CHILDHOOD'S END

I just recently read the book.  I hope Syfy can do it justice.

View full article at Dark Horizons.

Syfy Green Lights "Childhood's End" Mini-Series

READER'S BLOCK

If there can be such a thing as writer's block, then I can certainly suffer from reader's block.  It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it lasts a while.  I'll read several books in a row, start the next one and BAM! , I hit a wall.  I'll set the book aside but can't seem to get motivated to pick it back up.  I'll think, maybe it's this book or the genre or something and try another, but... nothing.  I can't get back into it.  Other times I can circle around a book and read another, but it's slow going.

According to my Goodreads page, I've been reading Terry Brooks' Armageddon's Children for almost a year.  I'm only 117 pages in.  I have managed to read a couple of other books since then, but that took me a good while.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with the book or the author.  They're both great, in fact.  I just have some kind of mental block.  I read 2 chapters the other day, enjoyed it, but stalled-out again.


So, in my normal fashion, I've picked up another one, Kevin J. Anderson's The Dark Between the Stars.  I'm building up some momentum and if I can get through it, in relatively short order, I think I'll get back on track for Brooks' novel.  I'm hopeful that I won't get side-tracked again and can keep rolling as my 'to read' list is not getting any shorter.

JACK RYAN: BEFORE AND AFTER

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a reboot of the Tom Clancy franchise.  We've seen him played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and even Ben Affleck.  Now, in the title role, is Star Trek's Chris Pine.  As of this writing, I haven't watched the movie yet.  I'm going to check it out and follow up with my thoughts below.  Here's what I know before:  The reboot is an original story and I believe it messes with a lot of the earlier canon.  This makes a certain amount of sense, though, as Ryan was a product of the Cold War and evolved over time.  The reboot would have to be a new story, however it probably alienated long-time fans.  Strike one...  They released the movie in the theaters in January, not a great slot for a hopeful franchise do-over.  Strike two...  Author, Tom Clancy, died before the movie was released and it was not the box office success that I think the studios were looking for.  Probably Strike three for the franchise, but who knows?  Is the movie any good?  Does it live up to the Clancy legacy?  I'm gonna check it out right now....



...And, I'm back.  Well executed story.  It's definitely in the Clancy universe.  Part political thriller, part action with a pinch of high-tech spy gadgetry.  The cast does a great job and I'd love to see more stories.  Unfortunately, the movie only made a profit due to over-seas box office and the critics panned it pretty good.  I'm not sure the studio will have enough faith in this to try again.  The good news is that it didn't have the price tag that many A-list features do these days.  I think it's a better movie than the previous Sum of All Fears, but, alas, the proof is in the $$$.  At any rate, it's worth a rent.  Check it out and decide for yourself.

SUMMER CHECKLIST

Recently viewed items in the theater and on video:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier   -   Excellent!
The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Electric Boogaloo   -   I miss Raimi...
Godzilla   -   If you like Godzilla...this one's for you.
X-Men: Days of Future Past   -   They finally got it right...

The Monuments Men   -   Much better than the critics gave it credit for.
The Wolf of Wall Street   -   Great, but make sure the kids aren't around...
Odd Thomas  -  Good adaptation of the book but would make a better TV series...
Frozen   -   Let it go...
American Hustle   -   The 70's were strange but fun...
Gravity   -   Too much hype, but visually stunning...

Looking forward to:

Edge of Tomorrow   -   Tom Cruise's Groundhog Day ... with aliens!
22 Jump Street   -   Not really, just kidding...
Transformers: Beat a Dead Horse... with Dinobots!
Dawn of The Planet of the Apes   -   Go bananas!
Lucy  -   Scarlett Johansson... 'nuff said
Guardians of the Galaxy   -   Why not!

Really disappointed that Jupiter Ascending has been delayed until February, 2015.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming.........

WHAT'S UP, DOC?

It has come to my attention that I have not posted for 4 months!  Shame on me.  It's also come to my attention that my humble blog is getting a few "hits" that aren't my mom.  So, I'm thinking I better post some stuff.

There's been a lot going on with new releases in the theaters, video, books and TV.  Too many, in fact, to try to catch up at this point.  However, I'll run down a few highlights and bring us up-to-date.

