Category: Reviews

Reviews of Music, Movies and More…

The Monster is Loose

Reviews

There is just something I like about Meat Loaf. Not the food… can’t stand the stuff usually, but the singer. This past week saw the release of Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster is Loose. And it is good.

Although… it is weak in places. Meat Loaf has always had a sort of semi-operatic tone to his voice, good for belting out ballads. Jim Steinman has always been great at writing songs that are touching, funny and moderately nasty all at once. The combination of the two of them have produced some fairly awesome songs like Paradise by the Dashboard Light, Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That), and more. And in some respects this album delivers. Steinman originally wrote It’s All Coming Back To Me Now for Meat Loaf, but Meat didn’t record it for Bat Out of Hell II, so he sold it to Celine Dion (and here I went 8 years without mentioning her on my website, damn)… Meat Loaf takes the song back, and the lyrics just fit him so much better than they did her. All of Steinman’s songs on the album are strong and as good as they ever were.

But, Jim had a heart attack and a couple of strokes that sidelined him for a while, and Meat Loaf, rather than wait, decided to push on with another writer… Desmond Child. Now, Desmond has produced lots of people and worked with tons of bands… but there is something here that, for me, just doesn’t work. The songs that Desmond worked on instead of Jim feel more generic, like they aren’t tailor made for Meat Loaf to record. They don’t have that… that special something that the Meat Loaf/Steinman collaborations have. And its a shame, the songs aren’t bad they just don’t pop, they don’t spark like the rest.

All in all though, Meat Loaf lays down another solid album, and its worth the money. A fine 3rd part for this trilogy. And I think I’m pretty safe calling it a trilogy, because the first one was 1977, the second was 1993 (16 years), and now 2006 (13 years)… if there is a fourth chapter, when Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman finish fighting and get back to working together, we can expect it right around 2021 when Meat Loaf will be 74. I’m not going to hold my breath.

Heroes

Reviews

Holy F*ck!

He f*cking flew! He f*cking FLEW!!

I remember back a couple of seasons ago on Smallville, when they had Clark get possessed by the red kryptonite version of himself and he jumped into the air… they had him go in slow motion and they CGI’d the air current ripples around him. It was pretty cool.

But it just got trumped.

Previously in Heroes, you sorta saw people fly. Peter Petrelli jumped off stuff, Nathan Petrelli kinda swooped in from the bottom of the screen, and later Peter “walked” on air. But this week… Nathan freakin’ flew. He was trapped by the “bad guys” and he crouched down like he was ready for a fight… then he jumped straight up and was off like a shot. Sonic boom! Holy mutha f*kka!

You have the flying guy, a guy who paints the future, a woman with some sort of split personality, a cop who reads minds, a guy who erases memories, a girl who can heal from any wound, a guy who can bend space and time, and guy who appearantly can copy the powers of anyone he’s physically close to. Oh, and the guy who paints the future has painted New York getting nuked, and the guy who bends space and time made an accidental side trip to the future where he saw it happen.

This has all the makings of what a comic book come to life might really be like. Seriously, if you like comic books and superheroes and you aren’t watching Heroes on monday nights, you are crazy! This is simply the best superhero type show that has ever been on television.

Night Stalker

Reviews

Last TV season, I got hooked on Night Stalker, an update to the old Kolchak series. The new show had Stewart Townsend as the lead in the place of Darren McGavin, and went for a younger and hipper style. But despite that skew, it was still a dark, violent and brooding collection of stories about a reporter trying to understand why his wife was killed.

I was really pissed when they cancelled the show, because I felt it was just getting started… that and the fact that the last episode they aired was part one of a two part story. Man, I hate that.

Luckily, they put out the six episodes they aired plus four episodes they didn’t out on DVD.

Over the last couple days, I’ve watched all ten episodes and the commentaries, and I plan to read all the unfilmed scripts they included on the DVD-ROM section. All that brings me to one conclusion… damn, I wish they hadn’t cancelled this show. But then, hey, I’m used to stuff I love getting canned. So, if you like horror/thriller/mystery type stuff, pick this up when you can, it was worth the watching.

