Reviews Written By: A1D2C0WDCSHUWZprovided by Amazon.com |
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 | The Wolf Man | |
 | "Wolfbane and silver" | 2009-11-15 |
| "Even a man who is pure in heart/And says his prayers by night/May become a wolf/When the wolfbane blooms/And the autumn moon is bright..."
Sure, Dracula gave a face and a mythology to the vampire in the 1800s, but the werewolf didn't get similar treatment for quite some time. It was only with "The Wolfman" that the werewolf got his due, creating the template for lycanthropes everywhere -- a haunting, atmospheric story about a mildly creepy man who (through no fault of his own) turns into an unholy mixture of man and beast. Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr) returns to his ancestral Welsh home after many years away, to reconcile with his estranged dad who looks nothing like him (Claude Rains). He immediately starts acquainting himself with his old home, including being rather creepy towards a lovely woman named Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers), who is working at her dad's antique store. He even accompanies Gwen and her friend Jenny to a local gypsy camp to have their fortunes told. But after having her fortune told, Jenny is horribly killed by a wolf; Larry beats it to death with his silver-topped cane, but not before being bitten. You can probably guess what happens next -- the wolf turns out to be the gypsy fortuneteller (Bela Lugosi), and Larry's bite mysteriously heals overnight. And after being warned by an aged gypsy woman (Maria Ouspenskaya) that he has now contracted the curse of the werewolf, Larry finds himself undergoing a terrible transformation at night... and killing. It's a sign of how good "The Wolfman" is that its dated special effects (hello, lap dissolve!) and prosthetics don't hamper it as a story -- it's an intelligent, slowly-unfolding story about an ordinary man whose good deed backfires in a big way. It's also less "boo! Scary!" horror than psychological horror -- Larry is left wondering if the dead gypsy passed on his horrific curse, or if all the talk of werewolves has given him clinical lycanthropy. In other words -- is he cursed, or is he insane? Not a fun choice. And George Waggner wraps the movie in suitable atmosphere -- lots of misty forests, quaint rural villages, shadowy chapels and the occasional outbursts of shrieking and offscreen violence. The beginning is a little awkward (enough canned father-son "reunion" conversations!) but kicks into gear when the characters go wandering off to see the gypsies -- and after that, it's a slow bloody build as all the scientifically impossible things come true, and Larry finds himself increasingly trapped. And while some of the werewolf stuff (including the famous rhyme) was made up for the movie, it adds a note of mythological creepiness, as well as some lovely incantations ("The way you walked was thorny, through no fault of your own..."). And Lon Chaney Jr. did an excellent job bringing a sympathetic edge to the werewolf, turning convincingly from a jovial engineer/aristocrat to a man haunted by his horrific change. The one problem: he isn't very sympathetic at the beginning, since he basically stalks Gwen (looking in her window with a telescope?) and won't get lost when she tells him to. Ankers gives a good performance as a local love interest, and Ouspenskaya gives a spectacular performance as the old gypsy lady -- eerie, sympathetic to Larry's plight, and with a dry sense of humor. Despite a slightly creepy lead character, "The Wolfman" is still an enduring classic -- it's no longer exactly scary, but it is deliciously spooky. Definitely a must-see. | ||
 | Pride and Prejudice (Penguin Classics) | |
 | "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." | 2009-11-04 |
| "Pride and Prejudice" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved classic novels in history -- it's had countless adaptations, sequels and homages lavished on it over the years.
And Jane Austen's grand opus is still beloved for a good reason. While it's rather stuffily written much of the time, it has a vibrant core of witty dialogue and strong characters that shine like lanterns in the night -- and the best part of it is the interplay between the two strong-willed main characters, whose initial dislike of one another blossoms into love once they learn how to overcome his pride and her prejudice. The Bennett family is in an uproar when wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, and Mrs. Bennett is especially happy when he takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter Jane -- since their estate is entailed and there is no Mr. Bennett Jr., a good marriage is considered essential for at least one of the girls. But her forthright, independent sister Lizzie immediately butts heads with wealthy, aloof Mr. Darcy, who scorns the rural village and seems haughty about everything. A flurry of proposals, road trips and friendships happen over the course of the following months, with Lizzie fending off her slimy cousin Mr. Collins, and befriending the flirty, hunky Wickham, who claims to have been wronged by Darcy. Lizzie believes Wickham's account -- and she's in for a shock when Darcy unexpectedly proposes, and reveals what Wickham won't tell her about both of their past lives, and what Wickham did to offend Darcy. And finally things take a scandalous turn when Lizzie's idiotic younger sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, while staying with a friend in Brighton. The family is plunged into disgrace, which also wrecks any chances of a halfway decent marriage for the other daughters. The only one who can set things right is Darcy, who will do whatever he must to make amends to Lizzie -- and unwittingly establish himself as the man she loves as well... Reading "Pride and Prejudice" is a bit like watching someone embroider a piece of cloth with subtle, intricate designs. Lots of balls, dances, visits and drawing room banter between Lizzie and virtually everyone else, and interwoven with some rather opinions from Jane Austen about haughty aristocrats, marriages of security, entailment, and the whole idea of what an ideal woman has (intellect and strength). The only real problem: Jane Austen writes very much in the style of her literary era -- it's rather formal and stuffy much of the time, and the narrative is kept distant from the characters. So, not for casual readers. But despite that formality, Austen's brilliance as a writer is evident -- she slowly unfolds the plot one act at a time, with several intricate subplots that tie together and play off each other. She also wrote some unbelievably sharp-edged dialogue with plenty of witty banter between Lizzie and Darcy ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But Austen also weaves in startlingly romantic moments between them ("No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think anything wanting"). It's hard to imagine a better fictional couple than Lizzie and Darcy, despite their rocky start (a major-league snub at a dance). Both are witty, smart, and a bit snotty in their own ways, with quick minds and even quicker tongues. Darcy is a selfish, rather haughty man man who gradually becomes warm and kind, while Lizzie is strong, independent, and Darcy's equal in every way. And neither will marry for anything but true love. It also has a solid supporting cast: the painfully practical Charlotte Lucas, slimy clerics, virtuous-looking rakes, sisters ranging from saintly to snobby, and the lovable Mr. Bingley and perpetually optimistic Jane. Lizzie's family also adds plenty of color to the story, including the screechy and hilariously mercurial Mrs. Bennett and the barb-tongued Mr. Bennett ("Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do"). Despite its mildly stuffy style, "Pride and Prejudice" is the ultimate Jane Austen novel -- a powerful and romantic story about two people who grow and change because of love. An absolute must-read. | ||
 | BNCMM: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (B&N Classics Mass Market) | |
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." | 2009-10-15 |
| "Pride and Prejudice" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved classic novels in history -- it's had countless adaptations, sequels and homages lavished on it over the years.
And Jane Austen's grand opus is still beloved for a good reason. While it's rather stuffily written much of the time, it has a vibrant core of witty dialogue and strong characters that shine like lanterns in the night -- and the best part of it is the interplay between the two strong-willed main characters, whose initial dislike of one another blossoms into love once they learn how to overcome his pride and her prejudice. The Bennett family is in an uproar when wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, and Mrs. Bennett is especially happy when he takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter Jane -- since their estate is entailed and there is no Mr. Bennett Jr., a good marriage is considered essential for at least one of the girls. But her forthright, independent sister Lizzie immediately butts heads with wealthy, aloof Mr. Darcy, who scorns the rural village and seems haughty about everything. A flurry of proposals, road trips and friendships happen over the course of the following months, with Lizzie fending off her slimy cousin Mr. Collins, and befriending the flirty, hunky Wickham, who claims to have been wronged by Darcy. Lizzie believes Wickham's account -- and she's in for a shock when Darcy unexpectedly proposes, and reveals what Wickham won't tell her about both of their past lives, and what Wickham did to offend Darcy. And finally things take a scandalous turn when Lizzie's idiotic younger sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, while staying with a friend in Brighton. The family is plunged into disgrace, which also wrecks any chances of a halfway decent marriage for the other daughters. The only one who can set things right is Darcy, who will do whatever he must to make amends to Lizzie -- and unwittingly establish himself as the man she loves as well... Reading "Pride and Prejudice" is a bit like watching someone embroider a piece of cloth with subtle, intricate designs. Lots of balls, dances, visits and drawing room banter between Lizzie and virtually everyone else, and interwoven with some rather opinions from Jane Austen about haughty aristocrats, marriages of security, entailment, and the whole idea of what an ideal woman has (intellect and strength). The only real problem: Jane Austen writes very much in the style of her literary era -- it's rather formal and stuffy much of the time, and the narrative is kept distant from the characters. So, not for casual readers. But despite that formality, Austen's brilliance as a writer is evident -- she slowly unfolds the plot one act at a time, with several intricate subplots that tie together and play off each other. She also wrote some unbelievably sharp-edged dialogue with plenty of witty banter between Lizzie and Darcy ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But Austen also weaves in startlingly romantic moments between them ("No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think anything wanting"). It's hard to imagine a better fictional couple than Lizzie and Darcy, despite their rocky start (a major-league snub at a dance). Both are witty, smart, and a bit snotty in their own ways, with quick minds and even quicker tongues. Darcy is a selfish, rather haughty man man who gradually becomes warm and kind, while Lizzie is strong, independent, and Darcy's equal in every way. And neither will marry for anything but true love. It also has a solid supporting cast: the painfully practical Charlotte Lucas, slimy clerics, virtuous-looking rakes, sisters ranging from saintly to snobby, and the lovable Mr. Bingley and perpetually optimistic Jane. Lizzie's family also adds plenty of color to the story, including the screechy and hilariously mercurial Mrs. Bennett and the barb-tongued Mr. Bennett ("Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do"). Despite its mildly stuffy style, "Pride and Prejudice" is the ultimate Jane Austen novel -- a powerful and romantic story about two people who grow and change because of love. An absolute must-read. | ||
 | Pride And Prejudice (Everyman's Library Series) | |
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." | 2009-10-15 |
| "Pride and Prejudice" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved classic novels in history -- it's had countless adaptations, sequels and homages lavished on it over the years.
