Movies round up

Ooops, I've got some catching up to do, obviously. (It's been over a month since my last entry.)

Movies I've seen since my last "Movies round up" entry (May 13, 2009):

Terminator: Salvation (2009) (Saw this one opening weekend, ca. May 21, 2009)
I thought it was good but not great. Lots of cool action stuff, of course, but by the end I sort of was feeling a sense of fatigue from the overriding grimness of the picture. The movie takes place entirely in the future, post-apocalyptic world in which the Terminators are at war with pockets of human resistance. John Connor is a soldier in said war but not leading the resistance yet (although some do see him as the spiritual leader of sorts; Connor uses radio broadcasts to rally the troops everywhere and to provide them with intelligence against the machines). Where it gets a bit confusing is in trying to figure out just how much this version of Connor knows about the Terminators and their goals based on what happened in the first three movies (which this movie supposedly recognizes; adding to possible confusion is that it does not recognize the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles television series). And some of what happens is pretty obvious the way it is set up (such as the true nature of Marcus Wright, Sam Worthington's character). It is obvious that this movie is set-up to lead into a sequel. Presumably, that one will take us to the point where John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect Sarah Connor from the Arnold Schwarzenegger played Terminator. (There is some pretty good stuff in this movie when John Connor is confronted by one of the Schwarzenegger models. Schwarzenegger isn't actually in the movie but they are so good at visual effects by this point that you can't tell that this isn't a younger version of now current governor of California.)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) (Saw this one about three weeks after opening, ca. May 29, 2009)
I enjoyed this one, too. Probably more so than Terminator Salvation but not quite as much as Star Trek (which I talk about in my last "movie round up" entry). Unfortunately, two months after having seen it, I really can't think of anything else to say about it. Hugh Jackman is, as usual, very good as Logan/Wolverine. The movie fills in a lot of his back story, including his past relationship with Sabretooth and how he got his adamantium laced skeleton and claws. You also see some other noteworthy characters, some from the earlier X-Men movies and some from the comics making their movie debuts.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) (Saw this one Sunday of opening weekend, July 19, 2009)
I'll do a separate entry for this one, discussing the book and the movie in the same entry.

Batman vs. Three Villains of Doom

Batman vs. Three Villains of Doom (1966)
Winston Lyon
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Original novel based on Batman television series (1966-1968) (Cover blurb: "Now a spectacular new ABC-TV network series starring Adam West and Burt Ward." Cover title given as "Batman vs. 3 Villains of Doom".) The Joker, Penguin, and Catwoman all vie for the "Tommy" award, given once every ten years by the heads of the underworld to "the man or woman who has done the most for CRIME". The mission each has to succeed at: the outwit or destroy Batman and Robin.

Okay, for what it is, a tie-in to the television series. Interesting more for being an early such tie-in (coming out while the show was still riding it's peak of success) than for the story told itself. Lyon (who also wrote a novelization of the Batman movie released in theaters later that same year, also starring Adam West, Burt Ward, and company) does an serviceable enough job. At times one can picture the television actors in one's mind's eye while reading Three Villains of Doom--and Lyon does at times capture the "feel" of the campy 1960s show--while at the same time Lyon takes advantage of being able to place parts of his book in locations and situations which would have been difficult to film on a television show budget.

The downsides are 1) an increasing sense of predictability that increases as one continues through the novel due to the nature of the story being told (villains get their challenge followed by each individually attempting to outwit or destroy Batman and Robin), and 2) a style of writing (rather common of the comics based superhero novels of this early period, I believe) that's pretty shallow, character wise. What I mean is very little (if any) room given to looking in on the primary characters' thoughts or motivations. All that matters here is plot, plot, plot (and a pretty simple plot, at that). And at times the narration is pretty clunky, especially with constant references to the characters by their "superhero" and "super-villain" names ("Batman and Robin did this", "Catwoman did that") and, when referring to the two leads, constantly referring to them in their secret identities by their full names ("Bruce Wayne turned to Dick Grayson"; two paragraphs later, "Dick Grayson replied").

