Six of Crows Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Henry Holt
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Series: Six of Crows Duology
Pages: 465

In the streets of Ketterdam, rising street urchin Kaz Brekker discovers the opportunity to make a heist that will change his fortune forever. Pulling it off will require him to break into the most secure place in the Grisha world, the Ice Court. But to pull this off the team will not only have to survive the dangers of being in a foreign land, but they will have to learn to trust each other.

Independence Day: Resurgence Film Review

by The World Weary

Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Liam Hemsworth, Maika Monroe, Jessie Usher, Brent Spiner
Series: Independence Day
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Length: 120 Minutes

Remember When?

This review features minor spoilers for Indpendence Day: Resurgence.

Remember when the White House blew up in Independence Day? Remember when Will Smith said, "Welcome to Erf?"

Are you ready for two whole hours of questions like that? If you are, then stop reading and go see Independence Day: Resurgence! If that sounds awkward, then you're damn right. It is awkward. This whole movie is just an escalating series of callbacks to the original film, that are as uninspired as they are boring. There's the classic destruction porn, the hero who sacrifices himself for the greater good, Jeff Goldblum's "ahh"'s and "um"'s, the air battles, etc. Characters even reference events from the first film in their dialogue, usually in a failed attempt to make the stakes seem higher. This movie bored my balls off, and I suppose I should tell you why...

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Film Review

Director: Zack Snyder
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Adams, Gal Gadot
Series: DC Extended Universe
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Length: 151 Minutes

The CGI Action Figure Slaparound of the Century!

Here it is...

I remember being a child and hearing they were going to make a Batman versus Superman movie. I was excited. What comic fan wouldn't be? The two most legendary of all heroes, testing their prowess against one another. Of course, as a kid, I wasn't worried about what bullshit reason would need to be conceived in order for these titans to get in the ring, I just wanted to see, on a movie screen, a version of what I saw in my head when I took my Batman toy and my Superman toy and bashed them into one another again, and again. Apparently, Zack Snyder felt the same.

Oz The Great and Powerful Film Review

by The Wanderer

Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams
Series: The Wizard of Oz
MPAA Rating: PG
Length: 130 Minutes


Oz the Great and Powerful is Disney’s adaption of a prequel to Frank L. Baum’s Oz series.  By association it is also a prequel to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Oz is a high budget risky gamble by Disney, as it attempts to go back to the land of Oz, a land that many people feel is sacred in film due to the elite status of the 1939 film.  Nevertheless, Disney had to have a lot of courage to make this film, and that is admirable.  So the question, simply put is, does Oz the Great and Powerful live up to its high expectations?

The Matrix Revolutions Film Review

by The Wanderer

Director: The Wachowskis
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, 
Series: The Matrix
MPAA Rating: R
Length: 129 Minutes 

The Matrix Revolutions

(Spoilers for The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded are below).

After the disastrous second movie in the Matrix series, Matrix Revolutions looks to redeem the franchise, and bring the trilogy to a worthwhile conclusion.

The film does move the plot forward and fighting sequences in this film aren’t as pointless as they were in The Matrix Reloaded, however the way the story concludes leaves a number of plot holes and moments that make the outcome of the battle between humans and machines feel very artificial, and logically a giant contradiction.

The Matrix Revolutions continues putting the Matrix film series on its path of self-destruction.  Although not as terrible as the previous film, the final installment is anti-climactic and unfulfilling.

The Matrix Reloaded Film Review

by The Wanderer

Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving
Series: The Matrix
MPAA Rating: R
Length: 138 Minutes

The Matrix Reloaded 

 

(Spoilers for The Matrix are below)

The Matrix Reloaded looked to capitalize off the success of its predecessor The Matrix and continue Neo’s story as he leads humanity in the war against the machines.  In a sequel that really needed to focus on expanding the story about the war effort against the machines, the film instead resorts to more of the same old formulas and tricks that made the first Matrix film great – lots of guns and kung fu fighting scenes.

Unfortunately this doesn’t work as The Matrix Reloaded seems to believe it can win over audiences by upgrading certain aspects of the fighting scenes from the previous film.  Instead of Neo fighting hand to hand combat against enemies, he now fights enemies with SWORDS!  Instead of Morpheus and Trinity fighting enemies in buildings they now fight them in MOVING VEHICLES!

Total Recall (2012) Film Review

by The Wanderer 

Director: Len Wiseman

Cast: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Bill Nighy

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Length: 118 minutes

Buy on Amazon!

 

Bang Bang Boom Boom

Hollywood seems to like remakes, and they really like Philip K. Dick – so we now have another Total Recall.  Is this as good as the previous Total Recall, no.  Is it even a good movie – not really.  I will say this version of Total Recall is very fast paced, the film can’t seem to go five minutes without having an explosion, a shoot out, or some other random act of violence.  So people who like action films should end up being entertained.

