Book: First Comes Marriage

The first of 3 books about a family whose life changes with the Valentine’s Day Dance. From being gentled poor, they become members of the ton. Stephen the youngest son becomes a titled lord. However, the story is about a marriage of the lord’s sisters to his guardian. From a marriage of convenience, it becomes a real love story. Don’t miss the other two books about the family siblings. Author: Mary Balogh Setting: England.

Grade: A

Movie: Gran Torino

Definitely recommend this movie. Clint Eastwood, produced, acted in this movie about a Korean War Veteran who betrayed the family next door (Asian Family), who are threatened by gangs. It was suspenseful and got my attention.

Grade: A

Event: Broadway

This play is a revival of the original production Hair. Setting 1967. One of the main characters receives her draft notice during the Vietnam War. The muskal numbers (Age of Acquarus/Detec were wonderful. Actors actively engaged the audience would like to see it again.

Grade: A

Book: Salvation in Death

Another suspenseful mystery by J.D. Robb. This time the murder takes place at a Church. Detective Eve Dallas is on the case, but quickly determines that the priest wasn’t really a priest. Then a second murder takes place. The clues and hints about gang connectors and personal revenge. J.D. Robb is at her best!

Grade: A

Book: Middlemarch

MIDDLEMARCH by George Eliot was published in 1872, yet well over a century later, there are some surprisingly relevant passages. For example, writing of Lydgate, the new physician in Middlemarch, Elliot says, "since professional practice chiefly consisted in giving a great many drugs, the public inferred that it might be better off with more drugs still if they could only be got cheaply..."

And there is still a lot of truth in Eliot's observations about marriage and people's expectations upon entering into it: that what you see of someone during brief periods during the day does not necessarily reflect the experience of living with them 24/7. Of course, nowadays people who find themselves in a marriage that is not coming up to expectations can usually get out fairly easily, but in George Eliot's time things were more difficult.

And the current economic crisis seems for many very much the same situation Lydgate finds himself in. In preparation for his impending marriage, he spends several hundred pounds on furnishings for his house, feels he must keep two horses, and says nothing when his wife insists on buying only the best quality food and throwing frequent parties. At the same time, the income from his practice has declined. He has seen lack of money in his patients, but never applied the concept to himself. Although "Lydgate believed himself to be careless about his dress, and
he despised a man who calculated the effects of his costume," yet "it seemed to him only a matter of course that he had abundance of fresh garments--such things were naturally ordered in sheaves." [page 588] He does not want to ask for money from his father-in-law, but his wife does anyway--only to be told by her father that he might soon need a loan himself. If this doesn't sound contemporary, you haven't been paying attention.

This is not to deny that some of the passages are written in a very convoluted 19th century style that is hard to understand. But the book as a whole is surprisingly modern and rewarding.

Grade: A

Movie: The Incredible Hulk

The Army created but cannot control Bruce Banner, the Hulk. Banner's anger has the power to turn him into a bouncing ten-foot monster as hard as rock. Edward Norton (who plays Banner) is one of the finest actors of his generation. This may not be the best film for him, but he is an asset to the film. THE INCREDIBLE HULK is a darker and grimmer superhero film with a more tragic hero than we have seen of late from the Marvel films.

[Following the main text there is a minor spoiler on some points that did
not work for me.]

Within weeks of each other we have seen at theaters two Marvel Comics superhero films. While they also stand alone, they are really chapters in a longer story whose arc has yet to be revealed. IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK are both good as superhero films go. The public seems to prefer IRON MAN, which I reviewed previously and gave a high +1 on the -4 to +4 bell-curve scale. THE INCREDIBLE HULK gets the same rating, but of the two I give the edge to THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Why do I prefer this film? First, I am never likely to meet a playboy arms dealer like Tony Stark. Do I doubt that such a person drives around war zones drinking cocktails? Let us say I am unconvinced. Perhaps characters like this exist in the real world, perhaps not. On the other hand I can well believe that there are people living in the slums of Brazil coming to terms with personal problems like anger. Do I believe that when they become enraged they grow to twice their scale, turn the color of avocados, and adopt a doors- optional policy for getting around? Perhaps they do in their imaginations. For me that is not a big stretch. And do these people become so possessed by their rage that they become supremely violent? You bet they do. For me Bruce Banner (The Hulk) is a much more believable main character than is Tony Stark. He is a man of very common emotions, simply exaggerated. Needing the violent outlet while detesting it is very real. Iron Man being kidnapped and forced to develop missiles is not quite as real and certainly less primal.

