March Reading Wrap up

 

My reading slowed way down this month and I completed six books, sort of  finished one, and stopped halfway through another.  

1. Super Powereds Year Four - Drew Hayes (Science Fiction, 1019)
2. Daughter of Time (#5 Inspector Grant) - Josephine Tey (HF, 206)
3. Hidden Palace #2 Golem & the Jinni - Helene Wecker (H Fantasy, 472)
4. Leviathan Wakes - J.A. Corey (Science Fiction, e)  
5. Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula Le Guin (Science fiction, dnf)
6. Bookshop at Water's End - Patti Callahan Henry (Literary Fiction, e)
7. Bookshop of Second Chances - Jackie Fraser (Contemporary Romance, e)
8. The Starless Crown (#1 Moon Fall) - James Rollins (Fantasy, 560)

Super Powered is a great series and however much I'd like to compare it to Harry Potter, there really is no comparison. These are college age kids, each with a special super power, no wands, who learn how to use their powers amidst the angst of college and real life battles.  It will be well worth reading again. 

Tey's Daughter of Time is a unique story involving history and how it can be perceived or easily wrong, depending on the book telling the tale.

The Hidden Palace is a wonderful tale interwoven with several different narrators and is full of history, drama, and magic. I loved escaping into their world and will definitely read it again at some point.

In The Bookshop at Water's End, everyone down to the children had baggage of some sort and it was an emotional story which I usually wouldn't enjoy but the writing was so well done, it pulled me into the characters lives, rooting for them all the way. 

The Bookshop of Second Chances was set in Scotland and  Edward, a curmudgeonly bookseller who is 40 ish and Thea, a 40 + woman on the verge of divorce, both with lots of baggage, who may or may  not like each other, lives become intertwined more than they imagine and makes for a beautiful story.

James Rollins has done it again and this time with Fantasy in which several characters come together over the course of the book to join together in a quest to save the world. An abandoned baby found in a swamp, bats, prophecies, darkness, a thief, a bronze statue, a fallen prince, wolves, a broken soldier, horrible villains who will do anything including burning entire towns to get what they want, sky ships and battles. Our poor characters are given no time to rest, hunted and chased, from peril to peril. A thrilling story I couldn't put down. Definitely a reread when the rest of the series comes out

How do you sort of finish a book?  I unfortunately didn't enjoy Corey's Leviathan Wakes as the characters rubbed me the wrong way and I read halfway, lost interest, skipped to the ending to see what happened.  I also didn't enjoy Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness, decided life is too short to keep reading when the writing isn't grabbing me and decided to shelve the book.  Happily, the rest of my reads were excellent. 

I'm still reading more science fiction and fantasy with a historical fiction thrown in. I seem to be getting more into emotional contemporary fiction so we'll see how long that lasts.  At least I cleared some dusty books from both my physical and eshelves. Looking forward to seeing what April brings as I'm in the midst of several books at the moment. 

James M's review of The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

 

Salutations once again, we're diving back into the Marvel-verse and swinging our way into the Spider-verse with 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man starring Andrew Garfield and directed by Marc Webb. Enough delay, lets dive into this chapter of Spider-Man history, which came to be at a time when the fabled Marvel Cinematic Universe was getting off the ground.

In the year 2007, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3 released, serving as the final chapter in the Spider-Man trilogy that had been five years in the making, and was a box office success despite mixed reviews. After the movie was out, pre-production began on a Spider-Man 4. However, being displeased with how Spider-Man 3 turned out and after being frustrated with Sony's meddling, Sam Raimi quit the project and Sony green-lit a reboot with Marc Webb involved with the project.

The result, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. The film released in the summer of 2012, shortly after The Avengers came out and its success kicked the Marvel Cinematic Universe & its popularity into high-gear, and this film was very successful. The movie's performance paved the way for a sequel that came out two years later, only for that one to flop badly and TASM wasn't thought of fondly for many years until Andrew Garfield returned to reprise his role in 2021's Spider-Man No Way Home.

