Film Friday: The Adjustment Bureau Review

Title: The Adjustment Bureau
Genre: Thriller/Action
Directed by: George Nolfi
Written by: George Nolfi
Starring:
Matt Damon
Emily Blunt
John Slattery
Anthony Mackie
Release Date: March 4th, 2011
Rating: 3.5/5





In The Adjustment Bureau we follow Matt Damon's character, an up and coming politician by the name of David Norris, who stumbles upon a group known as the 'Adjustment Bureau' who 'adjust' an individual when their life veers off the path the Bureau has decided they should take. However, in order to avoid being 'adjusted' himself, Norris must no longer see Emily Blunt's character, Elise. The movie follows Damon's character as he attempts to find Elise once again and escape the Bureau and having both him and Elise 'adjusted'.

What is it with Matt Damon and running away from things? It seems that ever since he did the Bourne Trilogy movie-makers have decided to have him running from people and things in all subsequent movies. Regardless, this movie is a better than average thriller. All of the main actors and secondary actors give good performances, the story's multiple story arcs (Norris's political career, Norris and Elise's love story, dealing with the Bureau, inner politics within the Bureau) are all blended together well, each given enough space to stand alone yet still pertinent to the overall story.

That being said, I think that Nolfi should have allowed the Adjustment Bureau to remain more ambiguous. He is pretty heavy handed with the interpretation of what the Bureau is (essentially telling the audience) and I think that if more ambiguity was kept in the movie as to exactly what the Bureau is, their motives, and what these agents really are would have added more atmosphere to the movie, added to the thrill, and made for an overall darker tone. As it is, the movies' tone seems to clash with itself as there are some very dark moments in the movie, but once you learn what the Agents are, in addition to the ending of the movie, these dark moments seem out of place. I would have preferred a darker movie, but that's just me.

All in all, The Adjustment Bureau is a interesting thriller in the same neighborhood as Inception (or at least tries to be) but I think that some of the directorial decisions regarding the plot keep this movie from reaching its full potential. But, if you are wanting to rent a good, if not exceptional, thriller where Matt Damon runs from things, I recommend checking this out.

What's with the hat, Damon?

Film Friday: Priest (2011) Review

Title: Priest
Genre: Action/Supernatural
Directed by: Scott Stewart
Written by: Cory Goodman
Starring:
Paul Bettany
Karl Urban
Cam Gigandet
Lily Collins
Release Date: May 13, 2011
Rating: 2.5/5





No sparkly vampires in this movie.

Priest takes place in an unspecified time in the future in an alternate timeline where humans and vampires are separate species and have battled against one another over the centuries. Humanities greatest weapon--the warrior priests--are believed to have conquered the vampire menace.

Despite this, Priest learns of his nieces disappearance and the death of his brother in a vampire attack. The Church, maintaining all vampires are dead, refuse to believe the story and refuse to let Priest search for his niece. Priest goes against the Church and the movie follows him as he searches for his niece and for the vampires. The Church, learning of this, sends out Priest's of their own to capture him. However, the vampires are doing things never before seen and all of humanity is threatened. Only Priest (oh...and some side characters) stand in the way of mankind's utter annihilation.

Where Priest succeeds most is its setting. Part western, part 1984, part Blade Runner, the backdrops in which the characters fight are panoramic and larger than life. But we only get glimpses of the city and a few shots of it from a distance when Priest is leaving the city on his motorcycle. The same amount of attention is paid to the various hives and the desert. These larger than life settings also house actions scenes of a similar caliber. For example, when Priest is chasing the train he suspects his niece to be on and when an entire town is destroyed by vampires.

However, I felt like the entire plot served as a prologue to a larger storyline and, as it stands, the plot is extremely weak and seems like a poor attempt to stretch the franchise. Granted, I haven't read the comics the movie draws from, but I felt that the movie tries to be too many things at once and, as a result, doesn't focus on anything. To greater and lesser degrees, much of what the movie introduces us to matters very little and often has little bearing on the plot. Further, despite the movie rushing through most things, it takes a long time to reach the climax of the movie,and then, after a minute or so of battling, its all over (about as quick as the battle between Captain America and the Red Skull).