The plot of THE INCREDIBLE HULK can be summed up in two or three sentences. In the Ang Lee THE HULK the military used super- science to turn Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) into an awesome fighting man. When he gets mad enough to fight he becomes a ten- foot-tall monster. After the early transformations he did some really bad things (only hinted at for those who have not read the comic or seen THE HULK). Banner ran away and is now hiding out in the crowded slums of Brazil trying to learn to manage the world's deadliest rage. To keep busy he corresponds electronically with an enigmatic friend whom he knows only by the code name Mr. Blue. The army, personified by General Ross (William Hurt), has tracked him down and sends a special commando, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), to capture him. Well, we know how well that will work. And admittedly here and elsewhere there are few real surprises in the film. Banner evades capture and works his way back north to an East Coast school, Culver University. At this school is his girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and the scientist Mr. Blue (Tim Blake Nelson). (There are also quaint bicycle-stands labeled "City of Toronto".) There he will find the ultimate confrontation--or at least the biggest in the film.

Marvel films seem to be developing their own style that continues from film to film. We have the cameo for Stan Lee. This time he is not at the end of a garden hose as he was in the last X-Men movie, and he is not at the end of a conversation as he was in IRON MAN. This time he is the end. More specifically he is a very much a loose end in the plot. I waited in vain for the plot to explain what happened to his character, but if it was there I missed it. Also there is a certain inexorable predictability in the plotting. There is segregation of each to his own type. What does a man in a power-suit fight in the climactic battle? He is matched against a man in a bigger and more mighty power- suit. What does a hulk fight in the climactic scene? It has to be a bigger meaner hulk. Another element of the Marvel style in recent films to have a final scene at the end of the credits. It has some unexpected twist to reward those audience members who stay through the credits. X-MEN 2 had such a scene, as did IRON MAN. Here the scene is moved to the beginning rather than the end of the credits. It looks like someone in production decided that too many people were missing what could be a pivotal teaser scene. Stan Lee is not the only in-joke casting. We get to see/hear Lou Ferrigno as both the voice of the Hulk and as a minor character. There are cute allusions to Godzilla movies, to King Kong, and even to Tiananmen Square.

Edward Norton acts with a low-key style. I am not sure he conveys the angst as much as was needed, but his persona is a nice counterpoint to the thrashing monster he becomes. The most memorable acting in the film is from Tim Blake Nelson, whose boyish glee for studying the Hulk makes him one of the most likeable mad scientists in recent film history. Nelson, some of the realistic settings, the tragedy of the main character, and the dark style make this a better than average Marvel superhero film. For my money it is also better than the very recent IRON MAN. Grade B

Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0800080/

Minor spoiler warning:

I did have a few problems with the script. At one point after a blackout spell Banner asks a stranger, "where am I?" The stranger responds, "In Guatemala." If a stranger asked you where he was, would you say "the United States"? My wife wanted to know how Banner had managed to cross the Panama Canal without anyone noticing how really big and green he was. Perhaps he had switched back to Banner. After all, the rules of this particular mutation are unclear. There is a nice tender King-Kong-Anne- Darrow sort of scene in which he is Hulked, but does not seem to have been angry for hours. Why is he still engorged?

If someone about 160 pounds actually threw a helicopter, it is the human who would do most of the flying according to the laws of physics. You learn to ignore the fact that he would have to be a lot more massive as the Hulk than he is as Banner. It is therefore probably bad form to show an examination table that held Banner perfectly well moments before but crushes under the massive weight of Hulk. It rubs our noses in the fact that Banner's mutation circumvents conservation of mass.

Grade: B

Movie: History Channel Prehistoric Collection

I generally like the science documentaries I see on the History Channel. Without sacrificing science content they try to provide material visually and even flamboyantly so that it appeals to younger viewers as much as to adult science fans. While some older viewers might find the style patronizing, if it gets young people interested in science, it is all to the good. I like their science programming even though that station is not the first place one would expect to find science programming. Sure, much of their programming has nothing to do with history, per se, but their
programming is usually entertaining and informative nonetheless. Their series "Universe" is one of the better sources for astronomical and cosmological education.

I recently got an advance copy of their "The History Channel Prehistoric Collection", a selection of documentaries that have played or will play on their cable channel. The set contains eight DVDs with 12 hour-long episodes of "Prehistoric Fight Club", seven hour-long episodes of the series "Prehistoric Mega-Disasters", then two more documentaries: "Clash of the Cave Men" and "Journey to 10,000 BC".

