The Mummy Movie Review

This movie retells an old horror story as an action adventure thrill ride.  The action never lets up and really bad things happen, but the main characters take it in stride and set about fixing the problem.  The reaction of the characters to the challenges is what sets this movie apart.  They make the movie more of an Indiana Jones style archaeological adventure than a horror film.

There isn't really anything that I didn't like in this movie.  The special effects are pretty good even today.  The story is engaging, and the characters have great chemistry.  They have just the right mix or comic relief and confident action to make this into a great movie.

This movie tells the story around when adventurer Rick O'Connell ( Brendan Fraser) and young egyptologist Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) go to find the city of the dead Hamunaptra.  O'Connell has been there before with his unit of the french foreign legion, but when Evelyn finds him he is in jail for a bar fight.  She manages to get him our of jail, and he leads her to the city.  While there Evelyn wakes the mummy of Imhotep by reading the book of the dead.  Imhotep is a priest who was mummified alive and cursed for killing his pharaoh over his relationship with the pharaoh's concubine.  The rest of the movie is about Imhotep's twin quest's to regain a working body by consuming the organs of those who actually opened his tomb (a competing archaeological team who are basically a plot device.) and to restore his lover to life.  Rick and Evelyn oppose him in this quest because completing it begins destroying the world around them. Also it turns out he wants to use Evelyn as his lovers vessel.  In the end Evelyn, Rick, and some friends set everything to right and escape with some loot as well.

This movie is great for anyone to sit and watch with a bag of popcorn.  It may not be the sort of movie that has a deep thoughtful plot, but it is the kind that is just entertaining to watch.  This is great for any action film lover, or someone who enjoys a romantic comedy since there is the budding relationship between Rick and Evelyn.  This could also be a good candidate for family movie night if your children don't scare too easily.

This movie can be picked up on disk or streaming (for rent or for purchase) at www.amazon.com.

VoidHawk Book Review

VoidHawk is a book in a genre I wish there was more of.  It is a star fantasy.  Yes you have ships traveling between planets, but they are largely wooden ships that are powered by magic and they travel through the void rather than space.  This universe is populated by all of the things you might find in a good fantasy universe.  Elves, Dwarves, Humans, Demons, and other mysterious and ancient races.  Fighting is largely done by spell and sword in person and with catapults and such ship to ship.  The book is very fast paced, and fun to read.  Captain Dexter SilverHawk and his motley crew make you wish you could go find a void ship and travel the worlds.

What I didn't like about this book was the quality of the editing.  There were some mistakes I noticed and I am sure more that I did not.  Since the book is largely available on Amazon, and this first one is free it was definitely worth checking out.  In the end I forgave the editing mistakes and bought the rest of the series because the story was really good.  This is the type of story you don't want to put down.  In fact I just found out that there is a new book in this series and I intend to read the entire series again and buy the new one.

The story starts off with Dexter finding the VoidHawk wrecked and abandoned on an asteroid.  He goes home and recruits his friend Kragor, a Dwarf, to repair the ship.  Almost immediately after beginning to salvage the ship he is set upon by pirates while traveling back to base in his federation patrol craft.  Dexter manages to defeat them, but looses his ship and winds up in jail for doing so.  He cannot prove his innocence without producing the pirates ships and that would lead his greedy superiors to the VoidHawk.  Kragor manages to bribe Dexter and a few friends he has made in jail out of trouble, and the adventure begins.  Dexter and crew go from planet to planet finding new trouble wherever they land, and somehow making a profit along the way.  The trials and tribulations bring the crew as close as family.  Every adventure is a fun story and its own little mini adventure.  I could describe them all, but the real story is how Dexter and his crew come together as a team that can accomplish just about anything.

This book will appeal to people who like either space or sailing ship adventures, and fantasy realms with sword and sorcery.  Science fiction or fantasy purists may not like it unless they can accept the fact that it is a cross over genre.  Also people who can't deal with some editing mis-steps may have issues. The book and series contains quite a bit of violence and sexual content so it is probably better for adults than children.

This book is available in E-book or print at www.amazon.com.  It is free as an E-book, but the rest of the series is not.

Iron Man Movie Review

This movie is very entertaining to watch.  At the beginning of the movie Tony Stark is not a very likable character.  He is a rich arrogant playboy with no real regard for anybody or anything.  He is in the business of designing and selling weapons and he doesn't really care about what they do to people.  I really like the fact that Tony allows his experiences transform him into a better person instead of making him even more mercenary and uncaring.  By the end of the movie he is still a rich arrogant playboy, but he is one that cares and has become an irreverent hero.

Since this movie came from comic books the science can be a little iffy.  It is never really explained exactly what an arc reactor(the power source for his super suit) is besides an incredibly powerful small electrical generator.  Despite this Tony goes about creating his inventions in a scientific manor, and it is a good science fiction film in that way.

In this movie Tony is captured by a group of terrorists when he is on a trip to a war torn area where his weapons are sold and used.  Tony is injured by one of his own weapons and has a piece of metal seeking his heart that is only kept at bay by an electromagnet.  The terrorists have him and another captive, named Yinsin, working to make them weapons and Tony and his companion use this to construct an arc reactor to keep tony's heart intact, and power a suit of powerful armor Tony is building.  In the end Tony escapes with the armor, but only by Yinsin sacrificing his life.  When he gets back Tony decides to stop making weapons for sale and to refine his armor concept so that he can help people, and perhaps put some of his ghosts to rest.  It turns out that his ambush was no accident however, and he ends up having to fight one of his managers named Obadiah Stane.  Stane arranged the ambush and was selling weapons to the terrorists behind Tony's back.  He has salvaged and upgraded Tony's original suit and stolen Tony's latest arc reactor to power it.  Tony must use his first reactor which has a lower capacity to battle Stane, but wins by knowing the limits of his original design better than his opponent.

