Review: Captain America

August 31, 2012 in General Topics

Captain America, film posterThere’s a scene in Captain America where the optimistic young superhero strides onto a stage in an effort to sell war bonds, having been relegated to poster-boy duty, instead of the active front-line service he desperately wants. There, among a line of dancing performers, he slugs out a comically-rendered Hitler that has “snuck” into the proceedings. Cue applause.

Nostalgia, ironically, dominates our feelings of World War II, at least here in the States. As Americans, we’ve assigned the war an almost stained-glass sanctity, and I think we’ve done so because it gave us the kind of conflicts we haven’t faced since: a clear-cut, evil enemy was rampaging around Europe, while a fanatical, Imperial Japan dominated the Pacific. And yet we as a nation were at the top of our game. We didn’t back down.

You waved your flag, you bought war bonds. You gathered scrap metal. You worked in the factories. You fought. You bled. You came home. Or you didn’t. But you were part of something grand, and important. Read the rest of this entry →

Review: Samurai! by Saburo Sakai, with Martin Caidin and Fred Saito

August 20, 2012 in General Topics

Samurai! by Sabur? SakaiPiloting a Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” was hair-raising enough, with its notorious lack of armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, but flying one while bleeding to death, down one eye, and fading in and out of consciousness is the kind of experience Saburo Sakai, legendary Japanese fighter ace, places the reader in through his autobiography and memoir, Samurai! (with additional credit to Martin Caidin and Fred Saito), first published way back in 1957.
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Horror, Interrupted (A Review of The Haunting in Connecticut)

July 28, 2012 in General Topics, Other Stuff

The Haunting in ConnecticutI watched The Haunting in Connecticut last week, and unfortunately the film reminded me how Hollywood ruins a good ghost story.

Set in the mid-eighties, the movie follows the alleged experiences of the Campbells, a family that buys a home in Connecticut in an effort to be nearer the facility treating their son, Matt, for cancer. Tired of hauling the ailing teen long trips to the hospital, mom finds a deal on a local house that seems too good to be true.

And of course it is, and the building has a dark history, and this is fine, because otherwise, there would be no story. It’s also fine — in principle — that the film says it is “based on a true story”.

What isn’t fine is what it does to that story.
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Review: Prometheus

June 12, 2012 in General Topics

When a director revisits an old cinematic sandbox, it’s always a risky proposition. Dabbling with the mythos surrounding a nigh-legendary masterpiece like Alien runs the risk of upsetting the audience, particularly the loyalists surrounding a franchise. Every new beginning faces the chance of being a phantom menace. For every Star Trek: First Contact, respecting and enriching its canon, there’s a Star Trek: Nemesis, completely ignoring it.

When I first heard of Prometheus — and that director Ridley Scott was going to craft a spiritual prequel to his landmark 1979 film — I started to worry greatness would be tainted. I saw the film this past Friday, and I’ve had time to digest it since then. So, how does Prometheus stack up against one of the finest science fiction films of all time? Did the same director that gave us Blade Runner meet expectations, or fall short? Read the rest of this entry →

Review: Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card

May 23, 2012 in General Topics

Cover, Ender's Game, "Author's Definitive Edition"The truly gifted make their accomplishments look easy. But hidden from those seeing the end product are the hours of toil, effort, and self-doubt. And though I imagine a young Orson Scott Card labored mightily on Ender’s Game, a reader might be shocked with the novel’s sublime simplicity of prose. The hallmark of a powerful book is it demands reflection. Ender’s Game is powerful. (Slight spoilers ahead) Read the rest of this entry →