Interview with the Vampire

This sumptuously mounted adaptation of Anne Rice’s bestselling novel brings her most intriguing character, the vampire Lestat, to life in the person of matinee idol Tom Cruise. Rice partisans initially balked upon hearing that Cruise had been cast, but his charismatic presence strengthened the picture and disarmed most of his critics. Brad Pitt plays Louis, a sensitive young man who reveals to a reporter (Christian Slater) the story of his troubled, 200-year existence as a vampire, beginning with his induction into that unnatural fraternity by the courtly Lestat. The film, which travels to Europe and back over the course of centuries, is most compelling in its exploration of the alternative family formed by Lestat, Louis, and child vampire, Claudia (Kirsten Dunst in an impressive performance). As directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game), Interview is slow going at times, but it features a terrific cast and possesses an eerily hypnotic quality that will appeal to horror-movie lovers in general and Rice fans in particular

The Godfather

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 sequel to The Godfather is an audacious tour de force believed by many critics and movie fans to be superior to the original film — and with good reason. Coppola resisted the urge to make a conventional sequel; instead he crafted a film with dual story lines that bookend the events of the first Godfather. In one narrative Al Pacino returns as Michael Corleone, now deeply entrenched as the leader of a Mafia “family” whose influence extends to the lavish casinos of Eisenhower-era Las Vegas. Locked in a desperate struggle with shrewd Jewish mobster Hyman Roth (played brilliantly by veteran acting teacher Lee Strasberg), Michael also clashes with those closest to him, including wife Kay (Diane Keaton) and brother Fredo (John Cazale). The alternate plot features Robert De Niro as Michael’s father, Vito — the character played by Brando in the first movie — who is seen as a young man coming to New York from Sicily and locking horns with a fellow countryman, the neighborhood crime boss. Coppola develops the parallel stories with equal vigor and intensity, although the showdown between Michael and Roth, quite properly, forms the film’s unforgettable climax. More atmospheric and introspective than The Godfather, Part II is less a slam-bang gangster film than a Greek tragedy in contemporary settings. Michael Corleone grapples with the consequences of his decision to lead the family “business,” sacrificing his most intimate relationships — and even his very soul — to the compulsive desire to retain power and destroy his enemies. With their dual-story concept, Coppola and co-writer Mario Puzo make certain we realize that Michael’s fate was, to a large extent, sealed by the choices his father made decades before. Thirty years after it was made, this extravagant, epochal sequel remains vital and gripping, and it may well be the greatest film Coppola has ever made.

Count of Monte Cristo

Alexander Dumas

Dashing young Edmond Dantès has everything. He is engaged to a beautiful woman, is about to become the captain of a ship, and is well liked by almost everyone. But his perfect life is shattered when he is framed by a jealous rival and thrown into a dark prison cell for 14 years.

The greatest tale of betrayal,adventure, and revenge ever written, The Count of Monte Cristo continues to dazzle readers with its thrilling and memorable scenes, including Dantès’s miraculous escape from prison, his amazing discovery of a vast hidden treasure, and his transformation into the mysterious and wealthy Count of Monte Cristo—a man whose astonishing thirst for vengeance is as cruel as it is just.

Zombieland

Two men have found a way to survive a world overrun by zombies. Columbus is a big wuss — but when you’re afraid of being eaten by zombies, fear can keep you alive. Tallahassee is an AK-totin’, zombie-slayin’ badass whose single determination is to get the last Twinkie on earth. As they join forces with Wichita and Little Rock, who have also found unique ways to survive the zombie mayhem, they will have to determine which is worse: relying on each other or succumbing to the zombies.

Extraordinary Voyages (Library of Wonder): Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

In the nineteenth century, French author Jules Verne awed readers with astounding adventures that transported them to the ends of the Earth, plunged them into the ocean’s depths, and dropped them into mysterious subterranean realms. Dubbed Voyages Extraordinaries, these unique blends of action, adventure, and science fiction offered prescient glimpses into the future and a level of scientific speculation unprecedented in imaginative fiction.

 

 The three novels collected here represent some of Verne’s most innovative and entertaining adventures. Around the World in Eighty Days is the chronicle of irrepressible adventurer Phileas Fogg, whose wager to circle the globe involves him in one cliff-hanging escapade after another. Journey to the Center of the Earth tells of intrepid explorers who discover a subterranean world of prehistoric marvels and menaces at the Earth’s core. In Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, scientist hero Captain Nemo investigates the exotic mysteries of the deep in his space-age submarine, the Nautilus. Two of these novels (Journey and 20,000 Leagues) are presented here with new English translations, and all three are newly illustrated with the incomparable fantasy art of Nate Pride.