Movies & films, Sept-Dec 2012
Jan. 1st, 2013 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thewayneYeah, I missed the early November update. My bad. Been busy, no surprise there. So here's four months worth of books and movies.
Books:
12/31 Jim Butcher: Cold Days
12/27 Paolo Bagigalupi: Pump Six and other stories
12/23 Susanne Collins: Girl On Fire
12/16 Agatha Christie x2
12/7 Doctorow: Pirate Cinema
12/4 Scalzi: Old Man's War
11/28 Terry Pratchett: Dodger
11/15 Lois McMasters Bujold: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
10/8 Terry Pratchett/Stephen Baxter: The Long Earth
9/9 Doctorow/Stross: The Rapture of the Nerds
9/3 John Oram: The Man From UNCLE 3: The Copenhagen Affair
Movies:
12/22 Wreck-It Ralph
12/15 The Hobbit x4
12/1 Lincoln
11/12 The Man With The Iron Fists
11/9 Skyfall
10/28 Frankenweenie
10/20 Argo
10/14 The Master
10/13 Looper
10/9 Resident Evil: Retribution
9/29 Dredd
9/8 Bourne Legacy
Books:
Cold Days is the latest Dresden book and I loved it. It's Harry's first outing as The Winter Knight, and his first task is not going to be easy: kill an immortal. It was excellent. Harry has actually been growing as a person, and the people around him have also been growing and aging. I like this aspect of the series, that the environment and the people actually change, a lot of books are rather static in this regard. Anyway, if you're a fan, you really don't need a recommendation to buy this one. I'm happy I managed to finish it Monday, and I'm really eager for the next one. I may end up re-reading the series at some point later this year, he mentions some old characters and events that I only faintly remember.
Pump Six and Other Stories by the new (to me) writer Paolo Bagigalupi was a heck of a collection. I got it as part of an ebook collection that I recently bought, and I've always thought that short stories are a great introduction to a writer, and I definitely have a feel for Paolo now. He likes near-future distopian fiction, and he writes some pretty wild stuff. The title story, Pump Six, appears pretty late in the book and is about a man in a degenerating society who operates sewage pumps. The only problem is that the entire society is becoming twisted by chemicals and hormones in the water and becoming less intelligent. The issue is that the sewage pumps are almost a century old, haven't been maintained, and they're having problems and no one cares. Except this one guy. Kind of a strange premise but he develops it interestingly.
Girl On Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and it will be a movie released later this year. It begins with the “victory tour” and the displeasure of President Snow and ends with Katniss again fighting for her life. It was an amazing read, and I'm really looking forward to reading the third book and seeing the movie. I didn't realize until recently that the woman who plays Katniss was also Mystique in the X-Men First Class movie in 2011.
Agatha Christie x2. We listen to a lot of podcasts, and one of our favs is Stuff You Missed in History Class. While driving back from Thanksgiving in Colorado, we listened to one about Agatha Christie's “disappearance”, when she vanished, her wrecked car was found, and she was missing for several days. When found, she claimed amnesia and had no explanation as to what happened. Of course, Doctor Who fans knows that the absence was a result of alien slaver wasps, but we won't get in to that. Anyway, I thought there was a chance that some of her early work might be available on Project Gutenberg, and I was right. I read The Mysterious Affair At Styles and The Secret Adversary. The first was a murder mystery and the introduction of Poirot, the latter a pair of young adventurers get involved in diplomatic scheming and revolution following the sinking of the Lusitania. I enjoyed them both, though they're very much pieces of the period in which she wrote them, i.e. Post-World War I England. They felt very much like Wodehouse's Wooster & Jeeves, which isn't a bad thing, but it gives you an excellent idea as to their setting. I liked them, but she made a common mistake that really ticks me off: not knowing the difference between a revolver and automatic pistol. No big, I just find it jarring. Anyway, kudos to Project Gutenberg and recommendations to anyone who likes old literature to have some fun with it.
