Movie Review: Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Bottom Line: A well put together spy thriller. Plenty of suspenseful action. More of a buddy film than a team film.

The Impossible Mission Force (IMF) is back and this time they’re fighting to take down a shadow force of anti-IMF agents called the Syndicate determined to reshape the world into something something pretend I’m saying something that makes sense by performing all sorts of heinous deeds. Yeah, the whole plan for what the Syndicate is trying to accomplish is kind of vague, but that can be forgiven because the rest of the movie is pretty solid.

There is not really an IMF this time, it having been disbanded early in the movie. What we have is Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) going all rogue (though not the rogue in the title) in an effort to find out what the Syndicate (the rogue in the title) is up to. Ethan eventually gets Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) to help him in his shenanigans, but that’s mostly it. The other regulars are more thrown in for exposition in the case of William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) or for “oh am I in this too?” for Luther Stickwell (Ving Rhames). There is also the femme fatal, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), who you are never quite sure what side she’s fighting for. The result is a streamlined spy thriller with a surprisingly tight plot.

What I liked best about the film was the way it used technology. Most spy thrillers use technology as a means of overcoming human adversaries. In this film, it is used almost entirely to only overcome other technology, with a little bit of flash thrown in. The race to use that technology often requires action sequences where it is up to the human to fight against the technology mono-a-machineo. This makes for a much better film than using technology to save the day or the ample use of fake masks that occurred in the other “Mission: Impossible” films.

There is much to like here and much to recommend. This is a movie that doesn’t really slow down much for its entire 131 minutes running time. The result is leaving the theater with a feeling of time well spent. I can’t really see any fans of the genre being disappointed in the movie.

Book Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 2/5 stars

“Catching Fire” contains absolutely zero character development and produces very little in the way of furthering any meaningful plot. This was surprising to me as I really enjoyed its movie equivalent. I can report that all the stuff that I thought would be explained better in the book than in the movie was not.

The plot for “Catching Fire” can best be described so: The Capitol is watching you, Katniss, you made us look silly. I’ll be good. Oh, look, rebellion! Oh, look, another Hunger Games and the twist is Katniss and Peeta are back in it! I will save you! No, I will save you! No, I will save you! No, I will save you! No, we all will save you! Game over! There’s a rebellion? The end.

The…whatever it is between Peeta and Katniss…is especially vomit inducing. It’s like a romance between two kindergarteners. Peeta has always loved Katniss even though you could count on one hand the number of words the two had exchanged before the first Hunger Games. Katniss at least has conflicted feelings for how/why/if she loves Peeta, but she keeps up the whole “does he love me or is he playing a game” thing no matter how many times he chastely sleeps beside her. Why in the world would she want to risk all to save him? Because he’s a good person. Ignore all the doubts Katniss expresses throughout, there’s a book to write.

The Quarter Quell, what each 25th year of the Hunger Games is called, is a complete waste of time. It’s used solely as a mechanism for producing intrigue when any thinking person would have made damn sure there is no intrigue to be had this late in the game. The design of the Arena is pretty cool at least with its hourly horror shows. Even that is spoiled, though, by the absolutely preposterous plan thought up by a supposed genius to kill the final two remaining Career Tributes.

The book ends with one of those “oh, so that was the plan all along” moments followed quickly by “boy, was that stupid”. And with that it reminds me why it’s classified as young adult fiction. But this is young adult fiction that thinks young adults are shallow. If I weren’t a completist, I’d probably skip reading the third book, but alas, I will power through the third. There is a war coming after all.

Movie Review: Fantastic Four

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 1/5 stars

Bottom Line: The amount of good material in this movie adds up to about five minutes. The rest ranges from mildly interesting to “oh, get on with it already”.

