Reviews - SF Movie and Fantasy Book

The movie: Red Planet about the first manned mission to Mars in 2050. Interesting, a fairly decent attempt at real science for most of it. Never quite manages to achieve real depth or tension despite having decent special effects and actors. Has a really neat robot and the visuals of Mars are quite well done. My Grade: C-/C

The book: Empire of Ivory, the 4th in the Temeraire series of Dragons during the Napoleonic wars. Sadly the weakest of the series, while still a good read, the story had some problems that deeply troubled me. My Grade: B-