There is rarely any true Science Fiction movie making going on out there. And so, I wanted to believe in "The X Files, I..." movie.
It hasn't helped. Remember those really bad episodes of The X Files on TV where the dude would ask Scully (I really can't keep their names straight in my head anymore), what she thought of a chemical (in that particular episode he shows her the formula for a compound), and she responds, "It's organic..."?
Well, yeah, that episode, is better, than this movie (too many commas, I know)!
Did Fox and Scully, er... together? Well, that mystery is solved.
Is there science fiction to be sought in the movie?
Absolutely none. The fiction doesn't even come close to the deliberately poor quality of Stephen King's god-awful tomes of coherent mish-mash.
And if you were misled by the trailer like me, you are in for a worse treat.
I really do not want to review the movie, but this self-castrated pedophile priest suddenly starts seeing visions of the future, and the movie leads to the eventual illogical capture of a modern day Frankenstein by Fox through a collection of random movies of detective-ness...
The clairvoyance of the pedophile is not captured in any form of science fiction, nor is the Frankenstein's work focused on. At the end of the movie, you feel like you just logged off a very bad episode and that's about it.
Rating: 0.5/5
Recommend: Only to the Taliban and such.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Video: Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder. Vol 1
The Author:
I was really not well acquainted with Julain Fellowes, and the videos themselves do not offer an introduction to the person. The videos are based on the writing of Julian Fellowes himself.
A cursory examination, led to the following Wikipedia page (so take it with the usual pinch of rock and/or table salt it deserves):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Fellowes
The Video Review:
Volume 1 has two videos:
1. The Case of Charles Bravo, and,
2. The Case of Rose Harsent
Both scripts were based on true murders that apparently shook England at the time of occurance, 1876 and 1902 respectively. It is obvious that the nation took very little to be shaken.
The scripting is good, very British (that is the opposite of very Hollywood-ish), and gives you a good, classic sense of suspense and mystery, and is very true to it's time.
If you are expecting Mr. Poirot, Miss Marple or any other characters concocted by the likes of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh P.D. James or the almost venerable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to pop out, you would be disappointed.
Why?
These stories are based on real life mysteries, which tend to be rather mundane. That said, the video, the content, the screenplay and Julian Fellowes' arguments as to what might come close to the plausible true solution are all of very good quality.
The Cons:
That said, the mysteries, not being so twisted don't present you with a mystery like that of Edwin Drood or others in the class with multiple solutions.
I was also a little peeved that, according to the BBC, two episodes constitute a "volume". This is a singularly irritating issue I find with British productions.
Look at Rowan Atkinson's "A Thin Blue Line". An excellent line-up, great modern unclenched British Comedy and you get what - 13 episodes in all?
One would wish they would really change that.
Rating:
Overall, I would rate this video at 2.75/5, more than how I rate most things I view, or read. To add more, I am looking forward to laying my hands on any other volumes these guys might have!
I was really not well acquainted with Julain Fellowes, and the videos themselves do not offer an introduction to the person. The videos are based on the writing of Julian Fellowes himself.
A cursory examination, led to the following Wikipedia page (so take it with the usual pinch of rock and/or table salt it deserves):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Fellowes
The Video Review:
Volume 1 has two videos:
1. The Case of Charles Bravo, and,
2. The Case of Rose Harsent
Both scripts were based on true murders that apparently shook England at the time of occurance, 1876 and 1902 respectively. It is obvious that the nation took very little to be shaken.
The scripting is good, very British (that is the opposite of very Hollywood-ish), and gives you a good, classic sense of suspense and mystery, and is very true to it's time.
If you are expecting Mr. Poirot, Miss Marple or any other characters concocted by the likes of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh P.D. James or the almost venerable Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to pop out, you would be disappointed.
Why?
These stories are based on real life mysteries, which tend to be rather mundane. That said, the video, the content, the screenplay and Julian Fellowes' arguments as to what might come close to the plausible true solution are all of very good quality.
The Cons:
That said, the mysteries, not being so twisted don't present you with a mystery like that of Edwin Drood or others in the class with multiple solutions.
