Scott Holleran » Books

Movie Review: Atlas Shrugged Part 2

Scott Holleran — Sat, 06 Oct 2012 01:36:00 +0000

Underwhelmed by last year’s unsuccessful Atlas Shrugged Part 1, I attended the premiere of the independent sequel Atlas Shrugged Part 2, scheduled to open on October 12 in 900 theaters according to its backer, with low expectations. The upshot: it is both better than the first film and inferior in quality to what Ayn Rand’s [...]

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Book Review: A Painted House by John Grisham

Scott Holleran — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 02:49:31 +0000

[March 25, 2001] John Grisham’s latest novel, a nostalgic coming of age tale, is an inviting story about rural life in Arkansas. Like his legal thrillers, A Painted House is filled with interesting characters in a particularly Southern setting ensnared by misdeeds that cry out for justice, though Grisham’s peculiar sense of justice is often [...]

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Books: Pakistan on the Brink

Scott Holleran — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:32:42 +0000

Shortly after 9/11, author Owen Bennett Jones observed in the introduction to his book, Pakistan: Eye of the Storm (Yale University Press, 2002): “Ever since its creation [by the United Nations in 1947], Pakistan’s political development has been turbulent and chaotic. The country has been under military rule for nearly half its existence. No elected [...]

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New Ayn Rand Exhibit at Chapman University

Scott Holleran — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 21:19:57 +0000

Attending a reception earlier this month to formally open an exhibit at Chapman University, “Celebrating the Drama and Philosophy of Ayn Rand”, I had the pleasure of being given an extensive and informative tour by Ayn Rand Archives curator Jeff Britting and was surprised to find new and interesting material about works with which I’m [...]

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Movie Review: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Scott Holleran — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 04:02:28 +0000

Director Lasse Hallstrom (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolat, An Unfinished Life) returns with another subtle depiction of one’s pursuit of happiness in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Best seen as the story of Fred, a burned out government fishing expert called upon to guide the title’s impossible goal, this movie marks a turning point in [...]

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Movie Review: Tomorrow, When the War Began

Scott Holleran — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:34:29 +0000

Based on the first installment in the 1990s novel series by John Marsden, Tomorrow, When the War Began may superficially bear a resemblance to Red Dawn. But it owes more in its thematic underpinnings to Nevil Shute’s classic post-nuclear Australian novel, On the Beach, which is sadly more relevant every day. This small, low-budget Australian [...]

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Interview with Richard Hatch

Scott Holleran — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:50:25 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a handsome prince of an actor named Richard Hatch. The year was 1970 and he was cast in a new ABC soap opera called All My Children. He went on to co-star in two other distinctive ABC series (The Streets of San Francisco and Battlestar Galactica) which would define [...]

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Books: Malcolm X by Manning Marable

Scott Holleran — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:46:56 +0000

In Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (Viking, 2011), Manning Marable (1950–2011) presents what appears to be a thorough and meticulous account of his subject, the assassinated black Moslem leader known as Malcolm X. That Marable, who unfortunately died days before the book’s publication, brings impressive credentials to his work – he was a professor [...]

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Happy 107th Birthday, Ayn Rand

Scott Holleran — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:47:24 +0000

On this date in 1905, Ayn Rand was born. She escaped slavery in Soviet Russia, came to America – to New York City, then Chicago and Los Angeles and back to New York City, where she died in 1982 – and wrote screenplays, best-selling novels, newspaper columns and plays consumed by millions. She challenged the [...]

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Movie Review: Ayn Rand & the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged

Scott Holleran — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:38:50 +0000

Surprisingly, there’s a lot I don’t like about the new Ayn Rand documentary, which I watched with a sold-out audience, including friends who worked on the 84-minute film, at a special screening at the ArcLight Hollywood last night. Because I know many of those who appear in or worked on it, I wanted to like [...]

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