The Encounter and The Tunnels

I just made a short story sale!

2012-02-07T17:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a few months since my last short story sale, but I finally made another one today. It's a story around 3,500 words long and deals with the country's most prolific serial killer, who's on the FBI's Top Ten Wanted list.

Even though the story had several false starts as I tried to figure out where I wanted to go with it, I ended up writing the entire thing in a week. I have a really great twist at the end which is what makes the story standout. The twist came to me one morning as I was slowly waking up from the night. I remember going "Wow. I like that. I'm going to write the idea down when I get up." I thank God, Buddha, Allah, Krishu, the Great Earth Spirit, and anybody else for not letting me fall back to sleep and then forget the idea.

The story is titled, "A Step in the Shadows", and will be published this summer (I think) in a paperback and e-book anthology called, "I'll Never Go Away". It's a collection of stories about stalkers of all kinds.

Now, let's see if I can sell another one.

Being sick sucks!

2012-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

Since late Thursday night I've been sick as a dog. I still had to go into work on Friday because we were short-staffed, but also because I didn't want to go to the doctor. You call out sick, you have to have a doctor's note to return to work. I'm just now at the point where I'm going to have two years of medical bills paid off in another month. I certainly don't want more bills.

Anyway, when you're sick, you don't feel like writing or reading. It simply takes too much energy. Even writing this is difficult. I just started the new Robert Crais novel with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, but I don't feel like reading it. That really sucks. I'm been waiting to read this novel for several months. I'm 400 words into a review of the 3-disc set of the 2005 version of King Kong, but I don't have the energy to finish it. I've got a short story that I promise the publishers I'd have finished this weekend, but it isn't going to happen unless a miracle takes place.

So, on that note, I'm going back to bed. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

P.S.

Six hours later.

I went to bed, but not before reading some more of the Robert Crais novel, Taken. That's how good Robert Crais is as an author. He makes me jealous. Here I am sick, but I've just got to read his newest book. If you're not a fan of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, then shame on you. This series is the absolute best on the market. Except for Stephen King and Joe Lansdale, Robert Crais is the only other author I truly get excited about when a new book is coming out.

So far, Taken is making good on its promise. Two young Americans are in a place they shouldn't be and are kidnapped by the drug cartel. Elvis Cole is hired to find them. When Cole mysteriously disappears a week later, Joe Pike gets involved. You don't mess with Joe Pike, or hurt his best friend. Before he's finished the body count is going to be in the double digits.

Joe Pike is my literary hero! I wish I had a friend like Pike. Well, I guess I do in a way. He's my old karate instructor from back in Morehead City, North Carolina--Bobby Webb. He's a lot like Joe Pike, but also a really nice person. I miss my friend more than I do the ocean. I always kept him supplied in good books to read.

I want to go back to bed, but I hear the book sirens calling me as I write this. Later.

A totally rewritten excerpt from my screenplay of The Encounter

2012-02-01T19:08:00.000-08:00

WGW #1545678 Copyrighted by Wayne C. Rogers 2010 & 2011

EXT. BACK LANE OF FREEMAN’S HOME - NIGHT - LATER

We watch as both Detective Peterson and Matthews pull up in their respective vehicles behind the Freeman residence. Switching off the engines, both men get out of their cars and walk past the Chevy Tahoe to the patio door.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Peterson rings the doorbell and we can hear Betty starting to bark from the back patio.

PETERSON

Sounds like a big-ass dog.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Both Peterson and Matthews stand there, listing silently as Betty continues to bark. Then--

MATTHEWS

It looks like they’re not home yet. Do you want to wait?

PETERSON

Why don’t you take off. I’m going to sit in my car for a while and see if they show up.

MATTHEWS

Are you sure?

PETERSON

Yeah. Call me on the radio if anything else happens tonight.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Peterson and Matthews walk back to their cars.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

We watch as both men climb back into their vehicles. A moment later Matthews backs up to the center street of the complex, while Peterson pulls his car forward.

ON PETERSON’S CAR

As Peterson parks parallel to the wall that Freeman was attacked on, the headlights shine on the dried blood splattered on it.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Leaving the engine running and the headlights on, Peterson gets out of the car and steps over to the wall to examine the blood stain.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

Peterson checks out the dried blood and then rises up on the balls of his feet to look at the top of the wall.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Lost in thought, Peterson walks casually back to his car. As he steps in front of the Crown Victoria, something causes him to stop and to spin quickly to his right.

PETERSON’S POV

We can see several cars in their parking spaces behind other condominiums on the left side of the lane. Trees and bushes are lining the inside of the cinder-block wall on the right.

ON PETERSON

He stares hard at the other end of the lane, sensing that something is hiding in the darkness.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

Peterson finally shakes his head over his paranoia and moves back to the door of his car. As he does this, we catch a brief glimpse of the Melvin/creature in the far background as it darts across the lane and into the community park.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Reaching inside the car through the opened door, Peterson turns off the headlights and engine. He then closes the door and takes out a pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket. Once he has a cigarette lit up, he leans comfortably against the car and smokes it, waiting for the Freemans.

EXT. COMMUNITY PARK - NIGHT

A TEENAGE COUPLE, dressed in warm clothing for the evening, enter the quiet park from the main street. They have Halloween makeup on their faces and are each carrying a bag of candy. They’re also holding hands as they head down the walkway to a bench in front of the fenced-in swimming pool by the recreation center. We can hear them talking softly to one another and laughing.

CLOSER SHOT

Both the girl and boy sit down on the bench and start rummaging through their bags to see what kind of goodies they got.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

As the boy looks up from his bag, he sees the Melvin/creature walking toward them from the other side of the park.

ANOTHER ANGLE

The creature eyes the young couple as if it has all the time in the world.

EXT. BACK LANE - ON PETERSON

Peterson is still smoking his cigarette when a terrifying female scream erupts from the park area.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Tossing the cigarette to the pavement, Peterson pulls out his handgun and runs across the lane.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

We watch as Peterson disappears between the two corner condominiums and into the park.

EXT. COMMUNITY PARK AREA

The Melvin/creature has the boy and girl cornered against the barred fence. The faces of the kids are filled with blind terror at the thing standing before them.

ANOTHER ANGLE

The Melvin/creature stares at them and grins wickedly with satisfaction, exposing its razor-sharp teeth and sticking its long, narrow tongue out in preparation for something tasty to eat.

ANOTHER ANGLE

As the Melvin/creature starts to close in them, it hears a noise from behind and spins around in a half crouch to see who’s there.

EXT. BACK LANE OF FREEMAN’S HOME

As we watch Freeman’s black SUV come down the back lane behind his condominium, we hear the exploding sound of a handgun being fired from the park.

ANOTHER ANGLE

The SUV comes to a sudden halt.

INT. FREEMAN’S SUV

Sheila is behind the steering wheel and Freeman is sitting on the passenger’s side with a paper bag from the pharmacy in his lap.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Tossing the bag up onto the dashboard, Freeman swiftly opens the door on his side and jumps out. He pulls the Colt from behind his back and glances into the SUV at his wife.

BEN

Call 911!

EXT. FREEMAN’S SUV

Freeman bolts around the back of the SUV and takes off running down the sidewalk with the .45 in his hand.

MOVING SHOT

As we TRACK Freeman along the sidewalk, we hear the sound of another booming gunshot.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

Coming abreast of the park, Freeman stops to take in the situation.

FREEMAN’S POV

We see the girl and boy holding onto each as Peterson runs to the back of the recreational center with his handgun out in front of him.

ON FREEMAN

He shifts his attention to the area in front of the recreational building and sees--

FREEMAN’S POV

We see the Melvin/creature come flying out from the shadows around the building and then stop on the sidewalk to look back at Freeman.

ON FREEMAN

He lifts his .45 up in a two-handed grip. Taking aim, he fires one shot at the figure.

ON MELVIN/CREATURE

We watch as the creature shifts its body slightly to avoid being hit by the bullet.

ANGLE FAVORING FREEMAN - WIDER SHOT

Betty is like a blast out of a cannon as she unexpectedly comes running out from between the condominiums and dashes past Freeman, charging after the creature.

BEN

(loudly)
Betty!

ANOTHER ANGLE

Freeman takes off in pursuit.

ON PETERSON

He edges cautiously around the recreational center with the handgun in a ready position, moving toward the front of the building.

ON MELVIN/CREATURE

The creature watches the charging dog with a wild gleam in its red eyes, snarling viciously with spittle flying out of its mouth.

CLOSER SHOT - ON MELVIN/CREATURE

We watch as the homeless man’s face morphs into the hideous and terrifying creature for a split second.

ANOTHER ANGLE

As Betty jumps into the air at the Melvin/creature.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

With blinding speed, the creature knocks the dog to the side with its clawed hand.

ON BETTY

The dog hits the ground hard, rolls over, and gets back up to her feet, momentarily stunned by the blow. As she prepares to charge the creature again--

ON FREEMAN

Freeman comes to a quick stop on the sidewalk, goes down on one knee, and aims the pistol at the creature.

BEN

(loudly)
Betty heel!

FREEMAN’S POV

We see Betty look back at us. The Melvin/creature is crouched low, snarling like a rabid animal at the dog.

ON FREEMAN

He fires two more rounds at the creature. We then hear another loud explosive gunshot coming OFF SCREEN from Peterson’s weapon.

ON MELVIN/CREATURE

Moving fast, the creature allows the bullets to fly past it. Then, throwing a fast glance at the recreational center and seeing Peterson coming, it turns around and takes off to the rear exit of the complex.

LONG SHOT

We watch as Freeman runs up to Betty, stops, and takes one more careful shot at the creature.

ON THE MELVIN/CREATURE

This time, his bullet hits the thing in the back shoulder, but the creature doesn’t seem phased by it and continues on to the rear exit between the two cinder-block walls.

TWO SHOT - FREEMAN AND BETTY

Squatting down beside his dog, Freeman hugs her.

BEN

I know you’re brave, but I don’t want you to get hurt.

ANOTHER ANGLE

We watch as Betty starts licking the side of Freeman’s face.

BEN (CONT’D)

We’ll get the bastard next time.

PETERSON (O.S.)

What in the hell was that thing?

ANOTHER ANGLE

We watch as Peterson walks up to Freeman, holstering his weapon. He glances at the rear entrance and then back at Freeman.

PETERSON (CONT’D)

Did you hit it?

ANGLE FAVORING FREEMAN

Rising up to his feet, Freeman nods.

BEN

I wounded the creature in the shoulder, but the bullet didn’t even slow it down.
(a beat, then)
Who are you?

WIDER ANGLE

Peterson steps up to Freeman and holds out his hand.

PETERSON

Detective Frank Peterson with Metro’s Robbery & Homicide Division.
(smiling)
I bet you’re Ben Freeman.

Freeman shakes the policeman’s offered hand.

BEN

Do we know each other?

PETERSON

Not yet.
(a beat, then)
I was just at your house waiting for you to get home when I heard the girl scream.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Releasing hands, both Peterson and Freeman stand there looking at each other with interest.

BEN

You said homicide division?

PETERSON

Yes. There’s been a series of killings going on in Clark County since May. They always happen on a full moon.

BEN

I haven’t read anything about it in the newspaper.

PETERSON

(shrugs)
That’s because we’ve had a tight lid on the case. We don’t want the tourists to be scared away.

BEN

What does this have to do with me?

PETERSON

You were attacked earlier in the evening. The patrol officer at the hospital notified us about it.
(a beat, then)
My partner and I drove over here to talk to you. When we saw you weren’t home, he left. I decided to hang around for a bit.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

Peterson and Freeman glance at the two teenagers walking up the sidewalk toward them.

BEN

(to Peterson)
My wife and I stopped at a pharmacy to get my prescription filled. I heard your gunshot when we turned down our lane.

PETERSON

Do you always carry a Colt .45 with you?

ANOTHER ANGLE
As we hear the sound of approaching sirens in the distance, Freeman sticks the .45 down the back of his jeans.

BEN

I do now.

PETERSON

Do you have a permit for the weapon?

BEN

Don’t start on me, Detective. It’s been a long goddamn day. And yes, I have a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

PETERSON

Good, I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Peterson glances at Betty and pats her on the head.

PETERSON (CONT’D)

(to Betty)
You’re one brave dog.

As Betty starts to lick Peterson’s hand, Freeman gives the homicide detective a friendly smile of his own.

BEN

Betty thinks she’s found a new playmate.

PETERSON

I know.
(a beat, then)
I’m going to need to talk to you.

A DIFFERENT ANGLE

As Freeman nods at the two teenagers, we can hear and see the arrival of patrol cars into the complex. The vehicles are flying down the center street with their red and blue lights flashing and sirens blaring.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Peterson stares as the cars come to a screeching stop.

PETERSON (CONT’D)

I see my partner’s car. I’ll have him take a statement from the kids and then escort them home.

BEN

Okay.

LONG SHOT

As more patrol cars crowd in along the street beside the park, Peterson walks over to Matthews’ car to talk to him. We can see the detective getting out of his vehicle.

ANOTHER ANGLE

Freeman takes Betty and heads back to his home, passing a few of the UNIFORMED POLICE OFFICERS.
CUT TO:

About the excerpt from my screenplay of The Encounter

2012-02-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

Following this is an excerpt from my movie script of The Encounter, based on my novella of the same name. The story deals with ex-U.S. Army tunnel rat, Ben Freeman, and what happens when a creature from his Vietnam days appears again after four decades. The creature goes on a killing rampage in Las Vegas and eventually takes everything away that Freeman loves and holds dear in his life.

Later, Freeman, along with help from his brother-in-law, former-U.S. Army Special Forces Captain Mike Malloy, and Detective Frank Peterson of Las Vegas Metro's Homicide Division, will hunt the creature down with extreme prejudice. Not all the men will survive the final encounter with the creature as a battle of life and death breaks out in Freeman's neighborhood. The ending of the movie is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever written, demonstrating my belief in the power of love and what it can accomplish when evil is about to win. I got goose bumps when I wrote it.

Unfortuneately, the formatting on my blog isn't the correct formatting for a screenplay. Everything on the blog wants to move to the far left margin when saved. For that reason the "Cut To" isn't on the right side of the page, and the dialogue, along with the names of those speaking, isn't centered. Sorry about that.

My idea for the The Encounter came about when I was walking the real Betty (Betty is one of the most loving dogs I've ever known, but she's also fearless and would gladly sacrifice her life in order to save me or her owner) on Halloween night in 2007. We were going around the block, like in the movie, and someone I didn't know or recognize was following us. He was dressed like an Eighteenth Century British dandy with a top hat and overcoat. Not wanting to take a chance on getting mugged on a dark, quiet street, I turned Betty around and we approached the man at a quick pace. I was gearing myself up for a fight, but he took off before we could get to him. I told my roommate (Betty's owner) about the incident, and she shook her head at the whole thing.

A few years later we accidentally found out who the British dandy was that particular night. He lived in the condominum behind us with some other people. He was an actor in the community's litte theater. The man enjoyed dressing up on Halloween in outfits from the theater's wardrobe. The night I saw him, he recognized Betty but not me and was courious about who I was. He decided to take off when he saw me approaching him with a rather serious expression on my face.

Anyway, a couple of days after the Halloween incident, I started writing the whole thing down as a fictional horror story. My novella of The Encounter has gone through countless drafts over the last four years. I even intend on rewriting it one last time within the next few months to make it longer and more action oriented like the screenplay.

The excerpt is taken from the final draft of The Encounter (that was sixteen drafts from beginning to end) and is somewhat different from the previous excerpt that was on my blog. Actually, this is much, much better, and I'm proud of it.

The creature in the story has changed several times since the novella was originally written, as well as the screenplay. At first I used the description of the man I saw in the top hat and Eighteenth Century overcoat, but with a wild face that was similar to Afred E. Newman in Mad Magazine. Put some sharp teeth into Afred E. Newman's mouth and give his eyes a menacing red glow, and you have one hideous creature. Now, at least for the script, the creature has changed drastically.

In the screenplay, I have the creature morphing into a homeless man's body (Melvin) that it has killed earlier on. It uses the body to get around without drawing a lot of attention. Occasionally, when in the heat of battle, it morphs back into it's real self, and then back again to Melvin the homeless man. It does makes sense when the entire script is read.

Anyway, I wrote the screenplay with Ed Harris in mind for the role of ex-tunnel rat,Ben Freeman. That made the writing easier if I could picture a certain actor in the role. I also did that with the other major parts. I saw Harris' real-life wife, Amy Madigan, as Sheila Freeman. Morgan Freeman was always Detective Frank Peterson of the Las Vegas Robbery/Homicide Division since the story was conceived. The real-life Mike Malloy (yes, former-U.S. Army Special Forces Captain Mike Malloy is based on an actualperson) saw Tom Berenger playing him in the movie. I saw Bruce Willis. I also saw Ed Harris' dad, Bob Harris, playing the small, but pivitol role of Ed Kulczynski, who's based on a close friend of mine. I know that the real-life Ed Kulczynski would do exactly what the character does in the movie without a second thought. Ed is a brave man, though he doesn't see it himself. A man will do whatever it takes to save a close friend from harm.

Though The Encounter is basically a horror/action film, there are strong elements about the love Ben Freeman has for his wife of forty years. This is one reason why I saw Ed Harris and his wife, Amy, in the roles. They have been married for at least thirty years and still love each other as if they'd just met. I wanted to explore the power of that love and how it can sometimes transcend death to protect those we've left behind.

Last, but not least, in many ways Betty is the actual star of the movie. She's an American long nose pit bull who has always reminded me of Old Yellar from the Walt Disney movie. She's one of the smartest dogs I've ever known, and her love for those around her is endless. For a brief while, I was sending out photographs of Betty wearing a scarf and sunglasses with her paw print on it as an autographed picture. She was already playing the role of a movie star. Dean Koontz loved it!

Enjoy the excerpt.

A review of the DVD for Fright Night 2011

2012-01-28T22:04:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a short review because of a lack of time this weekend.

First of all, why remake a classic horror film if you’re not going to surpass it? Why waste the money when it could be used for another movie? I've never understood Hollywood’s way of thinking with regards to this. Of course, nobody ever sets out to make a bad movie, but it still happens on a regular basis, especially with remakes. Maybe the new version of Fright Night got made because Steven Spielberg was willing to put up the money through his Dreamworks Production Company.

Okay, in 1985 the original version of Fright Night was written and directed by Tom Holland. Even a novelization of it came out that was by the great Craig Spector and John Skipp (authors of Light at the End). The movie starred William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster, Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandrige (the vampire), Roddy McDowell as Peter Vincent, Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson, and Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed. The film cost 9 million to make and grossed over 24 million. By Hollywood’s 3-to-1 ratio, it didn’t quite break even, but it got great reviews and became an instant classic in the horror genre. In ’89, Fright Night 2 was made, based on the success of the first film, though it wasn't quite as good.

Now, in the Fall of 2011, the remake of Fright Night hit the theaters. This time the film was budgeted at 30 million dollars. It grossed only 18 million. I don’t think there will be a remake of Fright Night 2.

In the new version, Anton Yelchin (he played the young Bobby Garfield in Stephen King’s Hearts of Atlantis) takes on the role of Charley Brewster and Colin Farrell as Jerry Dandrige and David Tennant as Peter Vincent.

I have to tell you that Anton Yelchin as a teenager just doesn’t look or feel like a Charley Brewster to me. William Ragsdale did, but not Anton. It just didn’t feel right to me throughout the entire movie. Though Colin Farrell does a good job on Jerry Dandrige and tries to have fun with it, the whole thing just doesn't ring true to me. Chris Sarandon as the vampire was utterly handsome, suave,debonair, harming, and excellent dresser, and totally ruthless when provoked. Colin Farrell simply plays a handsome redneck vampire with little of the charm and debonair. It’s not his fault, but rather the writer’s and how the vampire is described within the screenplay. David Tennant as Peter Vincent, who’s supposed to be a big Las Vegas magician/entertainer, reminded me quite a bit of Johnny Depp playing Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. I never took his character seriously and felt it was a let down to the performance Roddy McDowell gave in ’85. Forget about Christopher Mintz-Plasse. He can’t even come close to Stephen Geoffrey as Evil Ed.

The highlights of the film for me were Toni Colette as Jane Brewster and Chris Sarandon in a cameo as a driver who crashes into the back of Jane’s car. Toni brought a freshness to the role she portrayed, especially when she flirts with Jerry Dandrige and then later sticks a Century 21 sign through his back. That was funny. Chris Sarandon was a surprise to see when he appeared in the film. I found myself wanting him to show Colin Farrell how to play a damn vampire, but it didn’t happen.

The story supposedly takes place in Las Vegas this time around, but it was actually filmed in New Mexico. I live in Las Vegas, and I’ve never seen a suburb of new homes twenty miles outside of town in the middle of nowhere with nothing around them, except a two-lane highway. The housing in the suburb also didn’t look like the houses in Vegas. They looked more like the homes in the mid-west or back east. Last, a foot or so beneath the top soil of Las Vegas is hard rock…very hard rock. It cost a fortune to blast it out to make a basement below a home, yet Jerry Dandrige’s house had an area about fifteen feet beneath the main floor that was vast in scope and filled with a ton of dirt. How did Jerry manage to do that with the neighbors living only fifteen feet away from him. Let's also not forget the multitude of vampires that crawl out hidden cavities within the dirt walls below the main floor of the house. Except for some aerial shots of Vegas that were mixed into the film, that’s about as close as the production company got to sin city for the making of Fright Night. I thought I was going to see a bit of the city. Wrong!

In the original version of the movie, facial makeup and prosthetics were used to depict the vampires in their natural state. CGI, however, was used in the remake and it clearly shows. Even in the way the blood was displayed looked like pure CGI.

Now, after all of this, I’ll say that Fright Night 2011 wasn’t a totally bad film. I would give the original version an A+ and the remake a B-. Buy the original for your horror collection, but rent the remake. If you love the remake, then by all means buy it.

Once last thing I enjoy about the movie was the song 99 Problems that was sung while the end credits rolled along. The tune with its banjo playing in the background reminded me of the music from the television series, Justified.

There isn’t much in the way of behind-the-scenes stuff on the single disc. Maybe the Blu-Ray edition has more. There are some bloopers that aren’t funny and mostly show actors flubbing their lines. There’s also the extended version of a short film called Squid Man, which Evil Ed and Charley and another guy made when they were supposedly kids, yet they appear as teenagers in the short, short. Finally, there’s a music video which I stopped watching after the first ten seconds. Needless to say, it wasn’t 99 Problems.

Whereas I still remember large parts of Fright Night 1985, I've already forgotten most of the 2011 version.

A review of the DVD set of Justified: Season 2

2012-01-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is a BIG SPOILER ALERT! Just so you know in advance, I’m going to be giving some surprises away to entice more interest in people who haven’t seen Season 2 of Justified to want to go out and buy THE DVD set. You may not want to read further.

First, let me just say it’s been a long year waiting for Justified: Season 2 to come out on DVD. Because of how late the show comes on at night, I was forced to miss it when the second season aired on television in 2011. I had to be satisfied with tidbits of information on the Internet about the cast and individual episodes dealing with Raylan Givens and his relationships with the Bennett clan and with Boyd Crowder. I especially read such wonderful things about Margo Martindale who won an Emmy Award for her performance as Mags Bennett, the head of the clan. Well, Season Two is now out on DVD, and I was finally able to watch it over a three-day period in a mad raced to find out the whole scoop on my favorite U.S. Marshal, Raylan Givens.

Allow me to also mention something else. I now have to miss seeing Season 3 of Justified because it comes on at 10PM on FX and even later on the weekend. I do wish FX would put the reruns on at an earlier time for the weekend Like HBO does with Dexter. Nine o’clock would certainly be great. Hell, even ten o’clock on a Friday or Saturday night would be fine. As it is, I have to wait another full year for Season Three to come out on DVD before I can eventually watch it. I might be dead before that actually happens, but then it won’t matter will it?

Okay, was Season 2 worth the long twelve-month wait and was all the praised given to it actually true?

Damn right it was!

The first episode of Season 2 begins right where Season 1 left off with Boyd Crowder (played by the great Walton Goggins—yeah, this actor is great in my book and is definitely headed for big things in movie and TV business) going after the daughter of the man who runs the Southern Florida drug cartel…the woman who murdered Boyd’s daddy. He finds her during a rain storm before she can kill an innocent man. As he’s getting ready to get his revenge, guess who shows up? Yep. Raylan Givens unexpectedly appears behind Boyd, ready to kill any and everyone who moves, if he has to. He somehow manages to talk Boyd down so he can use the daughter for his own purposes, which is to return her back to Florida and to tell her father that all the bloodshed stops now. That’s when Raylan’s former boss from the U.S. Marshal’s Service in Miami appears on the scene and tells the head honcho that if anything happens to Raylan in Kentucky, he will personally come back and kill him. Matt Craven plays Raylan’s previous boss with relish and authenticity. You believe him when he makes a threat. I only wish Matt Craven had a more active role in the series, but then again his character is stationed in Miami and Raylan is in Kentucky.

Of course, the Bennett clan is introduced in this episode, You get to meet Dickie Bennett (played by Jeremy Davies from Saving Private Ryan) and Coover Bennett (played by Brad Henke) and the magnificent Margo Martindale who plays the matriarch of the Bennett clan, Mags. Mags seems like a sweet and lovable woman when you first meet her, but she can turn into a riled up rattlesnake faster than a blink of an eye. She has no compunction about killing people who upset her or get in her way. The Bennett clan also has a long history of bad blood between them and the Givens clan that goes back a hundred years. They literally hate each other, though some hate it better than others. As we later find out, Dickie attempted to take Raylan out when they were kids playing baseball. Raylan, however, got the last swing in with a bat and Dickie never walked right again. Dickie still holds a grudge against Raylan for that incident even though it was him who started it. Anyway, now that the power of the Crowder family has been broken, the Bennett clan decides to step in and take over the drug business. They’re going to be Raylan’s main adversaries for the entire season.

This is what you can look forward to and this is where the SPOILER ALERT comes into play.

The Bennetts kill old-man McCready because he called the police about a sexual pervert who’s after his young daughter, Loretta. What McCready doesn’t know is that the pervert is already working for the Bennett family. After Raylan captures the pervert, the Bennetts are upset with McCready and pay him a number of visits to demonstrate their displeasure by torturing and then poisoning him. They explain that he should have come to them first before going outside the community for help. Once McCready is dead, Mags Bennett takes Loretta into the family to care for her like she was her own daughter. Loretta doesn’t know about her daddy being dead, but that realization will come in time.

Boyd Crowder is trying to live a decent, honest life by working at the coal mines and staying alone when in the local bar drinking. He doesn’t want any company. Boyd is also renting a room from Ava Crowder, Raylan’s old girlfriend and the former wife of Boyd’s dead brother. As we know from Season 1, Ava killed Boyd’s brother in self-defense with a shotgun.
Raylan and his former wife, Winona, are basically living together in his motel room. Her husband, Gary (played by William Ragsdale of Fright Night fame) doesn’t like it and soon puts a contract out on Raylan, wanting him permanently out of the way so he can get back with his wife. Winona, however, doesn’t want Gary back. She wants Raylan. Winona also wants Raylan to have a safer job so she doesn’t have to worry about him being killed from day to day.

As the season progresses, some bad guys lull Boyd back into a life of crime. He has the last laugh on them when they attempt to kill him after the robbery has gone down.

Winona then steals $200,000 dollars from the U.S. Marshal’s vault in a moment of weakness and pretty much begs Raylan to help her put it back, which he does at great risk to himself and his career. His boss, Art Mullen, suspects something is up and tells Raylan that he’s had his fill of him. He states that Raylan is damn fine lawman, but a terrible Marshal. He’s tired of cleaning his mess and eventually wants to get rid of him. That doesn’t make Raylan too happy.

While all of the above is going on, the company that owns the coal mine wants to buy the entire mountain from the folks in Harlan County. Boyd, despite his past, is hired to protect the lady who has the make the deal happen. Let’s face it, Boyd is as smart and crafty as Raylan, and he soon decides to get himself involved in some of the big money that’s coming down the pike. He also wants to have a more intimate relationship with Ava, who responds to his overtures.

One thing then leads to another and none of it is what you think. Before long, Boyd makes the rough decision to take over the Bennett’s criminal business with the help of Raylan’s father. This causes repercussions and Raylan’s aunt Helen is soon murdered. It’s now an all out war. Raylan and Boyd are taking no prisoners as they go after the Bennett clan. This is about the time Loretta discovers what happened to her daddy and pays Mags Bennett a visit with a .38 pistol in her backpack.

Now, everything I’ve discussed is a rough outline of Season 2 and is really just the tip of the iceberg with regards to everything that goes on.

All the performers are excellent from the lead, Timothy Olyphant, who is Raylan Givens in every way possible, to his counterpart of Walton Goggins. There can’t be a Raylan Givens without a Body Crowder to work off one another. They are really two sides of the same coin.

Nick Searcy brings off the character of Art Mullen with sheer panache, admiring Raylan on one level, but disliking him on another. In many ways, it’s the character of Art as the head of the U.S. Marshal’s Service in Lexington who bring what humor there is into the show. The characters of Tim Gutterson (played by Jacob Pitts) and Rachel Brooks (played by Erica Tazel) are given more to do in Season 2 as the other two U.S. Marshals in the Kentucky office. Because they have to kill a couple of bad guys in the show, Art now feels that Raylan is having an adverse affect upon them. In other words, they’re picking up Raylan’s bad habits of shooting people. That’s another reason Art wants him out of the field office.

Joelle Carter as Ava Crowder and Natalie Zea as Winona Hawkins show how tough and resilient Kentucky women are. Ava takes a bullet for Boyd and Winona gets pregnant by Raylan. I don’t know which of the two is worse….being pregnant or shot.

The new folks in Season 2 certainly raise the ante with their brilliant performances. Margo Martindale definitely shines as Mags Bennett. She can also bellow out a tune with the best of them. Jeremy Davies plays the crippled Dickie Bennett, the middle child with the least respect in the family. Jeremy has Dickie’s character down pat and makes him come alive in all of his meanness and sadness at not being loved by his mother. Joseph Lyle Taylor as Doyle Bennett probably has the most unappreciative role in the show, yet also one of the most important. There’s both good and bad in him. The fact is he loves his family and tries to do what’s best for them, playing both sides of the law to achieve his goals. Brad William Henke as Coover (for the first several episodes, I thought he was being called Guber) is the only one brave enough to go up against Raylan hand-to-hand. It doesn’t hurt that he’s about 6’4” and weighs 300 pounds. And, we know how Raylan is, don’t we? He doesn’t care. You can see that Coover’s just itching to have a go at the U.S. Marshal and does before the season is over with.

Last, but not least, is Kaitlyn Dover as fourteen-year-old Loretta McCready. This young lady does a fantastic job of displaying the conflicting emotions that fill her at no longer having a mother, the lost of her daddy, and the compelling desire to get revenge. In the mountains of Kentucky, blood is everything and revenge is one of the rules the people live by. Kaitlyn makes Loretta live and breathe in ways that make you care for her and understand her need to kill those who hurt her family.

Justified is one of the best police dramas on television today. It’s been described as a western that takes place in modern times and Raylan Givens as a lawman who dispenses his own brand of hard justice.

Though most of the show was filmed in either Pennsylvania or California, the locations are great stand-ins for Kentucky. The performances by all the actors are top notch, the direction is right on, and the writing makes author Elmore Leonard smile. You see the series is based on the character created by author Elmore Leonard. Raylan Givens is a U.S. Marshal who first appeared in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap, plus the short story, Fire in the Hole. Justified is one of the few adaptations from his work that gets it right for a change, and Elmore Leonard is tickled pink by it. In fact, his newest novel, Raylan, has Timothy Olyphant on the cover with his white hat and Sig Sauer 9mm pistol.

The Behind-the-Scenes extras are okay. You get a couple of commentaries, a look at the new characters and the actors portraying them, and a sit down with Graham Yost, who created the series. I wish there had been more stuff about the show. Maybe it was saved for the Blu-Ray edition.

Justified is in the Top Three shows playing on television now. The series will one day be a classic. If you like police dramas with stellar acting, lots of action, and a wry sense of humor, this is for you. Highly recommended!

A review of the DVD set of ABC's unique series, Flashforward.

2012-01-21T17:01:00.000-08:00

From September of 2009 to May of 2010, the television drama/science fiction show, Flash Forward (separating the words in the title is my idea), was broadcast on ABC…twenty-two episodes in all, Now, I’m 61 and I’ve watched a lot of television over the years. Some of it has been good and a lot has been atrocious. Within the last several years and with the stiff competition of TV networks like FX, Sci-Fy, AMC, Showtime, HBO, and a number of others, the quality of many shows has gotten exceedingly better. In fact, many of the TV series are as good, if not better, than what you find on the big screen in movie theaters, and you don’t have to deal with rude people with crying babies, ringing cell phones, someone kicking the back of your seat, and constant talking. Some of my favorite shows over the last few years have been Deadwood, Damages, The Walking Dead: Season One, Justified, and Flash Forward. Two that I still want to see, but haven’t are American Horror and The Game of Thrones. These are coming out on DVD in the next few months. I think it’s fair to say that nowadays many of the new television series are downright excellent in content and acting and certainly worth staying home for.

Anyway, of all the shows I can remember seeing over the last fifty years, I consider Flash Forward to be the absolute best, and I don’t say this lightly. Plus, the series only ran for one season. Now, I applaud ABC for putting up the money for it. It took a lot of guts to finance this show. Unfortunately, thought the pilot episode started off with a big bang, it lost a lot of viewers due to a three-month hiatus from early December of ’09 thru March of 2010. That was a huge mistake to my way of thinking. Flash Forward is definitely a thinking man’s show. You simply can’t afford to miss even one episode because something important is always presented to the viewers. You also can’t afford to leave a three-month gap between the first half of the series and the last half. A lot of television viewers move on to other things during a long period of time like that. I feel this was where ABC lost half the viewers for the series. I also think this show should have continued on for at least a second season, but ABC made the decision to cancel it.

Thankfully, all twenty-two episodes are now available in one DVD package. The show can now be watched without the commercials and with back-to-back episodes. I watched all of them during the course of a week. I can tell you that it was extremely difficult not to watch more than two shows on a work night. You simply wanted to continue on to find the answers. Though I saw the series when it on television in 2009 and 2010 (they were recorded by my former roommate), I still got caught up in it again, finding that I’d forgotten a lot about what happened. This time, however, was infinitely more fun without the commercials to break the mood and interest that was created. I know commercials pay for the shows on television, but every time an episode breaks for a commercial to talk about Geiko insurance, cars, or tampons, you lose the mood of the show and only have a few minutes to get it back before the next segment cuts into still another commercial. I recently had this very problem with the Stephen King’s Bag of Bones mini-series, and I found myself hating commercials by the second night. I’m now waiting for that DVD to come out so I can watch it again, but this time uninterrupted.

The premise of the show is simple. On October 9th of 2009, the entire population of earth suddenly blacked out for over two minutes. Most of the people who were unconscious flashed forward to events that would transpire on April 29th of 2010. Some of the events were good, while others weren’t. A number of people didn’t see anything at all because they were already dead. Needless to say, it changed the lives of millions of individuals.

This is where the frustrating dilemma of fate versus free will comes into play. Can the future be changed if you know what’s going to happen, or is it set in stone? Do the things you do to try and change the upcoming events cause them to actually happen? The viewers find out as they follow the lives of a dozen or more people, some of whom are F.B.I. agents seeking an answer as to whom was responsible for the blackout (twenty million people across the world died during it), why the blackout was instigated in the first place, and if there will be another one sometime in the future? These are heavy questions, and I think the series does a fine job of attempting to answer them. As Gil Bellows says in the role of Timothy, a window washer who nearly died during the flash forward, but was saved by an outright miracle, “It’s a combination of fate and free will.” That’s the only way he can explain it. Of course, you have quantum physicists on the show who talk about parallel universes and the possibility that we’re really living several different lives at the same time, but in different universes or different realities.

Like I said, this is definitely a thinking man’s show.

Before I go any further, let me add that this is also a thinking woman’s show, too. The entire cast is truly excellent in their performances, but to balance out the strong male characters are an equally impressive list of females who hold their own and in some cases even surpass the men. I can think of several right off the top of my head, but there are at least a dozen more in the series who stand tall.

