Analyze This, 1999

I was strolling through the library and found the Analyze duo. So, the first one was entertaining - not stupendous, not rolling on the floor, not side-splitting. I do not think I even got past a good grin. Interesting story-line, and Deniro delivered a solid, rough character type as well as most of the mafia guys. Except, and this is a big one, except when Deniro cried. Yeah, I realize it was supposed to be counter to his character, but he did a horrible job faking it. Wow.

I feel bad for Kudrow. She has this mannerism about her that she developed over the long years of shooting Friends, and now she cannot shake it - I see Phoebe everywhere she goes. For her sake, I hope she can break out of it at some point. Of course, Meg Ryan never really broke out of her own cast either.....

For a Billy Crystal film, I wanted more comedy, more wit. Am I that dense that I missed most of it? I am somewhat biased in thinking that I am not, but.... =)

And that's about it for This.

My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok

Reading this right after "The Chosen", I fooled myself into expecting some kind of parallel story, or some connecting thread, some bridge between the two. And really, there is none other than the backdrop of the religious Jewish background (which is significant, surely, in and of itself).

What I did enjoy was how Potok took the reader on a journey through an artist's eyes. And not just any artist, but a genius. I love how the little child has no idea how his works affect others, that he just does what he does because that is all he knows. Hence, the very understandable lapse while Asher was away at school, not really missing that piece of his life yet.

And that is where I stopped reading. =) I know, I am a bad person. I'll go back and get it from the library again. Some day. But with what I had read, I was just not pulled into it like I was with Potok's first book.

Alembical, by Lawrence Schoen and Arthur Dorrance

Not much to say about this piece. I realize it is a small collection of novellas, but the first two I just could not get into at all (didn't even finish them), so I gave up on the rest.

The 13th Warrior, 1999

For some reason, I had been wanting to see this film. I could have gone without.

I was first put off by the bad contrast - the night-time scenes have shadows that are way too strong and too prevalent. Perhaps a product of 1999 cameras? Next, I did not buy Banderas's rendition of an Muslim ambassador - the guy has a Spanish accent for crying out load. =) The cover of the movie makes him out to be this serious kick-ass dude, but for a large part of the movie, his voice seems way too childish, cannot hold a decent broadsword and "cries like a woman". And storywise, his character really did not do much at all.

Perhaps one of my favorite parts was the thoughtful transition from the Viking language to English; it showed intelligence and purposefulness. And.... that's about it.

The action shots were quite lackluster, especially the final battle. Wow. In some shots, it almost looked like someone was throwing a bucket of red liquid around - very unbelievable. And the showdown between the two "leaders" was pathetic.

I did not understand the Bear people at all. How is it that they have thrived so well and unnoticed? I mean, a legend has sprung up about a "serpent of fire" - that does not happen overnight. And they have basically sequestered themselves into a rocky ravine and cave like a hive of wasps (they even have a queen mother).

Bad entertainment.

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

One reviewer compared this piece to a "lyrical epic of horror", in which I must whole-heartedly agree. And I am tempted to leave it at that. The story itself is horrible; grisly, ghastly, inhumane, indecent, morose, decadent. The writing richly delivers this phantasm with a powerful vibrance - hence my strong reaction to it. The sharp detailed storyscape is punctuated by a lame dialogue consisting mostly of "keep moving", "I don't know" and "Okay"; make no doubt, the stark contrast between the two accentuates the narrative unbelievably well.

I also picked up the audiobook, read by Tom Stechschulte. At first I was worried, but the narrator's thick gravely voice fit perfectly to paint a brooding stark picture that flirts with disaster this side of death.

I have a hard time grasping the idea that Cormac dedicated this work to his son. True, the writing is phenomenal, but the story is black. I cannot put the innocent luminosity of childhood next to this thing. It is a thing that should not be done.

Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor), 2004

I finally got my grubby hands on this film, and loved it! I am still very confused by the poor choices for the names of the movie in relation to the books; this movie is the first half of the book called "The Night Watch", as I mentioned earlier.