This is a good action adventure movie that Comic Geeks, Science Fiction Fans, and anyone who loves a good adventure will enjoy.  The movie is pg 13 and has a lot of violence so very young children may be a bad idea depending on the child, but they will likely enjoy it if it will not scare them.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com for purchase on disk or as a stream.

Escape from Planet Earth Movie Review

I picked this movie off of Netflix because I couldn't take any more kids programming, but wanted something my daughter could enjoy with me.  I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  The movie is fun to watch and funny for both kids and adults.  I like that it has something for everyone, but keeps it simple enough that my three year old can follow it.

What I didn't like about the movie is that it is very predictable.  There weren't very many surprise's as far as major plot points go.  The film made up for this however with the family dynamics between the main characters that were woven around the plot.

Scorch Supernova, is the biggest hero on his world, and it seems that there isn't anything that he cant accomplish.  He is very athletic and if something is possible it is likely he can pull it off.  Unfortunately he has a tendency towards arrogance, impulsive action, and not thinking things through.  Most of the time this is mitigated by his mission controller, his brother Gary Supernova, who is very intelligent, and can think his way out of most of Scorch's jams.  One day Scorch is asked to go to the dark planet, which is earth, to answer a distress call.  Gary counsels him to turn down the mission since nobody has ever come back from there.  They argue and Scorch ends up doing the mission without Gary's help.  When he falls for the inevitable trap Gary ends up trying to save him personally.  This ends up with them both stuck on earth, and Gary being forced to work on a crazy super-weapon by a bitter US general along with some other trapped aliens.  In the end Gary is able to disable the super-weapon, save the day, and escape earth with the help of his family back home and his brother Scorch.  In the end Scorch and Gary realize that they both need each other and that their success comes from their teamwork not Gary's brains or Scorch's physical abilities.

This movie should appeal to people looking for a light Science Fiction Family movie, or people who like a good space adventure.  The animation is done in such a way that kids will enjoy the show, but the dialog is geared more towards adults without being so overly complex that kids can't follow it.  This is a science fiction comedy, but it is not what you would call hard science fiction.  It does however emphasize the power of thinking, and the hero is an engineer.

This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com and can be found streaming as either a rental or purchase at www.amazon.com or for free with subscription at www.netflix.com.

How to train your dragon Movie Review

This movie is the story of a boy who made friends with a dragon and a dragon who came to trust a boy.  I really identified with Hiccough the main character because he is a viking that doesn't like normal viking things.  He is clumsy, weak, and clever. These are not exactly what his clan is looking for in a viking.  I really liked how Hiccough's different way of looking at things allowed him to do things nobody else from his village had ever managed, and find his place among his people in doing so.

To be honest I cant really think of anything about this movie that I didn't like.  Seriously I think its that good.  I have watched it probably 50 times with my daughter and I still enjoy it.  How many movies can you say that about?

The basic plot of this movie is that Hiccough's Island, Berk, has been at war with the dragons pretty much forever because the dragons burn down their houses and eat their livestock.  It is so deeply entrenched that the right of passage in his village is to kill a dragon.  Hiccough, being a clumsy and geeky sort of guy, comes up with an invention to help him kill a dragon.  He ends up disabling a dragon known as a Night Fury, but because he shot it with his invention and nobody saw it, nobody will believe him.  Hiccough finds the dragon in the forest but cannot bring himself to kill him and attempts to set him free.  Unfortunately the dragon has lost a part of his tail and cannot fly.  Over time Hiccough gains his trust and names him toothless due to his retractable teeth.  Being clever he fashions a prosthetic tail piece and toothless and he teach each other to work as a team so that toothless can fly once again.  Eventually things come out and Hiccough's father ends up using Toothless to navigate to the dragons Island.  Hiccough tries to warn his father that there is something on the island making the dragons raid Berk, but his father will not listen and sets off with most of the clan.  Knowing that his people will be destroyed Hiccough recruits his dragon training class, tames the captive dragons the clan holds, and flies off to save the day.

This movie should appeal to people of any age.  It is a great movie to watch with your family.  It should particularly appeal to anyone who has ever had trouble fitting in.  It is a good parable for what can be accomplished when you change the way you look at and do things.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.

Lilo and Stitch Movie Review

Lilo and Stitch is a fun family movie that you can watch with your kids.  This animated science fiction film is really all about acceptance and chosen family.  The film does a good job of making you identify with both Lilo and Stitch, and under the comedy both of their stories are a little sad.  I really like the fact that this can be seen as either a girl and her alien or as an alien and his little girl movie because it becomes very obvious through the film that the are good for each other.

What I didn't like about this movie is the Galactic Federation.  The movie manages to portray the society as extremely rule-bound and formal, and sort of wild west at the same time.  The reasoning behind why they would want to imprison stitch are flimsy and don't make a lot of sense for a cosmopolitan society.

Basically the story follows the life and meeting of Lilo and Stitch.  Lilo is a little girl who lives with her sister because their parents died.  she has trouble fitting in with the other kids in her town, and acts out violently at times.  Stitch is a genetic experiment made by a mad scientist in the galactic federation.  He is basically made to be a force of chaos and destruction.  He is very hard to hurt, and highly intelligent.  When Stitch's creator is put on trial he is used as evidence against him, and stitch's behavior at trial end up getting him banished to a remote asteroid.  Rightly seeking to avoid this horrible fate stitch escapes confinement, steals a ship, and crash lands in Hawaii.  Looking like a dog he is picked up and taken to the animal shelter where Lilo adopts him.  Lilo is very understanding of his violent tendencies and tries, largely successfully, to help him overcome them.  In the course of doing this Lilo comes to terms with her own situation, and deals with her own issues as well.  Eventually Stitch is pursued, and ends up dragging Lilo into his problems.  In the end they save each other.  Stitch saves Lilo from being abducted by the Galactic Federation.  Lilo saves Stitch by claiming him as a member of her family, and not letting the Galactic Federation take him away.

