Friday, October 30, 2009
The Tristan Betrayal
**** The Tristan Betrayal by Robert Ludlum. Action/adventure.
This is another of those authors whose books I generally enjoy, but I haven't gone out of my way to look for.
Stephen Metcalfe is a spy-turned-ambassador, and he's called on to help stop a coup--communist hardliners threatening to overthrow Gorbachev's new government. Along with the present day story, we get flashbacks of Metcalfe's life as a spy during the 1940s, with quite a few hair-raising adventures and near disasters.
The flashbacks were exciting, and made Metcalfe a more interesting and sympathetic character, even if he was a bit luckier than was easy to believe. Experiencing his past, though, gave the present story more depth. Plus, you don't often get to battle Nazis and communists in the same book.
Categories: Books, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, books
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
***** Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Mystery, action/adventure.
Directed by: Shane Black.
Starring: Robert Downey, Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
We got this from Netflix, and Carl and I started watching this Sunday night while Camden went to bed early (because he was sick--usually I'm the first one to crash), reasoning that since it was rated R, he wouldn't be watching it with us anyway. We only had time to watch half of it before I started drifting off, and I enjoyed it so much I knew I wanted to be awake to watch it. I also realized that there was nothing that I felt inappropriate for my 15-year-old. So Camden watched the first half while recuperating on the couch on Monday, and we watched the rest together that evening.
As you can tell from the five stars, I absolutely loved this movie. Robert Downey, Jr. is Harry Lockhart, our narrator. He's a thief, and not a very good one. While running from the cops, he stumbles into an audition for a crime movie and ends up in Hollywood teamed up with private detective "Gay Perry" (Val Kilmer) who's supposed to teach him how a real detective acts. He also ends up renewing his acquaintance with his childhood sweetheart, Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan).
A simple surveillance leads Harry and Perry to a dead body and puts them in all kinds of danger. There are twists and turns and chase scenes and fight scenes all leavened with understated humor.
The relationship between Harry and Harmony has about as many twists and pitfalls as the mystery story.
Probably my favorite part of the movie is that Harry tells us he's the narrator, and there are several references throughout the movie to it being a movie, which I'm a huge sucker for (and why Season 1 of She Spies is one of my favorite TV shows ever). It's not as distancing as you might think, and it really adds to the noir feel of the film.
I also loved an early scene where Harmony is passed out at a party, and when Harry sees actor Harlan Dexter (Corbin Bernsen) groping her, challenges him to a fight... a fight which he loses spectacularly. I was so expecting the street-wise thief to kick butt, but that wasn't Harry.
These are just such great characters. Harmony is a wannabe-actress, but all she has to show for her decade-plus in Hollywood is one commercial. Harry, of course, thinks that's wonderful. Their personalities show through so well in all their opinions and actions.
Anyway. We all loved it, and intend to buy the DVD--I'm going to want to watch this one again.
As for the rating... Netflix's parental guidelines are usually pretty good, but I have to strongly disagree with them here. Any nudity or sexual situations were more implied than shown. The "dismemberment"... Harry's finger gets slammed in a door and cut off. And not remotely graphically. Okay, yes, there was a lot of cursing. Harry apologizes for that at the end of the movie. But what really, really has steam coming out my ears is the notion that simply because "Gay Perry" is gay makes the movie inappropriate for teenagers. WHY? It's not like there's gay porn in the movie. Perry doesn't even have a love interest. Argh. Bottom line: I'm happy with my decision to let Camden watch this with us.
Categories: Movies, 5stars, ActionAdventure, Mystery
Labels: 5 stars, action, Movies, mystery
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Adventures of Vin Fiz
***½ The Adventures of Vin Fiz by Clive Cussler. Juvenile action/adventure.
I bought this for Camden, then when he was finished reading it, I put it in my TBR pile.
The story is about twins Casey and Lacey, who live on a farm. They meet a new hired hand, Mr. Sucoh Sucop (hint: read it backwards), and discover he's invented a magic mat that will turn their toys life-sized. So they try it out with their toy plane they call "Vin Fiz" and go on some adventures.
You'd think that with the name Clive Cussler on the cover, those adventures would be exciting. But they aren't, really. It reminds me a bit of Stuart Little, in the types of adventures, and in the way that there's no overarching plot to the book--it's just a series of things that happen. Actions have no consequences, and there's very little emotional component to any of the things the kids do.
The writing, as well, is rather stilted, something that surprised me after years of loving Cussler's grown-up fiction.
Camden liked it more than I did--he read it when he was 11--but even then, he said it was "good but not great." Which doesn't surprise me. I know kids can enjoy books and movies that don't follow the rules of good storytelling (like having a coherent, logical plot), but the more they experience well-constructed stories, the less they'll enjoy the poorly-constructed ones, even if they can't explain why.
And no, I absolutely do not mean that kids should be reading classics or award-winning books--far too many of which are dull or depressing. But there are a lot of better-written books for kids that are also fun.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, Juvenile, ActionAdventure
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, books, JuvenileFiction
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Bodyguard of Lies
****½ Bodyguard of Lies by Robert Doherty. Action/adventure.
I've had this for a while--since before Don't Look Down (#17) came out--but it's been languishing in my TBR pile. (Robert Doherty being a.k.a. Bob Mayer)
Neely and Hannah are two very different women: Neely is a secret agent and Hannah is a housewife. They end up joining forces when Neely's lover and mentor Gant dies and Hannah's husband disappears, and they discover the men shared a deadly secret.