Sonya Walger plays Dr. Olivia Benford, the wife of F.B.I. agent Mark Benford, who leads the task force in finding answers to the above questions. In Olivia’s flash forward, she saw herself living with another man and everything she tries to do to prevent that from happening only draws her closer to this inevitability. To save her marriage, she even attempts to get her husband to quit the F.B.I. and to move away with her and their child.

Christine Woods plays F.B.I. agent Janis Hawk, who saw herself pregnant and near the time of the approaching birth. The only problem here is she’s gay and doesn’t want a child. Janis also has deep secrets she doesn’t want anyone else to know about and is tough as nails when confronting the bad guys, especially during a shootout when three assailants try to kill her.

Gabrielle Union plays Zoey Andata, who is living with F.B.I. agent Demetri Noh. Demetri had no flash forward and is told later that he will die on a particular date. Gabrielle, whose character is a defense attorney, does everything in her power to get Demetri to change his path so they can get married and have a future together. Demetri, however, is like his older partner, Mark Benford. He’s stubborn and determined to see everything unfold to its very end, hoping to find a solution to his dilemma before April 29th.

Yuko Takeuchi plays Keiko, a Japanese engineer who really wants to be a rock singer and to meet the man of her dreams…the man she saw in her flash forward. She goes against her parent’s wishes (which is a no-no in Japan) and flies to the United States, hoping to make her flash forward come true.

Ah, and there’s the seductive Annabeth Gish who plays Lita, a killer for the organization that caused the blackout and who will use her powers as a smart, beautiful woman to lure both men and females into her dark web of intrigue.

See what I mean about strong female characters? And these ladies are just the tip of the iceberg.

The show was created by Brannon Braga and David S. Goyer (he wrote and produced the three Blade movies with Wesley Snipes, and directed the third one). Goyer directed the pilot episode of Flash Forward, and did an amazing job with it considering this is television. He put everything he had into the pilot, knowing it would catch millions of viewers and leave them in awe.

It did me.

The male cast includes a list of fabulous and intense actors to fill the roles of the characters in the show. There’s Joseph Fiennes as F.B.I. agent Mark Benford, Courtney B. Vance as Stanford Wedneck, who is Mark’s boss. Then there’s John Cho as Demetri, Mark’s partner, and Zachary Knighton as Dr. Bryce Vance (he works with Dr. Olivia Benford as a surgeon) , who was getting ready to commit suicide when the blackout occurred and his flash forward saw him still being alive and meeting Keiko six months later. Jack Davenport plays Lloyd Simcoe, one of the scientists who inadvertently created the means to bring about the blackout and who is the man Dr. Olivia Benford sees herself with while her husband is being assassinated. Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings and Lost) plays Simon Campos and is a physicist with a high three-digit IQ, who’s utterly arrogant with those around him, not to mention he’s Lloyd Simcoe’s partner in scientific research and is a man who will do whatever it takes to keep those he loves alive. You hate Simon one moment and then like him the next. Last, but not least, is Brian F. O’Byrne who plays Aaron Stark, who is Mark Benford’s sponsor at AA. More importantly, Aaron is ex-Marine Recon. In his flash forward, he saw himself in Afghanistan with his dead daughter actually alive and badly wounded. Nothing will stop him from making that come true, not even the security consulting firm that put a bull’s eye on his daughter’s back and is now after him.

I want to say that both Courtney Vance and Dominic Monaghan somehow manage to steal the scenes whenever they’re in them. These are two top actors who bring their characters alive in ways that make you hate and then like them, and then cheer for them, which is a hard task for any actor to accomplish. They both play their parts to the absolute hilt.

You should also know that each episode of Flash Forward ends with a strong hook, propelling the viewer forward into watching the next one so they can find out what happens. It did that to me in spades even though I still remembered the basic storyline of the show. The hooks are usually whoppers and make you jump up and yell, “Wait, don’t stop yet! I need to know what happens next!” With the DVD set, you can immediately go to the next episode and continue on with the show. No commercials to wade through or seven-day waiting period for the next episode to air.

At the end of one episode, you discover that not everybody blacked out and had a flash forward…that there was a mysterious man awake at a baseball stadium, watching everyone else pass out around him. This is Suspect Zero, who the F.B.I. now want to find. Another episode has a man jumping to his death to prevent his flash forward from coming true where an innocent woman is killed. An episode that blew me away had an F.B.I. mole getting caught and then grabbing a Sig Sauer 9mm handgun from a fellow agent and shooting six of her team members in a couple of seconds before trying to make her way out of the building, killing anyone who gets in her way. That looked totally real. Still another episode ended with Dr. Olivia Benford meeting the man who would eventually take her husband’s place in her home and bed.

Like I previously said, these are just the tip of the iceberg.

Every episode is great with its performers, direction, location sets, filming, and special effects. This is certainly a show you’ll want to watch more than once. The sad part is the first season ended with several kickers that you’ll never know the answers to. You’ll left hanging in the wind with no recourse.

I thank ABC for that.

Oh, before I forget, the show is based on the novel by Robert J. Sawyer, though little from the book was used in the series except for the flash forward premise.

The DVD set also has over a hundred minutes of behind-the-scenes information, which isn’t enough in my opinion. I was hungry for more tidbits about the show, its creation, and its performers.

So, if you enjoy excellent dramas with a science fiction premise, then this is a show you’ll want to see and you won’t have to deal with bloody commercials. Highly recommended!!!

A review of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law

2012-01-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

I suppose the talent and skills of Sherlock Holmes is called for here because on one level I loved the new movie, Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows, and on another I felt somewhat disappointed.

Confusing, isn’t it?

Let me begin by discussing the things I have mixed feelings about, and there will probably be a number of spoilers here, so don’t read any further if you don’t want to know.

First, I’m a big fan of Rachel McAdams (have been since The Notebook first came out at the theaters)who plays Irene Adler, the only woman Sherlock Holmes has ever loved and probably the only female he considers to be his equal. I knew she had a short role in this film. What I didn’t expect was for her to be killed off by Professor Moriarty in the first fifteen minutes. Of course, when the screenplay for the third film is written, she can always be brought back to life. Hollywood is good like that. Still, it troubled me that she was killed off so simply, without a struggle of any kind. Irene Adler is a fighter and should have gone out with a flourish, instead of dying from poison in her tea. That was a little weak. If she was going to be killed off, she should have gone out with panache and big bang. To be truthful, I really wanted to see more of Rachel McAdams in future movies about Sherlock Holmes. Their playful interaction with each other was part of what made the first film so successful. Their characters also make an excellent match with each other.

Second, it’s been nearly forty years since I read the short story, The Final Problem, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and I’d forgotten about Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of Sherlock Holmes. He had a small role in the story, but a somewhat larger one in the movie and is perfect for showing up at the right time when needed, like when Watson’s wife is thrown off the train by Holmes in an effort to save her from Moriarty's wrath. The character in the film threw me off somewhat even though Stephen Fry did a great job in playing the role of Mycroft.

Third, Professor Moriarty (played by Jared Harris—I loved him as Captain Mike in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) seemed out of place in the second film. Jared Harris played Moriarty with utter excellence. I mean he was Professor Moriarty down to the last dot and tee. I think the studio should have waited and used Moriarty for maybe the third or fourth film, building the tension between him and Holmes, creating an aura of suspense and avid expectation for the audience. This seemed a little too face in my opinion. I know, Moriarty was only in one Holmes' story, but still he's a great villain and his role should have been stretched out for a few more films. Also, I don’t remember Moriarty being a professor at one of England’s universities while doing his evil deeds throughout Europe. Even though he’s a genius, it still takes time to prepare lesson plans for your classes, make up tests, grade homework papers, etc. When did Moriarty find the time to create a life as a mastermind of crime? Last, and more importantly for me, I don’t know why but I expected Holmes and Moriarty to have a fight to the death with swords at Reichenbach Falls at the end of the movie. There was no swordfight in the story, but for some strange reason I was expecting something like the dueling scene between Tyrone Power and Basil Rathbone in The Mark of Zorro. Where my mind was, I don't know. It certainly would’ve been a more powerful ending for the film. They could've had the most famous fencing sequence in movie history, but didn't take it.

Anyway, all the above complaints are minor and really have more to do with me than the movie itself.

Now, on to the good things and there are many.

Both Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law do what I think is their absolute best acting in the Sherlock Holmes movies, which is saying a lot considering how many excellent roles they have played in the past. They definitely shine in these roles. Whatever the actors are being paid, it’s not enough. I have to say it's been a sincere pleasure watching Robert Downey’s career blossom from his role in Less Than Zero to Chaplin and then Iron Man and now Sherlock Holmes, not to mention his ups and downs with life in general. He is now one of the best American actors performing today, and I see an Oscar looming on the horizon for him. I’ve also been watching Jude Law since his performance in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. This is a British actor who simply keeps getting better and better with each movie he's in. Jude is the Richard Harris of the present generation. I see an Oscar for him, too, at some point in the future. Needless to say, both actors bring the characters of Holmes and Watson alive in ways that far out shine the original stories. I like these guys and want to spend time with them in each new Sherlock Holmes movie. They’re fun and they make me laugh with their constant bantering, yet they also have a strong love for each other as brothers in arms.

Guy Ritchie, the director, has certainly brought new life to the cinema characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. He knows exactly what's important to make the storylines work and how to convey information to the audience without boring them to death. Mr. Ritchie has succeeded where other talented directors might have failed in their attempt to resurrect these two famous fictional and film characters from the past. I hope Mr. Ritchie will continue on as the director for the third and fourth films. I see at least two more coming in the future.

I have to also give credit to the cinematographer, the editor of the movie, the production designer, the people who handled the art and set direction, and the many hands involved with the visual and special effects. They did a magnificent job of creating England and Europe in the late Eighteen Hundreds. Everything looked perfect and had me believing that I was actually living in the past for those two wonderful hours and involved with the stopping of a major world war. This film deserves to win several Academy Awards for this very fact alone.

What about the storyline of the movie for those who haven’t seen it or read the story?

Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows is loosely based on what was supposed to be the final story in the Sherlock Holmes collection, The Final Problem. Doyle wanted to write more serious fiction and so killed off Holmes in this story. Unfortunately, as most writers learn, when you create a successful character in a long-running series, the fans do have something to say if you try to end it. Doyle was forced to bring Holmes back to life in The Hounds of the Baskervilles.

As I said, the movie follows the story somewhat loosely. Sherlock Holmes is after Professor Moriarty, suspecting that the criminal mastermind is up to something on a rather grand scale. Moriarty certainly is. He wants to start a world war so he can provide the armaments for it and thereby become RICH. To stop Holmes in his investigation, Moriarty threatens to kill Watson and his new wife, going after them with a vengeance. This only inspires both Watson and Holmes to pursue the evil genius with more rigor and determination.

There are a number of exciting fight sequences in the movie, especially the one which involves the gipsy, Madam Simza Heron (played by Noomi Rapace) and Moriarty’s attempt to kill her. That was an extremely intense and mind-numbing scene that I want to watch over when the DVD finally comes out. Some of the action sequences happened so fast that I found myself missing part of them as I attempted to adjust to what was happening.

Professor Moriarty also has an evil henchman, Colonel Moran (played by Paul Anderson), who carries out most of the assassinations in the movie. This is an ex-Army sniper who can take out a life without even blinking an eye. He’s determined to stop Holmes and Watson from diverting his boss’s plan by killing them. Good luck is all I have to say. Paul Anderson does a marvelous job of portraying someone equally as evil as Moriarty.

The film is very fast paced and filled with excitement and humor all the way through. Once Holmes tosses Watson’s wife off the speeding train, the good doctor never lets him forget it throughout the movie. There’s also a sequence involving Holmes and his fear of horses, which brings about several belly laughs from the audience. This is a mark on just how talented an actor Robert Downey Jr. is. He can carry off a humorous scene while staying in total character and never once winking at the camera.

I’m now awaiting the arrival of the DVD for Sherlock Holmes: Games of Shadows. That and the first movie will have to hold me until the third one comes out, which I hope will be in the next two years. This is definitely a film worth seeing on the big screen first with repeated viewings on the smaller one.

As Holmes would say, “The game is afoot, Dear Watson.”

Justified: Season Three

2012-01-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

Season Three of Justified starts on Tuesday night, January 17th, at 10:00PM Pacific Time on FX.

This third season might be the best ever because Raylan Givens has to go up against a bad guy who's every bit as good and fast at killing as he is.

Season Two of Justified just came out on DVD. I have my set ordered.

Elmore Leonard's new novel, Raylan, is due out on the 17th, just in time for Season Three.

I've got to tell you that Timothy Olyphant is the epitome of cool. He's this generation's Steve McQueen. I just saw a picture of him sitting in a chair with his legs stretched out, his cowboy hat on, along with his jacket. He's pointing his semi-automatic at someone off camera. He looks calm and ready to kill!

May you have a happy, wonderful holiday this season!

2011-12-23T10:13:00.000-08:00

To all of you who read my weekly blog, I wish you a most happy holiday and that all of your dreams start coming true.

Life is nothing without dreams. They're what keep us going in the midst of the challenges we face each and every day. Never give up because to give up is to die. And, always remember that the impossible does happen and you have to be ready when the window of opportunity presents itself. When it does, charge it and scream out in joy like there's no tomorrow.

Merry Christmas and may 2012 be the best year ever for all of us!

Wayne C. Rogers

A review of Robert B. Parker's last Spenser novel, Sixkill.

2011-12-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

Sixkill, the last Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker, was published back in May of 2011. I’ve wanted to read it for months, but I’ve held off because it’s Mr. Parker’s last novel. Though I still have some of his stand-alone books to read, this is the very last Spenser novel written by the author who entertained me and millions of others for nearly forty years. Wow, that’s a long time.

That I miss Robert B. Parker is an understatement. I feel a strong loss for him that is just now beginning to catch up with me. I remember feeling the same way about Ross Thomas and Adam Hall when they passed away. When you read a particular writer for decades, they inadvertently become a part of your life. Robert Parker certainly did with his Spenser series, then the Jesse Stone novels, and finally the Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch western series. Mr. Parker was such a consummate writer that I can’t honestly think of anyone capable of replacing him. He made his craft look so easy, yet it took a great deal of talent to create the characters, the dialogue, the storyline, and the large accumulation of published novels.

There’s a definite hole in the universe with Mr. Parker gone, and it can’t be filled no matter how hard other authors try. That doesn’t take away the talent of these writers. It simply means that Mr. Parker was an original and there will never be another writer like him. Still, I look forward to the continuation of the Spenser series by Ace Atkins. His first Spenser novel will be out in May of 2012, and it will be titled, Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby (Spenser). It’s actually good that both Spenser and Jesse Stone are being continued by other authors appointed by the Parker estate. This keeps the characters alive, which I believe would have brought a smile to Robert Parker’s face.

Well, what about Sixkill?

I planned on making this book last me for a week, but ended up reading it in two short days. I’m always bad like that with Parker’s novel. Once you start one, you can’t stop. It’s like cold water for a thirsty man. It’s like spending time with your closest friend.

In Sixkill a young lady (Dawn Lopata) is found dead in an obnoxious movie star’s hotel suite. It’s believed that the loudmouth actor (Jumbo Nelson) raped and strangled her. Captain Quirk of the Boston PD, however, feels something isn’t right and doesn’t want to arrest Jumbo if the actor didn’t do it. Quirk talks Spenser into the taking the case, which is going to be handled by Rita Fiore and the law firm she works for.

Spenser later meets with Jumbo Nelson and dislikes him the moment the guy opens his big mouth to speak. The question, however, is whether or not he killed the girl. Jumbo doesn’t care much for Spenser, either. He thinks the private investigator is a smartass. When Jumbo tells his personal bodyguard (Zebulon Sixkill—a tall, well built Native American, who reminded me of the actor, Sonny Latham) to kick Spenser off the movie set, our favorite detective puts the Indian down with a few fast moves and then takes up for him when the Jumbo fires Sixkill for not doing his job.

With Jumbo Nelson being such a low life, it isn’t long before Rita Fiore grows tired of his loud mouth and quits as his attorney. Spenser, however, continues with the case. He’s like a dog with a bone once he gets going. He’s determined to find out if Jumbo Nelson actually killed the girl, or if it was simply an accident. The more Spenser discovers, the more confused he is by the whole mess.

While our gumshoe detective plows along, Sixkill approaches him, wanting to learn how to fight and to be a better man. Spenser quickly decides to take him under his wing and to teach him the intricacies of being a private detective. They work out at Henry Cimoli’s gym, exercise, box, run sprints, and shoot handguns. Sixkill sees in Spenser a mentor, and the PI sees himself in the young Native American. It isn’t long before Sixkill starts picking up Spenser’s sarcastic wit. I can just see Hawk, who isn’t in this novel, rolling his eyes at two smartasses.

As Spenser shakes the tree a little harder, the L.A. mob finally drops out. They seem to own Jumbo Nelson. They’ve financed all of his movies and made a ton of money from it. They’re not going to allow some second detective ruin their money-making machine. A warning is given to Spenser, but has he ever paid attention to those? All a warning does is make him more persistent in his investigation. The mob doesn’t take no for an answer, so they send a number of tough guys to beat some sense into the private investigator. With Sixkill by his side, Spenser sends the guys back with their tails between their legs. The mob tries again with a couple of shooters, but no go. Now, the mob sends their best enforcer—a sadist names Stephano DeLauria. He’s no pushover and when he arrives in Boston, it’s his intent to kill Spenser either slowly or quickly. It doesn’t make any difference to him.

I’ve never read a bad Spenser novel. For me Sixkill was top of the line, especially knowing this was the final book by Mr. Parker. I believe the author was setting up Zebulon Sixkill as either the lead in his own series of books or as a regular in the Spenser novels. The Native American is a good character, and it would’ve been fun to see him interacting will all the regulars in the Spenser series.

As I mentioned earlier, Robert Parker has his own style of writing that looks simple but isn’t. The author was definitely a gifted storyteller who knew his craft inside and out. There was only one Bob Parker, who in many ways was the real Spenser. No one else will be able to emulate him, but it’s still worth a try. I don’t want to see the Spenser or Jesse Stone series end. These characters are great and deserve a life of their own for at least a little while.

A&E presents Stephen King's Bag of Bones, starring Pierce Brosnan and directed by Mick Garris

2011-12-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate in that A&E repeated the showing of Stephen King’s Bag of Bones throughout the week. As much as I wanted to see the show when it first came on, I was unable to stay from nine to eleven on a work week when I have to get up at 4:30AM. Simply put, my health demands I get to bed early on work nights, if I want to make it through the week and not end up back in the hospital. Anyway, when an acquaintance told me that the television mini-series had been repeated on Tuesday night, I checked out the schedule for Bag of Bones on the Internet and discovered it was being replayed on Friday night, too. That meant I could stay up late and then sleep in the next morning, which is exactly what I did.

The mini-series, directed by Mick Garris, is based on the Stephen King novel, Bag of Bones, which was published well over a decade ago. Surprisingly, it took Mr. Garris five long years to get the financial backing needed to make this adaptation. The project first started out with the intent on being a feature film, and then over time, the script was rewritten for the small screen. Thank goodness A&E was willing to fund this project, or it wouldn’t have happened.

Now, I’ve been a big fan of Pierce Brosnan since his Remington Steele days on television. Let’s face it the man is exceedingly handsome, suave, debonair, physical, and he looks great in a tuxedo. No one was more upset than me when he was offered the role of James Bond and then the producers of Remington Steele decided to hold him to his contract for another year even though the show was discontinued. When Pierce finally got the role of Bond several years later, it was a match made in heaven. He literally became the character like a man donning an expensive tailor-made suit. There’s no doubt in my mind that Pierce Brosnan was the perfect choice for the role of Mike Noonan in Bag of Bones. I’ve seen the strong, dramatic acting that this man is capable of doing in other films and knew he could handle the performance without any question. The fact is Mr. Brosnan has simply gotten better with age.

Was Mick Garris able to pull off the adaptation from novel to television?

Yes, he was.

Unlike the previous television networks, A&E gave the director pretty much all the freedom he needed to make this mini-series a success. True he had a small budget and a tight shooting schedule, but he got the absolute most out of each dollar spent and each day on the set. The quality of the cinematography and production design is certainly much better than in Desperation. There’s a touch of class with this production that clearly shines through. Like Pierce with acting, Mr. Garris is getting better as a director as he gets older.

Now, what viewers need to understand is that Bag of Bones is not a horror novel, though there are elements of the supernatural in the story. Stephen King wanted to write one great book before he turned fifty and Bag of Bones was what he created. It’s the same with the television movie. Though there are strong elements of the supernatural in the mini-series, it’s not really a horror movie.

The TV movie centers around successful Maine author, Mike Noonan (played by Pierce Brosnan), who experiences a mind-numbing tragedy when his wife, Jo, is unexpectedly struck by a bus while he’s autographing novels across the street in a bookstore. Annabeth Gish (I remember her in the television series, Flash Forward) plays his lovely wife. The movie has to establish rather quickly just how much the two of them are in love with each other, and I think it succeeds. You could see these two people together, enjoying their lives with each other and being totally happy. That makes the death of Jo more shocking and disturbing for those who haven’t read the novel. Pierce Brosnan performed a magnificent scene when he found his wife lying in the street dead. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one will the grief etched on his face as clearly as day. I don’t think he was acting here, but rather displaying the actual grief he’d felt when losing his first wife to cancer. I mean the scene made me cry, too. I knew what he was going through, and I believe that’s when I bonded with the character.

The plot point that propels the story forward, however, is when Mike Noonan discovers his dead wife was pregnant. Since Mike couldn’t have children because of a low sperm count, he begins to suspect Jo of having had an affair with someone. Jo had also been spending a lot of time at their summer house on Dark Score Lake. Over a period of time, Mike begins to wonder if that’s where her lover lives and decides to visit the place for an extended period of time. The time frame was much longer in the novel. I think it was a couple of years. It’s also important to note that since Mike was a fast writer, he had several novels stashed away in a safety deposit box in the novel. In the movie, however, he only had one old trunk novel that he gives to his agent and publisher to keep them happy during the period he’s unable to write.

Once Mike arrives at his house on a lake, he soon finds himself involved with a young lady and her daughter (Mattie & Kyra Devore played respectively by Melissa George and Caitlin Carmichael). Mike manages to save Kyra’s life by pulling her out of the highway before she can be hit by a car. After he does, he finds out that Kyra’s grandfather is Max Devore, the most powerful man in the region. Max is attempting to get custody of Kyra by claiming Mattie is an unfit mother.

Since Mike Noonan has problems of his own to deal with, he really doesn’t want to get involved in Mattie’s situation. Things, unfortunately, don’t work out as he desires. When old-man, Max Devore (played by William Schallert—no, not Captain Kirk) pressures him to testify in front of a paid-off court official about the traffic incident, Mike takes Mattie’s side to piss the man off. Of course that makes an enemy of Mr. Devore and his female assistant, Rogette Whitmore (played by Deborah Grover). The assistant seems to be even more evil than the old man.

While all of this outside stuff is going on, Mike’s experiencing supernatural events at his house on the lake. He knows his wife is there with him, but there’s also another spirit, Sarah Tidwell, who wants him to seek revenge for her death.

In time, Mike discovers that Tidwell (played by the lovely and talented Anika Noni Rose) was murdered in 1939. That’s when all hell begins to break loose and Noonan finds out things about his own family’s past and how it ties into the singer’s death and Max Devore’s unusual family tree.
As I said earlier, Bag of Bones isn’t a scary novel and neither is the movie. Director Mick Garris throws in some supernatural aspects regarding Mike Noonan’s dreams about his wife and Sarah Tidwell, the spirits in his summer house and how they often communicate with him by ringing a bell that’s hanging from a moose’s head over the fireplace. There’s also a very strange looking tree near the lake that’s shaped like a woman’s body and offers a jolt or two in the show. In many ways, the novel and mini-series are actually about Mike Noonan coming to grips with his own grief over the death of his wife, the past that catches up to him by the end of the movie, and how his family inadvertently brought on some of the tragedy he experiences. In the book, he falls in love with Mattie Devore, but not so in the movie. She’s simply a piece of the bizarre puzzle that deals with Sarah Tidwell.

I feel that Mick Garris did a fantastic job on condensing a long novel into a two part mini-series. Though the entire show is four hours long, over an hour of it is nothing but commercials. I hate commercials, especially seeing the same ones over and over during a four-hour period of time. I want to buy the DVD of Bag of Bones when it comes out in 2012 so I can watch the movie over without all the interruptions. I mean just when you’re getting involved in the storyline, the movie breaks for a Geico commercial you’ve already seen ten times before. It takes away from the mood that Mick Garris is attempting to create.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, Mick Garris and his crew did a fantastic job on the cinematography and made Nova Scotia (this is where the Jesse Stone series is shot) look like Maine. I thought most of acting was top notch, especially with regards to Pierce Brosnan, who had to carry most of the film on his shoulders. I have to admit that Deborah Grover as Rogette Whitman gets the trophy for the creepiest performance in the series. Whenever she was in a scene, she pretty much stole it from the rest of the actors with her strangeness. She needs to play in more horror movies.

One last thing I enjoyed was Matt Frewer performing as Mike Noonan’s brother. I kept thinking I knew Matt from somewhere. It turns out he played the Trashcan Man in The Stand mini-series. During that series, he shot a scene in the old Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, where I was working at the time. This is a very talented actor who needs more roles offered to him.

Though this review is too late to help promote the A&E mini-series, it might encourage people to pick up the DVD of the movie when it’s released in 2012. I’ve found that a TV mini-series is often better when watched without the commercials.

A review of 11/22/63 by Stephen King

2011-12-18T15:58:00.000-08:00

Until I finished Stephen King’s newest novel, 11/22/63, I’d only cried at the end of three of his books over the last thirty-four years. I remember tears filling my eyes during the scene in The Stand where Stu Redman is left behind by his team to die as they slowly make their way to Las Vegas and the confrontation with Randall Flagg. I was then caught off guard by Johnny Smith in The Dead Zone and let some tears roll when he died at the end. After that, it was nearly twenty years before Mr. King once again caught me from behind with The Green Mile. I came close to wailing at the end of that novel because I thought John Coffey would somehow survive and be released from prison. I remember writing to King and asking how he could kill off such a great character. He probably thought I was a total idiot.

The thing is, I cared so much for these characters that I wanted to see them survive their ordeals, but Stu Redman was the only one who made it through to the end. This is what lifts Stephen King to the role of a great storyteller. He creates characters you get emotionally involved with and want to see overcome the challenges in life that are thrown at their way. I think the reasoning here is that if they can overcome the hardships, then maybe we can too. When they don’t, it’s like watching ourselves die, and that, as they say, is a tough pill to swallow.

Now, after fifteen years, Stephen King has done it again with 11/22/63. When I first heard the premise of this novel around the beginning of 2011, I got goose bumps on my arms. I was born in 1950 and was thirteen when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. I remember being out on the athletic field during gym class and seeing another student come running out from the main school building to tell our coach about the President’s death. Since that was the last class of the day, the coach told us to get dressed and go home. I spent the entire weekend with my nose glued to the television (along with my parents) watching everything unfold in slow motion from replays of the shooting, to Lyndon Johnson being sworn in as the new President, to the shooting of Oswald by Jack Ruby, and finally the walk up Pennsylvania Avenue by Jackie, Carolyn and John-John. I believe that moment in time affected me as strongly as it did hundreds of thousands of other American citizens around the country. Even people who didn’t like JFK or his politics experienced a deep loss at his passing.

As I said, I got goose bumps when I read the premise of 11/22/63 about a man travelling into the past to prevent Kennedy’s assassination. If we could, how many Americans would raise their hands and volunteer to go back in time to try and save him, knowing that he or she might die in the process? I suspect it would be a high count because the world changed when JFK was killed. I don’t think it became a better place. Of course, had JFK lived, there’s no guarantee it would have turned out better, either. Still—

Okay, it’s a look at the novel.

Jake Epping is an English school teacher in Maine. One summer night after an adult class, he’s reading a paper by one of his students—Harry Dunning, a janitor at the school. The paper deals with the night the janitor’s life changed forever…the night when his father murdered his mother, sister, two brothers, and crippled him for life. That the paper moves Jake emotionally is beyond question. He prompts him to get to know Harry Dunning and to find more about the horrible night.

Later, when the owner of Al's hamburger diner, shows Jake a way to go back in time, an idea starts to jell in the teacher’s mind. The owner of the diner has spent nearly five years of his life in the past with the intent of keeping John F. Kennedy from being assassinated. Cancer, however, brought his mission to a complete stop. Now, he wants Jake to take over. One of the main problems, however, is that the time portal only takes you back to the fall of 1958. You then have five years to spend while you wait for the right moment to act.

Jakes decides to give it a shot, but first he wants to see if he can prevent Harry Dunning’ family from being killed on that fateful night in 1958. If he can accomplish that, then maybe he has a chance of saving Kennedy.

Here are the basic rules for time travel in 11/22/63. You can go back to 1958 as many times as you want, but each time you do, you erase any changes that were made and have to start over from scratch. When you leave 2011, go back to 1958, and then return to the present, only two minutes have passed in our time. You, however, have aged whatever amount of time was spent in the past. Another rule is that time doesn’t want to be changed and will attempt to stop you by throwing unexpected problems in your path. A third and very important rule is that for every change you make, it will have a profound effect on the future with the possibility of it being more negative than it was originally meant to be. This is called The Butterfly Effect. A fourth rule is that should you not be able to accomplish your goal, you can always return and try again. You’re also older, but with more insight into what will transpire. In other words, you now have first-hand experience as well as the knowledge on what to avoid.

Jake has to go back in time twice to complete his mission dealing with the murder of the Dunning family. The first time isn’t as successful as he would’ve hoped, but the second journey is because he now knows what to watch out for and what his stumbling blocks will be. This gives him the encouragement to tackle the assassination of John F. Kennedy five years down the road. But first, he has to find a place to live and to wait out the time.

Leaving Maine, Jake travels to Florida where he gets a job as a substitute teacher. He also places large bets with bookies and wins a lot of money. Of course, he already knows in advance who’s going to win the games and matches. The bookies immediately become suspicious. They don’t mind taking your money, but they hate having to pay off big on long shots. One thing Jake has learned to do is to trust his instincts. When his instincts start shouting at him to get out of Dodge, he realizes it’s time to leave Florida. He manages to leave just before his house is blown up.

Then, heading to New Orleans for a while, Jake eventually makes his way to the Dallas/Fort Worth area Texas. He scouts out the locations of where Oswald will be living in the future. Until that moment arrives, he has to find a place that is soothing to the soul and where he feels safe and at home.

He finds such a spot in Jodie, Texas.

This is a small community a few hours from Dallas, but it’s just the kind of place he’s looking for to spend the next three-or-four years. He soon becomes a substitute English teacher there, which leads into a full-time position. Teaching is what he loves, and he has a special gift for the job that makes students want to learn and to become all they can be. Sounds like the Army, doesn’t it? Everybody seems to love Jake Epping, though he now calls himself George Amberson. In time a lady by the name of Sadie Clayton becomes the new librarian at the high school where he teaches. He doesn’t want to say it’s love at first sight, but it is to the rest of us. He’s met the woman of his dreams…someone he can live the rest of his life with and raise a family. The only problem (and it’s a big one) is that he’s from the future and there are things he can’t tell Sadie about himself.

In time, the fact that Jake has no past catches up to him in ways he never would’ve expected and to a large degree he loses everything he holds precious in his life.

After Jodie, Jake focuses on Lee Harvey Oswald and stopping him before the murder of the President can take place. He wants to take out Oswald before the assassination attempt, but if the ex-Marine isn’t acting along, it won’t stop Kennedy from being murdered.

All, however, is not lost between Jake and Sadie. When you love someone in a way that transcends time and they love you equally, the two of you simply don’t walk away from each other no matter what the problem is. It’s impossible because love is a powerful force…maybe even stronger than the past and changing it.

Anyway, it won’t be long before Jake has to save the life of the woman he loves and then face the bookies in Dallas who already know about him from Florida. Whether or not Jake can now save the President will be in question. As we already know the past has a way of putting obstacles in front of you to keep any changes from taking place. Jake will have insurmountable odds to face and overcome as he rushes to change destiny.

As to what happens, well, you’re just going to have to read the book.

One thing I can tell you is though this novel is nearly 900 pages in length, there are very few action scenes. You have one at the Dunning house on Jake’s first attempt to save them. Then there’s one where Jakes attempts to save Sadie’s life when someone from her past comes to do her harm. Next is the scene with the bookies. Finally, in the last hundred pages, is the scene of Jake trying to get to Oswald in time before the assassination can take place. In all, I would say the action scenes total less than forty-to-fifty pages of this very long novel. The important thing is you don’t notice it because you’re so wrapped up in the character of Jake Epping and what happens to him. Once Sadie enters the picture, you’re then rooting for both of them to make it.

I don’t know of many writers who could succeed with a book this size and written on so many different levels. I had a hard time putting the novel down at times. Though it’s long, I still managed to read it in less than three weeks. In my younger days it would have been only one week.

Another vital thing is the ending. That’s what hit me in the heart, and I don’t want to give anything away. I don’t know whether to thank Steve for it, or his son, Joe. King mentions in the afterword that Joe Hill suggested a better ending for the book and he decided to go with it. For me, the ending is what shot this novel from the “A” list to the “A+” list. Just a couple of pages grabbed my old heart, shook it back and forth, and made me cry happily about love and its power to override everything standing in its way. Not very many books have been able to do that to me over the last fifty years.

So, is 11/22/63 a winner? Damn right, it is. For me, this is King’s best novel in over a decade…maybe even three, if you don’t count The Green Mile. This is a book the author attempted to write in 1972, but it took thirty-eight more years before he could actually succeed in creating the world of the late fifties and eary sixties for the reader to live in.

This is what great writing and storytelling is all about. This is the type of book you don’t want to end, but know it must. And, when the novel finally wraps up, you feel a sense of happiness from the ending; yet, also a sense of loss at not having the main characters in your life any longer. I know I did.

This is why I call Stephen King the Maestro. Like James Bond, nobody does it better!

A look at pages 215 to 440 of Stephen King's 11/22/63

2011-12-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

After the incident with Richard Dunning in Derry, Maine, Jake Epping (aka George Armberson) heads South. He stops off in the Tampa area of Florida and decides to try to his hand at subsititute teaching again. He manages to get a job at the local high school for a while with his fake IDs, just to keep busy and not go crazy with a lot of time to spend till 1963. Remember, this is still 1958. He has five years to wait before he can try to prevent the death of President Kennedy.

The teaching goes find, but Jake forgets himself when he places another large bet on a sports game he already knows the outcome to. The bookies love to take your money, but they hate paying out large sums to a stranger they don't know. In time, Jake decides it might be in his best interest to move on, and he takes off again just before his house is blown up.

Jake soon finds the perfect plact to live in Jodie, Texas. It's a small town with nice, simple people, who are honest and caring. This is the perfect place for him. He goes back to substitute teaching and finds quickly finds himself directing the school play that year, which proves to be a smashing success with everybody. He then finds himself teaching full time because the students love him, the faculty loves him, the adminstration loves him, and so does the town's people. More importantly, the new librarian (Sadie) loves him, and he loves her, too.

How do you tell the person you love that you're from the 2011, and that you've come back in time to save the life of President John F. Kennedy? No matter how much that other person may care for you in return, he or she is going to think you're bonkers...that you need to see a doctor for some good old mental help. Wouldn't we all? That's the situation Jake faces. His life in the past is based on lies and they gradually come back to bite him in the butt.

Because he's unable to tell the truth, he has to move on and does this with a sadness of heart that it almost makes you cry. He doesn't want to leave Jodie, Texas, or his friends there, or Sadie, who he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Instead, he eventually finds himself living in Fort Worth, Texas, across the street from Lee Harvey Oswald. The time is drawing near and soon he will have to decide whether or not to kill Oswald before he can pull the trigger.

This is where I've left off.

Though there is very little action in these two hundred pages, they move quickly. The reason for that is Stephen King's great storytelling ability. He makes you care emotionally about Jake Epping. So much so that you begin to live within his life, falling in love with Jodie, Texas and wanting to be there with him. You also find yourself falling in love with Sadie, hoping they will get together and make a life for themselves. How often does a man find the perfect place to live and the person he was meant to be with for the rest of his live? Now very often, if ever. King makes you feel the torment in Jake's heart at not be able to be honest with Sadie, and you know everything will deteriorate because she's the type of woman who now demands the truth from the man she loves.