This movie makes a great family movie because it shows that anyone can be good, and that everyone has a place where they belong.  It says that even someone who was made to be bad can overcome that with the right family, and an understanding environment.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or as a streaming rental or purchase.  It is also available on Netflix if you have a subscription.

Titan AE Movie Review

Despite the movie starting with the earth being destroyed this movie is a pretty upbeat science fiction story, about a people overcoming the loss of their home and at the same time a boy coming to terms with the loss of his father.  What could be a fairly depressing tale ends up being goofy but inspirational.  The film is animated so the there are no special effects to degrade, and the animation is pretty good.

The things that I don't like about this movie are that the destruction of earth does not hit very hard and it is never adequately explained why the antagonists the Drej are after us.  The best I could get is that the technology we were developing was a long term threat to them, but it was never explained why.  Despite these shortcomings I did really enjoy the movie as a basic hero's journey tale in space.

The story follows the main Character Cale who was a young child when he escaped the destruction of earth in the care of his fathers friends.  His father piloted a spacecraft that is supposed to be the hope of humanity, but was never seen again.  Years later Cale is working in a scrapyard when another of his fathers friends, Captain Korso shows up wanting Cale's help to find his fathers ship.  It seems his father left a map in a ring with  his son detailing where he planned to go.  Eventually Kale accepts his destiny and takes up the search.  Through the journey he sheds his bitterness and reconnects to humanity.  Their quest has many twists and turns and Cale becomes good friends with Korso's crew.  At one point Korso is revealed to be  a traitor, and it is left to Cale and his new friend Akima to find the ship before Korso and the Drej can destroy it.

This movie will appeal to anyone who likes a good space adventure, but if you are looking for a hard science fiction film this is not for you.  There is definitely the type of science fiction with more fiction than science.  That being said this is a movie that you could potentially watch with the whole family if your children are not sensitive to mild personal violence, and the fact that the movie has the destruction of earth in the first scene.

This movie can be found at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming for rental or purchase.

Warp Speed by Travis S Taylor Book Review

This book is yet another story that was hard for me to put down.  It was hard even though I read the sequel and knew everything in this book had to turn out alright in the end.  Travis S. Taylor writes a good and engaging science fiction story that is also a pretty good adventure, and makes science seem fun again.  Since Mr Taylor is literally a rocket scientist the science is pretty sound, and the projections are based on real theory even if not all of it is proved out just yet.

The only problem I had with the book is that his characters can be somewhat over the top, and the scrapes they get into and out of stretch belief at times.  This doesn't take away from it all being a good story, and I moved past these issues quickly.  They are easy to gloss over because you want to find out what happens next.

The plot focuses on Dr. Neil Anson Clemons, his research team, and US Air Force Colonel Tabitha Ames.  Dr. Clemons is working on a warp drive system, and an energy source to power it, and Colonel Ames secures funding for his project after seeing his preliminary work.  Despite some very bad lab accidents Clemons is successful, and plans go forward for a warp probe to be built in orbit.  Other countries, however see this new technology as a threat and after stealing his work, sabotaging his probe, and trying to kill both him and Colonel Ames they use his stolen work to launch a pre-emptive strike using weapons made from his own stolen technology.  Clemons however knows his technology better than anyone, and has a few trump cards that allow him to partially defend against the attacks, and strike back at the launch sites allowing the United States to win in the end.

This book should appeal to science geeks, hard science fiction fans, and people who like a good action adventure story and don't mind the science talk.

The book can be purchased in print or in E-book format at www.amazon.com.

WebMage by Kelly McCullough Book Review

This book is a very fun and fast paced read.  It has just the mix of fantasy/mythology and modern or futuristic setting that I really like.  This story navigates through a cyberpunked version of Greek mythology where the fates run giant magical computer networks to keep track of all the threads, and the fury's are Necessitiy's system admins for reality.

If there is anything that I don't like about this book it is the fact that you don't want to put it down to go to sleep at night.  There is always something going on in the book and it kept my interest the whole way through to the point that it was hard to find a good place to stop.  Be warned you may want to have the time to finish this book in one or two sittings if you are anything like me.  Thankfully the book is not too long.

The main character in this story is named Ravirn.  He is literalally a descendant of one of the fates, and he is a hacker of reality.  He has a webgoblin familiar that helps him with his magic or code named Melchior that can shape shift from goblin to laptop.  Ravirn's special bit of divinity is to find the loopholes, and cracks in any spell or code, which makes him a great hacker but his clan matriarchs(the fates) see him as the ultimate debugger.  When Atropos asks him for help he has no choice but to see what she wants.  It turns out she has a bug in her latest program to remove that pesky free will from the world which would make the fates jobs much easier.  Before he can say no and send out a warning she lays the Pandora curse on him as the ultimate non disclosure clause.  Sure he can tell people whats going on but nobody will believe him.  So he sets off to save free will with Melchior and the few friends who will help him no matter what.  In his quest to save free will Ravirn bounces all around the multiverse and makes a lot of enemies and a few friends along the way.  In the end its hard to catch or stop the demigod of loopholes, and with the help of Eris and a webgoblin underground he manages to save the day.

 In my opinion this book is appropriate for anyone who likes a great adventure story with a few exceptions that I can see.  First science fiction or fantasy fans who don't like to see the two genre's mix are not going to like this.  Second people who are fans of Greek mythology will either love it or hate it depending on their perception of who and what the Greek gods are.  Ravirn does not treat the gods with much reverence, but to him they are family so it makes sense to me.  Most of us don't revere our great uncles and aunts very much either.

This book can be bought in print or in e-book form at www.amazon.com or check your local bookstore and ask them to order it.