So, what's the story of this movie?

The film starts off with Peter as a kid living with his parents, Richard and Mary Parker, until they head off and entrust Peter in the care of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. (We find out in the sequel that Richard was working on a genetic experimental breakthrough at Oscorp and had to flee to avoid being bumped off.) Jump forward several years later and Peter (now played by British actor Andrew Garfield) is in high-school and has a crush on Gwen Stacy (played by Emma Stone).

One day, Peter goes to Oscorp and, during a tour where he meets Doctor Curt Connors, takes a detour into a room with radioactive spiders and gets bit by one. Shortly after, Peter starts developing powers. At school, Peter gets into a little fight with Flash Thompson and humiliates him in the gym. He meets up with Doctor Connors again and helps come up with a formula to limb regeneration, afterwards, Peter heads home and is lectured by his uncle for not being responsible.

Peter heads off to a store where a robber threatens the shop owner, only for Peter to not help him. Uncle Ben is nearby and runs into the robber as he's getting away, the thief shoots Uncle Ben and kills him, much to Peter's sad dismay. He then begins going after criminals after some time, but after a disastrous encounter with a group of bad guys, Peter eventually begins working on an outfit and a mask for himself. After enough work, his suit is formulated and Peter becomes the web-slinging Spider-Man.

Sometime after, Peter visits Gwen and joins her family for dinner, during which her father, Captain George Stacy, calls Spider-Man a dangerous criminal vigilante. Peter and Gwen talk on the balcony afterwards and Peter reveals his identity as Spider-Man to her, surprising Gwen as they share their first kiss. Meanwhile, Doctor Connors creates the formula and tests it on himself. Right as expected, his arm regrows. However, the formula has a sinister side effect as Connors transforms into a creature known as The Lizard and goes on a rampage on a bridge.

Spider-Man sees the scene and briefly fights with The Lizard before the reptilian retreats into the sewers. While visiting Doctor Connors' lab, Peter figures out that Connors is The Lizard after seeing a rat they used to test the formula on prior become a vicious creature. He tries to tell Captain Stacy, only for the policeman to dismiss Peter's claims, making a Godzilla reference when he asks Peter if he looks like the mayor of Tokyo to him. If only you tried to clarify everything, Pete.

The Lizard starts planning to mutate everyone in New York into lizards just like himself and eventually figures out that Spider-Man is Peter Parker. One night, The Lizard hatches his plan and heads to Oscorp Tower to put his plan in motion. Captain Stacy captures Spider-Man, but ends up letting him go when he finds out who is underneath the mask. Gwen Stacy heads to Oscorp, willing to help Peter.

Peter battles The Lizard atop Oscorp Tower in a battle for the fate of the city and pretty much all of mankind. The Lizard unmasks Peter during the fight and taunts him, saying he's all alone with no parents and no uncle, until Captain Stacy comes in to aid Peter only for The Lizard to critically injure him. Peter stops The Lizard's plan and the reptilian creature turns back into Doctor Connors.

New York is safe, but at the price of Captain Stacy, who tells Peter to leave Gwen out of this with his dying breath. Gwen's father dies and Peter vows to keep his promise to him, even telling Gwen about it at one point. But a talk with Aunt May makes Peter reconsider. "If you are anything, its good." May tells him. The movie ends with Peter and Gwen attending school together. A post-credits scene shows Connors in prison while a mysterious man talks to him.

What do I think of this movie?

Well, overall, regardless of its flaws, its really good. My mother even said at one point that Andrew Garfield is her favorite Spider-Man and really likes The Amazing Spider-Man over the Sam Raimi films and the MCU Spider-Man. I actually do agree with many others that it is a good superhero film, its not too bad if you ignore the issues it may have. 

Andrew Garfield was a fine pick for Spider-Man and having him fight The Lizard in this installment was an alright idea. After all, Spider-Man 4 was going to see Peter fight The Lizard anyway and TASM is pretty much a fourth Spider-Man movie regardless of the continuity. And as for Gwen Stacy being Peter's love interest instead of Mary Jane Watson, that's fine, Gwen was Peter's girlfriend in the comics well before Mary Jane was Peter's love interest.

