The Ricochet Reviewer: Books, Movies, and Comics

  Random Marvels Project Dipping my net into the ocean of Marvel and seeing what comes up. Writer: Jason Aaron  Artist: Esad Ribic Most of this issue depicts young Thor’s first encounter with Gorr in a spectacular aerial battle. It drips with atmosphere, drops some intriguing clues about the nature of the God Butcher, and has a clever finale. Esad Ribic demonstrates that he can create powerful action sequences just as effectively as he produces beautifully expressive panels. 

Writer / Director: Gaspar Noe Stars: Vincent Cassel, Albert Dupontel, Monica Belluci, Jo Prestia, Phillipe Nahon, Stephane Drouot This is a film that many will not want to watch.  Early  on, I came as close as I ever do to turning a film off for any reason other than sheer boredom.   Warning: this is a very graphic scene We are presented with a chaotic whirlwind of sound, light, profanity, and suggestive body placement as two men (Vincent Cassel and Albert Dupontel) frantically search for someone called Le Tenia (Jo Prestia) in an S&M club, capped off with a stunningly graphic (and technically impressive) sequence in which a man's head is beaten in repeatedly with a fire extinguisher in one long, seemingly unbroken shot.  All of this appeared to serve no purpose, just vile, ugly behavior below the level of an animal.  I was sickened.  But I stayed with it and I'm glad I did.  It soon became apparent that the story was unfolding in reverse...

by Anne Rice Lasher, the being that has plagued the Mayfair witches  for centuries, has kidnapped Rowan Mayfair, the most powerful of her line, in the hope that through her he can finally be reborn in the flesh.  Meanwhile, her family tries to locate her and figure out Lasher’s purpose.   This enormous novel would certainly have benefited from some judicious editing, but it remains engaging and chilling.   Anne Rice’s cast of characters is a bit too large and sometimes I found myself having trouble remembering everyone, but the core group is vividly drawn.   Anne Rice Lasher becomes more than a simple figure of evil, evoking some sympathy even though the consequences of his attacks on members of the Mayfair family are horrific.   The Mayfairs are shown to be frightened, vulnerable, and panicked, not just the powerful and intimidating clan of witches that we have met before.  The most disappointing aspect of the story is that Rowan spends most of the no...

by Tana French Rob and Cassie, a pair of Irish detectives, investigate  the murder of a 12-year-old girl, a case that has some disturbing parallels to a childhood incident in which Rob’s two best friends mysteriously disappeared, leaving an injured Rob with no memory of what happened.   This is a terrific book.   As engaging as the mystery is, I was even more invested in the relationship between the two detectives.  Author Tana French really captures that type of male-female friendship that seems to have slipped almost irretrievably into the friend zone...but only almost.   Tana French The way the relationship evolves affected me in ways I won’t reveal for fear of spoiling the story.   French also dramatizes the profound manner in which one can be affected by unresolved trauma. "Mystic Forest" (Chinese) "Missing" (Portuguese) "Death in the Woods" (French) "In the Heart of the Forest" (Hebrew) "There's Something Deep in the Forest" (...