Most of the actors in this movie seem to be here for a paycheck. Karl Urban (as Black Hat, our villian) seems to be the only one having fun with his role in the movie, for what little screen time he gets.

'scuse me while I blow up this town

This also reflects on the characters as well, because none of them are particularly interesting and are characters we have seen time and time again in other movies where they are better executed.

Priest is a nice looking movie, but I don't think that's enough to save the plot or bland characters. I would avoid buying the dvd, but it is still at redbox at the moment for those interested.

Book Review: The Supernaturalist

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer
Release Date: October 2004
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Audience: Young Adult/Everyone
Pages: 267
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 3/5









While I have not read the Artemis Fowl series (me not being part of its intended demographic) I have at least heard of it and, by accident, I picked this book up at Goodwill while trawling for books to read and review on this blog. I got home, noticed the scholastic logo on it, said 'whoops', and read it regardless. Hey, I paid 0.50 for this book. Don't tread on me!

ANYWAY,  this book takes place in the 3000s in North America (neither are specifically stated) and follows the adventures of Cosmo Hill and a group he unexpectedly joins: The Supernaturalists. Cosmo Hill, a orphan in an institute that tests various military, health, and beauty products, escapes the institute when a car the orphans are travelling in wrecks on the highway. Despite his escape, Cosmo is horribly injured. Comso's near death experience allows him to see blue creatures (dubbed 'Parasites') which seem to feed upon human life energies. The rest of the novel follows Cosmo and the group as they try to eradicate the Parasites to save human lives while trying to eek out an existence of their own.

For me, one of my main problems with this novel is its lack of description. A lot of the scenes and the city in general are given very vague descriptions. Yes, this is a young adult novel, I don't expect it to be bogged down in detail, but I have little understanding where buildings sit in relation to one another, their layout, and what they look like. However, on the flip side, when introducing something to the reader (rust mites for example) he only does so once, assuming the reader was paying attention. It was nice to see an author not holding the readers hand then entire time.

My other problem was with the characters. Much like the city, character descriptions are quite vague, save a few tertiary characters. Further, I felt that many of the characters, especially Stefan, were more caricatures than characters; with one dimensional personalities or little character growth, I felt the main characters, save Ditto and Cosmo, were pretty bland. That being said, the book does keep ones attention.

For the adult readers of this blog I would say pass on it unless you find it for $1 or something. Other than some cool aspects of the future, there is nothing new here and the main characters lack depth. But, if you have a younger reader in the household, I suppose this is worth checking out at your local library.

Book Review: Seven Deadly Wonders

Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
 Release Date: December 2006
Publisher: Pocket Books
Audience: Everyone
Pages: 576
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4/5









Okay, I guess I should state that this book doesn't fall under the category of dystopian literature, or even apocalypse literature. Well, I retract that last part. The book is about the apocalypse, but is in the tradition of those archaeological thrillers where a group, often military or paramilitary, set out to prevent Armageddon. A...'Preventapocalypse' book if you will. Ha! Worked around that loophole! Onto the review!

Seven Deadly Wonders, in a nutshell, follows Jack West Jr. and his group of scholars and soldiers as they attempt to locate the seven lost wonders of the ancient world to find and recover the golden capstone for the great pyramid at Giza. Why? Because according to an ancient sun cult, if a ritual is preformed in the capstone at a specific time and date, the nation that preforms the ritual will become the most powerful entity on the globe. However, Jack West Jr. faces opposition from other groups also seeking the capstone as countries and organizations band together to take over the world.

For a thriller, this book does very well at keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. Also, the pseudo-archaeology and alterna-history in this book is well researched and well put together. Further, Imhotep V is the ancient world's Macgyver and passed his time making ever more elaborate traps, mazes, and puzzles to foil any attempt at finding the capstone, usually killing said fortune hunters in horrible ways. Further, Reilly creates a cast of colorful and unique characters.

My main complaint about this book is the length. This book is loooong. Not that it doesn't pass quickly, but a large portion of the book is sitting down the reader in front of the author, the author explaining everything to you (even so far as giving you maps and sketches), asking you if you understand everything he explained and then, once you understand the implications of whats about to happen, lets it happen, then sits you down again and recaps the events that just happened again in case you were confused the first time around. That, and you really need to check your sense of disbelief at the door. Hidden macguffins be everywhere.

