Opinion

What could be a better way to start off the long weekend than with popcorn and greasy aliens from outer space?

Filled with complex characters with secrets from their pasts, Emily St. John Mandel's third novel, "The Lola Quartet," revolves around the simple, yet compelling, concept that one decision can have lasting echoes far into the future.

Aliens, explosions, and kids' toys ... well, the popcorn was fresh, at least.

Two years after the destruction of the World Trade Center towers, a jury is selected to choose a memorial design. Amy Waldman's provocative novel "The Submission" examines our prejudices and fears surrounding one of the most traumatic events in American history.

Director Tim Burton takes on the legendary vampire soap opera "Dark Shadows" in this remake with Johnny Depp and Eva Green -- we just had to look ...

Set in apartheid South Africa, Malla Nunn's mystery novel "A Beautiful Place To Die" examines the injustice of the laws that governed racial discrimination, unveiled by a murder investigation.

Yes, we noticed that we were dead in the water for a week! Now we're back ...

With high hopes and lots of popcorn, Bernie and Sand skip merrily off to the theater for this long-awaited animated film.

A Russian fairy tale forms the core of Eowyn Ivey's novel, "The Snow Child," a story of grief and recovery.

Who wouldn't love to read the memoirs of a woman who can't resist dressing up dead weasels?

"We cannot detach ourselves from our biology or from the world in which we live." High praise for "Birds of a Lesser Paradise" by Megan Mayhew Bergman.

The immigrant experiences of hope, struggle, and the search for a better life color the stories of Sana Krasikov in her book "One More Year."

Seeking chuckles and popcorn, the pair of movie reviewers hit the first showing of "Mirror, Mirror."

New York City, 1845 -- the city must build a police force to stop the rise in crime, and a mysterious child-killer. Wendy Robards reviews Lyndsay Faye's novel, "The Gods of Gotham."

Sand has read the "Hunger Games" trilogy; Bernie has not. How will that affect their perceptions of this blockbuster movie?

Author Alex George explores how we define our families, and how they shape us in his debut novel, "A Good American."

Stephen King tackles one of the most infamous days in the Twentieth Century in his weighty novel about time travel and the assassination of JFK.

On a fine spring day when it was too cool to sit in the sunshine, Bernie and Sand go to Mars instead.

Esi Edugyan places her characters in the volatile world of jazz in 1939 in the novel, "Half-Blood Blues."

A silent film in 2012? A black and white silent film? What can this movie possibly have to attract moviegoers?

Nicci French's new series of psychological thrillers begins with "Blue Monday."

Bernie Pilarski reviews "The New Man," a collection of essays about the nature of man, by Thomas Merton.

An Olympic rower hopeful is found dead. Wendy Robards reviews the mystery, "No Mark Upon Her," by Deborah Crombie.

Wendy Robards reviews Gin Phillips' second novel, "Come In and Cover Me," a story of grief and the enigmas of archeology.

Off to the movies for breakfast popcorn, and the comedic "This Means War!"

A novel informed by the Rwandan Genocide, "Running the Rift," by Naomi Benaron, gets high approval in Wendy Robards' review.

Sand and Bernie go for the popcorn, not the movie, but stop crunching, drawn into the super-powers story, "Chronicle."

Wendy Robards reviews the novel, "The Invisible Ones," by Stef Penney, about an investigation into the disappearance of a Romany girl in England.

Sand and Bernie go to see "Haywire," but only for the popcorn, not for the action, and certainly not for the woman. "What woman?" Bernie asks.

Wendy Robards reviews the book "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell. Alligator wrestling? Ghosts? You may find them in this book.