Greta. Neil Jordan, director. Frances is a waitress who finds a purse on a NYC subway train. She goes to the owner’s apartment to return it in spite of warnings from her Smith College school chum and roommate Erica. There she meets Greta. It all goes downhill from there as Greta first stalks and then imprisons Frances. Greta is a psycho who’s done this before.

Where some reviewers see a campy horror flick, I see a modern Hitchcockian psychological thriller. The viewer will see good performances by Chloe Grace Moretz as Frances and Maika Monroe as Erica as supporting actors for Isabelle Huppert as the cold, psychotic ex-nurse Greta. Stephen Rea (of The Crying Game) has a brief cameo as a hard-boiled PI without much common sense—unmarried with no children will make a difference too.

Watch for other details too—they’re important in this one (cat and bird figurines on Greta’s nightstand, Greta’s adoption of a dog about to be euthanized, and an old-fashioned metronome on the piano are but three examples).

I don’t often read psychological thriller books, but I loved that old Hitchcock TV show. I think the director did too. This movie and that show specialize in the horror hidden in everyday life. You’ll be thinking and talking about this one for a while. I’m afraid it won’t resonate so soon after the Oscars, but I definitely recommend it.

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Comments are always welcome.

The Last Humans. Ex-USN SAR diver Penny Castro is now a forensics diver for the LA County Sheriff’s Department. After a dive to recover a corpse near Malibu, she surfaces to find all her colleagues dead. As she moves about LA County, she discovers most people are victims, but a few surviving feral humans make her own survival a challenge. Slowly she forms a small family of sane survivors she has to also defend from a crippled US government that wants revenge against those who unleashed a contagion on the country. Coming soon from Black Opal Books, this post-apocalyptic thriller will be available in print and ebook formats wherever books are sold, including Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s associated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.), as well as at the publisher’s website and your favorite local bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it). Reviewers may query now for a copy in return for an honest review.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Green Book. Peter Farrelly, dir. Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) is a classically trained black pianist who is the lead in a trio based in NYC that plays classic jazz and stylized popular tunes. He lives over Carnegie Hall back during the sixties. He wants Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) to be his driver on the trio’s tour south. Tony thinks Shirley means Atlantic City, but the pianist corrects him: he means the Deep South, not a good place for a black to be in the sixties.

This begins this road trip story based on real events. It’s a trip through the southern bastions of bigotry and hatred that still exist today. Shirley’s motivation is to prove a point, that no matter how much white men and women like his music, he’s still considered inferior, a person who can’t eat in a white restaurant or even pee with whites. Tony’s job is to protect the gifted pianist from those who can’t get past the color of his boss’s skin.

What’s great about this story is that two men from two different worlds come to understand each other and each other’s worlds enough to become fast friends. I think Dr. King would approve of that message. Lately we don’t hear it enough, though. On the contrary, we have backtracked in many ways, becoming an us-versus-them society where politicians exploit racist attitudes, hatred, and bigotry for their own ends, and voters, like lemmings, follow them over the cliffs these pols create.

The movie has some funny moments too (it’s called a comedy, but the general theme is serious). Tony’s from the Bronx, so the movie plays off the contrasts between the suave and sophisticated musician and Tony’s good-hearted street smarts. And there are also plenty of warm moments too where we can enjoy our common humanity.

The movie had some pre-Oscar controversy. Some people stated that it follows the Hollywood norm of Driving Miss Daisy of painting the black man as having to be better than others to be treated equal. I can understand where these critics are coming from (most notably Spike Lee), but historical treatments always benefit us by putting the present in context. I also thought it was a bit inaccurate. In the sixties, the South was fighting the Civil War again, but that green book covered many cities north of the Mason-Dixon line. Racism can be found everywhere. And should we write the stereotyping of an Italian thug from the Bronx as unfair too? My take: the movie told Dr. Shirley and Tony Lip’s story. Period.

Maybe more of us should see this movie to discover what coming together is all about. It was nominated for five Oscars—for best picture, Mortensen for best actor, Ali for best supporting actor, best original screenplay, and best film editing. Oscar favored the movie and Ali, as he spread his magic touch around the nominees.  Mortensen can be happy, though, because the movie was a team effort. It was on my list of must-see movies for a while, even before the Oscar nominations (holidays, edits for my new book, and taxes got in the way). I’m glad I could finally experience it last week when I told myself, “Geez, this movie should get something.” It’s definitely one of the best movies of 2018, if not the best as the Academy would have it. I saw many good ones–Black Panther, for example, even though it avoids the hard reality that Green Book treated.

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Comments are welcome.

The Secret Lab and The Secret of the Urns. On a lighter note, consider these two young adult sci-fi mysteries from A. B. Carolan.

The first novel takes place in the future on the International Space Station where Shashibala Garcia and her friends try to discover the origins of a mutant cat that keeps disappearing on them. They uncover much more.

The second novel takes place much later and follows Asako Kobayashi’s dream for studying the natives of Hard Fist, a satellite of a Jupiter-like planet. She has to fight bigotry and hatred to follow her dream.

Both novels are available in ebook versions from Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc), as well as print on Amazon.

And another young adult sci-fi mystery from A. B. is coming soon! It’s called Mind Games.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Cold Pursuit. Hans Peter Moland, dir. Based on Hans’s Swedish film, this version channels the movies No Country for Old Men and Kill Bill—brutal violence plus black humor. Liam Neeson plays Nels Coxman, a snowplow driver who wins a “Man of the Year” award in a Colorado ski town. His son is killed by a drug lord.