Pirate Cinema is Cory Doctorow's latest young adult book, I got it as both part of the ebook collection that I bought and I also bought the hardback. In a not-too-distant England, a law has been passed that if you're caught committing online movie piracy, your entire family will be kicked off the internet for a year. The hero of the story, a young kid, gets sloppy downloading clips from movies that he re-edits and mixes in to new features. His family gets booted, his dad loses his job as a telephone representative, his mom has trouble filing for health benefits, his sister was studying for her exams for college. So he flees to London where he meets up with the Artful Dodger of the homeless and begins living a very alternative lifestyle. Lots of cultural hacking going on, lots of good stuff. My only complaint is that his main character here is almost a twin of his main character in Little Brother, I particularly didn't like that both of them develop a taste for mega-peppers in their food. He needs to explore some new tropes. Anyway, lots of fun in Doctorow's typical style.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi is a favorite of mine, and I know I've written about it before, so I'm not going to go in to any great depth. One thing that I will mention is that Scalzi has a new book due later this year that is available via chapter subscription from the Tor Books site, so you can read it now piece by piece or wait for the whole thing to come out later. Personally, I'll wait.
Dodger was quite good, and quite a departure for Sir Pterry. It's set in a fictional early Victorian England and revolves around a character called The Dodger. As my reading of Dickens is kind of thin, it may or may not be conceptionally true to the Artful Dodger, I'm sure there's some link. Dodger witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young woman and rescues her, throwing himself into a world of international intrigue including Charlie Dickens, Sir Robert Peel, the founder of Punch magazine, Mr. Sweeney Todd, etc. A very interesting period piece, lot of fun. You'll find it in Young Adults. Came out earlier this month, so should still be readily available.
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance was Bujold's return to the Vorkosigan universe. This one is set after the wedding of Miles and Ekaterin and before Cryoburn. Ivan is off as the aide to an Inspector General when he is sucked in to a Jackson's Whole intrigue that results in an alliance that rather goes against Ivan's bachelor playboy 'girl of the week' standard. I thought it was hilarious, and for me it really cemented my opinion that a post-Black Adder/pre-House Hugh Laurie would have been perfect to play Ivan in a movie. There's a complaint about Bujold in the fanfic community that she has a tendency to marry-off her characters, which makes their ability to write slash a little more difficult, but since it's Bujold's intellectual property, I say tough, cope. This was lots of fun and if you like the Vorkosigan series, it is a great read.
The Long Earth is a considerable departure for Sir Pterry. It is technically science fiction, but it is also in a very recognizable contemporary setting. Someone publishes, online, the plans for building a device that lets you "step" in to an alternate Earth. You can step, arbitrarily labeled, East or West, I think it's easier to think of it as +1 or -1. And you can continue stepping. There is a nigh-infinite number of Earths available, and each one is, relatively speaking, a virgin Earth. There are a couple of catches, naturally. First, iron/steel cannot transfer. Thus many advances in electronics are made to avoid iron in their products. Second, most people get really sick after stepping, a dimensional nausea of sorts, and are temporarily incapacitated. And a few other limitations. Needless to say, a lot of chaos springs forth in the economic and political realms as people flee debts, marriages, even scores, etc. The story is one of exploration and personal growth, and I liked it. Some Pratchett fans are not big fans of this book, I haven't had a chance to discuss it with them to find out exactly why, but I enjoyed it. It's several months old now, also Young Adult, and is probably about due for trade paperback edition.
The Rapture of the Nerds is a post-singularity story by two of my fav authors, Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross. It handles “The Singularity” in a very interesting way from the viewpoint of those left behind, the people who choose not to participate for one reason or another. Very funny, very weird. Quite a departure for both authors.
The Man From UNCLE 3: The Copenhagen Affair. I have a lot of the Man From UNCLE books, they're candy to me like $0.25 romance novels to those who like cheap romance novels. Lots of fun, no great depth.
Movies:
Wreck-It Ralph by Disney/Pixar is a movie about arcade video gaming and was a blast. The main character, Ralph, is voiced by John Reilly and is the bad guy in a video game who is tired of being the bad guy and leaves the game, only to uncover problems in another game that could have tremendous implications. It has a great love story and was just an absolute blast. I was a teen in the 70's and spent a lot of time in arcades playing games like this, and it was very nostalgic.