The Amazing Spider-Man has some fun action sequences and the tone of the film is quite interesting to take in, especially since it was apparently trying to emulate the tone of the well-received Nolan Batman trilogy. Marc Webb and crew set out to create an engaging Spider-Man reboot and they succeeded. Its an alright movie for its time with good acting, decent screenplay and engaging moments throughout. I give this film an 8.5 out of 10, go watch it if you want to see this. You'll not be put off by it at all.

Next time; The Amazing Spider Man 2 (2014). See you later...

-James M

James M's review of Batman Begins (2005)

 

Greetings, Gotham dwellers and Bat-fans. The time has come, we are now about to delve into darkness again, to review the one that you all love. It is time for BATMAN BEGINS!

Starring Christian Bale as the titular Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan and released in 2005 over eight years after the last big movie BATMAN & ROBIN, Batman Begins returns Batman to his dark, edgy and serious roots. Released at a time when superhero movies were on the rise in popularity following the release of hits like Sam Raimi's Spider-Man and before the famous Marvel Cinematic Universe got off the ground, BATMAN BEGINS showcases the traditional origin story of Bruce Wayne becoming Batman from the death of his parents to his transformation into the Dark Knight.

We saw this together after holding off for a long time, especially after getting it's sequel 2008's THE DARK KNIGHT on Blu-Ray, and let me tell you, it is mind-blowing. Batman Begins is what you'd expect from a film featuring the Dark Knight, its action-packed, serious and faithful to what the Dark Knight always was. Forget the campy 60s or the mid to late 90s films attempting to replicate that time, Batman is meant to be serious and dark while making sure its accessible to families and kids.

Bruce's butler Alfred is played by the remarkable and well-talented British actor Michael Caine, who captures the spirit of the Wayne family butler perfectly and is one of the film's finest highlights. The main villain of the movie is Ra's Al Ghul, who mentors Bruce at the start and is played by the legend himself Liam Neeson, who previously played Obi Wan Kenobi's Jedi mentor Qui-Gon Jinn in 1999's Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace.

Liam portrays Ra's excellently and every scene he is in is handled decently, especially when you don't know who he truly is when he comes off as a man named Henri Ducard while it seems the real Ra's Al Ghul is played by Japanese actor Ken Watanabe. But once you find out that its actually Ra's and the other guy was all a decoy, you are surprised. However, I already knew this, having done my research and watched some videos about this.

In regards to the rest of the cast, the role of Commissioner Gordon, one of Batman's best allies, is portrayed by the great Gary Oldman of Harry Potter fame. Gary is such a treat in whatever movie he is it, be it in the 90s Lost in Space or the aforementioned Harry Potter films, he was a perfect pick for Batman's well-trusted ally. Even Bruce's parents were nicely casted, the actors playing them captured that kind parental spirit and their death scene was quite decently crafted.

BATMAN BEGINS is an amazing, fun ride from beginning to end with no roadblocks to ruin the experience, the movie is one of the best superhero comic book movies to have ever come out years ago and you will not want to miss it. I love it and so did my parents, my final score for BATMAN BEGINS is a flawless nine point five out of ten. Thank you for joining us today, I'll see you later.

-James M 

BW13: Bookshops, Ice, and mysteries

 

It's book week 13 in our 52 Books Quest and this week and we're celebrating Dana Stabenow's Birthday. 

I'm dusting off Stabenow's  A Cold Day for Murder which has been on my eshelves since 2014 and will be reading it next. Not sure why I haven't read it yet but in the mood now.  

"Eighteen months ago, Aleut Kate Shugak quit her job investigating sex crimes for the Anchorage DA's office and retreated to her father's homestead in a national park in the interior of Alaska. But the world has a way of beating a path to her door, however remote. In the middle of one of the bitterest Decembers in recent memory ex-boss - and ex-lover - Jack Morgan shows up with an FBI agent in tow. A Park ranger with powerful relatives is missing, and now the investigator Jack sent in to look for him is missing, too.