For all that, Seven Deadly Wonders is a fun read, and a bit of a guilty pleasure for me as I enjoy archaeology (so much so I have a BA in it, well, social anthropology with a emphasis therein, but you get the point). If you want a book that doesn't require heavy thinking and is well put together and deals with pyramids, the hanging gardens of Babylon, firefights, explosions etc, etc, then this is a book you certainly will enjoy. If you enjoy the slapdash archaeology of Indiana Jones, you will like this book.

Book Review: Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Release Date: March 2004
Publisher: Doubleday
Audience: Everyone/Adult
Pages: 378
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 4/5









Oryx and Crake is centered around a man called Jimmy from upper society. The story follows two distinct storylines 1. The 'present' where civilization has collapsed years prior and Jimmy (now known only as Snowman) is an old hermit and 2. A series of flashbacks of Jimmy's life from early childhood up to and including the apocalypse.

The story is primarily concerned with the relationship between the three main charcters: Jimmy, his best friend and genius Glenn, and the love interest between the two only known as Oryx. However, it also examines a number of societal issues generally focused around the notion of a immoral and desensitized civilization and what could become of the world should social, moral and ethical restrains become lifted (child pronography, live executions on television, extensive genetic tinkering with plants and animals, etc) Further, both Jimmy and Glenn are from the upper echelons of society (geneticists and their families are protected and given all the luxuries) while Oryx and the rest of the world try to survive, serve the needs to the massive genetic companies, and, to a large extent, consume and buy the products the companies tell them they should.

However, Glenn aka Crake soon becomes dissatisfied and then resentful of the society he lives in and humanity in general and starts genetically engineering a species of human he believes was the intended end result of our evolution, not human beings as we known them today. However, Jimmy is not only in competition with Glenn for Oryx's attentions, but also in a continuing debate between the two over what makes us human, ideas about civilization, and, ultimately, if mankind should survive.

While this book includes a lot of social commentary it is not heavy handed and comes across naturally in the book as the two almost opposites (Jimmy and Glenn) take each side of the argument throughout the book. The book is structured extremely well and keeps the reader wondering as to what happens next both in the books 'present' and in the past. Atwood has engineered an fascinating world in this book that explores the possibilities of science and society without restriction, and the dangers thereof. A good book and I recommend checking it out if you get the chance.

Book Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Release Date: 1968
Publisher: Doubleday
Audience: Everyone
Pages: 210
Buy the Book: Amazon
Book Rating: 2/5









As I am a big fan of Blade Runner I have always been interested in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which is the book the movie draws from. However, upon reading it, despite going into it knowing it was quite different from the movie, I found the book to be rather flat.

The book follows Deckard, a bounty hunter working for the police, as he tracks down six androids who have escaped to earth. Deckard must not only destroy six dangerous robots, but also come to terms with his own humanity, and the apparent humanity the androids seem to exhibit. This problem comes to the fore for Deckard as he encounters Rachel. Rachel, a representative for the Rosen Corporation (the company that makes the androids) is an androids herself and Deckard must either come to terms with his empathy for androids, or destroy that empathy along with the androids themselves.

My main problem with the book is that it seems to just flounder around, giving over little time to any one thing. This results in many of the issues being explored by the author to be explored only skin deep. You have Deckard's relationship with his wife, with the few people left on the planet, with Rachel, with Mercerism (the religion), his own concerns about his humanity, the android's mission to prove human empathy is a myth, and several other issues all crammed into a relatively short story. At the end of the story I felt that there was little resolution to any of the issues raised in the story. While the floundering of the story and the lack of resolution can be said to reflect the main characters own failings in living a successful/happy life, I'm not buying it.

Another example of the Dying Earth genre (both earth and mars are near barren wastelands with few people living on either planet, entropy and decay slowly destroying everything.) this book, despite being the book that created Blade Runner, is just, well, ok. While I did put my expectations at the door when picking this up, it just seems the quantity of issues was chosen over quality and depth of those issues. I can't particularly say I would recommend it, but I will give a hesitant recommendation to check it out if you are a fan of the movie.