I was also a little peeved that, according to the BBC, two episodes constitute a "volume". This is a singularly irritating issue I find with British productions.
Look at Rowan Atkinson's "A Thin Blue Line". An excellent line-up, great modern unclenched British Comedy and you get what - 13 episodes in all?
One would wish they would really change that.
Rating:
Overall, I would rate this video at 2.75/5, more than how I rate most things I view, or read. To add more, I am looking forward to laying my hands on any other volumes these guys might have!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Bebe Moore Campbell: What you owe me
Review of the Audiobook Version, Unabridged.
"What you owe me" by Bebe Moore Campbell starts off quite well, and carries on through most of the novel.
It is a historic two-generational novel loosely covering racial struggles of various minorities and their emergence in the latter half of the last century. It makes for a compelling drama and listening it on a tape (which is what I did) was easy.
The story revolves around an African American lady with sharp sales skills and her struggles in Post World War II Los Angeles to gain some footing in a "White" world. Her dreams are then picked up by one of her daughters and eventually leads to success.
But in a classic mirror of the Indian style of movies where the director looses his bearing in the second half, the book drops off into a ramble in the second half.
The ending is not particularly a cliffhanger, and there are definitely loose ends that never get tied.
While there are allegories galore throughout the work, sometimes it is just downright irritating, when you have to sit down and listen a rambling description to "Blair", one of the characters, a senior marketing or some gobbledygook executive spend a night hungry at home because there's no food left.
It's stupid - the character can't even think of going down to Safeway and picking up extra food. Some people may liken this to "realism" in characters, but that's just nonsense. Stupid people are stupid and they have no place in a novel, just like most body fluids have no place in a good photograph.
While the book starts off displaying all the hardships African Americans face in the "White" world, later on, there is a sudden, illogical transformation and things come to them with sudden ease, which is a little perplexing. It's like the authoress is trying to eat her cake, not being satisfied with just possessing it.
There are also a tad too many characters in the novel, and they get dropped of with a lack of deftness. One of them is Hossana's sister who suffers a great loss and then we never find out what happened to her. Instead, we are treated time and again with putrid details of Blair's narcotic jaunts.
Rating: 2/5
Worth listening once with your hands on the fast-forward button
Book Link: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/what_you_owe_me.html
"What you owe me" by Bebe Moore Campbell starts off quite well, and carries on through most of the novel.
It is a historic two-generational novel loosely covering racial struggles of various minorities and their emergence in the latter half of the last century. It makes for a compelling drama and listening it on a tape (which is what I did) was easy.
The story revolves around an African American lady with sharp sales skills and her struggles in Post World War II Los Angeles to gain some footing in a "White" world. Her dreams are then picked up by one of her daughters and eventually leads to success.
But in a classic mirror of the Indian style of movies where the director looses his bearing in the second half, the book drops off into a ramble in the second half.
The ending is not particularly a cliffhanger, and there are definitely loose ends that never get tied.
While there are allegories galore throughout the work, sometimes it is just downright irritating, when you have to sit down and listen a rambling description to "Blair", one of the characters, a senior marketing or some gobbledygook executive spend a night hungry at home because there's no food left.
It's stupid - the character can't even think of going down to Safeway and picking up extra food. Some people may liken this to "realism" in characters, but that's just nonsense. Stupid people are stupid and they have no place in a novel, just like most body fluids have no place in a good photograph.
While the book starts off displaying all the hardships African Americans face in the "White" world, later on, there is a sudden, illogical transformation and things come to them with sudden ease, which is a little perplexing. It's like the authoress is trying to eat her cake, not being satisfied with just possessing it.
There are also a tad too many characters in the novel, and they get dropped of with a lack of deftness. One of them is Hossana's sister who suffers a great loss and then we never find out what happened to her. Instead, we are treated time and again with putrid details of Blair's narcotic jaunts.
Rating: 2/5
Worth listening once with your hands on the fast-forward button
Book Link: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/what_you_owe_me.html
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