Tag: Angels

Movie Round-Up: May 15th, 2009

Reviews

Angels & Demons:

Unlike most of the world, I actually read this before reading The Da Vinci Code.  I hadn’t heard of it prior to the explosion of The Da Vinci Code, but I have this habit of wanting to read series/characters from the beginning, so I read Angels & Demons first.  I also liked it more than its sequel.  I felt the story was tighter, the characters more interesting, and just all around a better book.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying The Da Vinci Code sucked, but it just wasn’t as good.

The movie of The Da Vinci Code was worse than the book.  Given that I liked the book Angels & Demons more, I’m hoping to like the movie more, but seeing as how the movie will be treated as a sequel and not properly as a prequel, I know there will be things about the film that annoy me.  However, after my disappointment with the prior film, I do know that I won’t be rushing to the theater to see this one.  I’ll wait for the DVD.

Tremor

Reviews

Every once in a while I pick up random books that hook me with their jacket blurb from the bargain big at the book store.  Barnes & Noble’s discount section is especially good at it.  So that is how I came upon Tremor by Craig Dirgo.

What attracted me to the book was simply the mention of Nikola Tesla.  I’m a nut for science based science fiction.  (Its one of the many reasons I prefer Angels & Demons to The Da Vinci Code.)  So when I saw that the crux of the book was that someone had a machine built on Tesla designs that could cause earthquakes… I was in.

Sadly, this is the second book in a series, but fortunately does not rely heavily on the reader having actually read the first book.  The first book is about Einstein.  I’m going to have to track down a copy.

Anyway, it was a good book.  If you like Dan Brown or Clive Cussler or those types of books, you’ll probably like Craig Dirgo’s stuff too.  Its typical “male adventure” … smart and/or skilled guys tracking down bad guys and fooling around with inordinately hot women mostly in exotic locals.  I mean, the main character, John Taft, who is a spy, goes to sneak a peak at some of Tesla’s old papers at the Tesla museum in Belgrade, only to find that the curator just happens to be a really hot chick who he charms and sleeps with in a matter of hours so he can steal her keys and break in.  Its par for the course in books like these.

Overall, fun, but not something I’d find myself reading more than once.

The Da Vinci Code

Reviews

I read the book. It was pretty good. I enjoyed Angels & Demons more.

I just saw the movie. It was slow.

Not every good book makes a good movie.

I enjoyed the book.

And that’s all I have to say about that.