The Hobbit. What's to be said. We've seen it four times: Imax 3-D high frame rate, conventional 3-D, and twice in 2-D. In my opinion, the Imax 3-D HFR is worth seeing to see the amazing visuals that Peter Jackson and WETA put together, but otherwise, stick with the 2-D. HFR has problems with too much sharpness detracting from the story. One thing that I did not know was that what I had heard was going to be two movies is now going to be three. Apparently they realized they had enough material shot that they had a bit over two movies, so they went back to the Weinsteins and asked for money for a third. Part 2 is due probably Thanksgiving/Christmas 2013, Part 3 summer 2014. The DVD for Part 1 is due I think 3rd quarter 2013. Amazing movie, great casting, but I am still jarred when they use size doubles.
Lincoln is a great movie by the Spielberg team starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. And I think they nailed it. The movie is about the passage of the 13th amendment, and for a political movie, it gives you a closer look in to how the government worked back then. And they say that if you like government or sausage, you shouldn't look in to how it's made. And that is true here. Excellent film, I loved the low-key lighting.
The Man With The Iron Fists. Produced by Quentin Tarantino, this modern take on old classic Kung Fu Cinema is pretty good. Decent story, way-ridiculous fight sequences. Lots of fun. I'll bet Russell Crowe had a great time filming this.
Skyfall, the latest Daniel Craig James Bond movie is a great continuation of the franchise. Exotic locations, and great bad guys to be killed. An excellent film to be released during 007's 50th anniversary. Craig continues to wear the mantle well as the ultimate tough guy, the supporting cast do a great job supporting. I look forward to the next film, duh.
Frankenweenie was a cute little full-length version of a short film that Tim Burton made in film school. Among other places, I believe it was included in the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. Kid brings dog back to life, and there are problems involved. Tim does a good job expanding the story and bringing the rest of the town to life. Lots of fun.
Argo. I have to say up-front that I'm not a huge Ben Affleck fan, but now I'm thinking that I need to differentiate between the actor Affleck and the director Affleck, and even at that I may have to do some re-evaluation. The story starts in the late 1970's with the Iran Hostage Crisis when the Islamic Revolution swept through the country and the American Embassy was overrun and around 50 people were taken hostage. Six people were in an annex and managed to evade the crowd and made it to the Canadian Ambassador's house, where they were sheltered until a plan was approved to get them out. That plan was to create a science fiction epic, Argo, set on a desert planet. The Americans would appear as a Canadian advance team. This is one of the better films that I've seen this year. Great movie, and definitely deserves some Academy Award nominations.
The Master explores cult and the leaders thereof. A lot of people make comparisons to Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, but it isn't just about them, a lot of research went in to the script. I heard an interview with the film maker and some of the stars on NPR's Fresh Air and that sold me. It was a very provocative film, and I enjoyed it, but not in a “YAY! Let's see it again!” way.
Looper. Bruce Willis time-travel action film. Thin story, but it was enough to hold the movie together. Near-future, assassins are given an assignment from the future to be at a certain location at a certain time, usually in a corn field, and at that time a body appears that is hooded and tied-up and kneeling, the assassin blows them away with a blunderbuss then disposes of the body. Jeff Bridges gets to be a bad-ass, and that was worth the price of admission.
Resident Evil: Retribution is the latest installment in the series. In the same vein as Looper, it's much like the other Resident Evil movies with lots of shooting and fighting and impressive fight sequences. It takes some interesting twists in to the Umbrella Corp story, but it is difficult to explain without spoiling too much, so I won't. If you like the series you'll see the movie, otherwise you won't, so there's not much need for me to go in to it.
Dredd. This is a new movie based on the Judge Dredd comic, and I felt it was an extremely good representation of said comic. Unlike Stallone, in this movie Dredd never takes off his helmet. Crazy violent movie. I wish they had used more of the comic's color pallet, but that aside, I think it was a very good rendering of the comic's universe. Great movie if you're a fan.
Bourne Legacy. I haven't seen any of the previous movies, I saw this one because I liked Hawkeye and wanted to see him in something else. I learned some of the changes they made to the original source material, and maybe I'll see them now at some point.