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

Reviews

Not much to say here… The Opal Deception, like the other Artemis Fowl books before it, is good fun. Fairies and magic and sci-fi technology. Opal Koboi is in a coma after her failed attempt to take over Haven… or is she?

These books are great for kids, although this one, like some of the Harry Potter books, might cause you to have a few conversations with your kids if you haven’t had them yet. A character from the pervious books dies in this one, and it may lead to some questions on what that means.

I enjoyed it alot, and I think other people will too.

World War Z

Reviews

On my ride in to work this morning, I turned the last page of Max Brooks’ new zombie effort entitled World War Z.

If you are familiar with Max, it means you have read his other book, The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead. From his simple descriptions of what a zombie is and how to handle them, Max expands outward to create a world where the zombies have already come, and they have already pushed us to the brink of oblivion, and we have recovered. Ten years after the war with the zombies, the author is publishing a collection of interviews gathered while working on the official government report of the war.

Brooks paints a vivid picture through the eyes of his subjects that allows you to see everything from the common man to the army grunt to the war profiteer, in many nationalities. Whenever I have discussed the theoretical of zombie attack, most people scoff at it saying that it just couldn’t happen. Max’s book illustrates exactly how we could manage to lose to an enemy that is slow and uncoordinated.

This book is truly an excellent read, and well worth the money and the time. Two big thumbs up.

X-Men: Dark Mirror

Reviews

I just finished up X-Men: Dark Mirror, from the line of books based on Marvel properties. And I must say I enjoyed it.

The story is that five of the X-Men (Cyclops, Phoenix, Rogue, Nightcrawler and Wolverine) go out to investigate a mental hospital that is reported to be treating mutants badly. At least, that’s the backstory you get as the tale unfolds. As the book begins, Jean Grey (Phoenix), wakes up as a black man in a straight jacket. And it just gets weirder from there. The X-Men have had their minds somehow transferred into the bodies of mental patients, and have to break out, get home, and try to stop whoever took their bodies from doing anything bad. The most amusing parts of this book come in that Jean is in the body of a man, Scott (Cyclops) is in that of a petite young girl, and Logan (Wolverine) is literally wearing a big chested blonde woman. As they make their break from the asylum, they have to rely on their wits instead of their powers (which they’ve lost) to try to make their way across the US back home.

It was quite interesting to see how the author made them handle their new bodies and lack of powers. A fun book.

DC Universe: Inheritance

Reviews

For the first time ever, I am disappointed in one of the DC line of books based on their comics. Overall, the story wasn’t bad, but it was a case of the background and side stories being far more interesting than the main plot.

DC Universe: Inheritance is mainly about sidekicks. The story starts with the President of Qurac and his son heading to America, Gotham specifically, and then someone tries to kill the President’s son. Turns out the assassin was Deathstroke, and he shouldn’t have missed. Its obvious he’s tried to get Batman involved. Batman goes looking for Arsenal because he needs info on Cheshire (its less confusing if you know the comics, but they do also explain it all in the book too), and to find Arsenal Batman asks Green Arrow, who involves Aquaman, Nightwing and Tempest. Nightwing, of course, is the original Robin; Arsenal is Speedy, Green Arrow’s sidekick from back in the day; and Tempest is Aqualad. Batman and Arsenal head off to Qurac, Green Arrow and Nightwing go searching after Deathstroke, and Aquaman and Tempest are set to protect the Qurac President and son at the harbor/bay where a Qurac oil tanker will be docking in the next day or so.

Within each pairing, as the story follows them, you delve into how each one became a sidekick and their experience. Nightwing deals with the death of his parents, training with Batman, and the eventual realization that his can’t be a sidekick forever. Arsenal shows his life on the reservation as a white man being raised by an indian, his beginning sidekick days, and his collapse into and recovery from heroine addiction. Tempest, the shortest interludes, give glimpses of his growing up under the King of Atlantis and how when the chips were down Aquaman was willing to sacrifice Tempest for the life of his own child.

