I am a big fan of Pixar’s movies. They can tell a good story and also create extremely beautiful animations at the same time. In other words, what is there not to like?

For the sequel to Cars, Cars 2, Pixar has chosen to create a children’s version of James Bond, well maybe not quite, a British agent movie is maybe a better description. But this time they do not succeed with the storyline, which is too weak. It may be entertaining for really young children, but for 12-year-olds it will be too childish. For us even older “children” there is nothing entertaining about the story. Too bad.

However, the animation is INCREDIBLY beautiful, but it is not enough to save the movie.

The movie is worth seeing for the young audience that liked the first Cars movie, but it is not a great choice if the whole family wants to watch a movie.

This past weekend it was finally time to see The Adventures of Tintin. Wow! You could tell in every frame of the movie that the creators really love the characters!

Storyline

Tintin is dragged into a wild treasure hunt when he buys a model ship at a flea market. The ship turns out to contain one of the three clues that lead to a sunken treasure. But there are others also looking for the treasure and they will do anything to find it first.

Highest Rating

It is almost impossible to make a better Tintin movie than this! I really hope that more will follow.

Translator’s note: The movie has been released in Europe, and will continue to be released in additional countries Nov 2011 – Jan 2012.

Right now you can get Double Exposure by Michael Lister as an ebook FREE from Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

For those of us not living in the US: I don’t know if international customers can create an account at B&N (I have never tried it myself). But I do have an Amazon Kindle account (and I live in Sweden) so I know that that works! And I am able to read my Kindle books in the Kindle app on my iPhone and iPad (it is also available for Android).

Imagine that someone could investigate the past during eight minutes. The person in question experiences these eight minutes for real and can interact with his/her environment (and influence how the eight minutes play out). But it is not a question about time traveling; when the eight minutes have passed the changes made have not influenced the future.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays a former pilot, who is sent back to the past to figure out who was responsible for a bomb that exploded on a passenger train earlier in the day. The time pressure is immense because they suspect the person is planning an even bigger attack soon.

During each trip Jake has eight minutes to find clues. If he does not succeed he is sent back to the same eight minutes, over and over again… During his trips he cannot help but starting to like the passengers on the train, who all will (or rather have) died. Jake starts to wonder whether or not he could actually do something to save these people…

Really Good

This is a really smart and warm movie. The storyline may sound technical and weird when it is described in a few sentences, but the movie is above all an exciting thriller and love story.

Source Code is one of the best movies I have watched this year. I really recommend it!

We visited the publishing company Kalla Kulor to meet the author Hans-Olov Öberg whose latest crime novel was recently published in Sweden.

We ask why he became an author. He tells us that his interest in the written word started early. He learned how to read when he was three years old.

“The neighbor’s six-year-old daughter was learning how to read and I sat next to her and happened to learn it at the same time.”

During his first years in elementary school Hans-Olov started to write stories featuring knights.

“But they weren’t that good,” he adds.

A few years later he and a friend started exchanging crime stories that they had written themselves.

“The stories were humoristic with a hint of parody, but it was a start. I finished my first manuscript when I was on paternity leave, and in hindsight I was lucky that no one wanted to publish it.”

However, Hans-Olov received a lot of useful feedback. He found out that his language was funny and easy to read, but that he needed to learn how to structure the story. He ended up taking a writing class, where one of his classmates were the then unknown Åsa Larsson (!). After the writing class things fell into place and he has written eight crime novels now!

We also ask him what gave him the idea for his latest novel.

“I like to describe environments and then create a scenario that fits the environment and that’s how the latest novel started. I had the environment and had to sit down and figure out a scenario… Who would want to murder a choirboy?”

We cannot reveal the answer to why someone would want to murder the young singer, but the inspiration to the ”reason” is taken from reality and the author’s own childhood, even though it did not lead to a murder back then.

At last, we ask him if he can describe his writing with a few words.

Hans-Olov pauses and then answers: “Tempo, presence, passion, evil and issues with authority” and after thinking about it for a few more moments he adds: “I would like to change passion to a passion for wording!”

We thank Hans-Olov Öberg and wish him good luck with his latest novel (which really is a thriller you should not miss!)