And Jane Austen's grand opus is still beloved for a good reason. While it's rather stuffily written much of the time, it has a vibrant core of witty dialogue and strong characters that shine like lanterns in the night -- and the best part of it is the interplay between the two strong-willed main characters, whose initial dislike of one another blossoms into love once they learn how to overcome his pride and her prejudice. The Bennett family is in an uproar when wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, and Mrs. Bennett is especially happy when he takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter Jane -- since their estate is entailed and there is no Mr. Bennett Jr., a good marriage is considered essential for at least one of the girls. But her forthright, independent sister Lizzie immediately butts heads with wealthy, aloof Mr. Darcy, who scorns the rural village and seems haughty about everything. A flurry of proposals, road trips and friendships happen over the course of the following months, with Lizzie fending off her slimy cousin Mr. Collins, and befriending the flirty, hunky Wickham, who claims to have been wronged by Darcy. Lizzie believes Wickham's account -- and she's in for a shock when Darcy unexpectedly proposes, and reveals what Wickham won't tell her about both of their past lives, and what Wickham did to offend Darcy. And finally things take a scandalous turn when Lizzie's idiotic younger sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, while staying with a friend in Brighton. The family is plunged into disgrace, which also wrecks any chances of a halfway decent marriage for the other daughters. The only one who can set things right is Darcy, who will do whatever he must to make amends to Lizzie -- and unwittingly establish himself as the man she loves as well... Reading "Pride and Prejudice" is a bit like watching someone embroider a piece of cloth with subtle, intricate designs. Lots of balls, dances, visits and drawing room banter between Lizzie and virtually everyone else, and interwoven with some rather opinions from Jane Austen about haughty aristocrats, marriages of security, entailment, and the whole idea of what an ideal woman has (intellect and strength). The only real problem: Jane Austen writes very much in the style of her literary era -- it's rather formal and stuffy much of the time, and the narrative is kept distant from the characters. So, not for casual readers. But despite that formality, Austen's brilliance as a writer is evident -- she slowly unfolds the plot one act at a time, with several intricate subplots that tie together and play off each other. She also wrote some unbelievably sharp-edged dialogue with plenty of witty banter between Lizzie and Darcy ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But Austen also weaves in startlingly romantic moments between them ("No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think anything wanting"). It's hard to imagine a better fictional couple than Lizzie and Darcy, despite their rocky start (a major-league snub at a dance). Both are witty, smart, and a bit snotty in their own ways, with quick minds and even quicker tongues. Darcy is a selfish, rather haughty man man who gradually becomes warm and kind, while Lizzie is strong, independent, and Darcy's equal in every way. And neither will marry for anything but true love. It also has a solid supporting cast: the painfully practical Charlotte Lucas, slimy clerics, virtuous-looking rakes, sisters ranging from saintly to snobby, and the lovable Mr. Bingley and perpetually optimistic Jane. Lizzie's family also adds plenty of color to the story, including the screechy and hilariously mercurial Mrs. Bennett and the barb-tongued Mr. Bennett ("Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do"). Despite its mildly stuffy style, "Pride and Prejudice" is the ultimate Jane Austen novel -- a powerful and romantic story about two people who grow and change because of love. An absolute must-read. | ||
 | Pride and Prejudice (Modern Library Classics) | |
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." | 2009-10-15 |
| "Pride and Prejudice" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved classic novels in history -- it's had countless adaptations, sequels and homages lavished on it over the years.
And Jane Austen's grand opus is still beloved for a good reason. While it's rather stuffily written much of the time, it has a vibrant core of witty dialogue and strong characters that shine like lanterns in the night -- and the best part of it is the interplay between the two strong-willed main characters, whose initial dislike of one another blossoms into love once they learn how to overcome his pride and her prejudice. The Bennett family is in an uproar when wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, and Mrs. Bennett is especially happy when he takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter Jane -- since their estate is entailed and there is no Mr. Bennett Jr., a good marriage is considered essential for at least one of the girls. But her forthright, independent sister Lizzie immediately butts heads with wealthy, aloof Mr. Darcy, who scorns the rural village and seems haughty about everything. A flurry of proposals, road trips and friendships happen over the course of the following months, with Lizzie fending off her slimy cousin Mr. Collins, and befriending the flirty, hunky Wickham, who claims to have been wronged by Darcy. Lizzie believes Wickham's account -- and she's in for a shock when Darcy unexpectedly proposes, and reveals what Wickham won't tell her about both of their past lives, and what Wickham did to offend Darcy. And finally things take a scandalous turn when Lizzie's idiotic younger sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, while staying with a friend in Brighton. The family is plunged into disgrace, which also wrecks any chances of a halfway decent marriage for the other daughters. The only one who can set things right is Darcy, who will do whatever he must to make amends to Lizzie -- and unwittingly establish himself as the man she loves as well... Reading "Pride and Prejudice" is a bit like watching someone embroider a piece of cloth with subtle, intricate designs. Lots of balls, dances, visits and drawing room banter between Lizzie and virtually everyone else, and interwoven with some rather opinions from Jane Austen about haughty aristocrats, marriages of security, entailment, and the whole idea of what an ideal woman has (intellect and strength). The only real problem: Jane Austen writes very much in the style of her literary era -- it's rather formal and stuffy much of the time, and the narrative is kept distant from the characters. So, not for casual readers. But despite that formality, Austen's brilliance as a writer is evident -- she slowly unfolds the plot one act at a time, with several intricate subplots that tie together and play off each other. She also wrote some unbelievably sharp-edged dialogue with plenty of witty banter between Lizzie and Darcy ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But Austen also weaves in startlingly romantic moments between them ("No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think anything wanting"). It's hard to imagine a better fictional couple than Lizzie and Darcy, despite their rocky start (a major-league snub at a dance). Both are witty, smart, and a bit snotty in their own ways, with quick minds and even quicker tongues. Darcy is a selfish, rather haughty man man who gradually becomes warm and kind, while Lizzie is strong, independent, and Darcy's equal in every way. And neither will marry for anything but true love. It also has a solid supporting cast: the painfully practical Charlotte Lucas, slimy clerics, virtuous-looking rakes, sisters ranging from saintly to snobby, and the lovable Mr. Bingley and perpetually optimistic Jane. Lizzie's family also adds plenty of color to the story, including the screechy and hilariously mercurial Mrs. Bennett and the barb-tongued Mr. Bennett ("Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do"). Despite its mildly stuffy style, "Pride and Prejudice" is the ultimate Jane Austen novel -- a powerful and romantic story about two people who grow and change because of love. An absolute must-read. | ||
 | Pride and Prejudice | |
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." | 2009-10-15 |
| "Pride and Prejudice" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved classic novels in history -- it's had countless adaptations, sequels and homages lavished on it over the years.
