Category Archives: Reviews

Reviews of books and movies

Captain America: Civil War

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I was very excited for this movie and was not disappointed.  Was very true to the other Avengers films.  Lots of action and a good story.  I like the conflict within the team and their different opinions on how they should be run.  I like the trend of superhero movies questioning the power of the superheroes and people thinking they need to be controlled.  The destruction they cause is finally being addressed in what I believe is an excellent way.

Throughout the movie I was never bored and never lost track of the storyline.  The actors did as fantastic as always and the new additions were great.  I am now even more eager for the Black Panther movie and no longer have my doubts about the new Spider-man. 

Basically if you are a fan of the Avengers movies, then you will love this one.  If not, you are crazy and beyond saving.  And if you’ve never seen one, I recommend moving out from under that rock.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

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An interesting read.  Definitely a brain workout trying to understand all the science and relativity and whatnot.  Much of it was fascinating.  The technology and the military and the science was very intriguing.  His vision of how society would change was interesting. 

The story itself was pretty good.  I felt slightly detached for a lot of it, but not too bad, and the science did distract from the plot a little, but was enjoyable in itself.  It covered a long period of time without a lot of really exciting stuff happening.  That’s not a bad thing necessarily, I just tend to prefer short time lines that drop you right into the action and really show a lot of detail of said action.  But for the story being told, this was probably the best way it could have been written. 

His style I did like.  It felt fairly informal, but also very intelligent and well-written.  He fused the protagonist’s thoughts seamlessly into the narration in just the way I like.  It was a fairly quick read, aside from when you’re trying to grasp the scientific concepts, but didn’t feel dumbed down like a lot of the more recent quicker reads.

Overall, I enjoyed it.  Not my favorite book and probably won’t make it onto my “reread shelf,” but I am glad I read it.

Lexicon by Max Barry

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I really enjoyed this one.  At first I was a little annoyed by the inconsistent jumps in POV and time, but that disappeared quickly.  I was never lost and my enjoyment did not diminish because of this, just the opposite in fact.  I loved his style as well.  It was different than what I usually read; it felt more informal, which I really enjoyed.  The idea behind the story is fascinating.  I don’t want to give away too much, but they way it views words and the brain and the idea of this “magic” is amazing.  The story itself was great as well.  I read it much faster than I have been reading lately and didn’t want to put it down.  Barry does a wonderful job of keeping you guessing and in suspense.  I did feel the ending fell short a little bit, but maybe I’m just too picky, as there hasn’t really been a book or movie I’ve been satisfied with the ending of lately. 

Overall I would definitely recommend this book.  It is very intelligent and gripping.  I will definitely be adding other works by Max Barry to my list of books to read.

10 Cloverfield Lane

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This was actually a really good movie. I wasn’t real sure on how much I was going to like it, but I really did. It had a tiny cast and a tiny setting, but still managed to be an intense and emotional film. Very suspenseful throughout, and yet there was no clear and present danger for almost the entire movie. I wasn’t sure if this would be one of those movies where the main character dies and I was waiting for it to happen. The actors did a great job, all three of them. The characters were unique and decently strong. The plot was one of the simplest I’ve seen, but it still managed to hold me the entire time. In a lot of movies there are times that I look around and fall out of interest and remember that I’m in a movie theater, that didn’t really happen with this one. I was entrapped the whole time. I will hopefully be seeing this one again sometime soon.

Saga by Conor Kostick

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Pretty good.  Not my favorite, but pretty good.  A good follow-up to EPIC.  It had an interesting premise and characters.  There were some improvements made from EPIC, namely in the POV department.  He took it to a whole new level, but executed it well.  The changes felt more regular and better prepared than in the first book.  They were a little confusing at first, but once I got used to them, they definitely added to the story.  The writing itself was just about the same as the first book, not perfect but pretty good.  He was a little inconsistent at times; there were a couple of times I noticed he referred to a character by his full name, then a little later by his shortened nickname and back again.  It didn’t take away from my understanding of the book at all, but it felt wrong.

In terms of story, I was a little disappointed.  It started out kinda slow and took a long time to get going.  There was very little at first that would hint at where it was going.  It just seemed to be pulling itself along with no goal.  Eventually the goal became clear, but the story didn’t really speed up until the last few chapters.  Even then, the sense of danger and fear of failure never really came.  Maybe I’m just too picky, but I’m adding this one to my pile of stories that I feel have low stakes, low danger and a disappointing climax.  But I still enjoyed it.  Mostly.  Not quite as much as EPIC.  Probably won’t be reading it again.

