An absolutely fabulous book. It makes the recent movie attempt seem like a complete insult to the vision of this original masterpiece.
Richard Matheson is well known in science fiction and horror circles, but doesn't seem to pop up that often in discussions of classic science fiction. I have no idea why not.
He has the distinction of having a higher percentage of his novels being turned into movies than any other science fiction writer and you've heard of his work if not him. "I Am Legend" alone has been made into a movie three times, in 1964 as "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price, 1971 as "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston and just recently in 2007 as "I Am Legend" with Will Smith.
Other movies that were based on his novel include:
Duel, Steven Spielberg's first movie.
What Dreams May Come
Stir of Echoes
and the up and coming The Incredible Shrinking Man
"I Am Legend" isn't just some vampire novel. It re-invented vampire novels and spawned a long string of books and movies for decades to come. A heart wrenching novel of loneliness and pathos that truly does take you through a roller coaster of emotions and gets into the head of someone who is slowly going insane.
I loved the book from the first page to the last and despite being copied again and again by author after author, has not, to my knowledge, ever been equaled by any other vampire novel.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Movie: "I Am Legend" (3.5/5 stars) 2007
A good, solid action movie about he end of the world where a cure for cancer turns the population into a bunch of sunlight hating vampires.
Enter Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), a doctor working on a cure, all alone in Manhattan, hunting vampires by day, holed up in his house by night.
It successfully gives you a sense of loneliness and what it does to you, and idea what a completely lonely man does with his time and has some really cool action scenes.
In the end, a little too Hollywood for me though.
Enter Robert Neville (played by Will Smith), a doctor working on a cure, all alone in Manhattan, hunting vampires by day, holed up in his house by night.
It successfully gives you a sense of loneliness and what it does to you, and idea what a completely lonely man does with his time and has some really cool action scenes.
In the end, a little too Hollywood for me though.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Book: "Who Wrote the Bible?" by Richard Elliott Friedman (5/5 stars)
Richard E. Friedman does so many things right in this book. His analysis is convincing, his translations are powerful and accurate, he keeps his postulations small and he gives all the details on the difficulties and possible problems in separating the various authors.
I'm not a religious person, but recognize the historical, social, cultural and religious impact of the bible.
The premise, and it has been known for more than 150 years, is that the first five books of the Bible, previously attributed to Moses, were actually written by several authors. Not only that, but by recognizing the stylistic differences and the different perspectives, it is possible to almost completely unravel the passages by different authors. With more analysis, it's possible to tell which were written first, and where and when these authors lives. In some cases, Richard Friedman actually names the author or editor of the piece. While nothing can be 100%, he gives good reasons for his conclusions.
I loved the book and enjoyed almost everything about it. Some of his passage translations were impacting and have become my new favorites.
My biggest criticism was with the footnote numberings. Really, I had almost nothing bad to say about the entire book.
I can highly recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in the history of the Bible. A reveal to be sure.
My favorite biblical quote from Friedman, a re-translation of Deuteronomy 31
"16 When you are lying with your fathers, this people will rise and will whore after alien gods of the land onto which they are coming, and they will leave me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
17 And my anger will burn against them in that day, and I shall leave them, and I shall hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will find them.
And they will say in that day, 'It is not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?'
18 But I shall hide my face on that day because of all the wrong that they have done, for they turned to other gods."
I'm not a religious person, but recognize the historical, social, cultural and religious impact of the bible.
The premise, and it has been known for more than 150 years, is that the first five books of the Bible, previously attributed to Moses, were actually written by several authors. Not only that, but by recognizing the stylistic differences and the different perspectives, it is possible to almost completely unravel the passages by different authors. With more analysis, it's possible to tell which were written first, and where and when these authors lives. In some cases, Richard Friedman actually names the author or editor of the piece. While nothing can be 100%, he gives good reasons for his conclusions.
I loved the book and enjoyed almost everything about it. Some of his passage translations were impacting and have become my new favorites.
My biggest criticism was with the footnote numberings. Really, I had almost nothing bad to say about the entire book.
I can highly recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in the history of the Bible. A reveal to be sure.
My favorite biblical quote from Friedman, a re-translation of Deuteronomy 31
"16 When you are lying with your fathers, this people will rise and will whore after alien gods of the land onto which they are coming, and they will leave me and break my covenant which I have made with them.
17 And my anger will burn against them in that day, and I shall leave them, and I shall hide my face from them, and they will be devoured, and many evils and troubles will find them.
And they will say in that day, 'It is not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?'
18 But I shall hide my face on that day because of all the wrong that they have done, for they turned to other gods."
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Movie: Little Children (4/5 stars) 2006
We just got this out on DVD. I had no expectations at all with it.
I loved the movie and thought that it was an absolutely excellent film with strong characters with believable motives and actions.
Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Connelly star in an intense movie about what lonely and controlled people do when their life just isn't going the right way.
The movie built up so much, that I was actually nervous about how it might go, how these characters who I really cared about and had a vested interest in might be hurt or humiliated. It was torture in the last few minutes.
Any movie that can do that to me deserves my praise. A simply excellent movie.
I loved the movie and thought that it was an absolutely excellent film with strong characters with believable motives and actions.
Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and Jennifer Connelly star in an intense movie about what lonely and controlled people do when their life just isn't going the right way.