Another thing that comes out here is how little prepared we would be to go back to the Fifties. We take so many things for granted today (like this computer and not having to use a typewriter) that we forget they hadn't been invented yet.

Stephen King captures the time period perfectly in everyway I can think of, and I lived during the Fifties. I feel at home there and in the early Sixties. I guess in some ways, I miss the simplicity of that era. Of course, we tend to forget that times were often hard then and the salaries low, and a thousand other things we don't usually think about.

What's the verdict so far on 11/22/63? This may be the best novel Stephen King has ever written in my opinion, and I've read them all, except for a few Dark Tower books. I want (no, need is a better word to use here) to find out what happens to Jake and President Kennedy. I'm like an addict who has to get his fix for the evening. So, enough writing!

A short look at the first 200 pages of Stephen King's 11/22/63

2011-12-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Bear with me, I have the flu and my mind isn't working too good at the moment. I managed to get to page 215 of 11/22/63 before I came down with flu symptoms. Even now I want to get back to reading though my eyes are so blurred, I can't even make out the words on the page.

What's taken place so far is Jake Epping's attempt to change the outcome of something bad to see if he can actually do it, but also to right a tragedy of the worst kind. A janitor, in one of his present day evening classes, lost his family and was somewhat crippled when his father killed everyone with a sledgehammer and in a fit of rage that turned the man into something not quite human.

Jake (aka George Ambertson in the past)goes back to 1958 to try and stop the massacre. I won't tell you what happens, only that time has a way of trying to prevent any changes from taking place. Jake doesn't quite accomplish what he wants and realizes that he's going to have to come back again and start over from scratch, but now he knows certain things that may cause the events to take a different course, or will they?

Another thing about going back into the past is that the things we take for granted in 2011 weren't even around in 1958. It was a different time and you have to find yourself adjusting to the changes.

This novel is Stephen King at his best. I don't know what's further down the road, but I want to make that journey with Jake Epping and see what happens.

Don't wait for the paperback, go buy the novel now if you're a King fan, because his stories don't get much better than 11/22/63, and I mean this in the most sincere way. The novel has been great so far. I can barely type, yet here I am writing this posting to let you know about this wonderful, utterly fantastic novel.

Enough said.

A short peek at Stephen King's 11/22/63

2011-11-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

I started reading King's newest, mamothed-sized novel, 11/22/63, yesterday morning at work. I'm now on page 99 after just two days.

The premise of this novel centers around a Maine high school teacher who has the opportunity to go back in time to 1958, wait a few years, and then hopefully to keep President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated.

I'm not going into a lot of details here. I'll save that for the book review when I finish the novel. Let me just say this is maybe the first actual novel by King in the last decade or two that I find myself jumping up and down about, anxious to get back to it and to find out what's happening next. Jesus, I don't think I've honestly felt this way since opening up the cover of The Stand back in 1978 and knowing I was getting ready to go on one hell of a journey. This novel is like that. In fact, the book is so good that you don't even question the time portal in the pantry of the diner. You just go along with it because by then you're hooked line and sinker, just the way the author wants you to be.

Maybe this has something to do with JFK's death in 63. I was in the Eight Grade then (thirteen years old) and standing out on a field during P.E. class when someone told our coach about Kennedy's assassination. He then told us about it and suggested we head on home. It was near the end of the day on a Friday, so no big deal. The thing is the murder of John F. Kennedy affected me and millions of other Americans because we believed in him and secretly felt he was going to lead our country to greatness. This was man who read James Bond novels before it was the "in thing" to do. He believed in space travel and knew it was important that we strive to gain a foothold into this unknown frontier. He believed in equal rights and that everyman, regardless of color, deserved a fair shot at living the American dream. He wasn't one to take shit off of Russia or Cuba and felt the strong need to establish special combat troops to inflitrate and fight a new type of war, stamping his approval on the U.S. Army's Green Berets. Kennedy believed in higher education and that it be available to all because a country greatness can be measured by how intelligent the average person is.

I think most Americans would have gladly given up their life to save the President that Friday afternoon in November, had it been possible. I know my step father would have, and it was probably the only time I ever saw him cry. Needless to say, I stayed glued to the television set that weekend, knowing in a way I couldn't explain that the United States was about to shift paths for better or worse. I remember seeing the the actual murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, along with Kennedy's burial in Washington, D.C.

Over the years, I've often wondered what would have happened to our country had Kennedy not been killed that eventful day. I think in many ways it would have turned out better than it has with such a dire economy, so many people still out of work, the constant threat of violence from overseas, and a government that few Americans seem to trust or believe in any more.

Stephen King's novel is a chance to go back and to see what might have been. If the damn book wasn't so heavy, I would've brought it home with me from work. I thought about it. But, I'll get back to the story tomorrow morning. For me, this is Stephen King at his absolute best, telling a story that might have been...offering American one more chance to be great.

P.S.

Just got to page 130 when Jake, the school teacher, arrives in Derry, Maine in 1958. This was just a few months after all the children were killed in Stephen King's It!

Just sold three short stories to one publisher.

2011-11-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

I've just sold three erotic/horror short stories (A Night of Hunger, The Den of Inequity and The Countess) to one publisher. The owner of the small publishing house had read one of the stories in the trilogy, liked it, and then wanted to see the other two. She enjoyed all three stories so much that she were purchased them after just a couple of days with plans to publish them one at a time in April, May and June of 2012. I've signed the contract and sent back my biography, the blurbs for each of the stories, along with ideas for the cover designs. I also went through a complete polish on each story this past week, hoping to catch any mistakes or errors that needed to be fixed. They're going to have an editor go over them as the publication date draws closer and get back to me with any ideas.

I'm now writing an erotic/horror short story (The House on Palomino Lane) for another publisher, who seems eager to read it. I have two thousand words written so far, but suspect it will run between 8,000 and 10,000 words in length. If they buy the story, it will be published sometime in 2012 as part of an anthology.

It's strange that I've been trying to break into the horror genre for the past two years with only a few minor sales and publications. Erotic/horror fiction, however, is a horse of a different color. I've never had any problem selling my erotica or erotic/horror fiction. The only problem is that nobody in the horror genre takes a writer of erotic/horror fiction seriously. Still, it's nice to finally have someone who enjoys reading my work and actually wants to buy it. It's definitely a shot of adrendaline in the arm.

A review of the DVD, Captain America: The First Avenger, starring Chris Evans

2011-11-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

A close friend of mine bought me the single disc version of movie, Captain America: The First Avenger. If you don't have a Blue Ray DVD player, or a desire to own a digital copy of the film, I don't see any sense in spending a ton of money for some of these 3-disc sets that the studios are putting out now. I mean the only thing I want besides the film are some descent "Behind-the-Scenes" featurettes. The rest of these packages are worthless in my opinion.

Anyway, I have vague memories of the Captain America comic books from the sixties when I was growing up, but the movie this summer, Captain America: The First Avenger, got the better reviews from amongst Green Lantern and Thor, so it seemed like a good one to watch. Plus, 99% of the movie takes place during World War II. I like really that period of time in American history, though I wasn't born till 1950.

The movie starts off in the present with scientists finding an aircraft frozen in the ice with a body not far from it. The frozen individual has a red, white and blue suit on, along with a round shield. Now, cut back to World War II and to Chris Evans (he played the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movies)who's playing a young, rather fragile Steve Rogers with asthma problems. Steve wants to enlist in the Army, but can't pass the physical. All of this friends are enlisting, and he feels the need to carry on the tradition of his father. The fact that he's getting beat up left and right by bullies doesn't seem to faze him about fighting the Nazi, who are meaner and tougher.

When Dr. Abraham Erskine (played by Stanley Tucci) overhears Steve's problems and his ernest desire to serve America, he offers the young man a chance to be part of a new scientific program called Rebirth. Steve jumps at the opportunity and soon his body is transformed into the ultimate male speciment with enhanced speed, strength, agility, and thinking abilities. During the transformation, Dr. Erskine is murdered by a Nazi Spy that was sent by Hydra Organization, runned by the evil Red Skull. Steve, in his new body, chases down the killer through the streets of New York City and inadvertently has his picture taken. He quickly becomes a national hero, and the Army is fast to use him as a mascot to sell War Bonds, dressing him in a costume and calling him Captain America, which the soldiers boo and make fun of.

Naturally, Steve Rogers wants to be in Europe, fighting the Huns and saving the world from domination. He soon gets to do that when his best friend, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is captured by the Nazis. Against the advice and wishes of Colonel Chester Phillips (played by the old-looking, but still powerful Tommy Lee Jones) and the gorgeous agent, Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell), Steve goes to rescue of his friend and dozens of other soldiers from the same regiment. This is his first encounter with the Red Skull (played by Hugo Weaving).

Because of this successful rescue, Steve is soon referred to with all seriousness and respect as Captain America and dresses the part. This starts a series of takedowns of the Red Skull's lairs and a personal battle between this crazed Nazi soldier and Captain America. Also, Peggy Carter has fallen in love with Steve, but he fails to notice it until it's too late.

I wish I'd seen this movie as a kid. It was a great Saturday-morning pulp feature with lots of action, special effects, and patriotism thrown right into your face. It was certainly a feel-good movie, until the ending that takes you back to the present and the beginning of The Avengers as led by Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson in his best tought-guy role).

If the Fantastic Four is brought back as a third film, the studios will need to find someone else to play the Human Torch. Chris Evans is Captain America, the ultimate American hero, and I don't see him going back to playing a matchstick. I have say that Chris captured the role perfectly, showing strength, bravery, flaws as a human being, and the naivete of the young men at that time. In other words, he plays a damn good hero that you quickly learn to care about and root for in the battle sequences.

Also, it took me a while to figure this out, but at first I thought Dominic Cooper was playing Tony Stark (Iron Man), and I kept wondering what he was doing in this particular time period. But, it was Howard Stark, which I assume was Tony's father. He was a scientific genius who created all sorts of neat and usable gadets for Captain America to use and to make his fabulous fortune which Tony would inherit down the road.

Hugo Weaving was fantastic as the Red Skull with his deep, resonant voice. Hugo knows how to play villians and always gives it his all. I did, however, keep expecting him to say something from The Matrix like, "Do you know what that is, Mr. Rogers? That's the sound of inevitibility." The makeup for the Red Skull was right on. It looked like his actual skin.

Now, I wasn't familiar with Hayley Atwell as an actress before this movie, but when she came out in her red dress to give some information to Steve Rogers, my heart did a little flip flop like I'm sure his did. She played a great, very strong, female character for the time period, and I hated not to see them get together by the end of the film. This isn't a spoiler because you know something happened due to the opening scenes in the movie.

Boy, either Tommy Lee Jones had a lot of old-age makeup on him, or he's gotten old as hell during the past couple of years. Seeing him as this Army character reminded me of how old I've gotten, and that's not a pleasant thought. Still, Tommy always plays a man in charge perfectly, and I found myself jumping to attention whenever he came on screen.

As you can tell, I enjoyed this movie. It was fun and entertaining on many levels. I do wish there had been more special featurettes on the disc, but this was the single-disc edition, and the studios aren't putting much on them any more, wanting you to instead buy the more expensive versions. The disc did have a couple of featurettes on the history of Captain America in the comics and the creation of his uniform and shield and how some of the special effects were done. They were quite informative, but left you wanting more, especially if you like the stuff about the making of movies.

Like I said, this is a great film to watch on a Saturday. It will make you feel like a happy kid again, which is a good thing. Give it a shot and see what you think.

Watching Blade II with Wesley Snipes on Thanksgiving Day!

2011-11-24T15:17:00.000-08:00

No, Wesley Snipes isn't here at my apartment with me, watching Blade II. He is, however, in Blade II, which is even better.

I love the Blade series with Snipes as the anti-hero. I never get tired of seeing the three movies he made--Blade, Blade II, and Blade Trinity. A lot of Snipes' fighting movies remind me of the late Bruce Lee. Wesley Snipes is one of the few martial artist in films I enjoy watching again and again. I hope one day he'll do a 4th Blade film. This is definitley where the money is for Snipes and maybe the perfect opportunity to pay off the IRS and finally get them off his shoulders once and for all.

Blade II is directed by Guillermo del Toro. He did a great job on the film with some fabulous special effects, hardcore action, a fantastic cast of actors, and a dry sense of humor that shines throughout the movie. If you haven't see it, Blade has to call a truce with the vampire community in order to fight the Reapers, which are a superior race of slightly different and stronger vampires. The Reapers are feeding off the other vampires as well as humans. If you like horror films, this is one to watch.

Kris Kristofferson is back as Whisler, Blade's old mentor. In fact, Kris is going to be at the hotel where I work this weekend. I wouldn't mind seeing him perform. I've been a fan of his for over thirty years. Maybe I could even ask him if there's any word on a new Blade movie.

The great Ron Perlman, who's finally collecting his dues as a talented actor in the television show, The Sons of Anarchy, plays one of the vampires on the commando team Blade leads against the Reapers. As usual, Ron plays his character with strong mix of humor and drama, displaying his remarkable talent as both a bad/good guy. He does this really well.

Leonor Varela as the daughter of the King of the vampires is certainly worth watching for two hours, dressed in her black leathers. I could see Blade falling in love with her, having baby vampires that act cool and kick ass.

Anyway, watching the film is a wonderful way to take a break from writing. I watch an hour, write some, watch another hour, followed by more writing, and then the behind-the-scenes stuff and even more writing.

I also got this two disc Platinum Series set for only a two bucks from one of Amazon's dealers, plus three dollars for shipping. It was brand new, too. What a steal!

Okay, back to the movie.

P.S.

An hour later and I'm back. Wrong about Ron Perlman's character, Reinhart. He was a bad hombre right till the end, but a damn cool one. Loved the way the Special Effects people did the jaws coming apart on the Reapers and the octopus-type tongue they had. Gross, but utterly fun to watch.

A review of The Detachment by Barry Eisler

2011-11-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

One of the best surprises in the International Intrigue genre during the past decade was the creation of the “John Rain” series by ex-C.I.A. operative, Barry Eisler. He created a Japanese/American character that basically kills with his hands and feet and assassinates his targets in such a way that they appear to have died of natural causes. This is a different kind of character from James Bond, or Sam Durrell, or Matt Helm, or anything created by the late Alistair MacLean and Robert Ludlum. This series has one-hell-of-a-cool character in it that offers the reader something quite unusual.

John Rain starts off as a cold-blooded assassin and over a period of seven novels starts developing a conscious about the bad things he’s done in his past and in some respect, how to make amends. You begin to care for him as a human being and want to learn more about the character as time goes on.

The first couple of books (Rain Fall and Hard Rain) took place in Japan and offered an insider’s view of the country through the eyes of John Rain. In many ways I enjoyed these novels the most because I have a strong fascination with Japan, its culture and history. Having made that statement, here’s the flip side of the coin. Though Bruce Lee was Chinese, I’ve always pictured him as John Rain. I guess it’s because he was a small man, but also extremely strong and unbelievably fast with his hands and feet. That picture of Lee as Rain has stayed with me over the last eight years. It helped to bring the character alive in my mind by putting a face I knew on him, and it certainly made me more anxious for each upcoming novel.

The 7th John Rain thriller is The Detachment. I have to say the book begins with my kind of action right off the bat. John Rain is back in Tokyo, working out in Judo at the Kodokan stadium. While there, he notices a large, Caucasian male watching him from the bleachers. The second night, there’s a different man in the stands who’s also watching him, and he suspects they’re getting ready to make a move. On the way home, the two men follow Rain, but with the intention of asking him to join a covert operation. Unfortunately, Rain doesn’t know that and anticipates the worse-case scenario. In other words, he kills both men in a matter of seconds with his bare hands.

This doesn’t stop the person behind the special opts from still pursuing Rain. The fact is he needs Rain’s particular expertise in taking out three important targets. Apparently, the people who need to be disposed of in a way that looks like natural causes are planning a takeover of the United States, using the terrorist threat as an excuse to disregard the Constitution and to instigate military law.

The man who wants to stop this takeover is named Colonel Scott Horton.
Rain is offered a million dollars to take out all three people and to shut down a conspiracy in motion. The thing is Rain operates alone, but Horton wants him to use a detachment of men to insure the jobs are completed. Two of the men in the detachment belong to Horton, while Rain’s friend, Dox, is the third. Rain knows he can trust Dox, but the other two killers are questionable as are Horton’s ulterior motives. Rain isn’t sure whether or not Horton is manipulating him to take out good guys so the Colonel can be in charge when the takeover begins.

Though I usually prefer John Rain when he works alone, I found myself enjoying The Detachment. All four men in the group have weaknesses and strong feelings about the past jobs they’ve done for our government. This makes each one seem human, especially during the last third of the novel. Like the main characters, I never quite found myself trusting Horton one hundred percent, but by the end of the book, I liked and trusted everyone in the detachment, which was a coup for the author. He created such believable characters that you inadvertently find yourself caring about what happens to them and hoping they’ll be able to take out the bad guys in the end without being killed.

Another thing about this novel I liked is that the storyline in it reminded me a lot of what’s happening today in the United States. I can see where the U.S. Government is gradually chipping away at the Constitution and the rights of the American people. Most of the citizens don’t even realize this is happening. The author, Barry Eisler, who used to be a C.I.A. covert operative, sees the patterns developing long before the average person does and then incorporates them into his fiction. This, of course, adds to the stark realism and utter validity of the book.

If you’re looking for something different to read, give the “John Rain” novels a try, but start at the beginning with Rain Fall. By the way, Rain Fall has been turned into a motion picture that was made in Japan two years ago. It’s available on Amazon in DVD, but the reviews aren’t too good.

So, give The Detachment and the other “John Rain” novels a try. You may find yourself becoming addicted to the series like I did.

Season Two of Justified on DVD and the new Raylan Givens novel by Elmore Leonard

2011-11-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

For fans of the television series, Justified starring Timothy Olyphant, and based on Elmore Leonard's fictional character of Raylan Givens, there's great news in the pipeline.

Season Two will be out on DVD January 3rd. Except for the first two episodes, I missed the entire series due to moving into a new place without a way of recording the shows when they came on at night. Because of health problems, I have to be in bed by eight on a work night, which is kind of a drag. Of course, I also get up at four in the morning to write for two hours before heading to my job. Anyway, I missed nearly the entire season this year, so I'm looking forward to getting Season Two on DVD in another six weeks.

Now, if that wasn't the cat's meow, Elmore Leonard, who's been writing for over fifty years and has written many a bestseller that's automatically been turned into a major motion picture or a television min-series (think Get Shorty, Out of Sight, 3:10 to Yuma, Cat Chaser, 52 Pickup, and Jackie Brown to name a few),has a new novel coming out on January 12th. The title is--Raylan:A Raylan Given novel. Not very original, but who cares. The title says it all. This continues the Justified series in novel format, and I suspect this book will be Mr. Leonard's biggest seller to date because of how good the TV series is doing. I know I'm going to get a copy of the novel as soon as it comes out. Hell, January is going to be the month of Raylan Givens. I'm going to drink a beer to Timothy Olyphant and Walton Groggins and the other cast members of this terrific TV show. Maybe I'll even have two!

A short review of the DVD, The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen

2011-11-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

I read the novel, The Exorcist, when it first came out around 1971 and thought it was pretty good. Remember there wasn't much out at that time: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin, The Other by Thomas Tryon, and Hell House by Richard Matheson. When I saw the film adaptation of The Exorcist a couple of years later, I thought it was the most frightening movie I’d ever seen. In fact, it still holds up today after almost forty years as one the scariest films ever made, and it’s certainly in my top five category. Now, I'm talking about the original theatrical release, not this newer version with an extra twelve minutes added.

I’ve seen the theatrical version a dozen times or more over the years, plus “The Version You’ve Never Seen” at least twice. I think the theatrical version is definitely the stronger of the two. The deleted scenes that were added to the newer version should have remained deleted, but the studios saw a way to make an extra buck and went for it. This reminds a lot of the DVD for Jaws, which has gone through several variations over the years—Full Screen, Wide Screen, the Theatrical Release, the Director’s Cut, The Version You’ve Never Seen, Blue Ray, etc., etc. If there’s a way to make some additional money off of an old movie, the studios will do it in a heartbeat.

Just a sidebar here, but when I saw the original film in the theater, I remember thinking to myself that the actor, Max Von Sydow, was fantastic for a man his age. I actually thought he was in his seventies. That’s how good he played the role of Father Merrin. He had the movements and body language down pat on how to play an elderly person. I know because I’m now an elderly person and walk much the way he did in the film.

Of course, the person I most identified with at the time was Jason Miller’s character, Father Karras. I nearly went into the priesthood, but didn’t believe my faith was strong enough to endure a lifetime of it. I had doubts about God and the Church, and still do to this day, though I’m much wiser now than I was at twenty-one. All the main actors in this film gave Oscar worthy performances, especially young Linda Blair who played Regan and the most difficult of the roles to play.

The difference between the theatrical movie and this version is about twelve extra minutes of film. Some of the previously deleted scenes are okay and add to the story, but the Regan “upside down spider walk” scene down the stairs with blood pouring out of her mouth wasn’t needed in the movie, nor the DVD, other than as a deleted scene. I mean Regan’s mom, Chris, had just been told that the director of the movie she was in, Burt Dennings, had been killed and was attempting to come to grips with that when Regan comes down the staircase in an unbelievable contortion of the body. So the Regan scene was really anti-climatic.

One thing I didn’t like about this particular version was the multitude of images representing demons that are subliminally placed throughout the movie. After the first couple of one-second images, it started to make me a little angry. I don’t understand what the purpose was, other than to distract the viewer’s attention from the plot. It didn’t make sense to me.

There were some other scenes that were added to the film to make it longer such as the one on the stairs between Father Merrin and Karras. Then, there’s the scene when Father Karras is in the library, listening to the recording on the tape recorder of Regan’s normal-speaking voice. There’s also a scene in the doctor’s office where Regan is starting to tell the doctor off during her examination. Most of these added scenes don't make the film stronger, but rather lessen it to various degrees, taking away from the sheer quality of the original production. Sometimes scenes that are edited out of a movie are done so because they slow the film down.

I actually tried to find the theatrical version of the film, but this was the only one I could buy on Amazon. Take my advice. If you want a classic horror film for your library, try and find the original version of The Exorcist somewhere. Don’t settle for this bloated version and the few extra minutes of film.

Less I forget, there are a few extras on this disc other than the commentary with William Friedkin. Everything other than that is written out, which is also something I don’t enjoy seeing on a DVD. The reason for this is my own poor eyesight and having to stand in front of the television set to read the information. I’d rather just skip it.

Last, I will say I got DVD for a really good price. It wasn't more than five dollars, which isn’t bad for a decent movie.

The free special Christmas issue of Morpheus Tales is now out with my short story, Merry Christmas!!!

2011-11-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

Just got a notice from Morpheus Tales that their free special Christmas issue is now out and available for downloading. You can go to their website to do this or to http://morpheustales.com/christmashorrorspecialissue.pdf.

I was surprised to see my story, Merry Christmas, as the first one in the e-zine. It has been eleven months since I read it and found myself rather pleased with the final outcome. It's a pretty good little Christmas story for those with a slight bend towards horror or suspense fiction.

So, as the lead character says at the end of the story, "Merry Christmas!"

A short, short look at the movie, Faster, starring Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock)

2011-11-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

I was getting ready to go to bed last night as I flipped through the channels on my TV. I happened to get Showtime as Faster, starring Dwayne Johnson, was beginning. Now, Dwayne Johnson is generally known to most people as The Rock. That's certainly how I know him from his long years in wrestling to his first acting role in The Mummy Returns. Anyway, I decided to watch the first few minutes of the movie and then hit the sack. Instead, I ended up watching the entire film and enjoying it, too.

Dwayne plays a character known as the Driver. He was the driver for his brother during a bank robbery. Later, the entire crew was killed by others who'd been hired to steal the money from them. The Driver was shot in the head, but he managed to live. He then spent ten years in jail for the bank robbery. When he finally gets out, he goes after the guys who murdered his brother, killing each of them with no emotion and in front of others. He only cares about revenge and not the final outcome of his bloody mission.

The unknown man who originally sent in the killers to wipe out the crew hires a professional assassin to go after Dwayne Johnson, and this guy is damn good. The thing is the Rock is better and he knows it. Because of that and his past history, you begin to see the assassin as a human being and to understand where he's coming from. For some strange reason you don't want to see either him or the Rock die at the end.

As the Driver tracks each killer down and administers justice for what they did, he gets more intuned with the hatred that has fueled his life for so long and realizes it's destroying him. Can he change his need for vengeance before he completes his mission? You have to see the movie to find out.

Billy Bob Thornton plays the cop who's after the Driver. This a great performance by Billy Bob, especially when he's dealing with his son and the wife he's separated from.

Tom Berringer even has a small role as the warden of the prison.

Surprisingly, I really liked the movie. The stunt driving was excellent, the cold-blooded killing was in your face and totally realistic, the lead character was someone you eventually learned to care about and wanted to see still alive by the end of the film, and the supporting actors were all excellent in their own particular roles. There were even a few twists I didn't see coming and caught me completely off guard. I did guess who the head killer was, only because that's how I would have done the script myself.

This a nice little gem of a movie that isn't pretentious and caught me by surprise. I suspect I'll purchase it for my movie collection before Christmas. Highly recommended!

A look at the DVD of Stephen King's Rose Red

2011-11-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

I didn't see the Stephen King television series, Rose Red, when it was first aired on ABC almost a decade ago. Though I'm anxious to see Bag of Bones, which will be on TV December 11th & 12th, I haven't enjoyed at least fifty percent of the stuff that's been done with King's short stories, novels, and original screenplays on television. There's just something about the major networks that destroys the essence of what makes his fiction so damn great. They offer the time for his stories to be told, but then place all kinds of rules and regulations of what can and can't be shown or even implied.

Watching Rose Red on DVD the other night proved to be somewhat enjoyable to me. Without the commercials every twelves minutes, the series is more entertaining, scary, and holds your interest through the slow periods of the script. It's hard to be scared when watching a TV movie when you're constantly interrupted every several minutes by commercials talking about Fords, asprin, and femininent protection. It's enough to make a preacher cuss.

Anyway, the story of Rose Red deals with the haunted mansion of that same name, and the group of people that go into it to investigate the pyschic phenomenom that's existed there for nearly a hundred years. This is somewhat reminiscent of The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson and Hell House by Richard Matheson. The group of scientists and psychics spend the holiday weekend inside the house, only to have most of them killed by Sunday afternoon. During the course of the weekend, you do find out about the history of the house as well as the weaknesses of each member in the research group. The house then plays on the weaknesses, luring most of the characters out by themselves where they encounter an evil surprise, and, of course, an unpleasant death.

For me, part of the movies enjoyment was in watching Nancy Travis play the professor who leads the group into the house for her own selfish motives. She plays the role with true excellence, being extremely nice one moment, and then smiling like a crazed banshee the next. She's also very easy on the eyes. I also tend to get her and John Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, mixed up a lot.

I have to say that Matt Ross as Emery Waterman and the lady who played his mother got on my nerves in a very serious way. I wish he'd been one of the group's members to die. His entire expression was one of petulance with his mouth hanging open, except when he was eating. I'm surprised the bees didn't fly into that large opened cavity for detailed investigation. He kept reminding me of the earlier veresion of Harold Lauder from The Stand. Last, his mom's mouth had me literally sticking my fingers into my ears to drown out her voice, praying someone or something would quickly dispatch her with extreme prejudice.

Julian Sands probably had the best role. He seemed calm and smart and didn't allow his emotions to show through when the psychic pressure of the house was amped up a hundred times. His gayness, however, kept popping out in little places. Still, he added a touch a class to the series.

The character of Annie Wheaton reminded me a lot of Carrie and the little girl from Firestarter, Charlie McGee. Anybody who can makes giant stones and rocks fall from the sky when pissed off is to be avoided at all cost in my little book of advice. The actress who played her, Kimberly Brown, didn't seem to do much acting, other than to roll her eyes from side to side, or to glance down in shyness when dealing with the handsome lad who played Steven Rimbauer. I know she was supposed to be autistic, but still. Also, she was supposed to be fifteen, but looked closeer to eleven or twelve. I thought for a while that there was going to be a romantic spark between her and the Rimbauer guy.

I would've liked to have seen more of Emily Deschanel (from the TV show, Bones) as Pam Asbury. She had a good role, but died too quickly in the plot. Her ghost, however, was used to seduce two of the male members out of their bedrooms at night, setting them up for their deaths.

My last mention is Judith Ivery as the Christian automatic psychic handwriter. Judith played a Christian mother in The Devil's Advocate with Keanu Reeves as her son. That was definitely a much better movie all the way around, but she plays a believable Christian of the Baptist sort. She also looked much younger here than in the earlier movie.

What was really enjoyable about the film was the way the production team did the house of Rose Red. That was scary. The house had it all from hallways of an infinite length to upside-down rooms to the ghosts of beautiful celebrities who might end up in your bed at night to the mysterious shapes underneath the carpets and bedspreads to the wicked-looking hands appearing from under the beds. For television, some of these scares were pretty damn good.

On the flip side, a lot of things taking place were also just plain stupid and took away from the dark atmosphere of the series. The professor who was head of the university department and the university newspaper reporter weren't needed at all and took away from the storyline. They were just filler to make the script longer. Emery's mom was totally unnecessary as was the back story on Annie Wheaton and her sister. I rolled my own eyes at some of the shenanigans taking place. Of course, after a number of people have died and the group is now aware of the dangers inside the house, you still had members taking off by themselves like idiots. Always stay in a group, people! Don't these guys learn anything from watching the slasher movies?

Still, the series could have been worse. I would easily give it a C+ or a very low B- for effort. Oh, Stephen King had a camero as the pizza delivery guy. He played for all it was worth!

The extras certainly left a lot to be desired. Rather than dealing with the making of the television movie, the DVD goes off on a tangent about the series being based on true events that have been discussed in the actual Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, which was later the bases for the TV movie of that name. The extras would get a big "F" from me.

So, would I buy this DVD again, knowing what I do about the movie? Yes, I would. I got it from Amazon for five bucks, which was an excellent price. The movie was worth that much, and it was a good way to kill (no pun intended) a few hours.

A short note on The Burning Lake by Brent Ghelfi (the 4th Volk novel)

2011-11-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

The Burning Lake by Brent Ghelfi is the fourth novel in the "Volk" series (Volk's Game, Volk's Shadow, and The Venona Cable). Volk is Alexei Volkovoy, a Russian agent, who works behind the scenes for the General. Volk has done it all. He's been a member of the Russian Special Forces, a sniper, an assassin, and a mover of valuable goods under the radar of government institutions. He has one love in his life, Valya, who has saved his life more than once over the years. Volk also has only one foot, having lost the other during several months of torture.

In the newest "Volk" novel, our Russian agent is out for revenge against the killers who murdered a former lover of his, journalist Katarina Mironoua, who was also known as Kato. She reported the truth of Russia as she saw it, detailing a multitude of tragedies and making a ton of important enemies in the political arena. Someone finally decided to have her killed when she did a piece on the radioactive village of Metlino. Her body was eventually discovered in a shallow grave alongside the Techa River.

With the blessing of the General, Volk begins his investigation and soon discovers that there's a connection to America, France, and other countries in search of places to dump their radioactive waste. This also leads to the C.I.A. and a sadistic French assassin who enjoys his work too much. Before it's over, Volk will be paying a visit to Las Vegas and Mexico, hunting down the murderers one by one and doing what he's best at--killing them.

Like the "John Rain" series by Barry Eisler, the "Volk" novels offer the reader an exciting story that's told from a different perspective with the lead character as kind of an anti-hero. Yes, Volk is a killer, but he also has conscious that eats away at the things he's done in the past, forcing him to do good every so often. This series is excellently written and gives you an inside look at the way Russia and its assassins work in carrying out missions and surviving in the world theater. Highly recommended to those looking for a new thriller to read that's fresh, exciting, and offers something different.

My short story, Merry Christmas, to be published in a few weeks!

2011-11-13T00:01:00.000-08:00

The special Christmas issue that's being put out by Morpheus Tales in England will have a short story by me that's titled, "Merry Christmas". The issue will be free and in e-book format. Because of the story's hard content, Morpheus Tales was the only magazine that would actually touch it. All the American editors shied away from the story. For some strange reason, I tend to write a lot of fiction that no one wants. Not because the stories are necessarily bad, but rather because of their unusual content. Who knows? Anyway, the Christmas issue will be available at Morpheus Tales' website in December. All you have to do is download it.

A short note on Stephen King's newest novel, 11/22/63

2011-11-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

I just got King's new novel, 11/22/63 in the mail today. I have to tell you that I want to start reading it right now, but I still have another book to finish. I wasn't expecting to get 11/22/63 till the latter part of this coming week. If I don't finish the book I'm reading now (Barry Eisler's new John Rain novel, The Detachment), it won't get done. I'm bad that way with books. Besides, the John Rain novel is pretty damn good. Still, I'm been anxious to read 11/22/63 for eleven months, waiting for it to finally come out. It's thick and heavy and long as hell, but I'll managed to get it done one way or another. Yeah, Stephen King!

Review of the DVD, Tales From the Script, directed by Peter Hasnon

2011-11-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

If you're someone who plans to write, or has written a screenplay, with the intention of selling it and then seeing it produced as a major motion picture, then this DVD is definitely for you. I've read dozens of books over the years on how to write a movie script, but this DVD, along with the book by William Goldman, Adventures In the Screen Trade, have been the best and most enjoyable experiences I've had in dealing with the movie business and how difficult it is for a newcomer to break in, or even for a seasoned pro to sell one of his screenplays.

The DVD of Tales From the Script (this is also available in Trade Paperback format with even more information in it) has interviews with many of the most well-known movie writers of the last fifty years who are still alive, as well as some who are not known outside of the business. The thing is all the interviews here offer you food for thought, and each screenwriter has something important to say about his or her career and making it in the entertainment industry.

First thing you need to understand is that this DVD doesn't teach you how to write a movie script. Everyone involved with this project already assumes you know how to do that, though some thoughts are expressed on structure and how everyone seems to think there's nothing to actually writing a screenplay. Just have Fade In at the beginning with some words and commas in the middle, and then Fade Out at the end. That's all it takes.

Wrong.

Writing a high-concept screenplay and selling it is as difficult as writing a bestselling novel and selling it to a publisher. If everyone could write a great script, the theaters would be filled with Oscar-caliber movies that had large box-office grosses, instead of films that are off the screens almost as fast as they first appear on it.

Here's two important thoughts to keep in mind about the business that were expressed by veteran writer, William Goldman, who was a novelist and playwriter long before he wrote his first script for actor, Cliff Robertson.

The first thing that Bill Goldman says, "Is that no one sets out to make a bad movie. Everyone does their absolute best within the framework of their budget, the skills of their director, the quality of the script, the acting chops of the performers, the editing of the film, and the music soundtrack. Unlike writing a novel, the making of a movie is a collaborative effort that starts with the screenplay. Without a screenplay there is no movie." I was kind of paraphrasing here, but this is essentially what he meant.

The second piece of advice is now famous in the annals of the Hollywood film industry. It's simply that "Nobody knows nothing." What this means is that no one knows what makes a great film or a bad one. It's all a toss of the dice. You may think you made a bad movie, then the sucker is fixed in the editing room, and turns around and wins an Academy Award for Best Picture. Then again, you may think you made the best film possible, only to have no one come to see it. That's why it's all a crapshoot. Nobody knows nothing. Keep that in the back of your mind.

The people being interviewed on this DVD are writers you may not know, but their movies you certainly will: William Goldman (Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, and All the President's Men), Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost, Deep Impact, My Life, The Time Traveller's Wife), Steven E. de Souza (Die Hard, Die Hard 2, 48 Hours, Another 48 Hours), Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and The Long Kiss Goodnight), John Carpenter (Halloween, The Fog, The Thing, and Christine), Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers, the television mini-series for The Stand, The Shining, and Bag of Bones on A & E this December), Paul Schrader (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and The Yakuza), Ron Shelton (Bull Durham and Tin Cup), David S. Ward (The Sting and Sleepless In Seattle), David Hayter (X-Men), and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist, and The Walking Dead). There are also other writers who are interviewed, but the names above give you a general idea of the quality of the information being presented here.