It's more Hannah's story, as she finds strength she doesn't know she had, but Neely also changes. I particularly liked that Neely develops respect for Hannah, not just because Hannah is beginning to show bravery and physical strength, but because she's smart and figures things out.
Bodyguard of Lies is definitely an action/adventure book. There's a lot of action and danger, and I could see this as an action movie. I have my doubts about whether Hollywood would approve though, since both protagonists are women. Unless they started out in a comic book or video game, or are partnered with a male action hero, Hollywood doesn't much care for female action heroes. *sigh*
I have a few more of Bob's books in my TBR mountain. I'm looking forward to them.
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4.5 stars, action, books
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
*** Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Science fiction, action/adventure.
Directed by: Michael Bay.
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Ramon Rodriguez
We watched this at the theater on post last night.
Briefly, it could have used a good editing.
Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is off to college... by which I mean Hollywood's version of college, which has 30-year-old college freshmen, bullying that seems more like a junior high boarding school, non-stop wild parties, and a plethora of incredibly gorgeous young women fighting to throw themselves at the young innocent nerd-boy.
And the parent's are also a Hollywood cliche--mom (Julie White) is sobbing and carrying around Sam's baby shoes (which she's calling "booties" for some reason), while his father (Kevin Dunn) acts like he doesn't care, but we see that deep down he really does.
Sam's girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) doubts a long-distance relationship will work, but it's kind of hard for her to get any acting in what with all the posing she has to do. Any scene with Mikaela in it has to pause periodically for her to pose, back arched, lips pouting--presumably so they can use the movie stills for a poster... I was going to say for teenage boys, but my teenage boys would be offended.
A shard from the cube (from the last movie--it brings Transformers to life, I think) falls out of Sam's... heck, I don't know what it fell out of or why it hadn't been discovered until now. Anyway, it falls through his floor into the kitchen and turns all the kitchen appliances into Transformers. This would be a really cute sequence, but it goes on way too long, to the point where it became boring. This is a theme throughout the movie, by the way.
Sam's new roommate Leo (Ramon Rodriguez) has a conspiracy website (like The Lone Gunmen, but not as cool), but his enthusiasm for the transforming aliens dims considerably when he gets caught up in a real-life battle.
Hmmm. The Decepticons are back, and they want this key that's hidden in Egypt to revive "The Fallen," so the Autobots, with help from Sam, Leo, Mikaela, and Agent Simmons (John Turturro) have to find it first. And somewhere in there, the Decepticons want to destroy the sun for the energy. Uh, okay.
In the meantime, there's a Smarmy Government Official™ who wants all the Autobots off Earth, and is generally a pain in Major Lennox's (Josh Duhamel) ass.
The directions to find the key are cryptic, as if this is trying to be National Treasure or Angels and Demons. And we go to the Smithsonian, but only one thing comes to life, darn it.
In between all this are interminable battles. And hundreds of explosions. Well, it's Michael Bay, we expected that. The battles went on so long even Carl and Camden got bored with them, and they, being male, have much greater tolerance for such things than I. As Camden said afterward, it'll be a good movie to watch on DVD, with a remote so you can fast-forward.
Making it even more frustrating, I could only understand perhaps one word in three of anything any of the Transformers said. All of their dialogue was accompanied by machinery-noise--so you could tell they were machines, maybe--but it made it like listening to someone with a really thick accent. You have to listen very carefully to understand it.
I didn't like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as well as Transformers. The plot was weaker, and there was less story and more explosions. The special effects were by far the best part of the movie, even better than the first, I think. And there were some genuinely funny parts--how Major Lennox dealt with the SGO, for example, hence the three stars instead of one or two.
But for storytellers of any sort, there's a good lesson here: no matter how exciting a scene may seem, if you draw it out long enough, it's going to get boring.
Categories: Movies, 3stars, ScienceFiction, ActionAdventure
Labels: 3 stars, action, Movies, ScienceFiction
Monday, June 01, 2009
Terminator Salvation
**½ Terminator Salvation. Science fiction action/adventure.
Directed by: McG
Starring: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Moon Bloodgood, Helena Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin
I'll say up front that we were equally divided in our opinions of Terminator Salvation. Carl and Camden loved it. Curran and I thought it was too much action, too little plot. I liked the original movies--though we're planning on re-watching them to see if they're as good as I remember.
I read an article that said the original script was changed to make it a star vehicle for Christian Bale, and that seems to fit. Well, if you assume there was a script, and not just a string of explosions.
Terminator Salvation takes place in 2018--a date I'm guessing comes from the original movies, but it really threw me. Yeah, right. All this technology will be around in just 9 years. There was really no reason to give the date like that, particularly when it was patently impossible. If they wanted to set the time frame as the future where John Connor was leading the fight against the machines, that's really all they had to say--maybe something like "year X in the fight against the machines." I've been informed that it's a minor detail, but it was right at the beginning of the movie, so it stuck in my head. Plus, the guy behind us loudly warned his companions "all this will happen in just 7 years!" The movie was long, but I thought it was more like 2 hours than 2 years.
Like Star Trek, it started with mostly incomprehensible action scenes. Unlike Star Trek, however, it didn't have much of anything else. What plot there was was predictable and cliched, and took maybe fifteen minutes. The rest was explosions.
