Book Reviewed - Catching Fire

(If you haven't read the first book of the trilogy, The Hunger Games, you shouldn't read this review; things will be given away.)

Catching Fire is the second installment in the Hunger Games series. The first book, you may remember, is one that I spoke glowingly of when I reviewed it about a month ago. Because of how much I liked it, my expectations were sky high for Catching Fire, and honestly, I wasn't even remotely disappointed.

Catching Fire picks up right where The Hunger Games leaves off, with Peeta and Katniss returning to District 12 as victors of the 74th Hunger Games, a brutal contest between youths from around the country, drafted into mortal combat.

Their victory was marred by their methods, though; the Hunger Games always has a single victor, and Katniss' trickery was read by many districts as a sign of rebellion. After an unpleasant meeting with President Snow, she sets her efforts on convincing the country of Panem that her tactic was driven by her overwhelming love for Peeta, rather than defiance. Peeta goes along with this, though he deals with the excruciating truth that Katniss was acting in defiance, while his love for and devotion to her is absolute. Their individual anguishes are born of different pain, but the author makes them similarly palpable.

Part of their victory tour takes them into District 11, the home of Rue and Thresh from their Hunger Games. Their presentation to the crowd, and the emotion of the scene, creates maybe my favorite moment in the entire series. I won't spoil it, but if you've already read it, you'll agree with me when I say...

...CHILLS.

The book strikes me as very much the "Empire Strikes Back" of the trilogy, which I guess is how most trilogies work. It continues the original story, and offers a character-building and plot-pushing bridge between the introduction and culmination of the story. It starts much more slowly than The Hunger Games, but finishes with intense and frantic action. I would still say that The Hunger Games is my favorite of the series, but Catching Fire is right there, neck-and-neck.

The Last Word - Listen, I highly recommend the whole series, so it's tough for me to make an individual recommendation on this specific book. But it's great, as entertaining as The Hunger Games. Go. Read it. GO.

Movie Reviewed - We Are Marshall

So if you know me at all, you know I'm a sucker for grief. It's kind of my favorite thing when I'm watching movies or TV. It's not to say that I enjoy seeing other people in pain, of course. It's more that, in movies, I think we all look for opportunities to connect with the characters. And grieving folks are the kind of folks I can connect with.

So, naturally, a movie about an entire town that grieves is something that I'd expect to be able to appreciate plenty. We Are Marshall follows the surviving players and coaches of Marshall University and how they endured through the tragic loss of most of their colleagues, teammates, and friends in a horrific plane crash. Just as much, it's about the town of Huntington, and how it was devastated by the tragedy.

For such a heart-wrenching story, though, the grief of the college and the town just didn't feel real enough. My heart strings are easily plucked, but for most of this movie, they sat idle. I'm not sure if it's because you don't have a chance to get to know the people who die before the crash, or if the movie's intention was to show the triumph of the survivors rather than their pain.

One thing's for sure, though: this movie did not suffer for acting prowess. Matthew McConaughey is brilliant as Jack Lengyel, the enigmatic coach who reached out to the grieving community and pushed the institution and the NCAA to help Marshall play their next season. Kate Mara and Ian McShane play the fiancee and father (respectively) of the team's deceased quarterback, and both perform admirably in relatively minor and layer-less roles.

But the real star of this film is Matthew Fox. He expertly portrays a man torn between his grief over the loss of so many of his dearest friends and his devotion to the game and school where he worked and lived with all of them. Before the very end of the movie, I had We Are Marshall pegged for three stars on Netflix, but Fox's scene in the locker room after the game against Xavier was poignant, emotional, and perfect. If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you don't click here, as I'm sure it doesn't hold the same gravity without having seen the character's anguish. But I just couldn't write this post without linking to the video of it.

The Last Word - It was a good movie that wasn't quite as emotional as I'd hoped, but is brought up a level by Matthew Fox's tremendous performance.

Movie Reviewed - Run Ronnie Run!

I'm generally a fan of David Cross. He's got a lot of unique comedic ideas, he does a good job on just about every character he plays, and his stand up is intelligent and scathing. In high school, a friend exposed me to Mr. Show (I didn't have HBO), and while a lot of the jokes were a little over my head, I enjoyed the show a lot.