Still, an interesting book for Batman (the comics character), the 1960s Batman television show, and/or superhero prose fiction fans. (As far as I can tell, this is only the second novel ever released based on a DC Comics character, following the much earlier Adventures of Superman novel by George Lowther in 1942. That'll be the next superhero novel on my reading list.*) Definitely worth taking a look, if you can find an inexpensive used copy somewhere. (Finished reading 6/10/09)

(* Please take a look at a project I've been working on the past three weeks or so. I'd been surprised that no one had put together a complete list of novels based on comics over on Wikipedia, so I finally decided to go ahead and put one together myself. At the time that I'm writing this blog, the list includes 312 separate novel and prose short story collection listings. This project has inspired me to read through my superhero novels, only a relatively few of which I've actually read prior to this point. Of course, this is in addition to everything else I'm reading at the time! So I'm sure that it will be an on-and-off sort of thing, as usual.)

Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel #1-4

Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel #1-4, Terminator: Salvation Movie Adaptation Teaser #0 [Grand Comics Database links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 0; Comic Book Database: 1, 1(a), 2, 3, 3(a), 4, 4(a), 0]
(February through March 2009, April 2009)
IDW Publishing
(Version read: Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel trade paperback edition (2009) [LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Credits:
Writers: (Prequel #1-4) Dara Naraghi; (Teaser #0) Jeff Mariotte
(Teaser: "Based on the motion picture written by": John Brancato and Michael Ferris)
Penciller: (Prequel #1-4) Alan Robinson; (Teaser #0) Don Figueroa
Inker: (Prequel #1-4) Alan Robinson; (Teaser #0) Don Figueroa

Series Notes: Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel: Numbers 1-4 of a 4-issue limited series. Most (if not all) issues originally released with both regular and variant covers (primary cover artist: Nick Runge); Terminator: Salvation Movie Adaptation Teaser: One-shot.

Comments: Terminator: Salvation Movie Prequel (story arc titled, "Sand in the Gears") focuses on human resistance fighters, primarily in the locations of Detroit, Michigan, and Arlit, Niger. Leads into Terminator: Salvation movie (2009), but only in an indirect way. John Connor is heard broadcasting via radio to his fellow resistance fighers in this series (as he does in the movie), and is also seen in a few flashback scenes with one of the characters here, but otherwise is not present. Several of the models of Terminators introduced in the movie are also seen here.

Average enough (actually, "okay", at best), but hardly essential reading. Basically just fleshes out what others in the resistance are doing during this period. Art wise, perhaps not surprisingly, the artist (Robinson) does a better job of drawing the various Terminators and associated technology than he does the human characters.

Trade paperback edition also includes Terminator: Salvation Movie Adaptation Teaser #0, a one-shot apparently reprinting just the first part of the movie (which is what makes it a "teaser", I suppose). Didn't read this as I initially thought that it was a preview for a longer movie adaptation mini-series and I don't usually read such previews. Glancing through it, the art does look better than that of the prequel mini, though.

(Finished reading 5/31/09)

Star Trek: Countdown #1-4 (2009)

Star Trek: Countdown #1-4 [Grand Comics Database links: 1, 2, 3, 4 ; Comic Book Database: 1, 1(a), 2, 2(a), 3, 3(a), 4, 4(a)]
(January through April 2009)
IDW Publishing
(Version read: Star Trek: Countdown trade paperback edition (2009) [LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Credits:
Writers: Mike Johnson, Tim Jones
Based On a Story By: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Penciller: David Messina
Inker: David Messina

Series Notes: Numbers 1-4 of a 4-issue limited series. Each issue originally released with both regular (drawn by Messina) and photo variant covers.

Comments: In this limited series from IDW Publishing, we get a prequel story to this year's big Star Trek movie. Focuses heavily on Ambassador Spock and Captain Nero, how they initially agree to work together to try to save Romulus and many other planets from a star about to super nova and how their plan goes awry, ending in them all traveling through a singularity into the past and Nero seeking revenge against Spock.

In many ways, this is a Star Trek: The Next Generation story. Taking place eight years following the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the final ST:TNG movie, we get to see what has become of Captain (now Ambassador) Jean-Luc Picard, Lt. Commander (now Enterprise captain) Data, Geordi La Forge, and Worf (now a general in the Klingon fleet). Data's presence in this story, eight years after his "death" in Nemesis, is briefly addressed.

Not a bad lead in to this summer's movie. In essence a swan song for The Next Generation as well as a prequel for the new movie with its resultant brand new Star Trek timeline (although the original timeline will doubtlessly continue to be featured in various novels and comic books for many years to come).

This story is originated by the writers of the Star Trek movie, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who speak of their admiration for Star Trek: The Next Generation ("This book has had particular meaning for us in that we fell in love with Star Trek through the characters of The Next Generation").

(Note: This also has an entry on my Star Trek Blog.)