Some of the trail following and piecing together of who is trying to kill the President’s son is interesting, but the final fight as the truth is unveiled is a let down from the buildup done throughout the book. It was a good read, I just wish it had ended better.

Poison in Concert

Reviews

I am a giant 80’s music whore. So it should be no surprise at all that I went to the Poison/Cinderella show last night, and it was awesome.

I have seen Poison in concert three or four times now, and they put on a great show every time. They take the stage, play all the hits you love, and thank you for being fans. This being the 20th Anniversary of the release of their debut album ‘Look What the Cat Dragged In’, there was more thanking than usual.

Cinderella gave a similar performance, taking the stage and laying out the hits.

I still think its surprising that these guys still put on such a great show. Twenty years of Rock and Roll and these bands seem genuinely grateful that people still come out to see them, unlike some newer bands I’ve seen. Poison is a band that I will go see in concert again and again.

Blade: The Series – Revisited

Reviews

I have never been someone unwilling to admit mistakes. Over a month ago, closing in on two, I put up a little review for Blade: The Series.

From the perspective of the two hour pilot, I stand behind my review. It was crap. However… as the show has progressed, the creators of the show did something interesting and unexpected: they pushed Blade into the background. Now, the show is still about him fighting vampires, trying to foil their nefarious plans, but they realized, as most people have, that telling that story from Blade’s point of view is boring. He finds vampires, he kills them. Dull as dirt. Instead, the show introduced a young woman who was turned, but Blade got to her and has put her on his serum. She’s not a daywalker like him, but the serum keeps her mind clear of the hunger for blood. Blade then sets her the task of infiltrating the vampires to get him information, to destroy them from the inside. And she’s got good reason, the vampires killed her brother.

At this point, the show becomes more about the vampires, interactions among the clans, the divide between then infected and the pure bloods (born as vampires)… in other words, it actually becomes watchable, even enjoyable, and in some episodes it is down right good TV. It harkens back to Kindred: The Embraced in some ways, and I’m certainly getting a kick out of it.

And thankfully, Randy Quaid hasn’t returned as of yet… Let’s hope it stays that way.

Snakes on a Plane

Reviews

Where do I begin?

When I first heard of this movie, I was excited because I love monster movies. A true monster movie is one where something, not human, shows up to kill people and the people try to kill it. No trying to save it or understand it, just survival. I also liked the concept, that airport security has become so tight that a man who wanted someone dead would have no viable way to sneak a weapon on board, so instead puts a giant crate of venomous snakes in the cargo hold timed to be released at a certain point during the flight.

And then you have Samuel L. Jackson, a man who excells at doing action flicks. By far, my favorite performance of his is in Deep Blue Sea. If you haven’t seen that, go see it. In fact, see it first, because his role in that actually makes one scene of SoaP (the stupidest shortening of a movie name in history, by the way) funny when it is not really supposed to be.

So… what went wrong?

First, there was the Hype. Originally the hype did nothing but make this movie better. The rating went from PG-13 to R, ensuring a bloodier and scarier movie. And it kept the name. At one point, as I’m sure you heard, there was a plan to rename the movie to “Flight 121” or something like that, but Sam Jackson actually threatened to quit, so it stayed “Snakes on a Plane”. But then the hype went too far… t-shirts, blogs, everything… just too much. The hype blew its wad too soon, and left its date unsatisfied. If the hype would have just coincided with the release of the film a little more, it would have worked so much better.

Next… well, I’m not going to spoil it, but… crappiest ending ever. Seriously. It was a good monster movie right up until “the line”. Yes, that one you’ve heard about when Sam drops two MFs in one line venting his frustration with the snakes. After that the movie went down hill. It had potential, all the right elements were there, but Kenan Thompson just totally blew it.

The movie, overall, was worth seeing… it is a good monster movie. But its not the end all be all of cool like the hype wants you to believe. See the movie if you want, or wait until DVD (3 months, tops, and maybe they’ll have a half dozen kickass comentary tracks). In the end, I enjoyed Deep Rising alot more than Snakes on a Plane.