Posted by Nicholas at February 21, 2007 12:39 AMIn poor old Hollywood, it's pretty much the Brit-hit franchises that are keeping the floundering movie business afloat. If I were some bratty all-American moppet, I think I'd be feeling a bit oppressed by cultural imperialism. At school, you're told it's a wonderful multiculti world and have to sit through Swahili dirges for Kwanza and all the other Ramadan-a-ding-dongs, and then you get to the multiplex and every multi-billion-dollar kids' series features English schoolboys, and even when they're disguised as hobbits or fauns in Narnia they still live on toasted crumpets and elderberry tea and such. It can't be long before some studio exec starts mulling over a boffo convergence along the lines of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Wardrobe. Indeed, given that the most successful grown-up franchise is also British, I would have skipped Daniel Craig and opted for Harry Potter as the new Bond, with Aslan as M and Bilbo as Q.
Mark Steyn, "Bewitched by Boarding Schools", Macleans, 2007-02-15
Posted by: Jon at February 21, 2007 10:40 AM"Ben is convinced his spring vacation has been ruined by his social studies teacher's assignment -- a week's volunteer service for a community charity. Haunted by something dark in his own past, Ben chooses to work at Sidewalk's End, a daycare centre for homeless children. When Ben believes he sees Batista, one of the Sidewalk's End kids, being abused by his mother at a grocery store, he is frustrated by his inability to get the authorities to act to protect the child."After that summary, would you want to read the book? Would you want to read any book, ever?
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