Batman Begins: Believe it or not, I wish I’d watched this one on a smaller screen. I understand the shaky-cam and quick cutaways were meant to portray the confusion and urgency of the scene, but I quickly tire of the subsequent vertigo. I’m sure it would have been fine on, say, a television screen. Either way, that’s my biggest complaint. No, really. Though this would not be a good first Batman movie for someone totally unfamiliar with the Caped Crusader, it remains an excellent film for anybody else. I liked how the line between hero and villain sort of blurred in tactics and motivations. I liked how the bad guys had more realistic weapons (hallucinogenic drugs, the effects of which were mind-blowing) and motives (complex fanaticism rather than merely being “insane” or “evil”) than a lot of other comic book adaptations. I liked the relationship between Bruce Wayne and the DA. I liked the updated equipment, the scientific explanations, and the real-world environment of the non-NYC Gotham City. I liked all the actors, especially the prettyboy Scarecrow and Gary Oldman’s spot-on Detective Gordon. The ending left me wondering if it was meant as a nod to Tim Burton or if they are planning on making a rather repetitive sequel, but I have my bets on the former. Too bad they couldn’t get Danny Elfman’s theme for this one – it would have been perfect. In short, I definitely recommend this film.
Battle Royale
Battle Royale: The Running Man meets Lord of the Flies. Banned from sale in the United States, this Japanese film tells of a society where youth violence has gotten so out of control that the adults now fear their children. In response, the government has instituted an annual Battle Royale, in which a class is sent to a deserted island with few provisions and a smattering of weapons, killing each other until only one remains: the winner, the lone child to who gets to go home. If more than one remain at the end of three days, the collars around their necks will explode, killing everyone. Basically it’s two hours of children killing children, but I’m still not entirely clear why it was banned here. I liked it for the same reasons I liked Lord of the Flies, but I honestly don’t have any strong feelings about it either way. Maybe I’m just too desensitized.
Most Challenge Books
Judging by the Top 100 Most Challenged Books 1990-2000, it seems people are most offended by sex, sexuality, nudity, and puberty. Violence, drugs, and magic also make good showings, but sex really takes the cake here. I’m not sure what the issue with puberty is, since that’s something that happens to everybody no matter what, and is even more awkward if you don’t get any kind of warning or explanation beforehand.
Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith: The same execrable dialogue and nonstop action of the first two prequels, but with a little more interest since I was curious how the wildly different worlds of the prequels and the original trilogy fit together. That connection, covered largely in the final fifteen minutes of the film, was done fairly well but still left quite a few loose ends and contradictions. But that’s par for the course in this movie – much of Anakin’s transition to the Dark Side was contradictory and unprompted. I was also baffled by the fact that the Jedi Council, whose skills border on telepathy, failed to notice such corruption in their very ranks.
The acting was almost uniformly bland, with one shining exception: Ewan McGregor. Not only did he make the stilted dialogue sound almost natural, he alone appeared to belong in the same universe as the original trilogy. I think he kept a Ouija board in his trailer to channel Sir Alec Guinness.
There was quite a bit of action in this one – too much, really. The lightsaber fights were amazing but so frequent they got a bit tedious. I guess I’m supposed to say something about the special effects, but when everything is computer generated it ceases to be very impressive. There were several scenes, both action-packed and otherwise, that seemed to do nothing but show off the pretty scenery and could definitely have been cut.
It wasn’t a horrible movie but “best of the prequels” isn’t very high praise either. I wish they had done Episodes 7-9 instead, because all these films did was shrink the Star Wars universe with unlikely connections. I didn’t like the Anakin/C3PO connection of Phantom Menace or the Boba Fett/stormtrooper connection of Attack of the Clones, and I don’t like the Yoda/Chewbacca connection of Revenge of the Sith. It’s gratuitous fan-pleasing and messes up the storyline. Still, I’m glad I saw this movie because, well, it’s Star Wars. Now hopefully it can all be put to rest and the fans can go back to their RPGs and fanfics without worrying about George Lucas messing everything up again.
In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
In Her Shoes
As with most chick lit, the plot was fluff and totally predictable from the start, but that did not make it any less enjoyable. Rose is the older, successful, overweight sister. Maggie is the younger, trouble-making, gorgeous sister. Throw in an intersecting story about an elderly woman named Ella who lives in Florida with her entertaining neighbors at the Golden Acres senior citizen community and you have a fun little romp of a story.
My only real complaint about this book was the all too convenient flashbacks. Too often someone would make some comment which would be followed by an explanation of some childhood event or something they “always” did, which for whatever reason had never been mentioned before. One glaring example of this was Sydelle’s strict adherence to the Jewish faith, which was never brought up until it became an issue. Such “oh by the way” moments made it feel like the character development was done on the fly.
All the same, this was a fun, quick read. Weiner’s always good for one-liners and amusing exchanges, and a happy ending is guaranteed. I don’t imagine most men would enjoy this book (though I think it could teach them a lot about the female psyche), but I would definitely recommend it to any woman looking for little bit of literary candy.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
Ghostwritten
A lot of people like books with open endings where you’re not quite sure what’s going to happen or, as in the case of this book, what the hell just happened. I personally prefer things to be at least tied up loosely. I like to know how the characters are related, both to each other and to the overarching story, and there’s simply no hope of that for this story. Too many characters, too many details, not enough repetition for the slow kids like me to keep up.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy this book. The characters were phenomenal. All so different and yet so three-dimensional, so real. There was a lot more dialogue in this book than I’m used to, to the point where I occasionally had to backtrack to figure out who was speaking, but in general the speech patterns were distinct enough that he said/she said weren’t strictly necessary. Also, the descriptions of life in the various locations were brief yet so concise I felt like I was there.