Run Ronnie Run isn't Mr. Show. It definitely has a hint of Mr. Show, a sniff, but not the full flavor. Part of that is to be expected; movies inevitably have to take on a more focused and conventional story arc. Beyond that, though, it seems to just not have the same irreverent tone that defined Mr. Show. Apparently Cross and Bob Odenkirk disavowed the movie, saying that it wasn't true to their vision, and I believe it. But since I'm just a consumer, I'll try to give you an objective take on the film.

The basic plotline has Cross's character, Ronnie Dobbs, getting rich and famous for constantly getting drunk and leading police on wild goose chases. It's basically how Cops would be if the criminal was the same guy every week. It's a solid premise; I know this because the Mr. Show skit on which this movie was based was one of their most popular ones, and one of my favorites.

And for all of the downplaying and naysaying done by Cross and Odenkirk, the execution isn't bad. It draws on a lot of our stereotypes about country folk, rednecks if you will. There will be plenty of parts where you feel bad for laughing, but you will laugh. And there are several cameos that hit just right. Jeff Goldblum is fantastic, Laura Kightlinger and Jeff Garlin are very good, Scott Thompson is Scott Thompson, and maybe my favorite, Mandy Patinkin brutally critiques his own singing.

In the end, though, it plays more like a collection of kinda funny but jagged scenes rather than a well-constructed full length film. This can work if the laughs are tremendous, but the laughs are just so-so. That means you're left with what basically amounts to an 86 minute episode of Mad TV. And let me tell you, Mad TV isn't something you want to sink 86 minutes into.

The Last Word - It's got its share of chuckles, and a few laugh out loud moments, but overall, it's not really worth the time you have to put into it unless you're a die-hard Mr. Show fan.

Movie Reviewed - Super 8

Last Friday I ended up going to see Super 8 with a pretty big group of friends. I knew nothing going in, but as an example of their expectations, I asked a friend what it was about, and his response: "It's about awesome." So it's fair to say they expected a great, great movie. I had no such wild expectations, and that may be why I was the only one in the group who didn't leave the theater disappointed.

The movie was preceded by with considerable fanfare, but minimal explanation in the previews and trailers, which might be why I knew nothing going in. Because of this, however, the movie had to do a better job than most establishing its story early on, and it really didn't. While the story was interesting and very realistic, it took a while to figure out what direction the movie was going.

The other confused part of the movie was that it seemed to be unsure whether it wanted to be a thriller movie about aliens or a heart-warming movie about high schoolers. It did a decent job of both, but an exceptional job of neither. Honestly, I would've liked to have seen the movie split into two different movies with more focused styles. While neither would've been an all-time great movie, they would've both been enjoyable, and maybe more enjoyable than this original film.

But I'm being harder on the movie than my heart will let me. It may have been a little messy, but the two lead young actors in Super 8 (Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning) both did fantastic jobs, save for one scene towards the end of the movie where Courtney looked too much like a young actor, and not an actor who happened to be young. The supporting cast was solid and believable. And the effects were good, of course. J.J. Abrams isn't going to put forth anything but the best effects.

So even though my cohorts were disappointed, I found Super 8 to be an entertaining foray into science fiction. My initial thoughts after seeing the movie, and what's apparently been a common thought among moviegoers, is that the movie was an attempt to fuse E.T. with Cloverfield to create an exciting, thrilling, emotionally satisfying, all-time great movie for the whole family. And maybe that movie exists. But it's not Super 8.

The Last Word - It was a bold idea, and to make a legendary movie you have to be bold. The execution wasn't there, and while I thought it was entertaining, I don't know if I'd recommend spending $12/person to go see it.

Game Reviews, A New Book

I started playing Demon's Souls last night. Despite my brother's warnings, it was actually even more frustrating than I had expected. I must have died 25 times on the very first level. But when I finally beat the first boss, there was definitely a strong sense of accomplishment, which I assume is what they were going for.

