Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Lets get the good thing over first, its faster that way. Chris Evans (Captain America) is very, very good looking:

Yah, got that?

Now the bad. 

No, I am serious. The chance to stare at Chris Evans in his dashing army uniform (however brief those scenes were) was probably the only redeeming quality this film has got. 

Alright, maybe Stanley Tucci's performance was quite interesting. Still, too brief.

The film felt like it was a 2 part miniseries. The first half was how he got to become Captain America, with a climax scene in which he rescued his best buddy (huh? where did he come from?) from behind enemy lines. The 2nd half was...

Damn, that's how forgettable the whole excursion was.

Thing is, Captain America is one of the most...ordinary superhero that I have ever seen. He hasn't got Thor's god-like powers, Stark's smartass-ness, Black Widow's sexiness, Batman's mysteriousness, Spiderman's coolness. He's just... a guy with 4x metabolism as the normal human being. I guess the problem was it was never fully explained what were the extent of his powers before he started chasing the bad guys around.

To quote Brandon Sanderson's First Law of writing fantasy, a good fantasy has to clearly define the magical rules and boundaries within which the characters can act. Captain American was clearly shortchanged in this aspect.

After Captain America become Captain America, I am still just seeing the extra buff guy who's got ample beef. And the whole sequence on him parading as a carnival performer (to get people to buy bonds, raise morale, however funny that might be) did not help.

Strangely enough, this buff guy is able to outswim submarines, out run (1930s) cars, block bullets with a shield the size of half his chest (what about his legs?), withstand WMD charges with a flick of his arm, and FLY planes without any training whatsoever. Say what?

The villian in the film is Red Skull, played by the often reliable Hugo Weaving (LoTR, The Matrix), who's got his hands on super power mystical artefact with god-like energy powers which has enabled him to develop weapons which can vaporise a human being instantaneously and cause explosions. I assume that these are powerful enough characteristics of a weapon for America to become VERY concerned. Right.

Which leads me to the point that this is one of the lousiest villians i have ever seen. You got a mystical artefact and all you can do is vaporise human beings? The movie did not even demonstrate the extent of destructive capabilities these weapon! This guy has got no back up plans, lays out his grand plans on a map for all to see, and only knows how to yell at his minions when Captain America starts destroying his weapons factories.

After the 1 hour mark, the rest of the film truly felt like an eternity. Knowing full well that Captain America will emerge victorious (how else is he going to be in the upcoming Avengers' film?), I kept waiting for Red Skull to do something shocking that might actually make the audience care about how he was vanquished. Alas, it was too much to hope for.

In the end, it was just a meh superhero film filled with cliches. Cool graphics, hot guy + girl (whose attraction only did truly blossom after Chris Evans returned to his normal shape. Now what does that say, i wonder?), guns, explosions, uber high-tech vehicles, motivational kiss before the final showdown.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz



I have seen many reviews talking about the disappointing qualities of the films leading up  to The Avengers (due 2012), and reviewers have expressed their hopes that they will finally do the characters justice by tying them all together in that film. As long as the Avengers isn't 5 hours long, I can't say I have got the same level of optimism.

步步惊心

Just spent the last week watching this drama and reading the original book. 

One of the saddest stories I ever read.

The beautiful cinematography of this scene in the last episode caught my eye.

I was struck by Number 14's devotion to the girl, despite the fact that the girl has never looked upon him with anything more than platonic love. 

Haiz, such a beautiful scene to send off the girl he loved.

This has got to be one of the best scenes in the whole show.
I think No 14's acting reached its apex in the show here.

I thought I had cried enough when I read the book. It took 1 hour of tears before I could finish the final few chapters. But the torrent continued as I watched the show.

What a 

beautiful,

depressing,

horrid, 

but lovely story.

Just like the main character, I am a masochist.

Miserere: An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Original world building and action packed adventures. The world and magic system is very intricately linked with religion (no prize for guessing Ms Frohock's religion), specifically Christianity. This makes it very different from the usual high fantasy. As a non-religious person, it was surprising for me to find the system quite acceptable and that it somehow still works quite well in this series.

Interactions between the characters were well written. Miss Forhock has created distinctive and vivid characters - she does a fantastic job describing the inner worlds of characters' minds. However, some of the writing for action sequence do come across as jagged, impatient, lacking in rhythm.

