Spectacular, but "Dune", its not

For its visuals, ten stars.

When it comes to computer animation, I’m a hard sell, but I loved everything visual in this film. There were just tons of fabulous scenes.

For concept, the idea is simply, well, off the planet. Another ten stars.

In fact, I bought into the whole concept so hard, I almost didn’t care when the cliché-riddled, seen-it-a-million-times main plot kicked in and the plot stars fell all the way away.

No stars for the plot.

What a sad thing it must be to be a filmmaker, to have a Dune-like message in your hands and be forced to sell it out so that the multitude of morons will “get it.” Zero stars for carry through of the idea.

Still, despite the crappy plot, the Bucky Beaver smile of Sigourney Weaver’s laughable Avatar, the inconclusive ending (the humans should have had their butts kicked off the planet), the fact that we were never shown why unobtanium was so special (a really key plot element similar to that of Dune’s worms and their importance in space jump travel – in other words, a reason that might have made the desperation of the miners understandable), and of course the shelf-stock bad guys, Avatar remains a pretty good see.

Let’s see, ten, ten, zero, zero. 20/4 – gotta give it five, but now you know where it falls down.

as posted to Amazon

 
UP IN THE AIR - dvd

SO CLOSE TO GREAT ITS ALMOST PAINFUL, May 1, 2010

If you rent this, watch it again after a few days.

In the face of the lower ratings others have awarded, I'm giving this one five stars with bells and whistles.

There wasn't a single scene in this film that didn't wholly engross me. As I watched, I kept thinking, good, good, yes, yes... And the plot kept going, and building. There's no doubt in my mind that most of the women I know will hate this film. I hope they'll forgive me (no chance) for saying this, but to me "Up in the Air" seemed gut-level honest. Maybe it's because at some level the hero's persona came so close to my own. Whatever the reason, I ached when he dared to hope the American dream might be possible for him.

Is there some element that everyone downrating this one is missing? No. What you're seeing in the statistics is a division of the sexes. They hate it, we love it. In my view, this is an excruciatingly human film and it will be a shame if every guy who sees it doesn't take the time to talk about it a little.

Because, like Bergman's silents, this is one of those films you want to watch a second time, and then a third and then a fourth and at last you finally start to see what's really there.

P.S. Whew! Vera Farmiga is hotter than a two dollar pistol in this one, and George Clooney - who was that elderly actress who had the classic punch line, "he's no slouch in bed?" Well, George has moments when he stops making moon eyes and almost seems natural, and then we can really identify with him.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO - fiction - by Stieg Larsson

THE REAL GEM HERE IS LISBETH, April 24, 2010
 
Henrik Vanger, in his eighties, longs to know the identity of the person who every year on his birthday sends him a single exotic species of flower - a flower that renews memories of a niece long ago missing and presumed dead.

Carl Blomkvist, thirtyish, values journalistic integrity above all else, but he's facing ninety days in jail and a 150,000 fine, all because he, a respected publisher, has been convicted of libel.

Lisbeth Salander, twenty-four, a private investigator who, despite her anti-social behavior, her boss has come to value as the most able operator he's ever had.

Three characters, yes, but of them the real gem is Lispeth, pale, pierced, anorexic, hostile, and so much more. Her story is...unfinished...and the author, darn it, leaves it that way.

Judge for yourself: Lisbeth, as summarized by her boss the first time he sees her -

"She looked like she just emerged from a week-long orgy with a gang of hard rockers."

Lisbeth: hair "short as a fuse;" a pierced nose and eyebrows; a wasp tattoo on her shoulder; red hair died black; and a tattoo of a dragon on her back. But despite these disfigurings, under it all, a beauty. She's attractive, both to her tough old boss and to the reader, neither of whom can fail to be mesmerized by this dynamic enigma of a child-woman who through it all displays what could be under-described as, "a rather trying attitude."

Putting it mildly.

There is more, much more to Lisbeth. She is rich beyond measure as a character, but as the plot proceeds to gain and lose and then regain momentum, the author withholds her. We get small bits here and there as Carl Blomkvist meets her. They become associates in the search for answers to Henrik Vanger's questions. Carl begins to fall for her, and we begin to see the full scope of Lisbeth's amazing...