Here's a short summary of some of the things disscussed. The first is that there are over a quarter-of-a-million writers in Los Angeles and everyone of them has a script to sell. The catch is that no one wants your script. They don't have the time to read it. They already have a ton of writers who are established so what do they need you for? Getting your first script read and then produced is like the opening of Saving Privat Ryan with the Normandy beach sequence. This is where the American soldiers get out of the landing crafts and then have to make it up the beach without getting shot. It's a nearly impossible task, but some make it on the first wave. Afterwards, you stand there in surprise and shock that you're actually still alive and made it. That's what it's like starting out in the movie business. You have to be so passionate and believe so strongly in yourself that you never give up, no matter how many rejections you receive. As one writer said, "You may get a hundred rejections, but all you need is one sale to make it."

Another thing to be aware of is that there are a number of people who will probably like your screenplay and tell you how great you are. The thing is nobody ever buys the script or calls you back. The producers and agents will tell you the exact same thing they told the last flavor of the month. The only sure thing is whether or not your scripts get turned into films that make tons of money. Being known as a writer who makes the studios a lot of money is about the best reputation to have in Los Angeles.

Okay, so you write the perfect script (not that there is such as thing), what can you expect? Well, to be rewritten by somebody else is probably the correct answer, unless you're able to produce and direct your movie. Almost every single writer has experienced that for themselves on both sides of the coin. They get called into the head honcho's office at a major studio about their wonderful screenplay and then get offered the job of rewritting someone's else's script. Paul Schrader talks about how he was doing rewrites of his own script of The Yakuza in two-story bungalow on the Warner Brother's lot and directly below him in the bottom bungalow was Robert Towne, who was also doing rewrites of the same movie. Paul didn't know about it at the time, and he when he found out what was happening, he didn't feel very good. John Carpenter advises new writers to learn to love it because it's going to happen whether you want it to or not. Almost all studio executives will bring in other writers to make sure the script is up to par. I mean what executive wants to take the chance of losing his studio a hundred million dollars and then finding himself fired? It's easier for most execs to simply say "no" to a great script and not take any chances.

One of the people being interviewed talked about how he had to go into therapy because he was seeing his scripts produced on a smaller scale, but wwanted a bigger career. In therapy, he met another writer who was making big money writing scripts, but none of them had ever been produced. The first writer decided he didn't need therapy after all. The son of Bruce Joel Rubin (the man who won an Oscar for writing Ghost), had an easy time breaking into the film community because of his dad, but he still hasn't been able to make a script sale yet. David Ward, who won an Academy Award for The Sting and also wrote Sleepless In Seattle, stated that a writer should be happy if he gets paid for his screenplay whether it gets produced or not. The director doesn't get paid unless the movie is made, and the actor doesn't paid, either, unless there's a specific contract. Only the writer gets paid. If it turns out the movie sucks, the studio can't ask for their money back. You get to keep it all.

Shane Black, who wrote Lethal Weapon, was paid 4 million dollars for his spec script, The Long Kiss Goodnight, only to see the movie flop at the Box Office. He then took a hiatus from the business for several years to think things over. He said the big payday probably hurt him more than a smaller fee would have.

Frank Darabont talks about how The Shawshank Redemption did nothing at the Box Office, until it was nominated for seven Academy Awards the following year. It was then re-released and made more money and cemented his position as one of Hollywood's best screenwriters and directors. Though this isn't on the DVD, Darabont was let go by the executives of AMC from his hit TV series, The Walking Dead, last July. This was a show with the most positive reviews and the largest viewing audience of any independent television show for its first season. Still, the executives wanted to cut the costs for the second season and what better way to do it than by getting rid of the executive producer who's also the main writer and director of the series. That's Hollywood! Success is no guarantee, but it's better than having a string of losers.

Now, there's nothing fair about Hollywood. You can have a deal in the works that has been reported in the trade papers, only to have it cancelled at the last moment for no apparent reason. That happens all the time in Tinsel Town. There's something else I want to mention. It's not discussed on the DVD, but a professional screenwriter told me this a few weeks ago. He's in his early sixties. He said that Hollywood was a young person's town. Once you hit age fifty, it's hard to get a meeting with anyone unless you've had a big hit during the past year or two.

The basic series of interviews run a 105 minutes on the disc. There's also an extra 48 minutes of interviews in the Special Features section, along with a twelve-minute segment called The Gospel According to Bill (William) Goldman and a nine minute free-for-all that deals with advice for the beginning screenplay writer.

There's a ton of useful information on this DVD, and it's worth whatever you have to pay for it, which should be between $13 and $20, depending on where you buy the disc. This is something every would-be screenwriter needs to watch, plus it's just damn interesting and funny at times. I could've watch another two hours and not been bored. The Gospel According to Bill Goldman should have been an hour long. Bill Goldman doesn't hold anything back and tells it like it is. His first screenplay assignment was when Cliff Robertson hired him to write the movie, Charly, during the early sixties. Bill wrote the script and then was fired from the job. Cliff Robertson then went on to win the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in that movie. Bill Goldman then went on to win an Oscar for his second script, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Highly recommended to those who want to write movies or who simply love movies!

A review of the DVD for Angel Heart, starring Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro

2011-11-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Though Angle Heart isn’t what I would call a slasher/dasher film, it’s still one of the best horror films made before the turn of the century. It’s what I would refer to as a slow burn, edging its way carefully toward a mind-numbing climax that leaves you drained because you’ve learned to care for the lead character and what happens to him. You see, Harry Angel isn’t really a bad guy, plus he tries to do the right thing as a private investigator. True, he’s somewhat of a low life; but then again, it’s the perfect set up from beginning to end with each clue leaving the reader with a strong desire to find out more about this person and the missing guy he’s searching for.

As writer and director of the film that’s based on the bestselling novel, Falling Angel, by William Hjortsberg, Alan Parker made a number of changes in the storyline. I’ll discuss those after I briefly give you a rundown of the main theme of the story.

For the movie, the time period is 1955, instead of 1959 in the novel. Harry Angel is at the bottom of the barrel as far as private investigators go. When he’s hired by a law firm to help a somewhat bizarre gentleman, Louis Cyphre, to find a missing person from the forties, Harry makes the comment that he must have been picked out of the phone book because his last name is the first listed under detective agencies—Angel. The client wants Harry to find a missing crooner named Johnny Favorite, who was on his way to becoming a big success when he was suddenly drafted into the Army during World War II. Johnny went overseas as an entertainer, but was seriously injured during an air raid. He was later sent home and ended up in a clinic located in upper New York. Cyphre had a contract with Johnny and wants it honored. He knows Favorite is supposed to be in the clinic and hires Harry to check into it to see if a con is being pulled on him.

After some snooping around in upper New York, Harry quickly discovers that a man named Edward Kelly and a mysterious woman signed Johnny Favorite out of the clinic on the day World War II ended in Europe. The doctor who gives Harry the important information is then murdered right under the investigator’s nose. That makes Harry not only suspect in the murder, but also weary of the entire situation. Cyphre talks him into continuing with the case by upping the fee. It isn’t long before the P.I. finds out that the crooner had two girlfriends in town. One was a fortune teller who operated out of Coney Island and the other owned an herbal store in Harlem. The case eventually leads Harry Angel to New Orleans where all hell breaks loose and the bodies start piling up like logs for a fireplace.

One of the good things about the movie is Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of Harry Angel and Robert De Niro’s performance as Louis Cyphre. Though Angel is definitely at the bottom of the economic ladder, you still come to like the man. When he takes a job, he gives it his all and doesn’t mess around. He’s the first one to tell Cyphre that Johnny Favorite is probably better left alone because this was not a nice guy and few people liked him. De Niro as Louis Cyphre gives you the creeps, especially when he’s eating a hard-boiled egg. The way his dark eyes stare into the camera sends shivers down your spine. The thing is De Niro is seldom in the movie. He only has four scenes, but he steals them every time with his brilliant, but underplayed performance. Rourke tries gamely to stay up with him, but it’s a challenge. You can tell at times that De Niro is also having fun with the role. Rourke does much better when out on his own, attempting to find Favorite.

Another aspect I enjoyed about Harry Angel that wasn’t in the novel was the fact he had a thing with chickens. He hated chickens, and they always seemed to come up throughout the film. It was funny at times, which helped to ease the growing tension.

I also liked the shift of location from New York City to New Orleans about halfway through the movie. It added more flavor to the film and made the Voodoo ritual that Angel sees out in the bayou more poignant and realistic. Voodoo is still practiced quite heavily in the Deep South, though mostly for good things and not bad.

I thought Lisa Bonet as Epiphany Proudfoot was an excellent choice. She’s not only beautiful, but smart with a kind of cunning intelligence that matches Harry Angel’s good sense. Also, Charlotte Rampling as Margaret Krusemark was another smart choice. I’ve been a fan of Ms. Rampling’s since 1974 when she did the movies, Caravan to Vaccares, Zardoz, and The Night Porter. She fit the role of Margaret Krusemark like a handcrafted glove. I just wish she’d had more time on camera.

I feel the movie is excellent is every way. Director Alan Parker captures New York City in the mid-fifties perfectly with locations, dress, vehicles, and the entire atmosphere of the place. The actors bring solid performances to the film that make you forget who they actually are and to focus on the characters they’re playing. In one scene, a lot of exposition (or information) has to be given to the audience about what’s going on. In the novel, Harry Angel meets with several reporters to gather the information. In the movie, however, Mr. Parker decided it would be more interesting if the necessary information was given by a female reporter while she and Harry were playing around in bed. It worked for me.

The Special Edition of the DVD of Angel Heart has new documentaries on the making of the film and why Alan Parker made changes in it, a film commentary with Mickey Rourke, interviews with Mickey Rourke, the problems Lisa Bonet faced at the time because of her role on the Bill Crosby comedy television show versus the nude scenes in the movie, and a look at Voodoo and how realistically the director tried to portray the rituals in the film.

For me this is a movie I never get tired of watching. It’s on my Top Ten List of best horror films ever made. Like the novel it’s based on, Falling Angel, the film is also a slow burn. The journey you take, however, is one that won’t be forgotten, and it has a powerful ending that will leave you breathless once everything is revealed. Highly recommended!

A review of Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg

2011-11-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

What I’m going to do here is write a review of the novel, Falling Angel, by William Hjortsberg, and then do a review of the film adaptation of the book, Angel Heart, which was written for the screen and directed by Alan Parker, and starred Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro and Lisa Bonet. I originally read the novel in paperback around 1979, but I’ve seen the movie at least a dozen times since it came out in 1987. I think both of them are excellent and deserve an individual review.

In 1979, horror fiction was starting to establish itself as a genre where writers could actually make a living. Stephen King had already published Carrie, Salem’s Lot, The Shining, Night Shift, and The Stand came out that year and blew all of his fans away. Peter Straub’s Ghost Story came out, too. Robert McCammon had already had Baal published in 1978, and though there were no novels in 1979, he had two come out in 1980. Charles L. Grant and Ramsey Campbell were also starting to come upon the scene with Dean Koontz and Phantoms just around the corner. It was a great time to be a reader and to be a writer of horror fiction.

In 1978, Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg was published in hardcover, but it didn’t make a really big splash until the following year when the paperback edition came out. This novel quickly cemented Mr. Hjortsberg’s fame as a horror writer, giving him a solid fan base. I, and other fans, eagerly awaited a second horror novel by him, but it didn’t come out. As it turned out, Falling Angels was Mr. Hjortsberg’s one shot at the big time in the publishing world. Though he wrote a few other novels, none of them made a lasting impression like Falling Angel. This was an original. No one had ever written anything like it before. When the movie was eventually made in late eighties, it also proved to be a winner with both Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro at the helm. As the author is quick to point out, Falling Angel has been in print in one format or another for the last thirty years, which is quite an amazing accomplishment, considering that this was his only bestseller. Having read the novel first in 1979 and then again a few weeks ago, I can say it definitely stands the test of time. Even knowing what's going to happen, especially after seeing the film so many times, I still found myself enjoying the book and rushing to get to the end. Make no mistake, Falling Angel is still a winner thirty-three years later!

While the movie takes place in both New York City (plus the town of Poughkeepsie in upper state New York) and New Orleans during 1955, the book keeps to basically one location—New York City during the year of 1959. A down and out private investigator, Harry Angel, is hired by a rather strange elegantly dressed gentleman, Louis Cyphre, through the law firm of attorney Herman Winesap. It seems that Mr. Cyphre needs a missing crooner found, Johnny Favorite, who disappeared during World War II after been drafted during his swift rise to success, wounded, and then returned to the states in a somewhat vegetative state of mind. Johnny sang with the Spider Simpson band and was the first real singer to hit the big time before Sinatra came along. Cyphre and Favorite also had a contract with each other, and Cyphre wants to make sure it’s honored.

Somehow, Cyphre discovers that Favorite had been placed in the Emma Dodd Harvest Memorial Clinic in Poughkeepsie as a patient upon returning home. He supposedly is still there. When Cyphre attempted to see Favorite, the staff said no. Now, he wants Harry Angel to find out what’s going on and to see if Favorite is really a patient.

After some snooping around that leads to the death of Favorite’s previous doctor, Angel finds out that the crooner was a patient there in the early forties, but was released into the care of a man named Edward Kelly right at the end of World War II. Angel now has to track down all of Favorite’s old friends to see if he ever made contact with them. This eventually leads Harry Angel into the world of Black Magic and Voodoo. It seems that Favorite was a practitioner of the dark arts and supposedly conjured up the devil during a Black Mass. Harry Angel finds out about Johnny’s old girlfriend, Margaret Krusemark, who’s the daughter of a wealthy shipping tycoon and a practitioner of black magic, too. Johnny Favorite also had a girlfriend on the side, who was heavily into Voodoo and owned an herbal store. The thing that really scares Angel is the fact that bodies start turning up wherever his investigation takes him. It looks to him as if he’s being set up to take a fall for something he didn’t do. Before the novel is over, however, this will turn out to be the least of his worries as Angle discovers the truth about Johnny Favorite and where he is.

One thing that Falling Angel does, besides entertain you, is to give you a close look at New York City in 1959. The author provides the reader with a detailed tour of the town that adds authenticity to the plot. You feel as though you’re actually there as Harry Angel searches the city for information about his missing crooner. The novel was also written with precision and clarity that offers a vivid picture of the cultural times and the individual characters. Even without the actors from the movie, you find yourself able to picture each character as if they’re real people. This enables the reader to get close to some of the fictional characters and to feel some measure of surprise as more and more of the truth slowly comes out. I won’t say the novel is scary, but it’s certainly creepy.

I do have one question concerning the story. In it, the author has the character of Louis Cyphre doing magic shows in various places throughout the city. I never quite understood the reasoning for that. Alan Parker left that part out of the movie, which was probably a good idea. The film seemed to work quite well without it. Besides, I can’t really see Robert De Niro doing magic shows. He already established his presence quite well without the necessity of that.

If you haven’t read this novel or seen the film, then you owe it to yourself to do so. You’re in for a very special treat. You won’t be disappointed in how good the book turns out to be, even after thirty-three years. If you’re like me, however, you’ll wonder why the author didn’t return with an even bigger and better second novel to blow his new fans away. A Highly recommended classic in the field of horror.

A review of The Three Musketeers (2011), directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

2011-10-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Back during the late fifties, I got hooked as kid on swashbuckling movies with Errol Flynn, Tyrone Powell, Gene Kelly in The Three Musketeers, the great Jose Ferrer in Cyrano De Bergerac, and Stewart Granger in Scaramouche. I loved it when the hero took on the major villain with a sword in hand, fighting a duel to the death…sometimes fighting several men at one time like Flynn did in The Sea Hawk. Even after fifty years, I still get excited when going to see a swashbuckling movie. The last two that come to mind are The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro. Now, there’s a remake of The Three Musketeers that’s been directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who did The Resident Evil movies with his wife, Milla Jovovich.

Before I went to see this film, I read three-or-four really bad reviews about the movie. The reviews didn’t detour me from wanting to see the film so I went any way. I watched it as I would have a Saturday matinee movie when I was a kid. In that respect, it was definitely a fun movie and the sword-fighting scenes were excellent. Now, a good bit of the film has nothing whatsoever to do with the novel by Dumas. Keep that in mind if you go to see it. This movie takes place in its own little universe, and a lot of the main actors look so young that they reminded me of children. That’s how old I’ve gotten. Still, I found myself getting caught up in the plot, which is basically the same as in the novel and the previous films based on The Three Musketeers, but with a number of changes to update it for the young crowd of movie goers.

The film movie opens up with the three Musketeers sneaking into the Vatican vaults to steal the diagrams by Da Vinci for a war machine that is actually a flying dirigible. The Musketeers have to take out Vatican guards, endure booby traps, and then betrayal from their accomplice, Milady de Winter and her new employer, the Duke of Buckingham, who’s sporting an Elvis Presley hairdo. This sets up a number of scenes later in the film between all the actors and the conflict of this very personal betrayal.

Moving from the Vatican, the film then cuts to a very young looking D’Artagnan (played by Logan Lerman), fencing with his father, a former Musketeer, out in the field of their farm in Gascony, France. It’s a good way to show us what D’Artagnan is capable of with a sword. Anyway, D’Artagnan leaves the farm and heads to Paris with the intention of joining the King’s Musketeers. On the journey, he stops at an inn and encounters the Comte de Rochefort (played by Mads Mikkelsen, who was in King Arthur and Casino Royale) and his men. When the Comte makes fun of his horse, D’Artagnan challenges the Frenchman to a duel. Unfortunately, while D’Artagnan prepares for a sword fight, the Comte pulls out a musket-type handgun and shoots him in the shoulder. Only the intervention of Milady de Winter (played by the gorgeous Milla Jovovich, star of the Resident Evil movies) prevents the Comte from killing the boy. D’Artagnan, however, vows to get revenge against the Comte at a later date. This is more fuel for later scenes.

When D’Artagnan eventually arrives in Paris, he somehow spots the Comte in a crowd of people on the very first day there and chases after him, only to bump into Athos, Porthos and Aramis. The three encounters lead to three challenges for later in the day. D’Artagnan no sooner arrives at the designated spot for the three duels when Athos shows up with Porthos and Aramis trailing behind him to act as seconds. The three musketeers are amazed that D’Artagnan has been in town for less than a day, yet already three duels arranged with them. The young Gascon doesn’t care. He’s ready to fight all three of them together if need be, but that doesn’t happen. The guards for the Cardinal Richelieu (played by the very talented Christopher Waltz) arrive to arrest all four men for dueling. You see dueling has been outlawed by King Louis XIII because too many of French noblemen are being killed off by each other. So, since there are forty guards, the three Musketeers and D’Artagnan decide to take them on in a free-for-all. And, boy, is it a free-for-all. Though I doubt there were fighters back during the early 1600s who could do the stunts we see in the movie, it was still fun to watch. The sword-fighting choreography was excellent. During this fight, D’Artagnan meets Constance on the sideline, who’s one of the ladies in waiting for the Queen of France. Needless to say, the boy falls madly in love with her and is more than willing to do whatever she asks of him. Ah, young love!

Further down the road, the three Musketeers and D’Artagnan are called before King Louis XIII to be punished at Cardinal Richelieu’s request. Upon hearing the four men took on forty of the Cardinal’s guards, the king decides to reward them instead. That doesn’t make the Cardinal happy, who is determined to rid himself of the Queen of France and her weak husband. He devises a plan with the help of Milady de Winter to set up the queen in a scandal. They plant love letters from the Duke of Buckingham in her desk drawer and supposedly stash a very expensive necklace that was given to her by the king in Buckingham’s private safe in the Tower of London. Richelieu then entices King Louis to throw a ball and to have his queen wear the missing necklace. The three Musketeers and D’Artagnan are asked by Constance to retrieve the necklace in time for the ball so the queen won’t be executed by an angry, cuckolded king. This is a dire change from the novel and other films because the Queen of France was having an affair with the Duke and did give him a necklace in order to display her passion for him.

Of course, D’Artagnan and his three comrades will have to fight the Duke of Buckingham. The Duke and the Musketeers have a grudge to settle from the beginning of the movie. The fight with Buckingham and his men include the use of flying dirigibles (gigantic floating devices attached to the top of war ships armed with cannons) as it does with the fight against the Comte de Rochefort and the Cardinal’s guards, who are attempting to prevent the Musketeers from reaching the queen in time.

The ending of the film is set up nicely, though unrealistically, for a sequel. One of the main characters manages to survive a fall into the ocean from several hundred feet up in the air and then is miraculously saved from drowning by Buckingham’s approaching armada. If this doesn’t have your eyes rolling in disbelief, I don’t know what will. Keep in mind, however, that this is a Saturday morning matinee movie and not to be taken too seriously. Bizarre and unrealistic things transpire in Saturday matinees.

Besides having excellent sword-fighting sequences in the film that were choreographed by sword master Roman Spacil with Brian Danner working with Logan Lerman on his fencing techniques, I felt the special effects were generally pretty good as well. I enjoyed the way old France was portrayed. The matte paintings and CGI effects made me feel as if I was in France during the 1600s with the bridges over the Seine River and the city of Paris spread out around the king’s palace and the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Even the airships looked somewhat realistic in certain scenes.
I certainly enjoyed the three actors as Porthos, Athos and Aramis. I thought they captured their roles perfectly. Christopher Waltz was ideal as Cardinal Richelieu though I kept expecting him to start speaking with a heavier German accent from his previous Oscar-winning role in Inglourious Bastards.

One of the main things I had a problem with was that a lot of the actors and actresses looked like children, though they were actually in their late teens to early twenties. D’Artagnan looked like a young teenager as did King Louis and his queen and Constance. Another thing is that Logan Lerman, who played D’Artagnan kept reminding me of a young Tim Matheson, who played in Animal House back during the seventies. I thought throughout the film that the Comte de Rochefort was being played by Michael Wincott, who played the same character in the 1993 version of The Three Musketeers. It was until the end credits ran that I realized Mads Mikkelson was the actor behind the leather eye patch.

Let’s not forget that near the beginning of the film, Aramis is giving D’Artagnan a citation because his horse was leaving a distasteful mess on the dirt street. I don’t remember much about French history, but I don’t think the King of France had his Musketeers handing out citations for horse manure in the streets of Paris. Maybe two hundred years later, but certainly not the early 1600s. If I’m wrong, please correct me on this historic fact.

Milla Jovovich’s portrayal of Milady de Winter was quite different from the character in the novel and in the previous films about The Three Musketeers. Nowhere does Milady fight a number of men with a sword, or jump off the top of buildings with a harness attached to her body, or slide under booby traps, or parade around in her sexy lingerie. Since it is Milla Jovovich, I accepted her stunts as part of the character’s personality and actually found myself looking forward to them, wondering what she would do next. Of course, surviving the ending turned out to be her greatest feat of all. It also didn’t hurt that Milla is still a beautiful lady in every sense of the word. I could definitely understand Athos being so much in love with her.

While I would probably rate this movie a 7 out of 10 as a delightful Saturday morning matinee film, you can’t go into the theater expecting to see a serious version of The Three Musketeers. This isn’t it. What this movie offers is two hours of pure fun and entertainment, fabulous stunts and special effects, brainless action, and little of actual substance. I liked it, while others haven’t. For me, however, Gene Kelly in the 1948 version of The Three Musketeers will be what I compare every other remake to, which in a way was a grown-up’s version of a Saturday morning matinee movie over sixty years ago.

Review of The Affair by Lee Child (a Reacher novel)

2011-10-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

I began reading the “Jack Reacher” novels in 1998 when the The Killing Floor was first published in a mass-market paperback. After finishing it, I immediate passed it around to other employees at the old Stardust Hotel here in Las Vegas. The novel was a winner in every sense of the word. Everyone who read The Killing Floor was hooked just as I was. We couldn’t wait for the next book to come out. I, however, was the only one to buy the hardcover of Die Trying. I couldn’t wait another year for the paperback to be published. From then on I’ve read every “Jack Reacher” novel in hardcover within a month or so of it hitting the stands. All of the books have been good, while some of them have actually been great. Still, I secretly felt as if Mr. Child would never be able to top his first novel…that The Killing Floor would always remain his best.
Wrong!

The newest “Jack Reacher” novel, The Affair, has now taken over the mantle as the best of the series. I kid you not. This novel had me staying up late at night, reading it as quickly as I could. Only work, a movie, and sleep interrupted my progress. I knew it was going to be great within the first few chapters and the author didn’t disappoint me.

The Affair takes place while Reacher is still in the Army during the year of 1997. In fact, it’s his last mission before being booted out of the service for being an honest cop who always gets to the truth of any situation, no matter what the consequences. This time around, Reacher is ordered to Carter Crossing, Mississippi to act as an undercover investigator in the brutal slaying of a beautiful white woman, who may have been dating the commander of the nearby military base. The base is where an elite group of Rangers hold house when not fighting in Kosovo. The commander, Reed Riley, is the son of a powerful senator, who also happens to control the purse strings of the armed forces. This is a situation in which bad results could affect everyone involved.

Once Reacher arrives in Carter Crossing, he encounters the local sheriff, Elizabeth Deveraux, an ex-Marine and the daughter of the previous sheriff. She’s as tough as they come and as beautiful as any woman Reacher has ever seen. Not trusting each other at first, both gradually join forces as more deaths occur. Reacher also discovers that the white woman wasn’t the first female killed by being hung upside down and having her throat slit open. There were two black women before her who were just as lovely and who were also dating the base’s commander.

It’s difficult for Reacher to remain undercover for long. Just his size alone makes him stand out, not the mention the countless questions he starts asking the locals. Some of the locals don’t like him being there, and he has to take on several of them to prove his not someone you want to mess around with. Even six rednecks against one military police officer don’t have much of a chance in succeeding once Reacher is riled up.

Anyway, as Reacher slowly, but methodically, gets closer to the truth, he finds the officers above him putting roadblocks in front of every steps he stays. All they’re concerned with is protecting the Army’s good name, not in finding out the identity of the killer or the truth behind what’s been happening in Carter Crossing. Reacher soon becomes intimately involved with the sheriff, only to find out that all roads seem to come back to her and that she has connections to the base commander and certainly knows how to kill someone with a sharp hunter’s knife. Reacher definitely has his work cut out for him this time around. If the killer doesn’t get to him first, the Army just might.

Who do you trust?

No one.

In many ways, I consider The Affair to be a perfect crime novel that’s filled with just the right amount of suspense, action, extremely strong character development, hooks that grab you at the end of most chapters, and a twist or two at the end. Lee Child is definitely a master of the written word, and this time around he’s knocked the ball right out the park. Crime novels don’t get much better than this.

The author also manages to capture the small-town atmosphere correctly and how dependent the community is on the nearby military base for its financial security. I’ve known towns just like Carter Crossing in North Carolina where Camp Lejune and Cherry Point Marine Corp Base are located. So much of the town is made up of bars, adult bookstores, pawn shops, cheap furniture stores, and used car lots. If a base closes up shop, the town quickly disappears as all the businesses close.

And, what about the main character—Jack Reacher? It was fun to see how everything began for our huge, slightly tarnished hero and how he ended up being voluntarily discharged from the Army after the case was over. He knew it was coming if he stayed on the same path in his quest for find a murderer, but it still surprised him when it happened. You put your life on the line time and time again in the service for your country, only to discover that the upper brass doesn’t give a rat’s ass about you and what you’ve sacrificed to get the job done. Such is the way with large corporations, and the U. S. Army is definitely a large corporation. Of course, if Reacher hadn’t been cashiered out of the military, we wouldn’t have a sixteen-novel series to read by Lee Child.

So, if you’re waiting for the paperback to come out…don’t. Run out and get this hardcover right now, whether it’s new or used. You don’t want to wait a year to read this. It’s that good! Now, all I want to know is how the author intends to top this one.

Review of The Thing, directed by Matthijs Van Heijningen

2011-10-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to see The Thing last night. I guess all I wanted was to be was scared a little with Halloween just around the corner. Though the movie isn’t great, it’s certainly entertaining with at least three moments where you jump a good several inches in your seat even if you’re expecting the surprise. I’m an old hand at movies, but the director, Matthijs Van Heijningen, clearly knows how to set up scenes and to make audiences jump out of their skin. It definitely made the film more fun, which is exactly what a movie experience should be.

Now, this film opens up in the Antarctic in 1982 just like John Carpenter’s version of The Thing did in 1982. It’s hard to believe that thirty years have already gone by. Anyway, three Norwegians are traveling through the snowy, isolated region in a mini-bus, trying to find the location of a faint signal being given off by something. What? They don’t know. We do, but they don’t. When the bus finally stops at the exact location of the signal (there’s nothing around the bus for miles), the guys kind of scratch their heads in bewilderment. That’s when the ice below the bus breaks and it suddenly tumbles down a long cavernous shoot and eventually gets stuck between the icy walls. When the driver of the bus manages to turn on the headlights, the three men see a tremendously large spacecraft trapped further below.

The film then cuts to a university where paleontologist, Kate Lloyd (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), is studying a dead creature. The creature looks like an ancient walrus. Her friend, Adam Goldman (played by Eric Christian Olson), shows up and wants to introduce her to the great scientist, Dr. Sander Halvorson (played by Ulrich Thomsen). Dr. Halvorson wants Kate to join them on a trip to the Antarctic to study a new find, but he won’t tell her what it is. Naturally, this triggers her curiosity, and she gradually agrees to the trip.

The small team fly in to the Norwegian base camp on a helicopter, flown by Carter (played by Joel Edgerton), who you think will be taking over the Kirk Russell role. He’s handsome, rugged, and smart in the ways of the world. The perfect hero!

Not so.

When the alien finally wakes up from its deep hibernation, it’s Kate who becomes the kick-ass leader and takes charge of everything much to the dismay of the scientists…even her anal-retentive boss. There were a couple of scenes where Kate reminded me rather strongly of Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in Alien and Aliens. I suspect this was intentional on the part of the director. There’s also a scene near the end when the alien unfolds itself inside the spacecraft that was reminiscent of Alien.
Okay, like the 1982 version of The Thing (based on short story, Who Goes There by John W. Campbell), pretty much everybody dies in the movie, except for the heroine and a couple of other people. I have to tell you that everybody dies pretty damn quickly. The alien doesn’t waste any time getting down to business. Of course, you don’t always know who the alien is because it mimics everyone so successfully that you’re surprised when it turns out to be a person you didn’t suspect.

There are certainly things I liked about the film and things I still have questions about because the answers were avoided by the director, or maybe cut out so that a Director’s Cut of the movie on DVD could be done for later sales. I don’t know. Anyway, don’t read any further, unless you’re willing to meet a movie spoiler face on.

One question that stayed in my mind throughout the entire film was how the three Norwegians managed to escape from their trapped mini-bus at the beginning. They weren’t ten feet down inside a crevice, but rather more like a hundred feet. The mini-bus was wedged in tightly between the walls, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t slip down even further as time progressed. How they escape is never shown or explained to the audience. Of course, it’s mentioned later as almost an afterthought that the Norwegians have a crane for heavy lifting, but then we have to make an assumption here about them using it to pull the bus out of the crevice, and I don’t like doing that.

Another big question that is never explained is what happened to the Norwegian, Lars. He’s hunting the alien down with a flame thrower through the camp during a snow blizzard at night. We then watch as something grabs him and jerks him quickly off screen. The two American helicopter pilots (their helicopter crashed with the alien going berserk on it earlier and then the pilots later showed up at camp during the night and were immediately locked up due to reasons of acute suspicion) show up with one of them wearing the flame thrower on his back. No explanation is given about Lars; yet, he magically appears at the end of the movie, looking and acting like a human being.

A final question involves what we think is the final battle between the alien and Kate. The pretty but dangerous paleontologist now has the flame thrower and doesn’t hesitate to use it on another person, claiming he must be the alien because of a missing earring. I’m still not sure if this person was an alien or not because when he was on fire, he didn’t change into the creature like some of the others did. It’s possible that Kate made a serious mistake here and killed an innocent person. I don’t know.

Now, the things I liked about the film.

Though I only recognized two of the actors from other small parts in previous films, I think the entire cast did a fairly good job with their roles. Mary Elizabeth Winstead had to shoulder much of the movie where she’s both vulnerable and tough as nails at the same time.
I also enjoyed the Special Effects. I can usually spot CGI effects a mile away, but the people handling the special effects on this film fooled me quite a few times, especially with the creature. I mean that sucker looked real when it was attacking people, or hunting the humans down inside the complex for some tasty vittles to chomp down on.

I definitely loved the more detailed view of the alien space ship, both inside and out. You never actually see it in the 1982 film.

Last, what really won me over were the final scenes of the film when the Ennio Morricone music score from the 1982 film started playing in the background. Now, because I felt a lot of the scenes in the movie were remakes from the John Carpenter movie and that the entire film was probably just a remake, I found myself surprised by the ending when it’s shown that this movie was really the prequel to the ’82 film. This movie ends with the two Norwegians changing the dog across the snow in a helicopter, shooting at it with a rifle. That’s where the ’82 film begins. Everything then fell into place for me and I found myself smiling at how everything was tied neatly together.

So, would I recommend this movie to others? Yes, I would. If you haven’t seen the John Carpenter version of The Thing, I think you’ll enjoy this movie without exception. Even if you have, it’s still a fun film and certainly worth seeing. I mean there isn’t much in the way of scary movies on right now at the theater, and this one is the movie that will have you jumping in your seat like a Jack-in-the-Box and then laughing out loud because they got you good. Go to a matinee if you can. As an employee of the hotel where the movie theater I went to was located, I only had to pay six dollars to get in. This film is worth six dollars for any fan of the horror genre.

A short, short on the new "Jack Reacher" novel by Lee Child

2011-10-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

I'm 65 pages into the new "Reacher" novel by Lee Child. The title is Affair, and I'm loving it so far. I like the way the author has everything set up.

It's 1997 and Reacher has to investigate a murder off an Army base while being undercover. The local sheriff is female and a former Marine. Oh, she was also with the Provost Office (military police) while in the Corp, which pretty makes her Reacher's equal. Needless to say, our slightly tarnished hero is already falling for her. I hope she's still alive by the end of the novel.

I should also point out that the Army base is the home for an elite group of Rangers, which leaves open all sorts of possibilites. Reacher may have his hands full with the killer, if the guy's an Army Ranger.

More coming in the review this weekend.

Review of Choke Hold by Christa Faust

2011-10-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

It’s been over three years since Christa Faust’s first crime-noir novel, Money Shot, appeared on the scene as a Hard Case Crime original publication. That novel told me that Ms. Faust was a talent worth keeping an eye on, as was her lead character, Angel Dare. Part of the reason it took so long for Choke Hold (the sequel to Money Shot) to come out was because Hard Case Crime went out of business due to low book sales. Her novel, which was scheduled for publication in 2010, was put on the shelf, until Hard Case Crime was eventually picked up by Titan Books and the back log of novels was published one at a time.

Was Choke Hold worth the wait? For me, it definitely was. Like a lot of male readers, I have a secret crush on Angel Dare. She’s beautiful, tough as nails, a dynamo in the sack, has a soft spot for birds with broken wings, and refuses to be pushed around or even killed for that matter. You don’t want her on your bad side.

Different from the first novel, Choke Hold, has our heroine on the run with the bad guys quickly closing in. It starts off in Yuma, Arizona where Angel is working as a waitress in a small dinner. She used to be in Witness Protection, but took off when the bad guys (or Croatians, or the men who worked for her former boss) found out where she was. The purpose of working in the dinner is to get a legitimate-looking passport out of the owner, who has connections in the town. All that changes, however, when former co-worker and love interest—Thick Vic Ventura—enters the restaurant to meet his kid for the first time, only to discover Angel there behind the counter. Though Angel doesn’t want to admit it, seeing Vic brings back some good memories, and they make a casual date for afterwards.

Everything then changes again when three drugged-out gangbangers enter the dinner and start shooting, getting Vic in the process. Before Vic dies, he makes Angel promise to take care of his kid, Cody, which is really what the story is about. Cody has aspirations of being a top martial arts caged fighter, but he has to get to Las Vegas by Sunday morning for his television audition. Unfortunately, the kid has been set up to take the fall for some missing coke, and his boss doesn’t think he’s innocent. To get back into the man’s good graces, Cody has to throw some fights down in Mexico and perhaps all will be forgiven. Remember, the key word is perhaps.

If only it were that easy.

The Croatians, however, are still after Angel, and Cody’s boss is certainly not a man of his word. A lot of people are going to die in this novel. A lot are also going to get laid, especially Cody’s martial arts’ friend, Hank, who Angel has the obvious hots for. We shouldn’t forget that Angel used to be a famous porn star, and she does like sex, plus she’s not above using it to get whatever she wants.