Books:
12/31 Jim Butcher: Cold Days
12/27 Paolo Bagigalupi: Pump Six and other stories
12/23 Susanne Collins: Girl On Fire
12/16 Agatha Christie x2
12/7 Doctorow: Pirate Cinema
12/4 Scalzi: Old Man's War
11/28 Terry Pratchett: Dodger
11/15 Lois McMasters Bujold: Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
10/8 Terry Pratchett/Stephen Baxter: The Long Earth
9/9 Doctorow/Stross: The Rapture of the Nerds
9/3 John Oram: The Man From UNCLE 3: The Copenhagen Affair
Movies:
12/22 Wreck-It Ralph
12/15 The Hobbit x4
12/1 Lincoln
11/12 The Man With The Iron Fists
11/9 Skyfall
10/28 Frankenweenie
10/20 Argo
10/14 The Master
10/13 Looper
10/9 Resident Evil: Retribution
9/29 Dredd
9/8 Bourne Legacy
Books:
Cold Days is the latest Dresden book and I loved it. It's Harry's first outing as The Winter Knight, and his first task is not going to be easy: kill an immortal. It was excellent. Harry has actually been growing as a person, and the people around him have also been growing and aging. I like this aspect of the series, that the environment and the people actually change, a lot of books are rather static in this regard. Anyway, if you're a fan, you really don't need a recommendation to buy this one. I'm happy I managed to finish it Monday, and I'm really eager for the next one. I may end up re-reading the series at some point later this year, he mentions some old characters and events that I only faintly remember.
Pump Six and Other Stories by the new (to me) writer Paolo Bagigalupi was a heck of a collection. I got it as part of an ebook collection that I recently bought, and I've always thought that short stories are a great introduction to a writer, and I definitely have a feel for Paolo now. He likes near-future distopian fiction, and he writes some pretty wild stuff. The title story, Pump Six, appears pretty late in the book and is about a man in a degenerating society who operates sewage pumps. The only problem is that the entire society is becoming twisted by chemicals and hormones in the water and becoming less intelligent. The issue is that the sewage pumps are almost a century old, haven't been maintained, and they're having problems and no one cares. Except this one guy. Kind of a strange premise but he develops it interestingly.
Girl On Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and it will be a movie released later this year. It begins with the “victory tour” and the displeasure of President Snow and ends with Katniss again fighting for her life. It was an amazing read, and I'm really looking forward to reading the third book and seeing the movie. I didn't realize until recently that the woman who plays Katniss was also Mystique in the X-Men First Class movie in 2011.
Agatha Christie x2. We listen to a lot of podcasts, and one of our favs is Stuff You Missed in History Class. While driving back from Thanksgiving in Colorado, we listened to one about Agatha Christie's “disappearance”, when she vanished, her wrecked car was found, and she was missing for several days. When found, she claimed amnesia and had no explanation as to what happened. Of course, Doctor Who fans knows that the absence was a result of alien slaver wasps, but we won't get in to that. Anyway, I thought there was a chance that some of her early work might be available on Project Gutenberg, and I was right. I read The Mysterious Affair At Styles and The Secret Adversary. The first was a murder mystery and the introduction of Poirot, the latter a pair of young adventurers get involved in diplomatic scheming and revolution following the sinking of the Lusitania. I enjoyed them both, though they're very much pieces of the period in which she wrote them, i.e. Post-World War I England. They felt very much like Wodehouse's Wooster & Jeeves, which isn't a bad thing, but it gives you an excellent idea as to their setting. I liked them, but she made a common mistake that really ticks me off: not knowing the difference between a revolver and automatic pistol. No big, I just find it jarring. Anyway, kudos to Project Gutenberg and recommendations to anyone who likes old literature to have some fun with it.
