Tag Archives: legendshome

Eric Garcia – Hot And Sweaty Rex

Probably the best of the Rex series so far. Anonymous Rex introduced the shadowy world in which dinosaurs secretly live side-by-side with humans, cleverly disguised by prosthetic human suits, and Casual Rex dealt with a lot of back story that had been left blank by the first book. Now that all this has been established, Garcia seems to feel a lot more free and open in his storytelling. Hot And Sweaty Rex sees Vincent Rubio hired by one dino mafia family to spy on another. And as if that wasn’t challenging enough, it turns out that one of the families is run by his closest childhood friend, to whose sister he was once engaged. And she still hasn’t forgiven him.

You never forget that you’re reading about a bunch of dinosaurs dressed up in rubber suits, but the story is strong enough that it would have worked even without the element of fantasy. Given that this is the case, you might wonder why Garcia chose to do it as a dino story at all, rather than as a stand-alone contemporary thriller, and the answer is: Vincent Rubio, raptor detective. The plot may revolve around a vicious turf war, but It’s Rubio whose heart is mangled by the process. Garcia didn’t want to tell just another crime story–he wanted to write about Vincent.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

I’ve given up on watching Wes Anderson’s films with any kind of expectation of plot. Now I just kick back and enjoy the sprawling web of messed-up relationships, wry emotional insights, and peculiarly intellectual comedy. Zissou is very clever, but it never really comes together into a coherent whole.

Night Watch (Nochnoy dozor)

The “Others” are humans who possess supernatural abilities, such as seers, vampires, and shapeshifters. Each one must choose whether they are on the side of Dark, or Light. The forces of Light and Darkness called a truce many hundreds of years ago, because they found that they were completely evenly matched. Now, in modern-day Russia, agents of both sides (the Night Watch and Day Watch) enforce an uneasy peace.

The film follows Anton Gorodetsky, a seer whose talent first manifested itself when he tried to make a bargain with a sorceress to make his unfaithful wife return to him. Now, eleven years later, he works for the Night Watch (the side of Light) in tracking down newly emerging Others. On one mission he inadvertently kills a dark Other (against the rules), an event which precipitates a race to find the Chosen One, who will finally tip the balance between the sides, and herald the final battle.

Pretty standard stuff in terms of its mythology, but the film’s attraction lies in the way it is executed. The setting is plain and unglamorous, the heroes aren’t rugged and good-looking, and you relatively few supernatural occurrences are shown on screen. Unusual camera moves and a series of wide-ranging and seemingly disconnected plot elements create a sense of uncertainty right up until the end. It’s the first episode in a trilogy, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of it turns out.

Sky High

Will Stronghold is the son of Steve and Josie Stronghold–also known as The Commander and Jetstream, the world’s top superheroes. “Sky High” is the school where superheroes (and sidekicks) are trained, and Will’s parents were both star pupils there. They have high hopes for Will to join them in the family business (i.e. saving the world), but out of embarrassment Will hasn’t told them that he doesn’t actually have any powers yet.

The film blends two genres very successfully: the superhero film, and the (American) high school experience movie. There is a villain in the piece, but she only plays a major role as such in the last twenty minutes or so. The bulk of the film is about Will discovering who his friends are, and learning more about who he is. It’s less like The Incredibles and more like Buffy. In fact, it would make a great TV series. Especially if they could keep hold of Bruce Campbell and Kevin McDonald, who both give tremedous cameo performances as Coach Boomer (“Sonic Boom”) and Mr. Medulla.

The Corpse Bride

Gorgous character design and animation, but the storytelling leaves a lot to be desired. Short though it may be (76 minutes), it drags out the simple gothic fairytale for far too long. The songs are lyrically awkward, musically unremarkable, and add nothing to the piece as a whole. The film is so much in love with itself that it simply forgets to entertain. I literally found myself dozing off in places.

Charles Stross – Accelerando

Nine connected short stories, following the one character and his descendants from the early years of the 21st century into a post-singularity near future. It’s obvious that this is a landmark piece of science fiction that is going to be referenced for years to come. It is thick with ideas and speculation. Unfortunately, I found reading it to be a purely intellectual exercise. It never gripped me on a visceral level.

Lord Of War

Extraordinary portrait of an arms dealer (Nicolas Cage) as he learns his trade, and eventually surpasses all his masters. The film subtly invites you to both sympathise with the man, and hate him and all he stands for. One of Cage’s best performances in recent years.

John Scalzi – Agent To The Stars

Aliens come to visit Earth, but because they resemble globs of gelatinous goo, they decide to hire a Hollywood agent to represent them, and figure out how best to introduce themselves to humanity. It’s a simple idea, cleverly executed.

This is actually John Scalzi’s first novel, but it wasn’t published until earlier this year, after the success of Old Man’s War. And like Old Man’s War, it’s a thoroughly engaging read. No, scratch that–it’s more than engaging. It’s actually the most straightforwardly enjoyable book I’ve read this year. It’s not the most intellectually demanding piece of science fiction, but it’s still good science fiction with lots of ideas–not just a collection of special effects and plot devices. And it’s funny. I can’t remember the last time I read an SF comedy, or even wanted to, but Agent To The Stars kept me up until 3 a.m. to finish it. Highly recommended.

(You can order Agent To The Stars from Amazon, or you could support a small press publisher by buying it directly from Subterranean Press.)

Elizabeth Bear – Scardown

This is the second book in the trilogy that started with Hammered. Again, the cover is misleading: the book is not about women with guns running around in skin-tight military uniforms. It’s a grim vision of the future, where Canada and China are the two superpowers, racing to be the first to exploit alien technology to power them to the stars. Jenny Casey is forced to make difficult decisions about who trust, and who to care for–decisions that will affect not just her, but the whole world. Scardown is better than Hammered, but you really need to read them in order.