Men In Black Movie Review

This science fiction comedy takes the previously sinister boogeymen of the UFO sighting community and turns them into the hilarious hero's of humanity.  This movie stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones and the two play off of each other very well. The special effects are a little dated but very good considering the movie came out in 1997.  The science in the film is thin at best and there is definitely more fiction than science.  It is however a great movie with futuristic gadgets, and colorful aliens.

The plot follows a NYPD police officer named James Darrell Edwards III, Played by Will Smith. when pursuing a man on foot he sees that man do things that are not human making him a witness that the MIB(Men In Black) must deal with. His actions gain the notice of MIB agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) who is looking for someone to recruit.  Though it takes some convincing James eventually joins the MIB and becomes Agent J erasing his former identity in the process. J and K are immediately on a case to save the world, but that's just another day for the MIB.  Throughout solving the mystery J plays comedy Relief to K's Straight Man.  In the end they save the world, and K reveals that J is to be his replacement not his partner.

The story in this movie is a pretty common one for its type, but the jokes keep on coming, and the chemistry between the actors is great.  The movie is fun to watch.  It never gets too serious, but at the same time explores the isolation of an absolutely vital job that must be kept from everyone.  In the end K can give it up because he has found a worthy replacement in J.

This movie can be found on disk at www.amazon.com.  It is also available there as a streaming library purchase.

Bedazzled Movie Review

First off let me say this review is of the 2000 movie starring Brendan Fraser, and Elizabeth Hurley not the earlier film.  This movie is a comedy about the temptation of Elliot Richards by the devil who happens to be wearing the form of a beautiful woman.  Brendan Fraser plays Elliot Richards, and Elizabeth Hurley plays the devil. 

Elliot is hoplessly and silently in love with his co-worker Alison, but can't seem to ever tell her how he feels.  He is a very shy and geeky man and clams up whenever an opportunity presents itself.  The devil approaches him and offers to basically let him skip to the point that they are in a relationship.  At first he doesn't believe her, but being the devil she eventually gets him to sign a contract with the payment being his soul.  The devil seems to be nice about the whole thing and gives him several wishes to get things right.  The problem is that every time he makes a wish she gives him everything he asks for but screws him with the details.

In the end he tries to just not make the last wish but the devil ups the ante by getting him thrown in jail.  With the advice of his cellmate he is able to resist making the last wish to get out of jail, and when he gets out he confronts her and asks her to tear up the contract.  In the end when it seems that he cannot win he makes his final wish.  His wish is that Alison be happy.  This triggers a selfless act clause in the contract making it void.  In the end Elliot seems to end up right where he started.  But it becomes clear that he is a changed man from the experience. 

Going up against the devil and winning has led Elliot to find the self confidence that nothing else in his life could.  He moves on to make his own luck and win the things he wants without any wishes. 

At the end of the movie you see him and his new girlfriend (not Alison) passing the devil, and his cellmate dressed all in white.  They are playing chess and talking about the couple.  I at least got the feeling that both the devil, and the man in white (presumably god), were both happy with the outcome.

This movie takes you on a hilarious ride through murphy's law because everything that can go wrong in Elliot's wishes does.  It is a modern tricksters tale where the trickster, in this case the devil, takes someone through a series of ordeals in order to bring out what they could see in them from the beginning.  Like all Trickster lessons the danger is very real, but there is always a way out if you are clever enough to find it.

This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or as a stream for free on prime. It is also available for streaming rental or purchase if you don't pay amazon almost $100 dollars a year for free shipping and other benefits (including some free streaming movies).

Hancock Movie Review

Hancock is not your average superhero movie.  Sure Hancock, played by Will Smith, is bullet proof, super strong, can fly, and has other power's. On the other hand he is also down on his luck, lives in a beat up travel trailer, and is constantly drunk.  Compounding these problems he has amnesia and does not seem age.

This movie explores what happens when a superhero loses everything and spirals into depression, and what it takes to pull them out.  Hancock still basically cares, but because of his depression and drinking his control of his power's is not what it should be.  In addition he has also largely lost his faith in humanity.  When he tries to help he ends up causing millions of dollars in damage, and people call him names.

When Hancock saves a man named Ray Embry, at the cost of a train derailment, Ray decides to help him by working on his public image.  It turns out that Hancock cleans up nicely, but his inner demons are harder to deal with.  When his past catches up to him, and puts his new friends in danger he is forced into examining what he is doing and the effect it has on the world around him.   He realizes that being a hero is built into him, cleans up his act, and becomes the hero of legend that he had forgotten he once was.

I like this movie because it shows superheros that are not necessarily loved and have major flaws.  It portrays a man searching for redemption  that just happens to have incredible gifts that magnify any self destructive urges he may have.  Superpowers have a lot of mental traps that are often overlooked.  A single superhero would have a lot of isolation issues, and an immortal one has all the issues old people have with changing attitudes and customs but on a larger scale.

In the end while Hancock may have superpowers, and immortality he still understands what it means to be human, and that makes it much easier to relate to him.  This movie can be found at www.amazon.com as a stream or on disk.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs Book Review

This book is a a paranormal urban fantasy novel set in a world a step away from our own.  Not only are there werewolves, vampires, and other paranormal species, but the Fae have gone public with their existence.  The history of this world before that point is largely the same as our own, and so far the Fae are the only group to come out.

We are introduced to this world by Mercedes Thompson who is a VW mechanic trying to get by in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state.   Her former boss is a gremlin that moved to the fae reservation when the the fae came out.  Mercy also has some secrets.  She is a walker who can shift into a coyote, and she was raised by werewolves.  While she puts on a good front she is very well connected to the local supernatural community, and can call in some big guns when she finds herself in a fix.