"Jurassic Fight Club":
One of the best remembered "Twilight Zone" episodes is the adaptation of Jerome Bixby's "It's a Good Life." Billy Mumy plays a boy about ten years old who has God-like powers but absolutely no sense of responsibility. Among his powers is to will the television to show any kind of programming his young mind wants. What does he choose to create? He makes movies of dinosaurs fighting. But I can understand that. It may not be the most elevated form of entertainment, but something about it appeals to the kid in me. I liked watching dinosaurs battle going all the way back to the
1956 documentary THE ANIMAL WORLD which featured animimation by special effects giants Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen. I think a lot people probably feel the same way, openly or not. Seeing prehistoric behemoths fight stokes my imagination, and always has. That taste is part of the appeal of their series "Jurassic Fight Club".

When I got the package I had not yet seen any episodes of this series, mostly finding the sensationalist title to be a bit off- putting. The title may be a little garish, but the programs themselves proved to have the same virtues that good museums try for. They are entertaining and at the same time educational about dinosaurs and paleontology.

The title, I should point out, is not entirely accurate. First the series obviously deals with animals from the entire Mesozoic (the Dinosaur Age) and beyond, not just the middle Jurassic age. Most of the animals shown are not from the Jurassic at all.

The concept of the program is simple enough. Some dinosaur fossil finds show clues that the animals died fighting each other and met violent deaths. The series confines itself to just those sites. Real scientists do a paleontological "forensic analysis." (These fights took place millions
of years before there was any law but the Law of the Jungle, and they still call them "crime scenes." Talk about cold cases!) The battle, from the evidence found, is recreated in such detail that most of the program the viewer is seeing recreated scenes of the battle. Each episode is
meticulously put together giving a scientific analysis of the fossils. By the way, each episode starts with a tongue-in-cheek warning that what follows is graphic and that viewer discretion is advised. Sure, the scenes are graphic, but I doubt anyone is too concerned about seeing CGI violence. Some of the themes may give parents a moment's hesitation. They include raptor gang attacks, cannibalism, huge predators, and more. But the kids probably love it.

The series is well designed to be a lot of fun to watch, but under this sugar coating is hiding a lot of information. The viewer probably finds it too entertaining to mind. Also some of the information is new since the film JURASSIC PARK was made. (In that film the boy saves himself from being seen by the Tyrannosaurus Rex by standing very still. We now know the T-Rex probably had better eyesight than we do and it would quickly have seen the boy, and would likely have quickly converted him into fast-food.)

There currently have" been twelve episodes made in the series "Jurassic Fight Club and this pack comes with all twelve, plus some additional lecture footage from paleontologist George Blasing who also provides explanatory pieces within each episode. Included are battles with eighteen-million-year-old mega-sharks called Megalodon and the giant flat-faced bear called Arctodus. This series constitutes four of the eight disks in this set.

"Prehistoric Mega-Disasters":
Okay, so what is bigger and more powerful than a dinosaur? Well, a storm is a lot bigger and packs a lot more power. And in Earth's history our planet has probably been very badly pummeled by both meteors and meteorology. A modern hurricane can wield pretty impressive power. But, a hurricane is probably not a mega- disaster. A "hypercane" is. It is a hurricane up to twenty miles high. It is big enough that a few of them could destroy the entire ozone layer. Then you got real problems. Hypercanes are one more disaster that could have killed off the dinosaurs. The film THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was not a great piece of science writing, but it did convince the thrill-hungry viewing public that there might be something exciting about a really powerful storm. "Prehistoric Mega-Disasters" follows somewhat the same formula as "Jurassic Fight Club". It has really impressive visuals matched to really impressive scientific explanations. The scary thing is a good meteor hit could set off a chain of hypercanes. This is all explained with what is as far as I can judge good scientific accuracy and some genuine oh-look-at-that sorts of visuals.

A hypercane is just the first of seven mega-disasters covered, each of which gets its own episode of the Mega-Disasters series. Actually one episode is designated a "bonus" episode. It is not clear what that means since it is just one more episode. There are two disks of the Mega-disaster series.

That leaves two more documentaries, each a little over ninety minutes in length.

"Clash of the Cave Men":
This film actually goes into some speculative fiction. It goes back to a time, about 30,000 years ago, when there were two different competing human races in Europe. They were, of course, the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons. We are the descendents of Cro-Magnons and if "Clash of the Cave Men" is to be believed, that outcome was never in much doubt. We Cro-Magnons rule! Unfortunately with all the advantages that the Cro-Magnons had it does not seem like a fair fight, and this is a fairly downbeat documentary. The poor Neanderthals seem to lose at every turn. And they are ugly. There is less room here for spectacle.