I wanted to explain something here, though. I won't be reviewing video games as I "finish" them. Part of the reason is that it's difficult to say when you "finish" a lot of games. I beat Dead Rising 2 a while ago, but I still play it, and not even to get to things I haven't done. I've done pretty much everything there is to do; I just still like killing zombies. So declaring a game to be "completed" is kind of a vague thing.

The other, more important reason is that I'd prefer to leave the reviews for my annual Top 5 Video Games of the Year list. I expect that I'll do annual Top 5 lists for movies and books as well, but I'm okay with reviewing them as they come. BUT, incorporating the Top 5 lists is the main reason I pulled my ratings from the reviews I've already done. I want a little drama in the Top 5's.

Finally, I finished Twilight the other day, so I need a new book to read. I have a few to choose from, but I'm going to let you, the fans, decide. So I've posted a poll that will let you cast your vote for my next book. Shadow's Edge is the sequel to The Way of Shadows, which I reviewed here. Pawn of Prophecy is the first book in a five book epic fantasy series, which comes highly recommended. And New Moon I'm sure you're all familiar with as the second book in the Twilight series.

Choose wisely.

Book Reviewed - The Hunger Games

My first exposure to The Hunger Games was on my trip to Disney World this January, though I didn't realize it for months. My sister-in-law was reading the third book in the series (and reacting strongly, nearly shouting at it). I thought it was funny, but didn't think much of it. Historically, there hasn't been much overlap between the books I read and the books that girls read.

Then another friend strongly recommended the series, and my sister-in-law let me know that it was the same series that she had read at Disney World, so I decided to give it a shot. And let me tell you, I was utterly blown away.

Right from the beginning, Suzanne Collins did an amazing job of quickly and effectively painting the desperation of the world of the main character, Katniss Everdeen. If you're unfamiliar with the plot, she finds herself drafted into a horrible contest: The Hunger Games, a fight to the death among several children selected at random from across the country. The story follows her journey from being thrust into the contest, to meeting her competitors and allies, and through the immeasurable tension and panic of the fighting in the arena.

Though the book was recommended to me by a pair of girls (cootie condition unknown), the story doesn't strike me as girly at all. The main character is a strong female, but the story is tragic, violent, and unromantic.

The supporting characters are perfectly framed to their purposes in the book. Allies are sympathetic and supportive in their own various ways, while rivals are competitive and aggressive. Maybe the most impressive accomplishment of this author, though, is that despite their sometimes brief introductions, and the fact that most of them come up in the context of the Hunger Games competition, every competitor in the Hunger Games is decidedly human. While they're strikingly villainous, they're always presented in such a way that you could potentially see a decent person driven to their various acts of barbarism, through the madness and brutality of the competition.

I can't really say enough about how much I loved this book. I would recommend it to literally everybody. One potential stumbling block is that I know that violence among youths is something that some readers will have trouble getting past. The only thing I'll say is that it has to be that way. If the contest were between adults, it wouldn't be as tragic and as barbaric, and the story wouldn't be so completely engrossing. I suppose I'd understand if someone wasn't comfortable with the concept, but I'd still recommend the book.

The Last Word - Incredible. The best book I've read in a long time.

Book Reviewed - The Way of Shadows

My cousin Nick gave me this book a year ago, maybe longer, but I only recently got around to reading it. I was on a roll after storming through the Hunger Games trilogy, and I had the book handy, so I read it.

It's a story about a young street rat named Azoth who, through a few traumatic experiences, finds himself apprenticed to an assassin. He grows up, learns the trade, and in the end, plays a large part in an attempted coup of his home city. I don't want to give too much of the story away, but suffice it to say, he makes a few friends and a ton of enemies.

The framework of the book is interesting. It skips around at the beginning, touching on a myriad of characters and checking in with several different storylines that are unattached and seem and unrelated, but you can start to see things take shape about halfway through. And at the culminating event of the book, pretty much everyone is there. The different paths draw together nicely, and having them split up is a worthwhile exercise to get to know all the different players.