I better stop telling about her right here.

Despite dragging at times as Larsson digs into the often mundane intimate details of his characters' lives, and overlooking the fact that the author never really delivers a denouement between the two principle characters, this novel still adds up to a stellar read. Thank God the second book will continue the story. I've got to see what happens with Lisbeth and Carl.

ALREADY DEAD  - fiction - by Charley Huston

Nothing Beats a Cold Pint of Fresh Blood, April 14, 2010
 
As long as an author doesn't overwhelm me with syrupy melodrama, Vampire themes are always good for a change of pace. Especially when there's a new twist. Already Dead has a great one and it makes for a hard-edged, original story.

Joe Pitt is a just regular guy who's been dealt an awful hand. Trying to make his own way, he does odd jobs for the various clans of fellow victims - who're acting oh-so-human despite their conditions. They've divided New York into territories, and are now fighting over them - and the twist is they've all got the "vyrus," which in Joe's case means he needs a pint of whole blood a week, or else.

Not to mention the need to stay away from direct sunlight.

Stumbling around in the dark makes Joe's life pretty much a black comedy. His first priority is supply, but the clans have the easy sources, hospitals, blood banks, locked up. Joe knows whole blood doesn't grow on trees. It comes from people, and the fresher the better. But he tries to be discriminating. After all, he's still mostly human.

Joe lives in a secret cellar beneath his apartment, and when we meet him, things have been going good. He's got eleven pints stashed away in the small frig hidden in the cellar, and he isn't above savoring a mouthful or two over and above the minimum he needs to survive.

Problem is, for Joe, things never stay good for long. His girl's got aids, and some old friends are asking for favors Joe doesn't know how to deliver. But he'll try, 'cause that's the way Joe is, and the things that happen next will keep you surprised and anxious and at the end you'll want more.

The first, and still the best of Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt novels.

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN  - fiction - by Garth Stein

Dear lucky reader: This one's special, May 28, 2008

In Mongolia, many believe dogs can return as humans in a future incarnation, but only after they've lived enough lives and acquired enough of the lessons of humanity.

Enzo doesn't live in Mongolia, but if ever there's been a dog who was ready, Enzo is the one. He can hardly wait. In fact, he's practically human already; he knows the world (from watching cable documentaries and news shows), and has learned how to be honorable by watching his owner Denny who supports his family by working in an auto parts store, is a loyal husband and father, and agonizes over ways to achieve his dream of becoming a top race car driver. Enzo believes in Denny, who he thinks only needs a chance to show just how exceptional a driver he is.

But Enzo has learned that racing isn't only about driving on dry, flat tracks, nor does life as a human always turn out the way we hope. Sometimes it rains, and things can go badly wrong. Enzo has seen bad things too, and he knows that when things go wrong the best humans somehow manage to stay on the track and find their way through. That's why when rain begins to fall into Denny's world, Enzo is there to support his friend and help him make it through.

As you would expect from a dog, Enzo's observations tend to be simple, and the underlying theme and moral of his story visible just below the surface, but you know, sometimes we tend to over-express when we put the principles we strive to live by into words, and this is a mistake Enzo doesn't make. Because of this, his observations are the more powerful and poignant for their simplicity and as the underlying theme is drawn toward the inevitable conclusion, the fact that we knew where things were going and were afraid for both Enzo and Denny while hoping and praying for the best, makes it all that much more satisfying.

The Art of Racing in the Rain is an enthralling, uplifting, and beautifully imagined story. Five stars for YA and up.