Pirate Cinema is Cory Doctorow's latest young adult book, I got it as both part of the ebook collection that I bought and I also bought the hardback. In a not-too-distant England, a law has been passed that if you're caught committing online movie piracy, your entire family will be kicked off the internet for a year. The hero of the story, a young kid, gets sloppy downloading clips from movies that he re-edits and mixes in to new features. His family gets booted, his dad loses his job as a telephone representative, his mom has trouble filing for health benefits, his sister was studying for her exams for college. So he flees to London where he meets up with the Artful Dodger of the homeless and begins living a very alternative lifestyle. Lots of cultural hacking going on, lots of good stuff. My only complaint is that his main character here is almost a twin of his main character in Little Brother, I particularly didn't like that both of them develop a taste for mega-peppers in their food. He needs to explore some new tropes. Anyway, lots of fun in Doctorow's typical style.
Old Man's War by John Scalzi is a favorite of mine, and I know I've written about it before, so I'm not going to go in to any great depth. One thing that I will mention is that Scalzi has a new book due later this year that is available via chapter subscription from the Tor Books site, so you can read it now piece by piece or wait for the whole thing to come out later. Personally, I'll wait.
Dodger was quite good, and quite a departure for Sir Pterry. It's set in a fictional early Victorian England and revolves around a character called The Dodger. As my reading of Dickens is kind of thin, it may or may not be conceptionally true to the Artful Dodger, I'm sure there's some link. Dodger witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young woman and rescues her, throwing himself into a world of international intrigue including Charlie Dickens, Sir Robert Peel, the founder of Punch magazine, Mr. Sweeney Todd, etc. A very interesting period piece, lot of fun. You'll find it in Young Adults. Came out earlier this month, so should still be readily available.
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance was Bujold's return to the Vorkosigan universe. This one is set after the wedding of Miles and Ekaterin and before Cryoburn. Ivan is off as the aide to an Inspector General when he is sucked in to a Jackson's Whole intrigue that results in an alliance that rather goes against Ivan's bachelor playboy 'girl of the week' standard. I thought it was hilarious, and for me it really cemented my opinion that a post-Black Adder/pre-House Hugh Laurie would have been perfect to play Ivan in a movie. There's a complaint about Bujold in the fanfic community that she has a tendency to marry-off her characters, which makes their ability to write slash a little more difficult, but since it's Bujold's intellectual property, I say tough, cope. This was lots of fun and if you like the Vorkosigan series, it is a great read.
The Long Earth is a considerable departure for Sir Pterry. It is technically science fiction, but it is also in a very recognizable contemporary setting. Someone publishes, online, the plans for building a device that lets you "step" in to an alternate Earth. You can step, arbitrarily labeled, East or West, I think it's easier to think of it as +1 or -1. And you can continue stepping. There is a nigh-infinite number of Earths available, and each one is, relatively speaking, a virgin Earth. There are a couple of catches, naturally. First, iron/steel cannot transfer. Thus many advances in electronics are made to avoid iron in their products. Second, most people get really sick after stepping, a dimensional nausea of sorts, and are temporarily incapacitated. And a few other limitations. Needless to say, a lot of chaos springs forth in the economic and political realms as people flee debts, marriages, even scores, etc. The story is one of exploration and personal growth, and I liked it. Some Pratchett fans are not big fans of this book, I haven't had a chance to discuss it with them to find out exactly why, but I enjoyed it. It's several months old now, also Young Adult, and is probably about due for trade paperback edition.
The Rapture of the Nerds is a post-singularity story by two of my fav authors, Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross. It handles “The Singularity” in a very interesting way from the viewpoint of those left behind, the people who choose not to participate for one reason or another. Very funny, very weird. Quite a departure for both authors.
The Man From UNCLE 3: The Copenhagen Affair. I have a lot of the Man From UNCLE books, they're candy to me like $0.25 romance novels to those who like cheap romance novels. Lots of fun, no great depth.
Movies:
Wreck-It Ralph by Disney/Pixar is a movie about arcade video gaming and was a blast. The main character, Ralph, is voiced by John Reilly and is the bad guy in a video game who is tired of being the bad guy and leaves the game, only to uncover problems in another game that could have tremendous implications. It has a great love story and was just an absolute blast. I was a teen in the 70's and spent a lot of time in arcades playing games like this, and it was very nostalgic.