According to the original movies, John Connor was the key to defeating Skynet and the Terminators. In this movie, however, he was just a middle-level grunt who didn't do much of anything. After the initial action scene, he mostly sat in a generic-looking room (I've seen that set in a lot of similar movies), made a couple of radio broadcasts, and told the commander not to blow up the civilians, whereupon he (of course) got fired.
And the dialogue... straight from any number of B movies. They got "I'll be back" in there--but it was John Connor who said it, and not in the right context. There's a repeated line of "don't point a gun at someone if you're not prepared to pull the trigger" (or words to that effect--the exact quote isn't on the IMDB yet), which appears to pass for witticism.
The point, I think, was supposed to be to save Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin, who was also in Star Trek), who'll be John Connor's father if/when he survives for John Connor to send him time-traveling back to the past (we'll have time travel in just 9 years, too? Cool!). Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) is trying to do that--he's a death-row inmate turned cyborg at the behest of Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter). Now this could have made a good movie. There was some nice conflict, and even what could have been a touching moment at the end... if it hadn't been so incredibly rushed. And pitifully predictable.
And maybe if they'd spent some time on the plot, Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood) might have made sense. As it is, she's just the eye candy, I guess. She and Marcus save each other, but there's not a lot of point to her. Or to the kid Star (Jadagrace), who's there solely for the cute factor. What I'm objecting to isn't their presence in the movie--it's to their being cardboard characters.
They also never really explained why Skynet was collecting humans instead of just killing them. I got the impression that there needed to be a reason to rescue Kyle Reese, and that was it. And what was the point of the pregnant woman? If I'm reading the IMDB right, she's John Connor's wife? Could they not have spared ten seconds from the interminable explosions to tell us that? And why was she in the attack force that went to rescue Kyle Reese from Skynet? Heck, why make her pregnant if it doesn't play a part in the story? It just didn't seem that a lot of thought went into anything but the special effects.
Okay, the special effects were good. I'm sure they were amazing. But special effects should be there to support the story, not the other way around. I'm a little surprised by the overwhelmingly positive reviews for this movie, but I suspect they were blinded by all those explosions. I did think it was cool that they got a CG Arnie in there.
Bottom line: if you like special effects, particularly of the pyrotechnic and big giant robot variety, you'll be happy. Just don't expect an interesting plot or scintillating dialogue.
Categories: Movies, 2.5stars, ScienceFiction, ActionAdventure
Labels: 2.5 stars, action, Movies, ScienceFiction
Friday, May 29, 2009
Angels and Demons
**** Angels and Demons. Mystery, action/adventure.
Directed by: Ron Howard.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard, Armin Mueller-Stahl
I read the book years ago, but I remembered absolutely nothing, so it was like coming to the movie cold. I love convoluted plots like this, though--centuries-old clues, conspiracies, secret societies, and plenty of twists.
Briefly, despite the events in The DaVinci Code, the Vatican turns to scholar Robert Langdon when it appears the Illuminati have resurfaced and are bent on retribution. They've stolen a canister of antimatter and are threatening to use it to destroy Vatican City--after they execute the four cardinals most likely to be chosen as the next pope (the previous pope has just died).
Tom Hanks was, once again, just right for the character of Robert Langdon, and Ewan McGregor was perfect as Camerlengo Patrick McKenna. Stellan Skarsgard as Commander Richter of the Swiss Guard was convincing yet frustrating, since he quite obviously doesn't trust Langdon. And it's always good to see Armin Mueller-Stahl, here portraying Cardinal Strauss, a senior cardinal, but not one of the favorites.
It's a good thing I didn't remember the book, because the twists had me going. I had whodunit pegged fairly early on, but I kept changing my mind, as certain characters started looking more or less likely.
It wasn't perfect--I thought the Vatican turning to Langdon was insufficiently explained, though it may have been clearer in the book. Likewise with the scientist Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer), whose purpose in the movie was.... to replace the batteries on the antimatter canister? She worked on the project that produced the antimatter, and discovered the theft and the murder of her colleague. But there was no reason at all for her to be tagging along on Langdon's researching. She wasn't a historian, and didn't have any expertise to offer in the archives. Again, maybe it was better explained in the book, but I got the distinct impression that she was solely there for a female presence--eye candy. And maybe for a slight red herring, though I'm annoyed enough that I'm tempted to put down her guilty looks as bad acting. The young Swiss guard (Thure Lindhart) made a much better sidekick. Oh, well. At least they didn't try to turn her into a romantic interest.
All in all, a fun and exciting way to spend a couple of hours, and a good excuse to eat popcorn.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, Movies
Friday, May 22, 2009
Star Trek
****½ Star Trek. Science fiction, action/adventure.
Directed by: J. J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin
I was initially disappointed--the movie starts out with a mostly inexplicable fight scene, and combines that with something that's supposed to be all sad and touching, except we haven't spent enough time with the characters to really care. My overwhelming impression of the first 10 minutes or so of the film was: "we've spent a crapload of money on these special effects. Aren't they cool?" Thankfully, it could only improve from there--and as you can tell from the 4.5 stars, it did.
The overwhelming strength of Star Trek is its faithfulness to the original series. Even that initial scene made sense in retrospect, showing, as it did, the birth of James T. Kirk (and explaining the "Tiberius") and the heroic death of his father (watch the movie--it makes sense). Pike (Bruce Greenwood) was the captain from the original pilot, and all the characters are there in their younger days, before the time of the original series. It shows how they all met and became the crew of the Enterprise.