Reluctantly, Kate, along with Mutt, her half-wolf, half-husky sidekick, leaves her wilderness refuge to follow a frozen trail through the Park, twenty thousand square miles of mountain and tundra sparsely populated with hunters, fishermen, trappers, mushers, pilots and homesteaders. Her formidable grandmother and Native chief, Ekaterina Shugak, is - for reasons of her own - against Kate's investigation; her cousin, Martin, may be Kate's prime suspect; and the local trooper, Jim Chopin, is more interested in Kate than in her investigation. In the end, the sanctuary she sought after five and a half years in the urban jungles may prove more lethal than anything she left behind in the city streets of Anchorage."

I'm currently continuing my book theme read and reading The Bookshop of Second Chances by new to me author Jackie Fraser which is quite good. 

"A woman desperate to turn a new page heads to the Scottish coast and finds herself locked in a battle of wills with an infuriatingly handsome bookseller in this utterly heartwarming debut." 

I just finished James Rollins The Starless Crown which put me in the mood to reread Ice Hunt for my I by title.  It may be cheating a bit to do a reread for A to Z by Title but that's what I'm in the mood for. 

"Carved into a moving island of ice twice the size of the United States, Ice Station Grendel has been abandoned for more than seventy years. The twisted brainchild of the finest minds of the former Soviet Union, it was designed to be inaccessible and virtually invisible.

But an American undersea research vessel has inadvertently pulled too close – and something has been sighted moving inside the allegedly deserted facility, something whose survival defies every natural law. And now, as scientists, soldiers, intelligence operatives, and unsuspecting civilians are drawn into Grendel’s lethal vortex, the most extreme measures possible will be undertaken to protect its dark mysteries – because the terrible truths locked behind submerged walls of ice and steel could end human life on Earth."

Book Review: A Starless Crown by James Rollins

 

I just finished James Rollins newest fantasy novel, The Starless Crown.  I love his writing.   As I was getting closer to the end and the characters were still in peril,  I told my hubby I hope this doesn't end in a cliffhanger. Happily it didn't. How to describe without giving anything away. They live in an alternative world in which several characters come together over the course of the book to join together in a quest to save the world. An abandoned baby found in a swamp, bats, prophecies, darkness, a thief, a bronze statue, a fallen prince, wolves, horrible villains who will do anything including burning entire towns to get what they want, sky ships and battles. Our poor characters given no time to rest, hunted and chased, from peril to peril. A thrilling story I couldn't put down. 

"A gifted student foretells an apocalypse. Her reward is a sentence of death. Fleeing into the unknown she is drawn into a team of outcasts: 

A broken soldier, who once again takes up the weapons he’s forbidden to wield and carves a trail back home. A drunken prince, who steps out from his beloved brother's shadow and claims a purpose of his own. An imprisoned thief, who escapes the crushing dark and discovers a gleaming artifact - one that will ignite a power struggle across the globe. On the run, hunted by enemies old and new, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive in a world evolved in strange, beautiful, and deadly ways, and uncover ancient secrets that hold the key to their salvation.

But with each passing moment, doom draws closer."

Definitely a reread when the rest of the series comes out.  

Fantasy, Alternative world, 560 

James M's Review of Batman Forever (1995)

 

Let us take a moment, shall we? The year is 1992 and the sequel to the 1989 Batman movie has come out, it is well received and all seems fine, but then as the reviews come in, there is an uproar from parents that the movie is too dark. So, with those complaints, how do you remedy the problem?

Simple, you try to be less dark in the next movie. It is 1995, three years have passed since Tim Burton's Batman Returns and a new movie is coming. This time, its lighter but still intense. Michael Keaton has been replaced by Val Kilmer, Jim Carrey is playing the Riddler and the new movie is BATMAN FOREVER!