And Jane Austen's grand opus is still beloved for a good reason. While it's rather stuffily written much of the time, it has a vibrant core of witty dialogue and strong characters that shine like lanterns in the night -- and the best part of it is the interplay between the two strong-willed main characters, whose initial dislike of one another blossoms into love once they learn how to overcome his pride and her prejudice. The Bennett family is in an uproar when wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, and Mrs. Bennett is especially happy when he takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter Jane -- since their estate is entailed and there is no Mr. Bennett Jr., a good marriage is considered essential for at least one of the girls. But her forthright, independent sister Lizzie immediately butts heads with wealthy, aloof Mr. Darcy, who scorns the rural village and seems haughty about everything. A flurry of proposals, road trips and friendships happen over the course of the following months, with Lizzie fending off her slimy cousin Mr. Collins, and befriending the flirty, hunky Wickham, who claims to have been wronged by Darcy. Lizzie believes Wickham's account -- and she's in for a shock when Darcy unexpectedly proposes, and reveals what Wickham won't tell her about both of their past lives, and what Wickham did to offend Darcy. And finally things take a scandalous turn when Lizzie's idiotic younger sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, while staying with a friend in Brighton. The family is plunged into disgrace, which also wrecks any chances of a halfway decent marriage for the other daughters. The only one who can set things right is Darcy, who will do whatever he must to make amends to Lizzie -- and unwittingly establish himself as the man she loves as well... Reading "Pride and Prejudice" is a bit like watching someone embroider a piece of cloth with subtle, intricate designs. Lots of balls, dances, visits and drawing room banter between Lizzie and virtually everyone else, and interwoven with some rather opinions from Jane Austen about haughty aristocrats, marriages of security, entailment, and the whole idea of what an ideal woman has (intellect and strength). The only real problem: Jane Austen writes very much in the style of her literary era -- it's rather formal and stuffy much of the time, and the narrative is kept distant from the characters. So, not for casual readers. But despite that formality, Austen's brilliance as a writer is evident -- she slowly unfolds the plot one act at a time, with several intricate subplots that tie together and play off each other. She also wrote some unbelievably sharp-edged dialogue with plenty of witty banter between Lizzie and Darcy ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But Austen also weaves in startlingly romantic moments between them ("No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think anything wanting"). It's hard to imagine a better fictional couple than Lizzie and Darcy, despite their rocky start (a major-league snub at a dance). Both are witty, smart, and a bit snotty in their own ways, with quick minds and even quicker tongues. Darcy is a selfish, rather haughty man man who gradually becomes warm and kind, while Lizzie is strong, independent, and Darcy's equal in every way. And neither will marry for anything but true love. It also has a solid supporting cast: the painfully practical Charlotte Lucas, slimy clerics, virtuous-looking rakes, sisters ranging from saintly to snobby, and the lovable Mr. Bingley and perpetually optimistic Jane. Lizzie's family also adds plenty of color to the story, including the screechy and hilariously mercurial Mrs. Bennett and the barb-tongued Mr. Bennett ("Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do"). Despite its mildly stuffy style, "Pride and Prejudice" is the ultimate Jane Austen novel -- a powerful and romantic story about two people who grow and change because of love. An absolute must-read. | ||
 | Pride and Prejudice | |
| "It is a truth universally acknowledged..." | 2009-10-15 |
| "Pride and Prejudice" is undoubtedly one of the most beloved classic novels in history -- it's had countless adaptations, sequels and homages lavished on it over the years.
And Jane Austen's grand opus is still beloved for a good reason. While it's rather stuffily written much of the time, it has a vibrant core of witty dialogue and strong characters that shine like lanterns in the night -- and the best part of it is the interplay between the two strong-willed main characters, whose initial dislike of one another blossoms into love once they learn how to overcome his pride and her prejudice. The Bennett family is in an uproar when wealthy Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, and Mrs. Bennett is especially happy when he takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter Jane -- since their estate is entailed and there is no Mr. Bennett Jr., a good marriage is considered essential for at least one of the girls. But her forthright, independent sister Lizzie immediately butts heads with wealthy, aloof Mr. Darcy, who scorns the rural village and seems haughty about everything. A flurry of proposals, road trips and friendships happen over the course of the following months, with Lizzie fending off her slimy cousin Mr. Collins, and befriending the flirty, hunky Wickham, who claims to have been wronged by Darcy. Lizzie believes Wickham's account -- and she's in for a shock when Darcy unexpectedly proposes, and reveals what Wickham won't tell her about both of their past lives, and what Wickham did to offend Darcy. And finally things take a scandalous turn when Lizzie's idiotic younger sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, while staying with a friend in Brighton. The family is plunged into disgrace, which also wrecks any chances of a halfway decent marriage for the other daughters. The only one who can set things right is Darcy, who will do whatever he must to make amends to Lizzie -- and unwittingly establish himself as the man she loves as well... Reading "Pride and Prejudice" is a bit like watching someone embroider a piece of cloth with subtle, intricate designs. Lots of balls, dances, visits and drawing room banter between Lizzie and virtually everyone else, and interwoven with some rather opinions from Jane Austen about haughty aristocrats, marriages of security, entailment, and the whole idea of what an ideal woman has (intellect and strength). The only real problem: Jane Austen writes very much in the style of her literary era -- it's rather formal and stuffy much of the time, and the narrative is kept distant from the characters. So, not for casual readers. But despite that formality, Austen's brilliance as a writer is evident -- she slowly unfolds the plot one act at a time, with several intricate subplots that tie together and play off each other. She also wrote some unbelievably sharp-edged dialogue with plenty of witty banter between Lizzie and Darcy ("I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine"). But Austen also weaves in startlingly romantic moments between them ("No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think anything wanting"). It's hard to imagine a better fictional couple than Lizzie and Darcy, despite their rocky start (a major-league snub at a dance). Both are witty, smart, and a bit snotty in their own ways, with quick minds and even quicker tongues. Darcy is a selfish, rather haughty man man who gradually becomes warm and kind, while Lizzie is strong, independent, and Darcy's equal in every way. And neither will marry for anything but true love. It also has a solid supporting cast: the painfully practical Charlotte Lucas, slimy clerics, virtuous-looking rakes, sisters ranging from saintly to snobby, and the lovable Mr. Bingley and perpetually optimistic Jane. Lizzie's family also adds plenty of color to the story, including the screechy and hilariously mercurial Mrs. Bennett and the barb-tongued Mr. Bennett ("Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do"). Despite its mildly stuffy style, "Pride and Prejudice" is the ultimate Jane Austen novel -- a powerful and romantic story about two people who grow and change because of love. An absolute must-read. | ||
 | Legends in Exile (Fables, Book 1) | |
| "Fables in hiding" | 2009-10-15 |
| Imagine if all the legendary story characters were living secretly in New York -- and they weren't quite fairy tale material?
In short, Prince Charming is a thrice-divorced lech, the Big Bad Wolf is now a werewolf cop, Snow White is an embittered government manager, and some very peculiar other residents crashing in a modern city. "Fables Volume 1: Legends in Exile" does an excellent job smoothly introducing the world of Bill Willingham's series, even as he spins up a pretty solid little murder mystery. The daily business of the hard-nosed Snow White (a Fable government official whom everyone comes to with complaints) is interrupted when Bigby Wolf brings her some ghastly news: her estranged, wild-child sister Rose Red has been murdered, and there's no sign of her except for buckets of blood all over her apartment. The most obvious suspect is Jack, whom Snow White helps interrogate when she isn't dealing with her womanizing, impoverished aristocrat ex, Prince Charming. But some of the details about Rose Red's death don't add up -- and as Bigby investigates further into the people who knew her well, he begins finding aspects of her life hidden from everybody. Not to mention an irate fiancee who wants revenge on Jack. As the Remembrance Day approaches, Bigby puts together the clues to a very bizarre case where not everything is what it seems -- and not everyone is doing what they claim. Bill Willingham is an expert in taking beloved characters from legends, fairy tales and nursery rhymes... and then turning our perceptions of them on their heads (example: Beast and Beauty's marital troubles cause his curse to reassert itself). He's also created a pretty unique fantasy concept -- the Fables and their magic have been driven out of their fantastical homeland, and live as secret refugees in the middle of New York City. It's actually a pretty cool idea. If it were nothing but a "cool idea" gimmick, "Fables" might be a fun read but not a great one. However, Willingham has a knack for weaving together action-packed, gritty plots with a touch of sex, plenty of splattered gore, and plenty of quirky twists (Pinocchio is angry about being a "real boy" who never grows up). And even as he carefully introduces the characters and their situations, he also spins up a solid murder mystery that intertwines with the other subplots like ivy vines on a stone wall -- splatters of blood, a padlock, a strange betrothal contract, and a missing body all take part. And Willingham's cast is as large as the number of beloved free-domain characters allows... well, at least the well-known ones. The inhabitants of fairy tales and folk legends loom especially large in the story -- the hard-nosed, no-nonsense Snow White; the bickering Beauty and her Beast hubby; the flirtatious much-married Prince Charming (who spends much of the story seducing waitresses and selling unusable property); the grizzled cop Bigby Wolf; supposedly reformed serial killer Bluebeard; a rather embittered Cinderella, and so on. Despite the vast cast of characters, Willingham juggles them adeptly and gives each character a distinct personality. Bill Willingham started off the Fables series on a strong footing with "Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile," which combines a quirky fantasy concept with a solid murder mystery. Definitely a good read. | ||
 | Laurell K. Hamilton Set - Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned and The Lunatic Cafe | |
 | "Guilty pleasure" | 2009-10-15 |
| Once upon a time, before the Anita Blake series became cheap porn with well-endowed vampires and werethingies, Laurell K Hamilton actually wrote some decent -- if not brilliant -- urban fantasy. "Laurell K. Hamilton Set" brings together the first four volumes of her series, following the hole-ridden exploits of a very surly and whiny necromancer. In fact, Anita is the Achilles heel of her entire series.