"Journey to 10,000 BC":
This documentary was clearly made to coincide with Roland Emmerich's film 10,000 BC. That film was reputedly made with little interest in scientific accuracy. (I have not seen it, but the trailer confirms that opinion nicely.) In fact, compared to 10,000 BC's juxtaposing mammoths and pyramids even APOCALYPTO does not look so bad. This film, like "Clash of the Cave Men", uses CGI for animals, but it uses it much less sparingly than the first six disks. We see Ice Age man dealing with mammoths and saber-toothed tigers. The narrative does have dramatization, but it is done in a lower-key style than dinosaur and storm programs.

It is less true with the last two entries, but in the earlier documentaries there is a tendency to foreshadow where the explanation is going, just before where a commercial break would come for the television broadcast. After the break there is a recap of what they were saying before the break. This gives the documentary makers an opportunity to recycle a lot of their expensive CGI footage. It also means less they have to film.

But overall, the package is one that should really stoke your sense of wonder whether you are six years old or sixty. The special effects are imaginative and for the first two series are probably of theatrical quality. This is a collection of documentaries that glory in spectacle.

Grade: B

Movie: Repo: The Genetic Opera

This is a Grand Guignol science fiction rock opera starring Alexa Vega, Paul Sorvino, and Anthony Head. Rotti Largo, the man who supplies the world with synthetic transplant organs, became the most powerful man in the world during a strange epidemic. As he nears death there is a struggle for who will inherit his empire after he dies. The plot is minimal and for a rock opera, there is too little real melody. Visually the film is a little nauseating but otherwise very inventive. Darren Lynn Bousman, director of three sequels to SAW, helms this film with what I would guess is the same sensitivity.

The time is somewhere around the middle years of the 21st Century. The world has been ravaged by a strange plague that attacks by destroying internal organs. There are not enough natural organs to go around for all the transplants that are needed. But a company named GeneCo has fulfilled the demand. They have perfected artificial organs that function like the real thing. That is the good news. The bad news is that like any medical technology these days, the artificial organs are very expensive. When it is a question of living or dying, many are willing to pay the price and GeneCo offers easy credit. GeneCo has become the wealthiest company in the world. But large numbers of organ recipients are deeply in debt to GeneCo. When they cannot pay GeneCo sends the Repo Man to legally repossess the organs from their living bodies and leave them bleeding and dying.

The owner of GeneCo is the ruthless medical industrialist Rotti Largo (played by Paul Sorvino). He has three has three children vying to be the most cold-blooded to prove they are worthy to run the empire. Meanwhile we meet Shilo Wallace (Alexa Vega) is a teenager with blood disease that keeps her at home. She is discovering that her dead mother has a history with Rotto Largo. And Nathan, her father ("Buffy"'s Anthony Head), may also have had other involvements with the most powerful man in the world. This is all told in a world in which the smart set lives ignoring the gruesome violence in their society that they pass every day. By the time the story is over everybody seems to be awash in the spilt blood. The plot does have some interesting concepts behind it somewhere deep in the bloody organs.

The color palette is usually very controlled with strong colors suited to the mood of the scene. That also enhances the graphic novel feel of the film. The film uses the gimmick of having all the expository lumps presented as comic book panels.

Reader Susan de Guardiola, who recommended the film to me, said that she could not get the music out of her head. The reason she is still humming the music is what is most wrong with the movie. It may be a question of musical taste, but the music is all short repetitive note combinations without more than a rudimentary melody. You can find some of that style in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, but that also has longer and more engaging melodies such as "I Don't Know How To Love Him". In REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA someone will be saying things in a five-note theme repeated three times, then will get a response to the same five-note theme. Pretty soon you cannot get that five-note theme out of your head. The Top-40 stations work by the same principle of repetitions. But there are no longer engaging melodies. Much of the music is not so much sung as yelled to the sound of a heavy beat. That makes the music all the less appreciated when it overstays its welcome and becomes an earworm.

Along for the ride in lesser roles are Sarah Brightman and Paris Hilton. The screenplay is by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich based on their own stage play. (Smith has a role as a bandleader and Zdunich plays the film's host and the grave robber.) There are numerous borrowings (or perhaps homages) to other musicals. However, the screenplay is probably more timely today than when it was first produced on the stage with themes of credit problems and corporate malfeasance, both on people's minds right now.

It is hard to get excited about songs of ecstasy over getting kidney transplants or people who rip out their own eyes.

Film Credits:
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0963194/

What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/repo_the_genetic_opera/

Susan de Guardiola's extensive blog on the film:
http://www.rixosous.com/2009/02/repo-the-genetic-opera.html

Grade: C

Movie: Grilled

Different. It took 45 minutes to have some action but it was actually funny! Men bonding. Cute…

Grade: C

-2639SO

Movie: Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins

Not bad. Different. Some inappropriate language. Since it is not like other films. Old actors.

Grade: B