Longest. Origin story. Ever. Why, oh why did we have to sit through a half hour of Reed Richards and Ben Grimm becoming bestest buds in grammar school? Who thought that was a good idea? You want to establish that they’re best friends? Do a five minute back and forth between the two of them prior to their high school science project. But that would have required someone who could write. Which this movie didn’t have. And we’re only half way through the origin story at this point. Another half hour or so is spent introducing Sue and Johnny Storm and Victor Von Doom. None of them are interesting. Well, maybe Von Doom is a little interesting, but his story is completely glossed over and it’s only interesting because you fill in the blanks yourself. Then finally, FINALLY, they become the Fantastic Four. And are immediately captured and tested on for a half hour. Then they fight Dr. Doom for ten minutes and the movie’s over.

So yeah, don’t waste your time. It’s barely worth writing this review. There hasn’t been a good Fantastic Four movie yet and, in fact, they keep getting worse. Marvel had quite a good streak going and they blew it.

Now, let’s talk about how chicken shit Hollywood is. Spoiler warning for all you racist comic book dweebs. Johnny Storm is black. *gasp* Yes, there are a lot of people pissed off about that. Welcome to post-racial America. Actually, I’m pissed off about that too. Not because Johnny Storm is black, but because Sue Storm is white. She was adopted, you see, and they have a very cringe inducing scene where they explain that. Heaven forbid two of the four heroes are black! And we couldn’t possibly have a mixed race relationship between Reed Richards and Sue Storm in this day and age. Too many racists would need to be led to the fainting couch and given smelling salts. And every movie needs its pretty white woman.

Book Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Yes, I’m reading the “Hunger Games” trilogy. No, so far I don’t regret it. I actually found the first book quite enjoyable. It has a very good pace and is quite exciting. It is also a very easy read and the 400 or so pages just fly by. I’m not sure if Collins wrote the book with a movie in mind or if my judgement is clouded by actually seeing the movie, but the book reads like it was made to be a movie.

There are basically three acts to the book. You have the build up to the Hunger Games, the Hunger Games themselves, and the aftermath of the Hunger Games. The build up establishes the world of Panem and especially the coal mining District 12. It establishes the major characters and their relationships. It’s a pretty solid introduction. Act 2 introduces a bunch of secondary characters who are really superfluous except for Haymitch who is the only one that it actually feels like there is a human connection to the main characters. More on that later. The post-Hunger Games stuff is kind of meh. There are lots of “oh, you’re in even more danger than you were when you were fighting for your live” and little in actual explanation. It was a poor way to end a book, but i assume this will be rectified in the next book because I have seen the movies.

Collins’ main flaw is in character interaction. Katniss and Peeta…ugh. Peeta’s motivations and actions make some sense, but Collins writes Katniss as completely out of character deliberately dense towards Peeta just to make the story more “interesting”. And I still don’t get how Peeta’s alliances in the Games makes sense. Then there’s Katniss’ relationship with Cinna. Katniss and Cinna become fast friends because, well, it can probably just be boiled down to “he dresses me pretty”. It is not unbelievable that Katniss would strike up a friendship with Cinna, but that possibility is not at all conveyed by the written word. And here’s where I get in trouble. Even Rue… Poor little Rue who reminds Katniss so much of her sister Prim. At least that establishes some sort of emotional tie with Rue, but it’s really with Prim. The entire time spent with Rue is probably two days max. But you, the reader, do get to know Rue in that time so the bait is set and the hook is drawn and Rue becomes a favorite character for all of eternity. For me, the best thing about the Rue story (and the whole book) was when the people of District 11(?) sent the gift of bread to Katniss. Now THAT was sad and touching. It’s not all bad, though. District 12 is alive with interesting characters that Katniss interacts with on a daily basis. Collins is very comfortable writing about that.

The world of Panem is pretty interesting, if a little vague. You can actually imagine a country being built around Panem’s ideals. Keep the plebeians segregated and poor but producing while the oligarchs live it up in outrageous luxury in the Capitol. It’s easy to imagine because those countries exist already to varying lesser degrees. And while there are no Hunger Games, there is certainly privileged disdain for the poor and downtrodden to the point of not really caring if they live or die. I look forward to the fleshing out of the world of Panem in the future novels.