Guilty pleasure introduces us to Anita Blake, a vampire hunter and an animator, able to raise zombies from the dead for a limited period of time. She also isn't too fond of vampires or werethingies, though St. Louis is apparently swarming with them. So when a vampire comes to hire her, she turns him down. But at a bachelorette party, she finds herself "hired by the lethal, childlike Nikolaos. To find who is offing vampires in St. Louis, she'll need to relax her "no vamps" rule -- and join forces with the mysterious, seductive Jean-Claude. And in "The Laughing Corpse," Anita is called in to deal with a crime that seems to have been committed by zombies. So she starts investigating possible suspects -- including Dominga Salvador, a malevolent old vaudun priestess who has found a way to keep a zombie ensouled. Unfortunately some very nasty things -- both living and dead -- are trying to stop Anita's investigations, both into the zombie murders and the very sinister client who wants her to do a human sacrifice. Then in "Circus of the Damned," people are being murdered by a rogue master vampire leading a pack of other rogue vampires. Additionally, Anita's investigations lead to an encounter with a very attractive werewolf alpha, Richard Zeeman, and a vampire-hating group is on the rise. But the rogue master turns out to be powerful enough to unleash beastly vampires on the hospital -- and it turns out that some of the evil vampires in town are not just strong, they are ancient and deadly. Plus they have a lamia. And "The Lunatic Cafe" introduces Anita to more werecentric problems -- there are missing and/or lycanthropes that the local werewolf alpha is demanding she find, and said alpha is clashing with her new boyfriend Richard (which seems odd, given her bigotry against the weres). At the same time, Jean-Claude's rabid jealousy leads to an uneasy three-way relationship, and Edward's involvement in Anita's new case leads to a horrendous discovery about what the weres are doing... Laurell K. Hamilton was pretty clearly shooting for an "old pulp noir mystery" feel in the four books in this set, back before sex became the end-all -- acid-tongued anti-hero, grimy urban atmosphere, nasty big-shots, and a series of mysterious deaths. So she fills it with many descriptions of guns, dismembered bodies and creepy-crawly scenes (such as Anita holding a moving bird foot). Her dialogue-heavy writing does tend to be lean and mildly hard-boiled, with a distinctly horrific vibe (lycanthropic snuff films, animalistic vampires, et cetera). But Hamilton has a rather clumsy style: endless sentence fragments ("Not resurrection. I'm not that good. I mean zombies. The shambling dead. Rotting corpses. Night of the living dead. That kind of zombie"), horrendous dialogue (" "I will make you mine, mortal. Mine!"") and random rants about whatever bothers Anita at the moment. In fact, her choppy stripped down style is all the more apparent when Jean-Claude enters the scene, inspiring odes to his vaguely effeminate clothing, hair, "glittering, dark jewel" eyes and "the perfection of his body," or Richard's gorgeous wavy hair, "chocolate brown" and much-dodged biraciality. It's almost funny to see Hamilton go so completely gaga over a pair of fictional men -- and both of them are actually rather interesting, since one is a Machievellian master vampire and the other was a Unfortunately, the focus is on Anita -- a twentysomething woman whose seething bitterness is never explained. It feels like Hamilton wanted to create a Raymond Chandleresque anti-heroine, but tried too hard. As a result, Anita is obnoxious, rude, bitter, whiny, vaguely misogynistic and extremely violent. She's also a raving racist, both for the humans and the nonhumans. So basically she's the biggest flaw of the series, leaving you wondering precisely why everyone respects her so much. There are some fairly decent urban fantasy stories buried in here, but the "Laurell K. Hamilton Set" is bogged down by tepid prose and a detestable heroine. Give it a pass. | ||
 | Inu-Yasha, Volume 2 | |
| "Hair today...." | 2009-09-29 |
| There's nothing like adversity to bring a bickering pair of protagonists together, and there's plenty of THAT coming along in the second volume of Rumiko Takahashi historical fantasy, "Inuyasha." While the anti-hero and flaky heroine still get along like cats and dog-boys, the adventure-packed story, humor and interesting new characters make it fascinating.
Kagome and Inuyasha venture back into the warring states era, only to find find Yura waiting for Inuyasha and his head of pretty silver hair. A nasty fight breaks out, using strength and magic powers that are way out of Kagome's league -- but while she has rotten aim and no other powers, she may be able to stop Yura's reign of hairy terror. And Inuyasha has barely recovered from that little escapade when weird little flea demon (no, really!) Myoga arrives to tell him that his father's tomb has been broken into.Then Inuyasha's older brother Sesshomaru appears, along with a skyscraper-sized ogre and Inuyasha's long-dead mother. He wants the location of their father's tomb, and is convinced that Inuyasha knows where it is. But soon the two teenagers find themselves pulled into a bizarre illusionary trap, and end up subsequently following Sesshomaru into a bone-filled world of the dead -- where Inuyasha's father rests in... well, not exactly peace. Deep inside his skeleton is a powerful treasure -- and Sesshomaru is willing to kill to get his hands on it. Magical swords, an otherworldly realm filled with demon skeletons, beheaded bodies, a faceless woman who literally sucks people into her body, a flea in a teeny-tiny kimono, and a giant hairball full of razor hair. "Inuyasha Volume 2" takes your average quest fantasy, adds a cornucopia of Japanese mythological elements, and mixes in a little hint of romantic comedy as well. But it becomes even more evident that this is a darker piece of work than its predecessors "Ranma 1/2" and "Maison Ikkoku" -- there's plenty of gory action (Inuyasha gets stabbed, beaten up, poked bloodily in the eye, and nearly drowned drowned), and a trail of dead bodies whenever a bad guy shows up. Fortunately since this is based on a Rumiko Takahashi manga, there's also lots of comedy (the whole scene where Kagome tries to undress Inuyasha), and a hint of potential romance... far, far in the future. Our intrepid heroine Kagome is still something of a flake who doesn't seem to quite understand some of the peril she's in, but she does seem to be smartening up. And the grumpy anti-hero Inuyasha is fleshed out considerably here -- without being melodramatic, the writers explore his troubled past as a half-demon half-human boy, and his mingled feelings about his family. Oh yeah, and we encounter Sesshomaru -- an icy Sephiroth-like demon who seems to have no qualms about abusing everyone around him (including his nasty little toady servant, Jaken). Though he seems merely a cool aloof villain here, it should be interesting to see what comes after this. "Inuyasha Volume 2" smooths out some of the initial wrinkles of the series, and introduces an interesting new villain. And it only gets better after this. | ||
 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes | |
| "The adventures (plural) of the great detective" | 2009-09-27 |
| There have been only two long-running Sherlock Holmes actors who were really memorable: Jeremy Brett, and Basil Rathbone. And Rathbone is showcased at his best in one of the early stories about the legendary detective, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," an atmospheric and twisting murder mystery.The one downside: Nigel Bruce's goofy Watson.
Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone) arrives at the courthouse a minute too late, and angrily watches his nemesis Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) go free because of a lack of evidence. Sick of Holmes' investigations, Moriarty decides to utterly ruin Holmes with the most notorious and memorable crime in English history -- by distracting him with a bizarre threat to a young woman. Specifically, a wealthy young lady arrives at his office, distraught because of a threatening picture that she got in the mail -- and in short order, her brother is murdered, even as her lawyer/suitor tries to convince her not to depend on the detective. Holmes becomes wrapped up in the potential murder, as the stressed-out police try to get him to pay attention to a threat to the Crown Jewels. Will he realize what's truly going on in time, or will Moriarty pull off the crime of the century? "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was one of the movies that cemented Basil Rathbone as THE Sherlock Holmes, at least until Jeremy Brett entered the scene. It's also one of the better movies that was spun up in the 1930s and 1940s -- a brilliant double-whammy of intertwined cases, deaths and bizarre happenings. And a brilliantly weird Moriarty to boot ("You've murdered a FLOWER!"). Though the whole movie takes place in London, the director cultivated a misty murky atmosphere, in which a corner could hold a murderer and people are never what they seem. And the stories are fast-paced and energetic, even when there's been a murder or theft, and there are still moments of eerie weirdness woven in -- such as the haunting presence stalking the young woman, and Holmes' elusive presence as he tries to keep her safe. Rathbone's Holmes is the cerebral side of the Great Detective: cool and slightly languid, as if he's always lying back to ponder the mystery, but he also loosens up in disguise long enough to sing about how "I do like to be beside the seaside." He even fits Doyle's descriptions of Holmes -- tall, skinny, big nose. Nigel Bruce does a good enough job, although he's way too comic reliefy -- we don't need Watson to act like an idiot to make Holmes look like a genius. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" is a thoroughly entertaining, brilliantly plotted little mystery, and Basil Rathbone's onscreen Sherlock is utterly superb. Give this classic a watch. | ||
 | Haunted Honeymoon | |
 | "Widower than what?" | 2009-09-26 |
| Going home to see your family is daunting enough, but in a Draculean castle with a werewolf, a dead transvestite, and a new will that makes you a walking target?
