Review – The Long Walk

Can it be? Has the Curse of Terrible Movies Based on Stephen King Novels finally been lifted for good? I was genuinely concerned about the wisdom of attempting to make a movie out of a novella that’s a fairly even mix of introspective thought and children being murdered for failing to walk in a psychotic cross-country death march. But the personal interactions stay interesting for the most part, and the sudden violence is graphic enough to underscore the cruelty of the whole exercise. I also found the framing of the drama intriguing, particularly the art direction. This tale appears to be set in some alternate America that went bad sometime in the 1960s, which relieves the storytellers from the obligation to deal with a lot of 21st century media tropes that would have complicated the story considerably. And if nothing else, I hope this wins the Oscar for Best Sound, as this is the first time I think I’ve ever seen a movie with gunfire that actually sounds like gunfire. Worth seeing

Review – Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies

If I keep watching this series long enough, eventually I’ll get to Wishmaster: Wish I’d Skipped It. But like its predecessor, this one’s more mediocre than genuinely terrible. This time around the Djinn is stuck in prison (which cuts down on the screaming women at least) trying to grant 1000 wishes so he can kick-start the apocalypse. Fewer familiar faces, less Wes Craven, but otherwise second verse same as the first. See if desperate

Book Review – Dinner with King Tut

Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations by Sam Kean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was a bit iffy about a couple of things at the outset of this reading experience. Some “experimental archaeologists” I’ve read about in the past have struggled with the distinction between speculative re-creations and definitive proof about long-lost moments in the distant past. And when Sam Kean – whose nonfiction I enjoy – decided to interweave each chapter with a fictional account of people, places and things from the past, I admit I was skeptical. But the interviews and experiences share a sense of curiosity and fun rather than academic pedantry. And the fiction supplements the facts nicely. To be sure, a lot of this is pretty hard on the animals (even after the book makes it to agrarian societies). That difficulty aside, this is fascinating stuff.

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Book Review – Disney Adults

Disney Adults: Exploring (And Falling In Love With) A Magical Subculture by AJ Wolfe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Creator and voice of Disney Food Blog AJ Wolfe shares her thoughts on the devoted fan base of the Holy Rodent Empire. This is very much an inside-looking-out perspective. The advantages are that Wolfe knows her subjects – customers and corporation alike – quite well. In particular, the chapter on the range of adults with Disney obsessions benefits from her broad base of acquaintances. On the other hand, her livelihood depends on the goodwill of the PR folks at the House of Mouse and a social media audience from a wide range of tastes and political beliefs. So the result – however well researched and cleverly composed – has an unfortunate tendency to dance around issues such as racism, exploitation of emotionally vulnerable people, and other controversial topics that might ruffle the wrong feathers. She also makes many “if you know you know” references, occasionally forgetting to explain them to a more general audience. But overall this is a good introduction to the topic.

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Review – The Substance

I was on board with this for most of the ride. The “Picture of Dorian Gray” theme meshed well with the darkly humorous criticism of Hollywood’s obsession with toxic beauty standards for women. Some over-arty visuals, some odd plot twists, but overall it did a solid job of making its points and keeping the story moving. In particular, the close up of Dennis Quaid eating was disgusting enough to rival “Un Chien Andalou.” But then the third act problems set in. The story goes so far off the rails in pursuit of more body horror gags that it starts to seem like a dumb hallucination, which of course kills its credibility. See if desperate

Book Review – The Assassination of Julius Caesar

The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome by Michael Parenti
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Perhaps Michael Parenti doesn’t exactly deserve “Historian of the Year” for stating painfully obvious facts about the death of the Republic. But as he rightly points out, the Optimates’ constant motive of insatiable greed is all too often downplayed or outright denied by historians ancient and modern who seek to keep the likes of Cicero and Cato on their pedestals. That these men managed to engineer the demise of their own self-serving system in less than 100 years seems somehow just, though of course Augustus and his followers were seldom any kinder than the Senate had been to Parenti’s beloved common people. Though this contains little new information for even casual students of Roman history, it’s nice to see the facts presented in a way that’s genuinely critical of the ruling class.

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