Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews of books and movies

The Last Jedi

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I really liked it. One of my favorite Star Wars movies. I can see why people hate it–it is different and. . . certain things happen that I can imagine people are angry about. But I disagree. I’ll start just by saying that it is visually stunning. There are a lot of amazing shots that I would not be opposed to having as a desktop image on my computer or as a poster on my wall. But the shots are just part of it, there isn’t time spent lingering on it and it doesn’t go out of its way to set them up. Basically, aesthetically I think this movie is a work of art.

Now, story-wise, still loved it. It had some surprise twists that totally worked. I really like what they did with Kylo Ren and even Luke. I do still have a lot of questions (where were the Knights of Ren and what the heck is Snoke?) but this is the second in a trilogy and you are supposed to leave it with more questions than answers. The answer we did get that I am very pleased with is Rey’s parents. Out of all of the theories I saw, the one I liked most was correct. I can’t say much without giving it away, but I think it makes Rey’s character better and the story better and fresh. Any other answer would have been. . . unimaginative and unprogressive (not talking anything political, just this moved it past the previous movies). So, yeah, the story was really good and more my speed than many of the others. Closer to something I would write than, say, A New Hope. There are only a couple of points I dislike. One might be cleared up in the next movie and the other just felt stupid at first, but I can see why they did it.

The characters were great too. I have come around on Kylo in The Force awakens and appreciate his character in that movie. That said, I like him so much more in this one as a character. But it builds on the first one for all the characters. They develop well, but are still obviously the same characters. I was worried that I wouldn’t like what they did with Luke, but I actually do. I think it fits the new storyline well. I like the “Legends” version, but I also like this one. Now, I do have to complain about Phasma. I had high hopes for her in TFA and was seriously let down, so I was hoping they would fix it with this second chance. She had one moment where she seemed badass and awesome. Then it was gone and I am still disappointed. I think they should have used her more and given her some actually badass-ness rather than an imposing look but a terrible character. Missed opportunity.

Lastly: porgs. Porg’s Chewbacca scream. Porg everything. The porgs are the best. And the other creatures are awesome too.

I am excited for the next movie, hopefully to get some answers to my questions. I really hope they stick on this route rather than listening to the backlash and going back to what they were doing before. This felt less Disney and more gritty and real and I love it. It was less all in on good vs evil than the new canon has been I feel like, which was good. I think they should have gone farther in that direction, but I’ll take what I can get. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and if you go into it with an open mind, I think you will too. In terms of Rotten Tomatoes, I am on the side of the critics. Forget the backlash and go see it for yourself. 

I look forward to seeing what Rian Johnson does with his trilogy. I hope it is new, not trying to bring previous stories or characters to the new canon as many people are hoping for. He did a great job of making something new and breaking away from the past (though still paying homage to it) in this movie and they should definitely let him do that with his new trilogy.

Justice League

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Been a while since I’ve done one of these. Let’s see if I remember how.
I think this was a step up for the DCEU. It started out weak, but got stronger. Still not a super great movie, but leagues (heh) ahead of the previous DCEU movies. Story wise, it was alright. I like that they brought in a family near the source of things so that we could have an emotional investment in what was happening. It wasn’t just a random city being destroyed, there was someone we cared about there. There wasn’t anything really special or new about the story otherwise, but it wasn’t terrible. The telling of it suffered at first. Too many characters without a backstory in place already, so they tried to force too much in in a small amount of time. It came off as awkward and expository. But, once that was out of the way it got easier to get lost in the movie. I do take issue with the ending. It was a classic alien cop-out. I hate alien cop-outs. Almost as much as “it was all a dream” cop-outs. At least this one set up for it throughout the movie.

In terms of characters, I like the new additions. Their characters felt more natural, like actually people. Their dialogue felt more real and natural. They were easier to connect to and like than Batman or Superman. Wonder Woman stands her own with the new guys in that area. I do like the new direction with Superman though. I was not a big fan of his last two movies and, even though I tend to like the darker, grittier stuff, I think this lighter, smiley-er direction is better. They could stand to make some of his (and Batman’s) dialogue less cheesy however. Still better than Suicide Squad’s Enchantress by a mile. 

I think the actors played the characters well. Again, I think the newcomers deserve the most praise. Jason Mamoa and Ezra Miller in particular. I think they were cast very well for their characters. 

The direction was alright. There was not quite as much slo-mo and the like, or it was done more tastefully at least. It wasn’t distracting and cringe-worthy like the rest of the DCEU movies. I wouldn’t say I loved it or anything.

Overall, it wasn’t an MCU movie. That is not a compliment. But it was enjoyable. One of the top two DCEU movies for sure.

The Lost City of Z by David Grann

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I could not put this one down. I wanted to, but I just could not stop. That is very rare. Even books I thoroughly enjoy I can usually put down pretty easily unless I am right near the end or at a cliff hanger. Something about this story and the history in it just held me captivated. Remarkable the things these people did and what I previously knew barely scratched the surface. Still does no doubt.