“The Hunger Games” is a solid young adult book. Sure, it has its glaring flaws, but they are easily overlooked by just how readable the book is. The plot is good, if a bit derivative, and just vague enough where you get to throw your own ideals into the holes to make the book about whatever you want it to be about. This is a great beach reading book.

Because Of Course

And what shows up the day after I get back from GenCon?

Exploding Kittens. Well played, Exploding Kittens team. Well played.

Movie Review: Trainwreck

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Bottom Line: An awkwardly hilarious movie but not in the laugh-out-loud way.

Amy Schumer is at her comedic prime. She’s just killing everything. If you have not seen her “12 Angry Men” parody, you need to do so. If you don’t like it you are no longer my friend. She continues that streak in “Trainwreck”. Schumer’s comedy can be best described as awkwardly hilarious. Amy wrote as well as starred in the movie so it is just chock full of Schumerisms. What’s a Schumerism? Take gender norms, turn them on their head, spin them around until they throw up, and then make fun of them. And you have a Schumerism. Her humor comes at you sideways and you often don’t even see it coming. It’s like an aneurysm only of laughter.

“Trainwreck” is a somewhat stereotypical raunchy rom-com only almost every gender role is completely reversed. And yes, Judd Apatow directed it. Beacuse of course he did. Schumer plays Amy, a hard-drinking, raunchy woman who sleeps with just about anyone with a penis. That is until she meets a guy and falls in love and screws it up and must mend her ways to get him back. So, yeah, nothing groundbreaking with the plot. But it’s in the execution where this movie succeeds. There are some great awkward sex scenes as well as some surprisingly good supporting acting jobs by the likes of John Cena as Amy’s go-to boy toy, Colin Quinn as Amy’s dad, and LeBron James as some Bizzaro World version of himself. Amy Schumer herself stands out as well. She has some decent dramatic acting chops to go along with her impeccable comedic timing. If she ever decides to drop the straight comedy thing she should certainly have a career as a dramatist if she wants it.

My one complaint about the film is that is could have done with some strategic editing. A few of the scenes went on for a little too long and could have benefitted by some tightening up. You don’t see many two-hour long comedies and while the movie was still really good, it felt like two hours.

“Trainwreck” was an incredibly fun movie. It’s one of those movies that you’ll find yourself illegally streaming every few years to relive the laughter. Sure, it’s a plot that’s been done before, but the comedy has all sorts of uniqueness to it that will have you coming back for more.

Book Review: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 5/5 stars

What happens when you have time to kill and find yourself between books? You go to Project Gutenberg and download a classic essay that has withstood the sands of time. Project Gutenberg, to know it is to love it.

Fully titled “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick”, but more popularly known simply as “A Modest Proposal”, it is a short essay in which Swift proposes the eating of Irish babies as a solution to the societal ills of poverty and overcrowding. The reason this essay has had a place in the human psyche for centuries is because it is as pertinent now as it was then.

Why, then, hasn’t anyone tried to mimic Swift with an updated version satirizing current events? My guess is that deadpan satire is all but dead. Our Jon Stewarts and Stephen Colberts only work because they are clearly lampooning politics. A Swiftian essay on, say Greece for example, is much more likely to be taken as a serious and worthwhile suggestion by those who think the current situation is being handled gracefully. I’m looking at you Germany.

Some German intellectual really needs to step up and write that essay. “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the People of Greece From Being a Burden to Themselves and the European Union, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public”. It really has to be in German. Wouldn’t have the same impact in English. Get cracking.

“A Modest Proposal” is worth reading if only to see how far we haven’t come. It doesn’t take a lot of time to read, but will likely stay with you if you are of the social justice bent.

Book Review: Unnatural Creatures

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Say Neil Gaiman decided to put together a bunch of short stories from various authors from various times which all had the theme of an animal which doesn’t quite belong in nature. You’d want to read that book, right? Yes, yes you would. Enter, “Unnatural Creatures”. As an added benefit, proceeds from the sale of “Unnatural Creatures” will benefit the nonprofit 826DC, whose mission it is to foster creative writing skills in children. Almost makes me feel guilty that I got my copy from the library. Almost.

