Strip Mauled by Esther Friesner book review.

Strip Mauled is the second anthology of short stories by Escher Friesner that mashes up myths and legends and modern suburbia.  Like the first book Witch Way to the Mall the short stories are by many different authors, but they all have the same theme.  This books Theme is werewolves in suburbia.  The stories are all hilarious, and are individually lightweight bits of good entertainment.

These stories look all take different looks at how your local moon loving furry friends would have to adapt to modern life, and how modern life would adapt to them.  From the lone human who accidentally joins an all werewolf software firm, to the security guards at the local mall you don't want to mess with around the full moon one tale after another has a humorous or ironic take on just how well, or poorly, werewolves would fit into our modern lifestyle.

These books are a good read for anyone who enjoys humorous paranormal stories.  They are fun bite size chunks of modern day myth and legend fried up suburban style.  Also anyone who read Witch Way to the Mall will want to pick this one up as some of the stories are continued.

This book is available at www.amazon.com as an e-book or in print.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

This comedic live action take on the old mickey short is very good.  It will make you laugh with and cheer for Dave the young Sorcerer's Apprentice.  The classic scene is there, but there is much more to the movie. The story is really about Dave finding his self confidence and the will to use his power to resolve a centuries old conflict.  Something I really like about the movie is that Dave grows up to be a scientist and that this plays an important role in the movie.

The only thing I didnt really like about the movie is that the villains are not complex characters.  They are bad guys who like being bad guys.  I would have liked to see more reason for them being the way they are.

The plot of this movie is that centuries ago Merlin and two of his three apprentices Balthazar and Veronica, attempted to defeat Morgana le Fey and Merlin's other apprentice Horvath.  In the fight Merlin dies and Veronica sacrifices herself by merging with Morgana so that she can be trapped in a nesting doll.  In the end Horvath is also trapped , and Balthazar is left to continue alone, searching for the heir Merlin spoke of that can defeat Morgana.  The movie then skips to the near present day where Dave as a child runs into Balthazar right as Horvath escapes.  Balthazar saves Dave, who he recognizes as the heir, by trapping himself and Horvath in a magic vase for a number of years.  Dave's confidence is shattered when no one will believe him about what happened, and he is deemed to have had a mental breakdown.  When Dave is older, and studying physics as a grad student, the two wizards finally escape and the story begins again.  Balthazar begins teaching Dave Magic, with a few comic mishaps including the classic cleaning scene, but it goes to his head and he quickly ends up in a bind.  His confidence is badly hurt by this latest failure on top of years of being thought crazy.  In the end he must overcome his inner demons and combine science and magic to defeat Morgana and finally set things right.

This movie should appeal to fantasy fans, and would be great for family movie night.  Its plot and side stories will keep the adults engaged and the kids will love the battles between wizards, and the good verses evil theme.

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

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.

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).

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.

Iron Sky Movie Review

This is a hilarious science fiction comedy.  The plot can be described simply as Oh My God there are Nazis on the moon, but the hilarity around the plot is what makes the movie.  For starters the person who finds the Nazis on the moon is an American Black male model.  He is only on the moon in the first place because the president, who is an obvious parody of Sarah Palin, came up with the idea to boost her poll numbers with a campaign titled "Black to the moon. Yes We Can."  From this premise the movie only gets funnier.

The special effects in this movie are passable but not spectacular, and so is the acting.  Both could be better but they get the story across.  The movie has something for everyone including orbital space battles.  The science in the film is mostly ok, but as with many small science fiction films doesn't worry about the details.  I am sure if you analyzed every little thing you could find issues with it but mostly the science is either not explained, or relatively simple.  For me there were only a few places where I was not able to maintain suspension of disbelief, and those places made for a good story.

As a B science fiction comedy this movie is a fun show and worth watching on Netflix where I watched it.  If you are looking for a serious science fiction movie this may not be the film for you, but you may want to give it a chance when you are in the mood to laugh.