But the movie drops the ball on developing and creating characters that the audience can empathize with – usually sacrificing precious character development time for a few extra explosions.  Total Recall has some nice special effects, but that’s about the only nice thing about it.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master Film Review

by The Wanderer

Director: Renny Harlin

Cast: Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox, Danny Hassel

Series: A Nightmare on Elm Street

MPAA Rating: R

Length: 93 Minutes

Buy on Amazon!

 

Not As Good As A Wet Dream

(Spoilers for the previous three Nightmare on Elm Street movies are below).

Watch this opening!



You know when a movie starts like that, you’re going to be in for a rough ride … especially when it’s a horror film.  Despite an intro that suggests what you’re about to watch is a softcore porn, DreamMaster is not as bad as it looks… which by this point it should look awful. There are some entertaining deaths, ridiculous fight scenes, and a even a few trippy moments.  This isn’t a good movie, or a truly terrible movie, it’s just entertainment with a whole mess of silly flaws and creative decisions.

Mars Attacks! Film Review

by The Wanderer

Director: Tim Burton

Cast: Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Tom Jones, Natalie Portman, Rod Steiger, Jim Brown, Sylvia Sydney, Jack Black

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Length: 106 minutes

Buy on Amazon!

 

Stacked Cast Slaughtered By Martians

 

Mars Attacks, a horror comedy spoof of a 1950’s science fiction film, has small laughs to offer for a comedy and few scares to offer for horror.  The film instead hopes it’s able to distract the audience with its long list of celebrity names that appear in the film, but even this stacked cast can’t over come what is a yawn fest of a movie.

The movie attempts to illicit surprise on viewers by killing or disfiguring a number of its celebrities.  Most of the time, though this isn’t entertaining, and even worse its boring. The most surprising thing about this film is the fact that many of the immediately distinct visuals of auteur director Tim Burton are absent … making this movie look nothing like you would expect from him.

For all its flaws, Mars Attacks has a few moments, and it was fun to watch, but to say I liked the film or that I would watch it again is asking a bit too much.

The Emperor's Blades Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Brian Staveley
Publisher: Tor Books
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: The Unhewn Throne Book One
Pages: 496

Buy on Amazon!

Brian Staveley’s The Emperor’s Blades is a well written debut, but it’s also got a number of character development issues, creativity issues, and a redundant, unbalanced, and derivative plot.  Despite these problems, I do see an audience for this series, and that audience is the casual fantasy fan who hasn’t read too deeply into the genre.  For the people out there that have read a lot of fantasy, you will find a lot of overly familiar fantasy characterizations and plot devices.  When it was all said and done, I felt like I had read a new book that I had read dozens of times before.

Allegiant Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian Science Fiction
Series: Divergent Book Three
Pages: 526

Buy on Amazon!

(Spoilers for Divergent and Insurgent are below).

In concept Veronica Roth had the right idea for ending her Divergent Trilogy. In execution, though, there were a lot of problems. The two major characters get the endings they deserve, but the minute by minute decisions they make undermines the story’s themes and the logic of the plot.

Like the previous two books, Roth’s story will likely please the young adults it’s written to cater to – although the ending might cause some division between people who prefer conventional or unconventional endings.  Active readers will likely be infuriated by the revealed back story which takes a messy dump on science and forces the reader to ask all sorts of questions that break down the structure of this story.

Insurgent Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Genre: Young Adult, Dystopian Science Fiction
Series: Divergent Book Two
Pages: 525

Buy on Amazon!

(Contains spoilers for the book Divergent).

Insurgent doesn’t offer much more than its predecessor did.  As a young adult book it will likely succeed in pleasing its target audience.  However I just don’t see how this story finds a broader audience unless there are disproportionately large number of adults who like to reminisce about high school romances … are there?

Roth does feel slightly more polished as a writer – the number of bad metaphors are down – but there is still a lot of room for prose improvement.  Gaps in logic plague the book, especially with the way the Erudite handle taking over Chicago. Withholding information that could resolve much of the problems in the story is used as a crutch to create tension.  This makes for a less exciting plot, and in order to ramify this, the author resorts to an intensifying more of what was in the last book: lots of violence interspersed with awkward first romance moments. Overall this story is engaging, but it’s also just as flawed (if not more so), than the last book.

Eragon Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Christopher Paolini
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Genre: Epic Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Inheritance Book One
Pages: 509

Buy on Amazon!

I’ll admit there is a very magical feeling about reading Paolini’s Eragon.  All of the fantasy staples are here – romance, magic, powerful weapons, mythological creatures, monstrous bad guys, and heroic good guys.  Even more impressive is the fact that Paolini began writing this series when he was 15.  For a 15 year old this is great, but it was published by a big name and it now has to stand against professional authors with a lot more writing experience.  Compared to other professional works Eragon just doesn’t cut it.

While Paolini’s story may have a magical feeling to it, and some likeable characters to boot, it severely lacks originality especially in its plot and setting.  This is ultimately what undoes the book, as it becomes nearly impossible to get behind a plot that you’ve already read and a world you’ve already been to.

Hunter Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Mercedes Lackey
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Series: Hunter Series Book One

Pages: 384

Buy on Amazon!

Where has the character gone?