BUFFALO SOLDIERS - fiction - by Robert O'Connor

From the cover to the final page, not an iota of color exists within Buffalo Soldiers. Anyone who's lived in an army barrack during peacetime knows the direction race relations within the ranks have taken. O'Connor's chilling story leaves no doubt; the situation is worse than anyone imagined.
Free fall. That's where Spec-4 Ray Elwood is headed, and in his less and less frequent MPC's (moments of perfect clarity) he knows it. The rest of the time, he's taking steps to get his stake and get out before the inevitable collision with the ground. He leads a sordid life, using people, dealing hard drugs on the side, flirting with heroin addiction. Yet there is something in him, some remnant of decency, the idea that he could easily change and turn himself around - and when he meets the daughter of his most dangerous enemy and they begin a relationship, we cross our fingers and hope he makes it through.
Comparisons between Buffalo Soldiers and Joseph Heller's classic World War II novel Catch-22 are inevitable, but there really can be no comparison. O'Connor's standoffish second person narrative attempts to hold you at arm's length, but his passages slash away with such cutting, acidic wit, the story gets in close anyway. Beside the peacetime lowlifes of Buffalo Soldiers, Joseph Heller's characters were mere babes-in-arms. In Catch-22, you never quite had to take things seriously. With O'Connor, it's impossible not to, and thus Buffalo Soldiers is ultimately more meaningful. I never thought I'd say this, but Joseph Heller, who I've long revered, no longer stands alone at the top.

ADELAIDE EINSTEIN - fiction - by April Hamilton
 
Stand up and cheer for Adelaide Einstein!, May 11, 2008

At 46, hard working but physically inept Adelaide Binchley is married to a loyal man and the stay-at-home mother of two teenagers. After sacrificing her own education to marry, the high point of her existence seems destined to be the volunteer work she performs - she's a nurse's aide. But when she inadvertently runs a cart filled with soiled bedpans into the chief of surgery, knocking him down and breaking his tailbone - the fifth reportable incident she's caused in the last two months - she suffers the ultimate indignity: she's fired from her volunteer job.

Addie's self esteem is at an all-time low and the role in life she's given her best years to is about to fall apart. Patricia, her 16 year-old, will secretly have her genitals pierced and the site will become infected. The director of her son's summer camp is about to call, threatening to sue for damages caused by the boy, who has a decidedly malicious streak, and the reader will soon learn (although she will not) that her husband is sleeping with her best friend.

When she hears that the hospice wing of the hospital desperately needs volunteers, it's the choice of last resort. The next day she enters the wing, where she is almost immediately mistaken for someone else - Jakob's friend - and quickly delivered into the presence of a stranger. His first words, "Ah, my catch of the day," reveal that this is not the first time an innocent passerby has been waylaid to visit him.

The two at first appear to be polar opposites. Jakob is thirty-something and bookish, with brown curly hair and wire-rimmed spectacles. Clearly whatever form of disease he has has taken a toll on him, but Addie thinks that once he must have been very handsome.

In addition to his charming conversation, Jakob seems to be measuring Addie and liking what he sees. Even though he's a physicist and college professor and she an unsure college dropout, they become fast friends, and when he proves to her that she is fully conversant with both the first and second laws of thermodynamics, then invites her to monitor his introductory physics class, Addie takes the first step in what will prove to be a beautiful and uplifting metamorphosis.

Adelaide Einstein is about opening your eyes to the world, seeing the place you can reach in it, and getting started on the path. Along the way, Addie has some truly exquisite moments. Moments that had me clapping my hands and cheering. This novel might have been published by any major publisher you'd care to name, and with the right push could be a bestseller. April L. Hamilton is a master of the craft. The evidence is in plain sight on every page of Adelaide Einstein. It's a rewarding and beautiful story. Relative to my other five star reviews, I'd give this one six if I could.

