Hart's War (movie review)

Title: Hart's War (2002)

This is no Stalag 17. Or a Great Escape. In fact, this movie is barely a movie worth watching. We see Bruce Willis do his best to act in a serious role while spending most of his time on camera with an expression that looks like he is about to bust out laughing. Not that Bruce Willis cannot act, because there are plenty of other movies where he performs miles above the rest of the cast. Hell, he was even better in Friends than in this movie.

Aside from Willis turning in a poor performance, we have a decent supporting cast. Most are names that are easily missed, with one exception. Jonathan Brandis. Yes, the star of one of my favorite television shows, SeaQuest DSV. But his scenes were cut from the film. And the rumor is that was his reason for committing suicide. Was it the real reason? We may never know. But if his performance was like many of the others in the supporting cast, he may well have had a chance at restarting his career.

The plot of the movie is a bit lame. A POW is murdered, a black airman is charged with his death, and the rest of the POWs are out to convict him for the crime he did not commit. From there, the rest of the story is predictable. Even before the trial begins, a good skeptic will know who committed the crime.

So in the end, the movie was okay. Certainly worth watching if you can catch it for free (like I did), but not worth buying on DVD.

Technical Difficulties

We recently experienced an outage of one of our external hard drives. While we work to repair the issue and restore our lost data, we will need to take a short hiatus. In the mean time, please feel free to browse through some of our older posts.

Star Trek (movie review)

Title: Star Trek (2009)

This is the newer version of Star Trek, as imagined (or re-imagined if you like) by director J. J. Abrams. As a huge LOST fan, it was hard for me to not give this movie a try.

And I am glad I did watch it. While certainly not the same style or mood as the older movies I grew up watching (I mean, how can you beat a whale in a spaceship?!), it did prove to be entertaining. Parts of the plot were entirely predictable, but not terrible enough to take you out of the story too far.

And while I did not like the whole time travel part, the interaction and introduction of the primary characters we know and love was pretty fun to watch. And as a past fan of Heroes, I kept seeing Spock and Sylar as long lost brothers or something.

In the end, the action was fun, the acting was good, and the plot was okay. I would say it is worth your money to buy it on DVD, just use a coupon to get the best deal.

LOST - Lighthouse (episode review)

Warning: these reviews will contain spoilers. You have been warned.



----------SPOILERS----------



This particular review was written after I read several other people's take on this episode. I know that deviates away from my normal mode of reviews for LOST, but I felt I needed a breath of fresh air for a bit.

First, we have the theory I put out there about the Smoke Monster being both Jacob and his evil nemesis that looks like Locke. In other words, there's more than one. I've now seen others ponder the same thought, so I feel slightly less insane for thinking it.

Next, we have a Jack-centric episode. Probably one of my least favorites that ranks up there with Kate-centric episodes. And while seeing Jack have a life off island is nice, it just doesn't seem to fit what we've seen from him so far. And the musical genius son? Just another red herring in my mind.

The biggest WTF! moment came when we saw the lighthouse. I mean, seriously? Another set? Why can't we shoot this scene in the Hydra Station of even the Swan? Oh well, at least we see more names of candidates. Until Jack goes nutters on the mirrors.

And Jin, well, I guess he should have listened to that guy and ran away while he could.

Hurley. I love Hurley. Whatever happens to everyone else, I hope Hurley wins. He's just so damn funny.

Now for some questions I came up with while watching:

- Is Jack's failure to remember his appendectomy a "crack" in the sideways shift of time? Could it all unravel?
- Where the hell has Claire been the last three years?
- What does it mean to be a candidate?
- Does having a child on the island make you go crazy? (think about Rousseau and Claire - both gave birth on-island and both went nutters)
- Who are Adam and Eve? (you know, those two skeletons in the caves...maybe Sawyer and Kate..or Jack and Kate.. or somebody else)

Now for some predictions for upcoming episodes:

- Kate is going to join Claire, Fake-Locke, and Jin on the way to the temple. Kate is going to tell Claire about Aaron and Kate will die. Then Jin will die. Then some people at the temple will die.
- Somewhere in this whole process, Sawyer is going to be "turned" by Fake-Locke and become the Darth Vader of the show (because Fake-Locke/Smoke Monster is the Emperor and Juliet is Padme). Sawyer will then kill Claire at the request of Fake-Locke (didn't Anakin do that to Count Dooku?). Or maybe Sun will kill Claire for killing Jin. Maybe Sun is like one of those bounty hunters.
- Jack will become the Obi-Wan of the show and die at the hands of Sawyer.
- Hurley will eventually turn Sawyer back to the good side and kill Fake-Locke while Jacob watches because Jacob is like Yoda. During the process, Sawyer is mortally wounded and dies.
- Hurley survives. Sun survives but is wracked with guilt and sadness and commits suicide. Rose and Bernard adopt Vincent and live happily ever after.

The Breach by Patrick Lee (review)

Title: The Breach
Author: Patrick Lee
Illustrator: N/A
Kindle Locations: 5.337
Genre: Fiction
Dewey Decimal: F Lee
ISBN: 978-0-06-196205-9
Kindle Cost: $7.99

Speed reading. This book flies by so fast, you will be looking for a new book to read in a week. Patrick Lee makes his debut novel so compelling to read, I could barely read anything beyond the local newspaper. In fact, I think I read the first half of the book in about two days. The second half was a bit slower paced, but was still entertaining enough to make me want more.