Christa Faust has once again proven why she’s the Queen of Crime Noir. There’s no female author writing today who does it better than her. Ms. Faust knows how to create poignant characters with obvious flaws and who live in the real world. The characters are either on the good side or the bad. If the good, they’re in a constant struggle to do the right thing and to rise above their addictions and problems to make the ultimate sacrifice. The characters on the bad side are definitely the kind of people you don’t want to meet in a dark alley, or have chasing you across country. These are folks who like to use electric drills and hot heating irons and sharp instruments to torture you with. In other words, they’re not nice at all.

The plot also has Angel Dare running away this time, instead of seeking revenge against those who originally attempted to kill her. Of course, with Angel in the picture there’s going to be a high body count before the end of the novel is reached. Also, the locale shifts from Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada. Like most crime-noir novels, the ending here is not a happy one and Angel doesn’t ride off into the sunset with a big smile of satisfaction on her face. Like Money Shot, she has to deal with a lot of grief over the death of what friends she has in her life. In other words, where Angel goes, death follows closely behind.

Another valid point that Christa Faust has going for her is that she knows how to build the tension and to end each chapter with a hook that forces you to continue on, instead of taking a food or bathroom break. You have to find out what happens next, or go through withdrawal systems at not knowing. It takes a talented author to achieve that with each and every chapter in the book. The only other writer I’ve ever known to do that is Clive Cussler with his Dirk Pitt novels.

So, if you’re after a good crime-noir novel with plenty of sex and violence and suspense, Choke Hold is the one to buy. I hope the author will bring Angel Dare back in future books and that it won’t be a three-year wait before the next one.

Once last comment—I have to wonder just how much of Christa Faust is in Angel Dare.

A review of Dream House, staring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz

2011-10-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

First, I’m learning that if you want to be a writer, you can’t read other people’s books (friends or not) or even go to the movies. You can watch older films on DVDs, if you’ve already seen them. The reason for this is that you inevitably will either read or see something that you already have in your new novel or screenplay. Then, you'll have to waste time going back and changing the piece of information or scene to something else because if you don’t, people will swear you stole it from this or that. I’ve already encountered this particular situation four-or-five times, and I am growing tired of having to change stuff around.

Second, a film can be made good or bad by the editor. A lot of films were actually saved in the editing room and went on to become great. Some, however, were lost. Case in point is Dream House, staring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz. The production company, Morgan Creek, took the film away from its director, Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot & In the Name of the Father), and edited it themselves, thinking Sheridan was going to lose them money. Whether he would have or not is another question. The fact is that Morgan Creek did little or nothing to make Dream House a better film. Though the first half was pretty good, the ending was terrible and didn’t make a lot of sense to me.

The lead actors and the director seem to feel the same way about the finished product because they've refused to do any publicity for the movie. Jim Sheridan even wanted his name taken off the credits. Also, one of the trailers for the movie that Morgan Creek put out gives a major plot point away, so I’m not going to worry about revealing too much in this review. I will say that I went to see the film based pretty much on the acting abilities of Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz who play Will and Libby Atenton, and Naomi Watts who plays the neighbor across the street, Ann Patterson. It should have been a truly excellent horror film with those three actors in it and Jim Sheridan as the director. How could you go wrong with this caliber of acting and directing?

Another point to be made here is that the trailer for the movie is great. I have to give Morgan Creek credit for that. It looks scary, and it does exactly what a trailer is supposed to do, which is to get you into the theater to see the movie. It worked on me. Of course, it helps that I've had a crush of Rachel Weisz since The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.

The story centers on Will Atenton (Craig), who’s an editor for a major publisher. He quits his job to stay home with the family and write a bestselling novel. Being a writer myself, I can honestly say that I didn't really see Craig doing much writing, which is probably good. The life of a writer is generally boring. Anyway, his wife, Libby (Weisz), and their two little daughters (Taylor & Claire Geare) nearly steal the whole movie. I enjoyed the scenes with them being a family, more than I did the action sequences. Their portrayals of a loving family are so vivid and strong that you can’t help but fall in love with them yourself and wishing you had a wife and a pair of kids like that. There was one scene where Rachel Weisz’ character is sleeping in bed when her husband gets up to check out a noise downstairs. She opens her eyes as he leaves the bedroom. The way the lighting highlights her face took my breath away. I’ve never seen a woman who looks more beautiful than Rachel Weisz does at that precise moment. Daniel Craig is no slouch, either. He has a bod that guys would kill to have. As a matter of fact, women would kill to have his body, too. He certainly holds his own with the ladies in the film and actually makes you believe he’s a real-life dad. He looks totally at ease with the kids and happy. I don't think he's acting in some of the scenes. He simply looks too happy at what he's doing and makes me envious.

Okay, so it isn’t long before Craig discovers that a family was massacred inside the house before he and his family moved in. Supposedly, it took place five years before and the father (Peter Ward) killed everyone—his wife and his two children. After a number of things have taken place, Craig decides to find out more about this Peter Ward and visit the insane asylum where Ward is being kept. Since it’s in the trailer, it’s no secret that when Craig gets there, he quickly discovers that he, in fact, is Peter Ward. He’d been released after five years because there was no hard evidence tying him to the murder of his family. Everything that has been taking place up to that point has been nothing but an illusion on Craig’s part. I will say that when Craig first visits the asylum, his hair is combed back and he has a five-day growth of beard on his face. There are a few close ups where he does look insane and capable of cold-blooded murder. In the video he’s shown by the director of the institute, he reminded me a little bit of Hannibal Lector in the close-up shots.

Of course, in the back of your mind, you know Craig didn’t kill his family. He loved them too much, and it showed in his interaction with the wife and two loving children. The question is if he didn’t do it, then who did? This is where the second half of the film falters and loses the audience. We kind of already know who killed them because the killer is introduced early on in the film. What we don’t know for sure is why? It turns out that it was all just a stupid mistake on the killer’s part. He went to the wrong house and killed the wrong people. Dud? And that’s all I’m going to say. Well, I will say this. No one could have gotten out of that burning house at the end. I've been in fires. I know what the heat and smoke can quickly do to you.

So what's the verdict here? This movie isn’t as bad as some critics say; nor, is it a real winner. I'd probably rate it five stars for the first half and two for the last. It would be interesting to see what Jim Sheridan’s version of the movie would have looked like. Who knows? The studio might have him finish his version for a DVD release. This has happened with other directors. Mel Gibson's Payback comes to mind.

If you go see it, do so because of Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz. I feel their performances are excellent.

There was a scene in the movie where Daniel Craig is escorted out of an office by four BIG burly security officers, who seem to be looking for an excuse to kick his butt down the corridor. I found myself thinking that you don’t want to mess around with James Bond because he will do a complete number on all of you at one time. I kept hoping they would try something, but they didn’t. Ah, well.

Last, I did see the previews to Craig’s next movie, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is due out in another month or so. I’ve read the novel and seen the European version of the film. Still, the trailer looked damn good and it succeeded in hooking me. I have a feeling this film will be nominated for a lot of Oscars, especially in the Best Actor and Best Actress category.

A clip from the new A&E mini-series of Stephen King's Bag of Bones

2011-10-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

I just watched a two-and-a-half-minute clip on the new 4-hour mini-series, Bag of Bones, based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King. The movie is supposed to air on A&E television on Sunday, December 11th at 9:00PM Pacific Time and then on Monday night at nine. The mini-series is directed by Mick Garris, who did The Stand and The Shining for television. This mini-series looks so good that it reminds me of a theatrical film and not a made-for-television movie.

Pierce Brosnan stars as writer, Mike Noonan, who has lost his wife due to a freak accident. Unable to write anymore, he returns to the lake house where he and his late wife use to visit. Once there, however, he gets involved with a young woman and her daughter, not to mention age-old murders, ghosts, and a New England town bent upon keeping its dark, diobolic secrets.

The short clip I saw looked fantastic, and hooked me line and sinker. I think this movie is going to be a real winner for A&E. Pierce Brosnan not only seemed perfect for the role, but looked absolutely great. The quick scene of him grabbing his dead wife and crying out in anguish definitely plucked at my heart's strings. This movie is going to have some great acting in it. There's also Annabeth Gish as Noonan's lovely wife and Melissa George as the woman he gets involved with at the lake house. Pierce never had it so good!

There's a website called Bewarethelake.com that has more information on the series, or you can go to StephenKing.com to watch the video. I only wish Bag of Bones was coming out in time for Halloween, instead of between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At least we don't have to wait a year to see it on television.

Trust me, you'll want to watch this mini-series, and then buy it on DVD when it comes out!!!

A review of Joe R. Lansdale's newest novel, All the Earth, Thrown To the Sky

2011-10-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of talented authors out there I enjoy reading. Probably dozens and dozens of them. Maybe even a hundred or more. In my opinion, however, there are only two great storytellers writing today. They are Stephen King and Joe R. Lansdale. The difference between being a great storyteller and a great author is that a storyteller can whip up a damn good yarn in any genre and hook the reader with just a few sentences. It doesn’t matter if the genre is horror, suspense, westerns, thrillers, fantasy, or science fiction. A great storyteller works in whatever genre that draws his attention at the moment and inevitably succeeds with his tale and the reader’s complete satisfaction.

Stephen King you know.

Joe R. Lansdale, I hope you know. If you don’t, shame on you because Joe wrote The Bottoms, which is probably the best novel I’ve ever read. It made me laugh, cry, shout out in righteous anger, and in certain scenes it scared the bejesus out of me. Joe also wrote A Fine Dark Line, Sunset and Sawdust, Dead in the West, Cold in July, Freezer Burn ( which is one of the most bizarre; yet, entertaining novels I’ve read in the last decade), Lost Echoes, the short novel, Bubba Ho-Tep, and probably my most favorite series of all, Hap and Leonard. I like Hap Collins and Leonard Pine so much that I sent the their latest novel, Devil Red, to Bruce Willis’ production company, hoping Bruce still has some good sense left in that bald noggin of his and will want to turn the book into a major motion picture with him and Samuel L. Jackson playing the lead roles. Only time will tell. Anyway, Joe also has a new stand-alone novel coming out in March of 2012, Under the Warrior Star. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed everything I’ve read by this author, including dozens of his short stories, many of which have been turned into TV episodes for Master of Horror and other programs.

Okay, what does all of this have to do with his newest book, All the Earth, Thrown To the Sky, which was written primarily for the Young Adult market? Well, Joe may have written this novel with teenagers in mind, but the book is such that adults will love it, too.

I know I did!

The story takes place during the Great Depression, beginning in Oklahoma and ending in East Texas. The dust storms have devastated most of the states in the central part of our country, leaving families with no way to support themselves, millions of people out of work, no crops and little food, scores of individuals committing suicide with no hope for the future, while others turn to crime, especially the robbing of banks.

Jack Catcher is a young boy, whose mom just died of pneumonia and his father hung himself in the barn from the grief of her death. Jack has no dreams for anything better, except maybe for the wild idea that California holds the possibility of a new beginning. That idea gets sidetracked when he spots two kids trying to make their way in a sand storm, running out of strength with no idea of where they’re actually heading. Jack saves them. He also knows them from school—Jane and Tony Lewis. It seems that their mom ran off with a Bible salesman, and their dad was crushed underneath a fallen tractor.

After getting some rest and some food in their stomachs, all three decide to head out to parts unknown, using Old Man Turpin’s car because Jack knows how to drive. Since Turpin is already dead, he won’t miss the vehicle. The kids are hoping the car will get them far enough from the state of Oklahoma so they can finally breathe some fresh air again. Their journey, however, takes a turn for the worse when their stolen car blows a tire and a bunch of bank robbers come driving by, in need of a new car to help them avoid the law. The criminals, Bad Tiger Malone and two partners, crazy-ass Timmy and bullet-wounded Buddy, are the mean and deadly kind of people who’d rather shoot first and talk later. The two main robbers decide to leave poor Buddy behind with a bullet in his head, thus ending his misery. Bad Tiger also sees some good use for the kids. He can hold them as hostages should the law find them. During their life-experiencing ordeal, the three kids learn that Bad Tiger and Timmy are after another partner—Strangler Nugowski--who stole $50, 000 from them to give his own child a much needed operation. The two criminals could less about the sick kid, but they do care about the money and getting their revenge on the former carnival wrestler.

When the right moment finally comes along (a storm filled with millions of grasshoppers), Jack and Jane and Tony escape from the bad guys and continue on with their journey. The thing is that Jane now thinks the ex-bank robber should be warned about his no-good ex-friends and what they are planning to do. Jane is young, pretty, smart, and a real blabber mouth, not to mention an outright liar. She can talk up a storm, lie with the best of them, and get her brother and Jack to do just about anything she wants. Jack knows the dangers of continuing on into Texas, but it’s what Jane wants. Truth be told, Jack is already in love with her and she knows it as only a woman (or young girl) can. Of course, in all fairness, Jane is free spirited and loves adventure, while Jack likes to play it safe.

With the journey into East Texas, the three kids get to meet Box Car Bertha and Pretty Boy Floyd, who makes a definite impression on Jane and causes Jack to feel a strong sense of jealousy for the first time in his life. That’s the good stuff. After a chance encounter with a crooked sheriff and his pea farm, the kids get first-hand experience at what slavery is like. Of course, the real question is whether or not the kids will get to Strangler Nugowski before Bad Tiger and Timmy do. Is the Strangler still alive, or already dead? Even more important is what will become of Jack and Jane and little Tony?

You have to read the book to find out!

All the Earth, Thrown To the Sky is storytelling at its absolute best. Joe R. Lansdale has a distinctive style of writing that clearly resonates with his many fans. He has the ability to make you laugh with his stories, while keeping you glued to the seat in suspense and anticipation. Like Stephen King, Joe is able to get to the heart of his characters (whether children or adults) with a few choice words or sentences that bring them alive and enable his readers to see them as real-life people, though they’re only fictional. He does this with Jack and Jane and little Tony, as well as the other characters in the novel. He touches upon the kid’s innocence and lack of understanding about the real world. This is especially evident in the character of Jane, who lives in her own world of fairytales, fantasy, and adventure, believing that everything will turn out the way she expects. Jack, being more down-to-earth of the three, knows better. He sees each new experience as a possible threat to their lives, until proven otherwise. Little Tony, however, seems to go with the flow, trusting his sister to get them out of the tough spots that she usually gets them into.

I don’t know much about The Great Depression and the dust bowls that destroyed most of Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Northern Texas. Joe seems to be full of history in his depiction of the era, and everything rings true to the ear as he describes the different kinds of dust storms that would swept down into each state with the storms sometimes being a mile high and hundreds of miles long. You couldn’t see or even breathe inside of them, and there was dust everywhere imaginable. The criminals of the period bring a stark realism to the story with either their outward meanness or inner fairness with those around them. Bad Tiger Malone was definitely the opposite of Pretty Boy Floyd, who seemed to be a person who’d been caught up in circumstances beyond his control. Joe R. Lansdale certainly knows how to create conflict in the story with his dark, violent villains, and he does this superbly within this novel.

As a reader, I can honestly say that you know deep inside when a story has done its job by the way you feel at the end. All the Earth, Thrown To the Sky tugged strongly at my heart strings with the last few pages, creating a sense of emptiness and profound loss and missed opportunity that the lead character passed on to me. I could identify with the kids in the story and understand where each of them was coming from. Though I admired Jane’s strength, perseverance, and willingness to charge ahead, I still felt sadden by Jack’s loss. Not many books hit me this hard at the end.
Needless to say, All the Earth, Thrown To the Sky is a winner in my opinion, cementing Joe R. Lansdale’s status as one of the best storytellers of our time.

A review of Robert B. Parker's Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman

2011-09-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here’s the situation. I’ve read each of the novels in the “Jesse Stone” series one time. I’ve seen all of the “Jesse Stone” TV movies at least five-to-six times. Innocents Lost only three times so far, but I’m getting the urge to watch it again in the immediate future. Anyway, I love the books, and I love the movies, but I do have a difficult time separating one from the other. In other words, I get them mixed up with each other, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The author of the novels, Robert B. Parker, who was famous for his excellent “Spenser” series, died in January of 2010. That’s almost two years ago. It’s seems much longer to me as I’m sure it does with most of his long-time fans. Fortunately for us, Mr. Parker wrote two-to-three books a year, so there were still a few to be published in both the “Spenser” and “Jesse Stone” series when he passed away. The last book, Sixkill, finally came out this past May. Thankfully, the publisher, in conjunction with the Robert Parker estate, are continuing both the “Spenser” and “Jesse Stone” series with new authors tackling the job of creating exciting stories with the same characters in them that we’re all familiar with. Mystery writer, Ace Atkins, will be writing the new “Spenser” novels, and Michael Brandman, who is well known as one of the producers and co-writers of the “Jesse Stone” TV movies, will be continuing, yep, the “Jesse Stone” novels.

Though I’m now down to reading a novel every one-to-two weeks, I actually read Killing the Blues in only two days, which is a record for me. I couldn’t put the book down. For me, it was like watching a new “Jesse Stone” movie on television, but without all the camera angles. The book certainly fulfilled my expectations, which is all any reader can ask for.
In Killing the Blues, Jesse Stone has to deal with a series of car thefts that quickly escalate into a murder, a released convict who has revenge on his mind for our local police chief, a new girlfriend who happens to be Selectman Carter Hansen’s niece and who’s planning a summer rock concert in Paradise, a tray cat looking for a home, a young girl who takes a principal hostage and opens up a larger can of worms in regards to bullying and sexual abuse by teachers, and Jesse gets a new rental house on the rocky bluff with the footbridge leading over to it (the same house we see in the television movies).

Car theft in Paradise is a new experience for the locals, especially since the thieves are stealing Honda Accords and not the luxury automobiles most of the rich are driving. Several thefts occur in less than a week, but everything escalates when a victim is murdered while trying to prevent his car from being stolen. Jesse takes it personally and silently vows to avenge the widow by going after the man at the top of the car-theft ring. To do this, however, he will near the help of criminal, Gino Fish.

While working for the LAPD years before, Jesse arrested a man named Rollo Nurse and beat him senseless due to his inner rage at his wife, Jenn. Rollo went to prison, but not with every cell in his brain intact due to the pistol whipping. Once he’s paroled, Rollo decides it’s time that Jesse Stone paid for what he did to him. Rollo hops on a bus and reaches Paradise a few days later. Then, he begins a deadly campaign designed to get Jesse’s undivided attention and to let him know that death is waiting right around the corner for him.

While Jesse is investigating the sudden rash of car thefts and the unexplained killing of dogs in the community, a young female student takes the principal of her junior high school hostage. Jesse talks to the girl, which reveals more physical, emotional, and sexual abuse hidden beneath the surface of the educational system. Jesse’s personal life might be in shambles, but as a police officer, he knows exactly what has to be done to correct a given situation and always pushes ahead with his coply intuition.

The author, Michael Brandman, does an excellent job of bringing to life Robert Parker’s characters in a fun-filled, suspenseful novel. In some ways, I feel that Mr. Brandman knows Jesse Stone almost as good as Mr. Parker did and effortlessly captures the inner essence of this wounded individual who tries to do the right thing whenever possible. Now, in reading the novel, it may seem as if you were watching a new “Jesse Stone” movie. That didn’t bother me in the least. I had all the actors in mind who play the regular characters in the show and saw them vividly in each scene of the book. For me, it’s like visiting family for a few days, and it’s always a good experience.

I enjoyed the fact that the author attempted to update the “Jesse Stone” novels with what’s going on in the series, though there were some major differences. Unlike the show, Jesse has never left his position as police chief of Paradise in the books. Also, he’s lived in a rented condo until this novel, when his desire to be more isolated spurs him to rent a house on the rocky buff you’ve seen in the last several movies.

Now, this is also where some confusion comes in on my part in getting the shows and books mixed up. Reggie, the dog, doesn’t exist in this novel. Instead, a stray cat starts hanging around Jesse’s new home and soon chooses the police chief as her new owner. Captain Healy of the State Police lives next door to Jesse here and makes friends with the cat much faster than our hero does. Healy calls himself the Cat Whisperer. Hasty Hathaway is back in this book. Though he owns the used car lot, he has now been elected back to the town board. This is a clear jump from the TV movie, Innocents Lost. Last, but not least, Jesse and Carter Hansen seem to get along a little better here than in the television series, which leads in to the Paradise police chief striking up a relationship with the Selectman’s niece, Alexis Richardson.

It’s possible that not every fan will enjoy this new “Jesse Stone” novel as much as I did. I guess it will depend on how much you either like or don’t like the television movies. All in all, I think this is a fabulous continuation of the series, and I’m certain Robert Parker would be pleased to know that his characters have a new father and are doing well. There is a question in my mind as to whether or not Killing the Blues will be the next “Jesse Stone” movie in 2012.

A review of State of Panic by Lori Gordon

2011-09-14T17:27:00.000-07:00

First, please ignore the cartoonist cover of this thriller. I have no idea why the publisher decided to use a cartoon-type drawing for a book as thrilling and suspenseful as this one. As a person who's read thousands of novels over the last five decades, I can tell you that this novel is not a cartoon and its cover should be one that entices you pick it up, rather than to pass over it.

Anyway, State of Panic is Ms. Gordon's first mainstream piece of fiction, and it has an intricate storyline that's woven like a spider's web. The protagonist of the novel is a young woman by the name of Sierra. One night, while making love to her finacee, an intruder breaks in and murders the man she loves by setting him on fire. Barely escaping with her life with no money and dressed only in a bathrobe, Sierra finds herself on the run, not knowing whom to trust. She's afraid to go to the police, suspecting the killers might be able to find her through them. Sierra is also aware of the fact that the cops will more-than-likely suspect her of the crime, since she was the victim's significant other and hightailed it from the scene.

Against all odds, Sierra will have to navigate her way through a sea of lies, betrayal, murder, and cold-hearted people who are willing to do whatever it takes to finish the operation. Getting rid of Sierra is their number one priority, and she has to stay one step ahead of them.

Like more first-time novels, State of Panic, does have a string of coincidences which stretches the imagination of the reader. Still, Ms. Gordon is able to keep you on track to the end with the many harrowing twists and sharp-edged turns the story takes when you least expect it. You never quite know what's going to happen, and that's the fun of reading this novel. I like to be suprised, and State of Panic achieved that with full colors and dazzling fireworks. Another thing this story does is prepare you for future novels by this rahter gifted author. Her talent as a writer can only increase with each exciting endeavor. Lori Gordon is definitely an author to keep an eye on!

A review of Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski

2011-09-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski is the first in a trilogy of novels featuring Charlie Hardie as the protagonist, with the second book coming out in October and the third one in March of 2012. After reading the first book, you’ll definitely want to get the other two when they hit the bookshelves. I know this from personal experience because reading Fun & Games was the most fun (no pun intended) I’ve had during the past year. It’s nearly 300 pages in length, yet I read it in less than a week. This is now a record for me since I only average about a hundred pages a week on most novels I read. Some less and some a little more depending how busy I am. Now, before I go any further, let me also say that Duane Swierczynski is the author of The Wheelman, which is one the damn best crime novels I’ve ever read. It’s right up there with Tom Piccirilli’s The Cold Spot and The Coldest Mile.

Okay, what about Fun & Games? The story centers around ex-Philadelphia cop, Charlie Hardie, who was nearly killed while on the job. He soon retired from the force and became a professional house sitter, moving around the country and babysitting other people’s homes while they are away. His new gig is in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles County. He’s taking care of a house that’s own by a movie soundtrack artist, who’s away in Europe for a whole month.

When Charlie flies into LAX and discovers that his suitcase has been lost, it’s only the beginning of a really bad day. Charlie then rents a car and drives it up to the Hollywood Hills where the house is located. He quickly finds out that the house keys aren’t in the mailbox where they’re supposed to be, so he has to climb the roof and make his way to the back, hoping to get in through the rear door. Charlie does manage to get into the house, but it turns out he’s not alone. Hiding on the bottom floor is the owner’s girlfriend, Lane Madden, a mid-level actress on the verge of stardom. Someone tried to kill her on the highway during the early morning hours, and now she’s afraid to go home. Charlie thinks she’s crazy as a loon because she believes the killers are actually outside the house, waiting to finish the job. The thing is she’s right. Charlie soon learns that there are some very talented and skillful killers after her and that they don’t have a problem with taking him out, too. He’s just collateral damage.

Fortunately for Lane, Charlie is no ordinary ex-cop. Charlie was a government killer long ago, and he hasn’t forgotten his special job skills. He’s also a very difficult man to kill as other people have found out to their dismay. The Accident People, as Lane refers to the killers, are being employed by some heavy Los Angeles hitters who want Lane to die. The thing is her death has to look like an accident. That’s the specialty of the Accident People. In fact, that’s how a lot of famous Hollywood stars have died over the last fifty years. Their murder was made to look like an accident—drug overdose, car accident, accidental drowning, or a suicide. To get to Lane, however, they’re going to have to get through Charlie, and it’s not going to be easy. If Charlie’s going to have a bad day, he’s going to make sure everyone else has one, too.

Fun & Games was not only suspenseful and filled with priceless nuggets of Hollywood lore, the story had me laughing out loud in several places. Charlie Hardie isn’t your ordinary hero. The guy has had a hard life and now all he wants to do is take it easy by babysitting some rich guy’s home and watching old Hollywood movies on television, until it’s time to pack up and leave. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to do that in this novel. His job is going to be keeping himself and Lane Madden alive, until he can finally figure out what to do and who to go to for help. The thing about Hollywood is that you can’t really trust anyone. That’s something Charlie has to learn the hard way over the loud protests of Lane Madden, who happens to be more wise in the ways of Tinsel Town.

You can tell that the author, Duane Swierczynski, is having loads of fun with the story, and that he’s a major Hollywood buff. Each chapter begins with a line of dialogue from a famous actor or actress or movie. The thing that surprised me is that I already knew most of the lines and had seen the movies they’d come from. Also, the author has a way of developing unique characters that sound like real people; yet, are flawed in some unusual way and have very memorable quirts. Mr. Swierczynski certainly knows how to build suspense and to keep the reader turning those pages. He’s a true master of his craft and the genre, and Fun & Games holds you till the last sentence is read.

So, what all of this comes down to is that I’m eagerly awaiting Hell & Gone to come out in October. I’m anxious to find out what happens to Charlie Hardie next and if the Accident People will be uncovered by the police and state authorities. You know I’ve always felt that actress Marilyn Monroe was murdered, and that her death was faked to look like a drug overdose. This book gave me more to think about in that regards.

Happy reading!

A review of the DVD, Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost, starring Tom Selleck

2011-09-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

When it comes to television, I only have a few favorite shows that I enjoy watching on a regular basis. Right now it’s Justified, Dexter, The Big C with Laura Linney and Oliver Platt, and the “Jesse Stone” series, starring Tom Selleck. The Big C and the “Jesse Stone” series, however, are the only two shows that yank at my heart strings and make me feel something other than the adrenaline rush associated with violent action and horror scares. My mom died of cancer almost thirty years ago, and I still haven’t recovered that. I guess that’s why The Big C reaches out to me so strongly.

The “Jesse Stone” television series (CBS only televises about one show a year), however, is something entirely different. It’s about real life in a way that’s the flip side of the coin from The Big C. It’s about people with weaknesses, struggling to do the right thing and sometimes failing in their quest. It’s about deep loss and the things people do to cope with it. It’s about love, especially the love a man has for his ex-wife and being unable to let go. It’s about action and reaction, and dealing with the consequences. It’s about addiction, the things that cause us to become addicted, and the gradual road to recovery. It’s about how good people do bad things and how sometimes bad people do good things when you least expect it. It’s about friendship and how we treat our friends on a day-to-day basis. In many ways, it’s also a show about life and death, and how we live our lives during the brief time we’re given.

I was intending to review all of the “Jesse Stone” movies, including Innocents Lost, but quickly realized I couldn’t’ do a decent job unless I wrote at least six or seven pages. That’s too long of a review even for me! So, I’m just going to take a look at Innocents Lost.

Whenever a new “Jesse Stone” movie comes on TV, it like revisiting with old friends you haven’t seen in a few years. There’s a comforting feeling about it. I think that’s why so many viewers enjoy this series with Tom Selleck in it. For me, it was no different with Innocents Lost. It was just like picking up where No Remorse ended, except that Robert Harmon wasn't directing this time out. Dick Lowry took over the reins of that position.

This time around a new police chief has taken over Jesse’s job in Paradise. His name is William Butler, and he’s the son-in-law of councilman, Carter Hanson, the guy who wanted Jesse fired from his job. Jesse, however, was forcibly retired, which means that he at least has an income to live off of, though it may not be much. The reason I say “not much” is because when he visits Dr. Dix for this therapy sessions, he has to start running a tab for a while because he can’t afford to pay $180 an hour for a shrink. The two cases Jesse gets involved with in this movie have to do with the death of a young friend, Cindy Van Aldan, whom he’d lost contact with; yet, she dies from a drug overdose on her way to see him. The second case is through Captain Healy in Boston. A man arrested for the murder of a convenience store owner is about to be sentenced, and Healy thinks he’s actually innocent of the crime. Healy wants Jesse Stone to find proof of the accused person’s innocence before the sentencing takes place. Jesse will take on the job, but only if the state police captain gives him a badge to use. Jesse, of course, then uses the badge to delve into the death of his friend, which later gets him into trouble with Healy. Still, thanks to the help of Sister Mary John and Gino Fish, Jesse is able to track down the killer of his friend and then sets everything up so the killer will come after him. The case for Healy also falls together, though not quite in the way they expected. By the end of the show, Suitcase has quit the force, and who knows what Rose will do down the road. Right now, she needs the job.

Anyway, it was fun seeing Kathy Baker back again as Rose Gamon, one of the officers on Jesse’s old police force, along with Kohl Sudduth as police officer Luther “Suitcase” Simpson. William Devane as Dr. Dix always delivers a quirky, yet powerful performance. Saul Rubinek is back as Hasty Hathaway, and he still thinks Jesse had an affair with his ex-wife, though he is still quite fond of Jesse. And, let’s not forget Stephen McHattie as Captain Healy. He’s the kind of friend every man needs when times get tough.

Then there’s the lovely Kerri Smith as Sister Mary John, and you wonder if she and Jesse will ever get together for more than dinner and a discussion about girls and drug addiction. William Sadler as Gino Fish is almost a likable guy now that he’s put Jesse on the list of people he’ll see at any time and helps the ex-cop to find the killer of Cindy. It also helps that Gino has a new personal assistant manning the front office now that Allen is dead—the provocative and beautiful and ultra sexy Amanda, played by Christine Tizzard. For me, she’s much more pleasant to look at than Allen was though she shares the dead Allen’s attitude. To put it bluntly, Amanda’s snooty.

I have to admit that this particular show had an extremely large amount of beautiful actresses in it, and it makes me wonder if Tom Selleck had anything to do with the casting. There’s Gloria Rueben, who plays Hasty’s secretary and Jesse’s love interest. Rae Ritke plays Cindy’s mother, and I have to say she could easily give the women of Desperate Housewives a run for their money. Stacey Smith plays the college administrator that Jesse visits to find out more about Cindy, and she’s a looker, too. Boy, I wish I was in Tom’s shoes. I think all the gals want to have an affair with him!

Here’s one thing, however, that needs to be fixed in the series. The Jesse Stone character has had his dog, Reggie, since the first episode. It’s about time he started playing with him. Gosh, the sad expressions on Reggie’s face breaks my heart each time I see it. Playing with a dog takes more than patting the cushion next to you to see if the animal dog will come over. Most dogs need attention and to be played with on a daily basis by their owners. After all, dogs have feelings, too. If Jessie doesn’t start treating Reggie right, I’m going to call the Dog Whisperer.

While I’m ranting, here’s another thing that needs to be fixed. Jesse has to get a handle on the booze. He needs to stop drinking for the most part and get his job back so Suitcase and Rose don’t end up leaving. If they go, Paradise will be up the creek without a paddle. Jesse also needs to get another telephone for the house so his friends can reach him and not die in the process. In other words, Jesse needs to shape up and get his act together. Everybody has problems, and the majority of people find a way of dealing with them so they can function in day-to-day society.

One last rant and then I’m out of here. The DVD of Innocents Lost doesn’t have any extras on it. Shame on the people who put the DVD together. Why not some interviews with the cast and producers and writers? Why not a look at the series versus the novels and why the series decided to branch off from the books? Why not a “Making Of” featurette? I think Stone Cold was the only one of the movies to have any extras at all. If these DVDs are going to cost an arm and a leg when they come out, at least give the viewers something more than the movie to watch.

That’s it. Another “Jesse Stone” movie is due out in 2012.

A review of the DVD for Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. & Jude Law

2011-09-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have to admit to having watched Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey, Jr., and Jude Law several times since it came out of DVD in 2010. I grew up reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and watched most of the old movie on television that starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. As much as I wanted to see the new Sherlock Holmes in the movie theater, I couldn’t because of an illness that had put me in the hospital for over a month. I was still recovering from the ordeal this film was released on Christmas Day. So, I waited for the DVD to come out and crossed my fingers that it would be everything I hoped, and it was.

I’ve known of Robert Downey, Jr. since he did Weird Science in 1985, and been a fan of his since Less Than Zero in 1987. When he did Chaplin in 1992, I felt sure he would win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Not only because his performance as Charlie Chaplin was stellar, but also because he’d made a comeback (the first in many to come) from drugs and alcohol. Well, his performances have grown even better over the years and because of his marriage to Susan Levin in 2005, he has able to shake his addictions and had a number of Box Office successes, namely Iron Man and Iron Man 2, not to mention Sherlock Holmes. Anyway, I was certainly curious to see what he would bring to the character of Holmes and how Jude Law would shape his characterization of Dr. John Watson. Add to that, the addition of Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, and I knew nothing would be able to stop me from seeing this movie, except for death. I’ve been a fan of Rachel McAdams since The Notebook and then The Time Traveler’s Wife, and found myself unusually anxious to see how she would portray a professional thief and love interest of Sherlock Holmes.

The movie begins with Holmes and Watson stopping the murder of a helpless female victim during a satanic ritual being performed by Lord Blackwood (think of late black magician, Aleister Crowley, from the late Nineteen Hundreds to the early part of the 20th Century). Blackwood is arrested and sentenced to hang for the murders of five other women. Thing is once Blackwood is executed he quickly rises from the grave and starts to create havoc as he attempts to take over the British Government and then the world. While this is going on, Holmes and Watson are having a falling out because Watson forthcoming marriage to the lovely Mary Morstan and the fact that he’s moving out from Baker Street. Holmes doesn’t want to lose his friend and companion and crime-solving partner. Watson, for his part, is still drawn to the adrenaline rush of working with Holmes. After all, he’s an ex-military soldier, a man of action, and somewhat of a gambler. Enter Irene Adler, a woman Holmes has loved for a number of years. She’s a professional thief and has bested Holmes more than once. She also happens to be working for Professor Moriarty.

As Holmes, Watson, and Adler put the pieces of the puzzle together in regards to Lord Blackwood, the aristocratic black magician is busy killing people and setting up his plans for total rule. Both Holmes and Watson have their work cut out for them as they try to stay alive long enough to stop Blackwood.

There are many things I enjoyed about this movie besides the magnificent performances by the great cast and the perfect direction of Guy Ritchie. I’m a big fan of 19th Century England and particularly London. I loved the portrayal of London during the late Eighteen Hundreds. Even knowing that much of the scenery and locations were done with blue screen and CGI effects, it still looked like the London of Sherlock Holmes to me and enabled me to get lost in the story. I also enjoyed the incorporation of the magical society of the Four Orders into the storyline. During the late Eighteen Hundreds in England, the actual magical society that many aristocrats belonged to was the Order of The Golden Dawn, of which Aleister Crowley was a member for a short period of time. I enjoyed the way Holmes faced off against the supernatural elements and used his mind to break down each incident to its human ingredients. Another factor that won me over was the fighting techniques Holmes used throughout the movie based on the martial art of Baritsu. I was a martial artist for a number of years, but had never heard of Baritsu and was intrigued by it.

Anyway, everything seemed to work for me in the movie. I know some critics feel that Rachel McAdams was given much to do in her role as Irene Adler, but I disagree. The movie was really about Holmes and Watson, and I thought she performed her part in exactly the way the script called for. In many ways she was the third wheel, but an attractive and very tough third wheel.