There was even some expansion of the original characterization, particularly for Spock (Zachary Quinto)--showing how as a child and young adult he struggled with being half-human and occasionally let his emotions get the better of him. And the original animosity between him and Kirk was a perfectly logical (heh) precursor to the later sometimes exasperated friendship we're all familiar with. I particularly loved that Spock originally outranked Kirk.
The casting was spot on. Even in appearance, most of the actors resembled their counterparts from--good grief!--43 years ago. Most importantly, though, was that they resembled them in their behavior. Well, except that Chris Pine didn't use Shatner's speech mannerisms as Kirk. I don't think anyone's going to complain about that.
I was also very happy that it didn't turn into a star vehicle. We saw the trailer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen before the movie, which made me think of Transformers, which, while fun, was basically special effects, plus ooh, isn't Shia LaBeouf awesome? Heh. This was definitely an ensemble cast. Even though there was more focus on Kirk and Spock, it was about the characters, not about the actors playing them. If that makes sense. I think it was a result of not using big name Movie Stars.
Now that we've established that I loved the movie, here are my quibbles. First, the Romulan ship. Okay, all 3 of my men thought it looked cool. But honestly, there's no point at all for it to look like that. And all those spiky projections on the Romulan's drill cable and inside their ship? Likewise pointless. And dangerous--at least the inside the ship bits. Come on--why make the railings and cables inside your spaceship look like thorny vines?
And then there was the little alien friend of Scotty's. Also pointless. His only purpose in the movie, as far as I could tell, was to sell toys later on. He had no place at all in the plot.
I already complained about the beginning of the movie. I know conventional wisdom says to start with something exciting to grab the audience, but.... Okay, in a movie theater, people are going to give a movie more than a 10-minute chance, ticket prices being what they are, but I still don't think it's a good idea to lose your audience. Of course, a good portion of the audience was probably like Carl, who becomes riveted to action scenes--any action scenes. He can be flipping channels on TV and come across a random action scene from a movie he's never seen before, and he'll be captivated. Must have something to do with a Y chromosome. Anyway, I need to care about the characters before I care about whether or not they win a fight.
Speaking of fights--the fight scenes in Star Trek were curiously bland. I found myself wondering if that was an intentional reflection of the original series. Even when Kirk and Spock were fighting Romulans on a hovering drill, there was very little tension.
But my biggest complaint was the music. I remember when Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out--30 years ago (this is getting seriously painful--though it shouldn't be such a surprise, as today is Carl's 50th birthday)--the music wasn't the music from the original series, but it blew me away. Here. Listen: . I even went out and bought the record (yes, vinyl), and had visions of playing the theme at my wedding (give me a break--I was 18). Versions of this music have been on all the subsequent movies, until this one.
I wouldn't have minded if they'd replaced it with something equally awe-inspiring, but instead, the music in the movie was just generic. How horribly disappointing. I do give them props, though, for playing the theme of the original series over the credits.
Categories: Movies, 4.5stars, ActionAdventure, ScienceFiction
Labels: 4.5 stars, action, Movies, ScienceFiction
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Fast & Furious
**** Fast & Furious. Action/adventure.
Directed by: Justin Lin.
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordanna Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez
We saw this Saturday night at the theater on post. It was threatening to rain, but we walked to the theater anyway, since when Fast & Furious showed there on Friday night, the parking lot was packed. We lucked out--it didn't rain, and it was less crowded than it had been on Friday.
This is the fourth movie in the series, but it's the second with Vin Diesel in it. Once again, criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) pairs up with Brian O'Connor (Paul Walker), who's now an FBI agent. Dom's girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) has been killed, and Dom's quest for revenge coincides with Brian's investigation of a drug lord.
There's some emotional content, with Dom guilty and grieving for Letty, whom he'd sent away because he was afraid it was too dangerous for her to be around him; and with Brian and Dom's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) being reunited after Brian's betrayal of her in The Fast and the Furious.
But the main point of the movie isn't the plot. It's the cars and the driving. Well, and Vin Diesel--which is why I didn't watch the middle two movies of the series. Fast & Furious starts out with a high-speed hijacking of a fuel tank truck in the Dominican Republic and continues on through a street race, and a high-speed drug-smuggling trip across the US/Mexico border. The action doesn't stop, and it's filmed really well. No confusing shots or those quick cuts everyone seems to be doing lately.
It's just as well we walked to the theater--it would have been really tempting to peel out of the parking lot and see just how fast the Mercedes would accelerate.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, Movies
Monday, April 20, 2009
Speed
**** Speed. Action/adventure.
Directed by: Jan de Bont
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Daniels
Carl was gone last week (to Garmisch for a conference), so Camden and I did our usual movie-watching, trying to find ones I like that he's never seen. The first one we watched was Speed, because it's such a classic. After watching this, he enjoyed this Robot Chicken sketch even more.
Although even Camden, who's 14 and hadn't seen Speed before, knew the basic plot, here it is if you need it:
A bus has been rigged with a bomb that will blow it up if it goes below 50 miles per hour. It's up to police officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) and passenger Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) to keep the bus going and keep everyone safe.
Dennis Hopper is the terrorist demanding money in return for not blowing up the bus. Jeff Daniels plays Jack's partner, who handles the investigation back at headquarters while Jack's on the bus.
It remains a fun and exciting movie, even fifteen years later. The suspense is all physical--we're not trying to find out whodunit, or even why, really--just whether or not they're going to make it without blowing themselves up. It's like riding a rollercoaster. You're not really going anywhere, but boy, is it a lot of fun.