“I forget who wrote it. One of those things everyone reads in English 102. This servant goes to the marketplace, and he sees Death standing there, and Death makes a threatening face at him. The servant runs back to his master and says, ‘Let me borrow your horse, I’ll ride to Samarra so Death won’t find me.’ The master lets him go, then heads down to the market himself, sees Death and he says, ‘What are you doing making a threatening face at my servant?’And Death says, ‘Threatening? No, no, I was just surprised to see him here. I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.’ ”

The premise behind the novel is unique, but only to a degree. We have the same old plot of an "average" man with a dark background out to redeem himself and gets thrust into a world of intrigue and danger. Think The Da Vinci Code, only ten times better. Lee writes characters that are semi-real enough to identify with. But the characters take a back seat to the action, and there is enough action to keep you turning the page.

The intrigue and danger focus around the Breach. This unknown "thing" reminds me a bit of the Stargate, except it's always on and odd things come out of it (like super heavy pieces of fabric or guns that heal you). This of course brought about a secret agency that controls and protects the Breach and the obligatory bad guys out to take control of it. This is the mess that Travis Chase, the lead man, finds himself thrust into the middle of.

Paige Campbell, the female lead, falls in love with him, forgets about him, and even plans to kill him. And as confusing as all of that sounds, it all makes sense once you read the book. All the objects that come out have their unique properties and powers. Some are boring and do nothing, some could end the world (and almost do).

“Humans call this problem the grandfather paradox. They get tied up thinking about it. What happens if you go back in time and kill your grandfather before he meets your grandmother? Do you cease to exist, having prevented your own birth? No. Your arrival in the past becomes your birth, even if it means being born fully grown, with a head full of memories of a childhood that may never end up happening...”

In the end, this debut novel is well worth your time and your money. Lee crafts an adventure with enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat for a few days (or weeks if you read slow). His next novel, Ghost Country, sounds interesting from the little blurb I read. And if it compares to The Breach, it will be worth the wait.

PS - You may be wondering why I have Dora's backpack in the photo above. It is because my wonderful wife thought it would match perfectly with the overall theme of the book. Which is items magically appearing out of a "hole" (or backpack in this case).

Heat Wave by Richard Castle (review)

Title: Heat Wave
Author: Richard Castle
Illustrator: N/A
Kindle Locations: 3,722
Genre: Fiction
Dewey Decimal: F Cas
ISBN: 978-1-4013-9476-9
Kindle Cost: $9.99

Richard Castle certainly turns up the heat on the reader in his latest novel. His previous series focused on Derrick Storm, one of those macho-manly guys who always wins. But in his last book, Storm Fall, Derrick Storm died. I know there is plenty of speculation out there about why Castle killed off Storm, but I think he was tired of the man.

And after reading how he portrays Nikki Heat, I can certainly see why he wanted a woman as his next focus. Heat is a tough but lovable detective based on the real New York Police Detective Kate Beckett. And if Beckett is anything like Heat, New York is never cold because Heat is hot.

Sure, Castle gives her that brooding attitude and sharp tongue but it fits perfectly with her dark and traumatic past. And that past is what drives her to catch her man (or woman). While Heat provides a lot of spark to the story, the leading man, Jameson Rook, provides the oxygen. Rook, based loosely on Castle, is the witty guy always trying to help, even when helping gets him in trouble. He truly tries to do good, but often times makes a mistake along the way. Fortunately Rook has plenty of friends in high places to get him out of trouble.

In Heat Wave, we see great scenes between Rook and Heat, and even though some of them are predictable, it was still entertaining enough to keep you reading. And this novel is on the short side, so things progress even faster than expected. In the end, this is an awesome restart to Castle's writing career and rumor has it Castle is even writing a script for a television series about a space cowboy.

Twilight (movie review)

Title: Twilight (2008)

Sparkly vampires. I know, I am way late to the Twilight epic saga of teenage angst and forbidden love. But you know, I had my fill of the Young Adult genre when I finished Harry Potter, so I am slowly easing back into it. Give me time.

As to this particular movie, it was oddly entertaining. I knew some of the basics of the plot but have never read the books. So the wife and I (she has not read the books either) started the movie and ended up staying up way later than normal just to finish it.

Now, I know what you are thinking. She forced me to watch the dreamy vampire, but that is not the case. You see, I actually wanted to watch it. Mostly so I could be "hip" (two years later) but also to see what the big deal was. I had some serious issues with the vampires (I mean, sparkles? Really?) but kind of enjoyed the flash backs to high school. I was turned down by many a young lady in my day.

I did enjoy some of the comedy, especially the Cullen family meeting Bella the first time. Hilarious! So funny, they should do a show just on that. The brooding, moody vampire sucked. No pun intended.

And I do want to see the next installment, just so I can see why Bella sides with the wolf-boy. I just need to wait for Showtime to show it for free because I don't think I'm willing to pay for any of them.