Grann does a great job dividing the narrative between his own story of discovery and the story of Percy Fawcett. He keeps it professional but still gripping the entire time. He clearly did a lot of research to get the facts straight and he lays out a brilliant tale of a man consumed by obsession. The detail about the Amazon and the feats of the men that explored it is quite enthralling. It does little to make me want to go there myself and imitate them, but it does give me a greater respect for those that do.

I recommend this book for. . . everyone. It is an enjoyable read and informative. I am certainly going to be watching the movie sometime in the near future.

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn

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One of the better Star Wars EU stories out there. I’d been told for years I needed to read it, going back to when I was first obsessed, somewhere around Episode 3 coming out I believe. It mostly lived up to the hype. I like the way Zahn writes, it is very much my style. A few things he does kind of bug me, but they were small and merely a matter of taste. I did catch a couple of mistakes that were missed in editing, but those are easily forgivable.

The story itself was pretty good. It had a nice pace that kept me reading. There were possibly too many coincidences and characters showing up at the same places at the same time. Pretty convenient. But maybe that’s just the Force at work.

The characters introduced were mostly good and the ones from the movies felt true. I did have a problem with Pallaeon though. He seemed to be there strictly for the purpose of making Thrawn seem like a genius. He does nothing but marvel at Thrawn’s insight and carry out Thrawn’s orders. I understand the need to show us how smart Thrawn is, but I feel like they could have made the character showing us that brilliance a little more necessary to the plot. If we took out his parts, the story would play out exactly the same. And Thrawn himself, while pretty cool, was maybe too smart. There were a couple of times where I thought it was just too much. At least Zahn did give him a couple of failures.

Overall, a pretty good series and a must read for Star Wars fans. I prefer it to much of the new canon, even if there were inconsistencies from it coming out before the prequels were fully planned.

Baby Driver

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This one was good.  Very well made movie.  In terms of storytelling, I can think of only two things that made me question them.  One was one character’s motivations near the end.  It felt kinda vague and weak.  The other was how prepared one minor character was to the point that I was certain he was a bigger character than he was.  Otherwise it was very well put together.  Everything tied in well with no excess pieces.  It carried through in a smooth, but exciting ride without sudden and uncalled for diversions.  A wild ride right to the end.

I have nothing but praise of the director.  There were many scenes I was just marveling at the way it was filmed.  Showed exactly what had to be shone and nothing more.  Set the mood of every scene perfectly.  And the use of music was incredible.  The way songs were incorporated into the construction of so many scenes.  Just awesome.

And the actors.  Oh man.  I was captured by every single one of them.  Kevin Spacey was remarkable as always, executing every line perfectly.  And Ansel Elgort played his character so well.  His interactions with the music and with the other characters was great.  His character felt real and I felt connected to him.  The others did a great job as well, special mention to Jon Hamm.

Overall, I really have nothing but praise for this film.  Serious kudos to Edgar Wright for a well done film.  I highly recommend this one to most everyone.  Not the young ones, but most everyone else.

Wrath by John Gwynne

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A fitting end to the series.  I am sad to see that it is over.  I will miss the story and the characters (those that are left).  The ending was very satisfying aside from one part that felt a little too deus ex machina for me.  There was a little hinting to it (something Gwynne does well) but it still saved the day a little too suddenly.  On the other hand, this is one of the few stories I have read or watched lately that I did not feel like the climax was rushed and too easy.  Gwynne did a great job upping the stakes and suspense and drawing out the scenes that needed drawing out.  He didn’t rush to the conclusion.  The story moves around in surprising but fitting ways.  He brought all the characters together for a natural and epic finale. 
He stayed consistent in his writing, which means I have the same general complaints as the previous books.  But at this point I have accepted it as just part of the story and it doesn’t really bother me anymore.
I highly recommend this series to fans of fantasy.  It has everything you could want, giants, magic, angels, demons, swordplay, betrayal, deception, massive and epic battles.  Exactly what you look for in a fantasy.  This series has given me plenty of ideas for my own writing and provided me with many hours of entertainment to boot.  Thank you Mr. Gwynne, these books are going on my VIB (very important book) shelf.

Kong: Skull Island

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Not my favorite movie. The special effects were pretty good, though it was sometimes pretty obvious when there was blue/green screen. It was fairly enjoyable on the surface, but with my focus on my stories and characters, I over-analyze everything I see or read. So, I didn’t like this one a whole lot.

For starters, the pacing felt weird for much of it. It was jumpy. It bounced between times and characters rather suddenly. And some of the events just seemed to happen out of the blue with no build-up and then the story jumped again. That can work when it creates shock, but I never really felt shocked or surprised, just confused.

And the whole movie was trying too hard. It worked hard to push a message with blatant images and statements. The cinematography also tried too hard. There were some cool shots, but also quite a few that didn’t make sense and were distracting. Too much slow motion. At one point the camera focused on a character’s hand for too long and it didn’t really make sense why, the scene would have been exactly the same, but flowed better had that shot not been in there. Similarly, it tried to foreshadow. A lot. In obvious ways. A whole shot of a guy walking by just to settle on a gun on a table. Setting a sword down and lingering on it for too long. There were so many blatant foreshadowing shots. There were some points that tried too hard. Two in particular come to mind. Two moments of huge heroism that looked fake and/or came out of nowhere and served to purpose.