My other complaint is the length of the novel. While it isn't exactly short, readers are left with a lot of unanswered questions (Can't the people have their own children? Where's the Gods of the other religions if there is only 1 heaven (Christian-centrism??)?) which could be attributed to either lack of comprehensive world-building, or this being the first book in a series.

Personally I feel the author could have provided more information about the world to draw the reader into the story. The cliff-hanger could also be more distinct to attract sustained readership.

Overall, it was still highly commendable for a debut effort.



View all my reviews

French Films & Gaspard Ulliel

My love affair with French films started out with the lovely and passionate La Princesse de Montpensier (The Princess of Montpensier).

Through that amazing periodic piece film, I fell headlong in love with the extraordinarily beautiful and dashing Gaspard Ulliel:

My obsession led me to a viewing spree of Gaspard Ulliel's works, and in the process discovered the astoundingly adventurous and creative French film industry. My favourites aside from La Princesse de Montpensier have been the moving Les Choristes and utterly charming A Very Long Engagement (in which Ulliel's parts were amazing but far too brief)

This fantastic scene from A Very Long Engagement played a crucial part telling the love story of Mathilde and Manech, but this image showcases mindblowing cinematography which earned the film an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography:

Justified (Timothy Olyphant)

You bet I'm glad Mags aint gotten Raylan dead with that poison-laced moonshine cup.

After 15 hours straight of Justified (around 1.5 seasons), I am beginning to talk like one 'o those hillbillies. heh

I also see that the major attraction of the show is Timothy Olyphant, who plays the title character of 'Marshal Raylan Givens'. Now Raylan is one truly unique character. He's charismatic, has deceptively laid-back mannerisms and doesn't give one inch when it comes to doing justice.

Timothy Olyphant simply defines the character, the hallmark of a truly great actor: making a character his very own and attracts the audience's love and devotion in spite of all the character's faults. Dexter, House and Don Draper had it, and Raylan had officially joined the serial-nominated-for-emmy club this year.

(Technically this isn't true since this is the first year he's nominated, but im predicting many, many more nominations to come)

The fact is, Timothy/Raylan just grows on you. He's not the typical handsome actor, but he's got style and charisma.

Such beautiful eyes. Sculpted features framed by salt-and-pepper whiskers and side burns, the perfect example of a man in his prime.

True Blood Season 4, Episode 5

True Blood has often been aptly described as 'slow-burn', largely due to the crawling storylines and utterly boring storylines revolving auxiliary characters.

Fortunately, this season has been proving its reputation wrong, with minor storylines winding down and all characters coalescing towards the vampires-witches showdown.

It also meant more time for Eric and Sookie's amazing on-screen chemistry.

This particular scene from the episode was seared on my mind the instant I saw it.

Eric and Sookie, holding each other passionately, hoping to find solace and security.

Brandon Sanderson's Review of The Wise Man's Fear

Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss are both my favourite authors, and it was very interesting for me to hear Brandon Sanderson's comments on The Wise Man's Fear, a book that he has been anticipating as well. There's so many things I like about Patrick Rothfuss' writing, but only Brandon Sanderson has the literary talents to do the commentary justice.

Side note: I am waiting to have the time to read The Wise Man's Fear. Wow the name of the wind was 250,000 words, and that took me well over a day. It was pretty exhausting to read. The Wise Man's Fear is in fact nearly 400,000 words long

(:

Review of THE WISE MAN'S FEAR by Patrick Rothfuss

In case you haven't heard, today is the release day of the long-awaited sequel to The Name of the Wind, a delightful debut fantasy novel by Patrick Rothfuss. I've had the privilege of reading the book, so I thought I'd post a heads-up here for those of you who read my blog, along with a review. (Of sorts.) Also, a reminder, I did an interview with Pat (and he kind of interviewed me back) for Amazon. You can read it at this link.

PART ONE: A REVIEW OF THE WISE MAN'S FEAR

All right, so the review of Wise Man's Fear will focus on one question: Is it as good as the first?

The answer is . . . yes, and I feel that it's quite a bit better. (That is saying a lot.)

