Review of Last Vegas

We are all getting old, but we should never allow our fun side to fade away. In LAST VEGAS, elderly men go to Las Vegas for what seems to be the last time to celebrate a bachelor party for one of their oldest friends.

This star-studded cast of Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Kline, and others get back to having fun after living a full life. Some of their lives before the trip consisted of making it through the day.

Douglas’s character, who is seventy, is living his bachelor life and is about to marry a thirty-four-year-old. They all come together to celebrate that.

This comedy comes alive with unexpected events that will have you laughing and thinking about what you would do in the same circumstances. De Niro’s character is the realist who can’t seem to come alive.

Douglas and De Niro’s past come to the front and culminate into a mutual agreement after it is brought up in another relationship – the caring for another. This pleasantly unravels.

Acting is good, and the storyline is understandable.  

Buy at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1O8ougt

Review of Ten Days in Paradise

Ten Days in Paradise

By Linda Abbott

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

If you are looking for an intelligent novel about relationships, I recommend Ms. Abbott’s story of people meeting on the island of Sanibel. A place where the rich come together to play, off the west coast of Florida, USA, a man and woman go where they each thought they would never go – infidelity.

Each’s family dynamics are brought to light in this well-written dramatic portrayal of a love affair. All sides of that endeavor are delved in, indirectly by the family member and others, who have no idea of the events leading up to the coupling.

The man and the woman’s views are inwardly conflicted before and after their steamy night together. Each reaches out to others for the answers to their predicament. This is where the debate over what is really loving and what one should do about it.

The answer lies in the man’s mother and father’s 50 year anniversary that he and his family are celebrating, and events that surround the church the woman helps to save on her short vacation. Love is a commitment and is not a whim.

Ms. Abbott does a good job keeping the reader’s attention bringing people’s attitudes in at the right moment. The prose is non-complicate and easy to read.

A book to read on your next vacation: http://amzn.to/1O8ozAH

Kemp's Kids

The Man Who Makes the Clouds &

The Mermaid Who Makes the Seas

By Danny Kemp

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

I have read and studied both together because I felt it proper since they are books one and two in a children’s short story series. But they should be read separately because they are cute and straightforward to read to children with different lessons told. 

Fantasy is the background of Teddy and Tilly’s adventures so that a child’s imagination will be peaked with questions asked while you read them to your child. You’ll laugh the whole time and will have a hard time explaining the facts, according to Mr. Kemp’s characters.

The clouds and the ocean will not be the same after reading these two fun-filled short stories. If your child reads without you, you may be asked many questions that will seem odd – go with the flow and help your child use its imagination.

Many lessons are learned in these two tales. Photos are used to guide you along. Have fun. Check them out:  http://amzn.to/1THYRrn http://amzn.to/1THZh0U

Review Lionel Goes to Camp

Lionel’s Grand Adventure, Bk #3

Lionel Goes to Camp

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

Armed with his unusual magical lucky charm, Lionel is off to camp or maybe he might not get there. Only time and a frustrating event decide his exit from what is an uncomfortable home life, according to Lionel.

His adventure at camp beings with an aggravating event, but he is on a mission to achieve his dignity and impress the one he cares for. Being the kind person he is, the conflicts he is confronted with putting him on the short end of the stick, so to speak.

He goes with the flow and enjoys his quest to be a Camper. But others interfere with his goal; and he has to use his magic trinket to help him out of those situations, which do not produce the results needed.

The hurdles are overcome in an enjoyable way, where the reader will laugh and shed a tear or two.

Lionel’s Grand Adventures are fun books to read to your children. If they are old enough, their reading will produce positive results with lessons learned.

Great book for the summer: http://amzn.to/1THZCkf

  

Review of Warrior Class

Warrior Class. The Crooked Path

By P.T. Mayes

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

If I knew the Warrior Class was 784 pages long, I might not have taken the journey with Bey, following his Lord Master, on the crooked path to becoming an Asteel knight. But I did, and I am glad for it.

Yes, Bey is the main character, but in this vast array of stories. Another named Siren, a young woman, is being trained by a spymaster. In the land they are brought up in, their path cross where evil meets real, magic meets normality, and honor-ability meet greed.

Mr. Mayes has these two characters meeting in an adversary situation with the only Siren knowing the full scope of it. Both characters have the keen intuitive ability to do what is right in unusual situations they encounter.  

These young adults listen to the platitudes of their masters, are consumed by them, and question them many times. The full spectrum from good to evil is dabbled in those lessons. 

Alas, you come to what you think is the end, but you will find that the end of the Crooked Path is not reached. I hope Mr. Mayes keeps each of the next adventures Bey and Siren take are in a shorter novel form.

His writing is colorful, descriptive, and verbose at times. I recommend The Crooked Path for those who like adventures of fictional yore and who have time on their hands or speed read. It is an epic tale that is an easy to read the complete experience.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1O8p6T7

  

Review of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

If you haven’t been consumed by one particular ethnicity, you may have lost the opportunity to understand how a patriarchic system works. It has its benefits and its faults.

In the My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the Greek culture shows its good and bad side. That patriarchic system gets melted into the American culture of love who you want, ethnicity is damned.

WASP boy meets Greek girl spinster. She wasn’t noticed when they first met in her father’s Greek restaurant, but after her Americanization, her beauty is seen through a clearer window.

He finds the strength to walk into the Travel Agency she works in after she had freed herself from the Greek culture that was controlling her life. Both have the inner strength to love each other, damn their background.

He gives in and is christened in a Greek Orthodox church, showing his love for her and her culture which stimulates him. His family goes with the flow.

Sounds boring but the flow was upbeat with a few slow parts, because of the Greek patriarch’s interference in the romance. They live happily ever after in the house next door.

The acting of Nia Vardalos and John Corbett was above par - not Oscar-worthy, but they made the file work. The supporting case

Purchase at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1TI0cP0

Movie Review of Devil's Advocate

The Devil’s Advocate

Starring Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves, and Charlize Theron

Reviewed by Author Roy Murry

This intriguing movie about the devil being a lawyer brought all the sins of the world into play. I don’t have to name them. Do I?

Reeves, a Southern lawyer, and his wife Theron have a hectic but loving family living in a small Florida town. He is a winner; never losing a defense case in his 32 case career. She, the typical caring wife, wants a child and what is best for her husband.

After winning the 32^nd case of a guilty person is over, they get an invitation one does not refuse – a chance to move to Sin City, New York, New York, USA.  He wants the advocate's position because of his vanity and pride, while she is motivated by greed, having things she would never attain in Florida.

Pacino is the owner of a wealthy law firm who dangles the carrots. His background had crossed paths with Reeves mother before his birth, and that is the reason for his wanting Reeves in his employ to take over the firm.  

The story builds in suspense from the day the couple arrives where they cross paths with all the seven sins, as Reeves mother had experiences when she met Pacino. She became a 'Born Again' Christian because of it.

I don’t have to tell you who the devil is. His interface with all the movies characters will give it away from the second act.

The twist in the ending of this not so complicated, but visually compelling movie will keep your eyes looking at the screen. So make certain, there are no distractions when you watch The Devil’s Advocate.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GErYWV