Book Review: Magic

Years ago I picked up the novel Magic by William Goldman for two simple reasons: 1) I'm a big fan of his films (Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, The Princess Bride, Marathon Man, etc.), and 2) I can never say no to a well received horror or thriller novel.

The story follows a young magician named Corky Withers who just can't seem to catch a break (Hey! I just got the pun on his name :) ) He's a technical pro at card-based illusion, but for some reason his audience presence is just no good; his patter isn't up to snuff, and his discomfort at the showmanship aspect of magic shines through much brighter than his skill set.

Just as he's about to give it up, he figures out a pretty creative new angle, and things start to look up for him.

Or do they?

First of all, what I really like about the book is how well it plays with expectations; everything from the narrative voice to the the shifting of time from past to present and future, really work as analogue for how a well-done card trick works. Just as you begin to piece together what's going on, the story shifts and you realize the author has just been distracting you.

A really fun read, and as I have never seen it, an excellent excuse to someday check out the 1978 film adaption starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret.

Movie Review: Kong Skull Island

So last week I went out with the family to see Jordan Charles Vogt-Roberts Kong: Skull Island, which turned out to be a pretty great decision. As with any giant-sized monster movie, the film really benefits from being seen on a big screen. Past that, it was funnier, scarier, and much more interesting that I first imagined.

Taking place in 1973, the film follows a team of scientists, soldiers, a tracker, and a journalist, as they explore Skull Island, a previously undiscovered island for a simple geological survey, but things are not as they seem and the team quickly (and horrifyingly) meet Kong for the first time...

It's important to note for this film that the violence is pretty extreme (not to a horror-movie level, but definitely more intense than a standard action-adventure film), and that Kong himself (modelled largely after the original 1933 film) is pretty awe-inspiring in size and scope.

This film is meant to the first in Universals "Monsterverse", which will eventually include popular Japanese monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan, but works as a nice stand-alone film using a historical setting to give the film an interesting aesthetic as well as great standout performances by Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly as well.

In the end the movie was a lot of fun, and considering it wasn't a horror film, a nice way to do a reimagining as well.

Book Review: Salamis

Christian Cameron's Salamis, the fifth in his Long War series (as well as the next-to-last) follows Arimnestos of Plataea through the battle of Salamis, directly following the events of The Great King, which ended with the defeat of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae.

What I really enjoyed about this entry was how well it tied together naval battles in the Ancient world with domestic scenes and the life at a war camp as seen through our protagonist. As has been the case since Killer of Men, I'm really in awe of how well Cameron portrays the war seen from the infantry level, and as someone who has been reading books set in the Ancient world for over a year now, this series really stands out as a pretty great entry point for new readers - the only books I'd put ahead of it are Mary Renault's books on Theseus (The King Must Die and The Bull From the Sea).

A really enjoyable read and one that left me caught up with long-time readers of the series, waiting for my turn in the hold queue for the last in the series, Rage of Ares.

Movie Review: Logan

So here we are, the final Hugh Jackman as Wolverine film, and man was it good!

Director James Mangold's Logan takes place in a nearly mutant-free near future wherein Logan lives a quiet life as a limo driver and tries his best not to be noticed.

He does have secrets however, and early in the film these begin to catch up with him.  He's harbouring a fugitive, running out of time and is about to be met with something he'd never expected; new mutants.

The story moves between extremely violent (this is definitely not a film for children) and surprisingly heartfelt, and much of this comes down to the work of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart.

The film is a lot of fun and honestly, it may be the first X-Men film I'll go to the trouble of purchasing since X-Men: First Class.

Book Review: Iron Council

China Mieville's third novel set in the fictional world of Bas-Lag, Iron Council really should have worked for me, as it mixed his world with Western tropes, but as compared to Perdido Street Station and The Scar, it fell a little flat for me.

Both previous novels had really compelling characters and settings, while Iron Council focused largely on concept.  An escaped train houses a small society attempting to outrun those after it, but when compared to books like Christopher Priest's Inverted World, which had a much more compelling lead, I just found the book didn't hold my interest as well as his other titles.

Although not my favourite steampunk novel, I'm still a big enough fan of the author that I'll keep coming back for more.

Book Review: Norse Mythology

Here was everything I knew about Norse Mythology last month in a nutshell.

You've got Thor and Loki and Ordin... (mostly gleaned from The Mighty Thor comic from Marvel), Odin is the dad, Thor and Loki are brothers, and although Thor isn't that bright, he's pretty straightforward, and although Loki is pretty much a big liar, every once in a while he does something good.

There are Ice Giants (again, Marvel Comics)

There's a terrifying Squirrel (shown best in the comic series The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - also a Marvel comic)...

J.R.R. Tolkein used a bunch of Norse Mythology when creating Middle Earth.

....and, yup.  That's about it.

So when I read Neil Gaiman's latest, Norse Mythology, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  What I got was a pretty nifty overview of the topic, from creation myths straight through to Ragnarok - the end of times for the Norse gods.

The stories are all quite readable, a lot of fun, and educational in a way I wasn't expecting.  It definitely left me interested in finding out more, which for a book of this type, is pretty much the goal.

A great read!

Movie Review: Get Out

After spending the last few months watching all sorts of Oscar-nominated films, it's finally time to get back into my regular viewing habits, which brings me to Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy.

My first must-see film of the year was Jordan Peele's Get Out.

The film follows Black photographer Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) on his first visit to his white girlfriend Rose's (Allison Williams) family home. Although friendly at first, things take a turn for the puzzling and then move towards terrifying throughout. As the story depends on a number of twists and turns, I hesitate to spoil anything, but I can say it's well worth the watch and left me quite impressed with how effectively comedy and horror can play off of each other.

A really good film.