When a stray (not attached to the local pack) werewolf approaches her shop looking for a job, she knows exactly what he is, and that something is very wrong.  The boy is terrified, and seems to have been abandoned by his makers, something that she knows is not accepted among the werewolves, and would not be tolerated by the local pack ( their alpha is her next door neighbor).  Having a soft spot for strays of any sort Mercy takes him in and gives him a job.  His past catches up to him quickly and Mercy has to call the local pack when he turns up dead. 

From her conversations with him she knows that there is more going on than it appears, and with someone under her care dead Mercy will not give up until she has uncovered all of the secrets.  With an angry coyote on their tail no secret is safe, and when the coyote is friends with werewolves the secret keepers will not be in good shape either.

This book is the first in the Mercedes Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs.  I will warn you that this series is addicting, and you may end up buying all the rest of the current series as well.  It can be found at www.amazon.com in print or e-book format.

Path of the Fury/In Fury Born by David Weber Book Review

This story is a mix of greek mythology, and military science fiction.  It takes place in a future star empire of mankind.  Humans now possess faster than light starships, weapons that can destroy worlds, and bioenhancement technology that would make greek gods take notice.  Well it would if anyone could find them.

This story starts out with Tisiphone, the fury, being breifly awoken several times by a bright spark in her mind until finally she is awoken fully from her slumber to find herself horribly alone.  She can find no trace of the gods or closer to home her sister selves.  What she does see is the bright spark that awoke her flaring and dying.  Its need for vengance has woken her from her slumber, and when she examines it she sees that the mortal it belongs is worthy of her help.

Alicia DeVries was once an elite member of the Imperial Cadre, A group of technologically enhanced special forces soldiers, and one of the best they ever trained.  Due to political reasons she finds herself retired long before she planned, and moves to a new colony world with her extended family.  The pirates came when she was out hunting one of the large predators on her world, and she came home to find her outpost being raided and her family dead.  With just a hunting rifle she manages to take out the entire raiding party, but is badly injured in the process.

This is when Tisiphone finds her and offers her vengance, at the possible cost of herself.  When Alicia accepts the pirates will wish they had never set foot on her world, and the galaxy may never be the same. 

Though the topic is grim, the book does have its light moments.  Tisiphone really doesn't get the implications of modern technology, and this leads to some funny situations.  The Empire is also not prepared for things like Tisiphone, and the author plays this up to lighten the mood at several points.

This is a great adventure story that really explores the difference between vengeance and justice, and the lengths that grief will drive people to.  I recommend this novel to anyone who likes space battles and paranormal entities.  It can be found at www.amazon.com in print, or in the collection In Fury Born as an Ebook or in print.  In Fury Born is this book together with more stories about Alicia to give you better background.

The Faculty Movie Review

This science fiction movie is a story about an alien invasion that is more like a disease.  The main character Casey Connor, played by Elijah Wood, finds a strange creature at school one day, and takes it to his science teacher.  They do some brief studies and find out that the creature is very strange, and Casey leaves with his science teacher promising to send the creature off for study.  After that things start to get a little crazy as the faculty and students start to have drastic personality changes overnight.  Knowing about the strange creature Casey correctly jumps to the conclusion that the two things are related

Being an unpopular photography geek Casey finds it difficult to get people to believe him, but in the end he manages to get several fellow misfits, as well as some isolated popular students on his side as things go from bad to worse in their town.  As the crew of misfits, and screw-ups seeks help it becomes clear that all the adults and many of the popular kids in town have been converted.  The only people left untouched are socially isolated for one reason or another.

In the end it becomes clear that if this is not stopped soon then it will spread to the whole world.  At this point the converted people begin to target the misfits, and it is made clear that what they have on their hands is a collective alien intelligence that has been targeting those with the most power first.  The misfits have a secret weapon however.  Zeke the school bad boy has been making an selling a synthetic drug at school that the alien organism's cannot tolerate, and Casey manages to garner his help to save the town and the world.

In the end it comes down to a battle between Casey and the alien collective.  Casey must also battle his own inner demons as the queen of the collective offers him what he has always wanted, A chance to belong.  All he must give up is his pesky humanity.  In the end he overcomes this temptation, and prevails.  This has the effect of raising his status, and his new self confidence allows him to get the things he wants out of life.

I really enjoyed this movie because the enemy doesn't come in guns blazing with starships filling the sky, but rather chooses to take over the planet one person at a time functioning much like an epidemic.

This movie is available on disk or streaming at www.amazon.com , and prime members can watch it streaming for free.

The Matrix Movie Review

The Matrix is a science fiction cyberpunk film that really makes you think.  It hooks into the feeling that many people have that there is something is wrong with the world, and rides that for all its worth.  In the end I left this movie questioning whether the reality I had lived my whole life in was in fact reality at all.  To be honest I am still not sure, but if this is not reality I do not have a way out like the characters in the film so the point is moot.

The first part of this movie is a new take on Plato's allegory of the cave.  The main character, Neo, and the whole world he lives in exist in the cave.  The first part of the story is his journey out of the cave and into the real world with the help of hacker/freedom fighter Morpheous.  The science fiction cyberpunk twist to this is that the cave is a giant MMO of modern life that everyone is neurally jacked into.

The harsh reality outside the cave is that most of humanity has been enslaved as biological energy sources for the AI's we made in the distant past.  It turns out that Neo's savior's think that he is in fact their savior.  The rest of the movie is Neo finding the answer to the question "Is he this savior figure that his new companions believe him to be?".  In the end the answer is complex.  For most of the movie Neo is not the savior, but during all of that time he is on the journey to becoming what everyone thinks he is.  It turns out that the biggest challenge he must face is within himself.

Apart from all of the philosophy hidden in this movie it is also a great action adventure film.  The people who are freed from the matrix and come back are granted powers based on their knowledge that the reality they see around them does not have set rules.  They can push themselves harder and do amazing things, but if they die in matrix their mind self destructs because it accepts the lie of death.  They have adversaries in the form of system agents (who look like secret service), and the conflict between the hackers/freedom fighters and the system agents frames and goads Neo's inner conflict.