Neither Camden nor I was very impressed with Keanu Reeves, but that was okay--he didn't really have a lot of acting to do here anyway. And I did wonder why the heck there was so much debris on the airport runways. Having driven on Ramstein, where you have to stop, get out of your car, and check your tires for pebbles stuck in the tread before you're allowed to drive across a runway, I was really surprised by the large chunks of debris on a commercial runway.
But again, this isn't a movie that you analyze too much. You just go along for the ride (heh) and enjoy.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, Movies
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Secret Pilgrim
***½ The Secret Pilgrim by John le Carré. Action/adventure.
The Secret Pilgrim is more a fictional memoir or series of anecdotes than a novel. Spy Ned is retiring, and he invites his old mentor Smiley to speak to Ned's last class of novice spies--which leads to multiple anecdotes about spy work during the Cold War.
Some of the stories are short; others are more involved. They're all interesting and full of the tradecraft details that make le Carré's novels such good reads. And in one sense, the book was a success: I did very much feel that I was there, listening to two old spies reminisce.
But that was also partly what kept me from enjoying this as much as I'd expected to. I didn't feel involved at all in the stories. No sooner would I start to get involved in the drama of an anecdote than that story would be over and I'd have to start over again with a new one. Without a connecting thread to hold my interest, it became far too easy to put the book down and go do something else. As a result, it took me over a week to read what should have taken me a day. It wasn't that I had to force myself to read it--I did enjoy it while I was reading--but there was nothing to pull me in.
The best analogy I can come up with is a clip show from a sitcom. Do they still do those? While none of the anecdotes originally appeared in other novels, it felt as though they might have. They lacked the depth of actual short stories and were more like teasers to entertain readers already familiar with the characters and settings, who could then use their imaginations to fill in the rest of the story.
Categories: Books, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, books
Friday, December 19, 2008
Vantage Point
**** Vantage Point. Action/adventure.
Directed by: Pete Travis.
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver
We saw this at the Hercules. Which tells you how far behind I am in writing about the movies I've seen.
One thing about living over here is that we don't get bombarded with movie previews. That can be a good thing, because I tend to have fewer preconceptions about the movies I see. It can also backfire, but in this case, it was a good thing. Particularly since apparently the trailer gives away a spoiler that ends up being misleading. (Not unlike my complaint about The Invisible, which I'd probably have liked more if I hadn't seen the misleading trailer.)
In short, Vantage Point is a whodunit about the shooting of a U.S. President in Spain. It's told from multiple points of view, and the action rewinds to the start for each character.
Apparently this is common for the TV show 24, but since I've never seen that, I found it fascinating. (Which possibly means I'll find the TV show fascinating as well--we'll see: I bought Carl the first season of it for Christmas. shhhh... don't tell!) I suspect I'd have enjoyed it even if I were familiar with the premise--I absolutely love seeing how people view the same thing differently.
And since each new point of view brings us closer to the solution, I thought it was pretty well done. There wasn't much in the way of character development, but as an action puzzle, it was a lot of fun.
I don't plan on buying the DVD, but I did thoroughly enjoy watching it.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, Movies
Sunday, November 09, 2008
The Camel Club
****½ The Camel Club by David Baldacci. Action/adventure.
Wow. When I went to David Baldacci's book signing earlier this year in Ramstein, I'd expected only to support an author coming to visit us here in Germany. I didn't expect to find a new favorite author. Looks like I lucked out.
The Camel Club is four older men--all misfits--who meet regularly to discuss conspiracy theories and occasionally do something about them. There's "Oliver Stone," obviously a pseudonym, who has a mysterious and probably dangerous past, and who spends much of his time protesting outside the White House; Milton Farb, who's a genius, but who also has pretty severe OCD; Reuben Rhodes, a big man who's a disaffected vet and former DIA agent; and Caleb Shaw, another genius, who tends to retreat into his world of rare books.
The story opens when, during one of their meetings on Roosevelt Island, they witness a murder ofSecret Service agent Patrick Johnson. They realize they're not very credible witnesses, so they don't go to the police, and soon the killers are after them.
Turns out, they've stumbled onto a plot to kidnap the President, and things get more dangerous and more complicated as events unfold.
On the inside, there's Secret Service agent Alex Ford, and his new girlfriend, DoJ lawyer Kate Adams, who moonlights as a bartender.
It's so tempting to explain more than I need to: I just deleted a whole bunch of details about these characters. You'll have to read the book (or visit their Wikipedia page). It was tempting because they're such complete characters, and they feel very real. Despite the fact that The Camel Club has a very large cast, I never got confused, because each character was so clearly written. Their emotions and motivations fit with their histories and past actions, and they behaved exactly the way you'd expect them to behave.
The plot is complicated but not obscure, and it's full of conspiracy and intrigue, which I love. It's very much post-9/11, full of terrorists and people doing the unthinkable in the name of their cause, whether it's for their religion or their country.
I was taken aback by the poor rating on Amazon--only 3 stars--until I read a several of the negative reviews: every single one I read complained about the "politics" and that the story showed Muslims in too good of a light and made Americans look bad. I really have to argue with that. It only looks that way if you're of the mindset that says all Muslims = evil and all Americans = good. On the contrary, I thought it was a very even-handed portrayal. And after all, the heroes were American--it was just that some of the bad guys were, too. I'm glad I didn't read a book those reviewers would have liked. It would have seemed to black-and-white, I think.