In the end, I believe this is a book that requires multiple reads to totally grasp. That is both high praise and harsh criticism. If you like your fiction to be a total mind trip, then Ghostwritten is for you. If you prefer something a wee bit less convoluted, I’d recommend skipping this one.
Also posted on BookCrossing.
Assorted Movie Reviews
I had a lot of downtime during a recent trip for work and managed to squeeze in several movies. These were watched over the course of a 24-hour workday on a 12″ laptop with tinny speakers and often in 15-minute spurts, so my movie viewing experience may not have been the same had I watched them straight through while lounging on my couch.
Ray: Jamie Foxx was excellent and the music was lovely, but I don’t think this is one I would watch again. Most biopics, despite often revealing some less-than-complimentary traits, tend to ultimately show their subjects in a favorable light. I came away from this one wondering if Ray Charles really was as self-absorbed and uncaring as this film portrayed him.
Super Troopers: Screwball state troopers against grouchy local cops in the battle for jurisdiction. I’d been meaning to see this one for a long time. I was not disappointed. It had a lot of crude and physical humor, but it did not rely on the embarrassment of its characters for the joke (like, say, most Ben Stiller movies). It was more akin to the first Police Academy or Ghostbusters, except not remotely appropriate for children. Very funny. I’m definitely going to watch this one again.
I, Robot: Will Smith plays the same cop he’s played a hundred times, only this one is trying to figure out whether or not robots are killing people, thus breaking the Three Laws of Robotics. I read the book ages ago and my memory of it is quite vague, but I did not recognize any of this aside from a couple names and the Three Laws. And you know, that’s fine. The story was fun, I couldn’t predict the ending too far in advance, and the effects (especially the robots themselves) were awesome. There was one random bit that baffled me: why was Lake Michigan dried up? It didn’t seem to have anything to do with the plot. Maybe they just wanted to add something to the backdrop to further demonstrate that this was supposed to happen in the future – it was pretty neat-looking, after all.
King Arthur: I like interpretations of the Arthurian legend. As it is a legend (as opposed to a novel or well-documented historical event), I don’t believe there is one true version. So my complaints about this movie have nothing to do with its supposed deviation from the story of Arthur and his knights of the round table. Here Arthur is a Roman fighting the Saxons in Britain one last time before he and his knights get to go home. This film was slow and often confusing. People spoke like they were spouting poetry instead of dialogue (which is okay to a point but this killed the realism) and too many actions were completely unmotivated. For instance, Arthur finds Guinevere because he randomly decides to bust into a building on somebody else’s property. What? Oh well, if you like insanely long battle sequences, neat costumes, and pretty scenery, you’ll like this one.
PostSecret
PostSecret: An online art project in which people send in postcards with a secret on it and the better ones are posted on this blog. Most of them are very sad and yet I can’t stop reading.
Book Contest
Authors, this one’s for you: in 200 words or less, convince me to buy your novel. On July 1, 2005, I will pick one to purchase, read, and review. That’s it: one free review from an unbiased reader, and you don’t even have to send me a free copy of the book. No strings attached. This is just a fun way of combining my love for reading with my desire to support independent art. If it’s successful, I might make it a regular thing.
To enter, send an email to melydia@hotmail.com with “blog books” in the subject line (all others will be eaten by the spam filter), containing the following: your name, the title of your book, an email address where I can contact you, a link to where I can purchase the book, and a paragraph of no more than 200 words convincing me to buy your book (this can be an excerpt, an impassioned plea, a press release – anything goes).
Now for some assorted rules and other information:
- Authors submitting finished works only. I don’t want to hear from agents, friends, fans, or family members, nor do I want to critique manuscripts. Feel free to pass the word to any and all authors you know.
- One book per author. Multiple entries will be disqualified.
- The review will be initially posted here on my blog, and if the winning author likes the review I will happily post it elsewhere (meaning that you don’t have to worry about a bad review showing up on Amazon or something). I promise to be honest in my review, and I do try to find something positive in everything I read, but I do not promise to fall in love with your book.
- Paperbacks and hardcovers only, please – no ebooks or audiobooks.
- Any genre of fiction is welcome, as well as short story collections, true crime, and biographies. Just no books that don’t have a story (e.g., poetry collections, self-help, science texts, etc.).
- Your book must be available for purchase online with a US credit card*, but does not need to be listed on Amazon or the other huge retailers. I am willing to buy straight from the publisher if required. However, I am not willing to buy directly from the author.
- I will respond to everyone to let them know I received their entry, so if you don’t receive a confirmation email within a week, please resubmit (and include a note letting me know). I will also send out an email when the winner is announced.
- This contest is 100% free to enter. All you have to do is send me an email before 11:59 PM on June 30, 2005. (I’m in the Eastern United States, but I’m not going to be a stickler if you’re a couple hours late.)
- The winner will be chosen at my own discretion, and there may be two if I get enough awesome entries. Feel free to email if you want to know why your book wasn’t chosen, but if you don’t want to hear things like “it sounded boring” then don’t ask. :)
So there it is. Now write those paragraphs and send those emails. Spread the word on writing forums and anywhere else you please – I’d love to get enough entries to do this again and again.
*Changed because “US dollars” caused some confusion. As long as I can purchase your book using an American credit card, it’s admissible. I know there are retailers out there who only take local currency, of which I have none. Oh yeah, and I don’t have a Paypal account either.