Star Trek Into Darkness

Two years too late describes how best I feel about this sequel to the highly enjoyable 2009 reboot of the adventures of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock.  Two years earlier and my expectations would not have been as demanding.  Two years ago another exploration of these characters before they started their 5 year mission would have been something agreeable.

But 4 years later, my expectations were higher.  A highly polished script and a brand new adventure to go boldly once again were want I wanted – and I suspect a lot of the fans of the Trek franchise before this reboot started.  Instead we get a perfectly serviceable summer blockbuster that the general movie going public and critics have found enjoyable.

As a summer blockbuster movie I found it enjoyable.  And instantly disposable.

As a long time Trek from when the original series aired I found this a mediocre Trek movie that recycled elements from the original series and the second movie.  The recycling lacks the impact from the original iteration because the events that take place in The Wrath of Khan work so well because of what transpired in the original Space Seed TV episode.  Khan works as a threat in the movie because he and the crew of the Enterprise have a shared history.  In STID, Khan means nothing to these new versions of Kirk and Spock et al.  So their moments together have no way of carrying the same dramatic tension.

I remain hopeful the next movie will finally deliver some new and original ideas.  The cast is fantastic and they really deserve their own adventure.

It’s time for them to see what’s out there.

 Black Hills aka Paha Sapa by Dan Simmons

This book totally caught me off guard and blew me away. Plain & simple. Partially because it does not seem to garner the same attention Simmons’s other recent books do.  And partially while I enjoy reading Simmons’s books, he favors world building to that of character and I always find his characters somewhat cool and aloof.  Not so with Paha Sapa. What a remarkable character and what a remarkable story Simmons tells about and through him.

I found the integration of his story with the history that was taking place during his life, plus the glimpses into other times, the most compelling of any book Simmons has done to date.

In some aspects, and I mean this in the most complimentary way, this is like Simmons’s version of Stephen King’s – The Dead Zone. The tragedy that Paha Sapa endured for the majority of his life was heart breaking and I loved how Simmons handled his life after meeting his granddaughter.

The recounting of the construction of Mount Rushmore, the Chicago World Fair of 1893, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, the exploration of George Custer and his wife, plus the glimpses of the world past, present, and future; all so engrossing and fascinating.

Just looking at all the research material and people Simmons conversed with is staggering.

And it all comes together so seamlessly to so poignantly tell the life story of this Sioux, or Lakota or Natural Free Human Being.

This is now my favorite Simmons book.

My, my how time flies.  It has been over 3 weeks since my last update!  Wow.  Been doing a lot of things, saw a couple of movies, read a few books, and have been writing!!  WooT! Finally got an idea that excited me and looks like it has some legs that will allow me to write a short story first with an eye towards a novel(s) later on.

So, I’ll make up for the lack of posts by stringing together a series of them over the next few days which will allow me to go into more detail about the various items I want to post about.

Now You See Me

This was an unexpected gift.

A combo heist/revenge/magic illusion movie with a great cast: Mark Ruffalo, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Isla Fisher.

Joyland

My favorite writer, Stephen King, delivers the goods again.  A breezy 283 pages, especially for a King novel, this Hard Case Crimes paperback edition starts and ends far too quickly.

King and Carnies are something that go together naturally and it is a bit surprising he has not used such settings more often.  In Joyland the story takes place in 1973 at the titular amusement park which went out of business just a few years later; a victim of the Disney Worlds and other corporate theme parks that spelled the end for most independently owned amusement parks.

Blue November by Brian James Freeman

This was a quick read – a novella length story about a shared dark secret between 5 men who are High School Football Buddies known as the Lightning Five.

This bears much similarity to King’s DreamCatcher. I would have preferred a longer book length version of the story to flesh out the characters and their back story more.  Great illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne.

Iron Man 3

Is Iron Man3 better than Iron Man2? Yes but that’s not saying much. And not by much.

Both possess half baked and overstuffed plots and the drive to turn the Iron Man suits into a toyline continues unabated.  Really dislike the change on the fly suit stuff too.  Didn’t buy the PTSD storyline either.

Movie’s strong point is how much Downey is in the flick.  And the interaction between Pepper and Stark. Mandarin turned out to be a Bane-Bust and apparently the driving motivation to become a ubervillain requires nothing more traumatic than to be left out on a cold rooftop.

At the end Tony Stark declares he is Ironman.  Too bad that declaration came at the end of a movie that just demonstrated that any videogamer with decent skills would make a better one.

N0S4A2 by Joe Hill

I loved this book!

This one does what the best books do – connects with the reader emotionally.  N0S4A2 creates an inscape reading reality inhabited by characters that you care about more and more as the story goes along.  Joe Hill continues to create quirky, flawed characters that makes me feel positive and negative thoughts.  By the time the story ends, my negative thoughts are forgotten.  The Brat is one of the most interesting and flawed characters I have run across in a long time.

While Manx is the story’s titular antagonist, it is his sidekick – Bing Patridge – who is the most revolting and terrifying.  For he is a simple fellow that has managed to built his own complex inscape that allows him to carry out atrocities all the while believing he is doing good works. Scary.

This is my favorite type of story – bittersweet triumph tinged with sadness, gratefulness, and hope.

These are great days indeed when there are books to be read from not just Stephen King but his sons – Owen and Joe – too.