Movie Review: Ender's Game

All right, to be fair when it comes to this story,  I'm pretty biased.  Although the novel came out in 1985, I didn't get around reading it until the mid-90s and it sits pretty high on my list of favourite science fictions stories.

Yesterday I took my daughters out to see the new film, and I've got to say it was pretty great.  For those unfamiliar with the original story, 1) go read the book, as fun as the movie was, the book a fantastic read, and 2) the story follows a child who is put through military training with other kids to prepare for a potential war with an alien race that has already attacked Earth in the past.

Although my favourite part of the book series comes after Ender's Game, the first story is a pretty amazing one and I'm glad my kids got to see it in theatres, as the visuals were pretty darn amazing.

Definitely worth a watch.

Movie Review: Pain and Gain

Earlier this week my wife and I went to an advanced screening of the new Michael Bay film, Pain and Gain, starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, and based on the Sun Gym kidnappings in Miami in the early 90s.

To be perfectly honest, the reason we went to the movie is that my wife is a pretty big fan of Mark Wahlberg.  Although I liked both of Michael Bay's earlier films (Bad Boys and Bady Boys II), I haven't really been a fan of the transformers movies, and I felt Armageddon wasn't quite as good as Deep Impact.

That said, I actually found Pain and Gain to be a really funny, refreshing movie about a horrific and stupid series of kidnappings that has to be read to be believed (the first of the newspaper stories the film was based on can be read here)

The story plays with multiple points of views, has a villain you can't quite feel sympathetic for, and was an all around fun movie to watch.  It does have some excessive violence and language, but assuming you're not bringing your kids to see it, it is definitely worth the watch.

Movie Review: Robot and Frank

One of the things I really like about Science Fiction is that the genre can be used to tell just about any kind of story - I know, from a very basic point of view, Science Fiction should be set in the future, have advanced technology, and quite possibly aliens, but honestly, any intriguing technology can be used to to tell almost any type of story within a Science Fiction framework (like one of my favourite romances of 2009, TIMER).  Case in point, Robot and Frank.

The movie follows a man named Frank (wonderfully played by Frank Langella), who lives alone and suffers from both depression and dementia.  His two adult children, Hunter and Madison, are concerned for his well being, and eventually his son purchases him a helper robot, designed to help Frank with his routine and his overall health.

The robot does end up helping Frank, but not necessarily in the way his children would appreciate.  Overall the film was about a lonely older man finding friendship and I've got to admire that.

In addition it also had Susan Sarandon as a librarian, which is nice, as I never get tired of librarians in film (in TV however, is a slightly different story)

Movie Review: Warm Bodies

This weekend my family and I checked out the recent supernatural romance film Warm Bodies.  Already being a fan of the original novel,  I went into the film hoping for something as intriguing and funny as a book with a zombie protagonist could be.

I loved it - the film looked great, it handled the original story in a very PG-friendly way, and honestly I was smiling most of the way through.

The main reason for this was in the two lead zombie characters, R and M (they can no longer remember their names) played by Nicholas Hoult and Rob Corddry.  Considering zombies are usually played as pretty soulless and almost a force of nature rather than individual characters, this film does a wonderful job of making each zombie an individual.

Most of what I like about the story I already stated in my post on the original novel, but I will add the casting, the music and the look of the film were all pretty great.  Also the fact that it was filmed in Canada made me happy as well.

Movie Review: Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

As I've worked my way through horror films over the years, one of the more interesting areas I've come across are the Italian horror films (called Giallo (Italian for yellow) films.  My personal favourites of this sub-genre of film are Phenomena, Zombi 2, and Danger Diabolik.  Although only the first two were horror, the third is based off an Italian comic book, just like today's movie, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night.


The movie is a cross genre between the classic film noir detective story and a monster movie.  Dylan Dog (played by Brandon Routh) is a retired investigator who specialized in monster-based crimes (specifically vampires and werewolves).  The film uses a standard narration structure and takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana.


Like all noir detectives, Dylan has a past involving a beautiful girl who died on his watch, and some sins of his own.


For me, the best part of the film however as the comedy elements of Dylans friend Marcus (played by Being Human's Sam Huntington), who (mild spoiler) after being killed early in the film is returned as a zombie.  Unlike most zombies in film however, Marcus is still self-aware, and his denial/acceptance of his new un-dead situation made for many of the best parts of the movie.


Overall it was a lot of fun, a little silly, and did a good job of staying within the lines of horror and noir, and with the comedy elements my kid liked it, and the villain being played by Taye Diggs meant that my wife was also a fan.

Things I've noticed: The oldest stories are still the best

When it comes to classic tales of horror, Frankenstein has pretty much everything you need in it: Guy creates a monster, monster chases man, man and monster destroy each other (sorry for the 110 year spoiler).

The 2010 South Korean horror film I Saw The Devil is a modern twist on this classic tale. In this version, the monster exists first, brutally killing a woman early in the film. The twist is that the cop going after hiim turns himself into another monster, playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with this horrible killer.

The film is really, really intense and quite graphic, so I wouldn't recommend it for the newcomer to the genre. The monsters in the film are all human and there are a lot of very disturbing images throughout.