One more rebuttal, and then back to the review: what is so "left-wing political" about the notion that you should understand your enemies? It seems like common sense to me. Argh. Whatever. I frequently wish I hadn't read the Amazon reviews, but I just can't help myself.
It's fiction. It's a story. And a damn good and clever one. It's not easy to make a terrorism story new and different, but Baldacci has definitely succeeded here.
My only quibble is that a couple of the characters were convinced a little too easily--Kate could have shown a little more hesitation in throwing herself into the adventure, and Alex could have been a little more incredulous when the conspiracy began to be revealed. I don't think either end result was unrealistic, just that a couple of emotional steps seem to have been left out.
I'm very glad that I had the foresight to buy the first three books in this series all at once, and delighted to see that a fourth has just been released. I've put it on my must-buy list.
One last comment: David Baldacci has one of the best author websites I've seen. It's attractive, professional, and extremely thorough--there's everything on there that you could ever hope to find on an author's website. And it's easy to navigate. Visit it if you have the chance.
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4.5 stars, action, books
Monday, October 27, 2008
Tropic Thunder
***** Tropic Thunder. Action, comedy.
Directed by: Ben Stiller.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Brandon T. Jackson, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Cruise, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride
We watched this Friday night at the theater on post. Camden's been looking forward to it ever since he first heard about it--he's a huge Ben Stiller fan. He wasn't disappointed--it's now his favorite movie ever.
If you've seen the trailers (there's one here, if you haven't), you know that Tropic Thunder is about making a war movie that turns out not to be a movie after all. Well, sort of. Rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is having trouble with his cast, and when an expensive explosion scene goes off without the cameras rolling, his movie is doomed. Until author Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) convinces him to take his 5 actors into the jungle to film realistically.
I'd expected the movie to mostly be about figuring out that what was happening to them wasn't actually a movie, but it was a lot more than that. "It's not a movie" is just the background. It's about movie making, acting, stereotypes, commercialism, and the relative importance of things. (TiVo turns out to be more important than you think!)
There's so much to love here. From the very beginning, with Alpa Chino's (Brandon T. Jackson) Booty Sweat commercial, and "trailers" for Tugg Speedman's (Ben Stiller), Kirk Lazarus's (Robert Downey Jr.), and Jeff Portnoy's (Jack Black) latest films (here's the trailer for Satan's Alley--I couldn't find good ones for the others), it's a movie within a movie, with actors playing actors playing roles. Click on all those links--they're hilarious. All the "actors" have websites.... well, except for the kid, Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)--he just has a MySpace page.
All right--that's more to do with the promotion than the movie, but Camden and I just spent a while playing around with the links, so I thought I should share them.
Matthew McConaughey is Rick Peck, Tugg Speedman's agent, and he spends nearly the entire film trying to get TiVo for Speedman--basically, to show how indispensible he is.
The big surprise was Tom Cruise as producer Les Grossman. Ruthless, obnoxious, cares about nothing but money, and prone to dancing.
My absolute favorite part of the movie was the cosmetically-black Kirk Lazarus, who's Australian, trading stereotypes with Alpa Chino, all while staying in character ("Man, I don't drop character 'till I done the DVD commentary."), but there were too many good parts to mention them all.
Another fabulous part was Lazarus and Speedman discussing Acting (with a capital "A"), and action actor Speedman trying to hold his own with serious actor Lazarus. And.... Argh. I'm so tempted to describe scene after scene and copy and paste a whole bunch of quotes from the IMDB. I won't. You can go read them yourself if you want.
All the "actors" had insecurities, faults, or quirks that affected them, particularly while trying to escape from the drug lord. They were all unique individuals, and their differences made sense with the way the characters were described--Lazarus gets caught up in roles, Portnoy has a drug problem, Speedman wants to be taken seriously as an actor, etc.
We'll be getting the DVD as soon as it's released. And watching over and over again until we can quote it verbatim, no doubt.
Categories: Movies, 5stars, Comedy, ActionAdventure
Labels: 5 stars, action, comedy, Movies
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Eagle Eye
**** Eagle Eye. Action/adventure.
Directed by: D. J. Caruso.
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan
We saw this Thursday night at the theater on post.
Eagle Eye is your basic "Big Brother is out to get us" movie, but oh, it's fun.
Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) is a genial but disillusioned loser--likely in reaction to his twin brother's ultra-achieving personality. Rachel Holloman is a single mom. They're thrown together by the same anonymous voice on the phone.
Directly after his brother's death, the perpetually broke Jerry discovers $700K in his bank account, and boxes full of illegal arms in his apartment. A voice on the phone tells him to run because the FBI will be there to arrest him shortly, but he doesn't comply in time, so he gets picked up by Billy Bob Thornton. It doesn't take long before there's a chance to escape, and with the help of the voice on the phone, he does.
Rachel is out with girlfriends after seeing her son off on a train for D.C. with his orchestra when she gets the phone call. The voice threatens her son, and Rachel's too scared for him not to obey.
From there, it's nonstop action, with WhoeverItIs directing them from cell phones, electronic signs, the car's navigation system, whatever's handy and computerized.
Jerry's more resistant than Rachel--and it's not from stupidity, as a couple of reviewers suggested. He obviously has less at stake, but mostly, his lifestyle and personality scream that he's very resistant to authority, to being told what to do.
Unfortunately, a lot of the action scenes are that blurred, quick-cuts type that are impossible to follow. It's marginally appropriate in this case, because Jerry and Rachel are confused, and that technique passes that on to the audience, but I'll be really happy when this trend ends.