Having read the story before-hand really helped me understand where the movie was going and how it fit into the larger picture. As another commentor mentioned, it is really strange how the Light and Dark forces were using clumsy medieval weapons during the intro first battle. And I wonder how this movie would be viewed by someone with absolutely zero prior exposure to the story.

Anyway, I love the cinematics! As I was dearly missing from the other DVD, I got a big kick out of the sublte (and not so subtle) use of the subtitles - that is just ingenious. As with the first time I watched the movie on the big screen, I was immersed into the movie and quickly forgot that it was all in Russian.

And what immersed me? The special affects are excellent - the attention to detail (ie, when Vampires issue a Call and the Anton's capillary system stand out in rythym with the heart beat), the quick cuts, the fast-mo slow-mo sequences, the lighting... Timur Bekmambetov just did an excellent job suspending the audience's belief (or disbelief if you will) in the Gloom, and the abilities of the Others.

The books have a lot more PvP, if you will, action scenes where a Light One fights a Dark One. There is not much of that in the movie at all (even in the Day Watch movie). We see the medieval battle scene repeated a few times with all its bloody gore - after the first time, I just did not care for it in and of itself. But where are the special abilities?!?!

We see Anton's Seer ability in affect, and we see Gesar and Zebulon pull some punches from time to time, but I still want more.

Love it.

The Chosen, by Chaim Potok

It has been about 20 years since I first read this book (am I dating myself or what? =) It was suggested as a prelude to "My Name is Asher Lev" which I just started today.

So, anyway, Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders. I love the look inside the Jewish culture; I have taken a class in Hebrew so I have the tiniest of ideas what the culture is like; I was the only non-Jew, but I believe they were not that religious - heck, at the time I was growing a full beard and earlocks for no good reason so I looked more jewish. =) Anyway... the sheer pressure that these kids were under is just amazing. All the time spent studying, the heavy expectations, the strict ritualts, all these things together are just so different than my own upbringing, my own experiences and observations.

I appreciated how the author helped me slip into Reuven's shoes, but at the time I felt it quite distracting to be reading at such an intellectually advanced level for a 15-year old. Is the author trying to project that these kids actually perceive and think along such mature and wisened lines, or is that merely a by-product of the author's style? I enjoyed the flow of the story, the onrush of the baseball game and the near cataclysmic accident, the waxing and waning of excitement, of the relationship between the two boys. The father's almost come across as devious chess-masters using their kids to manuever around a playing board.

So while I had an extremely hard time believing the story and stepping into that universe, I did find myself rooting for Reuven and perhaps a stirring of pity mixed with awe. Perhaps some children do go through such stringent practices.

From A to X: A Story in Letters by John Berger

This book was the result of a completely random experiment; I was trolling the "New" section of the incoming books and grabbed a few sci-fi books, and purposefully pulled one that was neither Sci-fi or Mystery. This book is an absolute gem!

Perhaps my long journey in the science fiction genre has dulled my literary senses somewhat. Perhaps I become desensitized to bad writing. I dunno - maybe it is just that the genre is a niche, and I needed to get out of that niche. Perhaps this author is just brilliant!

The raw yearning is characterized in such a powerful way - it is not immature, not the flippant "Oh, I miss you so much!" puff.

[T]he day does not begin with your absence. It begins with the decision that we took together to do what we are doing.

Every night I put you together - bone by delicate bone

There are many phrases that I would love to quote from this book; the author has a very distinguished and fresh perspective of life that I found myself waiting for the next surprise every time I turned the page.

The book is written from a female's point of view, and I wonder how it would be different if the author were female. Regardless, the intimate details are the stuff of real life; melancholy, private thoughts, reminiscence, longings, and personal discoveries. The characters are intelligent, witty, full of life and driven by hope. This is the kind of book that I want to read again, just for the inspiration and expressiveness that Berger buries into his work, a work that provides fertile ground for a strong crop.

Day Watch (Dnevnoĭ Dozor), 2007

I had been wanting to watch this again ever since reading the books. I am still waiting for the first one, Night Watch, to come in from the library, but I think it got stuck (lost?).

