- Death of a Parent
- Fantasy Life
A chance meeting at a bus terminal leads to her delving into the seedy world of strip-clubs, big-ballers and shot-callers. Now, Raven's shuffling through more men than a Vegas blackjack dealer does a deck of cards. And sex has even become mundane -- little more than a tool to get what she wants.
After a famous acquaintance winds-up dead -- On which shoulder will Raven lean? A wrong choice could cost her life! There's a reason they call it HOTATLANTA!
"The perfect follow-up to Krakauer's riveting account of a per! fect storm."
--Miami Herald
"Kodas's absorbing description of the narrow moral compass governing human interaction at the top of the world is bound to shock both armchair adventurers and seasoned mountaineers."
--Chicago Tribune
"(Kodas) discovered more deceit, thievery, and double-crossing among his climbers than you find in a Martin Scorsese gangster film. High Crimes is both an adventure story and an exposé of a sport riddled with danger and corruption."
--Washington Post Book World
"Kodas's descriptions of the struggles confronting even the best-prepared climbers leave the reader breathless."
--Dallas Morning News
"[High Crimes] is hair-raising and lays bare the excitement and fear that face great explorers at the top of the world. . . . Well written, and as deftly plotted as the finest mystery novel, Kodas brings to life a disturbing picture of society at high alti! tude."
--Austin Chronicle
"Kodas doe! s an exc ellent job exposing the ways in which money and ego have corrupted the traditional cultures of both mountaineers and their Sherpa guides. . . . His narrative is as hard to turn away from as a slow-motion train wreck."
--Publishers Weekly
High Crimes is journalist Michael Kodas's gripping account of life on top of the world--where man is every bit as deadly as Mother Nature.
Witless Protection also benefits from some oddball casting. Yaphet Kotto costars as FBI Agent Alonzo Mosely (the name of his character in the classic Midnight Run). Peter Stormare, the silent, creepy kidnapper in Fargo, portrays a corrupt businessman with an unaccountable British accent. In a baffling cameo, Joe Mantegna seems to be channeling Strother Martin, while Jenny McCarthy serves up some sass as Larry's waitress girlfriend, nuff said, and a game Eric Roberts is a goon who butts heads with Larry in an epic fight scene. Some j! okes are stale (Larry dredges up Regis Philbin's Who Wants to Be a Millionaire catch-phrase), while others are current enough to reference Michael Vick and Angelina Jolie. It is a sign of artistic growth that Larry does not utter his own signature catch-phrase, so we won't either. Witless Protection was released theatrically during Oscar weekend, when Hollywood celebrates supreme achievement in film. This is what is known in the business as counter-programming. --Donald LiebensonStudio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 09/02/2008 Run time: 85 minutes Rating: PgBait Shop stars the eternally affable yet exasperated comedian Bill Engvall as Bill Dugan, owner of a homey but smalltime bait shop. Bill's job and self-respect are threatened when arrogant fishing celebrity Hot Rod Johnson (Billy Ray Cyrus, better known as Miley's dad) opens a massive fishing superstore right next door. Only by challenging Hot Rod in a bass fishing tournament can Bil! l set things right! Bait Shop is a bundle of clumsy cli! ches mad e somewhat tolerable by a likable cast (including outlaw country music singer Billy Joe Shaver as Bill's mentor) and an enthusiastic performance by Cyrus, who clearly enjoys being the bad guy for once. High points include Bill having a bar fight while dressed in a fish costume and Bill wrestling an obviously rubber bass into his boat. There are many declarations about how fishing used to be more pure and how friendship is the most important thing in life. Extras include a standard-issue making-of documentary, some beautiful shots of the local landscape (which, inexplicably, never got used in the movie itself), some understandably deleted scenes and some scenes of the cast goofing around. All in all, not much effort was put into making either the movie or the DVD. --Bret Fetzer
