I heard a rumor flying around Hollywood years ago, that Beverly Hills Cop was originally written for Sylvester Stallone. As the story goes, Stallone liked the basic story well enough but, you know, being an Academy Award nominated writer, he felt he had to put his own take on things and so re-wrote it extremely, turning the comedy into the action film Cobra. The original went on to be successful on its own with Eddie Murphy. This illustrates the idea, well trod ground in a number of screen and creative writing handbooks, that one way of being creative is to take an idea and swap genres with it. Danny DeVito did it with Throw Momma From the Train and now Tom Cruise and Doug Liman are doing it with Edge of Tomorrow. Continue reading “Review: Edge of Tomorrow”
Category: Reviews
Review: Godzilla
While Godzilla isn’t necessarily a good film, it’s not a bad film either. In fact, I’d venture to say it’s not even just one film. I’d say it’s two films, each serving a different purpose with a different result. The first film, the one with the character development and real story, is at the beginning. This is the part where Bryan Cranston (Joe Brody) is actually the star he is being touted as. This is a short film about a father and son dealing with a familial tragedy. It starts 15 years in the past when Brody is the chief at a nuclear power plant in Japan when something goes horribly, tragically wrong. Then, when we hit present day, it really blossoms into a smaller film, a story about redemption and forgiveness and what it means to be both a parent and a child, often in relation to the same person. This is NOT a monster film. This is a more intimate social drama.
Review: My Life as a White Trash Zombie
My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I know it’s weird to get a book you don’t think you’re going to enjoy but we all do that from time to time, don’t we? Like going to see a bad movie specifically so we can tear it apart. It’s a like a whetstone for our critical senses, just something we can use to hone our wits and bring out the kind of absurd criticisms which are normally reserved for James Cameron films. A couple of times, this has completely backfired on me. I walked in to Evil Dead 2 with my sarcastic bon mots ready and walked out a fan for life of Sam Raimi. The same happened here. Continue reading “Review: My Life as a White Trash Zombie”
Review: Trust Me
I like Clark Gregg the actor. Seriously, what’s not to like? Granted, I only have a limited exposure to him, mostly through his Marvel Cinematic Universe work as Agent Phil Coulson (Okay, and his two episodes in Sports Night were quite amazing). It doesn’t hurt he often plays likable characters, even his portrayal of badasses is tinged with a genial good guy vibe. He comes across as the kind of guy who, while he might not lend you fifty bucks, at least he’d feel really bad about not lending it to you.
Who I didn’t know before catching this film was Clark Gregg the writer and director. And to be fair, I like him almost as much as the actor. Maybe even more. This is the first time we’re getting the whole Gregg package, too. Yes. he’s written and directed a film before, but that was an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk‘s Choke. Gregg’s last foray into an original screenplay was for Zemeckis‘ What Lies Beneath, in which Gregg didn’t even appear as an actor. But with Trust Me, we get the complete vision, and wow, was it worth waiting for. Continue reading “Review: Trust Me”
Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
One of the things I enjoy about John Green’s work is that he absolutely does not believe in the Hollywood ending. This isn’t to say he believes in sad, depressing endings, far from it, but he doesn’t believe in the ending we’d come to expect from non-genre YA books. The ending of a John Green book (I’ve read 2.5 so far – this one being the .5 since it’s a co-write) gives the characters a reasonable resolution while not catering to convention or kowtowing to convenience. The other things I enjoy about his works are the complexity and extra-dimensionality of his characters. Now, I’m not saying they’re perfect books, but as someone far removed from the lives and ages of his characters, I can find something in them to identify with. Continue reading “Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson”
Review: Noah
Walking out of Noah, Darren Aronofsky‘s new film about the biblical seaman who saved 2 of every living creature so he could replenish the Earth after it was laid waste by god’s vengeance I thought if I had to describe the film in one word, that word would be “ic.” As a film, the music was bombastIC, the storytelling was didactIC and the overall filmmaking pedantIC. So yeah, -ic would be a good way to describe it. This is certainly not what I was expecting from the director of Black Swan or Requiem for a Dream. Granted, I wasn’t expecting much, but this was even less than that.