The DVD has very little as far as extras go on it. There’s a sixteen-minute behind-the-scenes documentary called, Sherlock Holmes: Reinvented. That’s fun to watch, but there is no commentary on the film, which unusual for a movie of this caliber, nor are there any featurettes about the special effects, the locations, the stunts, etc. Still, I really had a lot of fun with the movie and look forward to the sequel that’s coming out on December 16th, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. If you’re a Sherlock Holmes’ fan, you might want to buy this film on DVD. Of course, there’s also the possibility that a two-disc set might be in the works in time for the December release of the new movie.

Review of The Five by Robert McCammon

2011-08-27T17:02:00.001-07:00

As I’ve stated in other reviews, I’ve been a big fan of Robert McCammon since his novel, Baal, was first published in paperback back in 1978. That’s a long, long time to be a fan of one author. During those three decades, I’ve had the pleasure of reading his other novels, including They Thirst, Swan Song, Usher’s Passing, Mystery Walk, Boy’s Life, Speaks the Nightbird, and Mister Slaughter, just to name a few. Mr. McCammon’s newest novel, The Five, continues his journey of being one of the best authors alive in America today and refusing to be confined to any one genre. This author can write in any genre he chooses whether it be horror, thrillers, drama, or historical.

The central theme of the new novel revolves around a heavy-metal band named The Five that’s made up of three men and two women with a manager driving the van. They’ve been writing their own songs and making the nightly gigs to lounges and stages around the southwestern part of the country for three years, struggling to make a name for themselves and to get that one lucky break that every artist needs to become a success. Everything changes for the worse and the best when an ex-Marine sniper starts hunting them because of comments made in an interview about the soldiers in Iraq. The sniper starts picking them off one at a time. The strange thing is as a band member is killed, the band itself becomes more and more famous with the media circling like vultures. Once the FBI becomes involved in the killings, the Special Agent in Charge takes over the role of their manager and drives them from job to job, fighting the fans and the reporters. The only problem with the FBI agent is that he’s an ex-Marine and wants to bring in the sniper safely at the risk of losing someone else in the band. How many will have to die before the sniper is finally caught?

If you love heavy-metal music and rock bands, then this novel is right up your alley. Even if you don’t, you’ll enjoy Mr. McCammon’s crisp prose, strong character development, intricate plotting, inevitable twists and turns throughout the novel, and the high octane build-up to a climatic ending. While this novel has been praised as Robert McCammon’s best, I think it still ranks just under Boy’s Life and Speaks the Nightbird and Mister Slaughter for the number one position. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and thought many of the chapters were outstanding, especially the one dealing with the history of Stone Church. That chapter was scary as hell and could have been the beginning to a different novel with horror stamped all over it.

I also want to say something about Robert McCammon’s new publisher, Subterranean Press, which has done Mister Slaughter, the limited edition of The Wolf’s Hour, The Five, the soon-to-be-published limited edition of The Hunter in the Woods, and the soon-to-be-published limited edition of Mr. McCammon’s first novel, Baal. The quality of books published by Subterranean Press makes the New York Publishers look like the poorest of the poor. Subterranean books are produced with the finest quality of paper, binding, and artwork for the dust jacket. I love books and have been greatly impressed with the high standards of Subterranean Press. Their books are ones you definitely want to keep on your bookshelf. For me, this is what books are all about. It’s not just the story inside the covers, but also the care that’s given to the making of the book. Though I’m on a low income, I still collect whatever hardcover books I can afford to buy, and Subterranean Press is right at the top of the list. Keep in mind that this high quality in production comes at the same price for what you would pay for a hardcover from Putnam, who published McCammon’s The Queen of Bedlam. Putnam’s hardcover edition looked just like a cheap book club edition. I kid you not. Why pay that kind of price for a novel with binding that won’t last longer than a few years when you can get a higher quality published book for the same price. These newer books by Robert McCammon are treasures to behold, and I hope he plans to stay with Subterranean Press.

Last, Robert McCammon has finished the fourth “Matthew Corbett” novel, Providence Rider, which is due out in 2012. You can go to the author’s website for more information about his next book. This will also be published by Subterranean Press, and I’m praying that by the time the novel comes out Hollywood will be knocking on Mr. McCammon’s door with the intent of turning the series into motion pictures. I personally think Elijah Wood or Toby McQuire as Matthew Corbett would be a dream come true and that this would be a fantastic series to make into theatrical films.

Japanese swordsmanship in my novella, Dark Night of the Soul

2011-08-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

For those of you who enjoy the use of Japanese swordsmanship in fiction, my dark, very graphic novella, Dark Night of the Soul, has plenty of swordfighting in it.

The protagonist, Chris Hanson, is a young man who deals blackjack in Las Vegas. He's also a black belt in Japanese Kenjutsu and Iaido. Riding the bus back from Denver one night after a two-day black belt examination in swordsmanship, Chris Hanson must defend the passengers against several pickup trucks filled with vampires, who are after a full-course meal. The vampires manage to herd the bus into a closed national park in Utah so they can murder the people without anyone seeing or hearing the massacre. Chris will need every skill he's learnt with his three-hundred-year-old katana to fight off the horde of blood suckers. This is 30 Days of Night meets The Last Samurai!

A review of BAIT & SWITCH by Larry Brooks

2011-08-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

The author of three previous novels (DARKNESS BOUND, PRESSURE POINTS & SERPENT'S DANCE), Larry Brooks has surpassed himself with his newest book, BAIT AND SWITCH, and it's now out on e-book at Amazon.com.

This is the story of Wolfgang Schmitt, a man who's still recovering from the unexpected departure of his girlfriend and is ready to end his current career in advertising to start something new and exciting. As the old saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens. The door that opens for Schmitt involves billionaire software tycoon, Nelson Scott and the impending divorce from his wife, Kelly.

Through a rather unusual set of circumstances, Scott has become aware of Wolfgang Schmitt and believes that this former model may be perfect for a job he has in mind. Nelson Scott (along with his lovely assistant, Lee Van Wyke) approaches Schmitt with the offer of five million dollars if he will seduce Kelly and live with her for a short period of time, thus setting off a prenuptial clause that will save Scott at least thirty-six million dollars a year in alimony payments. Schmitt is given twenty-four hours to think about it. What eventually pushes Schmitt to take the job against his better judgment are two federal agents putting pressure on him to do as Scott wants. It seems as thought the Federal Government has an interest in Scott and some of his financial dealings, and the two agents hope that Schmitt might be able to gain some valuable information by sleeping with the billionaire's angry wife.

Of course, as in all of the novels by Larry Brooks, nothing is as it seems. Schmitt doesn't know that when he begrudgingly takes the job, he's entering a spider's web that is filled with beautiful deadly women, the ultra rich, untold lies, betrayal from every side, murder galore, and that his life may be the next one laid out on the chopping board. Before this deadly game of cat and mouse is over, Schmitt won't know whom to trust or where the next bullet is coming from.

Unlike DARKNESS BOUND & SERPENT'S DANCE, the fourth novel by Larry Brooks is low on sex, but filled with high-tension eroticism. This book is abound with incredibly beautiful, sexy, intelligent, aggressive, dominant women who manipulate the main character as if he were a pawn in a chess match, carefully maneuvering him for the final kill. Brooks skillfully weaves an intricate structure of mistrust and deceit and unbelievable suspense that not only keeps our hero on his toes, but the reader as well. Nothing can prepare you for the ending. I never saw it coming. I thought with a smugness that I knew exactly what was going to happen in the last twenty or so pages (of course, this is after several startling surprises), but boy was I wrong! The author set me up and then pulled the rug out from under my feet with one swift movement.

BAIT AND SWITCH is definitely a novel that both men and women will love, but a warning to the guys out there. Like Larry Brooks' first novel, DARKNESS BOUND, this book is also a learning manual for women on how to control and manipulate the men in their lives. The male population won't have a chance after the ladies read this!! Read BAIT AND SWITCH, and then you'll see that the war between the sexes has never been so deadly and so delicious.

A review of the DVD for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt

2011-08-21T12:18:00.000-07:00

I first saw the film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, on Christmas Day of 2008. I remember that my roommate and her family wanted me to go with them to the movies on that day, whereas I wanted to stay home and write. When we arrived at the casino where Benjamin Button was playing, I quickly noticed how crowded the whole place was. I don't like crowds and have a difficult being around too many people. It seemed as if everyone in Las Vegas had the same idea as my roommate and her family. Everyone wanted to get out on Christmas Day. Anyway, we finally got inside the theater and ended up having to sit on the very first row in the dark place and then strain our necks upward at a painful angle to watch the film. At that moment I hated the entire situation and knew I wasn’t going to enjoy the movie. Two-and-a-half hours later, I was the only one still crying as we walked out of the movie theater. No one else seemed as moved as I did by this poignant epic of two people in love, shown against the backdrop of 20th Century American…a love story of two individuals who finally meet in the middle as one grows older and the other grows younger.

It was then I realized that the whole experience was meant for me to see this exceptional movie and to be swept away emotionally by it. Why? I have no idea, but against all odds, I saw a film that struck me to the very core of my being and moved me to tears...a lot of tears. Only several movies have been able to do that to me over the last fifty years, and I can count them on both hands.

Well, I finally watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button again last night on DVD and was once again swept up in the magical journey of a man who ages backwards. I also found myself crying again at the end, but this time I was prepared with a box of Kleenexes on the coffee table.

For those who don’t know anything about the film, the final shooting script was written by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump), based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and a previous screenplay adaptation by Robin Swicord. The movie was directed by David Fincher, who also did Seven, The Game, The Fight Club, Panic Room, and Zodiac. Starring in the film are Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, Taraji P. Henson, Jason Flemyng, Jared Harris, Tilda Swinton, and a number of others extremely talented actors. This seems to have “winner” written all over it, but to be honest, the storyline kind of sucks when you first hear it.

At the end of World War I in 1918, a baby is born to a well-to-do family in New Orleans. The mother dies after the birth of the unusual bady. The father, once he sees the child, can only think of drowning it. The reason for this is because the baby looks and has all the physical symptons of someone in their late eighties. Though the father, Thomas Button as played by Jason Flemyng, starts out with the intention of throwing the new-born into the Mississippi River, he ends up leaving it on the steps of an old-folk’s home.

Fortunately, the baby is taken in by one of the ladies who work there—Queenie as played by the terrific actress, Taraji P. Henson. She names the child, Benjamin, and keeps him as her own. In time the child grows into a six-year-old, looking for the most part like a tiny eighty-year-old codger, or like the rest of the people living in the retirement home. Soon, Benjamin meets young Daisy there, who’s visiting her grandmother. He loves her at first sight, but it won’t be until they eventually reach the same age (one going forward and the other going backwards in time) that they’re able to be together for any period. And, this is when the agony of the film starts taking place because no matter how much they love each other, time has a way of enveloping everyone within its own cruel intentions, and you can only flow along with the current. This isn’t by any means the end of the movie. There’s much more to tell, and it’s a real tear-jerker. At least for me it was. Also, what I’ve covered is only a drop in the ocean compared to what’s actually in the film. Remember, it’s over two-and-a-half hours in length, though it didn’t seem that long to me.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a movie I didn’t expect to like. Everything was going against it that late Christmas morning. I think it says something for David Fincher as a director, the talent of the entire cast, the special effects’ people, the soundtrack composer (Alexandre Desplat), and all the other members of the crew who worked so hard to put this film together and to make it work as a story. Any movie that’s able to grab my heart under the given circumstances is a true winner in my opinion. It literally made me forget the pain in my neck for nearly three hours. Lord, I’ve seen so many movies over the last five decades that it’s difficult to catch me unexpectedly anymore, but this film did. I didn’t know I would honestly begin to care about Benjamin Button, Daisy, Ms. Queenie, Benjamin’s father, and Captain Mike, but I certainly did.

I also found myself laughing whenever the character from the retirement home who had been struck by lightning several times and would appear throughout the movie to tell Benjamin about one of his experiences, then the film would show the man standing by a fence with a smile on his face, or walking his dog down a country road, or mending the roof when lightning would suddenly come from out of nowhere and knock him to the ground. The fact that he got struck by lightning wasn’t amusing, but the way it was portrayed caused me to laugh out loud. That was definitely the director’s intention. This man would appear at a somber moment in the film and then have the audience laughing at something bizarre. The important message here, however, is that we never know what’s charging toward us in life, until it finally hits us squarely in the chest. A chain of minute circumstances can change our live forever, but then again, maybe it was destiny or fate that was at play in these situations, and nothing could have changed what eventually happened.

The DVD is loaded with over three hours of Behind-the-Scenes material on the making of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Even knowing how the Special Effects people did everything still leaves me with my mouth hanging open in awe. They deserved to win an Academy Award for what they were able to accomplish. Of course, I feel as if Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson also deserved Oscars for their performances in this film. I personally think that Brad gave the performance of his career in this movie, and that he moved from being a really good actor to a great actor.

Something I didn’t know was that David Fincher was offered this film early in his career, during the early nineties. He wanted the make the film, but couldn’t figure out how to do the special effects. It took another ten years for film technology to catch up so that when he was given a second shot at it, the way was clear to him. Another thing that surprised me was that the original writer of the first script was Robin Swicord, and during the course of ten years, revised that long sucker seven different times. This was before Eric Roth stepped in to see what he could do with it. The original shooting script was around 240 pages long, and the studio forced David Fincher to cut it down by at least forty pages. Anybody who has ever worked on a screenplay before can understand the amount of work that went into the fianl script for Benjamin Button.

Last, the location of the shoot was changed from Baltimore to New Orleans because of the budget. Then, Katrina hit and devastated this Southern city. The city officials begged the producers not to change locations and offered to work with them in any way possible to make the film happen. David Fincher decided to stay in New Orleans, and this proved to be a wise decision because the city, in its own way, becomes a secondary character in the movie.

If you’re never seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, then I urge you to do so. This is a beautifully crafted film that tells a very unusual story, but in the end, it’s still a love story between two people who know time is against them. Highly recommended to those who are romantics at heart!!!

Frank Darabont was fired from the series, The Walking Dead.

2011-08-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

This is the problem with a lot of the executives at television studios. Not all, but a sizable proportion of them. Because they green light a project (put up the money for the pilot episode or Season One of a series), they feel as if they’re the creators of the show, more so if the series is a big success. They want all the credit for its success. Forget the material the show is based on, if not an original idea. Forget the writer who toiled over a great teleplay (s) for months on end, writing and rewriting until he or she felt the script was finally right and ready to go. Forget the director of the pilot show or series and his many contributions to it. Forget the cast & crew who worked every bit as hard to create the best possible show for their viewing audience. The executives feel as if it was all their doing, and no one else had a hand in the project.

Such is the case with AMC and The Walking Dead, not to mention two of their other great shows, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. I just discovered that Developer/Writer/Executive Producer/Director Frank Darabont was fired from the series. You can Google this and find most of the story in The Hollywood Reporter. Frank appeared at the Comic-Con convention on July 22 to promote the second season of the show. Three days later he was fired from the series by Joel Stillerman, who is head of original programming at AMC.

This is what I was able to find out from The Hollywood Reporter and several other websites discussing the incident. Before Season One even aired, AMC had decided there would be a second season for The Walking Dead, but that there would be 13 episodes, instead of six. Sounded great, didn't it? I certainly thought so when I heard that 13 episodes would be done this year. What I didn't know was about the catch to this. It seemed that the entire budget for Season One and its six episodes was drastically cut for Season Two, but with twice the amount of work to be done by cast and crew. Talk about wanting to stretch a dollar.

AMC wanted to get 13 episodes for less than the cost of the six episodes that were done for Season One. Of course, Season One of The Walking Dead became a ground-breaking success for AMC and was nominated for several Emmy awards. The ratings and awards, however, weren’t important to the executives. At least that's what Joel Stillerman stated. If you believe that, I have some ocean-front property in Nevada to sell you. Joel probably does, too. Anyway, they wanted more work and sweat from the writers, cast and crew for less money. That's definitely a common occurence at most corporations these day, except when it concerns the executives. I know that from personal experience. The executives get richer, while the hourly employees can barely keep their heads above water with their wages.

The executives at AMC wanted fewer zombies in the series to cut back on the cost of hiring extras and makeup people. They felt it would be cheaper if the zombies were heard but not seen. Duh! Because it takes eight days to shoot an episode, the executives also wanted four of those days to be shot inside a studio, which is cheaper than shooting exterior shots. I mean, gosh guys, you're supposed to see zombies walking around outside. That's part of the show. And, the series was given a 30% tax credit for filming in Georgia. The executives decided to keep that credit for themselves, rather than applying it to the budget for the series. That's more money in the executive's pocket. I mean if I was a studio excecutive, I would probably want to line my pockets with as much money as possible before the golden egg disappeared. Of course, this does make me wonder if the executives for AMC ever worked for Exxon or maybe Wall Street.

It’s well known to many of the insiders that Frank Darabont fought a constant battle with the executives of AMC in a futile attempt to keep The Walking Dead big in scope and style. This was certainly one reason the show drew so many viewers the first season. I remember praising AMC when I did a review of The Walking Dead for having the courage to put a show of this caliber on the air. In my opinion the entire first season was great, and I thought AMC deserved to share in the praise. Boy, was I wrong on that account. Here’s another thing that’s known. Frank Darabont was in the middle of fixing one of Season Two’s episodes, which had been filmed by another director, when he was fired. He had no knowledge or forewarning about this. The executives, in my opinion, shot him in the back, which most executives are pretty good at doing. They kind of like to sneak up on you when you’re not looking and then put the bullet in the back of your head. Hell, maybe the executives at AMC are ex-Mafia hit men. I don't know.

My feeling here is that the executives decided to kill two birds with one stone when they fired Frank Darabont. They would save even more money by having him off the show now that it was a huge success, plus they could put another director in his place who would work for less money and not argue with them over cuts and setbacks in their less-than-stellar support of the series.

Okay, now I get to really rant.

In case you don’t remember, Frank Darabont directed Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, the first two of which were nominated for Academy Awards in various fields. This is a man who knows horror inside and out, and he clearly knows how to direct it with a strong passion for making the film seem as real as possible and for getting the audience involved with its characters and storyline. Frank Darabont is a perfectionist who wants to make his film or series as perfect as possible for the viewers. He wants to give them the best of his ability. Frank took a lower salary to film The Mist, and I know he took a much lower salary to get The Walking Dead off the ground. Now, depending on what his contract states, the executives of AMC won’t have to worry about rewarding him for the show’s great success.

This reminds somewhat of 20th Century Fox and James Cameron’s success with Titanic. Cameron offered to forego his salary and share of the profits if Fox wouldn’t shut down the production of the movie. They gladly accepted his proposal. Then when the movie grossed nearly 2 billion dollars, they tried to figure out a way to keep from giving Cameron back his money, but 2 billion dollars is a lot of money for a studio to hide in the accounting books. Luckily, they made the right decision in giving him back his salary and share of the profits that he would’ve made on the film. I doubt if AMC will do this for Darabont, unless he has it written in his contract. I hope he does because I would love to see the shit-eating grin on his face when they have to pay him. Still, he lost his baby.

Another thing here is that both Stephen King and his son, Joe Hill, were going to write an episode for Season Three of The Walking Dead as a favor to Frank Darabont. And, who knows, maybe even be a couple of zombies in one of the episodes. I hope they now decide not to do it. Neither man needs the money or exposure.

Now, I’m not a big fan of zombies, though there have been a few zombie movies I've really enjoyed. The only reason I watched Season One of The Walking Dead was because of Frank Darabont’s involvement with the series. I even entered the contest to win a role as a walking zombie on the show in Season Two. I mean my legs are so bad right that I actually walk like a zombie. Now that Frank is no longer involved with the series, I seriously doubt if I’ll watch Season Two when it airs on October 16th. I apologize to the wonderful cast in the show. I know they have to make a living and will therefore continue to act in the series as long as it goes on. Still, it gets tiring when the big shots walk all over the people under them, and I don’t have to approve of AMC’s actions by watching the rest of the series. If I do, it only proves that they were right in what they did.

Screw them!

One really good thing that might have come out of this is that Frank Darabont is now free to pursue the position of director for the theatrical version of Stephen King’s The Stand. It’s been announced that Warner Brothers wants to turn The Stand into a major motion picture like Lord of the Rings. If any man has the skill and passion to make Stephen King’s The Stand into a successful film, it’s Frank Darabont. To do the film right for the big screen, it would probably have to be done in two movies with each one running around two-and-a-half hours to maybe three hours in length. One film could come out at the beginning of the summer and the second part could come out in time for Christmas. I think this could be the project that would finally earn Frank his Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture. I’m hoping this is what will happen and that I live long enough to see it. As Tim Robbin’s character said in The Shawshank Redemption: “Hope is a good thing, perhaps the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

A review of The Coldest Mile by Tom Piccirilli

2011-08-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Coldest Mile by Tom Piccirilli (the sequel to The Cold Spot) begins where the previous novel left off. Chase needs time to recover from the bullet wounds that he got during his battle with the crew of killers who murdered his wife, Lila. He figures the way to do this and maybe pull down another score is to work for the Langan mob family as a driver for a month or so. The patriarch of the family is on his deathbed, and his lovely, but deadly, daughter is planning to kill her brother once daddy is finally dead. Along with that, the family business is downsizing and moving to Chicago due to the Russian, Jamaican, and Thai mobs trying to muscle in of their territory.

This is the chaotic situation that Chase finds himself in the middle of when he's hired not as a driver or wheelman, but rather as a chauffeur. The last chauffeur had his throat cut right in front of Chase by the family's top hit man so that he wouldn't be able to say no to the offered job. Refusing to wear a chauffeur's hat or a pair of white gloves, Chase knows his days are numbered, especially when the family's daughter, Sherry, offers herself to him and he politely says no to the enticing invitation. No woman likes being rejected by the family chauffeur.

What Chase has to do is make a big enough score, get out of Dodge, and head to Sarasota, Florida to locate his grandfather Jonah before the old man can destroy the life of a two-year-old girl. Chase knows in his heart that either he or Jonah will die in this final confrontation. Still, he has no choice because the ghosts of his wife and mother are telling him to save this little girl...the girl whose mother was shot in the head by Jonah...the girl who happens to be his grandfather's daughter.

Like The Cold Spot, this sequel weaves and turns at neck-breaking speeds, catching the reader off guard as it suddenly heads in a new, unexpected direction, though the ultimate destination is still Jonah and his infant daughter, Kylie. Piccirilli pulls no punches with the violence and meanness and evil of some of the characters, leaving the reader feeling as if he/she has touched something slimy and disgusting.

The main character of Chase certainly has his hands full as he seeks to find that cold spot within himself so that he can do whatever is necessary to save the child, and that means killing fast without hesitation and emotion. The author also knows how to create intriguing characters with just a few short sentences that almost seem to explode outward from the page, and his writing is lean and mean just like Jonah, daring you to put the book down for even a second.

The Coldest Mile is every bit as good as its predecessor, The Cold Spot, and worthy of all the awards given to novels in this genre. This is a new series that you'll want to be continued, and the ending of the second book does leave it open for the third one as Chase learns who killed his mother and why, creating a turmoil and anger inside of him that knows no bounds.

These are two novels that give me goose bumps every time I think about them. Few authors can do that to me with their fiction, but Tom Piccirilli is no ordinary writer. No, sir, this is a man offering to take you on an adventure that will change your life and your prospective about who you are as a human being. You may not like what you discover as your heart beats rapidly inside your chest, but there's no turning back once that first page is read. Highly recommended to all adrenaline junkies who like to live vicariously through the written word.

A review of The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli

2011-08-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

It was probably eight or nine years ago that a friend recommended Tom Piccirilli to me, and I purchased a couple of his horror novels in paperback. The books then proceeded to sit on my shelf for over two years before I finally gave them to another friend, having never read them. One of my bad patterns is that I often buy more books than I can ever read, unless I stop buying new books all together. In fact, many of the ones I do buy never get read because of time and other priorities. It doesn't mean the novels aren't good, only that I never got to try them out.

Anyway, a couple of years ago, Duane Swierczynski (author of The Wheelman) recommended a number of writers and book titles to his blog readers. One book that caught my attention was The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli, but this wasn't a horror novel. No, this was a noir novel about a young wheelman who worked with his grandfather's crew, pulling heists and bank jobs. The wheelman attempts to break away from the man he fears the most and to start his own life, only to have to ask his grandfather (a stone-cold killer) for help a few years later in finding the man who murdered his wife.

This sounded down right interesting!

Also, the sequel to it, The Coldest Mile, was due out at the time, so I took a chance and ordered both of them from Amazon. These two books arrived in the mail a week later and then sat on my shelf for two months while I worked my way through a number of other titles. Finally, I picked up The Cold Spot and read it in an amazing two days, which is now fast for me. My eyes were crossed after I'd finished it. That alone says how much I enjoyed the novel. I then placed an immediate order for more of Piccirilli's books, including some of those horror novels that I never read. Let me just say from the outset that this is a one damn good writer of crime fiction and I now considered myself a die-hard fan of Piccirilli's work!

The Cold Spot is the story of Michael Chase (a.k.a. Chase), whose pregnant mother was murdered when he was ten years old and whose father later committed suicide from the grief of the tragedy. Chase was then taken in by his grandfather, Jonah, a career criminal and a stone cold killer who feels nothing for his victims. Over the next six years, Jonah teaches Chase everything he knows about bank heists, robberies, the con, how to kill, and how to be the best wheelman in the country. The whole relationship between Chase and his grandfather comes to head after a successful heist. During the getaway, one of the members of the crew plays a silly joke with a fish from the nearby market, and Jonah later kills him for it. When Chase confronts his grandfather about the murder of his only friend, he can see a cold look in Jonah's eyes that warns him to back off, or he'd be next in line for a bullet. That's when Chase ends his relationship with Jonah and the crew. He then heads south to start a new life and eventually meets Lila, a deputy sheriff in a small Mississippi town. It's love at first sight for both of them. Chase straightens up his life and marries Lila and has several happy years, until the day she's killed, trying to stop a crew from robbing a diamond merchant. It's then that Chase realizes that if he wants to track down the killers and get some revenge, he's going to have to find Jonah and ask for his help.

Tom Piccirilli has created two fantastic characters in Chase and Jonah. I kept seeing a young Brad Pitt as Chase and R. Lee Emery (the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket) as Jonah. These are two tough men who will eventually have to face off against each other, and only one of them will walk away. Until that moment arrives, however, the reader is in for a thrill-ride into the dark and shadowy world of grifters and con artists and bank robbers and the world's greatest wheelman. Chase is a character you immediately root for. Though he's done bad things, he's not a bad person. He basically only fights to protect himself and his family, but God help the person who does him wrong. He'll stop at nothing to get revenge, even if it means his own death. That's a trait he got from his grandfather. And, Lila, the woman who steals Chase's heart--well, think of Sandra Bullock. Because that who Lila reminded me of and what man wouldn't lose his heart to a lady like her and then go on a killing rampage to avenge her death.

The writing in The Cold Spot is tight and fast-paced, while the action and violence hits you squarely in the chest like a .44 magnum bullet. If you enjoy noir crime novels, then this will be a book you won't be able to put down. Even better, when you do reach the last page, there's the knowledge that The Coldest Mile picks up exactly where The Cold Spot ends. God bless Mr. Piccirilli for that. Now, if he'll just write more books with Chase in them, he'll have a new following of fans to praise his name and to bow down before him in homage to his magnificent writing skills. Needless to say, this novel is highly recommended to crime fiction buffs that need a shot of adrenaline to give them that fast rush of excitement.

A review of the DVD for The Yakuza, starring Robert Mitchum, Takakura Ken and Brian Keith

2011-08-13T02:10:00.000-07:00

When people ask me what my most favorite movie is, I envitably shock them by saying The Yakuza, starring Robert Mitchum and Takakura Ken. They shake their heads in confusion and say, "What?"

The film came out in 1975 and was directed by the late, great Sidney Pollack, and written by Paul and Leonard Schrader with a rewrite by Robert Towne. As good as this movie is, few people saw it then, unless you happened to be a martial artist (Karate, Judo, Kendo, etc.), or a big fan of the late Robert Mitchum.

I was both.

Needless to say, I didn't know what to expect when I went to the theater that night by myself. I'd seen the trailer for it on television, and the Japanese swordfighting had triggered my interest. The movie ended up having such an emotional affect on me that I stayed for the second feature and watched it again, enjoying it even more. When the film eventually came out on VHS several years later, I bought a copy. The same with DVD. It took nearly thirty years before the soundtrack to the film was made and released. I got a copy of that, too. I think only one or two thousand copies of the CD were ever printed.

Through the last quarter of a century, I've watched this film at least twice a year. I do that because I not only enjoy this film immensely and its particular message about obligation and honor, but also because I need it for my soul and to remember what's truly important in life. We often get so caught up in going to work, making a living. raising a family, paying the bills, and just surviving on a day-to-day basis that we tend to forget that it's our actions that make us who we are for better or worse. This movie helps me to remember that.

There will be some spoilers ahead, so continue on at your own risk.

The movie, The Yakuza, deals with Harry Kilmer (played by Robert Mitchum), who lived in Japan right after World War II and stayed there during the occupation as a member of the military police. While performing his duties, Kilmer became aware of a Japanese woman (Eiko) who running contraband and was nearly killed in a squirmish. Harry Kilmer saved her life and soon fell in love with her. He sought to marry Eiko so that he could take care of her and her daughter, but she gently refused the idea of marriage and would only live with him.

Where her brother, Tanaka Ken (played by Takakura Ken), returned to Japan after hiding in the caves of the Philippines for over six years, Eiko brough off her relationship with Harry and refused to see him any more. Her brother felt she has degraced him by placing him in debt to Harry (the enemy) for saving her and taking care of her and the child for so many years. Anyway, Harry borrowed five thousand dollars from his Army buddy, George Tanner (played by Brian Keith), and purchased Eiko a small bar in the business section of Tokyo, which she named Kilmer House. It was his way of saying goodbye to her.

Twenty years later, George Tanner's (he still has strong business dealings in Japan) daughter is kidnapped by a Yakuza clan in retaliation for taking their money to buy guns with and then losing it on the stock market. They threaten to cut up his daughter into little pieces unless he flies back to Japan to settle the dispute. Tanner turns to Harry Kilmer for help. It seems that Eiko's brother, Tanaka Ken, later joined the Yakuza after Harry left Japan and became highly successful as the youngest leader of a clan. George knows that Tanaka Ken owes Harry a debt that can never be repaid and wants Harry to call in that marker to help save his daughter.

Returning to Japan to rescue Tanner's daughter, Harry is accompanied by Dusty, the son of a former Army buddy and now Tanner's personal bodyguard. Harry thinks Dusty is there to help him, but it's actually to keep an eye on his action. Both Tanner and Dusty know that Harry's knowledge of Japan could create more problems than he solves by rescuring Tanner's daughter.

Harry soon meets with Tanaka Ken in Kyoto, only to find out that the man is no longer Yakuza and has very little power to help him in regards to the kidnapping situation. Still, Ken owes Harry a debt that never be repaid and so agrees to help him, understanding that he will most likely incur the wrath of the Yakuza for inferring in Yakuza business. Of course, Tanner's daughter is rescued, but now the Yakuza wants Harry's and Ken's heads as payback for what they did. The Yakuza comes after Ken's sister and her daughter. Harry quickly decides to stay in Tokyo and help Ken to fight the Yakuza, understanding he might die in the process, but also feeling a debt to Ken for what he did. Together, both men will take on the major Yakuza clan in an epic battle of bullets, swords, blood and death--two men against twenty-five.

What makes this movie so great is not the fantastic swordfighting battle between Ken and the Yakuza henchmen who work for his adversary, but rather the dichotomy between Harry, Eiko, and himself. Harry loves Eiko and has never stopped in all the years they've been apart. He still wants to marry her; and, though Eiko loves him, she refuses. Harry knows that Ken hates him, but believes the animonsity between them was brought on when Japan lost the war. What Harry doesn't discover until the night both he and Ken go to face death together is that Eiko is really Ken's wife and not his sister. Ken came back from the Philippines after the war, only to find his wife living with an American soldier. He wanted to kill Harry Kilmer, but on the other hand he was in debt to Kilmer-san for saving his wife and daughter from certain death during the occupation. Ken has been a deeply tormented man for over two decades.

Harry, however, understands Japan well enough to realize that he unintentionally destroyed Ken's past and now he's destroyed his future, too. After the climatic battle is over, Harry makes the decision to ask Ken to forgive him in the only acceptable manner that can balance out the gulf of pain and suffering he caused this man. It's in that next-to-final scene in the movie between Kilmer-san and Tanaka Ken that shifts this film from being a very good movie to a great one in my opinion. From being enemies, both men now become the closest of friends who have shared a deep, unrelenting bond that can never be broken.

I personally feel that this is the best movie Robert Mitchum ever did during his long career as an actor. It's certainly Takakura Ken's best film. This movie has so much meaning on so many levels that it takes repeated viewings to fully comprehend the subtle essences in each scene. More importantly, the film demonstrates that a man must pay his debts, and it is only through this action that he can call himself a man. So often we go through life never fully realizing the affect our actions have on others and the pain and suffering we sometimes bring to them. When knowledge of this comes to us, if it ever does, it's our duty and responsibility to make amends in whatever way we can. This is the code of Bushido. It is the way honorable men live and die.

The DVD of The Yakuza has a behind-the-scenes featurette and a commentary by Sidney Pollack before he died.

This is a film I highly recommend. I hate to say this, but I feel as if this is more of a man's movie than a female's. Most men will understand what the two lead characters are experiencing and emphasize with them. Women, however, will for the most part only see the violence in the movie and not follow the chain of actions and reactions. Geri. The Japanese term for debt or obligation. It also means the burdon hardest to bear. Such is life.

A new "Jesse Stone" movie is due out in 2012 on CBS!!!

2011-08-08T20:14:00.000-07:00

I just heard through the grapevine that an eighth "Jesse Stone" movie, Benefit of the Doubt, is now in post production. The TV movie will hopefully air on CBS sometime in 2012. The word is that this will be one of the best "Jesse Stone" movies filmed to date. Needless to say, I can't wait to see it.

Keep in mind that the seventh "Jessie Stone" movie, Innocents Lost, is now out on DVD. The new "Jesse Stone" novel, Robert Parker's Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman is due out on September 13th. In one way or another, those who love the character of Jesse Stone the most will see that he's kept alive for his fans in either book format or film. I think that would make the late Robert Parker very happy.

A review of the new movie, Cowboys & Aliens

2011-08-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

I broke down and went to see Cowboys & Aliens on Friday afternoon after I got off from work. It’s been over two-and-a-half years since I last went to a movie with friends (Benjamin Buttons with Brad Pitt—an excellent movie by the way). I remember it was Christmas Day and because the theater was so packed, we had to sit down in the very first row and stare upward at the big screen for two hours. I got an extremely stiff neck from that experience, but the movie turned out to be great, so I guess it balanced itself out.

The last time I went by myself to see a film was well over four years ago. I use to love going to the movie theater and used to do it at least once a week. I would pick a time when few others would be there so I wouldn’t be crowded in my seat. What eventually started happening was that no matter where I sat, someone would inevitably sit down in front of me or directly behind me, hitting my seat with their knee or feet. I would get up and move, but I gradually got tired of doing that. So, I stopped going and purchased myself a DVD player so I could watch movies in the privacy of my own home. The reason I’m even mentioning this is so you’ll know what a mental effort it took for me to go see Cowboys & Aliens. If Daniel Craig hadn’t been in the film, I wouldn’t have gone. That’s how big a fan I am of his. And no to the question you’re probably asking yourself. No one sat in front of me this time around so I might actually go again when other movies come out that I want to see.

As you can probably tell from the title, Cowboys & Aliens is a western/science fiction movie with a stellar cast in it. I kid you not. There’s Daniel Craig (James Bond) in the lead, then Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Clancy Brown (Highlander and The Shawshank Redemption), Sam Rockwell (The Green Mile), Walton Goggins (the television series, Justified), Keith Carradine (the HBO and Showtime series, Deadwood & Dexter), Olivia Wilde (the television series, House), and Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers & Windtalkers). How can a movie go wrong with a cast like this? Also, Jon Favreau (director of Ironman & Ironman 2) directed this film, too. I always think of Jon Favreau as Sean Astin’s college buddy in the movie, Rudy (one of my favorites). Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see this movie.