Shelby Foote, The Civil War, A Narrative Volume 1

Shelby Foote, The Civil War, A Narrative: 40th Anniversary Edition: Volume 1: Secession to Fort Henry (1958, 1998)
Shelby Foote
([LibraryThing] [Amazon])

Text first published in 1958 as part of Volume I of The Civil War, A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville by Shelby Foote. A nice, gradually paced, accounting of the years leading up to the Civil War (especially focusing on Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis) and the first year of fighting (the election of President Lincoln in November 1860 through the Union forces taking of Fort Henry--a Confederate held fort on the Tennesse River--in February 1862). In addition to the in-depth looks at the personalities and daily difficulties Lincoln and Davis faced, plus those of the many other notable figures (largely composed of high ranking officers on both sides of the fight), I also enjoyed especially the parts dealing with the political situations back in Washington, D.C., and the Confederate capitals of Mobile, Alabama, and, later, Richmond, Virginia, the attempts made by the Confederacy to elicit official recognition by European powers (which nearly led to war between the North and Britain over of the "Trent affair"), and the engagements which involved the North's much superior naval powers and river "ironclad" gun-boats. Lots of really nice pictures and graphics (maps, engravings, etc.) from the period in this "40th Anniversary Edition" printing from Time-Life Books. Chapter titles: (1) Secession: Davis and Lincoln; (2) Sumter; Early Maneuvers; (3) Statistics North and South; (4) Manassas--Southern Triumph; (5) Anderson, Frémont, McClellon; (6) Scott's Anaconda: The Navy; (7) Diplomacy; The Build-up; (8) The West: Grant, Fort Henry. (Finished reading 5/24/09)

Movies round up

Seen the following movies since my last post:

Night at the Museum (2006)
Didn't see this one when it first came out but decided to check the DVD out from the library because I've been finding the current ads for the soon-to-be-released sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian, interesting so I decided to go back and give the original a try. While it had some weak moments, overall, I enjoyed it. A nice, family movie which most members of the family should be able to enjoy, to one extent or another. The best parts, of course, are those where we get to see all of the various museum exhibits coming to life. Also, it is a real kick to see Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs in their roles as the three elder, soon to be retired, night guards.

Star Trek (2009)
Saw this one Friday night. Don't have the time to go into a long review here. I'll just say that I did really enjoy it. But, being a long time "Trekkie"/"Trekker", I will have to see it a second time in theaters to be able to completely absorb it. The first viewing for me of a movie like this is one of seeing just what's going to happen and to mentally put it into context with what has come before it. A second viewing will allow me to get a more all around feeling for the movie as a work in and of itself. I will say that I thought that the casting was good for the most part. I especially liked how young Kirk, McCoy, Scott, and Uhura were portrayed, although I have no real complaints with any of the performances. Quinto was good as young Spock but he, due to his higher recognition status for his role as "Sylar" on Heroes, it was a bit hard for me to come to a clear appraisal of his performance here on my first viewing. (There was a time or two when I felt that just a bit too much humor was poking its way through his stoic demeanor. Something about the mischievous look Quinto can sometimes get in his eyes and his almost-but-not-quite smile.) The humorous parts all worked, for the most part, and the special effects were very good. The rather massive changes to the timeline (creating a new, completely separate timeline from everything that's come out prior to this, apparently) are indeed significant, but that's all I'll say about that here, for the time being. Summing things up, this new Star Trek movie succeeded in it's primary goal, in my opinion, that of giving the venerable franchise a shot in the arm and spinning it off into a bold, new direction. While I will always prefer the universe created and developed over the decades from 1966 through 2009 and beyond (via the continuing novels and comics featuring those versions of the characters), and likewise am interested in seeing just where this new version of Trek will lead in the following sequel movies and other possible spin-offs (future TV series?) and tie-ins (novels and comics).

Total Access: A Journey to the Center of the NFL Universe

I just finished reading the following book last night.

Total Access: A Journey to the Center of the NFL Universe (2007)
Rich Eisen
[LibraryThing] [Amazon])

NFL Network host takes the reader through what a year of covering various NFL events is like, starting with the Super Bowl and culminating in "the eight game package" (eight regular season games shown on NFL network at season's end). I enjoyed this one a lot, thanks to Eisen's oftentimes witty and interesting style. Ironically, I was finishing reading the book right about the time I was also losing my "access" to NFL Network thanks to the situation between them and Comcast Cable. (Finished reading 5/2/09)