My biggest complaint has to be the characters. Only one character seemed to come off naturally and that’s because he was supposed to be strange and awkward. There were too many characters and not much time spent on any of them. They had a few moments where they tried to force-feed who the character was to us in the most obvious way. Basically the closest showing can come to telling. In distracting ways. Their interactions and dialogue were awkward and unnatural. Their relationships seemed to come out of nowhere and grew with no real sense of what went into it or even what it was. I felt no attachment to any of them and got no real sense of who they were. Aside from the traits forced down my throat, I got nothing from them. There were some great actors in the film, but I felt like most of them didn’t really get into it.

Overall, I wasn’t thrilled with it. Others thought it was pretty good, so I can’t say you won’t like it. Again, I’m into over-analyzing stories right now, so you could disagree and not see anything I did or not care. There’re my thoughts, but, as always, make your own.

The Loyal Nine by Bobby Akart

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Not impressed.  By the end of the prologue (which in itself was a poor choice) I knew it wasn’t going to be great,but I made myself keep reading, hoping I would be surprised.  I wasn’t.  The writing was very unimpressive.  On one page he used the word “soldier” ten times.  One right after the other.  It did not flow well.  It used a lot of direct thoughts that were out of place and redundant.  It restated a lot.  I really don’t need to know what kind of car every character drives and what coffee they drink and the exact square footage of their apartments.  It brought in so much unnecessary information in the most awkward way.  He would have someone say something that sounds completely unnatural and was clearly something understood by all the present characters, so it was done simply to inform the reader.  So many words and scenes that could have easily been cut out and only made the book better.  And the dialogue was structured wrong sometimes.  That annoys me.  That should be one of the first things a writer figures out before they start writing.  Make I’m being unfair.  Maybe it was typos.  Maybe.  And one more thing that annoyed me to no end in the beginning was his unwillingness to name the characters.  I believe that, unless you have a really good reason (he did not),the POV character should be named right away.  He went pages without naming some characters.  That led to an over reliance on “he” and ridiculous nicknames.  

Besides the writing being bad, the story wasn’t even good.  It was way too political.  To the point where it literally went to political speeches many times throughout.  I realize that is kinda the point of the book, but it was just exhausting.  It maybe is meant to teach people, but I think that most people would just get annoyed and stop reading.  I almost did.  But maybe I just am not the right audience.  I prefer to read fiction for the story, not to be preached at.  Sue me.   If you want a political message in a book, try and be at least somewhat discreet.  Don’t make one of your characters a professor who literally gives political lectures in your book.  In doing that, Bobby tried too hard to show how smart he is.  Not just on political topics, but on locations and objects.  Too much irrelevant detail about things that have no bearing on the story.  And the story itself was pretty boring.  Maybe if the entire series was cut down to a reasonable length and all the excess was chopped, it would be good, but the way it is, I was bored.  I really was.

So no, this was not a good book.  I will not be reading the rest of the series.  I probably should have seen that coming.  Any series that has 6 books come out in little over a year cannot be well written.  Tell me if I’m wrong, but that raises a red flag for me.  But hey, if you want a political lecture with a storyline and don’t mind bad writing, this is the book for you.  Not the book for me.

Arrival

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Excellent movie.  Not super exciting in an action sort of way, but gripping still.  It requires some thought and leaves you thinking when it is over.  The idea is fascinating and has me thinking about my own world and my own language.  The story, despite not being very action-based as I am used to, engaged me and definitely kept the stakes and suspense.
The construction of the movie was marvelous as well.  The director did a great job.  It felt fairly artsy, like every scene was very carefully crafted.  Each shot was deliberate.  And the sound. . . wow.  There wasn’t an epic score like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, but the sound was perfectly designed.  The music gave the right mood, but the true perfection was in the smaller sounds.  The world felt so real simply because we could hear it so well.  And the use if sound really made you feel what the characters felt, experience what they experienced.  It was beautiful.  The acting was great as well.  You could see every thought and emotion that crossed their minds written out on their faces. 
Overall, I thought this was a remarkably put together film.  Not my usual pick, but I am very glad I went to this one.

Tarkin by James Luceno

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​I enjoyed this one largely because it gave more information about the Star Wars universe and characters.  At times, I felt the characters didn’t quite match their movie conterparts, but, for the most part, I think it was well done.  The story wasn’t anything special, but it was enjoyable, which basically describes most of Star Wars, aside from the obvious shockers.  The world is what is more enjoyable to me, the overall story and the detailed races and planets, not the individual, isolated stories.  I don’t have a lot to say on the writing; it was good.  Mostly easy to understand, but with some flourish with the language, sometimes maybe unnecessarily so.  Not exactly how I would write it, but that is not a critique, it is a fact for everything I didn’t write.  Mostly the writing just disappeared into the story, which is a sign that it is good.  Overall, I think the book was done well and is an essential book for people wanting to understand the new canon.