Anyway, the DVD really sucks in comparison to the film I saw at Boardman's Art Theater. And it's not just the quality of the medium (which is significant, just not alone in the list). Right off, I was hugely disappointed in the old-style, blocking subtitles. What happened to the artsy, tasteful, really cool subtitles?!? Another thing, I did not remember the soundtrack being so bland (in fact, muted in most cases); was the original film like that?

In and of itself, the flick was not as great as I remembered it. I am going to have to chalk it up to being 2 years later and my memory emphasized the more catchy aspects. And I really subconciously buried how much the movie differed from the book. In fact, how can they even think of doing Twilight Watch on the silver screen?!?

One good think about the DVD was the extra features. Watching the "making of" really reminded me what an awesome job the actors did, especially Galina Tyunina who had to act as Anton. Interesting views from the actors themselves, and we got a glimpse at the awesome reception this work received in the homeland. Good stuff.

I still really appreciate how the movie brings the book to life. I still want to see the others.

The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, by Barry Hughart

The chronicles actually include three pieces by Barry Hughart; this review will cover the first two, "Bridge of Birds" (1985) and "The Story of the Stone" (1988). I'll read and review the last of the trilogy later.

I loved these books! They are extremely witty, alive with fantastical ancient stories of China ("that never was"), and full of adventure. Just very pleasant and satisfying reads.

Master Li is a hoot. I enjoy that the stories are told from the prospective of Number Ten Ox, his "esteemed former client and current assistant". Number 10 tells a great, epic tale; for a simple peasant, he has quite wonderful understanding of the world around him, yet he belabors his point with very simple language. I love how Mr. Hughart spins a very crafty web using these two eclectic characters, and manages to pull in various supporting characters who are strong in their own right. The supporting cast really helps to give the story a sense of depth while at the same time providing plenty of comic relief; Barry Hughart weaves both these elements together with mild suspense plot twists into an excellent story-telling extravaganza.

Not being familiar with any Chinese mythologies, I have no idea how important the "August personage of Jade" is, but Hughart conveys a clear sense of awe for the local gods, and their interaction with the various folks running around China. In the "Bridge of Birds", we get a taste of that divine interplay with some interesting results, often humorous, and always dramatically showing how mankind yearns for the beuatiful, the wonderful, the fantastic, the excellent. "The Story of the Stone" takes a slightly darker twist on the same story, dealing more with death and the afterlife, yet still sprinkled liberally with Master Li's gunslinger style and Number Ten's ... oxish, yet innocent charm. I really enjoyed the descriptive elements Hughart writes with; not so much the attention to detail about the environment, but rather the incredibly lucid insight into various thought processes that allow the reader to dive into the character's heads. Master Li is my hero! =)

I eagerly look forward to reading the third installment, but right now I am taking a break with something completely different.

Cosmos Incorporated, by Maurice G. Dantec

This was the second of three books that I experimented with, and it also failed the "first chapter" test. I felt that the author went way too overboard trying to be technical and "computeristic". Some interesting potential, but even I who am into the geeky computer jargon thing got lost with this one. I wanted a semi-believable escape into a surrealistic future, not a reference manual.

Hell and Earth, by Elizabeth Bear

I picked up a few books in the library's NEW section, just to see what I could see. I told myself I would read the first chapter, and if I liked it, I would read it. Only one of the three passed that litmus test. This was not one of them.

The opening chapter was too... pedantic is the only word that comes to mind. It did not draw me in. Where are the faeries? What's the connection? Who is Queen Mab? I do not know what this book was trying to be, but it was not it for me.

The Age of Heros, by Brandon Sanderson

I really like the way Mr. Sanderson wrapped up his Mistborn series. He draws together a lot of loos threads; and for once, the loose threads that he intentionally leaves hanging do not bother me that much. They are not the kind of jangling bits of plot line that inherently shout SEQUEL, which I so hate. Although the 15th and 16th metals are huge open doors....

