Book review: Hyperion

Seven pilgrims travel to the otherworldly Time Tombs. They share stories on the way.

Very late to this party I finally managed to read the book that like a storm was on everybody’s mouth back in 1989. Back then I couldn’t buy it but now, thanks to the ever amazing charity shops, it is mine.

First of all if you heard some description form the critics don’t be scared. So many literary and artistic qualities have been attached to this book that starting it is a bewildering prospect.

This is not the sci-fi equivalent of some of those elitist tomes that critics worldwide seem compelled to like. It is true that it’s been inspired by “The Canterbury Tales” and that it shares the same stories within a story structure but this is not some overambitious literary vehicles. This is six stories for the price of one, all very good stories and all interconnected, to paint a wider picture.

Dan Simmons writes very well, he remembers to make his characters relatable, at least in some ways, and writes about interesting stuff. There are a lot of interesting concepts, this book is very sci-fi in this, it pushes the envelope a lot, certainly more than the majority of his contemporaries. It reminds me of one of those books from the golden age of Sci-Fi, of Van Vogt stuff.

One last note, the book doesn’t end. Lofty artistic types will tell you that it is better this way, that endings and explanations are for wussies, but reality is that simply he couldn’t publish it all in one go so he split it up. This means that if you want to know the real ending you need to check out “The Fall of Hyperion”. I know I will.

Conclusion: The hype is for real here. This book is a masterpiece, even non sci-fi people should check it out.

DVD review: Perfect Sense

A mysterious epidemic gradually makes humanity lose his senses.

This movie is interesting because it moves against the flow.

Epidemics, with their zombies ridden addenda, are seen as a way to show humanity disgregation. It’s one of the appeal of the genre, nothing as heartwarming as random madness on the streets.

This quirky little movie instead decides to go in the opposite direction. What if we tried to continue to exist as a society? What would happen?

Maybe it goes a little too far with the voiceovers but it’s a real interesting and unexplored concept.

Eva Green and Ewan McGregor are a couple trough which misadventures we experience the global epidemic. Their lives are a little bit too contrived, and here maybe there’s the real flaw of the movie, but the two actor sell it all so effortlessly and with such conviction that it’s really hard not to participate.

Maybe there’s space for a romantic version of the usual epidemic horror genre, let’s hope so.

Conclusion: recommended viewing, even if you don’t like it this movie will fuel enough post vision discussions to last for a week.

DVD review: Ironclad

King John Lackland lays siege to a castle.

This should have been so much fun. A siege movie based on a real historical event, but then they took so many liberties with the original that they should have simply set it on Camelot and be done with it.

Historical inaccuracies aside for a moment I can admit that this movie deliver on the rated violence. Heads are chopped and blood is spilled aplenty. It’s just not very interesting.

There is an art in cinematic violence, an art that writer director Jonathan English still has to master.

The plot also has problems. Historical inaccuracies aside, in the movie they are practically fighting for democracy in a period when the word doesn’t really makes sense, it’s all so very Die Hard. The villain is so bad that we are only waiting for him to start twirling is mustache, the heroes so noble, the fair maiden so fair.

Its missing subtlety, it’s missing all the subtle nuances that makes characters come alive without obtaining the epicness and majesty that made 300 and Conan so unforgettable.

And it’s still really a shame because they got some really good actors here.

James Purefoy got charisma in spades, Paul Giamatti idem but even them can’t manage to enliven a lifeless script.

Conclusion: Genre fans will still enjoy it but if you don’t like your sword with your chain mail this is not the movie to start with.

Cinema review: Dark Shadows

A gothic soap opera.

This is the movie adaptation of the soap opera of the same name. While totally unknown in Europe Dark Shadows was quite a big hit in America and this movie is actually a labour of love for Johnny Depp, who was a big fan of the original and so convinced Tim Burton to do it.

Now of course this movie probably got a special significance for the fans of the original but if you want that you’ll have to look somewhere else. I’m European so I never heard of it beforehand.

As a standalone movie his soap operatic origin are a lot of trouble. A lot of characters are terribly underdeveloped and just sit there as reminder of whatever they were in the original.

For example Chloe Grace Moretz is the “troubled child”, she plays her role beautifully, as usual for her, but it’s a tiny part that practically goes nowhere.

The same applies to everybody else, including Michelle Pfeiffer, another fan of the original, as the “matriarch of the family”.