The one problem I had with the book is that, with the sheer volume of characters, more effort could have been done to flesh them out, to give the reader an easier time keeping track. I constantly found myself having to backtrack to determine which guy had said what line, because they hadn't been distinguished enough in my mind, or the last chapter about them had taken place so long ago that I forgotten. For a couple characters, I think their stories may have been intentionally left vague, and perhaps they'll be resolved in future books (it's a trilogy...as most books seem to be these days). But for others, like some who don't survive the book, it'd be nice to have a little more in the way of individualization.

All together, though, I was happy with the intricacy of the story. The main character is mostly likeable, with a few shortcomings that make him human. There's a lot of death, but enough people are left alive that you have some compelling characters still around going forward. So maybe, just maybe, I'll read the next book.

The Last Word - Not exceptional, but entertaining and encouraging. I'm looking forward to reading the other two books.

Playlists

So in thinking about the Playlists feature, and in talking to Chip about it, I'm sort of seeing that I was setting it up for failure on a few different levels.

First, on a very basic level, "walking music" isn't really something that people can grasp, because most people don't walk just for exercise. They have people walking with them, or they are walking a dog, or pushing a stroller, so they've got other things to be concerned with while walking. And while it's true that I'd like to incorporate more jogging into my walks, the majority of my walks are spent, well, walking.

I was able to find some solid walking music, but that's more from my own conceptions about walking, not from some base standard of "good walking music." That one Primitive Radio Gods song is an example, in case you were wondering what I'm talking about. But I'm not asking for any more assistance on walking music.

I'm also not going to just offer a wide open "give me some songs" anymore. While I'm obviously interested in hearing all sorts of musical suggestions, leaving it so wide open I think makes it a little tough for people to feel comfortable responding. And that's all I really care about, making you folks feel comfortable tossing in a response or five.

I haven't completely resolved how I'm going to change the format of Playlists, and it might not even be called Playlists anymore. But at some point, we'll get it going. Stay tuned.

Please stay tuned.

Zombie Games

If you've hung out with me, or if you've read some of my previous posts, you know I've got a special place in my heart for a good zombie video game. I'm also a big fan of the sandbox-style games like Grand Theft Auto and Morrowind that give you some flexibility and independence when it comes to game progression. So naturally, Dead Rising is among my favorite classic Xbox 360 games, and I've quickly embraced its sequels.

Well, there's another sequel coming, and I think I might be more excited about this one than any of the other stuff. It's called Dead Rising 2: Off The Record, and it's referred to as a "re-imagination" of Dead Rising 2 if the original game's Frank West were the protagonist, rather than Chuck Greene. This means that a lot of the same characters will be brought back from the original Dead Rising 2, but indications are that there'll be plenty of new characters as well, and new challenges to face.

At least as important is that Capcom has specifically indicated that they've been working on reducing the load times in the game, which was really the only complaint I had about it. The fact that they've mentioned it specifically means that they're willing to be held accountable for fixing it, and that's encouraging.

But that's not the only exciting game coming soon on the zombie front. I think everybody on the planet has seen this trailer for a game in development called Dead Island, and rightfully so. It's pretty creative, and the basis for the game is interesting enough on its own to generate a lot of hits. But now we've got an actual gameplay video out, and we can begin to see how this game is taking shape. And it definitely looks good.

It's a good time to want to smash zombies.

Playlists - Walking

Another new "feature" I want to start running here is what I'm going to simply call Playlists. I've always been a big fan of making CDs and playlists, but I'm starting to realize that there's a lot of music I just don't know. But maybe you folks can help me out.

Part of this process will involve me generating the playlist on Grooveshark and posting it for you guys to check out and critique. INTERACTIVITY!

Our first playlist is actually going to be pretty challenging, because there isn't really a conventional feel for "walking music." What I'm thinking is zone-out kind of music, but songs that still have a strong beat. Maybe some jam bands like Allman Brothers Band or Dave Matthews Band? Right now I've got a couple Arcade Fire albums and an album by a band called Bonobo on my mp3 player; both seem to work pretty well.

I appeal to you, Internet. Offer your wisdom.