In the end this is a great movie that causes you to really think about what reality is, and on the limitations we as humans put on ourselves that may not have any basis.

This movie can be purchased on disk or as a digital stream for rent or purchase at www.amazon.com.

Avatar Movie Review

This is a firmly science fiction movie that has a tried and true plot with enough twists to make it interesting.  I have heard it described as a science fiction version of dances with wolves and I can definitely see the similarities, but this description glosses over some of the major points of the movie.  This movie seems like dances with wolves because the main character essentially "Goes Native" but that is because the two movies have similar themes in that the "Less Advanced" culture has many things to teach our society.  That similarity is where these movies diverge however since the Na'vi are in fact not that much less advanced than the world the hero is from.  It just looks that way.

The natives of Pandora, the Na'vi, have solved many of the problems we use technology for with biology.  They have flying mounts as strong as the helicopters they face, and their options of ground transportation is anything on the planet that can hold their weight.  They have nighttime lighting via bioluminescent plants, and they can mentally connect to not only the animals of their planet but the plants and the entire ecosystem as well.  In fact looking at the Na'vi as a race is a bad way to think of them as they live on a thinking world named Eywa by the Na'vi.  On Pandora humans are faced with not just the Na'vi, but everything in the environment with the Na'vi serving as a thinking planetary immune system.

This story is a familiar one of mankind expanding to a new area and exploiting the resources found there.  The resource in this case is "Unobtainium", a term often used as a placeholder in science discussions for materials that are not available, but have a certain set of properties.  Unobtainium in the film is a material with gravity shielding properties.  The humans want this material, but the Na'vi are in the way.  Their hometree happens to sit on a giant deposit of it.  In order to better study the Na'vi the humans have developed avatars that look like them and can breathe their air.  They are so good that biologically they are Na'vi with traits modeled on their human operator.  To use these avatars operators climb into a sensory deprivation pod and transport their consciousness to the avatar.  The whole process reminds me of the anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand alone complex", or the movie "The Matrix". 

The story is told from the point of view of one of the operators, named Jake Sully, who is a military veteran.  Unlike the scientists he approaches the Na'vi with the attitude that he is willing to learn from them to learn about them, and has much more success than his traditional scientist counterparts.  This is also in part because Eywa recognizes something different and valuable in him, and sends signs to Neytiri who stands as sponsor and mentor for him.

The company running the operation just wants the Na'vi out of the way and uses the avatars, particularly Jake, to gather intelligence on them.  In the end the Jake decides that the Na'vi are in the right and decides to help them.  His task is made more difficult because they have found out he was a spy.  This is made personal to him by the fact that his Na'vi mentor and lover Neytiri rejects him for his treachery.  To regain their trust he must step into their culture as a legendary hero, by taming the toruk, a massive, wild, dragon like beast. Having regained their trust he seeks to unite the clans to fight the humans, but he fears that it may not be enough.  On the eve of battle he speaks to the world consciousness Eywa and asks for help.  In the final battle when the tides have turned against the Na'vi Eywa does intercede in the form of stampedes, and roaming predators joining the battle side by side with the Na'vi.  After the battle the humans are largely ejected, and Jake, his surviving human friends, and the Na'vi are left in control of the planet.

This movie is available streaming or on disk at www.amazon.com

Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert Heinlein Book Review

This book is a good adventure story that also makes you think.  As with many of Heinlein's works the main characters in this story are forced to keep moving, and adapting or die where they stand.  This book will also challenge your beliefs about what is good, what is evil, and what is just propaganda.  Any evangelical Christians will probably not enjoy this book as Jehovah is a character and does not come out in a good light.

Basically the plot of this story is that the original testing of Job was a bet with the Devil, and Jehovah wants to prove to his peers that his followers are still the biggest fanboys around.  The problem is the Devil still feels bad about last time so he refuses, and Jehovah finds someone who will take the bet.

The main male character Alex is an Evangelical christian who is taking a cruise to try and de-stress from a life that he doesn't realize he finds deeply dissatisfying.  The female lead is Margrethe who works on the cruise ship and is a follower of the old Norse ways.  Alex is just starting to form a relationship with her when the whole world literally changes around them.  As both of them bounce around different world lines their affections for each other grow, and Alex's prejudices begin to soften and change.  Every time that they start to improve their situation their progress is destroyed by yet another world shift.  The one rule they have been able to observe about the shifts is that if they are in contact with each other they will remain with each other.  The shifts seem to be inteligently directed, and really do happen to keep them from getting ahead, or taking a breather.  The one exception to this is when they meet a nice man with a strange family in Texas.  While in his home they are safe.

Jehovah, noticing that his chess piece is changing, decides to cheat and end the game early by calling for the rapture.  In the process Alex is forcibly separated from Margrethe since pagans don't go to heaven, and in the end he will move heaven, hell, and a few dimensions in between to get her back.  It turns out that the nice gentleman from Texas he befriended earlier was much more than he seemed, and is willing to offer substantial help in finding his lost love.

In the end this book shows us that good and evil aren't always the way they seem, and with the help of good friends, and more wit and determination than many people possess, it is possible to find your own personal paradise.  Even if it doesn't look the way you thought it would or should.

Personally I think everyone should read this book, but you should be warned that just like Alex is changed throughout the story, this book could change the way you see the world.  To me that is a feature of most Heinlein books.

This title can be found at www.amazon.com in print format.

A Knights Tale Movie Review

This is a very fun movie that manages to be both uplifting and action packed.  The name of the movie is a reference to the knights tale by Chaucer, but it is not that story.  Chaucer is however a character in the movie.  