That's the basic plot behind "Haunted Honeymoon," an amusing and vaguely Mel Brooksian comedy movie about a man with a crumbling mind, a new fiancee, and a really abnormal family. The plot is pretty much a mess -- full of holes and dangling plot threads -- but the brilliant comic actors and hilarious scripting ("Oh, it's so COMPLICATED!") magically keep it from collapsing. Larry Abbot (Gene Wilder) and Vickie Pearle (Gilda Radner) are actors in the hit show Manhattan Mystery Theater, and newly engaged. Unfortunately Larry's engagement has sparked off a psychological meltdown, and his uncle Dr. Paul Abbot decides there is only one way to cure him: scare him more. So he sends off Larry and Vickie to the old gothic estate where Larry grew up, to stay with his family. Well, they're not quite the Addams Family. Actually, they're way worse -- most of them are broke, one is a transvestite, one is a creepy magician, and one is a creepier lawyer. One may also be a werewolf. The only decent one seems to be kindly, filthy-rich Aunt Kate (Dom Deluise). And dear ol' Aunt Kate has left all her money to Larry (unless he expires before she does, in which case everyone else will get a share). And soon some very bizarre happenings are cropping up around the old mansion -- including a murdered werewolf, a cobra, and a dead body that pops up in Larry's bed. Is Larry going insane, or is a member of his family trying to make him that way... for filthy lucre? I get the feeling that "Haunted Honeymoon" was made up on the fly -- it's basically a disintegrating mass of subplots that are introduced and then left to flap in the breeze. Sylvia, Monty's vaguely vampiric, glowy-eyed hypnosis, the dog's hatred of Susan, and other seemingly important plot elements turn out to be red herrings... and I'm not sure what's going on with the guy in the werewolf suit. So basically the actual plot has more holes than a ripped-up sieve. Fortunately everything OTHER than the plot works. The presence of so many brilliant comic actors keeps it from completely falling apart -- there's plenty of funny dialogue ("Whoever you are, may God strike you DEAD! Now let's have coffee and dessert in the music room...") and humorous comic scenarios (the scene in which Larry sexily cuddles a dead body, mistaking it for Vicki). And it's one of my life's goals to greet a group of people with the line, "I know that one of you is a werewolf." And those actors do a brilliant job -- though this was the last movie Gilda Radner ever did (and she looks painfully emaciated), she and Wilder are both hilarious and have plenty of loving chemistry. Dom Deluise has plenty of fun as the eccentric, dramatic and rotund Aunt Kate, and has plenty of great lines as well ("... and when the police dragged him out of the ladies' room at Saks Fifth Avenue, THAT was fun too!"). Admittedly not all the actors are great -- Jo Ross, Jim Carter and Eve Ferret give merely adequate performances. But there are some great lesser performances from Jonathan Pryce, Ann Way, and especially Bryan Pringle as a butler with a dual personality... or an evil twin ("I just found Cousin Francis in my bed!" "Was he wearing a dress?" "Yes, he was!" "Just ask him to leave, sir. Tell him you have a headache"). "Haunted Honeymoon" lacks something vital -- a plot that doesn't totally unravel. If it weren't filled with awe-inspiringly good comic actors and dialogue, it would be a disaster. As it is, it's an amusing fluff piece. | ||
 | Rurouni Kenshin - Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1 | |
| "A sword of peace" | 2009-09-10 |
| Picture this: a feminine-looking, goofy swordsman who has vowed not to kill, but is secretly a lethal ex-assassin known as Battosai the Manslayer.
Yep, the title character of Nobuhiro Watsuki's "Rurouni Kenshin" is a pretty unusual lead for an action series, but then this series is really rather unusual -- a meditation on changing times, and on fighting to preserve peace and life rather than to bring death. And "Rurouni Kenshin - Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1" smoothly introduces the main characters in a flurry of sword-swinging action, delightfully wacky humor and a teeny hint of romance. Okay, more than a hint. Searching for the legendary manslayer Battosai, a young dojo owner named Kaoru assaults a sword-carrying stranger whom she assumes is the one she's searching for. Turns out his sword blade is upside-down, and he insists that he's just a wandering swordsman. Unfortunately someone using the name Battosai is disgracing Kaoru's dojo -- and they have their eyes on revenge for an old wrong. It's only then that the mysterious Kenshin shows what he's really capable of, and who he really is -- the true Battosai, who is so skilled that after a brawl with the corrupt police, he's asked to join the military. Kaoru asks him to stay on, and it turns out to be a good thing -- the dojo becomes embroiled in the fate of a feisty young samurai boy, who's being used as a pickpocket for a gang of yakuza thugs. And there's the Fight Merchant Zanza (real name: Sanosuke), a powerful young man seeking fights with strong opponents who is hired to fight Kenshin. But he has a personal reason to want to defeat Kenshin as well -- he's seemingly the last survivor of a military unit that was sacrificed as a scapegoat. Nobuhiro Watsuki's "Rurouni Kenshin" has become a classic for its story about overcoming the past, fighting for the sake of peace, and for the setting of the early Meiji era -- when Japan awkwardly leapt forward technologically and socially. But on a less epic scale, it's about one young man with a terrible and bloody past, who is now atoning for his past deeds by using his sword to protect instead of to destroy. It starts off fairly light-hearted, but gradually gains some darker shadings (such as Yahiko's miserable life and the) and explores the sociopolitical corruption and strife of all these sweeping changes (Sanosuke's tragic captain Sagara). And obviously any series with a swordsman is going to have some action, and these scenes deliver a whirlwind of sword blows and superhuman leaps, which can do anything from smashing an opponent's arm to hammering a crowd of people to the ground. But there's also plenty of comic relief in here, usually supplied by Kaoru's short fuse (particularly when Kenshin tries to save her from suicide) and Kenshin's sheepish space-cadet attitude and tendency to get in trouble by doing the right thing. Not to mention the most unsubtle mugging in the history of thievery. Kenshin is a pretty likable if odd hero -- he's goofy, spacey, eager to please and polite to a fault, with rumpled red hair and threadbare clothes. But he gets creepy empty eyes when he gets serious about fighting. Kaoru makes a good counterpart, being as blunt and strong-willed as Kenshin pretends not to be, while Yahiko is an unexpectedly likable younger sidekick. And Sanosuke makes a good addition to round out the cast -- he's got a tragic past as part of the unjustly-maligned Sekihotai "false army," which still drives him on. "Rurouni Kenshin - Legendary Swordsman, Vol. 1" is a brilliant introduction to Kenshin, a manslayer-turned-wanderer with the upside-down sword. Definitely a must-see for fans of anime. | ||
 | Inu-Yasha - A Girl's Best Friend (Vol. 2) | |
| "Hair today...." | 2009-09-10 |
| There's nothing like adversity to bring a bickering pair of protagonists together, and there's plenty of THAT coming along in the second volume of Rumiko Takahashi historical fantasy, "Inuyasha: A Girl's Best Friend." While the anti-hero and flaky heroine still get along like cats and dog-boys, the adventure-packed story, lush animation and enticingly elaborate bad guys make it fascinating.
Inuyasha storms into Kagome's home in the middle of dinner, intent on dragging her back through the well ("Idiot! Who told you you could go home?!"). Unfortunately he's attracted the attention of Yura and her killer hair (no really, it kills you) -- and when he and Kagome venture back into the warring states era, they find Yura waiting for Inuyasha and his head of pretty silver hair. But while Kagome has rotten aim and no other powers, she may be able to stop Yura's reign of hairy terror. And Inuyasha has barely recovered from that little escapade when weird little flea demon (no, really!) Myoga arrives to tell him that his father's tomb has been broken into. And the exact details become more obvious when Inuyasha's older brother Sesshomaru appears, along with a skyscraper-sized ogre and Inuyasha's long-dead mother. He wants the location of their father's tomb, and is convinced that Inuyasha knows where it is. When Inuyasha rushes to rescue his beloved human mother, he and Kagome are sucked into a idyllic, deadly world where a strange demon is planning a fate worse than death for him. But the perils don't end when Sesshomaru finds the way to the tomb -- the odd couple follow him into a vast realm of the dead, where a very strange family heirloom is waiting for them. Magical swords, an otherworldly realm filled with demon skeletons, beheaded bodies, a faceless woman who literally sucks people into her body, a flea in a teeny-tiny kimono, and a giant hairball full of razor hair. "Inuyasha - A Girl's Best Friend" takes your average quest fantasy, adds a cornucopia of Japanese mythological elements, and mixes in a little hint of romantic comedy as well. But it becomes even more evident that this is a darker piece of work than its predecessors "Ranma 1/2" and "Maison Ikkoku" -- there's plenty of gory action (Inuyasha gets stabbed, beaten up or drowned at least once an episode) and a trail of dead bodies whenever a bad guy shows up. Fortunately since this is based on a Rumiko Takahashi manga, there's also lots of comedy (the whole "Take your clothes off!" scene, or Kagome almost killing Myoga with bug spray), and a hint of potential romance... far, far in the future. Our intrepid heroine Kagome is still something of a flake who doesn't seem to quite understand some of the peril she's in ("You do realize Sesshomaru's in there?" "WELL DUH!"), but she does seem to be smartening up. And the grumpy anti-hero Inuyasha is fleshed out considerably here -- without being melodramatic, the writers explore his troubled past as a half-demon half-human boy, and his mingled feelings about his fractured family. Oh yeah, and we encounter Sesshomaru -- an icy Sephiroth-like demon who seems to have no qualms about abusing everyone around him (including his nasty little toady servant). "Inuyasha Volume 2 - A Girl's Best Friend" smooths out some of the initial wrinkles of the series, and introduces an interesting new villain. And it only gets better after this. | ||
 | Battlestar Galactica (2004): Season One (5pc) | |
| "Worthy of survival" | 2009-08-22 |
| Fifty years ago, humanity's robotic servant Cylons suddenly turned on their masters. After a nasty war, the Cylons retreated into far space and a tense truce was maintained.