I again appreciated the running journal entries that preceded each chapter; they added depth and extra back-story. There were some really interesting developments in this last book, and it shows that Brandon had time to think about and mature his story. And I felt that he did an excellent job at it.

It would be sorta kinda interesting to read more about Mistborn, but I fear that it would get ground into the earth, like how Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series just killed itself by too many sequels, or the Edding's Belgarath series which got to be a bit too repetitive. I am glad Sanderson stopped here - great books.

Homeworld2, 2003

5 years after the game was released, I finally bought it. $10, including s/h. =)

I decided against Sins of a Solar Empire, which is much newer and produced by IronClad with StarDock, both of which I have a lot of respect for. I was very tempted to go with SOS just to support them. So why didn't I?

Homeworld2, much like Homeworld, has awesome graphics. Not as good as EVE Online (in terms of ship detail and scale), but the scenery is excellent (although highly unbelievable), the ship ion trails are great, the action is lively - that was one thing I really missed in SOS, as it was very hard to track ships while riding piggy-back, which I do a lot. While I enjoy the planetary aspect of SOS (and the more diverse tech tree), Homeworld focuses on being a space game.

My one biggest pet peeve with Homeworld, and my one major reason for not giving it two thumbs up, is that the different races have exactly the same ships!! What the heck!?! And it pisses me off that after thousands of years and I don't know many eons, I still have to research basic things like "advanced torpedoes". That is just plain stupid. I wished the game would doing something a little more realistic; the idea of capturing and acquiring Mover technology is a step in the right direction, and there should be much more focus on that. And what about those stupid Bentusi? "All-wise"? I love the high-tech nature of their background (pacifist dogs), but they are just plain naive.

Due to the fact that both the races have more or less exactly the same tech tree and ships, the "player vs cpu" option is just about pointless. I used it to get me ready for the singler-player. That is one good thing about Homeworld - the single-player campaign is very well developed. SOS has no single-player. At least the SOS player vs. cpu is interesting enough. It was more built for online play, and at that I would have to venture it excells. But I am not an online player. Maybe some day...

Homeworld scores high in looks, sounds effects and musical score. Replay is practically shot. I like it, but I no longer love it.

And the battlecruisers just seem weak. I wanted them to have much more punch. I liked the heavy cruisers from the first one much better. The Infiltraor/Marine frigates are somewhat novel, but underplayed. And how do you "infiltrate" something like a hyperspace gateway with marines??

Guess I'll start looking around for the MODs already. =) I really like the Babylon5 mod for the first Homeworld (although I never played a version that was fully developed). And I never found a mod with a fully developed single-player campaign, either, which would be really cool.

The Twilight Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko

The last book of Lykyanenko's series is great! An excellent way to cap off some wonderfully entertaining, intelligent, witty, grisly, epic stories. Imagine how bummed I was when I heard that Timur Bekmambetov is putting off the movie productions because they are too similar to Wanted! What the heck is he thinking!?!? Too similar?!? Is Star Wars too similar to Star Trek? Is Barney too similar to The Wiggles? (Don't answer that last one)

Anyway, Sergei did an excellent job detailing a lot of the backstory. While not always intellectually satisfying (I think I found some loopholes), the explanation of "power" that is available to Others was intriguing. And the author just happened to hit that special nitch of anthropological discussion that was appropriate in a sci-fi setting; I personally find that thrilling. *grin* Call me weird. The movies and books are almost sold as horror/thriller flicks, but that is not the flavor you get after reading the books at all. Even the movie was not "horror" at all. Strange, maybe. Alien. But horror?

The ending was strange. One of the loopholes. We have one of the cast of characters who is suddenly elevated to "most supreme" status and everyone wants to take him down. Yet, he is young, therefore a little immature and inexperienced. Even so, given the what we have learned about Twilight Power, how is it even possible that "everyone" could become Others - the net potential of power would dip, no, rather landslide to a negative rating. No more power.... or maybe that is what they want? Another thing... the spell was supposed to work for everyone in the caster's line of vision? Regardless of many hundreds of miles away they were? Whatever... if that was so, than half the world would have been transformed already.