Of course the plot is all terribly far-fetched, but as long as you understand that and suspend disbelief, it's a lot of fun trying to figure out what computerized gadget is going to trip them up next.
I bristled at the notion that the secretary of defense was urging restraint and the generals were gung-ho. In my experience, it's generally the opposite--it's the civilians with no military experience who are most eager for war.
For the reviewer who thought it was stupid for WhoeverItWas to get the FBI involved--that ensured that Jerry and Rachel couldn't turn to anyone for help. Seemed obvious to me, but maybe it wasn't. Or maybe it was stupid, and I'm doing a fanwank. Whatever.
But for the reviewer who was appalled that the movie dared to criticize the Patriot Act, here's another pertinent quote: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."--Benjamin Franklin. And to those pointing out the words "essential" and "little" in the quote, I have to argue that having a private conversation with one's spouse is an essential liberty, and that the amount of "safety" derived from giving up that liberty is nonexistent. Sorry about that. But the story in the second link was on the front page of the Stars & Stripes today, and I'm still steaming.
Anyway. Eagle Eye. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I knew all along it was farfetched. Camden, on the other hand, really didn't like it. He couldn't get over the negative portrayal of the military, which Carl and I saw as fairly slight, but then we're older and used to Hollywood not liking us much.
Categories: Movies, 4stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4 stars, action, Movies
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
TBR Challenge for October
The TBR Challenge for October is to read a book with a car on the cover.
Examples from my shelves:
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
Full Tilt by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes (#29)
Derik's Bane by MaryJanice Davidson (#12)
I chose:
***** The Last Spymaster by Gayle Lynds. Action/adventure.
You can't see it very well in this picture, but there is a car on the cover, just to the right of the running man.I'm not sure how long this book had been in my TBR pile, but I think it's been less than a year. I was right--according to Amazon, I bought this last November. Unfortunately, Amazon isn't telling me who recommended it. If it was you, I'm very grateful.
Spymaster Jay Tice has broken out of prison where he's been serving a life sentence for treason. CIA hunter Elaine Cunningham has been assigned the task of finding him.
And that's about the last straightforward, simple thing about this book. The more Elaine investigates, the more questions she has, and the fewer people she knows she can trust.
Why did Tice decide to break out of prison now? Is it related to the number of cutting-edge weapons and espionage tools that appear to have been stolen and making their way into the hands of a frightening new terrorist group? Who's trying to kill Elaine and why?
The Last Spymaster is a rollercoaster ride of suspense and intrigue, with twists and turns that you don't see coming, but when you look back, the course of the track is clear. That is, the surprises (and there are quite a few of them) all make logical sense, and you can see the clues once you know what to look for.
The characters are believable and compelling--they all have their own agendas, but it all makes perfect sense when viewed from each character's point of view.
It's hard to say more without giving away plot twists, and I enjoyed them so much that I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
What I will say is that I've put the rest of Gayle Lynds's books on my to-buy list. And thank-you again to the wonderful person who recommended this book!
To play, post in the comments or on your blog. Let us know what you read, what kind of car was on the cover (or send a picture of or a link to the cover), how you liked it, and how long it had been in your TBR pile.
Categories: TBRChallenge, Books, 5stars, ActionAdventure
Examples from my shelves:
Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
Full Tilt by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes (#29)
Derik's Bane by MaryJanice Davidson (#12)
I chose:
***** The Last Spymaster by Gayle Lynds. Action/adventure.
You can't see it very well in this picture, but there is a car on the cover, just to the right of the running man.
Spymaster Jay Tice has broken out of prison where he's been serving a life sentence for treason. CIA hunter Elaine Cunningham has been assigned the task of finding him.
And that's about the last straightforward, simple thing about this book. The more Elaine investigates, the more questions she has, and the fewer people she knows she can trust.
Why did Tice decide to break out of prison now? Is it related to the number of cutting-edge weapons and espionage tools that appear to have been stolen and making their way into the hands of a frightening new terrorist group? Who's trying to kill Elaine and why?
The Last Spymaster is a rollercoaster ride of suspense and intrigue, with twists and turns that you don't see coming, but when you look back, the course of the track is clear. That is, the surprises (and there are quite a few of them) all make logical sense, and you can see the clues once you know what to look for.
The characters are believable and compelling--they all have their own agendas, but it all makes perfect sense when viewed from each character's point of view.
It's hard to say more without giving away plot twists, and I enjoyed them so much that I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
What I will say is that I've put the rest of Gayle Lynds's books on my to-buy list. And thank-you again to the wonderful person who recommended this book!
To play, post in the comments or on your blog. Let us know what you read, what kind of car was on the cover (or send a picture of or a link to the cover), how you liked it, and how long it had been in your TBR pile.
Categories: TBRChallenge, Books, 5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 5 stars, action, books, tbr challenge
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
***** Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Action/adventure.
Directed by: Steven Spielberg.
Starring: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody, River Phoenix
I watched this in bits and pieces on VHS while exercising. As I mentioned in my review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, this is my second-favorite of the series, second only to Raiders, which belongs on my all-time favorites list.
And the reasoning from that chart stands: the search for the Holy Grail, the return of John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, and of course Sean Connery as Professor Henry Jones are what really make this movie stand out.