ROBOT - MERE MACHINE TO TRANSCENDENT MIND - non-fiction - by Hans Moravec

With high praise from such literary giants as Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Doctor David Brin on the dust jacket, I asked myself where I, unlettered and relative to those minds barely conscious, am going trying to write a review. A friend likes to say he never lets ignorance stop him from expressing his opinion on a subject. Guess I remember that one ‘cause it fits me so well, so here goes.
In his 1950 paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence, Alan Turing grouped the arguments opposing the possibility of machine intelligence into the following nine categories:
1- The Theological Objection – thinking is a function of the soul. Machines have no souls, so cannot think.
2 – The “Heads in the Sand” Objection – Thinking machines cannot be possible because the consequences would be too dreadful.
3 – The Mathematical Objection – Mechanical reasoning has certain provable limitations that human thought may not share.
4 – The Argument from Consciousness – Machines have no inner experiences to give meaning to their utterances, actions, or internal operations.
5 – Arguments from Various Disabilities – Machines will never be kind, moral, joyous, perceptive, original, etc.
6 – Lady Lovelace’s Objection – Computers do only what we program them to do.
7 – The Argument from Continuity in the Nervous System – Nerves respond to arbitrarily tiny signal differences, while computers work in fixed-size steps.
8 – The Argument from Informality of Behavior – It is not possible to specify for a machine what to do in every possible circumstance a human might encounter.
9 – The Argument from Extrasensory Perception – Humans sometimes sense remote or future information unavailable to deterministic processes in computers. 
Moravec provides current arguments countering each item above, but central to all seems to be this: the principle difference between human and machine is we are conscious. This state, however, is so complex we are unable to explain it. Neither do we understand how or from where it arises in our brains.
The author offers a compelling posit; If as of Robot’s publication (1999), the most powerful computers could process a million MIPS (million instructions per second), computers capable of a billion MIPS should be just over the horizon. It will be then, Moravec projects, that the mysterious and exclusively human state we call “consciousness” will be revealed to be not exclusive at all, but merely the capacity to accumulate, process, and interpret sufficient amounts of data in the span of each instant of time – and that when this is achieved, computers will sense the state of their surroundings and thus become “conscious”. 
Moravec lays the groundwork for this leap carefully, detailing his personal experiences in robotics and the pace of advances in the field. Arriving at the present day situation, he then takes us step by careful step into the future. It’s all completely understandable and reasonable. He’s right - know what I’m saying?
Eventually though, his vision of the future exceeds my ability to absorb. I confess to less than a complete understanding of his universe of the future. One thing I did get loud and clear: there were no humans there.
All that’s needed to see the light is a small leap of understanding: Consider robots an intellectual mutation. These creatures we make will first surpass and then replace us, become us, probably in very much the same way we ourselves replaced the less capable lifeforms we arose from in the distant past. It’s not a grim future the author envisions for humanity; it’s a comfortable even spiritual retirement. Refuse to accept this, and you’ll need to refute Darwin’s theories too. Think about it.

WIMBLEDON - dvd - Kirsten Dunst

Best Sports-themed Romantic Comedy in Years, May 7, 2008

For me, there's nothing like a good romantic comedy, and when the story is set in the sports world, my interest level can be counted on to double. This one has a tennis theme, so naturally I checked it out as soon as it became available on DVD.

British journeyman pro Peter Colt, played in a bit of stellar casting by Brit actor Paul Bettany, has never quite made it to the top, and is now resigned to the end of a long career. He's got a wild card for Wimbledon, and plans to announce his retirement after the prestigious tournament ends. When a mistaken room assignment brings him to the suite of American star Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) - romantic sparks fly as the repartee flows - she behind the frosted shower glass, he bags in hand in the hall. It's all great fun, and we know right away this one's gonna be good.

When in a surprise, Peter wins his first match on court 17, things begin to look up for him. The romance is right on track too, as the two discuss the merits of fooling around on the night before a big match - over fish and chips, no less.

For Peter, fooling around seems to have hurt his game. His second round match is a budding disaster. He's headed for defeat until who should show up but Lizzie to cheer him on. In a stunning turn of events, he plays for her and wins. A streak that continues when in round 3 Peter dispatches his best friend and practice partner Nikolaj (Dieter Prohl) - despite the increasingly evident disapproval of Lizzie's driven father and coach, Dennis (Sam Neill), and the re-appearance of Peter's long absent agent Ron (Jon Favreau).

Meanwhile, Peter's dysfunctional family add really great touches of color. His feuding mother and father (Bernard Hill and Eleanor Bron)have reached the point where his father has moved to the treehouse in the back yard of the mansion, and his younger brother Carl (James McAvoy) provides comic relief as to the disgust of the bookies at the betting shop he bets against his brother("He's been on such a good losing streak.").

All told, Wimbledon is a light-hearted love story with a strong sports angle filled with great one-liners and several nice little plot threads that add up to an outstanding whole. I really loved it. I think it's the best sports-theme film to come along since "For Love of the Game."