Anyway, great book, great series. Now I really want to see the movies! And I do not say that often about a book/movie deal. Get off your butt, Timur! *grin*

The Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko

After reading this book, I start to see how the movie relates. So, first off;
Lukyanenko wrote 3 books, in the following order: Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch. They are all part of the Night Watch series, and are sometimes called Night Watch, Night Watch II and Night Watch III. The movie that I saw (DayWatch) actually takes one small section from Night Watch, dealing with the Chalk of Fate (there are 3 books within each novel). I suspect the movie NightWatch, being a prequel to DayWatch, deals with the other 2 book the precede the Chalk of Fate in Night Watch. Yes, that was quite confusing to me as well. And there are still discrepancies between the movie and the book; ironically, having seen the movie, my mental images of Anton, Egor, Svetlana and the rest of the cast have been permanently affixed.

So, anyway, The Night Watch. I like the way Lukyanenko writes. While sometimes dull, the main character's introspection provides a lot of rich background to the story. I did not realize this when I read the book called Day Watch (all along I thought the book was related to the movie, but it is only slightly related). The idea of remoralization is rather interesting, and Lukyanenko starts to build a picture of a kind of "good vs evil" plot. But the "good" guys are not perfect, and the "evil" guys are not all bad. This makes the story seem a little more real, and little more believable. The magic system is a bit far-fetched, but I found it refreshingly so. The Twilight is a huge mystery, and it seems that even the most powerful folks do not fully understand it. I find the various players, their skill levels and individual personalities quite fascinating. In a way I am glad I saw the movie first, because it set the stage for my mind to have awesome special affects preprogrammed! *grin*

Saint Antony's Fire, by Steve White

I have never really been a big fan of alternative history, and this book just reinforced that idea. And the whole thing with the stereotypical alien is just way too over-the-top for me. What is this, a circus?

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 2007

Blah. I am tempted to leave it at that.

There are so many divergences from the comics that I easily loose track of the connection. Perhaps that is the intent? Interesting how Stan Lee's cameo was only to be refused at the glorified wedding. That my favorite part, and that is saying something.

Way too much CGI. With all the other horrible liberties taken, I am surprised they stuck with Norrin Radd's background. And more on that.... Doug Jones, another very interesting fellow. He wears a lot of make-up in his other movies, so much so that one would never recognize him as the same man who was in Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, and others.

And I'll leave it at that.

XXX: State of the Union, 2005

This was not bad for a B-Movie. Unfortunately, it is not a b-movie. I'm sorry, but Ice Cube is no replacement for Vin Diesel. The tech was unbelievable, the acting so-so (the college-kid sidekick was horrible), the plot extremely thin, special-effects anything but special. For instance, the "half mil car" with something 1000 horsepower or whatever. The Bugati Veyron has 1001 horses and can achieve over 250 mph, but only with special adaptations that allow the car to stay on the road. The movie's roadster looked rather plain for such a car, and somehow it was able to jump a bank, waddle around on the train tracks for a while before loosing the tires and riding the rails bare??!? Whatever.

I did not like Dafoe or Jackson, either. Everytime I see Dafoe doing something military, I think of his poorly-casted role as John Clark in Clear and Present Danger, and Jackson always harkens me back to Pulp Fiction.

Quantum of Solace, 2008

I really like Daniel Craig as a James Bond character; a pleasant change from Brosnan (*gag*). The car scene at the beginning was appropriately great; good bang 'em up. And the chase scenes on top of, to the side of and through buildings was excellent. I am curious how many of his own stunts Craig does. Very impressive stuff regardless.

But the story was a bit lame. And I have always hated Bondesque boat chases - they are so contrived and nothing resembling reality. Granted, a lot of the movie is that way, but I can live with most of it. But not boat chases. And back to the story.... it just did not grip me at all. Maybe I missed it, but I have no clue what "Quantum" was even supposed to be.

Personally, I rather trade the Brosnan-era, including all the fun gadgets, for the hard-hitting, gadgetless Craig era. I just hope the story writers get with it.