His first novel is the first part of a trilogy about Benny Modigh and Elias Fagervik. The following two parts take place in the 80s and 90s.

The quality is not the same as the first two “Shrek” movies, neither when it comes to the animation nor the humor/storyline, but it is still definitely worth seeing!

It is an excellent choice for families with children, since it is appropriate for all ages.

One day Noah is observed by a mysterious woman. When he confronts her it turns out that she is an attorney and she wants his help with a case she is working on. Noah turns her down. But the attorney doesn’t give up. She has a trump card that she has not played yet; her client is Noah’s father. He is in prison serving a sentence for a double murder and is about to be executed. Noah has never had any contact with his father and does not know how to react. The attorney explains that the father, who has confessed to the murders, most likely is guilty. However, she has a feeling that there is something he has not told her, maybe something that could save his life.

Noah is finally persuaded to at least visit his father in prison to see if the father will tell him anything. The visit does not turn out the way he expected…and when Noah returns home he finds the female attorney murdered on the floor behind the couch… This is the beginning of a story where nothing is what it first seems.

The Beginning

The first part of the novel feels very original, and it had a thick veil of melancholy, which really lifted the story! The beginning is nothing short of genius!

The Ending

Somewhere in the middle of the novel, it turns into a traditional action thriller. It is still both good and entertaining, but it is not on the same level as the beginning.

The novel is definitely worth reading! But I would not recommend it to anyone who wants a happy ending!

Earlier on TheCrimeHouse

A Guest Post from Liquid Smoke Author Jeff Shelby

The novel (Swedish title: Djävulens tonsteg) takes place in Västerås, Sweden at the end of 1978 (which happens to be the year I was born).

Jimmy, a member of the local boys’ choir, disappears without a trace one evening just before rehersal. He is found brutally murdered in the church the following day.

Who could have done it? A lunatic, a fellow student jealous of Jimmy’s talent? Or could the boy have ties to the criminal world?

The police have few clues. Inspector Benny Modigh gets help from unexpected places, from a journalist (Annelie Fri) and from one of the murdered boy’s classmates (Elias Fagervik).

Down To Earth

If I had to describe the novel in a few words it would be ”down to earth”. The novel is in a way very simple, but why make things difficult?!

The parts where we get to follow young Elias Fagervik (I think he was in 6th grade) feel very real and contribute to an original atmosphere, which really makes the story unique.

Also, I have not read many novels where the author succeeds in making a great book even better in the last ten sentences. Wow!

Highest Score

We are not giving scores at TheCrimeHouse, but if we did this one would have received the highest score!

I saved the best for last; this novel is the first independent part of a trilogy.

Dr. Martin Harris (played by Liam Neeson) travels with his wife to Berlin to give a lecture at a large conference. While the wife is checking in at the hotel, Martin discovers that they have forgotten one of their suitcases at the airport. He jumps in a cab to go back and look for it. There is an accident on the way to the airport. Martin ends up in a coma and it takes four days before he wakes up. He then discovers that another man has taken his spot and claims to be Dr. Martin Harris. When “our” Martin sees his wife and she also claims that the “new” Dr. Martin Harris is her husband and that she never has met “our” Martin before we have the prelude to an entertaining and action-packed story.

An Ok Movie

The movie is entertaining even though the storyline may be a bit thin. The entire storyline is built around one “shocking” twist. But if you are looking for an exciting thriller it is a very good choice. The movie also contain one of the most choreographed car chased I have ever seen, unreal but beautiful! The movie is definitely worth seeing if you like thrillers.

PS. “Unknown” is so much better than Neeson’s thriller “Taken” from 2009.

AMC’s The Killing could have been among the best crime shows ever! As it turns out, however,  it will have to settle for just being a good (and unfortunately also uneven) show.

The Show

The killing is basically a 13-episode show about ONE murder and that is really just spreading the story thin.

The Cast

The Cast is amazing. Joel Kinnaman, Bill Campbell, Michelle Forbes are all great. And let’s not forget Mireille Enos who plays Sarah Linden; she is absolutely brilliant!

Nevertheless, not even a spectacular cast can completely save a series (or should I say season as the show has been picked up for a second season) that is at least twice as long as it should have been.