This book is sci-fi political philosophy! It's just about as different from the movie as can be possible while still retaining a semblance of the same plot. It is quite amazing that this was written in the 50s.
Bonus of +1 for influencing Haldeman and Scalzi.
Surfing movies are invariably great, albeit with not much of a plot. This one does have a semblance of a plot but is let down by the screenplay and direction. However, eventually I was well entertained.
+1 for stunning visuals
+1 for Ms. Shue
A fun movie with a pretty unique setting for a decent plot. Some bits are a li'l cheesy and I generally tend to find John C. Reilly annoying, but his voice work in Wreck it Ralph was good.
Bonus point for a lot of out-of-the-box thought.
While it's cool to see something come out of Iceland, this really was dull drivel. Stay away.
Killing Them Softly is a gangster movie with delusions of complexity. While I suppose that it's clever to correlate a gangwar with the economic crisis from 2008, repeatedly hitting the viewer with this message makes the entire effort simply annoying. Good acting, semi-decent plot, bad direction. That said, I can watch just about anything with Brad Pitt in it.
So, a Bond film directed by the chap who helmed American Beauty. It would be reasonable for us to expect a different approach, and there certainly is one. Unfortunately, there are way too many contrivances in the plot that are used to bring this about with the end result seeming haphazard and dreary. One minute we are busy in the heart of London and the next we are in the Scottish moors exploring Bond's childhood as part of an insipid climax. There is no build-up at all.
An offering by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Curse of Chalion is undoubtedly a page-turner which is primarily, and oddly, based on the concocted theology of the Quintarian/Quadrene faith. While the authoress does not provide enough background for the mysticism to bear close scrutiny, there is enough of a structure for it to be fascinating (which is more or less all that you want in fantasy).
Promised a lot, but fell flat. This kind of pseudo-historical movie—think The 13th Warrior or Apocalypto—generally tends to be right up my alley. But a weak screenplay, dodgy direction, and a focus on pointlessly gratuitous violence ensured a poor end result.
While I guess that it's nigh on impossible to encapsulate all the goodness of Joseph Heller's book into a two hour movie, IMO, Mike Nichols and Buck Henry do a pretty good job with this adaptation. It's weird, funny, and poignant and captures the thrust of the novel. While I thought Alan Arkin (who usually annoys me) was perfect for the role of Yossarian, his performance was not consistently above par. There are also a few holes that could have been better patched up.
Well worth the watch.
Lee Child's third Jack Reacher book, Tripwire has an interesting plot, but ridiculously scripted. I think that the series would have been a whole lot better if it had been more risqué.
Ridiculous but entertaining which is what I guess the USP is.