There were a few movies out that failed miserably at the box office but were actually good sci-fi stories.  Oblivion, with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, was an original story that reminded me of an Arthur C. Clarke tale.  While the pacing was slow the first half of the movie, it really gained some momentum and ended up with a great sci-fi ending.  It's worth a look now that it's out on video.  The other movie that was completely reviled was the M. Night Shyamalan flick, After Earth, starring Will Smith and his son.  I think good speculative fiction story telling has been lost in the flash of Hollywood special effects.  This movie had a good plot, but it didn't have enough eye-candy to win audiences over.  I think people were expecting something else from Smith, and Shyamalan has fallen out of favor after a couple of perceived 'stinkers'.  As with Oblivion, this movie is now on video and there are worse things one could do with their time than watch it.  Ender's Game is pretty good but has been totally overshadowed by the new Thor release (more about that later) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Look for 'Ender' to be out on video after the first of the year if you can't make it to the theater.

Now, when new movies come out I tend to categorize them in to three groups;
1) See it in the theater
2) Wait for video
3) No thanks
Now You See Me falls at number 2.  With an ensemble cast that included Mark Ruffalo and Woody Harrelson, this was a 'heist' movie that had Vegas magicians and illusionists perpetrating the crime.  It was fun and had a few neat twists but I still feel that a video viewing was the right choice.  Star Trek Into Darkness was definitely in the number 1 category.  This latest vision of the rebooted franchise revisits many of the themes of Star Trek II, much to the discouragement of some fans.  However, I found that this is something that needs to be recognized.  These characters may be in a new timeline, but they will still experience many of the same challenges and villains, and it will happen in a different fashion.  This movie did a good job of demonstrating that.  I look forward to a 3rd installment.

Other theatrical releases of note, all of which have made it to video now, include World War Z, Epic, The Croods and Pacific Rim.  All were very entertaining and well worth the time to check out.

Most recently, I've had the opportunity to see Thor: The Dark World.  This is the second Thor story as well as the second post-Avengers one, and part of Marvel's "phase 2" movies.  It is really a much larger canvas and tells a more epic story than the first.  The cast is great... again, and Tom Hiddleston's Loki has some great one-liners... again.  However, in the first of 2 post-credit teasers, the Infinity Stones are introduced and they are supposed to come into play in a later movie (Guardians of the Galaxy most likely).  This is way out of context, though, as they are never mentioned anywhere else in the movie.  They assume the audience already knows what they are.  More of an explanation to non-Marvelites would have been warranted, but, overall, it's a great sequel.

Meanwhile, on the television front, a whole new season has been in progress.  Favorite picks on new shows so far; Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dracula and Almost Human.  Returning shows of note; The Walking Dead, Person of Interest, Revolution and Elementary.

Not to be forgotten, of course, is Doctor Who.  As I write this, the 50th Anniversary movie has aired almost exactly 48 hours ago.  It was simulcast to 94 countries and is now in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest simulcast ever.  Although it could never live up to the hype that was built around it, the movie was still quite satisfying and sets the stage to launch a new Doctor (to appear in the upcoming Christmas special) and, possibly, another 50 years of stories.  Unfortunately, fans will have to wait another 8 months or so to actually see new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, in a regular episode.  These short 'Series' that BBC insists on wear a bit thin sometimes.

In the literary world, the big release, for some, over the summer (actually May - my how time flies) was the new Dan Brown, Robert Langdon novel, Inferno.  Much better than The Lost Symbol, the plot finds our hero running around Italy again.  Although Brown approaches this story from a different angle, the constant art and history lessons he tries to inject gets a bit old after a while.  Overall, it's a good book and would probably make a great movie.  Hollywood should skip The Lost Symbol, though... yuck.

Well, I think I've rattled on quite enough, so for now, That's all folks! (Bonus Content Below)

Here's a link to a video of some Doctors who didn't make it into the 50th Anniversary movie.  ...or did they? 

 The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot

MAN OF STEEL COULD HAVE FLOWN HIGHER

I saw Man of Steel on its opening weekend but had to process it for a little while. Overall, I liked it but have had a hard time expressing the issues I had with it.

The first was the way Clark's childhood was depicted... very depressing.  The only message he got from Pa Kent was to always hide his abilities, even if it meant innocent people would die.  What?!!  Moving on... 