The only good roles are Johnny Deep, who as the Vampire Barnabas Collins is the de facto protagonist, and Eva Green as the Witch Angelique, the main antagonist. The parts are strange and disjointed but they literally sizzle, especially when interacting there is a chemical reaction between them.

The plot is bizarre, but in the end this is to be expected from Tim Burton adapting this kind of material.

The tone is uneven. Horror comedy is hard to pull off properly and here the various bits aren’t properly connected. The same guy can mercilessly murder some innocents and then be the center of various funny gags.

The cinematography could be better. Burton is noted for his impressive visuals but here he modernized the dated look of the original without going the full way.

Conclusion: A bizarre movie, only a few will like it but there is something in there to at least interest a large proportion of the audience.

Book review: The lies of Locke Lamora

The adventures of a group of thieves in a fantasy world.

This book is certainly original. We had books dedicated to the orcs and the dwarves but the thieves, who can easily become the protagonists of something, where strangely absent.

It begins as a fun romp, with our group of thieves, the Gentlemen Bastards, embodying the archetypal good con artists characters (they only go after the incredibly rich) before evolving into a surprisingly bloody and intense adventure against an overwhelming enemy.

The world is rich, detailed and original. Akin to a fantasy version of Venice.

The aforementioned Gentlemen Bastards are an interesting group. Nothing groundbreaking here but they got enough wit and personality that we easily start to care about them.

Midway is easy to see the author realizing that he could make this the start of a serial (six other novels have been promised us) so many prominent elements are just left there unexplained, ready to pick up in future installment.

Conclusion: A solid and original fantasy book. Worth checking out.

DVD review: due date

A rigid settled guy is forced to travel with an inept buffoon.

The model here is obviously “Planes, trains and automobiles”, a 1987 comedy by John Hughes and while the model is certainly significant and relatively unexplored in recent years it is also a difficult sell.

Todd Phillips who wrote and directed should in theory have a relatively easy time. Cringe inducing comedies are difficult to pull off but he made the most successful of them all, “The hangover”, so in shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

Alas the more times pass to more it looks like “The hangover “was just a random fib in the career of a not very talented writer. This is not the “difficult second album” syndrome. All of Phillips recent output ranged from “not very good” trough “moderately terrible” all the way to “unwatchable”.

Due Date sits halfway between the last two.

First of all is not fun. The laugh free comedy is a recent American invention and this is one of the best examples. Instead of laughs we get the aforementioned cringe inducing moments. Terrible stuff happens to our protagonist, mostly because of the insane action of Ethan Tremblay played by a Zach Galifianakis so out there that they should probably send a mission to space to retrieve him.

Nothing against having actors playing the same guy over and over again. Maybe my problem is that, apart from “the hangover”, I don’t like this guy, at all. If he toned down himself a little bit it would be fine but as it is you can’t help but sympathize with whatever authority figure is obliged to confront him.

Robert Downey Jr. plays against type as the guy who needs to have his eyes opened and enjoy life a little bit more. I love Downey Jr. be this is the rare role when he didn’t convince me. Maybe is the character that is so unsympathetic, so unrelatable, but really I couldn’t travel more than 10 minutes with a guy like that one.

Conclusion: An unfunny comedy where terrible stuff happens to horrible people. Thumb down.

DVD review: K20

1947, in an alternate timeline where World War II never happened a young circus acrobat fights the legendary thief K 20, the man with 20 faces.

A fun romp from Japan this movie, adapted from a novel at least according to Wikipedia, is at first impact somewhat complicated and unfriendly. The tone is the literal opposite of naturalistic, K20 behaves like a Japanese version of “The shadow”, and everything is very theatrical, but if you stick with it you’ll discover a worthwhile movie.

The plot, apparently very disjointed, in the end ties everything nicely trough a lot of unexpected twists and turns. Even if many of the actors are somewhat wooden, at least from our western point of view, the unpretentious tone, with many physical jokes and a lot of action, enliven the atmosphere. As I said above it’s like watching a pantomime at the theatre, when you get used to it all the problems disappears.

The action is top notch. A seamless blend of parkour style jumping with CGI eastern steampunk backdrop, a liberal dose of kung fu and tons of superhero style gadgets.

Conclusion: This is certainly not a movie for everyone but if you are a part of the fandom you should check it out.