Web Digest Weekly/Reviews

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2009 debut album from the American Idol Season 8 winner. Kris Allen hails
from a town of less than 60,000, but his ability to captivate an audience of
millions has undoubtedly put him on the map. As nearly 100 million votes
were cast for the Season 8 finale, Kris Allen quickly became a household
name nationwide. This much-anticipated release features the first single Live
Like We're Dying. The song was a hit and the album is actually much better
than it has been given credit for since it first hit music stores. Tracks like
Can’t Stay Away, Lifetime, and Is It Over are all wonderful material for
Allen’s smooth vocals. Adam Lambert may have stolen Kris’ thunder but
with such a good product as Kris Allen, this AI winner just might stand the
chance of finding longevity in the industry. He just needs to find his mojo.
Keep it coming, Kris. Your talent is much too strong and much too
commercial to not nurture and grow.
Grade: A+

In this tour de force from bestseller Straub, four high school friends in 1966 Madison,
Wis.—Hootie Bly, Dilly Olson, Jason Boatman, and Lee Truax—fall under the spell
of charismatic wandering guru Spencer Mallon. During an occult ceremony in which
Mallon attempts to break through to a higher reality, something goes horribly awry
leaving one participant dead. Decades later, Lee's writer husband interviews the
quartet to find out what happened. In Roshomon-like fashion, each relates a slightly
different account of the trauma they experienced. Straub masterfully shows how the
disappointments, downturns, and failed promise of the four friends' lives may have
stemmed from this youthful experience, and suggests, by extension, that the malignant
evil they helped unleash into the world has tainted all hope ever since. Brilliant in its
orchestration and provocative in its speculations, this novel ranks as one of the finest
tales of modern horror. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed
Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Grade: A+

Michael Mann plays by his own rules. Public Enemies eschews back story and
motivation for a closely-observed, action-packed examination of men at work. FBI
supremo J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) kick-starts a nationwide manhunt when he
proclaims John Dillinger (Johnny Depp, in top form) Public Enemy #1. Hoover taps
Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to bring the Tommy Gun-toting bank robber in by
any means necessary (the agency also targets Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face
Nelson). If Dillinger had split the scene then and there, he might have enjoyed a happier
fate, but he falls for beautiful coat-check girl Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard, whose
open-hearted performance makes her the most sympathetic character in the film). In the
end, though, Dillinger is the captain of his own destiny: his loyalty to his girl and his gang
overpowers his desire to live free. Al Pacino's cop develops a grudging respect for
Robert De Niro's criminal, but letting a lawbreaker go free isn't an option. If Public
Enemies is less overtly commercial than The Untouchables or Bugsy, it's still the best
mainstream gangster epic in ages and ranks among Mann's finest works. --Kathleen C.
Fennessy
Grade: A+