Book Retorts
Latest Episodes
Rock & Rule
This week Sam brings Danielle the 1983 animated rock adventure film Rock & Rule. In the distant future, mutant animals have taken over the planet, and they only want one thing: To rock out! Well, most of them do. Semi-retired super-rocker Mok (who loo
Sleepless in Seattle
This week Danielle brings Sam the classic 1993 Nora Ephron movie Sleepless in Seattle. Sam, the Tom Hanks character henceforth referred to as Tom to avoid confusion, recently lost his wife. In his grief, he decides it's a good idea to move him and his eig
Crater
This week Sam brings on the Disney with the 2023 direct to streaming movie Crater. In the not too distant future, humanity has just gotten kind of bored with Earth and decided to invest everything in a new planet Omega. This movie is not about that, inste
Thumbelina
This week Danielle brings Sam the 1994 Don Bluth animated feature Thumbelina. In past France, of an indeterminate time ago, a lonely woman secures a magic barley corn which grows a flower which, in turn, an adolescent girl pops out of fully formed but jus
Moonfall
This week Sam crashes to Earth with the 2022 Roland Emmerich film Moonfall. During a routine satellite repair missionwhich astronaut Halle Berry (Sam forgot her character name) went on instead of her honeymoonthings go terribly wrong. A mysterious goo c
Janie Face to Face
This week Danielle concludes the Janie series with the 2013 Caroline B. Cooney novel Janie Face to Face. Janie is headed off to college and wants to use that as an opportunity to assert her independence from her family. She does this by only going back to
Warriors of Virtue 2: The Return to Tao
This week the kangafus are back as Sam brings the 2002 movie Warriors of Virtue 2: The Return to Tao. What becomes most apparent in this episode is how bad of and idea it was for Sam not to prepare by listening to the previous Warriors of Virtue episode a
Book Reshorts: But What Do They Think 2: Thinking Boogaloo
This week Danielle brings back the game But What Do They Think, where she presents reviews to Sam and he tries to guess what media piece they're about. It goes about as you'd expect, which is to say it's a struggle, but the real gold is all the amazing, a
Book Reshorts: Panic! at the Recall
This week Danielle has devised a game to test how well our hosts remember the media they've already shared. With the task to summarize their media piece in one minute or less, it's no surprise that things go hilariously wrong as Danielle and Sam struggle
What Janie Found
This week Danielle is back to finish (kind of) the Janie series with the 2000 Caroline B. Cooney book What Janie Found. Janie's back and more teen than ever! While rifling through her father's office (he had a heart attack/stroke, don't worry about it) sh