Primer (2004)

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Primer (2004)

Tagline: If you always want what you can’t have, what do you want when you can have anything? (even the tagline is convoluted!)

Directed by:  Shane Carruth

Actors:  Shane Carruth (Aaron), David Sullivan (Abe)

Screenplay:  Shane Carruth

Plot:  4 engineers work projects in a garage.  Two of them invent a time machine.

Comments:  I think Carruth made a mistake in that he began the film as a science fiction puzzle and then ended it by asking us to care for his lead characters.  But I found it impossible to do.  I couldn’t even tell them apart as stock characters.  It would have helped if he’d dressed the characters differently, so I could tag them blue shirt and green shirt in my head. As in, oh, blue shirt is still convinced that it’s marketable and green shirt wants to take over the world.

I really wanted to like it and it starts out great with the blank-personalit engineers mumbling sciency stuff and everything being boringly realistic.

And I liked the time travel paradox thing they set up.  I just couldn’t care when their schemes begin to unravel.  They didn’t have discernable personalities or character traits, so I couldn’t care when they began to struggle with the implications of time travel and their own consciences.

So, an interesting idea for a film.  It was a frustrating and disappointing experience for me.

Reviews…

Here XCKD’s take on it -link (at the bottom right)

James Berardinelli (not pleased) – link

Moria (really liked it) – link

Sci Fi Cool (liked 2/3 of the movie) – link

I Hate Movies (liked it, ironically enough) – link

Sci Fi UK (liked it) – link

Slant – link

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (graphic novel)

Here’s my capsule review of this retelling of Dracula.

Title:  Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Author:  Michael Burgen (script) & José Alfonso Ocampo Ruiz (art)

Genre/Subgenre:  Horror/Retelling

Format: Graphic Novel

Publisher/Date:   Stone Arch Books/2008

Comments:  The retelling is serviceable enough, and I’d give it to a kid to read in place of the original novel.

The basic story is retold without waste and something exciting happens on every other page.  There is a considerable amount of “educational” content in the back, a summary of vampire lore, writing prompts and a link for FactHound.

The artwork is also serviceable – lots of blacks and browns in each scene.  The character’s features and bodies are rounded, which makes them seem about 15 or so.  Mina wears purple a lot which makes her stand out from the men’s brown and black clothing.  Van Helsing also has the buoyant look of the others but he is unshaven which puts him in his early twenties.  Dracula himself is angular with lightning shocked hair – clearly he is other.

Monolith Monsters (1957)

Image by Spiff_27 via Flickr

Tagline: Mammoth skyscrapers of stone thundering across the earth!

Directed by John Sherwood (Pillow Talk)

Actors:  Grant Williams as Dave (The Incredible Shrinking Man), Lola Albright as Cathy.

Screenplay:  Norman Jolley and Robert M. Fresco (The Alligator People)

Plot:  A meteor crashes near a small town.  A geologist takes a sample back into town and he and the local newspaper editor grouse about how boring life is in a small 1950s town.  The next morning, his partner and our protagonist, Dave finds him stone dead.

But that’s just the beginning.  His girlfriend Cathy and her student, a little girl named Ginny , also find the meteor in a separate trip to the desert.

Comments:  Interesting monster (giant growing rocks that suck the silica out of you).  It seems to be more of a science fiction movie and not a disguised horror film. The scientist examines the evidence and conducts experiments and tries to figure out how to control the alien menace.  I liked that the ‘monster’ was non-sentient and that people believed it fairly readily and no one dismissed it out of hand.

The little girl was frankly creepier before she encountered the rocks.

It’s a lot of fun watching the giant rocks crash their way to the small town.  Not a bad monster movie.

Suggested by Cullen here.  Thanks.

Reviews….

Spinning Image link

B Movie Graveyard link

Alternate Film Guide link

Stomp Tokyo link

Books I read in February 2010

Cover of When the Sky is Like Lace

For the picture books: Martha is much better as a TV show than it is a picture book.  Giggle, Giggle Quack is truly funny rather than just cute.  More, More, More, etc. is a very cute bedtime story.   When the Sky is Like Lace is a picture I loved, loved when I was a kid.  I bet it’s out-of-print but it’s a quirky, poetic, magic book.

For the graphic novels:  Geisha didn’t do much for me because I’m not into action comics anymore.  I liked Breaking Up, it’s got a Penny and Aggie vibe.  The rest are superhero comics and well enough for what they are.

For the juvenile books:  Bunnicula and Captain Underpants are both treats and I’m glad I finally read them.   Funny stuff.

Been reading Newbery Medal books which are beautifully written but low on the humor.  Riordan’s first Percy Jackson book proved to be crammed with magic and heroism and bad guys.  I can understand why kids love it.

Juvenile Books

• Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
• Good Masters!  Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz, ill. Robert Byrd (Newbery winner)
• Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
• Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins (Newbery winner)
• Don’t Sit On My Lunch by Abby Klein
• The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
• Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Graphic Novels

• Geisha by Andi Watson (graphic novel)
• Tiny Titans: Welcome to the Treehouse by Art Baltazar (graphic novel)
• Breaking Up by Aimee Friedman (graphic novel)
• Justice League Unlimited: United We Stand by Adam Beechen (graphic novel)

Picture & Board Books

• When the Sky is Like Lace by Elinor Lander Horwitz, ill. Barbara Cooney
• 10, 9, 8 by Molly Bang
• Froggy Eats Out by Jonathan London
• Perfectly Martha by Susan Meddaugh
• Princess Bess Gets Dressed by Margery Cuyler
• Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin
• Olivia’s Opposites by Ian Falconer
• More, More, More, More said the Baby by Vera B. William

Movies I Watched in February 2010

1. Surrogates (2009)
2. Boomtown 1:2 (2002-2003)
3. Numb3rs 1:1 (2005-2010)
4. Batman Beyond 2:1 (1999-2001)
5. Invention of Lying (2009)
6. Coco Before Chanel (2009)
7. Batman Beyond 2:2 (1999-2001)

Surrogates the people-don’t-get-out-enough sci-fi was well done if a little over the top in places.  Boomtown, crime told from various viewpoints, was excellent.  I enjoyed it; pity it had such a short run.  Numb3rs, the mathematician who solves crime, was trying to hard.  Invention of Lying started out brilliantly but flagged terribly by the end.  Coco Before Chanel was far too cool for me to watch.

***(LIST FOR NICOLE)

big blank in posting

Most blogs after they start to lapse in posting never recover.  I hope this one does.

There are several reasons why I haven’t blogged but only two are important for this blog.

Reason no. 1: I got a new job!  It’s a lovely job with really great people.

Reason no. 2:  I was diagnosed with  (of all things) pneumonia.  But I seem to be recovering OK.

Anyhow, I’m working and have all my fingers and toes crossed that I do well at my job.