The Entertainment Authority

This remake of the classic 1957 of the same name is wonderfully done. If you’re not a big Russell Crowe fan, and I’m usually not, this movie may just change your mind.

This movie is Directed by John Mangold of such as “Walk the Line”, “Girl Interrupted”, and “Cop land”, and was  written by Halsted Welles, and Michael Brandt. Both the original and remake are based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.

The story centers around Daniel Evans (Christian Bale), a down on his luck civil war veteran. Dan is being harassed about money he owes to Glen Hollender (Lennie Loftin), a couple of thugs of Glen’s set fire to the Evan’s family barn.

As if this wasn’t bad enough the next morning Dan comes to find his cattle have been stolen. Dan and his two sons go out to find the missing cattle. And stumble upon Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) and his gang robbing a stage coach.

Ben spots the Evans and takes their horses, promising Dan that he may find his horses on the road to Bisbee, AZ. Evans now knows where Wade and his gang are heading and decides to cash in on it. Dan joins a posse to capture and deliver Wade to the 3:10 train to Yuma. Dan will get paid C.O.D. and is thus tied to Wade through this adventure.

This movies shows some very deep acting by both Crowe and Bale! I’m not much of a western follower, and while I love the original, this movie does not disappoint.

Book Cover

This is a classic Wizards of the Coast (Formely TSR, 1989) Novel. Writen by Margaret Weis and Don Perrin. This novel takes place after The Soul Forge and shows the story of Caramon and Raistlin Majere’s journay through military training. This book add’s tremendious depth to Raistlin’s character and shows us signs of humility and even love.  

For military buff’s Perrin’s takes on military matter are wonderful! This story also covers a lot of ground in foreshadowing the stories of the DragonLance Chronicles and Legends series. Raistlin and Caramon enlist in the Mad Baron of Langtree’s Militia. While not a knight himself, the Baron is of a good heart and is seen as a generally acceptable person. Caramon naturally finds himself in the special forces unit of the infantry.

The twins are scheduled to march on the somewhat prophetically named town of “Hope’s End.” After a long but fairly unencumbered trip to Hope’s End(named for the hope river) the twins find themselves in the presence of an ugly looking army headed by a foul creature of a man. Raistlin also finds himself running into a fellow red robbed wizard Immolatus.

All is not as it seems as Kitiara uth Matar, the twins half sister shows up, and is working with Immolatus on the god’s know what. If you have not read the other series mentioned Soul Forge and this would be a great place to start. For those of you that have read the classics, this novel will not disappoint! I can’t say much more without giving away the plot, but this book will please all Weis fans, and I was pleased with Perrin’s takes, you can see and feel the influence throughout.