Review: Night at the Museum 3

There is a serious law of diminishing returns with these Night at the Museum films. The first one was cute, the second was okay and this third installment seems to be living out its own plot – losing the magic altogether.

The basic premise of all these films is there’s a magic tablet which, for some reason, when the sun goes down imbues non-living things with life. This isn’t a case of bringing things back from the dead (although that does happen), no, this is a case of anything around is suddenly moving. Continue reading “Review: Night at the Museum 3” →

Review: Revival

Revival by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There’s something to be said for Stephen King. Actually, there’s a lot to be said for him and the main thing is “the guy can write.” He has a way of creating characters you instantly know and his books (both good and bad) are eminently readable. You can whiz through a King novel, even the big ones, in no time. The pages seem to turn themselves. And for the most part, if you can stop about 20 pages before the end, you’ll think King is the greatest writer this generation has ever seen. Continue reading “Review: Revival” →

Cultural Icons’ Favorite Books – Flavorwire

Cultural Icons’ Favorite Books – Flavorwire.

This is a fascinating list. At a cursory glance, Catcher in the Rye seems to be the book mentioned most often. There are a number of Science Fiction fans (And I’ve fallen madly for Olivia Munn merely because of her choice, which is in my top ten). I think some of these are rather pretentious, feeling like what they shouldbe reading as opposed to what they actually enjoy.

For me, Lamb, by Christopher Moore, would be on the list, as would Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides. The Sun Also Rises is amazing but really shouldn’t be read before you’ve had your first real break-up. So many great books out there…

But what about you? What’s your favorite book?

Review: 30 Days in the Word Mines

30 Days in the Word Mines by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun, easy to read kick in the pants for aspiring writers. I read it as a possible text for my creative writing class.

The conceit here, especially coming as it does at the start of this year’s NaNoWriMo, is that Wendig, a prolific author and blogger, will guide you through 30 days of writing. It’s a good conceit. It works and I can certainly see how reading a chapter a day at the start of your writing will give you a nice little push for the day’s word count. And Wendig is a fun teacher, the kind you always wish you had in school. He curses, goes off on tangents, and generally doesn’t feed you any bullshit. This is a good thing. There’s not a lot of padding here. reading it straight through took less than an hour. And while none of his advice is particularly new or inventive, it’s presented in a fresh way and he does offer some insight befitting his “I’m a professional, I’ve been doing this for a while” credentials.

What this isn’t, however, is a book for base beginners. He gives solid advice, yes, but with no explanation or tutorial. It’s like trying to learn plumbing without knowing what the wrenches are called. Once you have the basics, this is a wonderful way to push yourself through a month of writing.

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Review: Spider-Man: The Sinister Six Trilogy

Spider-Man: The Gathering of the Sinister Six by Adam-Troy Castro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually read a prose version of an actual comic character which wasn’t a novelization of a film (I read the original Superman novel back in the 70s) but I love comics (and this book was written by Adam-Troy Castro, an acquaintance) so I figured I’d give it a shot. Continue reading “Review: Spider-Man: The Sinister Six Trilogy” →

Review: Lock In

Lock In by John Scalzi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lock In is an easy book to get through. I listened to the Wil Wheaton audio version (I’m specifying narrators for a reason I’ll get to in a second) and like most of the John Scalzi books Wheaton has given voice to, this one flew by. It was a fairly easy story to follow, even with all the tech speak, and was wrapped up in a nice, accessible way. There weren’t too many surprises and everyone gets what the deserve by the end. Like I said, easy. Continue reading “Review: Lock In” →

What’s good for actors (may also be good for writers)

Quora: What Are Some of the Telltale Signs of a Bad Actor?.

There’s some great advice here for actors, both in your own performance or in watching/evaluating another’s performance.

That said, as a writer, I think there’s an awful lot to be said for some of these observations. The ability to reveal yourself on the page, to make your characters face uncomfortable situations and honestly deal with truths is what will define a good character and by extension, make you a better writer.

Mostly, I’m posting this for me to remember. One of the hardest things for me is to be cruel to my characters, to let them not be nice people, to put them in circumstances where the easy thing to do might be the least honorable.

Review: 105 Creative Writing Exercises for the Obese Writer

105 Creative Writing Exercises for the Obese Writer by Ben Hicks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While the concept here is fine, it’s not really worth the $2.99 price tag. Basically, its a list of writing prompts, organized into almost arbitrary categories with “witty” introductions.

You can find most of these online for free but I’d be willing to spend .99¢ for the organizational effort.