But of course the story doesn't stop -- and it turned out to be a rare case of a remake becoming spectacularly better than the source material. "Battlestar Galactica Season" is a grimy, dark sci-fi/adventure saga that isn't afraid to dip into philosophical and theological matters -- and it's also well-acted (mostly) and emotionally powerful. Forty years after the war's end, the Cylons unexpectedly return to the Twelve Colonies and start wiping out ships and cities. The Battlestar Galactica (an aging warship about to be turned into a museum) is forced to flee the world of Caprica with a collection of refugee-crammed ships, under the command of Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos) and Secretary of Education-turned-President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell). Now the people of the Twelve Colonies must find a new home -- and their new goal is Earth, a legendary planet with other humans on it. Unfortunately, they have been infiltrated by the treacherous scientist Gaius Baltar (James Callis), and a group of Cylons who are almost indistinguishable from human beings. But the journey is the real test -- the ragtag fleet must deal with sabotage, shortages of water and fuel, Starbuck's stranding on a deadly planet, treachery among their numbers, attacks on Cylon-held asteroids, political crises and captured Cylons. What's more, someone on the Galactica is actually a Cylon -- leading to a terrible confrontation.... Anyone expecting "Battlestar Galactica" to be a copy of its predecessor is going to be horribly disappointed. This is sci-fi at its most compelling and transcendent -- a gritty, bleak, sexual, dark story of war and desperate escapes, and there are plenty of moral dilemmas (leaving behind slower ships to the Cylons). And it knows how to chill you -- the premiere miniseries has a ghastly scene where Six quietly snaps a tiny baby's neck... and she's trying to be merciful. The writers also do a solid job in here, emphasizing the hard sci-fi but starting to add some mystical threads near the end. The writing is solid with some bleakly humorous moments ("Why can't we use the starboard launch tube?" "It's a gift shop now"). They even manage to pull off dramatic and powerful dialogue without being cheesy ("You were born to a woman who believed suffering was good for the soul, so you suffered. Your life is a testament to pain. Injuries. Accidents. Some inflicted upon others, others inflicted upon yourself"). Oh, and by the by, the first season includes the initial miniseries, so no need to buy it separately. It's nice to not have to wait to get the miniseries before knowing what's going on. Olmos and McDonnell are the powerful leaders in this story, and both actors do a brilliant job -- especially Mcdonnell with Roslin's terminal breast cancer, and Olmos with his tragic past. Katee Sackhoff's Starbuck comes across as annoyingly more-macho-than-thou in many episodes, but the actress does a fine job in the deeper, more powerful moments -- Tricia Helfer is excellent as the ethereal humanoid-Cylon Number Six. Other standouts: Callis as the ever-changing Baltar, an enigmatic man with charisma and incredible smarts; Michael Hogan as the unlikeable Saul Tigh; and Grace Park as a woman who may be a Cylon without even being fully aware of it. "Battlestar Galactica Season One" (including the miniseries) is the start of a strong, powerful sci-fi epic, and definitely deserves to be seen. Not for kids, though. | ||
 | Vampire Kisses | |
 | "Or, laments of a wannabe-goth" | 2009-08-18 |
| "Vampire Kisses" is one of those books that leaves you wondering if the author wrote the thing ghastly mess as an elaborate parody.
And it honestly would not shock me if Ellen Schreiber intended the first book of her series to be that way -- it's basically an extended "Twilight"-style personal fantasy, with a pallid style and a pedestrian, shallow romance. The worst offense is Schreiber's Mary Sue heroine, a self-absorbed little Hot Topic goth with the depth and wit of a kitten's wading pool. Raven (cliche name alert!) has always been obsessed with vampires and goth trappings, to the point of sitting outside Anne Rice's house, and scorning the "combed, conservative, rich soccer snobs" at her "Dullsville" school. So she's delighted when the local mansion is purchased by a mysterious rich family, and even more so when she is rescued (from a "preppy" guy) by a mall-goth "Gothic Guy, Gothic Mate, Gothic Prince." And because you can tell everything about a person by how they dress and look, it's love at first bite. While unwillingly working in a travel agency (with a conservative dress code... HORRORS!), Raven starts to hear rumors that Rich Goth Hottie may be a vampire. After she starts prowling around, she finds herself invited to Rich Goth Hottie's mansion -- and of course because she wears black, he knows she's the only girl who can "accept him for who he really is." Yep, he's a vampire -- and a soap-opera misunderstanding might disrupt her potential romance. "Vampire Kisses" is one of those embarrassing stories that many teenage girls write about themselves -- they are edgy, dark and oppressed by the two-dimensionally alike "snobs" who don't appreciate them, until they find eternal love with a Hot Immortal Rich Dude. Most of these stories go unnoticed on fanfiction.net or other such sites, but sadly this one actually made it to print. Unfortunately Ellen Schreiber's writing style is pretty much on the same page. Most of the book is Raven whining about how painfully oppressed the poor wittle "gawthe" is, and how awesome her Rich Immortal Hottie is. Her style is painfully flat ("He stood before me, like a knight of night!"), and the dialogue is the stuff of nightmares, especially since Raven is supposedly mature and deep ("You people just don't understand the pressure of being a teenager in my generation!"). Yet there are moments where you wonder if Schreiber is actually playing an elaborate prank -- such as Raven's coworker (a fan of Lucite, white vinyl and red rhinestones) being referred to as "major class." Is this woman for real? Not to mention the hilariously shallow approach to the world -- according to Schreiber, if you dress like a Hot Topic Goth, you're smart and wonderful; if you appear "normal," you're a pathetic mindless loser who hates anyone "different." Raven herself is the biggest joke of all -- a selfish, shallow, whiny, malicious and pretentious Hot Topic Goth. All the other characters are two-dimensional cutouts -- her lackey Becky, the Lurch clone, her clueless parents, and the random small-town jerks. Alexander the Rich Immortal Hottie (aka "the most fantabulous guy in the solar system") is the only character explored, and he's as boring as Raven. "Vampire Kisses" is a romantic fantasy as shallow and pretentious as its heroine, to the point where it actually seems like a genre parody. As vampire stories go, this is completely bloodless. | ||
 | Farscape - The Complete Season One | |
| "There's life out here, Dad. Weird, amazing, psychotic life" | 2009-08-16 |
| From the very first episode onward, it's pretty obvious that "Farscape: The Complete Season 1" is no ordinary sci-fi story -- the characters are outlaws, the ship is alive, and distant galaxies are full of gloriously weird and grotesque Muppets. Fortunately, it's not just unusual but brilliant -- full of irreverent humor, strange alien species, heart-pounding action and eerie sci-fi.
IASA astronaut John Crichton is planning to slingshot his experimental craft, Farscape One, as a one-small-step into interstellar exploration. Instead, he gets thrown through a wormhole, and ends up drifting in a firefight between a vast living prison ship called Moya and the hypermilitaristic Peacekeepers. Obviously, he wants to go home, but isn't sure how. So he begins a journey with a gang of escaped criminals -- the Delvian priestess Zhaan, the bombastic warrior D'Argo, deposed dominar Rygel, and the prickly, surly ex-Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, and the grafted-into-Moya Pilot. But his new shipmates aren't the only problem for Crichton. Among their problems: shapeshifting space bugs, a mad scientist who decides to transform Aeryn, Peacekeeper bounties on their heads, an energy-sucking sorcerer, a planet of turnip-farming hippies, a primitive planet's power struggles, a cult of insane Delvians, a century-old Peacekeeper with some sadistic personal hobbies, an allergy-causing asteroid, and the unexpected pregnancy of their ship. Yes, Moya gets PREGNANT. But the biggest problem is Crais, a vengeful Peacekeeper commander who is determined to revenge himself on Crichton for the death of his brother. And with the Scarran/Sebacean hybrid Scorpius, he may get the chance to obliterate Moya's crew. Most first seasons of a great show are either utterly brilliant, or are a slow ramp-up to the brilliance that the show will have in the future. "Farscape: The Complete Season 1" actually manages to be both -- it introduces a pretty amazing universe, full of flying Muppets, squeaking insectile robots, Leviathans, and blue-skinned telepathic plant people. There are lots of overarcing storylines twined with clever, intricate one-off episodes and solid personal subplots (such as Zhaan's struggle with her darker self). And the dialogue is appallingly awesome ("I'm sure your world has no force so ruthless, so disciplined." "Oh, we call them linebackers. Or serial killers, depends on if they're... professional or amateur"). Crichton in particular sprinkles his dialogue with fun pop culture references and quotables ("Out the door, turn left at the creature") but everybody gets great lines ("Mother always said I was the best looking. That's why she had my older brothers banished"). Ben Browder's Crichton is a thoroughly likable hero -- he seems a bit flaky and utterly fish-out-of-water, but he's also clever, selfless and kind. And while Aeryn is hard-nosed and cold at first, the awesome Claudia Black chips away her iciness and reveals her fears and insecurities. Virginia Hey is brilliant as the walking talking plant-priestess ("You're a VEGETABLE?") whose serenity hides a terrible past, and Gigi Edgley and Anthony Simcoe give good performances as the rebellious Chiana and hotheaded Luxan warrior. And while Rygel and Pilot are technically played by Muppets, they are gloriously three-dimensional and expressive -- think Yoda, but better. The first season of "Farscape" is awash in the glorious, the grotesque, and some really hilarious science fiction stories. A must-see for those who like their space opera with an edge. | ||
 | Samurai Deeper Kyo, Book 6 | |
| "Eight sun" | 2009-08-14 |
| Yuya has finally found the elusive man with the cross scar... and it's Kyo/Kyoshiro/whoever. But that's not the only surprise in store in "Samurai Deeper Kyo, Book 6," since Akimine Kamijyo spends most of this volume exploring the new characters and villains that are swarming all over the forest of Aokigahara. It's a fast, fun read with plenty of new twists.