This story is set in medieval Europe and follows the journey of a young, peasant born, squire named William Thatcher played by Heath Ledger.  William, his knight, and two other squires tour Europe competing in the most popular sport in their world, Jousting.  The squires serve as the knights pit crew in this sport and do not compete themselves.  When the Knight dies in a tournament, William decides to carry on in his place as without him they are stuck somewhere in Europe without money or a way to get home.  He puts on the armor, assumes his identity, and somehow wins the match.  Having had a taste of success he hatches a plan to continue it.  He becomes a great jouster, but the question is how long can he keep his origins a secret.

This is a story of a boy who becomes a man by smashing through the ultimate glass ceiling of his world.  In addition to his two fellow squires he picks up Chaucer, who is down on his luck at the time, and a woman blacksmith who makes incredibly light but strong armor.  It turns out that with the team he has put together can overcome almost any hardship placed in their path, and as his fortunes rise so do theirs.  In the end despite severe obstacles William attains his dream with the help of his companions, and even finds a noble lady that loves him.    

The plot of the movie is basically the same as many underdog sports movies with a semi-medieval setting and class system thrown in as an additional obstacle.  I say Semi-medieval because the soundtrack is classic rock, and the jousting tournaments and social events, are deliberately done in a very modern way.  I really enjoy this movie and admit I have watched it many times.

I own this movie on dvd and it can be bought in this format or as a digital stream at www.amazon.com

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein Book Review

This book is a classic science fiction story by Mr Heinlein.  As with some of his other work the technology, particularly computer technology, in parts of this story is a little dated, but at the time it was written was a good guess as to how it would go.  That being said the concepts, and main story of the book are still relevant today.

On the surface the story is about a lunar colonies quest for independence.  The moon was settled as a penal colony and is still ruled by the "Warden" at the time the book starts.  This is true despite the fact that a good chunk of the population on the moon happens to be either prisoners who have served their time, or their children.  You see living long term in the lower lunar gravity makes it difficult for prisoners to go back even if they can save up enough for passage.  For their children the situation is even worse since their bones never did develop enough to hold up to earths gravity for very long.

As you can imagine there is considerable unrest among the lunar population and everyone is essentially living in a police state.  The narrator of the story named Mannie, was born on the moon and is the moons computer technician.  To get this job he endured the torture of going to technical school on earth.  His job is to maintain the computer that runs the moon.  Instead of buying multiple computers for different systems the warden has decided to just keep upgrading and adding on to the one they have.  When a certain level of complexity is reached the system wakes up and luckily Mannie is the one to notice.  Over time Mannie and the computer become friends, and the master computer becomes aware of the tyranny his friend lives under.

The master computer takes the name Mike and decides that the only way for him to survive, and for his friends lot to get better, is lunar independence.  The pair meet up with some friends and quickly take over the budding resistance.  Mike becomes the leader of the group, but most people don't even know that he is a machine.

In the end this book is about what it means to be a person, what it means to be a friend, and what it means to be free.  Mike goes from being a cold system to understanding all of these so well that he doesn't blink at their cost, and his friends come to realize that one of the best men they ever knew wasn't a man at all.

I would recommend this book to anyone, but you might not enjoy it if you are not a science fiction adventure fan.  Ironically for a book with an accidental AI for a character this does not appear to be available in e-book format, but you can pick it up at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com in print.

Waterworld Movie Review

I can't really call this movie anything besides a post apocalyptic action adventure movie even though it is billed as science fiction. I have heard this movie referred to as Mad Max on the ocean, and to an extent that is fair.  The question is whats wrong with Mad Max on the ocean?  The movies have a similar setting in that they both take place in an essentially broken world.

Waterworld is set in a future where the earths surface is seemingly covered with water.  The main character Mariner, played by Kevin Costner, is a drifter traveling the world on his boat.  Mariner is very well adapted to the waterworld having a set of supplementary gills, but this causes problems whenever he meets with other people. 

The story picks up when Mariner docks with an "Atoll" which in the film is a floating artificial island.  He runs into trouble when the locals discover that he is a mutant and has gills.  He is saved by the shopkeeper Helen who needs his help to try and find the home of her adopted daughter Enola who has an enigmatic tattoo that ends up being directions to dry land.  The complication of the story is that Mariner and his friends aren't the only ones interested in finding dry land.  The local pirates called smokers, who got the name because of the smoke that comes from their motorized boats, also want Enola so that they can use her to find dry land, and use it as a pirate base.

This story is an adventure tale of a drifter who can't trust anyone learning to make friends and ultimately finding the key to save humanity.   If you don't look to hard at the setting it is a very good story, and yes it is a bit like Mad Max on the ocean, but that's ok.

I own this movie on disk and you can pick it up that way at www.amazon.com, or watch it on amazon instant streaming as either a rental or purchase.

Evolution Movie review

This movie is a science fiction comedy that takes place in the modern world.  It explores the theory of panspermia, and evolution in a small town in the American southwest.  The main character Ira Kane, played by David Duchovny, is a former army biologist who has fallen from grace due to some unfortunate side effects of his medical experiments on enlisted personnel.  He is now working at a small community college.

When the geology professor Harry Block, played by Orlando Jones, gets called to look at a local meteor he has Ira tag along in case there is any science stuff as he puts it.  When it turns out the meteor has brought some microscopic visitors to our world Ira sees his chance to get his carrer back if only he can study them first.

Everything is going well until it turns out that the microbes evolve incredibly quickly, are rapidly spreading throughout the cave system under the town, and spawning ever more complex creatures along the way. 

This movie starts out slowly, but ramps up quickly as the heroes have to fight various creatures spawned from the new underground ecosystem.  To keep it from being too depressing or serious there are quite a few gags along the way.  The science is not treated too seriously, but the film can be used to illustrate the concepts of evolution, panspermia, and invasive species.