The story of Cowboys & Aliens opens up with a lone cowboy, Jake Lonergan (Craig), suddenly waking up in the middle of nowhere, wounded with no horse, weapon, water, or memory. After a brief, but violent confrontation with three men who happen to be riding by in the Arizona desert, Craig dresses himself up in somewhat better clothes, takes a horse and handgun with him, and heads into the town of Absolution with the dead men’s dog trailing after him. This poor dog has a hard time of it throughout the movie because he keeps getting a new master every fifteen minutes. Anyway, once Craig reaches Absolution and is patched up by the local preacher, Meacham (Clancy Brown in one of his nicer roles), he has another confrontation with the son of the local cattle baron, known as Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde (Ford), who keeps the town on a strict leash. When I hear the name Woodrow Dolarhyde, I think of Woodrow Call from the novel and movie, Lonesome Dove, and Francis Dolarhyde from the book and movie, Red Dragon. I suppose I’ve read too many books and seen too many movies over the years.

Anyway, the Colonel’s son accidentally shoots the town’s deputy after being kneed in the groin by Craig, who didn’t like the boy pointing a gun at him. The kid ends up in jail, but it also draws attention to Craig’s character. The sheriff (Keith Carradine) sees a wanted poster of Lonergan and quickly takes him into custody after a brief fight in the bar. I have to tell you that Craig looks the part of an outlaw. You don’t want to mess around with this fellow. I think he put on ten pounds of pure muscle for this role. I know he has a pair of thick forearms that are much needed for the fights he gets into throughout the film. Still, with his steely-blue eyes and hard, good looks, it’s difficult not to see him as James Bond, even with a western hat and leather chaps on.
Okay, back to the story.

While the Colonel is investigating the mysterious deaths of two of his cattle hands and some of his stray cows by more or less torturing the sole survivor of the incident, he’s informed about his son’s arrest. He quickly rides into town to confront the sheriff and get his son back. He also has it in for Jake Lonergan because the outlaw stole some of his gold in a stagecoach robbery. While the big confrontation is going on in the middle of Absolution at night, the aliens arrive in sharp-looking, extremely fast and maneuverable aircraft, blasting the hell out of the town and abducting several of the town’s residents by snatching them off the streets with something that looks like cables. The Colonel’s son is taken, the sheriff, the wife of the local bartender, Doc (played by Sam Rockwell in one of his nicer roles, too), and a number of others.

Ford and Craig form an uneasy alliance with each other and go after the aliens, along with the preacher, the bartender, several of the Colonel’s henchmen, and the somewhat unusual, gun toting female character of Ella Swenson that’s played by Olivia Wilde. What her role is in this movie becomes evident later on. Up until that point, however, you’re scratching your head in confusion as to what the hell is going on between her and Craig. He keeps asking her, “Do we know each other?” She never actually answers the question even when she explains who she is and what she’s doing there.

Of course, there are going to be a number of confrontations between the cowboys and the aliens throughout the second half of the movie, and this also going to include a band of outlaws (Lonergan’s old band of cutthroats) and about two-dozen Apache Indians. I’m not going to tell you any more about the film or how it ends. I’ll simply recount one of the preacher’s lines in the movie when he’s talking to Craig’s character, while stitching his wound up—“Sometimes good men do bad things and bad men do good things.” That’s a very important line to remember in relation to both Jake Lonergan and Woodrow Dolarhyde as their characters progress through the movie.

Did I like the film? Yes. Did I understand all of it? No.

Both Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford can do no wrong in my opinion. I thought their performances were right on the mark, except for maybe the way the script was written with Ford’s character starting out as someone who’s filled with pure meanness and then slowly turning into a good-hearted person. It was fun to see Ford play out of character for once and for the audience to despise him. I think his character should have stayed that way, while I didn’t have a problem with the progression of Jake Lonergan. After all, he can’t remember who he is to begin with, so in a sense he gets to start a new personality from scratch.

The film was beautifully shot in Arizona. The locations were scenic and had a significant role in the film for this is where the alien’s mother ship is hidden. As for the aliens themselves, they were definitely horrible-looking creatures with a chest that opened up and two rather wicked-looking arms with three-fingered hands slowly emerged to strangle whoever was in front of them. These aliens looked way too big in size for the small aircraft they were zipping around the desert in.

Like other reviewers before me, I tended to see this movie as two separate films—a western movie and a science fiction movie. I believe either one of them by themselves could have been a great film. I know the western aspects of it had me totally involved. The science fiction aspects had me somewhat confused, though I loved the special effects.

I mean why would such an advanced alien race (the creatures certainly didn’t look or act advanced) fly all the way to earth just to steal our gold. That didn’t ring true to me. There are too many other non-inhabitant planets in our galaxy that has tons of minerals and other ores on them. They could have gone to any of those planets without having to fight the occupants. Also, how many humans did the aliens actually need to abduct in order to study us? In my opinion, three-to-five should have been more than enough, but during the course of a month or so, they must have taken at least fifty or more humans. Maybe the abductions gave them something to do when they weren’t mining for gold.

Another thing that bothered me was the fact that Jake Lonergan appeared to be from that area, yet almost no one knew him. His old house was within riding distance of Absolution, plus a few of the Colonel’s men seemed to know what he looked like. Jake’s old band of outlaws weren’t that far away, either. The thing is the residents of Absolution had no idea who he was. The sheriff didn’t know until he happened to see a wanted poster for him. And, let’s not forget Ella Swenson. Why didn’t anybody question her and want to do who she was and what she was doing there? It was like everyone knew already who she was, except for Jake Lonergan, but that wasn’t made clear to the audience. Why was she wearing a holstered handgun if we never get to see her use it?

Okay, here comes a big spoiler alert, so skip this part if you want. When it turned out that Ella was really another alien species who had come to earth to get revenge on the bad aliens for what they’d done to her and her people, it was never explained how she got to earth. Where was her spacecraft? Why was she after this particular group of alien explorers and not their entire species? How did she know the metal bracelet Craig wore though most of the movie would cause the mother spaceship to explode if taken to the ship’s core? Too many questions and not enough answers.

I thought Walton Goggins’ talent as an actor was somewhat wasted on his character. He should have been given much more to do. The same thing with Clancy Brown and Sam Rockwell. I’m so use to seeing them play bad guys in other movies that it took me a while to accept them in their new roles. Just as unusual was seeing Harrison Ford play someone who starts out as a really mean individual. As I wrote earlier, I think Ford’s character should have stayed evil throughout the movie, instead of gradually getting a heart. This would have been more interesting, especially if he and Craig had a shootout in the finale. It just didn’t feel right to me. I know people, and no one changes their innate personality from one extreme to the other over the course of two days, if at all.

Still with all of these complaints, it was a fun movie to watch. I didn’t feel as if my money had been wasted. Would I buy the DVD when it comes out? Maybe if it was a Director’s Cut with another fifteen-to-twenty minutes added to it that offered more information. Sometimes scenes with important information in them are deleted to get the film down to a more marketable running time. Last, I think this is more of a man’s movie than a woman’s. Men who like Westerns will certainly enjoy this film.

Here’s a little footnote, Daniel Craig has another movie coming out at the end of this September (Dream House), which is a horror movie. It looks great. The film after that will be The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, followed by a new “James Bond” movie. Harrison Ford already has another “Indian Jones” film in the works.

An argument about the movie, The Adjustment Bureau

2011-08-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

One of the ladies in the office where I work told me on Friday that she'd finally watched the DVD of The Adjustment Bureau. When I asked her if she'd liked it, she kind of hesitated for a moment and then said, "Forget the science fiction aspects of the movie, the romantic parts that you raved about weren't realistic." I asked her what she meant. The woman then told me that she felt the reason Matt Damon's character wanted to be with Emily Blunt so badly was because the Adjustment Bureau tried to keep them apart. He didn't like being told what to do. If it hadn't been for that, he probably would have found someone else.

I asked if she thought a man would be willing to give up everything to be with the woman he truly loved, and she said no. Another woman laughed and said, "Try being married for several years and then see if the man is still willing to give up everything." I took issue with that. I told them that everyone has to live life as they believe it to be and that a lot of the stuff we deal with has to do with the choices we make on a day-to-day basis. It was also my belief that if a man met the woman he was supposed to be with for the rest of his life that it would be a love so strong that nothing could pull them apart. See, I believe in soulmates. Call me crazy or stupid. I dont care. This is one of my core beliefs and nothing or no one can change it. I firmly believe that a man can meet a woman and know in an instant that he's in love with her and that they're meant to be together, no matter what. I won't say that meeting this very special person is easy, but when it happens, you know it in your heart. The ladies called me a hopeless romantic.

I then asked all of them another question. I said, "How many of you have seen the movie, The Notebook?" They all said they'd seen it. I asked how many of them had liked the movie. Each one of the women admitted to having loved the film and having cried at the end of it. I asked them why they'd loved it so much and was basically told that they all wanted to spend their lives with the person they loved and to die in their arms like James Garner and Gena Rowlands did. I then asked them, "Who the hopeless romantic here?" They didn't have an answer to that question.

Anyway, I just watched The Adjustment Bureau again, and I still stand by my opinion--When you meet the right person, you'll be willing to give up everything just to be with them, and you'll fight anyone who tries to keep you apart. I know I would.

Review of the DVD for Rocky Balboa, starring Sylvester Stallone

2011-08-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

When I moved to Las Vegas in 1986 to stay, I lucked out and got a two-week gig as an extra in the Sylvester Stallone movie, Over the Top. The filming took place at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and dealt with the World Series Arm Wrestling competition that Stallone's character enters so he can win enough money to take care of his son. I was used in several different scenes as an extra, but the one that clearly stands out for me is when I played a member of the audience in the wrestling arena. Before Stallone would come onto the set to film a particular scene in the arena, the assistant director would rev the audience up by playing the theme to Rocky, "Gonna Fly Now." Of course, the audience didn't really need to be revved up for Stallone. I, and the hundreds of other people sitting in the stands, saw Stallone as his fictional character, and we would stand up and cheek out of pure adulation. To us, Stallone was Rocky.

Things haven't really changed much since that moment in time twenty-five years ago. For me, Stallone is Rocky and will always be. I still get a big, goofy grin on my face whenever I hear the theme to Rocky. So for me, the movie, Rocky Balboa, was a dream come true. It was a chance to relieve the original "Rocky" movie and to reach a better understanding of the last thirty-fve years of my life. More than that, however, it gave me hope for the future. Rocky Balboa is a true spark of life for all of us in my age bracket who are having trouble moving ahead. This is a movie about not giving up and being able to take the hits that come your way. It's certainly true for the character of Rocky as well as its creator, Sylvester Stallone and what he had to go through to get Rocky Balboa made. Let me just say this. The budget for Rocky Balboa was around twenty-four million dollars, which is low for a movie in today's time. For a film to break even, it has to make at least three times what it cost, which also covers distribution and the percentage that the theaters get from the sell of each ticket. The worldwide gross for Rocky Balboa was right around $148,000,000.00. Stallone did what was thought to be impossible by others--he gave new life to Rocky and made another hit movie!

In Rocky Balboa, our lead character is now living in South Philadelphia and is struggling from the lost of his wife, Adrian, who died of cancer. His only friend appears to be Paulie (played by Burt Young), who's still working at the meatpacking plant. Rocky and his son, Robert (played by Milo Ventimiglia), have grown apart and see very little of each other. Though Rocky owns and operates a small Italian restaurant called Adrian's, his heart isn't into it. He has little to look forward to and sees his life as nearly over. The only pleasure he gets is from visiting Adrian's grave.

Everything begins to slowly change for Rocky when two important events take place. The first is when Rocky runs into Marie (played by Geraldine Hughes), a person from his past who gives him a reason to keep going forward with his life. The second thing is when a sport's show does a virtual reality computer fight between him and the new world champion, Mason Dixon (played by Antonio Tarver), displaying that Rocky, though older, would win the bout without any problem. This creates in Rocky the desire to fight again, but only on a local level. Dixon's people view the computer fight and immediately see a way to make a great deal of money.

After Rocky renews his fighting license, he's asked to do a celebrity fight against Mason Dixon in Las Vegas with part of the proceeds going to charity. Though hesitant at first to get back into the ring with a heavyweight champion, Rocky finally agrees to do so with Marie's encouragement. Robert, however, is totally against his father fighting again. He's lived in his father's shadow for years and this will only make matters worse. Rocky explains to his son that this is something he has to do in order to feel alive again. He also tells Robert that he has to stop blaming others for his problems and to learn to deal with life by not giving up when things gets tough. Of course, all of this leads to the preparation for the big fight and then to the fight itself. I still get goose bumps when Rocky runs up the steps to the Philadelphia Art Museum with "Gonna Fly Now" playing in the background.

What Sylvester Stallone was able to do with Rocky Balboa is to return to the roots of the original movie in the series and to tap into its heart and soul. You see it in the streets of Philadelphia, the poignant music of Bill Conti, Rocky's old home and Mickey's gym from the first movie, the shadows and dark overtones of the film, the return of Burt Young as Paulie and Tony Burton as Duke, and the haunting presence of Adrian (played by the lovely Talia Shire) throughout the film. Stallone put his own heart and soul into the making of this film, fighting an up-hill battle against the studios who thought his career was over. He wouldn't give up, knowing this film was a reflection of his own life and struggles.

Rocky Balboa is definitely the way the series needs to be ended. It's a direct mirror of what can be good in a person's life if he's willing to put forth the effort. I don't know about other people, but when I saw this movie on DVD, it brought tears to my eyes, but in a good way. This is the last Rocky movie. Stallone knew he was finally saying goodbye to his most famous character and to an intricate part of his own life. As the final credits roll in the movie, dozens of everyday people are shown running up the famous steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum. Each year thousands of people run up these steps and throw their arms victoriously up into the air just like Rocky did. That's how powerful the impact of this series has been on the mass public. I used to live outside of Philadelphia during my early teens. If I still lived there, you'd see me running up the steps, too. Well, maybe halfway up. I'm not in as good of shape as I used to be.

With regards to the DVD extras on Rocky Balboa, there's a fifteen-minute featurette on the making of the movie, another fifteen-minute featurette on doing the big fight scene at the finale, twenty minutes of deleted scenes with an alternate ending, bloopers, and a great film commentary by Stallone. This is definitely a movie that the fans of the "Rocky" series will love, and as the last words in the film say, "Yo, Adrian, we did it!"

Review of The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale

2011-08-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

The winner of the Edgar Award for 2000, The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale is one of the best, if not the best, novels I've ever read. I've said it once, and I'll say it again, this book should have been nominated for a Pulizer Prize, it's that damn good. Over the last forty years, I've probably somewhere in the vicinity of 3,500 books, but few have managed to capture my heart and soul in such a way as to leave me with a profound sense of what it means to be a human being. This is a rare experience, but when it happens, I it's something that will stay with me for many years to come.
The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale is one of those miracles of writing that had such an affect.

The Bottoms is the story of eleven-year-old Harry Crane and the tragedy that transpired between the years of 1933 and 34 in the small East Texas town of Marvel Creek. It began on a normal summer day when Harry and his younger sister, Thomasina, were out hunting squirrels along the Bottoms with their dog, Toby, and accidentally discovered the tortured body of a dead black woman. On their way back home to get their father, Jacob, who's the town's constable, they are stalked through the darken woods by something, or someone, who could be the legendary Goat Man. The two kids make it back home safe and sound, but just barely.

When Jacob Crane is told about the body, he recovers it the next day and begins an investigation that few white people seem to care about. Eventually more bodies are discovered and the town realizes that it has a demented killer within its midst. It isn't, however, until a woman, who is partially black and white, is murdered that the "good" citizens of Marvel Creek decide to take matters into their own hands. Because of a careless error on Jacob's part, an innocent man is lynched, and he must come to grips with the totality of his mistake, as well as his failure to stop the hanging. It's a burden that can weigh heavily on the shoulders of a decent person.

As the killings continue and someone very special to young Harry is brutally murdered, he and his sister take it upon themselves to solve the mystery of the Goat Man and find out who the killer really is. Of course, the killer knows that the two Crane children are hunting him and has plans of his own for dealing with them in a very special way.

Joe R. Lansdale's novel is a morality tale in the grandest sense, dealing with the deep roots of racism and how people can close their eyes to prejudice and injustice. It's also a story about life itself and how human beings (both good and bad) choose to live it, probing the emotions of guilt and shame like an open wound, while at the same time depicting heart-felt acts of courage and redemption. Filled with difficult questions concerning love, friendship, what its means to be a man, and doing the right thing when the odds are clearly stacked against you, Mr. Lansdale offers no easy answers and doesn't pull his punches when delving into the dark side of human nature.

All the characters in this novel resonate with a strong life force of their own, luring the reader into their world, making you believe each and every word that's written. I was there at night, in the woods, when the Goat Man stalked Harry and Thomasina, feeling their terror in the pit of my stomach. I breathed in the close friendships that Harry had with old man Mose and Miss Maggie, not to mention the schoolboy crush he had on his beautiful teacher, Mrs. Canerton. I raged and then wept when Jacob and Harry were beaten down to the ground by the lynch mob, knowing the anguish they felt at not being able to stop what was about to happen. And, I trembled in fear at the final confrontation between a young boy and a human monster, understanding that bravery often comes with the risk of death.

The Bottoms isn't a novel that can be read and then put away, but one that readers will live and feel to the very core of their being. This book is Joe R. Lansdale's masterpiece, and I sincerely hope that those who read it and love the book as much as I do will pass on the word to others. Highly recommended!!!

Review of the DVD for Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro

2011-08-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

First of all allow me to say that I really enjoyed watching Limitless with Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. I’m not a big fan of Bradley Cooper’s. This is because I haven’t seen him in much over the years, other than the Alias television series with Jennifer Garner. The premise of the film is what drew me to it with utter fascination. What would we as a species be capable of doing if we could use more of our brain? I was curious to find out how this would be portrayed in the movie. I still remembered the different things the main characters in Phenomenon and Powder were capable of doing with the increase use of their mental ability. It was stunning to say the least.

In Limitless, down-and-out writer, Eddie Morra (Cooper), runs into his ex-brother-in-law on the streets. The guy offers him something that will change his life forever—a pill that will enable him to use 100% of his brain power. The guy usually charges clients $700 for a pill, but for Eddie it’s free. The only catch is that the pill wears off and then you have to pop another one to stay on top of things. Once you become addicted to the pill, and who wouldn’t, getting off of it produces side effects that can eventually kill you. Eddie, however, doesn’t know about this part.

Well, Eddie says to himself, “Why not?” He takes the offered pill and quickly downs it. In less than thirty minutes, his brain is working a hundred times faster than normal and he can now see the world in a much clearer light. He’s stunned to say the least about how different the world looks to him. He’s now able to see and do things he couldn’t before. Things that confuse others are now seen with clarity by him. In fact, he helps the wife of his building manager do a paper for her graduate degree in ninety minutes and is rewarded with a quick bout of sex and the promise her husband won’t hound him for the rent money. Of course, the pill wears off the next day, and Eddie finds himself in dire need to locate his ex-brother-in-law so he can get another fix. The only drawback here is that the guy’s been murdered and his apartment ransacked.

Through the careful thinking, Eddie is able to find the hidden stash that the killers weren’t, along with a sizable amount of money. You know the old saying, “It takes money to make money.” This is what Eddie quickly realizes as he uses the confiscated funds to make more money by gambling and then investing. He even writes his novel in three days and sells it. But, this is too slow for him. He instinctively realizes that he has a very short time in which to create unbelievable wealth, and it’s going to take more money than he has to do it.

Not keeping a low profile is his first mistake. Remember, his brother-in-law was murdered for the pill by someone who was aware of its capabilities. They will be on the lookout for people who suddenly come from out of nowhere with amazing abilities to make tremendous amounts of money on the stock market and through large capital investments. The second mistake Eddie makes is borrowing a large amount of money from the Russian mafia and then forgetting to pay it back. Naturally, they come looking for him and become curious as to the reasons behind his unexpected wealth and the little pills he takes.

Along this incredible journey, Eddie also meets ultra power broker, Carl Van Loon (De Niro), who gives him a shot at the big time because he’s impressed with Eddie’s ability to cut through the crap and to see the important aspects of each contract that Van Loon is negotiating on. Eddie proves himself, but he also has to keep proving himself,which creates certain problems when the pill wears off. Eddie turns to his former girlfriend, Lindy (played by Abbie Cornish), and enlists her aid in getting to his hidden stash. The problem with that is the Russian mob is already onto him, plus there’s a killer following him with evil intentions on his mind. Eddie doesn’t know if he’s going to live long enough to stay on top of the new life he’s created for himself. There’s also the problem of what he’s going to do when he finally depletes his stash of magical pills.

Like I said, I really liked this movie, but it did have its flaws. I thought Bradley Cooper was excellent as Eddie Morra. I was impressed with his acting chops, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in future projects. You could tell that Robert De Niro was having a good time with the role of Carl Van Loon, though I don’t think his character would have actually pulled the unexpected surprise at the end of the film. Abbie Cornish was great of Morra’s former girlfriend, who had his number from the very beginning, but is still willing to give him another chance.

The Special Effects was excellent in how they portrayed Eddie’s mind working once he had the pill inside of him. I think, however, had Eddie been able to use 100% of his brain’s capacity, he would have been able to do much than he actually did in the film. I’m thinking the pill only enabled him to use maybe twenty-to-thirty percent of his mind’s ability, compared the five-to-seven percent that’s normally used by the average person and the geniuses on our planet.

Also, there was a fight scene between Eddie and several thugs in a subway. Because of Eddie’s ability to remember all of the fight scenes he’d seen in movies and read about over the years, he was able to beat these violent predators. It was an impressive battle, but I know from my own training as a much younger man, that your body has to be trained to react in certain ways to an attack. Muscles have to be stretched and coordinated, and you have to know how much speed and power to use with each punch and kick so you don’t kill the other person and then find yourself arrested for murder.

Another thing I had a problem with was if Eddie was so smart, why does he keep going back to the same apartment so everybody can find him? Why does he forget to payback his loan from the Russian mafia? Considering how many people were actually using the pill, why isn’t the mass public more aware of the pill’s existence and its distinct advantages? These are silly stupid mistakes for a man who’s supposedly using a 100% of his brain and by the people who did the film. Still, that doesn’t take away from the fun of the movie, and the film is definitely fun to watch. I want to stress that. This is a fun and very interesting movie to watch. There’s a lot of food for thought here that causes viewer to ponder the infinite possibilities when a larger amount of brain capacity is induced.

The DVD has both the theatrical version and the extended version to watch on it. I would recommend the extended version. Everything makes a little more sense in the extended version, plus the ending is much better and satisfying in its resolution. The DVD also has a behind-the-scenes Making of Segment on the film and an audio commentary. You can easily rent this through Netflix or Blockbuster for a couple of bucks, and it’s certainly worth the costs in my opinion.

For me, the next two great areas of research for future scientists are the human mind and deep outer space. I feel that both are interconnected. Anyway, I love movies that explore the capacity of man’s mind and what it might be capable of doing once more areas of the brain are accessed. The potential is unlimited or limitless…like the movie says.

Review of Pressure Points by Larry Brooks

2011-08-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

Larry Brooks first came upon the scene with his debut novel, DARKNESS BOUND, an erotic, suspense thriller that left me fearful of ladies dressed in black leather! His second novel, PRESSURE POINTS, does the same thing for self-help seminars that DARKNESS BOUND did for sensuously clad females.

Now, let me pre-warn the reader that this isn't a fast paced book, though it does move rather quickly. PRESSURE POINTS is a slow-burning fuse that delves into strong character development and moves forward as layer after layer of intense suspense is added, until it finally reaches an exploding climax. Also, I would ask the reader to think of the Michael Douglas movie, The Game, when reading this because nothing is as it seems. Neither the reader, nor the main characters in the book, will know what's real or simply a masterful illusion. The one thing the reader may be assured of, however, is that a lot of people are going to die before the end is reached!

The story deals predominantly with Brad Teeters, Pamela Wiley and Mark Johnson. All three are high-ranking employees of the Wright & Wong advertising and marketing agency in Seattle, Washington. Brad is the "people" person who's capable of selling any potential client on the agency's ability to meet their needs. Pamela is the creative source behind the agency's success, and Mark is the genius from the business end of it. Each of these people have their strong points and weak points, and each of them has now reached a point in their life where they want more than the agency is willing to give.

When they approach Ken Wong-the sole surviving founder of the agency-and inform him of their intent to instigate a hostile takeover, he reluctantly agrees to their demands, but only on one condition. Ken tells the trio that he'll willingly turn over the agency to them; but first, they must attend and complete a self-help seminar in northern California. The rationale behind this maneuver is that Ken Wong hopes the seminar (one he, himself, recently attended) will help them to see the error of their ways and the fact that they're not actually ready to run the agency.

All three team members, hungry for what they consider to be their justly rewards, finally agree to spend a week at the seminar, not knowing that their lives will, in fact, change rather drastically. What's not known is that they have been marked for death and the real challenge will be to simply stay alive!

PRESSURE POINTS reminded me a great deal of the novels that were published back in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies when strong character development and avid suspense were the most important ingredients of any well-written thriller...when the whole point was to keep the reader guessing right up till the last page. Mr. Brooks' newest novel succeeds tremendously on this level.

Strange as it may seem, however, the one character I was most drawn to was Brad Teeters' wife, Beth. She reminded me somewhat of the "Dark Lady" from DARKNESS BOUND in her ability to manipulate the people around her in order to achieve her goals. Not only is she smart, beautiful, and sensuous, Beth Teeters is also as dangerous as a Black Widow spider. She'll do whatever it takes to protect her and her husband even it means having a clandestine affair with Ken Wong, or seducing others in order to put her own game plan into motion. This is definitely a woman you don't want to cross!

All in all, PRESSURE POINTS is an excellent follow-up to Larry Brooks' first novel. It's definitely a page-turner of the best sort! This novel is now for sale on Amazon's Kindle store as The Seminar for $2.99.

A review of Misery Bay by Steve Hamilton

2011-07-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

It’s been five long years since the last “Alex McKnight” novel, A Stolen Season, was published. The sixth novel in the series ended with McKnight’s love interest being murdered in one of his cabins up n Paradise, Michigan, and he blamed himself for her death. At that point in the series, the author, Steve Hamilton, said he needed a break from the character. Mr. Hamilton wasn’t sure what he wanted to write about next, only that it wouldn’t be an “Alex McKnight” novel.

Of course, that left his readers hanging in the air for five years. Man, that’s a damn long time without a yearly fix. The author did manage to write two stand-alone novels, Night Work and The Lock Artist. Still, it wasn’t the same as an “Alex McKnight” book. We, the readers, needed to know what was going on in McKnight’s life and how he was coping with the death of police officer, Natalie Reynaud.

Well, the seventh novel, Misery Bay, is finally out, and it’s a definite winner! I’m only hoping it won’t be five more years before the next one is published.

This time around, McKnight is called in by Natalie Reynaud’s former boss, Chief of Police Roy Maven. Maven doesn’t like McKnight, but he respects the man’s tenaciousness in working a case. He knows that once McKnight sinks his teeth into an investigation, he won’t stop until it’s solved one way or another. Maven also understands that McKnight won’t hesitate to bend the rules when necessary, which is something Maven can’t do. Anyway, Chief Maven has come to McKnight for help and refuses to take no for an answer.

When Maven was coming up through the ranks of law enforcement as a young man, he worked as a State Trooper for a couple of years. One of his partners during that period was a man named Charles Razniewski (or Raz for short), who later went on to become a U.S. Marshall. Raz’s only son, Charles Jr., apparently committed suicide a few months before and Raz needs to know why. In his own mind, there was no reason for his son to hang himself out in an isolated wooded area, and Raz needs to know what propelled his son to take his own life in such an unusual way. Against his better judgment, McKnight agrees to look into the suicide to see what he can find out.

It isn’t long, however, before McKnight senses something horrific going on behind the scenes…something that leads him to believe that Charles Jr. didn’t commit suicide, but was rather murdered to get back at the father for an incident that happened in the past. Unfortunately, this isn’t the only suicide that has taken place with regards to the children of former State Troopers. McKnight soon finds himself in search of a serial killer as the F.B.I. become involved and attempt to kick him off the case. Of course, as we know, McKnight doesn’t give up on cases. This only forces the ex-Detroit cop to go it alone in search of a killer who may have even more targets lined up before the end is reached. McKnight will come as close to dying here as he did when he worked for the Detroit Police Department and was shot, lying on a floor and watching his partner die next to him. This case will teach him one very important thing—that evil comes in all shapes and sizes and can attack when least expected.

I can’t begin to describe the pleasure of having a new “Alex McKnight” novel in my hands. It was a long way, but well worth it. If anything, Steve Hamilton has become an even much better writer than he was before. He’s able to capture the pure essence of northern Michigan with its coldness and isolation without using a lot of fancy adjectives or adverbs. I like that in a writer. I can imagine myself riding along with McKnight as he drives across state, or feel the coldness in the Michigan night air in March and April. Though I’ve never been to Michigan, I certainly feel as though I know the Upper Peninsula due to reading these novels over the past decade.

One thing I certainly enjoy about the Alex McKnight character is that he ages with each book, just like I do. I feel a kindred spirit in him. He’s no longer a young man and isn’t able to do the things he did thirty years ago. That doesn’t stop him from trying…like going up against an armed bad guy with no weapon of his own. Also, McKnight’s word is his bond, and he always attempts to do the right thing, displaying acts of bravery that would freeze an average man cold in his tracks. Needless to say, whenever McKnight goes up against a killer, my money’s on him all the way, though in Misery Bay, he comes close to kicking the bucket when he takes a .45 round to the chest.

I also liked what Steve Hamilton did with the villain in this novel. You can understand the person’s need for revenge after what was done to him as a young boy. You may not agree with it, but you can see where the person is coming from. There are no black and whites here. Everything seems to be in the grey area, right or wrong. One good thing that happens to the main character is that McKnight develops an attraction for a female FBI agent, who’s investigating the suicides. As we all know, long distance relationships seldom work, but at least McKnight is coming out of his shell and his loss of Natalie Reynaud. He’s starting to feel the need to live again, which is important if the series is to continue.

Another thing that’s left in the air is whether or not Maven and McKnight will ever work together again. As hard as Maven is to like, he does soften up with McKnight and they do work well together as a team. I would like to see them and Leon get together to form some kind of detective agency, though they may not be enough work to keep an agency above water. Leon had to go back to selling snowmobiles, and then when that petered out due to a lack of snow, he started working in a movie theater, selling tickets and popcorn. My heart goes out to the poor guy because deep down, he’s a private eye at heart and a pretty good one at that.

All in all, Steve Hamilton delivers with full force the newest “Alex McKnight” novel, giving the readers the adrenaline rush they need after a five-year wait. Misery Bay definitely leaves you wanting more “Alex McKnight” stories, and I hope Mr. Hamilton is presently working on one as I write this. I need to know if McKnight and Chief Maven get back together, or if McKnight and the FBI agents start a long-distance relationship with each other.

This last bit is a little strange even for me. Whenever I put a face on Alex McKnight, for some reason I always see the author, James Lee Burke, who writes the “Dave Robicheaux” novels. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Burke looks like he could live in northern Michigan, amongst the extreme cold weather and high snowdrifts. I guess it’s that roughed-looking face of his. Anyway, Misery Bay is highly recommended to lovers of the PI genre!

A review of the DVD for Season of the Witch, starring Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman

2011-07-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

There will probably be spoilers in this review of the DVD for Season of the Witch, so don’t be shocked if I give too much away. There are some things I want to talk about, and I don’t see any way around it without disclosing certain particular points of the movie. But, let’s wait and see what happens.

First of all, I really enjoyed Season of the Witch, starring Nicolas Cage as Behmen and Ron Perlman as his partner, Felson. The story takes place during the Middle Ages when the Crusades in the Holy Land are going on, and the Black Death is spreading throughout Europe, wiping out over half of the population. This film got so many bad reviews when it came out at the beginning of the year that I had no desire whatsoever to see it on DVD. That changed when I was watching another movie last weekend and caught a preview of Season of the Witch. The trailer caught my attention and triggered my interest in getting a copy of the movie. Needless to say, when I watched the film today, I did so with trepidation.

Thankfully, the movie proved to be highly entertaining to me. In fact, I enjoyed the film so much that I intend of watching it again. Keep in mind that this isn’t Kingdom of Heaven, but I still had a lot of fun with the movie, including its storyline, the acting, the set design, the cinematography, and the special effects.

The story begins with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman as knights, fighting in the Crusades. They’re dressed as Knights’ Templars, but it’s never mentioned if they are Templars or not. What comes out during the first ten minutes of the film is that both men are courageous and have killed many of the Church’s enemies in battles before finally becoming disillusioned with the whole mess and the reasons behind the war. After a senseless battle in which women and children are murdered, Cage and Perlman decide they’re had enough and leave. Of course, this is called desertion and if they’re caught, it also means death for both of them.

When Cage and Perlman make their way back to Europe (it’s never clear exactly what country they end up in, but English is spoken there), they arrive at a town where the Black Death has killed a large majority of its populace. They are soon recognized by the seal on their swords and arrested for desertion (I did find this a little hard to swallow). The two knights are then presented to the Cardinal (played by the great, but unrecognizable Christopher Lee in heavy makeup) and offered the opportunity of avoiding death on the condition they escort a young woman (known only as the Girl and played wonderfully by Claire Foy) to a remote monastery where the monks will judge her to be a witch or not. Since Nicolas Cage is still somewhat overwhelmed with his part in the killing of innocents, he agrees to do it for both him and his partner, but only if she receives a fair trial. I don’t think there was ever such a thing as a fair trial during the Dark Ages of Europe.

Anyway, the journey through the mountains and valleys and other villages proves to be a test of strength and endurance when faced with the dangerous obstacles they have to overcome in getting to the monastery. A priest (played by Stephen Campbell Moore) and another knight (played by Stephen Graham) accompany them to the monastery. They are led there by a thief (played by Ulrich Thomsen), who has also avoided a death sentence by agreeing to be their guide. They’re soon joined by one of the Cardinal’s young assistants, a teenage boy who wants to become a knight like Cage and Perlman. Some members of the group die during this journey. The really big climatic scenes occur when they finally reach the monastery and the truth of whether or not the Girl is actually a witch.

As I stated at the beginning of this review, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. This wasn’t a film with a big budget, but they made each dollar count. The set designs and locations for Europe during the Middle Ages are right on, and the dark, moody atmosphere that gripped every small town or village during this time period is perfectly captured. Remember, this was a time when a woman could be burned at the stake for the most stupid reasons. Everything and everyone was filthy with dirt and grime, and there was no personal hygiene. Few people grew old during this period, dying at an early age due to war, famine, and the Plague. It was a time of innate fear and superstition, and the Church ruled with an iron fist as it sought to gain power over the lands and its people.

I felt totally comfortable with the acting in the movie. Everyone played their part as realistically as possible. I have to admit, however, that Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman are not normally the type of actors who play knights during the Middle Ages. Still, they won me over with their performances. I especially like Claire Foy as the Girl. Throughout the first half of the film, you’re not sure if she’s innocent of the charges or not. She plays the role perfectly, luring us in and then surprising us with a total switch in personalities. Though I knew his deep, resonant voice, I didn’t recognize Christopher Lee as the Cardinal. Of course, he was dying from the Plague and had large protrusions on his forehead and a lip that was permanently etched upward in a type of snarl.

The journey to the monastery reminded me a little bit of the journey taken to Count Dracula’s castle. You just know something bad is going to happen along the way. I mean it’s foggy in the woods, and there seems to be a sense of menace at every turn.

The Special Effects were well done, except for the demon at the end. A stuntman played the part the demon in a body suit for a few shots, which was fine by me. Other than that, the demon was computer generated and didn’t look real enough. The beginning of the movie was great when three women were accused of witchcraft and hung off the side of a bridge. What happens after they were executed certainly caught me off guard.

There was a scene near the end when everyone is attacked inside the monastery and the priest is lying on the floor. He’s says, “I think we’re going to need more holy water.” This reminded of the scene from Jaws, when Roy Scheider first sees the giant shark and says, “I think we’re going to need a bigger boat.”