The movie built up so much, that I was actually nervous about how it might go, how these characters who I really cared about and had a vested interest in might be hurt or humiliated. It was torture in the last few minutes.
Any movie that can do that to me deserves my praise. A simply excellent movie.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
movie: "Pan's Labyrinth" (4.5/5 stars) 2006
A gorgeous movie, it is subtitled throughout in Spanish. I read the subtitles as quickly as possible so I could get back to the stunning visuals.
A fairy tale set in a horrific location at the end of WWII, we see a little girl, Ofelia (played by Ivana Baquero) struggling with two challenges. One is her new life; her mother has married a man (Sergi López) after her father's death, and she tries to understand her new life and this new man. The 2nd, is the magic world of faeries and the underworld. She meets a magical faun in the labyrinth near her new home who tells her she's a missing princess from the underworld and has to prove herself so she can return.
Ofilia's magical quests and the violent, war-time setting resonate making each all the more real.
Guillermo del Toro, the director, is a genius who achieves his vision with incredible clarity.
With recent movies adding to world mediocrity, this one stands out as a bright, shining star. I can't recommend it enough.
A fairy tale set in a horrific location at the end of WWII, we see a little girl, Ofelia (played by Ivana Baquero) struggling with two challenges. One is her new life; her mother has married a man (Sergi López) after her father's death, and she tries to understand her new life and this new man. The 2nd, is the magic world of faeries and the underworld. She meets a magical faun in the labyrinth near her new home who tells her she's a missing princess from the underworld and has to prove herself so she can return.
Ofilia's magical quests and the violent, war-time setting resonate making each all the more real.
Guillermo del Toro, the director, is a genius who achieves his vision with incredible clarity.
With recent movies adding to world mediocrity, this one stands out as a bright, shining star. I can't recommend it enough.
Friday, July 6, 2007
movie: "The Last King of Scotland" (4.5/5 stars) 2006
An amazing movie from beginning to end. I love, love, loved this movie.
The only SLIGHT detriment to the movie is that is felt real, but it ended up being fiction. In the end, I thought if they could make it feel that real, I could hardly fault the writers.
Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy pull off excellent performances and the movie kept my interest though every second.
Run to the rental store for this - it is awesome.
The only SLIGHT detriment to the movie is that is felt real, but it ended up being fiction. In the end, I thought if they could make it feel that real, I could hardly fault the writers.
Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy pull off excellent performances and the movie kept my interest though every second.
Run to the rental store for this - it is awesome.
Movie: "The Fantastic Four - The Rise of the Silver Surfer" (1.5 stars) 2007
I love comics, and there have been a few good adaptation for the screen - this was NOT one of them.
I thought the first Fantastic Four movie was ok, and this had it's moments, but the ending was SO, SO, SO bad, that it completely ruined the rest of the movie.
And what is it with Jessica Alba in this movie? For one of the hottest women on the planet, she was just weird looking. Maybe it's the bad fake blond hair, or maybe it was the strange blue contact lenses, but when you have a beautiful girl in your movie, why make her up until she looks fake? It was off-putting.
Still - Jessica Alba's looks aside, the movie's climax was stupidity incarnate! The only stars that I have are for the rest of the movie - the funny bits and a few of the special effects. Still - nothing great.
SPOILER WARNING
Please read no further if you haven't seen this movie and want to watch it. I am about to give away the ending and it would be bad if you don't want to know!
In the end, the Silver Surfer stands up to his master Galactus and takes him out in some giant cosmic explosion (that doesn't destroy the earth that is right next to it!).
If the Silver Surfer is so noble and is willing to sacrifice himself to destroy his master, why didn't he do it before he destroyed so many other planets? I think they mentioned that 8 other planets had been destroyed before he got to earth. That's just dumb! Stupid!
That by itself if dumb, however, it gets even dumber when you know more about the original stories. Of course, the Silver Surfer is noble and pure, and he has tried to stand up to his master before. However, since Galactus has given the surfer his power, he can easily take it away. He can't lose to the surfer. This just doubled up the dumbness from the already dumb ending.
I thought the first Fantastic Four movie was ok, and this had it's moments, but the ending was SO, SO, SO bad, that it completely ruined the rest of the movie.
And what is it with Jessica Alba in this movie? For one of the hottest women on the planet, she was just weird looking. Maybe it's the bad fake blond hair, or maybe it was the strange blue contact lenses, but when you have a beautiful girl in your movie, why make her up until she looks fake? It was off-putting.
Still - Jessica Alba's looks aside, the movie's climax was stupidity incarnate! The only stars that I have are for the rest of the movie - the funny bits and a few of the special effects. Still - nothing great.
SPOILER WARNING
Please read no further if you haven't seen this movie and want to watch it. I am about to give away the ending and it would be bad if you don't want to know!
In the end, the Silver Surfer stands up to his master Galactus and takes him out in some giant cosmic explosion (that doesn't destroy the earth that is right next to it!).
If the Silver Surfer is so noble and is willing to sacrifice himself to destroy his master, why didn't he do it before he destroyed so many other planets? I think they mentioned that 8 other planets had been destroyed before he got to earth. That's just dumb! Stupid!
That by itself if dumb, however, it gets even dumber when you know more about the original stories. Of course, the Silver Surfer is noble and pure, and he has tried to stand up to his master before. However, since Galactus has given the surfer his power, he can easily take it away. He can't lose to the surfer. This just doubled up the dumbness from the already dumb ending.
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