For me the most shocking thing about the film was how it took this classic story of a man creating something that should not be and having the thing that should not be turn a man into another thing like itself.

Although it was a harrowing experience the film was definitely worth checking out, story and character are so often under-used in horror.

Movie Review: Super 8

On Friday I went to check out the film Super 8 with my youngest daughter and some friends. The early trailers for the film didn't do much for me, but when I saw the first full trailer, and realized that this movie was going to be an homage to personal favourite films of my own including E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, it quickly moved up my list of must-see films.

Set in 1979 in a town called Lillian, Ohio, the film follows a thirteen-year-old boy named Joe Lamb, who, with a number of friends is hard at work on a film they are making for an upcoming contest. The film follows this young group of friends through the making of their film which is interrupted by a train wreck which releases some thing into the area.

Overall I enjoyed the film, but much like the videogame Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, it felt almost like two seperate stories spliced in the middle. What begins as something sort of like E.T. very quickly begins to move in a different direction.

I was very impressed by the special effects and the acting on behalf of the kids - the three main kids: Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, and Elle Fanning all brought a great sense of fun and realism to the film that I found wonderful and refreshing.

The film does have a more than a few plot-holes, but is totally worth the watch and if you can, it does deserve a big screen viewing.

Movie Review: X-Men First Class

On Saturday I went with my mother, brother, youngest daughter and a friend of her's to see X-Men First Class. This was actually a pretty good movie, the effects were great, the story was compelling and the acting was far better than I was expecting.

Set in the early 1960's, the film focuses on the early relationship between Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Eric Lehnsherr (Magneto), as well as the first group of kids who could be classified as X-Men.

The villain in the film is called Sebastian Shaw, and is played by Kevin Bacon and his group, (called the Hellfire Club) includes some pretty powerful mutants as well - specifically Emma Frost, played by January Jones (Betty Draper from Mad Men).

My favourite things about the film were 1) Michael Fassbender as the young Magneto. I've liked this guy a lot in the films I've seen him in (300, Centurion, Inglorious Basterds), but he is pretty darn amazing in this film, 2) James McAvoy as the young Professor X (who I've liked in everything from Last King of Scotland and Shameless to the first Narnia movie), who also shows us a pretty compelling character throughout the film, and finally 3) I really loved the pairing of a superhero film with a historical setting (specifically the Cuban Missile Crisis in this film), as it gave the audience a double treat, working both as a historical fiction film and a superhero film.

I don't really have a lot of complaints about the film - I wish we could have seen more of the new team (both Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult were great and I've loved to have seen more with them, and the was a lack of any end-scene after the credits (something I've grown used to in X-Men movies in the past).

In the end, a strong, solid film, and well worth your cash.

Movie Review: Paul

Last Thursday my friends Mike and Ron managed to get a double guest pass to an advanced screening of the movie Paul, so my wife and I joined them to check it out.

Here’s my impressions of the film.

1) It was pretty darn funny

2) It is the closest thing I’ll ever see to an Alf movie (and I liked it better than Alf)

3) It has the makings for an excellent movie-lovers drinking game

4) It continues to show me that you can’t go wrong if you’re teaming up Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

5) Kristen Wiig wears the funniest shirt I’ve seen in months

If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, check it out, but basically the film follows two guys who pick up an alien hitch-hiker and spend the rest of the film on the run from shady government agents. The movie nods at tonnes of classic genre films (seriously I tried to keep count by after hitting reference #27 I just gave up and enjoyed the film) in very clever ways.

The alien (a CG creation voiced by Canadian actor Seth Rogen) is pretty incredible, making him both foul-mouthed and loveable. I think it’s fair to say that if you’re a regular reader at my blog, there will be a lot you’ll like about the film (no it doesn’t spend a month looking at Twilight, that was just me). In the end, a very fun flick.

Things I've noticed: Maybe Bookmonkey isn't the most accurate name

Looking back through my older posts, I’ve noticed that I have a lot of work on film, television, and videogames. Unfortunately, I can’t create three additional parallel blogs called Wisdom of Filmmonkey, Televisionmonkey, and Videogamemonkey, so everything has come under my bookmonkey blog. (Actually I’m sure I could, but as I like seeing my friends and family, I’m just going to stick to this one.)

Considering how many articles I do have regarding books however, it is important that I send out a quick thanks to my lovely wife for regularly reminding me that a blog with the word “Book” in the title should have more than a small amount of book-related postings.

It’s kind of strange overall when I look back at my earlier posts, for a while I had a great numbering system and three specific types of posts (Things I’ve noticed being the only survivor of these categories), and with one embarrassing post aside (yes I’ve activated a link to it – I still think epic fantasy series are far too numerous for any well-rounded reader to follow, but perhaps I could have said it a little nicer), I’m pretty happy with what I’ve done.

Anyway, for those of you out there who agree with my wife and wonder how long it will be until I put some more focus on genre books in this blog, don’t worry, I try to rotate between all the stuff I’m interested in and books are a huge part of that.

Your Pal,

Bookmonkey