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Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Martin Lawrence, Debra Messing
The animals of the forest are in a panic - open season starts in three days, and they will probably end up on some huntsman's wall by the end of it. Far away from all of this, Boog the domesticated grizzly bear lives with a forest ranger (Debra Messing) and stars in the ranger's show. But when Boog meets Elliot, everything is turned upside down when a late-night escapade earns Boog banishment to the great outdoors. With open season just days away, can Elliot, Boog, and their forest friends survive?
This is your classic kid-comedy movie storyline: Happy main character gets dragged out of their comfort zone by another happy, occasionally stupid, character. The two begin to trust each other until some catastrophe happens or a secret is revealed that causes them to part ways while a sad song plays in the background. Then, they band together to fight, their differences forgotten. It's not a particularly original script (and sometimes a crude one, too - a homosexuality joke and several names for the toilet pop up), but the best thing about Season is the animation. It paints a great picture of a Pacific Northwest-sort of place, and is very funny. This film has its funny moments (and most of them involve Ashton Kutcher's character Elliott - Kutcher is the other redeeming quality of this movie), but all in all I found it just...okay.
Star Rating: **1/2

By: Tamora Pierce
In this much-awaited prequel to Tamora Pierce's Tortall serieses, we meet Beka Cooper, the great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother to George Cooper, Alanna's sweetheart in the Song of the Lioness quartet. Beka is in the Provost Guard, also known as Provost's Dogs. She is a "Puppy", or trainee. Together with her training Dogs, Matthias Tunstall and Clara Goodwin, Beka attempts to track down a killer calling himself "The Shadow Snake".
For the first time, Tamora Pierce writes in first person and in a journal style. She shines just as much in this form, and no narrative seems to be lost here, except for maybe seeing the villainy over the shoulder of the villain, which is impossible to accomplish in journaling. Still, Terrier is suspenseful and exciting, and Beka is a fiesty, sympathetic character that we can all relate to in some way or another. Also making a guest appearance is the cat Pounce, who bears an eerily similar resemblance to Alanna's cat familiar Faithful.
I hope to see more excellent writing like this in the Beka Cooper quarter. Tamora Pierce has wowed us again!