Welcome back in the year of 2022, my friends. After reviewing the first two Batman movies, we're now delving into the movie that followed, my first true live-action Batman movie viewing. As you can see, its Batman Forever. So, what is it about?

Directed by Joel Schumacher, Batman Forever sees the Dark Knight take on Two-Face (who is played by Men In Black's Tommy Lee Jones) while being challenged by Edward Nygma aka The Riddler and ends up taking on an unlikely sidekick in the form of young acrobat Richard "Dick" Grayson after Two-Face kills the young man's family and Batman starts to form a romantic bond with psychiatrist Doctor Meridian Chase (played by Nicole Kidman), who eventually figures out that he is Bruce Wayne.

I saw this movie a good year and a half before seeing the first two Batman movies and, what are my overall thoughts on this one, good friends?

To be frankly honest, it doesn't matter what the critics said back then. Even with the overall tone being lighter than the first two, Batman Forever is actually quite good and engaging. Val Kilmer was impressive and Jim Carrey really did steal every scene he was in as the Riddler, he was so full of energy and still is today. This is perhaps one of my new favorite Jim Carrey movies, even if Mr. Carrey is not the main character of BATMAN FOREVER.

Almost every action scene is nicely shot and put together, the musical score is moving and there's plenty of good moments here and there, such as the scene at the start when Batman tells Alfred he'll get drive through in response to the butler inquiring him to take a sandwich. According to some YouTube reviewers, this scene felt like it was made for a fast food commercial promoting Batman. Superhero movies had some crazy moments then and they still can now, no matter what tone they have.

Mr. Lee Jones did a fine job playing Two Face, showing that he's quite good with his various roles, and he hammed it home in the circus scene when he started acting like a crazy evil circus announcer at one point when Two-Face and his goons hijacked everything and took over the show. Tommy Lee Jones captured the villain's personality well, making him very crazy dangerous just as Two Face is meant to be. Even without the split personality disorder his canon self has, this version of Two-Face is a blast.

Overall, despite certain issues the film may have, Batman Forever is a fun chapter in Batman's history that's worth a watch. If you're a fan of Jim Carrey, you will not want to miss this. If you're a fun-loving Batman nerd looking for some fun 90s goodness, this is a film for you. Batman Forever gets a nine, I look forward to re-watching this sometime soon and remember this as one of my favorites...

See you next time, good friends.

-James M

Book Review: The Bookshop at Water's End by Patti Callahan Henry

 

The bookshop at water's end by Patti Callahan Henry is a deep dive into the relationships between two friends and the people surrounding them. The characters are broken emotionally and are returning for the summer to the summer home where Lainey's mother abandoned their family years ago.  Lainey doesn't want to go to Watersend but her friend needs her.  Bonny's marriage is over, she made a mistake in the emergency room and a man died. Bonny's daughter Piper has failed out of school, her boyfriend left her for another student, and she's flailing.  They agree to meet at the summer house to fix it up to sell and life's complications and emotions catch up with all of them.  Bookshop at Water's End is an emotional journey of finding their way, individually and together. 

The bookshop is owned by Mimi who was lived in Waterends all her life and is there at the beginning and there at the end and in between provides a stabilizing influence to all the angst the characters are experiencing.    

“Inside the very worst things you can find the power for change. Nothing needs to be the end of it all; anything and everything can have new meaning.” She grimaced with a smile. “I know it sounds like I’m just trying to make it all better with a little Band-Aid of words, but I’ve lived it. I’m telling you the truth. It is awful. It is painful, and your mom will suffer because it hurts. That’s true also.”

"But what no one ever tells you is that there is this horrible, gooey, mud-sucking, scary-as-hell middle place that you have to slog through before the begin-again gets to start.”

“Art and stories,” I said, “offer meaning to our lives in a way nothing else can. Science can’t. Logic won’t. The soul needs story and meaning to help us endure this life. This is what Lainey’s art does for us—it offers us meaning. You know I believe stories do the same. Books can be medicine for the heart just as Lainey’s art is medicine for the soul. There is magic here.”

New to me author, Literary fiction, e