Now, as far as Extras go, this DVD has a segment on the making of a demon, the creating the Crusades, deleted scenes, and an alternate ending. The deleted scenes were all good, and I don’t know why they weren’t kept in the movie. Since the film is only ninety minutes long, another ten minutes wouldn’t have done any damage and would have given the audience more information in understanding what was going on. I also liked the alternate ending much better than the one used in the movie. It worked better for me and answered the question of why Nicolas Cage was bleeding from a stomach wound, instead of the back wounds he incurred when fighting the demon.

All in all, this was a special little treat for a Saturday afternoon. The movie isn’t as bad as critics make out. I’m happy I saw the preview for Season of the Witch and then decided to watch the movie. I often think that if film critics don’t occasionally bad-mouth a movie, they don’t feel as if they’re doing their job. Well, no one is paying me for this review so I can say exactly what I please. Give this film a try. You might find out like me, that it’s actually a lot of fun to watch as long as it’s not taken too seriously.

A book review of Flashback by Dan Simmons

2011-07-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

Dan Simmons first came on the scene with The Song of Kali back in 1985. Not only was it an excellent first novel, but it also had Harlan Ellison’s endorsement. Simmons then wrote Carrion’s Comfort in 1989, Summer of Night in 1991, and Children of the Night in 1992. He also wrote science fiction, and then later suspense thrillers, private-eye mysteries (the Joe Kurtz novels are absolutely great!), historical fiction such as The Terror (I believe this to be one of the best horror novels ever written that’s based on an actual incident), Drood (though I felt this novel got somewhat away from the title character of Drood, it still had some fabulous suspense scenes in it, dealing with 19th Century London and underground city where Drood and his followers lived), Black Hills, and now Flashback, which is in many ways a private-eye mystery set in a futuristic America.

Flashback is a long novel, running in at 550 pages. The author uses that space to discuss the economic upheaval of the United States and its dependence on a new Japan for survival. The country is no longer a nation, but is rather divided into sections with many of the states and tri-states assuming total control of its area with armed militia. Part of the reason for America’s demise is the addiction of over 340 million people to the drug called Flashback. This drug enables its user to return to a mental state of happier times in his past, and like a dream, it seems totally real while you’re experiencing it.

At the heart of the novel, Flashback, is ex-Denver homicide detective, Nick Bottoms, who’s addicted to the drug as a way of reliving his happiest moments with his dead wife, Dara. Nick is so addicted to Flashback that he lost his job after his wife died, and he then sent his young son to live in California with the father-in-law. Still, Nick is hired by a highly important Japanese advisor to the United States to solve the six-year-old murder of his own son. The case was never solved, and Nick had been the investigating officer on it at the time. Now, using the Flashback that’s given to him by Advisor Nakamura’s assistant, Sato, Nick has to relive the investigation and find out why there was no resolution to it.

While Nick is doing that, his son, Val, will have to find a way out of California after the gang he runs with attempts a futile assassination against a political figure. The only place Val and grandfather can go is to Denver, to the father who has totally ignored him for the past six years.

Nick, however, isn’t the same man after a couple of weeks on the investigation. When he discovers his wife’s involvement in the murder, it all becomes personal to him, and he starts to get his old skills back as a former homicide detective. He also knows that if he finds out too much, he will be a dead man. His instincts tell him that as due some the people he talks to. Still, there’s no stopping Bottoms once he gets the ball rolling. The question is how to find the killer and stay alive at the same time?

When I was a hundred pages into Flashback, I began to think that maybe Dan Simmons was on to something with his depiction on how the United States falls from its position as the world’s greatest power. With everything that’s going on with our present economy, unbelievable debt, and the fact that our congressmen and senators can’t seem to work with the President on saving our country, I began to see Mr. Simmons as being psychic and seeing what, in many ways, will happen to the United States in the next forty years. I also wouldn’t be surprised if a drug like Flashback was invented and then put on the street for public consumption. I can see millions of people using the drug to escape the harsh realities of their life. I’d probably be taking it myself so that I could go back and relive the happier moments of my own existence. I know I wouldn’t like the world that Mr. Simmons pictures some forty years from now and would probably jump at the opportunity to escape it for hours at a time. The author does a tremendous job of painting our future and the future of other countries, and it isn’t a pleasant picture to see.

As the story moved along, I found myself not caring very much about Nick Bottom’s son, Val. The kid wasn’t easy to like, and he seemed to feel as if the world owed him something. I guess most teenagers do, but I would have rather spend more time with Bottoms and his search for answers, rather than wasting it on Val and his slow change to a somewhat better person. Val, however, has something that is vital to his father solving the murder case in Denver. Because of this, his character is necessary to the ending of the novel. The thing is Nick Bottoms is a much more interesting character, and I found myself identifying with him more easily than with his son or his father-in-law. I cared about what happened to Nick, and not to the others.

I did enjoy some of the supporting characters in the novel, especially Sato and Bottom’s ex-partner, K.T. Lincoln, and Bottom’s late wife, Dara. Sato played a sizable role in the book (no pun intended), though I think in real life, Sato would have said something to Nick at the end to prevent the chain of events that played out and almost got everyone killed. Lincoln seemed like the type of partner every policeman would want to have: sexy, beautiful, tough as nails, and totally unobtainable because she’s a lesbian. Dara was a woman who loved her man, though she had more secrets than the Russian KGB. It’s possible that if she’d just talked to her husband about what was going on, the whole thing could have been prevented, but then there wouldn’t have been a story.

All in all, a great read by one of the country’s premiere authors. Don’t let the futuristic history, political science, and economics cause you to hesitate in reading this gem of a novel. It’s still a murder mystery with dire consequences for the detective attempting to solve it. Flashback is certainly Dan Simmons at his best.

P.S.
Benicio Del Toro is turning Drood into a major motion picture.

A short, short on two upcoming novels from Joe R. Lansdale!

2011-07-24T17:44:00.000-07:00

I just found out about these today, but others of you may already know about them. The great East Texas author, Joe R. Lansdale, has a young adult novel coming out in trade paperback on September 13, 2011, about seven weeks from now. The title is All the Earth, Thrown To the Sky and is 240 pages long.

Taking place during the 1930's depression, the novel deals with young Jack Catcher, who's parents have have died. He suddenly decides it's time to get out of Oklahoma and away from the dust bowl. When two other kids show up on his doorstep with plans to steal a dead neighbor's car and head out to parts unknown, he quickly agrees to join them. A run-in with gansters, however, forces them to head to Texas where a wrestler for a circus is the bad guys' intended target. The kids now feel the need to warn him about the gansters coming his way. Hopping a train, they encounter all sorts of strange characters and the adventure kicks in.

I don't usually read young adult novels from my favorite authors, but I will get a copy of this. I know Joe's writing, and he can make anything come alive with that incredible East Texas writing voice of his. Every story he does is an adventure in and of itself, and a pure joy to be a part of. I kid you not. If you haven't read anything by then I suggest The Bottoms, which is being turned into a motion picture by actor, Bill Paxton. There's also A Fine Dark Line and Sunset & Sawdust. All three of these novels are major accomplishments in the literary field, but filled with East Texas noir, suspense, murder, humorous characters, beautiful ladies, and more twist and turns than a roaring tornado.

In late March of 2012, Joe has a hardcover coming out, but it isn't a Hap/Leonard novel. The title is Edge of Dark Water and runs in at 288 pages. Below is the blub for the book from Amazon.com.

"May Lynn was once a pretty girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star. Now she's dead, her body dredged up from the Sabine River.

Sue Ellen, a strong-willed sixteen-year-old yearning for something greater than what she's been given, decides to take May Lynn's ashes to Tinsel Town and place them on her favorite actor's grave. It's the least Sue and her friends can do for May Lynn. But first, they have to figure out how to get there.

Then fortune strikes, and the group stumbles across a vast sum of money theirs for the taking. But what seems the perfect chance to escape from an empty life will have disastrous consequences, as Sue Ellen discovers just how hard growing up can really get."

That sounds pretty damn good to me, folks! After reading his novels, A Fine Dark Line and Sunset & Sawdust, I know what Joe can do with a young protagonist, especially a female one. They're tough as nails and they never give up, no matter what, just like the author. Okay, we have some fantastic reading ahead of us so get ready for any and everything as His Own Self (the great Joe R. Lansdale) takes us on the adventure of a lifetime.

A review of the DVD of Thunderheart, starring Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard & Graham Greene

2011-07-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

I've been going back over the last two months and re-watching a lot of my favorite films on DVD, and then writing reviews of them. These are movies that touched my inner spirit in some way, causing me to think heavily about different topics or themes, or connecting emotionally with me, or keeping me riveted to my seat (or couch in this case), or just scaring the living daylights out of me or turning me on for that matter.

I love movies and books. Those are my weaknesses, especially at my present age. Show me a young, beautiful blonde and I'll look and smile, but that's about it. Offer me a million dollars, and I'll probably say thanks, but no thanks, unless the person is buying one of my stories or screenplays. But, offer me the opportunity to watch a good film that will have me reacting in one or more of the above ways, and I'll be jumping up and down with excitement like a kid on Christmas morning, anxious to put the DVD into the player and then to turn on the talking box. I still get that way with movies I've watched several times or more over the last two decades such as The Yakuza with Robert Mitchum, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Contact, The Last Samurai, Rudy, The Door in the Floor, Dances With Wolves, Ben Hur, The Lake House, The Matrix, Man On Fire with Denzel Washington, Hearts In Atlantis with Anthony Hopkins, and dozens of other wonderful films.

Such is the case with Thunderheart, starring a Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, and Graham Greene. This film was one of the first, if not the first, movies that Robert DeNiro's newly formed production company, Tribeca, financed by in the early nineties. I saw it at the theater in 1992 in what I generally call my "Dances With Wolves" days. That was a short period during which I sought out answers in the hope of understanding the meaning of my life and what my particular purpose was, if anything at all. Don't laugh, but I actually thought about taking a bus to the Dakotas to start a new life and maybe even help the Native Americans with their struggle for self-recognition and freedom from the white man. Of course, I quickly wised up and realized that it was me who needed the real work and after twenty years, I'm still going at it.

Thunderheart is the story of a young, hotshot FBI agent, Ray Lavoi (played by Kilmer in one of his best roles), who's sent from Washington, D.C. to South Dakota to help seasoned FBI agent, Frank Coutelle (played by Pulitzer Prize winner, Sam Shepard), bring down the ARM movement (Aboriginal Rights Movement) on the Sioux reservation and a killer to justice. They think the killer is Jimmy Looks Twice (played by John Trudell), who is an ex-Vietnam vet and prominent player in the ARM movement.

At first Lavoi is at odds with tribal police officer, Walter Crow Horse (played by the gifted actor, Graham Greene), who rides a motorcycle and makes fun of him and his lack of understanding about his own Native American heritage. Crow Horse believes a cover up is going on and that Lavoi has been sent to the reservation to help it along. In time, however, both men begin to view each other as equals in the real fight that's going on, involving payoffs, kickbacks. bribery, political injustice, intimidation, and murder. With the help of Grandpa Reaches, an Indian medicine man who has powerful visions, and Maggie Eagle Bear, an activist and school teacher, Lavoi begins to think that there might actually be a cover-up going on that includes both the FBI and the U.S. Government. It also doesn't help that as Lavoi gets more involved with the Indians on the reservation, they begin to see him as the reincarnation of the Indian warrior, Thunderheart, who was murdeded at Wounded Knee by American soldiers. At the end, Lavoi must choose sides that have him hanging on the edge of an abyss between the culture he has known since childhood and the one of his ancestors that is now calling him to battle for those who can't defend themselves.

Thunderheart is one of those little gems that sneaks past you when you aren't looking. In many ways this is a powerful look at the plight of the Native American Indians and what the U.S. Government has done to them over the last century, but it is also one man's spirtual journey to awakening and to learning about what things in life are truly important. Power isn't a piece of paper or a law. It's a thunderstorm and a flowing river. A man has to learn to listen to the wind and to the water in order to understand the deeper meaning of life. Such is the way of Thunderheart.

Unfornately, there are little in the way of extras on the DVD, but the movie is well worth the purchase price and gives you a lot of food for thought. Powerful stuff for the white man!

A review of the DVD, Bound, starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon & Joe Pantoliano

2011-07-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Before the Wachowski Brothers made The Matrix, there was the erotic thriller, Bound, starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, John P. Ryan, and Christopher Meloni. This was a low budget movie (four-and-a-half million dollars) that was to be the calling card for Andy and Larry Wachowski so that they could eventually do The Matrix series. They both wrote and directed Bound, demonstrating their unbelievable talent in making a film that would quickly become a cult classic in just a few short years. The script was sharp and fresh with more twists in it than a hot pretzel. They were able to get two of the sexiest women in Hollywood at the time (Tilly and Gershon) to play the leads with Joe Pantoliano agreeing to take a pay cut for his role as Caesar. They got a great production designer, editor, and director of photography to make Bound's appearance to be more film noir in essence with its dark, brooding tones and deep shadows and sparse cutting. The rest as they say is history.

Bound deals with Corky (played by Gershon), who just got out of prison after having served five years for what she calls a distribution of funds, or stealing. She was betrayed by her female partner and therefore has a severe lack of trust for the people around her. She takes a job as a maintenance repair guy in a Chicago condo building and soon meets the vibrant and ultra-sexy Violet (played to the hilt by Tilly). Violet is the girlfriend of Caesar, a money launderer for the Mob, and the couple live in the condo right next to the one Corky is doing repairs on. When Corky and Violet first meet in an elevator, the physical attraction is immediate, and it isn't long before Violet sexually seduces her. Corky knows trouble when she sees it, but that doesn't stop her from giving in to Violet's manipulations. It isn't long, however, before Violet makes the suggestion to her new lover that they steal two million dollars of the Mob's money, allowing Caesar to take the fall. What a deal--two million dollars, plus Violet. How could any man, or woman, say no to that proposition. The problem is that Corky knows that if Violet can betray Caesar so easily, she can also betray her. Of course, nothing goes according to the plan as all hell breaks lose with Caesar doing just the opposite of what the two ladies had hoped and prayed for. Any and everything can happen before the ending is finally reached as betrayal, torture and murder become the norm for this outstanding noir film.

This movie is certainly everything a viewer could hope for. It's scary, funny and sexy to the ninth degree. Tilly and Gershon heat up the screen with their lovemaking and dubious intentions, both looking more beautiful than ever. They capture theirs roles with perfect aplomb, delighting in the subtle nuances that each one brings to their particular character and playing off of it. Joe Pantoliano does a great job as the man who's caught in the middle of these two wicked black widows, refusing to go down without a fight. One big surprise is how great John Ryan is as Mickey, a boss for the Mob. The guy is downright scary in his performance. He never raises his voice or over reacts--just a steady force to be reckoned with. Christopher Meloni as crazy Johnnie Marzzone brings in the laughs with his wicked sense of humor in the most dour of situations like when an accountant for the Mob is being tortured about the money he's stolen. When a finger is cut off and falls to the bathroom floor, Johnnie says, "Oops. You dropped something."

Bound is a slick, classy film with top performances by its actors that totally deserves all the recognition it's received over the years. It's a movie that you can watch over and over and not get tired of it. I will say there isn't much in the way of extras on the DVD, but the film commentary is great. Jennifer Tilly shows up during the last third of it and basically steals the show away from the Wachowski Brothers and Joe Pantoliano. She won't let anyone get in a word edgewise and acknowledges that she sometimes talks too much. Gershon shows up a few minutes later, and they both have fun razing Joe about his semi-nude scenes in the movie and his overall acting ability. Needless to say, the commentary is loads of fun.

Bound is definitely the type of movie that gives me hope for Hollywood. This is what filmmaking is all about, and it goes to show that well-made movies can be done on a shoestring budget. You don't need two-hundred million dollars to make a cult classic. Needless to say, this movie sizzles!

An Academy Award winning role for actor, Daniel Craig!

2011-07-21T17:54:00.000-07:00

If you don't know who Daniel Craig is, then shame on you. I have only three words to say: Bond, James Bond. Yes, Craig is the new James Bond, and he has made a believer out of all the "Bond" fans who were skeptical about him assuming the role. Though I grew up with Sean Connery as Bond and loved Pierce Brosnan in the role, Daniel Craig has brought new life and intensity to the character that simply blew me away with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. But James Bond isn't the only role Daniel Craig has played over the years. He has had strong supporting roles in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Road to Perdition, Munich, Sylvia, The Jacket (I didn't even recognize him at first in the role of the crazy man), Definance and two-dozen others. He has Cowboys and Aliens coming out in August of this year with Harrison Ford (that's Bond and Indiana Jones in the same film), and The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo scheduled for early 2012. This performer is definitely a man's actor (much like Sean Connery was), and he keeps getting better and better with each upcoming role he plays. I dare say that an Academy Award in waiting for Mr. Craig in the immediate future. Maybe even for the role of Captain Francis Crozier in the historic novel, The Terror, by Dan Simmons. With Craig's star power right now, he could easily get The Terror off the ground as a theatrical film. But, what is The Terror about?

The Terror deals with the two ships and 126-man expedition into the Arctic Circle region in 1845 by Sir John Franklin, who hoped to find the infamous Northwest Passage. In September of 1845, the two ships (H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror) found themselves trapped in a pack of crushing ice with no visible escape in sight. There was no worry at the time since both ships were heavily loaded with coal for heat, canned goods and salt pork for food, and the belief that the ice would eventually thaw and allow them to search for the waterway that would carry them to Alaska and then Russia. That wasn't to be. The ice never thawed, and the ships and men were trapped for three incredibly long years with dwindling supplies, poisonous canned food, the illness of scurvy takings its toll, and the freezing temperatures that averaged -50 Below Zero and colder. But, that wasn't the worse of it by far. Something roamed the ice that was both vicious and cunningly intelligent, and it had a distinct taste for human flesh. This uncanny creature began to slowly kill the members of the expedition one and two at a time, including the Commander of the crew, Sir John Franklin. When the Commander was killed, the duty of saving the remaining men fell into the hands of Captains James Fitzjames and Francis Crozier, but it's Crozier who takes the lead, having a strong instinct for survival and an intrinsic authority for leading men. The only way to escape their perilous predicament was to walk back out the way they'd come, across hundreds of miles of frozen ice while being stalked by something that doesn't want them to get away.

The role of Captain Francis Crozier was made for Daniel Craig. It's also the type of role that could easily win a lot of awards for the actor and the director and the rest of the crew. With a director like Ridley Scott on board and Daniel Craig in the role of Crozier, this could be the blockbuster of 2014 or 2015. I've been a long-time fan of author, Dan Simmons, and consider The Terror to be the most frightening of his works and possible the most litereary. The fact that it's also based on a true story adds to the stark realism of the story. This is certainly a novel that deserves to be turned into a feature film. If I had a hundred million dollars, I would finance the film myself. Of course, if I had a hundred million dollars, I'd probably buy a new Aston Martin first, followed by a great pair of sunglasses, and a tailor-made tuxedo. Then I could walk into the Mandalay Bay casino here in Las Vegas and say my name is, "Rogers, Wayne Rogers."

A review of the DVD for Contact, starring Jodie Foster & Matthew McConaughey

2011-07-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

I remember reviewing the hardcover of Carl Sagan's novel, Contact, for the local tabloid where I lived in North Carolina, when the book was first published during the mid-eighties. I enjoyed Contact, especially its concept of what it would be like if an alien civilization contacted us from another solar system and how our religious leaders would react. Mr. Sagan took a hard look at the differences between science and religion with regards to this question.

I, for one, believe that there is other life out there somewhere in our universe. That belief doesn't lessen my own spirituality, but rather enhances it. There's no reason why a God, or Surpreme Being, or God Force, or Higher Power couldn't have created a universe with other life forms in it. I don't see why earth should have a monopoly on God. After all, the universe is a pretty big place.

I honestly don't think the average person has any idea of just how huge the universe actually is, or even cares for that matter. The distance from our planet to where the Big Bang supposedly took place is estimated at fifteen billion light years. That's light years, not miles. A light year is roughly six trillion miles, so multiply that by 15 billion, and that's a lot hell of a lot of milage. Our galaxy is over a 100,000 light years in diameter and a 1,000 light years in thickness. It also has somewhere in the neighborhood of from 200 to 400 billion stars in it. A star is like our sun and usually has at least one or more planets orbiting around it. That's a lot of potential right there for life, and there are billions of galaxies within our universe. See what I mean about the universe being a pretty damn big place?

The movie, Contact, narrows the focus down to Dr. Ellie Arroway (played by Jodie Foster), a person who has been studying the universe since she was nine. Because her mother and then father (played by the great David Morse) died when Ellie was young, she has been on her own for most of her young and then adult life. As a scientist, she has devoted her time to listening to the sounds of the universe in the hope of discovering other life. The majority of her collegues think she's committed professional suicide because either there is no other life out there, or else it's so far away that one will not be able to contact it during this lifetime. Dr. Arroway doesn't care and sticks to her guns and eventually gains the support of billionaire S. R. Hadon, who knows a good, long-term investment when he sees it.

Then, Dr. Arroway does make contact with someone or something from outer space, and suddenly everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, claiming her glory and perseverance for their own. The message from outer space seems to be coming from the vicinity of the Vega system, which is only twenty-six light years away. Within the message are the blueprints for building a machine that will travel there and hopefully back.

While the U.S. Government is debating on whether or not to build the trillion-dollar machine, the religious leaders are questioning how this will affect the masses and their fate in God. One such leader is Palmer Joss (played by Matthew McConaughey, and yes, he does take off his shirt near the beginning of the movie, when he first meets Ellie) who's had a personal experience that turned his life upside down and made him a firm believer in God. Palmer is also in love with Ellie, though she doesn't realize it till later in the movie.

Of course, the machine is eventually built and someone will have to risk their life by volunteering to travel in it. The person selected will represent the entire planet to whoever sent the signals back to earth. This is really what the whole point of the film is about--making contact on a face-to-face basis and to hopefully learn something about our place in the cosmos.

What about the film itself? First, I loved the opening sequence of the movie as the camera pulls back from earth as the sun is coming up. The sounds of voices from old television shows throughout the years and radio signals can be heard in the background. As the camera pulls even further back, we see Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and then we pull out of our solar system and travel through the Eagle Nebula and other breathtaking systems within our own galaxy. Finally, the camera pulls away from the Milky Way galaxy and we begin to see other galaxies, realizing the vastness of our universe. The sequence then ends by breaking up and reappearing within the blue eye of actress, Jena Malone, who plays the young Ellie Arroway.

For me, the next really important scene in the film (warning--spoilers ahead) is when Ellie Arroway travels through the wormholes from our planet to the Vega system, stopping every-so-often to show us a large, alien structure, and then a faraway city on another planet. Finally, Ellie reaches the destination of the pod which is a beach on an alien planet that has closeups of the universe and galaxies in the night sky. Ellie then sees her father, whom the aliens are using after downloading her memories, so she won't be scared or feel threatened. Her father tells her that this is the way it's been done for billions of years and that humanity must be patient in taking its first small steps at contact with other alien civiliations. Her father also tells her that they weren't the first to use this set up of space travel...that it was here when they arrived. Few of Ellie's questions are answered with most being left to the imagination of the viewer's mind. The visuals, however, are stunning in their beauty and realism.

The fact that Ellie Arroway returns to earth with no evidence of the trip other than the eighteen hours of static on her portable headcam and her word that something actually happened, leads to the question of faith and how we apply it within our own lives. The movie definitely leaves a great deal of "food for thought" for the audience. There's a lot to think about here and to digest.

For me, that's what great movies do. They generate something within the viewer that causes him or here to feel more passionate and to question the reality of their life and how to make it better. All the films of importance to me through the last five decades have left me with something unique and vital that touches my heart in a special way and gives me hope and inspiration in the continuing of my own journey, no matter how difficult or frustrating it may seem at times.

I think of the films that include Ben Hur, The Robe, Field of Dreams, Rudy, The Shawshank Redemption (hope is a good thing, perhaps the best of things, and no good thing ever dies), Phenomenon, Seabiscuit, The Green Mile, The Adjustment Bureau, The Dead Zone, Hearts In Atlantis, The Gift with Cate Blancchett, The Last Samurai, Door In the Floor, Thunderheart, Dances With Wolves, and others I can't even remember at the moment. Everyone who loves film will have their own movies of importance and they'll probably be quite different from mine. That what Contact does for me. It gives me hope for humanity at a time when we need it the most.

The behind-the-scenes extras certainly add to the value of the Special Edition DVD of Contact. They have the making of certain scenes within the film, including the opening sequence that so impressed me, the giant machine that's built to send the space pod on its journey, how some scenes are enhanced to appear larger in scope, and dozen's more, including a commentary.

Robert Zemeckis, who directed Contact, created a brillant film that dazzles and enriches the viewing audience in ways that are uplifting and emotionally profound. This was definitely one of the best movies of its year and decade. The musical soundtrack by Alan Silvestri (The Bodyguard) is also fabulous to listen to.

Another thing I just want to mention is the amazing performance of William Fichtner as Kent, the blind astronomer and Arroway's partner. I've been a fan of Mr. Fichtner since Heat, and I loved him in Equililbrium, Ultraviolet, The Perfect Storm, Crash, and The Dark Knight. I absolutely did not recognize him in Contact. That's how much he became the character of Kent. I had to watch the end credits to see who played the role, and I was blown away that it was William Fichtner.

Needless to say, this is a great movie that's worth watching over and over again. I never get tired of seeing Contact. Highly recommended.

A review of the DVD for The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise

2011-07-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

One thing about being sixty years old and loving movies is that I've had the pleasure of watching a lot of actors get their start in the Hollywood business and then bloom into outright stardom with a single hit. I think of Sean Connery in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure and Darby O'Gill and the Little People, Tom Hanks in the TV series Bosom Buddies and the movie, Splash, Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, Mel Gibson in Mad Max, Jeff Bridges in The Last Picture Show, Morgan Freeman in Brubaker and Eyewitness and Street Smart, Denzel Washington in the TV series St. Elsewhere, John Travolta in the TV show, Welcome Back Kotter and then the movie, Saturday Night Fever, and, of course, Tom Cruise in Taps and then Risky Business, Legend, and Top Gun. This doesn't mean the actors weren't doing other gigs, but these movies and TV shows are the ones I first remember seeing them in.

I haven't enjoyed all of Tom Cruise's movies, but he's definitely had more hits than misses over the years with Top Gun, Rain Man, The Color of Money, Born on the 4th of July, Minority Report, The Last Samurai, The Mission Impossible series, Collateral, War of the Worlds, and Valkyrie. To me, he has proven himself to be a highly skilled and very talented actor. However, I feel that out of all his films, The Last Samurai is perhaps the movie he should've won an Academy Award for. This film is truly exquisite to watch. You not only get to see a fantastic actor at work, but also a man who wasn't hesitant about learning the art of Japanese swordfighting and going all out during the action sequences, risking serious injury at various times.

I have a background in the martial arts, having studied Judo, Shotokan Karate, Shorin-rye Karate, a little bit of Akido, and the Korean style of karate, Tae Kwon Do. Though I've never studied it, I've always had a deep facination with Japanese swordmanship and its history. I've read a great many books on Bushido over the years and have studied Zen on somewhat of an off and on basis. To be honest, it's been more off than on due to severe cramping of the legs when sitting zazen. It's embarrassing to try and stand up after sitting meditation and then fall over on your face. Everybody looks at you like you're crazy, especially when you say that you're practicing a new self-defense move. Anyway, what does all of this have to do with The Last Samurai? Nothing much really, other than my own personal interest in seeing the film and how it protrayed the samurai in Japan.

The story of The Last Samurai is centered on two men. The first is Nathan Algren, an Army veteran of the Civil War and the Indian Wars out West. As a captain in the Army Cavalry, he has had to do many questionable things during his career, which give him nightmares each night and force him to drink in a futile effort to forget his despicable actions such as having to kill innocent women and children. When the movie starts off, Algren is pimping Winchester rifles at a carnival show. He hates that, too. A former member of his unit sees him and offers Algren an unusual opportunity that involves meeting with members of a Japanese delegation. It seems they want him to train their military in modern warfare and to prepare them for the final conflict against the last samurai and his army of fanatics.

The second man the film focuses on is Katsumoto (played to perfection by Ken Wanatabe). He is the last of the powerful samurai who are still willing to fight the Japanese nationalists in an attempt to keep the old ways in Japan from dying out and to prevent the country from becoming a modern nation of power. He firmly believes he's doing this to protect his former student, the Emperor of Japan. Katsumoto knows his days are numbered, but refuses to go down without a fight. He can either die by his own sword in ritual suicide, or by the sword of his enemy.

Algren isn't in Japan but for a few weeks when he's ordered to take his barely-trained men out in search of Katsumoto, who has been attacking the railways. Algren and his men confront Katsumoto in a fierce battle, and the samurai win, taking the American captain as a prisoner. But it is really more than that. Katsumoto had a vision of a powerful white lion fighting against superior odds but refusing to surrender. Algren is the white lion of his vision, and Katsumoto needs to understand what the importance of Algren is to his cause.

While Algren is kept prisoner from fall to spring in a tiny village in the northern provinces, he begins to learn the way of the samurai and the code of Bushido. He sees that the people of this village have an acute sense of discipline, honor, and a strong purpose for living life to the fullest each and everyday. It gives him pause for reflection. In time both he and Katsumoto become friends, especially after a ninja attack at night on the village in which he saves Katsumoto's life.

When spring finally arrives, the Emperor offers Katsumoto and his men safe passage to Tokyo. Katsumoto takes Algren with him so the captain can return to American. It isn't long, however, before Algren finds out that Katsumoto has been placed under house arrest. When he goes to help him, assassins attack him in a blaze of swords and knifes with Algren defeating several opponents with no weapons of his own. After that, he manages to free Katsumoto and they then prepare for battle against the Americanized Japanese army and its firepower of cannons, cattling guns, and repeating rifles. The samurai will only fight with their traditional weapons of sword, bow and arrow, and spear. It will be a battle to the death with no quarter asked or given.

The director of The Last Samurai, Edward Zwick, captures the inner richness of Japan's countryside with its striking beauty and peaceful essense. The screenplay for the movie delves into the actual code of Bushido and how the word samurai translates into "to be of service." Much information is given in a very comfortable manner that pulls the viewer deeper into the film so they understand where the samurai are coming from in an attempt to keep their way of life from being destroyed. Katsumoto ask Algren, "Do you believe that man is controlled by destiny." Algren tells him that, "I believe a man does what he can, until his destiny is finally revealed to him."

The Last Samurai is not only an action film that takes a historic look at Japan as the country seeks to modernized itself, but the film is also a romance about two people who fall in love with each other against all odds. While Algren is a prisoner in the samurai's small village, he stays with the wife of the warrior he killed in battle. The woman is Katsumoto's sister, and she fights the chore of having to heal and take care of the person who killed her husband. In time Algren falls in love with her and her two children. When asked by one of the small boys why he's going to fight against the Emperor's army, Algren answers, "Because they come to destroy what I have come to love."

The music by Hans Zimmer captures the etheral essence of feudal Japan as it converges with the Industrial Age, and has a number of soft and rousing melodies that represent Katusmoto and the love between Algren and the woman who has helped him to leave his nightmares behind. The music is lovely to listen to and is probably one of Zimmer's best scores.

The two-disc set of The Last Samurai has the usual commentary on Disc One, and a ton of extras on the second disc. It not only looks at the making of the film, but also the history of Japan and Tom Cruise's journey to become a warrior. There's a look at the samurai and their weapons, along with many deleted scenes. This two-disc set is a gold mine for those who love the movie.

One last thing, I initially saw The Last Samurai here in Las Vegas at its first showing in a theater close to where I lived at the time. There were only about thirty people in the audience at that time of the late morning, mostly caucasions but also two Japanese families. After the movie was over, nearly everybody left but me and the Japanese. I wasn't ready to leave. I wanted to listen to the music and relive some of the scenes in my mind before I once again walked out into the real world. When the music and the end credits finished, I and the two Japanese families stood up to leave. I watched as they displayed their apparent appreciation of the film by bowing toward the screen. One of the children saw me standing in the back, watching them, and said something to her father. He turned around and looked at me, and I bowed to him and his family. It was one of those special moments in life that the average person has so few of. The two families honored the film for its truthfulness about the ancient Japanese culture, and I honored them in turn.

Review of the DVD, The Door In the Floor, starring Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger

2011-07-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

It's been several years since the film The Door In the Floor was out at the movie theaters and then appeared on DVD. I've watched it a number of times during this period on disc, and I did so again last night. The film always causes me to take a hard look at my own life, both past and present, wondering about the things I've done and what I can do to change it for the better.

First of all, I've been a big John Irving fan since The World According To Garp was first published in paperback back in 1981. That's thirty years ago, and it seems like a lifetime. I've read a number of Irving's novels over the years, including: The Hotel New Hampshire, A Prayer For Owen Meany, Cider House Rules, The Fourth Hand, and A Widow For One Year. I've loved all of these books in their own special way because each of them made me laugh, cry, gasp out loud in both surprise and shock, and caused me to care for each of the characters as if they were my actual friends, instead of just fictional images created by author mind. That's one of the great talents of John Irving. He's able to write such convincing and true-to-life characters that the reader learns to care for them and to feel the emotional impact of their ups and downs. It takes a true master of the written word to accomplish something like that.

The movie, The Door In the Floor, is based on the first third of Irving's 1998 novel, A Widow For One Year. The film covers a summer where the future for each of the story's wonderfully-drawn characters is set in motion. The book, however, not only covers the summer, but the next thirty-five years and how everything eventually comes back in full circle for each person. Where as the novel centers around the daughter, Ruth Cole, and her life, the film in many ways focuses on Eddie O'Hare (Jon Foster), the young teenager who comes to the beach community of Long Island to be Ted Cole's (Jeff Bridges) writing assistant for a summer that will gradually change the course of his entire life.

The story deals with Ted Cole, a failed novelist but successful author and artist of children's books and the turmoil that both he and his wife, Marion (Kim Basinger), are going through after the tragic death of their two teenage sons. They now have a five-year-old daughter named Ruth, but Marion has placed a wall between her and her daughter. She's afraid to love again and to risk that person being taken away from her like her sons were. Ted hires a writing assistant from the private school where he and his two sons once attended to help him with odd jobs. One of the jobs is to be Ted's driver since he lost his driver's license due to his drunkeness. As Marion later tells Eddie, "Ted hired you to be his driver."

The writing assistant, Eddie O'hare, also wants to be an author and is excited about this unique opportunity. Unfortnately, Eddie becomes somewhat of a pawn between Ted and Marion. Both have agreed to a trial separation for the summer with each taking turns staying at the house with Ruth and then living at an apartment in town. When Eddie isn't driving Ted to one of his daily tyrsts with a local, married woman, he's befriending Marion and eventually becoming her confidant and lover. The thing, as in most relationships, all is not what it seems to be on the surface, but Eddie is too young to see or even understand...that is until the very end.

The movie is brillantly written and directed for the screen by Tod Williams with John Irving's complete blessing. Like the novels of Irving, the film will have you laughing like when Marion first catches Eddie masturbating with her lingerie and then they both find themselves embarrassed by the whole situation. Sadness is there, too. There's a scene when Eddie asks Marion about the accident that killed her sons, and she totally shuts down like a zombie in her inability to either talk or to think about the incident. Eddie, of course, falls in love with Marion. She, however, is unable to love him back, or to love anyone for that matter. Ted is hoping that Marion will snap out of her depression and eventually come back to him. And, the child, Ruth (played by Elle Fanning), is an island onto herself, not understanding the raging emotions soaring around her as Ted and Marion seek to come to grips with the fact that things aren't going to work out for either of them.

The Door In the Floor made me laugh, cry, and perhaps come away with a clearer understanding about the complexities of life and how we're some times unable to grasp the solutions, even when they're right in front of us. It also showed me how quick we are to judge others without fully comprehending what they may be going through and thus empathizing with them in their attempt to deal with their own problems in whatever way they possibly can. This movie is one that will make the viewer think and hopefully expand in their awareness concerning the games of life. It's powerful stuff, and it's protrayed magnificently by all the actors in the film. I dare say that both Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger deserved Academy Award nominations for their roles in this movie. They were that good.

The DVD also has some excellent "extras" on it with an extensive documentary on the making of the movie, a long interview with author, John Irving, how a scene is put together, and a feature commentary.

I hope that this review will cause the readers of it to rent the movie and to see for themselves what I'm talking about, and then maybe to read the novel down the road so they can find out what happens to Ted, Marion, Ruth, and Eddie over the next thirty-five years. Highly recommended!