Review: Pwned
Pwned by Christa Charter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In Pwned, Christa Charter once again brings Sexy Sleuth Lexy Cooper to life with a mystery following hot on the heels of her initial outing, Schooled. Once again, Lexy is dragged into a mystery set amidst the high-tech world of video game systems. This time, Lexy gets involved because her paramour, Nate, the married father she can’t stay away from, calls and asks her to check on a member of the team who should be at the airport about to head for Japan… but isn’t. Ever the dutiful “friend,” Lexy heads over only to discover the guy dead on the kitchen floor, a single stab wound to the chest. Continue reading “Review: Pwned”
Review: Her
Anyone who says Spike Jonze‘s latest film, Her, is only marginally science fiction doesn’t understand the genre. It’s a remarkable piece punctuated by subtle, spot on performances, especially by Joaquin Phoenix and a beautiful meditation on what it means to be human in a digital age.
The plot centers around Theodore, a writer of personalized letters for other people at the company HandwrittenPersonalizedLetters.com (which, really, is a brilliant idea and one which deserves its own exploration). He’s very good at what he does, able to reach inside and pull out the best of people he’s never met based on a few snippets of information and maybe a photograph or two. Continue reading “Review: Her”
Review: Perfect Pitch
Perfect Pitch by Mindy Klasky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
My initial disclaimer here is I was given this book by the author, Mindy Klasky, as a “thank you” for helping out with something else and she asked if I were to review it, to give it an honest review. That’s fair. Although my personal thoughts, generally, are that if I have nothing good to say, why say anything at all. My secondary disclaimer is that I’ve never read a romance before and baseball is not one of my favorite sports. And yet, here I am, writing a review about a baseball themed romance novel to which I gave 4 stars.
The reason is simple: I enjoyed it. Continue reading “Review: Perfect Pitch”
Review: The Stepsister Scheme
The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There’s something nice about using classic characters as protagonists in your own books. Here Jim C. Hines uses Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and, of course, Cinderella, to create a fun caper with the wicked step-sisters as the antagonists. By using the classics, though, he automatically sets up expectations in our minds and so when he confounds those expectations, we’re doubly surprised. Continue reading “Review: The Stepsister Scheme”
Review: Captain America-The Winter Soldier
Captain America: The Winter Soldier couldn’t be more “ripped from the headlines” if it were an episode of Law & Order. On top of that, it delivers on most every promise it sets up and it does it without pandering to the audience and providing some pretty good action and enough plot to keep it all going.
In general, the film takes place a little while after the incident in New York, as explained in the Marvel Cinematic Universe production of The Avengers. Here, Cap (Chris Evans) is still adjusting to life in the present day after being frozen for 70 years and trying to understand the world as it is… And that’s actually the point of the whole film.
Continue reading “Review: Captain America-The Winter Soldier”
Review: Doctor Who: Dead Air
Doctor Who: Dead Air by James Goss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I just don’t think I like Doctor Who books all that much. The story on this one wasn’t too bad, had some interesting ideas but it certainly feels different than the show. The other, rather weird, thing about this particular story is it was read by David Tennant, the 10th Doctor himself. Except when he was reading the Doctor’s lines, he didn’t sound like the Doctor. He did when he was reading narration, but the actual dialogue it felt like he was using a put on voice. Very odd.
I’ve listened to other Doctor Who stories read by him and they were fine. I realize this one involves a monster who eats sound and can mimic voices, so Tennant might have been making a conscious choice, but still, sounds strange.
Review: The Serpent of Venice
The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the Serpent of Venice, Christopher Moore once again visits the physical world of Pocket the fool and the literary world of William Shakespeare (with a slight touch of Edgar Allan Poe thrown in for good measure). This time around, instead of King Lear, the source material is a mash-up of Othello and The Merchant of Venice, only set in the late 13th century and Pocket is embroiled in a battle to save Venice from itself while at the same time, helping the course of true love… all while dealing with his own depression over the loss of his queen Cordelia. Oh yeah, and there’s some sort of sea monster roaming around the Venetian canals wrecking havoc an death on whatever comes across its path. Continue reading “Review: The Serpent of Venice”
Review: Ringworld
Ringworld by Larry Niven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Like a majority of Niven’s books, this focuses more on the concept than any type of tangible story. We get really cool technology, awesome aliens, some pretty cool thought experiments but at the end of the day, there’s really not much more than that.
And that’s okay. Continue reading “Review: Ringworld”
Review: Knights of Badassdom
I’ll be honest, I’ve been dying to see the Knights of Badassdom since I first about it. I mean, seriously, what’s not to love? It’s got Peter Dinklage, Steve Zahn, Danny Pudi, Joshua Malina and Summer Glau with Ryan Kwanten in a lead role and Tom Hopper as a completely over the top gamer. There is enough geek cred here to make a Wil Wheaton blog post jealous and the trailer was just over the top enough to keep my interest piqued.
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 