There's the review. I figure that those of you reading this blog will either:

Have read Name of the Wind and liked it, so that review should be more than enough for you.
Have read Name of the Wind and didn't like it. If so, I respect your opinion, even though you're obviously a crazy person.
Haven't yet read Name of the Wind, so giving you an extensive review of the second book would really just be a big confusing spoiler.
PART TWO: GO BUY IT

This is a very, very good book. If you liked the first, might I suggest that you go out and purchase yourself a copy this week? Pat may not mention it himself, but first-week sales are very helpful in giving a book good momentum. It will determine how long the book stays on shelves, how good its placement is in weeks to come, and how aggressively the sequel will be ordered by bookstores.

As I always state for my own books, if you're not a hardcover buyer, don't feel guilty not going out to get it—as authors, we like you to consume books as you prefer to consume them. Library, hardcover, ebook, paperback . . . your call. However, if you ARE intending to read Wise Man's Fear in hardcover, buying it early rather than late is always a nice sign for the author. Also, I've got a selfish reason for wanting Pat to sell well. I'd very much like to have a nice, friendly rivalry going with the chap. The Way of Kings hit #7 on the New York Times list. If Pat can hit in the top five with this book, it will give me something to shoot for.

(Honestly, I'm hoping he hits #1. It's well within the realm of possibility for this book, and he deserves it. It will help the entire genre if this book sells well, as it will prove that big epic fantasy books by newer authors are still viable, and will also prove that excellence will be rewarded by the readership.)

PART THREE: A LONGER REVIEW (KIND OF)

Okay, so, I'm off on a tangent again. Let's bring this back into focus. I'm going to assume that some of you haven't read Name of the Wind yet. I often suggest it to people; it's become—alongside Tigana, Eye of the World, and Dragonsbane—one of my top recommendations for fantasy readers. Often, however, people ask why they should read the book. Why do I recommend it?

Because it's awesome.

Why is it awesome?

This often stops me. Why IS Pat's writing awesome?

Well, the books have an absolutely wonderful magic system. One part science, one part historical pseudoscience, one part magical wonder. It's the type of magic system that I'm always delighted to read, and ranks among my favorites in fantasy literature. But that alone doesn't describe why the books are awesome.

In many ways, Name of the Wind is like an old, familiar coat. A young man orphaned at a young age. Time spent on the streets living as a thief and a street rat. A wizards' school. Those who have not liked the book have often complained about the familiar tropes. What I love about how Pat uses these tropes, however, is the realism he strives to impart.

I view this story like a Batman Begins-type realism reboot of many classic fantasy tropes. We get to hear the legends of Kvothe, then read the truth, and make the connections of how things spiraled from realistic to fantastic. The way Pat does this is genius. In some places, you can barely pick out the tropes he is using—after one sequence in Wise Man's Fear, I found myself laughing uproariously as I realized the mythological foundation for the sequence. There are familiar tropes, but they're taken and made so new and fresh that you have to peer through several layers of silk to see them for what they are. In other cases, there is delightful originality.

Those things, however, also fail to describe why the books are awesome.

Kvothe is a very compelling hero, very classical in that he's widely accomplished yet marred by a single dominating flaw. (In this case, his temper.) He is witty, charming, and so wonderfully capable that he's a delight to read about. (Particularly following much of the current fiction I've read, which seems to take the utmost pains to make certain I don't like anyone I'm reading about.) He's noble, yet brash, and is clever, but inexperienced. (Which makes him dense on occasion.) He lives.

But even that is not what truly makes these books awesome.

In the end, I think that if I distill why I've loved these books so much more than others, it's because of this: They're beautiful. Wise Man's Fear is a BEAUTIFUL book to read. Masterful prose, a sense of cohesion to the storytelling, a wonderful sense of pacing . . . None of that is the reason for the awesomeness any more than a single dab of paint is the reason why a Monet is a thing of wonder. But if you step back to look and digest the piece as a whole—not thinking too much about the parts—you are left with a sense of awe.

There is a beauty to Pat's writing that defies description. Perhaps if Kvothe were here, he could write an appropriate song that would capture it.

Brandon

p.s. As this is of note to many of those in my audience, I feel that I should mention that this book contains a fair bit more sex than the previous volume did. Pat avoids graphic details, but there are events in the latter half of the book that some readers may find discomforting.