There are sixteen short stories found in this volume. Contained therein are werewolves, unusual spots, griffins, cocatoucans, phoenixes, and more. The stories are written by a whole list of authors you probably have never heard of and were first penned from as far back as the late 1800s up to present day. The high quality of said stories shows that Gaiman went to great lengths to choose the perfect sixteen to go together. There isn’t a loser in the bunch.

Each story opens with a short couple of paragraphs by Gaiman introducing the author as well as describing what drew him to the story. It’s a nice touch that often fails when putting compilations together, but not here. Gaiman is succinct and descriptive, a gift that is hard to come by.

My loan from the library expired and I’m finding it more difficult than it is worth to find a list of the stories on the interwebs so I’ll have to go by memory of some of my favorites. And sorry, but I’m not going to remember any of the authors. The one about the unusual spot on the dining room tablecloth actually doesn’t have a name, but a picture for a name. It’s almost Lovecraftian with its tale of extradimensional intrigue. Another that stands out is the one about the epicurean club with poor long-term memory searching for a morsel that they haven’t digested yet. Probably my favorite is “The Griffin and the Minor Canon” which is about a Griffin who longs to see what he looks like and finds his likeness in a statue on the parapets of a church in which the Canon resides. It is certainly the most complex of the sixteen. But really, you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Even though I did not buy this book, “Unnatural Creatures” is worth buying. Not only do you get a solid collection of short stories, but you also get to benefit a good cause. Short stories, to me, are the most difficult literary form to do well so when you find a good collection like “Unnatural Creatures”, you should treasure it.

Movie Review: Ant-Man

Jean-Paul’s Rating: 3/5 stars

Bottom Line: irreverent and light comic book fun. Decent comic moments and decent battle scenes surrounding a bit of a convoluted plot that still works.

“Ant-Man” is a fun movie. A movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. But, really, how serious can you take yourself when you’re creating a movie about a superhero that can shrink to the size of an ant and control ants with his mind. You just know Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby did some major psychedelics when coming up with Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man.

In this “Ant-Man” movie, we pretty much totally skip the Hank Pym\Ant-Man origin story and go straight to the passing of the torch to the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). Paul Rudd is the perfect casting choice to play Scott Lang. Paul is about as affable an actor as exists in Hollywood and that personality is exactly what you need when your character is a reformed felon trying to make things right for himself and his family.

Much of the enjoyment of “Ant-Man” is in Paul Rudd cracking wise. He is backed by the always fun Michael Pena. Really, you should look at “Ant-Man” as more of a comedy than a true action movie. That isn’t to say that there isn’t some good action in the movie, because there is, it’s just that the action is more secondary to the good comic dialogue. And while the action is good, it’s also not terribly memorable. I mean, yeah, it’s cool watching Ant-Man ride a raft of ants down a water pipe to infiltrate a top-secret building, but there’s nothing here that you will say to yourself, “Wow, I want to see that again!”

This is a Marvel movie, so there is also the ubiquitous “let’s try to tie as many of our other movies into this one as we can” moments. It is the most awkward moment of the movie. I get that they’re trying to maintain a continuous universe here, but sometimes it’s ok to just ignore the rest of the universe. Ant-Man can still join the Avengers in a later movie without having to recognize that the Avengers exist in his universe. I get that it’s also product placement and all that jazz, but if you can’t make it feel organic to the movie, you should really just skip it.

“Ant-Man” is pretty middle of the road as far as the Marvel movie offerings go. It is enjoyable and you won’t regret seeing it, but neither will you come out with a sense of wonder or awe that would make you want to see it again. If you like superhero movies and the Marvel universe, yep, go see it in the theater. If you just like being entertained by the occasional superhero movie, you can wait this one out till it hits your home screen.