While Yuya struggles with her new knowledge, Benitora and Okuni run across a bloodthirsty, scarlet-eyed man with a giant scythe -- Mekira, one of the Twelve God Shoguns. He's also an ex-classmate of Benitora's who murdered their master when he refused to teach him the deadliest techniques of their school. Benitora, unsurprisingly, is not happy to see him again. And it seems that Mekira's skill has only increased, since he seems to be able to teleport around during the fight and is cutting Benitora to ribbons. Meanwhile, the elusive Master is in the heart of the forest, and he wants Kyo's body. In a non-X-rated way. And during all this, Kyo and Yuya have found a deep underground cave where Kyo's body seems to be frozen inside a vast expanse of ice. Except it isn't actually Kyo's body -- it's a disguise worn by one of the Twelve, a ruthless mathematically-minded puppet-master whose constant attacks are wearing Kyo out. When he goes critical, someone else emerges to fight... "Samurai Deeper Kyo Book 6" is a pretty action-packed, bizarrely superhuman volume -- we have Benitora and Mekira carving each other up with astonishing skill, a preteen ninja slicing a guy in half, Kyo fighting against an army of shapeshifting puppets (including multiple Yuyas), and even Yukimura effortlessly thrashing a crowd of bounty-hunting thugs. With a FISHING ROD. It doesn't get much more impressive than that. Amidst all that action, Kamijyo still manages to weave in some plot exposition (including a shadowy appearance by the Master) and a glimpse at how Yukimura's little ninja organization works (including the female Kagemusha who poses as him... presumably with a steel sports bra). There are some moments of humor (mother-hen Saizo freaking out) but the overall feel is rather grim. It also introduces some interesting new characters, such as Benitora's nasty old schoolmate, and a bespectacled puppetmaster with a sadistic edge. Most impressive the deadly prepubescent ninja Sasuke (who is somehow able to draw a sword as long as he is), and in the meantime Yuya comes to a surprising decision about trusting Kyo. "Samurai Deeper Kyo Volume 6" is heavy on action and moderate on plot, and both promise to get more intense as time goes on. | ||
 | The Seeing Stone (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Book 2) | |
| "Must make haste, no time to waste" | 2009-08-13 |
| According to Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi, the text of this story was left for them by three mystery kids.
And after spending the first book introducing the world of strange fey creatures, the second book in the Spiderwick Chronicles deals with the first clash with them. "The Seeing Stone" throws our three juvenile heroes into the midst of grotesque and eerie creatures, and despite the book's tiny size, it's a solid little fantasy story. After a rotten day at school, Jared's day actually manages to get worse -- he sees Simon being captured by an invisible force and dragged into the woods. According to Thimbletack, he was kidnapped by goblins -- and now if Mallory and Jared want to save him, they have to use the "lens of stone" to find him (sort of a multi-lensed viewing monocle that lets you see faerie creatures). And Jared is desperate enough to take it. But the lens only allows them to SEE the goblins -- fighting them is a much harder problem, and they only have a short time before the monsters try to EAT Simon. With only the lens and a few small weapons, they venture off into the forest... but there are dangers other than the goblins in the woods nearby, and even if they find him, how can they avoid being captured as well? A wounded griffin, a sludgy lake troll, grotesque toadlike goblins and little leaf-winged grass-haired sprites -- Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi certainly up the amount of supernatural goings-on in "The Seeing Stone." And given a late development that allows the kids to see the stranger side of the world, these aren't going to be the last fey creature they encounter in this series. And Black and DiTerlizzi's shared writing style brings this seemingly simple tale to exquisite, creepy life ("Hairless cat-like ears stuck up from their heads, and their teeth were pieces of shattered glass and small jagged rocks"). Though the storyline is pretty simple, the writing weaves a web of subtle, eerie strangeness around the seemingly ordinary circumstances, and makes it almost believable that evil goblins might be in the woods near your home. And Tony DiTerlizzi's artwork is simply perfect for the story that he and Black are telling. Lots of intricate pen-and-ink drawings, depicting the pretty ethereal nature sprites, the weird multilensed "seeing stone," the drippy long-nosed troll, and spiky trees hung with cages. The highlights are an old newspaper clipping about a boy gone missing -- it seems to be important, though not yet clear. Simon basically serves as a damsel in this book, but Jared's intense attachment to his twin is shown by him almost throttling Thimbletack to get the lens, and Mallory gets to kick goblin butt with her fencing sword. What's more, the kids' involvement in the world of the fey becomes more concrete when they gain a brand-new pet. Wonder how their mom will react. The second chapter of the Spiderwick Chronicles, "The Seeing Stone," expands the eerie fey world into the more everyday one, and adds in some very nasty little creatures. It's sure to only get worse. | ||
 | Samurai Deeper Kyo, Book 5 | |
| "Secrets revealed" | 2009-08-12 |
| "Samurai Deeper Kyo, Book 5" is full of secrets being revealed -- secret identities, secret pasts, and the secret location of Kyo's much-sought-after body. Akimine Kamijyo shifts rather abruptly from one major arc to another in this volume, but he does it with a bang and some truly astonishing sword-fights -- as well as a new and deadly band of enemies.
The identity of the true Ieyasu is shockingly revealed to Kyo, mere moments before Yukimura's bombs cause his palace to come crashing down. But despite Yuya's fears, Kyo isn't even scratched -- and after some parting jibes from Ieyasu, he and Yukimura finally square off in a maddened duel of fight-loving men (one of whom is wearing a dress). The price: Yukimura finally reveals where Kyo's body is -- in a haunted forest near Mount Edo, Aokigahara. But the trek to that forest may be even more dangerous, as Yuya encounters a kind young blind man with superhuman skills -- and an old grudge against Kyo. He is also part of a band of new enemies whose presence may mean death to Kyo, if he and his friends can't make it through Aokigahara in time. Unfortunately Aokigahara is not a very friendly place... but then, Kyo may be even nastier. I have to admit, Akimine Kamijyo doesn't mess around when he's shifting the story focus -- "Samurai Deeper Kyo Book 5" swings the focus from "kill Ieyasu" to "retrieve Kyo's body" in just a few chapters. It also introduces some spectacularly nasty new villains, although they haven't yet been explored in full -- but at least one of them is scarily strong. It also produces the long-awaited fight between Yukimura and Kyo, a blood-smearing orgy of sweeping blades and crazy grins. And Kamijyo turns the creep factor up to eleven in the last chapter when Yuya is accosted by a tribe of pointy-toothed cannibals pretending to be children (the "ball" monologue is horrendous"). The one downside is that once again, he forgets about what minor characters are doing -- last time I checked, poor Saizo was in critical condition, but we never hear what happened to him. Interestingly, it also seems that Yuya is outright falling in love with Kyo -- which seems a bit out of character for our tough independent heroine, since Kyo has basically treated her like an inept peon at best. But she also discovers a shocking fact about her brother's murderer, and Benitora turns out to have some surprising secrets of his own. Apparently he's not just another wandering weirdo. "Samurai Deeper Kyo Volume 5" is another turning point in this kick-butt samurai manga, and it leaves you desperately wanting to know what happens next in Aokigahara. | ||
 | Pitch Black | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer. That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
![Pitch Black (Unrated) [HD DVD]](product_images/no_image_thumbnail.gif) | Pitch Black (Unrated) [HD DVD] | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer. That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
![Lost: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray]](product_images/4967000/lost-the-complete-second_t-4967533.jpg) | Lost: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray] | |
| "Get lost" | 2009-08-04 |
| It was bound to happen -- after a breathtaking first season, expectations were high for the continuation of "Lost," a creepy, semi-mystical series with a checkered cast and an exotic island setting. "Lost's" second season builds on the story of the first season, picking up where it left off. Though it has some flaws -- a bit of bad casting and some lag in the "island" stories -- it's still intriguing and eerie, and solves old mysteries as it introduces new ones, with shocking twists on characters you thought you knew. As the season opens, Locke, Kate and Jack finally enter the mysterious hatch. But they didn't count on finding a concrete bunker, a button that might postpone doomsday -- and a frantic man who is very familiar to Jack. Meanwhile, Michael, Sawyer and Jin manage to make it back to the island -- and are promptly captured by a band of strangers. These people turn out to be castaways from the fallen plane's tail section, led by the suspicious Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodrieguez). They make the trek to the opposite side of the island, but as they arrive, Ana makes a fatal mistake -- she shoots Shannon. Nice way to start integrating the groups. As the season goes on, new personal crises arise when Locke loses faith in the island, Michael goes off to find Walt, Hurley falls in love with one of the tailies, Claire explores what happened to her during her "missing month," and Sawyer scores an unexpected coup which gets him all the guns in the camp. As the season goes on, things start to heat up. The mysterious French woman gives an "Other" she trapped over to Sayid, but is he really an enemy, or just an innocent castaway? And as Locke and Eko discover the true purpose of the hatches, one of the lost returns to the camp -- and treachery is guiding the castaways into a trap... "Lost"'s second seasons started out strong and thrilling, then hit a dead spot for a few episodes, before picking back up again. While the middling episodes are solid enough, the best parts are at the start and finish, where the writers throw several shocking twists into the storyline. The mystery of the island itself is not solved -- the presence of the mysterious Dharma Corporation is revealed. But the corporation doesn't explain how the island has healing powers. Some answers are revealed, and some mysteries simply get more complex. On the character backstory front, the castaways' problems still haunt them, from imaginary friends to torture to drugs. The returning cast continues the compelling job they did in the first season, especially Dominic Monaghan, Evangeline Lilly, Daniel Dae Kim, Naveen Andrews, and Jorge Garcia, who all get their pasts raked up again; the actors do a magnificent job with guilt, sorrow, longing, and love. In fact, all of them do a good job, including ex-star Maggie Grace, who manages to make us actually LIKE Shannon in her final episode. As for the "tailies," there are good and bad choices. Michelle Rodrieguez was an appalling choice, since her butch ex-cop is the same character she's been doing for years. But on the flip side is Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who quickly won fans' hearts as the spiritual Mr. Eko, a mysterious and dangerous priest/drugrunner. Think a Christian counterpart to Locke's animist believer. The extras are a fairly good bunch -- the video and sound are beautifully spruced up, and it has deleted scenes, a bunch of featurettes (on everything from the awesome Sawyer to the strange theories that the show provokes), Easter eggs, audio commentary with writers, directors and actors, cut flashbacks sneak peeks, bloopers, and so on and so forth. "Lost" stumbled a bit in the middle of the second season, but regained its footing for shocking, explosive episodes leading up to the finale. If only all second seasons were as good as this. | ||
 | Pitch Black (Rated Version) | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer.