(An advanced copy was provided by the publisher).

Mercedes Lackey has been a prolific publisher of fantasy for decades now, and I have been wanting to read one of her books for awhile.  When the opportunity came along to read her latest, I couldn’t resist.

Hunter is about just that, a hunter.

A hunter of what?

A hunter of a myriad of blood thirsty monsters, vicious demons, colorful bearded wizards called “the Folk”, and other inhuman creatures that have been ransacking Earth for centuries now. I would best describe this as a cross between Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games. Joyeaux Charmand is teenage girl who’s been trained as an elite hunter of the various monsters that are wreaking havoc throughout the planet. Raised in an isolated monastery after the death of her parents, she is summoned to the “big city” where she continues are hunting profession but now under the watchful gaze of the media, which treats hunters like pampered celebrities.

Neuromancer Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: William Gibson
Publisher: Ace
Genre: Cyberpunk
Series: Sprawl Book One
Pages: 271

Buy on Amazon!

Neuromancer today is widely hailed as a classic science fiction novel. It was the first SFF book to win the Philip K. Dick Award, the Hugo, and the Nebula all in the same year.  Its author, William Gibson coined the term cyberspace, nearly a full decade before the internet went commercial in the 90’s.  Neuromancer also started an entire new science fiction sub-genre called cyberpunk.

With the string of accomplishments listed above it’s not hard to imagine why I was excited to read the book.  Unfortunately, for me personally Neuromancer was a major let down.

A Darkness at Sethanon Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Raymond E. Feist
Publisher: Bantam
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Riftwar Saga Book Four
Pages: 430

Buy on Amazon!

(Spoilers for the previous three books in the Riftwar Saga are below).

What a disappointing conclusion to a series of books.  A Darkness at Sethanon is barely better than it’s predecessor Silverthorn, which is largely due to the fact there “is” a climactic ending to this book. Nevertheless it’s still significantly worse than both Magician books.

Like I said in my review of Silverthorn, we recommend this to people who are diehard Feist fans.  If you’ve made it to this point, and you’re not sure whether or not to continue … don’t. Read a synopsis and save your time. It’s always disappointing to start a series with a lot of potential, only for it to fizzle out, but that’s what ultimately happens with the Riftwar Saga.

Silverthorn Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Raymond E. Feist
Publisher: Bantam
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Riftwar Saga Book Three
Pages: 343

Buy on Amazon!


(Spoilers for Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master are below.  Spoilers for this book will be presented in a clearly marked section of the review).

Feist’s Magician had a pretty conclusive ending, everything except for the Dark Lord aspect of the book was resolved.  The Dark Lord could have been written out of the story completely, which would have been great as Feist could have done without introducing another tiresome fantasy trope, but he doesn’t.

Silverthorn reintroduces the Dark Lord concept, and not only does it do this, but it does it with only half a heart. This is a sequel that didn’t have to be, but for some reason is.  Silverthorn resorts to a bunch of disappointing cliches while it tells one of the most anticlimactic stories in epic fantasy.

The Host (2013) Film Review

by The World Weary

Director: Andrew Niccol
Cast: Saorise Ronan, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Diane Kruger
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Length: 125 Minutes

Buy on Amazon!

Invasion of the Boring
 
The Host is a painfully slow, witless excuse for a bunch of attractive people to make out with one another. The movie is burdened by terribly flat acting and even worse writing. Fans of Stephenie Meyers’ other series, Twilight, might find something to enjoy here, but honestly I can’t imagine what that could be.

The Sword of Shannara Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Terry Brooks
Publisher: Del Rey
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Sword of Shannara Book One
Pages: 786

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The Sword of Shannara was the first book written by Terry Brooks that is set in his Shannara world.  This book, and the trilogy of the same name, have become one of the most popular fantasy series’ ever, and has turned Terry Brooks into one of fantasy’s best selling authors.

Shannara was popular when it came out, giving publishers definitive proof that fantasy could be mass marketed, and that the success of previous fantasy series’ like Lord of the Rings wasn’t a fluke.  As a story though The Sword of Shannara has a quaint charm that allowed me to enjoy it, but there are a lot of flaws that came with it that gave me some serious reservations about the quality of the book.  The two major flaws were its highly derivative Lord of the Rings styled plot and setting, and the heavy handed prose that was used to tell it.

It’s predictable, but it’s also enjoyable and comes with a light hearted aura that’s ideal for people looking to use fantasy as a form of escapism.  Despite it’s issues The Sword of Shannara is an excellent starting point for people looking to jump into modern fantasy.

The Warded Man Book Review

by The Wanderer

Author: Peter V. Brett
Publisher: Del Rey
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Series: Demon Cycle Book One
Pages: 480

Buy on Amazon!

I had high expectations for Peter V. Brett’s The Warded Man, but it ends up falling short. This is the first part of the Demon Cycle, a planned quintet which currently has four books released. While Brett is able to craft a well realized world, a clever magic system, and a series of powerful antagonists – both human and mythological – the story really suffers from plot replications and characters that never really could catch my interest.