TV Reviewed - Dead Like Me

So I was over at Eddie and Rachel's house a few weeks ago, and Rachel and I were looking for a show to watch from Netflix's instant options. She had seen an episode of Dead Like Me and said it was decent, so we flipped on the first episode. Turns out the first episode was a double episode, so it took way longer than we thought it would, but it was interesting enough for me to give the show a shot.

After having watched both seasons, all 29 episodes, I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the show.

The basic premise of the show is this: when people die, grim reapers help them "move on." Grim reapers are people who have died, but whose time on earth was extended to serve this role. The show follows a small team of reapers, with the main focus on a brand new (so recently deceased) reaper, Georgia, and how she handles the transition from living to dead, along with her new job.

The idea is interesting enough, and both the writers and actors do a fair job of executing it. The main character is a little whiny, but she's 18; that's a pretty whiny age. In season one, the show does a good job of balancing the day-to-day reaps with Georgia's growth as a reaper and her surviving family's hardships at dealing with the loss. As someone who's dealt with loss, I found a lot of relate-able scenarios, and the characters seem very real and very natural in this regard.

But for all of the positives of season one, season two seems to just be lost. The story is all over the place, and for 90% of the show, the episodes don't seem to need to be in any particular order. There are occasionally spots where the story endures for an episode or two, and the surviving family has a progression of events, but mostly the stories just don't seem very intertwined. By the end of season two, I was really just watching the show because I knew I was almost finished. And that's not good.

While I liked the first season enough, I can't put my name on a recommendation. It was just too fragmented in season two, and the individual stories weren't compelling enough to compensate.

The Last Word - You might like the first half of it, but if you watch it, prepare for some disappointment later on.

Movie Reviewed - 28 Weeks Later

I'm a fan of a good zombie movie. However, 28 Weeks Later (and its predecessor 28 Days Later) are not zombie movies, because the "monsters" in the movie are not zombies. They're "infected," people with normal human capabilities but whose minds are overthrown, utterly consumed with rage towards everyone and everything.

In the original (a very well put together film), we saw London ravaged by the disease, and learned that all of Great Britain was virtually leveled by the infected. The sequel moves us forward several months, after it's believed that the disease has been eradicated. The United States military is sent in to reclaim the country, and eventually civilians are permitted to re-settle. Of course, something goes wrong, and the disease breaks out again.

The main difference for me between Days and Weeks is that Days was fresh, creative, and had some interesting characters, while Weeks was simply a re-hash of the original story. Perhaps the most distinct representation of this was the CONSTANT use of the main theme song from the original film. The song has a haunting tone and was one of the things that really made the original movie, but it just feels trite in the sequel.

One of the mechanisms that these movies (and many other modern horrors/thrillers) rely on is the idea that while monsters are scary, humans can be just as scary. The first few times, it was compelling. But after a hundred different scenarios where good guys turn bad, it becomes too predictable. And I think the writing gets a little lazy; you don't get the buildup of frustration, anxiety, and hopelessness that might actually prompt the panic that would precipitate a "turn." And to be honest, the concept that the military are so easily prone to villainy is getting a little old.

People love putting numbers on opinions, so let's move on to a rating. I've talked previously about how I don't love a 5 star scale, because in that scale, 3 stars equates to "I have no opinion on this movie." Three stars is dead center, and doesn't offer a recommendation, which is fine for your own ratings, but useless when you're trying to offer advice to others.

So, I'm going to go with a 10-point scale, ten points being reserved for elite films (High Fidelity, The Shawshank Redemption, etc), and one point being reserved for the most utterly awful films (Meet the Spartans). It gives us plenty of room to differentiate between good films, very good films, and great films, and it's an even number, so there's no dead-center number that means nothing. Anything six or above, I recommend, anything five or below, I don't.

So, back to this movie. It took a little while to get going, but the story was entertaining enough in the context of being a basic thriller. I didn't think much of the script, and the characters are mostly bland, but the actors do well enough to keep your attention. As long as you're willing to accept a few obviously inaccurate situations (like why wasn't the wife under constant military supervision? the husband can just wander in?), it's a tense, aggressive, and enjoyable movie. But if you didn't like the first one, there's no way this one is going to do it for you.

The Last Word - I endorse it, but barely.