That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
| Pitch Black | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer.
That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
 | Pitch Black (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut) | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer.
That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
 | Pitch Black (Full Screen Director's Cut) | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer.
That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
 | Pitch Black (Unrated Version) | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer.
That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
 | Pitch Black (Widescreen Edition) | |
| "They come in the night" | 2009-08-04 |
| Imagine the legendary "Flight of the Phoenix," except the crash is on a barren alien planet... and there are nasty flesh-eating monsters. And a serial killer.
That describes David Twohy's most artistically adept movie, the raw and dusty "Pitch Black. This cult movie starts off as your average gang of embattled, ill-matched castaways struggling to survive, but it that becomes utterly brilliant as it slowly slips from gritty sci-fi to harrowing, claustrophobic horror. And yes, even Vin Diesel gives an awesome performance in this one. After a meteor storm, a sleeper transport crashes on a desolate desert planet. Most of the passengers survive, including a stowaway kid and a dangerous prisoner, Riddick (Vin Diesel). Unfortunately, it turns out that the entire planet is a desert because it's blasted by three suns all throughout the day, and the survivors have little food, water or shelter. Oh yeah, and Riddick has broken out. To find the necessities, a small group led by Carolyn Fry Radha Mitchell) sets out across the desert -- and discovers a swarm of vicious omnivorous creatures in a cave. Fortunately they can't come out into the light. But when the group finds a geological survey station, they learn that a monthlong eclipse is about to fall over the planet -- meaning the creatures will soon eat them all if they don't escape from the desolate planet, and some of them aren't gonna make it. Personally I haven't liked David Twohy's work except the 1996 sci-fi film "Arrival," but "Pitch Black" is the kind of brilliant cult movie that almost makes up for an otherwise okay-to-bad filmography. This is not a polished space opera, but a dingy, grimy, dirty sci-fi movie full of recognizably ugly technology and stained morals -- not to mention some truly grotesque deaths. And not all of them are from the winged beasties either (think chest impalement). And Twohy gives the movie a very bleak, vaguely disturbing look -- endless chalky deserts filled with bones, grimy ships torn to pieces, empty skies, and searing pale light that makes everyone look half dead. Even the beautiful colourful expanses of space seem vaguely ominous. But the whole thing suddenly becomes jump-in-your-seat scary when the monsters attack, and start eating people as they run. The one problem? COME ON, what are the chances that they would JUST HAPPEN to arrive for the once-in-two-decades eclipse? And the feeling of suspense is heightened by sharp-edged, pared-down dialogue ("You're dancing on razor blades here") and a warped sense of humor -- we're assured that "No similarity to actual persons or predators, living or dead, is intended or should be inferred." Nice. The characters are a pretty mixed bag, and there's always the haunting realization that most of them would easily turn on each other to save themselves -- and in fact, the main character even does that in the first few minutes of the film. There's benevolent Muslim pilgrims, a hard-nosed bounty hunter, a prissy dude who hoards booze, and an annoying urchin of ambiguous gender. The standouts are Claudia Black as the tough Shazza, and Keith David as the kindly Abu "Imam" al-Walid. As for the leads, Diesel gives a pretty good performance as a wisecracking killer with a distinctly creepy edge (ew, he took a hair sample) and "shine" eyes that let him see in the dark. But I was most impressed by Mitchell's Fry, as a selfish hardened leader who learns to defend other people's lives in a crunch. "Pitch Black" is a fast, eerie, bloody little sci-fi movie with a nasty little planet full of even nastier creatures that are just waiting for dark. Definitely worth it for sci-fi buffs. | ||
 | Fawlty Towers, Vol. 3 - Waldorf Salad/Kipper and the Corpse/Anniversary/Basil the Rat | |
| "I'm going to break your bottom!" | 2009-07-28 |
| Nothing really needs to be said about the classic British sitcom "Fawlty Towers," except that the third and final collection of episodes contains some of the series' most brilliant, most hilarious, and most humiliatingly ghastly moments. "Fawlty Towers - Waldorf Salad/The Kipper and the Corpse/The Anniversary/Basil the Rat" sends abusive hotelier Basil Fawlty through his last round of demented crises, and it's more fun than ever. Basil's insensitivity and overambition finally get the best of him when he tries to cater to a wealthy, equally obnoxious American tourist who wants a Waldorf salad. The result: a crazy scheme in which Basil tries to pretend that the cook hasn't left for the day, and cobble together a foodstuff that he doesn't know the first thing about. And it turns out that the American isn't the only unsatisfied customer. Then when an overnight guest expires in bed, Basil is thrown into a frenzy -- first he thinks it's because of some expired kippers he served the dead man (when he was already dead), and then he's determined to keep the death secret from all the other guests. Unfortunately, there aren't many places in a hotel that you can hide a dead body where someone won't stumble across it -- and Basil spreads the usual chaos as he and the staff stuff it in wardrobes, bedrooms and the office. When Basil and Sybil's twentieth anniversary rolls around, Basil secretly plans a party with some old friends of theirs. Unfortunately Sybil thinks he really HAS forgotten their anniversary, and storms off just as the friends arrive -- and a frantic Basil tries to convince the other couples that Sybil's got a weird mystery illness and has NOT left him. Unfortunately, they're too determined to see her, resulting in a very weird masquerade for Polly. And the series finale deals with what restaurants dread most: a health inspector, who deems the kitchen unsafe and unfit. While everyone tries to get the hotel shipshape, Basil discovers that Manuel has a pet rat ("Is Siberian hamster -- a filagree!") in his room and orders it to be somehow removed from the premises. Unfortunately little Basil The Rat finds his way back into the hotel... at the same time that the health inspector returns to Fawlty Towers. "Fawlty Towers" is one of those shows that shone brightly and briefly, like a fireworks display -- the last four episodes of the series show little signs of slowing comic genius, and it leaves you wistfully wishing that John Cleese and Co. had managed to turn out one more season. As it is, the series ended on a high note without the jokes getting tired or old. "Waldorf Salad" is perhaps the weakest of these episodes, since it stretches the Basil-tries-to-pretend-the-cook-is-still-there joke to the max. But the other three are absolutely hilarious mixes of gags (the rat-in-the-purse scene), misunderstandings ("There's a kipper sticking out of your vest"), and plots that revolve mainly around Basil's increasingly frantic efforts to keep everything "normal." Everything gets crazier as the episodes wind on. And Cleese's writing is typically brilliant here -- Basil gets most of the great lines ("Look, I'm just delivering a tray, right. If the guest isn't singing 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning,' I don't immediately think 'Oh, there's another snuffed it in the night'") but there are some glorious bits of dialogue from others ("Don't talk to anyone, but he's dead." "Ah. Shot, was he?" "No, no. He died in his sleep." "In his sleep? Well, you're off your guard, you see"). Cleese continued to play Basil as a slightly deranged, high-strung, incompetent guy who finally gets told off en masse in "Waldorf Salad," and Prunella Scales serves as the more competent, vaguely contemptuous counterpoint to him. Connie Booth's Polly finally gets sick of Basil's weird ideas in "Anniversary" and has to be bribed into impersonating Sybil, while Andrew Sachs has a rather cute scene in the final episode where he threatens to leave if they get rid of his pet rat. Wave a tearful farewell to "Fawlty Towers" in its third collection of episodes... then go eat a Waldorf salad and some overripe kippers on your anniversary, and shoot at some rats. | ||
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