Something I can't believe I didn't mention that had a lot to do with why I liked this movie so much is the puzzle aspect of the search--something both Last Crusade and Raiders had, but Crystal Skull and Temple of Doom didn't.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the beginning of the movie, showing the origins of Indiana Jones--his fear of snakes, the hat, the whip, and his penchant for harrowing adventure. I enjoyed it so much so that we put "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones" in our Netflix queue. Unfortunately, we didn't care for it. We watched the first two episodes, and when we realized that the DVD had been sitting there for a month unwatched because nobody wanted to see it, we returned it.
Categories: Movies, 5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 5 stars, action, Movies
Monday, October 06, 2008
Jumpin' Jack Flash
***** Jumpin' Jack Flash. Comedy, action/adventure.
Directed by: Penny Marshall.
Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Collins, Carol Kane, Annie Potts, John Lovitz, Jonathan Pryce
I watched this on VHS while exercising, and let me tell you--it's not easy doing crunches while you're laughing.
Whoopi Goldberg plays Terry Doolittle, a computer operator for a large New York bank. This is the 80s, by the way, which explains some of the computers' idiosyncrasies. For example, she periodically picks up the broadcast of a Russian exercise program on her monitor. Terry does the international bank transfers, and she's constantly getting in trouble for chatting with her counterparts around the world.
So when she gets a "knock knock" on her monitor, she thinks it's one of her pals, and though she tries to resist to stay out of trouble, she responds... and gets a call for help from a British spy who needs her help to "come in from the cold" as they say.
What follows is a hilarious, exciting, and suspenseful caper, starting with Terry trying to figure out the "code key" from the song "Jumpin' Jack Flash": , and continuing on through breaking into Jack's apartment, fighting off KGB agents, and crashing a party at the British embassy.
I could--and have--watched this movie over and over again. It's got everything: humor, drama, suspense, action, even romance. One of these days I'll have to replace my VHS tape with a DVD.
Categories: Movies, 5stars, Comedy, ActionAdventure
Labels: 5 stars, action, comedy, Movies
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Rogue Warrior: Echo Platoon
****½ Rogue Warrior: Echo Platoon by Richard Marcinko and John Weisman. Action/adventure.
This series is quite possibly one of the reasons why I'm not all that impressed with Brockmann's SEALs. The Troubleshooters seem like fluffy bunnies next to Marcinko's SEALs.
In Echo Platoon, Demo Dick and his merry men aren't just kicking ass, they're also unraveling a complex plot involving Russia and Iran who both want a piece of the action in Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea's oil. Then there's billionaire Steve Sarkesian who's up to his neck in a proposed pipeline, and Ambassador Marybeth Madison who keeps trying to make Dickie and his buddies play nice. But he's got inside help in the form of Marine Major Ashley Evans, who keeps the bureaucrats off his back as much as possible.
Mostly, it's a lot of action, a lot of cursing, a lot of trying to circumvent regulations and bureaucracy to Get The Job Done, and did I mention the action and cursing? The book even includes a glossary for those unfamiliar with military acronyms and Marcinko's own brand of militarese. Like GTINFFAA (getting there is no fucking fun at all).
Reviews will tell you that this series is for men only, and it does reek of testosterone. Maybe that's why I love it so much.
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4.5 stars, action, books
Saturday, October 04, 2008
The Incredible Hulk
***½ The Incredible Hulk
. Science fiction, action/adventure.Directed by: Louis Leterrier.
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Lou Ferrigno
We saw this at the Embassy theater during our month in San Antonio this summer. It was one of the first movies we saw in the States, and we nearly missed it. It wasn't out on the AAFES circuit yet, but in San Antonio, it was already down to one matinee a day by the time we got there. Lucky we caught it, because by the time we got back here, it was gone from AAFES, too, and we'd have had to wait for the DVD. And movies like this you really want to see on the big screen.
It's impossible not to compare The Incredible Hulk with Hulk, and this one comes out so much better. In particular, the special effects were vastly improved. The big green guy looks realistic, and, most importantly for me, moves believably. It sounds trivial, but older CGI movement is seriously irritating and distracting for me. It creeps me out. I'm guessing everyone has different levels where the creepiness kicks in. For me, it's the weird movement, especially when limbs bend at the wrong place. There's an ad at the AAFES theaters reminding patrons not to put their feet on the backs of seats (gives you an idea about AAFES, doesn't it?), and the CGI legs shrink and bend, and it never fails to give me shivers.
Anyway. It was important to me, and this film delivered.
I have a love-hate reaction to Bruce Banner's (Edward Norton) all-out search for a cure. On the one hand, it's understandable, especially since the first time he hulked out, he injured his girlfriend (Liv Tyler). On the other hand, I have very little patience with characters with supernatural abilities who hate what they are and try to deny it and/or avoid dealing with it while they search for a cure. It's not just The Hulk. I have the same impatience with vampires and werewolves who live in denial as well.
I much prefer supernatural characters who try to work with and learn to control the monster rather than letting the monster control them. Though, as I said, Bruce Banner did have a reason for his feelings, and that was convincingly portrayed.
Speaking of the portrayal, I really liked Edward Norton as Bruce Banner. Though Eric Bana did look more like Bill Bixby. And speaking of the original series, how cool was it to have Lou Ferrigno there? Yes, I know, he was in the 2003 movie, too.
Fun movie, even though The Hulk isn't my favorite superhero. And I'm getting very excited about the connections between these movies.
Categories: Movies, 3.5stars, ActionAdventure, ScienceFiction
Labels: 3.5 stars, action, Movies, ScienceFiction
