot to occupy your mind in this film aside from the pure suspense of the plot.   You can ponder Jeffries's inability to commit to Lisa (could the cast on his leg be a symbol of impotence?).  Jeffries's profession is essentially voyeuristic--has he forgotten that he can be an active participant in events?  Aside from his reluctance to engage with Lisa, there is at least one cruc...

by Bram Stoker I had very mixed feelings after reading Bram Stoker's  classic horror novel about the seminal vampire of modern literature.   The first part of the story, in which English solicitor Jonathan Harker is trapped inside Castle Dracula with the dread count, is riveting and so much better than I expected.   Stoker conjures up a truly oppressive and frightening atmosphere.   However, once the action shifts to England, the story bogs down and never really gets going again.  Stoker uses the unwieldy device of telling the entire story through the journal entries of various characters--they must have truly extraordinary memories to reproduce the conversations and lengthy speeches contained therein.   Bram Stoker The characters themselves are paper thin; all of the men are brave and honorable and all of the women fair and pure.   Stoker devotes page after page to conversations in which characters deliver testimonials to each othe...