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Review: Walking on Sunshine

When you watch Walking on Sunshine one thing seems obvious: The budget lines for the music rights and locations were by far the largest numbers on the spreadsheet. This isn’t to say the film is bad. It’s exactly what you expect a film with the tag line “If you liked Mamma Mia!, you’ll love this” to be. It’s a plot barely held together with connecting 80s music set against the backdrop of Puglia, Italy, a beautiful seaside village.

Of course, the reason this film isn’t compared to the equally 80s Rock of Ages is because it’s a much lighter film with much peppier message. So Mamma Mia! it is and the opening confirms what we’re in for. Continue reading “Review: Walking on Sunshine” →

Review: Chef

Chef, Jon Favreau‘s return to the smaller films which initially made his career, is a (insert complimentary food pun here). It’s been 13 years since he last wrote and directed something (Made (2001)) and his return to full on creative control is a little bit miss but mostly a lot of hit. Continue reading “Review: Chef” →

Review: Shambling Towards Hiroshima

Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James K. Morrow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I admit it, here, now and of my own free will, I love monster movies. I love the good ones and the bad ones and I most certainly love the classics. Evidently, so does James K. Morrow. This book is a love letter to the monster films of the Hollywood of the 30s and 40s, the ones starring Karloff and Lugosi, Lorre and Chaney. And Syms J. Thorley.

Who?

Continue reading “Review: Shambling Towards Hiroshima” →

14 Brilliant Pieces of Literature You Can Read in the Time it Takes to Eat Lunch – PolicyMic

14 Brilliant Pieces of Literature You Can Read in the Time it Takes to Eat Lunch – PolicyMic.

Often attributed to Hemingway, the quintessential shortest story ever is “For sale, baby shoes. Never worn.” 6 words and you get a complete tale. The shortest horror story ever, attributed to Fredric Brown, is “The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock at the door.” For a few years, several friends of mine (in particular Gregory Crosby and Troy Darling) wrote 13 word horror stories around the time of Halloween.

All of this is to say that a piece of literature doesn’t have to be long in order to be brilliant – as pointed out by the recent article PolicyMic. In it they list “14 Brilliant Pieces of Literature” which are all short enough to be read after you polish off a sandwich but before you have to get back to whatever it is you’re meant to be doing. More importantly, they provide links on where to find them for free.

So here ya go, lunch time reading for the next three work weeks (You can take that last Friday off, you deserve it).

Then come back and tell me what you think. Any you particularly liked? Any you didn’t?

Enquiring minds want to know.

On Film Reviews

Over the last few days, I’ve been migrating old film reviews from the site they were originally on (and where they still reside) onto this here blog. I’m in the process, over the course of the next few months or so, of trying to get all my online writing in one place and this seemed like a good place to start. But the point is that while I was doing this, I had the chance to revisit about 70 or so reviews from april 2007-april 2008. It was interesting. There were films which I really loved which even this short amount of history has proven ultimately forgettable while other films I didn’t care for have become fondly remembered. Continue reading “On Film Reviews” →

Old Reviews

For about a year, from April 2007 – April 2008 (okay, so exactly a year) I wrote movie reviews for a website called FirstShowing.net. They are still going strong and doing some good stuff, but since I’ve got my blog up and running, I figured I’d migrate those reviews over here. So for the next week or so, you may see that I’m posting reviews of movies which are 6-7 years old. Sorry. But If you’re interested in seeing what I thought of the films of that era, feel free to click the link. All of those reviews will be tagged with the FirstShowing tag so they’ll be easy to find and each will include a link at the bottom to the original review so you can see all of the original user comments. The comments on my review of There Will Be Blood are priceless!

Review: The Angriest Man in Brooklyn

Phil Alden Robinson, who wrote and directed Field of Dreams and Sneakers more than 20 years ago, is back behind the lens after a 12 year hiatus (his last film was The Sum of All Fears) . This time around, he’s helming The Angriest Man in Brooklyn and the question you have to ask yourself is what was it about this film that drew him out of seclusion?

Maybe it was the cast? Led by Robin Williams (in a non-bearded role so the general assumption is this is a comedy) and supported by Peter Dinklage, James Earl Jones and Mila Kunis, a cast like that might have piqued his interest. Williams always has potential, Kunis looks pretty and Dinklage is incredibly hot at the moment. Jones doesn’t really count since Robinson tends to cast him in everything he does, almost like a good luck talisman. Continue reading “Review: The Angriest Man in Brooklyn” →

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