The Hobbit. What's to be said. We've seen it four times: Imax 3-D high frame rate, conventional 3-D, and twice in 2-D. In my opinion, the Imax 3-D HFR is worth seeing to see the amazing visuals that Peter Jackson and WETA put together, but otherwise, stick with the 2-D. HFR has problems with too much sharpness detracting from the story. One thing that I did not know was that what I had heard was going to be two movies is now going to be three. Apparently they realized they had enough material shot that they had a bit over two movies, so they went back to the Weinsteins and asked for money for a third. Part 2 is due probably Thanksgiving/Christmas 2013, Part 3 summer 2014. The DVD for Part 1 is due I think 3rd quarter 2013. Amazing movie, great casting, but I am still jarred when they use size doubles.
Lincoln is a great movie by the Spielberg team starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. And I think they nailed it. The movie is about the passage of the 13th amendment, and for a political movie, it gives you a closer look in to how the government worked back then. And they say that if you like government or sausage, you shouldn't look in to how it's made. And that is true here. Excellent film, I loved the low-key lighting.
The Man With The Iron Fists. Produced by Quentin Tarantino, this modern take on old classic Kung Fu Cinema is pretty good. Decent story, way-ridiculous fight sequences. Lots of fun. I'll bet Russell Crowe had a great time filming this.
Skyfall, the latest Daniel Craig James Bond movie is a great continuation of the franchise. Exotic locations, and great bad guys to be killed. An excellent film to be released during 007's 50th anniversary. Craig continues to wear the mantle well as the ultimate tough guy, the supporting cast do a great job supporting. I look forward to the next film, duh.
Frankenweenie was a cute little full-length version of a short film that Tim Burton made in film school. Among other places, I believe it was included in the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD. Kid brings dog back to life, and there are problems involved. Tim does a good job expanding the story and bringing the rest of the town to life. Lots of fun.
Argo. I have to say up-front that I'm not a huge Ben Affleck fan, but now I'm thinking that I need to differentiate between the actor Affleck and the director Affleck, and even at that I may have to do some re-evaluation. The story starts in the late 1970's with the Iran Hostage Crisis when the Islamic Revolution swept through the country and the American Embassy was overrun and around 50 people were taken hostage. Six people were in an annex and managed to evade the crowd and made it to the Canadian Ambassador's house, where they were sheltered until a plan was approved to get them out. That plan was to create a science fiction epic, Argo, set on a desert planet. The Americans would appear as a Canadian advance team. This is one of the better films that I've seen this year. Great movie, and definitely deserves some Academy Award nominations.
The Master explores cult and the leaders thereof. A lot of people make comparisons to Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, but it isn't just about them, a lot of research went in to the script. I heard an interview with the film maker and some of the stars on NPR's Fresh Air and that sold me. It was a very provocative film, and I enjoyed it, but not in a “YAY! Let's see it again!” way.
Looper. Bruce Willis time-travel action film. Thin story, but it was enough to hold the movie together. Near-future, assassins are given an assignment from the future to be at a certain location at a certain time, usually in a corn field, and at that time a body appears that is hooded and tied-up and kneeling, the assassin blows them away with a blunderbuss then disposes of the body. Jeff Bridges gets to be a bad-ass, and that was worth the price of admission.
Resident Evil: Retribution is the latest installment in the series. In the same vein as Looper, it's much like the other Resident Evil movies with lots of shooting and fighting and impressive fight sequences. It takes some interesting twists in to the Umbrella Corp story, but it is difficult to explain without spoiling too much, so I won't. If you like the series you'll see the movie, otherwise you won't, so there's not much need for me to go in to it.
Dredd. This is a new movie based on the Judge Dredd comic, and I felt it was an extremely good representation of said comic. Unlike Stallone, in this movie Dredd never takes off his helmet. Crazy violent movie. I wish they had used more of the comic's color pallet, but that aside, I think it was a very good rendering of the comic's universe. Great movie if you're a fan.
Bourne Legacy. I haven't seen any of the previous movies, I saw this one because I liked Hawkeye and wanted to see him in something else. I learned some of the changes they made to the original source material, and maybe I'll see them now at some point.