This movie is available at www.amazon.com on disk or streaming.  It is a fun movie, and the special effects are dated but passable.  I enjoyed watching it several times and own it on dvd myself.

Galaxy Quest Movie Review

This is an older movie but still a hilarious science fiction comedy.  The movie is an obvious spoof of Star Trek, and manages to poke fun at both Star Trek TNG and TOS, sometimes in the same scene.  The movie starts twenty years after the end of a popular science fiction show.  The cast is washed up and making a living appearing at conventions and store openings.  They haven't had a real acting job in years due to being type cast, and they have had to deal with each other the entire time.

The main character, played by Tim Allen, is approached by some strange fans to make a private apperance.  He accepts the gig, and when he goes to meet the fans he is shanghaied by aliens into an actual starship that is a replica of the sets he used to play on.  He is very hung over and assumes he just has some super fans on his hands.  After "Solving" their problem he is transported back to earth after he has had a few hours to dry out, and realizes that it was all real.

He immediately ropes in his former cast mates, and goes back to the ship. The aliens have made the replica assuming the transmissions they picked up were history.  The problems arise when it becomes apparent that the previous engagement only made things worse for their new friends.  The rest of the plot is about the actors desperate attempt to fix things.

Just about every scene in this movie has some kind of nod to or spoof of a different Star Trek theme or fandom.  This movie could be tragic, but the washed up actors have just enough luck and skill at bluffing to solve the problems set before them with some hilarious hiccups along the way.

I like this movie enough to own it on dvd, and you can buy it on disk at www.amazon.com or watch it instantly on amazon's prime streaming.

Good Intentions by Elliot Kay Book Review

This book is a fun ride through its very own take on the paranormal.  When a young college kid named Alex decided to trespass in an old cemetery to impress a couple of girls, he stumbles on a weird and horrible ritual that is intended to give the person who successfully finishes it complete control of both an angel and a succubus.

When he investigates the noises he is hearing he comes upon a the scene of the nearly completed ritual. Both the angel and succubus are bound and mutilated.  They have been obviously tortured, but neither one is giving up.  With the best of intentions, thus the name, he charges in to save the two girls, no matter what they are.  He succeeds somehow, but both demon and angel end up partially bound to him instead of the person who had hurt them.  Whats worse they are bound to each other as well.

The angel, Rachel, can go home, but the succubus, Lorelei, has nowhere to go.  A weakened demon is easy prey for others of their kind.  Having no other choice, he takes her to his home till she can recover.  From there the situations keep going downhill in a a delightful way, and the action of one sort or another never stops.

This book is a good adventure, but is definitely intended for adults.  It has lots of sex and lots of violence.  The three main characters are forced into a position where they have to learn to live with each other, and one of them requires sex to survive.  In addition to the obvious exploration of these situations there is also the question of how the two girls ended up in the position they did.  It should not have been possible.  The main plot of the book is getting to the bottom of that mystery.

I read this book on my kindle, and it can be purchased on www.amazon.com

Review of www.CrunchyRoll.com

This website is an excellent resource for an anime fan.  They post news about anime and manga, and provide a streaming service for anime.  The site does have a premium membership available, which lets you skip adds and see simulcast episodes of anime and other content sooner, but just going to the site without signing up gives you access to many anime series, and access to current seasons delayed by a week.

The site also provides several streaming apps including one for the Kindle Fire, Android Devices, IOS, Xbox 360, and the Roku Streaming player.  The apps I have used work pretty well and there are fewer advertisements than hulu plus.  The ads typically run once before the show.  This makes for a much more enjoyable viewing experience particularly for older series you may be running through.  If you buy a subscription you don't even have to deal with the modest adds there are, unlike hulu plus where you buy a subscription and still watch the same ads over and over.

The site has a lot of content, but is not comprehensive.  For example shows funimation has picked up do not seem to remain here.  I personally have not bought a subscription but still frequent the site, and the app( on Roku and Android) to get my anime fix.

The only annoyance I have with the site is that often descriptions of the shows and episodes seem lacking.  Either they are not there or are often bad.  They did used to have some bandwidth issues, but seem to have fixed them.

All the content on this site is subtitled not dubbed so that may be a deal breaker for some light fans, but if you like subbed anime I would give this site a visit.

StakeLand Movie Review

I suppose this movie can be described as a horror movie, but it seems to be more of a dark coming of age movie to me.  It is true that the movie is basically a post civilization collapse story with "Vampires", but the plot focuses more on a master vampire hunter training an apprentice to live in the collapsed world. 

The vampires in this movie are a lot more like zombies than anything you can find in contemporary fiction for the most part.  They are unthinking, undead creatures constantly seeking blood and fleeing the sun.  they are a bit stronger than normal humans, but not much, and their main advantage seems to be the fact that they are infectious, and there are a lot of them.  From what I can tell in the movie if you are killed by one your rise as one, but all thought ceases in the transition.  The world is definitely in a new dark age in this film, but there are many examples of communities getting by.

The two main characters in this movie are Martin, the apprentice, and Mister, the master.  The story is told from Martin's point of view and narrated by him.  It doesn't really feel like a horror film because the main characters are so numb to the horror around them that the normal tension is just not there.  Instead it is replaced by the coming of age story of Martins training by Mister.  Don't get me wrong all the elements of a horror movie are there, but they didn't hit me the same way.  

The basic plot of the movie is that Mister and Martin are trying to get to New Eden, which is apparently in Canada, where the cold keeps the vampires at bay.  They travel through a transformed United states fighting vampires, and picking up companions, and enemies along the way.

This movie was interesting, but very dark, and I would not recommend it if you are terribly afraid of vampires or zombies.  If you can get past that it is an interesting take on a coming of age tale, and the background for the setting is very well thought out.

I watched this movie on Netflix via my Roku streaming player.