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‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Black Fleet Crisis Book 3: Tyrant’s Test’ (1997) (Book review)

The final installment in Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s “Black Fleet Crisis” trilogy, “Tyrant’s Test” (1997), achieves a curious combination. Like the first two books, it’s quite readable,

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Taking a stand against plot holes, or: How the heck did Lester sneak back in to his hospital room?

On the May 20 episode of “Fargo,” we see the step-by-step process by which Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) breaks out of his hospital room, switching

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‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ balances epic scope with character drama

Although I prefer the “X-Men” movies with smaller casts, and especially those that focus in on one character (the Wolverine movies are the only examples

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‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Black Fleet Crisis Book 2: Shield of Lies’ (1996) (Book review)

The first thing you’ll notice about “Shield of Lies” (1996), the second book in Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s “Black Fleet Crisis” trilogy, is that it’s split into three

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‘Star Wars’ flashback: ‘The Black Fleet Crisis Book 1: Before the Storm’ (1996) (Book review)

Michael P. Kube-McDowell’s “Black Fleet Crisis” paperback trilogy, which starts with 1996’s “Before the Storm,” has so many common “Star Wars” elements that it blends in with

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‘Neighbors’ starts summer comedy season with modest collection of chuckles (Movie review)

“Neighbors” modestly kicks off the summer comedy season with a lot of smiles and chuckles but not many belly laughs. Perhaps a reflection of the mainstreaming

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‘Veronica Mars’ makes smooth transition to book form in ‘The Thousand Dollar Tan Line’ (Review)

Veronica Mars returns to her roots in more ways than one in her first novel, “The Thousand Dollar Tan Line,” continuing from the events of the movie,

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‘Wish I Was Here’ and 9 other movies John wouldn’t mind seeing this summer (Commentary)

Here are 10 movies I wouldn’t mind seeing this summer (especially if they’re playing in the cheap theater), in order of release date: (more…)

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‘Serenity’ soars, but are ‘Buffy’ and ‘Angel & Faith’ running out of ideas? (Comic book reviews)

This question has been creeping into the back of my mind throughout the “Buffy” franchise’s three seasons of official continuations from Dark Horse Comics, but

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Preston and Child intriguingly tap into Sherlock Holmes lore in ‘White Fire’ (Book review)

In their 13th Pendergast novel, “White Fire” (November 2013, hardcover), Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child indulge their love of Sherlock Holmes lore while also delivering what fans

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