Astonishing immediacy; my heartrate was elevated for most of the book. Ten times more subversive and intelligent than most “adult” novels. Profoundly, subtly disturbing ending.

Disturbing, but maybe cheaply so. Gee-whiz-ness (mimicking the narrator or reader?) gets tiresome. Evaporates fast. Great palate cleanser for other/denser books. Brilliant touches throughout, obviously.

Strong plot, characters. Big challenge - to create a compelling universe without living beings - well-handled. Maybe too much time spent filling world with quirky details.

Didn’t dig the alternate universe thing at first - gimmicky enough in Star Trek - but now I see some exciting possibilities. Plane disembarking scene very moving.

Bloodiest Chrysler commercial ever! Seriously weak. No good characters, no plot points that make sense. Adds nothing new to the vampire genre.

6.3 out of 10. Not impressive enough to obscure the racist undertones or endless runtime. Insufficient Sigourney. Just looked like a really nice PS2 game.

Surprisingly unterrible. Christian Bale’s growly screentime is mercifully minimal. Sam Worthington’s protagonist has a welcome complexity, and the man happens to be disturbingly hot.

Like Borges in its strengths - playfulness, creative audacity, authoritative voice - and its weaknesses: flimsiness, failure to cohere into something more than several smart pieces.

Story and characters are familiar, thin, but the energy of the fight scenes and the narrative flow keep it engaging. Tons of blood helps too.

That rare book that functions both as brilliant cringe-inducing satire, and a really good story with a great central character. Makes revolution feel possible.

Adds the narrative structure of LOST and the visual style of Galactica - and somehow STILL can’t overcome the franchise’s congenital failures of weight and storytelling.

Good creepy atmosphere, building to some great scares. Well-played use of “documentary” footage helps the movie get into your head. Milla’s fab, as always.

Just out on DVD, Disney’s first feature invents a whole new cinematic language. Slow in the dwarf scenes, overall lovely and terrifying and artful.

Above-average scary. Neat pacing. Best with a full house in big cities. Overheard: “this is dumb good,” “we’re gonna have to get the bootleg.”

Scary, weird, intricately detailed world. Great characters, human and otherwise. Kept stopping to scribble notes to myself - “so THIS is how you write a novel.”