Books and Movies...

What's going on? Well, James Rollins' new book, The Doomsday Key, hit the shelves today, June 23rd. He writes good adventure/thriller stuff. Very cinematic. I'd like to see a movie based on one of his books. Also, saw a new title at the bookstore I'm just going to have to check out:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen (Author), Seth Grahame-Smith (Author)

This has just got to be one of the craziest ideas I've seen. It just might work....




I saw two movies over the weekend. The first was Punisher: War Zone. Much more violent than previous incarnations, Ray Stevenson's portrayal of the gritty vigilante is probably the best. Not a bad action flick, but they couldn't seem to decide on whether to go for realism or comic book style. The harsh action and drama supported the realism, the Joker-like villian, Jigsaw (not to be confused with the Saw movies), came right out of the comic book. All-in-all not too bad.

Next up was The Reader. This is so completely at the other end of the spectrum from Punisher it's almost funny. I couldn't have picked more of an opposite. Nominated for several awards this past year, though I think Slumdog Millionaire won most if not all of them, it stars Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. This was an odd story that moved from a romance in the 50's to a court case about Nazi war crimes in the 60's culminating in a lot of depression and guilt by the ending time frame of 1995. Wow, not the lighter drivel I normally prefer. This is what I consider an Art-House flick. Great acting and cinematography, worthy of award nominations, just kind of heavy for my tastes. Oh, and despite what the cover of the box says, this is by no means a "thriller". It is a flat-out drama.

Anyway, the clock on the wall is telling me to wrap it up. I must rest and be refreshed so that I may be ready for another day. Rest well my media minions.....

Mixed Media

Watched The Spirit last night. The simple review; it was a very uneven movie. Some scenes worked, some...not so much. Samuel L. Jackson, as The Octopuss, was purposefully over-the-top, and that was cool. The rest of the cast was decent considering some of the material they had to work with. The exception, Eva Mendes. While she is eye-candy, she can't act. I'm not sure who told her she could. I have not seen her in a role yet where she could keep up with the other talent on screen. The movie was a decent rental. If you liked Sin City then you will be able to forgive the shortcomings of this flick and waste away a couple of hours. Note: this film did tank at the box office, so don't look for a sequel any time soon.

A few discoveries over the past couple of weeks... First, Pandora.com. A cool streaming music web site that you can customize virtual "radio stations" to fit your tastes. Great concept. I've been listening to it quite a bit lately. Second, Goodreads.com. For the book enthusiast, this is a social website, book club, personal library tracker and book review. Quite cool.

Next up, you knew it was coming.... The return of Captain America! For the uninitiated, the good Captain was a long running character in the Marvel Comics universe and he was recently...killed. You heard it, just like the current B.S. going on in the DC Comics arena where they have now killed off Batman! (What a load of crap!!!) Oh well, they've got a big name writer working on it and circulation is up, so who cares, right. Anyway, just in time to start the wheels moving on the media machine for the 2011 release of the big-screen Captain America movie that was recently announced, they appear to be resurrecting the original stars and stripes crusader himself. I'm sure Batman will be back in the comics as soon as Bale is ready to do another movie. See how this marketing thing works. I'll make a prediction... Angels and Demons will be released on DVD and Blue-Ray within two weeks of Dan Brown's new book due in September. Watch and wait my minions......

The Movie Title Is....

Here's an updated production schedule for the new movie, Recession Proof, from MSW Films and Artistic Vision Productions. As posted previously, the first day of shooting was on May 3rd. The cast is now scheduled for rehearsals in June as set construction/prep continues. All principal photography is due to be completed by the end of July. Post production is to be finished for an early fall release date. You can visit the official site at http://www.myspace.com/recessionprooffilm

Later minions....