Here are some quotes I found that mirror my thoughts:

".....the destruction in this new movie isn't the main problem. In fact it's probably a realistic depiction of what would happen in those circumstances. The problem is that Superman shows no concern for the collateral damage at all."

".....it wasn't just that he didn't care, there was no remorse whatsoever."

" He was always supposed to be a beacon of light with which all the other heroes to come are measured against."

After all of the sound bites from the trailers where Jor-El and Johnathan Kent are giving him words of wisdom about how he can be a great man and lead people, it seems he's not off to a good start.

Hopefully, a sequel will depict how he's had to deal with all of this.

VIDEO ROUNDUP

We recently viewed several newly released to video titles ranging from the quirky and fun to the tired and old.  Starting with the former, Safety Not Guaranteed is an indie film with a lot of charm.  It is a light-hearted dramedy about a guy that posts an ad in the classifieds for a time-travelling partner.  A reporter and 2 interns decide to go check out his story and, of course, discover more about themselves in the process.  As the story unfolds, we're never really sure the would-be Time-Traveler is legit or not and it plays out similarly to the Kevin Spacey movie,   K-PAX.  Definitely worth checking out.

Next up, the animated feature,  Escape From Planet Earth.  A host of aliens have been captured while visiting Earth and are being forced to develop technology by the military at Area 51.  William Shatner provides the voice of the general in charge of the project which he ultimately has ulterior motives for.  Other voices are Provided by Brendan Frasier, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Jessica Alba, to name a few.  The movie is fun and, not being a Disney/Pixar film, is allowed be original and smart without being too formulaic.  Oh, and the kids loved it!

A Good Day to Die Hard is the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise.  There have already been a lot of jokes involving the title, with reason, so I won't go there.  The plot, which has gotten a lot of criticism, is not really that bad.  It involves a cover-up at Chernobyl and the smuggling of weapons-grade uranium.  However, the real problem with the movie, to me, is that Bruce Willis just seems to be really tired of the character.  His lackluster performance in this was a disappointment.  The other thing about it was that they changed the main thing that made John McClane interesting.  In the past movies he was always the reluctant hero, finding himself in situations he didn't want to be in but could not turn away from.  In this one, however, it's like he's looking for a fight.  He goes to Moscow looking for his adult son, who he thinks is in trouble, and proceeds to clumsily force confrontations.  There's plenty of action and the explosion factor is high, so it's not a total loss, but, with Willis just phoning in his performance, you can't really root for him as much as you'd like to.  If you're a fan of the series, it's worth watching.  Otherwise, pass on this one and maybe check out....

Jack Reacher.  That's the title, plain and simple.  This movie, however, was a pleasant surprise.  I didn't  know anything about the book series it was based on so I didn't know what to expect.  This is not a mindless action flick or a Mission Impossible clone.  It is a very well done thriller.  Tom Cruise portrays the title character who is an ex-military MP and investigator, and decorated war hero who, after returning to the states after several tours abroad, promptly drops off the grid.  He resurfaces to try to solve a possible case of mistaken identity and a cover-up plot involving an ex-army sniper.  The plot is smart and the movie does not hit you over the head with a lot of exposition.  The characters do things that actually make sense and Reacher approaches the mystery in a very logical way, though he disregards several laws in the process.  But hey, that's the way he rolls.  Definitely worth a look at this one.

And, finally, I got to watch OZ The Great and Powerful.  I really liked what Sam Raimi and the writers have done with the mythology, going back and giving us a direct prequel to the 1939 classic based on the works of L. Frank Baum.  Sideshow magician and con man, Oscar (or Oz, as he typically goes by) gets whisked away to a familiar setting where he is believed to be a great wizard, come to free them from the threat of a wicked witch.  He plays along, at first, with the promise of great riches awaiting him, but soon finds that he actually cares for the fate of these people in this magical realm.
The supporting cast is great, including the talents of the likes of Zach Braff, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.  However, the choice of James Franco as Oz was a bit of a misstep.  While Franco is a decent actor, and I've liked him other things, he just doesn't have the personality to pull of the charismatic presence that the character is supposed to have.  I think that the role would have been better in someone else's hands.  Otherwise, it is an imaginative and visually striking romp through a land that is both familiar and new at once.