Deadpool

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Best movie ever.  Maybe an exaggeration, but it is definitely up there.  Quite possibly the best Marvel film to date.  Very different than the others, but better.  People who think it is like the others and want to bring their kids, I suggest you pay attention to the rating.  It is rated “R” for a reason.  But for those of us fine with such a rating, it is a magnificent movie.

One of my favorite things ever, when it’s done right, is fourth wall breaks.  Given that this is Deadpool we’re talking about, I was expecting them, and I was not disappointed, starting with the opening credits.  Between them and the constant pop culture references, this movie was non-stop laughs.  The best references were about Ryan Reynolds and his other Marvel roles.  This movie is also the bridge between X-Men and the rest of the MCU, if only barely, and the references to both are fantastic.  As with all Marvel movies, be sure to stay through the credits.

Really, this movie was awesome.  I want to watch it again, and again, and again just so I can start to get all the jokes.  Absolutely see this one of you are good with the language, gore and sex, because it is one of the funniest movies you will see.

Epic by Conor Kostick

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I enjoyed this book.  I had started it a few years ago, but I don’t think I finished it.  I’m glad I went back.  The tale is a refreshing take on the overused “young hero leads rebellion to destroy dystopian society” story.  It had the same basic idea as The Hunger Games and Divergent and the Inheritance Cycle and… you get the point.  However, this story had a different feel.  Aside from the general idea, the overall story arc was different.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but it wasn’t the usual “nobody teen hero is discovered and put at the head of an established army to fight an age-long war” thing.  A nice change.

It did suffer a little bit from what I have noticed in a lot of stories I’ve experienced lately, that the story is too easy.  A couple of the major events didn’t really seem to put the heroes in serious danger.  There wasn’t really the uncertainty that the hero would survive.  Aside from him telling us that they were struggling, I didn’t really get the sense that they were having much difficulty.  That brings me to another point.  Overall, the writing was great, but I felt like he could have done a better job “showing, not telling” in places.  But he did do a fantastic job in many places of painting a very vivid image in my mind.  There were other minor issues with the writing sometimes (like using the
POV character’s name more than he should have in a short stretch) but it mostly fell away as I got more invested in the story.  His dialogue did cause some issues for me at times through the whole thing.  I got lost in some exchanges trying to figure out who was saying and doing what.

How he structured the story felt a bit off sometimes as well.  It felt very fast sometimes and could have benefited from slowing down between events.  His choice of point of view changes felt awkward as well.  It was extremely irregular with most of the book from one character’s POV, but with half a chapter here and there from another character’s and one page from another’s and so on.  This might not bother some people, but it felt strange to me. 

Now I have just pointed out all the problems I had with the book, and most of these complaints really had very little effect on my enjoyment of the book.  I still definitely recommend the story to young adults interested in fantasy and sci-fi.  The book creates a nice mix of elements from both.  He created a fascinating world and interesting characters.  I am now about to start the second one and am looking forward to it, so I will waste no more time writing this.

The Revenant

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Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach or short attention spans.  That isn’t to say it is very boring, it is just quite long.  It does manage to hold the attention pretty well and feels well-paced.  I am usually one for lots of action and get fairly bored of there isn’t enough, but this one has a great balance that kept me from getting bored, but was still an emotionally charged and character-led film rather than an action-led one. 

The camera work was amazing and have the film a very real feel.  The special effects and makeup/costumes were excellent and made every amazing and horrific event look completely real.  The actor was also phenomenal and Leo may have his chance for an Oscar with this one.  Similar to Tom Hardy in Mad Max, he didn’t have many lines for most of the movie, but still got you into the mind of the character and really made you feel for what he was going through. 

All around really good.  Again, not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, but if you can deal with some graphic violence, you should definitely see it.

Point Break

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Pretty much exactly what I expected.  Major adrenaline rush.  Lots of intense action and amazing shots.  Visually it was amazing.  And right now I just want to go out and do epic stuff.  Basically, felt a lot like GoPro and Red Bull commercials do.

There was so much amazing action that the story was kinda lost.  The entire movie was focused on the extreme sports with little emphasis on story and writing.  Some of the dialogue was fairly cheesy.  Some of the characters felt incomplete and barely had any development. 

Luckily I went into it wanting to watch crazy stunts and not for a great story.  It definitely delivered in the crazy stunt department, so if that is what you want to see, do go.  Absolutely go.  If you want a good story, go see something else.