Neeson’s promo efforts for this film led to the discussion of revenge that has created a lot of polemic in social media: Coxman looks for his son’s killer, and Neeson linked this to some events in his early life. That will be a distraction and probably hurt this otherwise good movie, which is a shame for the director and other actors who had nothing to do with the actor’s comments. (I refuse to take sides here. Readers of this blog can work it out for themselves.)

The black humor comes in many shapes and forms. One of the best moments comes when a bunch of Native American tough guys are told by a hotel clerk they need a reservation. Another comes when the main villain’s ex grabs him by the—OK, this blog is PG-13, but you get the idea.

There’s an accounting of the violence as the screen lists the demise of the bad guys with a cross, their names, and their nicknames. (Those nicknames are part of the black humor too. Watch for them.)

This isn’t a great movie, but it’s entertaining. My only other choice was that second Lego movie. I’m a fan of animation, but really! Legos?

In addition to all the polemic about Neeson’s talk of revenge on the talk shows, people might shy away from this because of the winter scenes. This winter’s been bad! Then again, what else can you do on a 25-degree Saturday when you want to take your wife out for a movie and dinner. You certainly don’t go to a Lego movie! People might also shy away from this one because of the violence. It’s extreme, but no more so than The Bourne Identity, Star Wars, or even some animated features.

Just don’t boycott this because of what Neeson said on talk shows. You’ll be missing a good movie and doing a disservice to the other good actors. Their list even has Laura Dern, that lady from Jurassic Park! She’s only involved in the violence indirectly. And Tom Jackson was excellent as the Native American chief/drug lord known as White Bull—his son is also killed by the same drug-dealing group that killed Coxman’s son, so, in a crazy way, he’s one of the good guys!

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Comments are always welcome.

The Last Humans. Although this novel mostly takes place in deserted and desert-like ruins of SoCal, there’s one winter scene here too. This post-apocalyptic thriller begins near Malibu with Penny Castro on a forensic dive for the LA County Sheriff’s Office. When she surfaces, all her fellow deputies are dead from a bioengineered plague. Her main goal becomes survival in a world gone mad. In the process, she acquires a family of other survivors and must defend them all against starvation, attacks by feral humans, and a government out for revenge against those who launched the bioweapon attack. Coming in March from Black Opal Books! And please check out the Black Opal Books catalog—lot’s of good reading there. There’s an ebook sale going on for a limited time.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

On the Basis of Sex. Mimi Leder, dir. Felicity Jones does a good job portraying Ruth Bader Ginsburg, while Armie Hammer and Cailee Spaeny do well as her husband and daughter, respectively. The movie is a wee bit slow in parts, but it was generally interesting, if only for its historical importance. It is the story of how the first domino fell on the way to the now stalled Equal Rights Amendment (which will never be approved under the Trump administration, of course—one only needs to remember the Kavanaugh hearings). The trial scene at the finale was as gripping as any legal thriller. RBG is getting a lot of deserved publicity these days for her long service as a progressive judge standing up for people’s rights, including women’s. Maybe this will help get the ERA approved? Recommended.

A Dog’s Way Home. Charles Martin Smith, dir. Many might consider this just family-oriented entertainment for dog lovers, but I found it refreshing and meaningful. And there are lots of animals—cats, in particular. Of course, Bella, the dog that loses her mother and is raised by Mama Cat, steals the show. Moviegoers will love Big Kitten too (how did they film those scenes with her?). It’s a road trip where Bella makes a lot of friends and encounters enough enemies as she makes her long journey home. Ashley Judd doesn’t do so well in her secondary role as Teri, but Jonah Hauer-King and Alexandra Shipp as Lucas and Olivia respectively were great. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of the last two. Recommended, if only for the great Rocky Mountains scenery.

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Comments are always welcome.

Goin’ the Extra Mile. If any novel in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” trilogy should become a movie, this would be it. I put poor Mary Jo into some bad situations here. The U.S. made the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), Russia stole them, and now China wants them and will kidnap Mary Jo and her family to get them. Taking place in the Silicon Valley, France, and China, this novel isn’t for readers with cardiac problems! Available in ebook format on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.)

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Vice. Adam McKay, director. The title of this movie is a play on words and it hints that it can be considered a commentary about the evil incompetence in the halls so power that adversely affect the lives of millions. On a more personal level, the movie is a dark, satirical masterpiece about the Machiavelli-like U.S. Vice-President who engineered the murder of thousands, Dick Cheney (played ably by Christian Bale). His wife Lynne (played by Amy Adams) doesn’t come off well either—behind ever evil man is an evil woman? But Steve Carell steals the show for me in his role as Donald Rumsfeld, although his neo-con peccadillos are swept under the rug.

I’m the first to admit that this is a zany biopic with many liberal Hollywood stars’ participation, but I saw nothing that was blatantly incorrect. Yes, Hillary’s support of the Iraq War was also included, as was Powell’s justified reluctance for going to the U.N. to denounce Saddam’s non-existent WMDs.

There’s a lot of dark humor. It would have been too painful to play it straight. And, even in a little more than two hours, you can see the historical background leads to our current situation, including Nixon’s downfall and how Reagan’s “Make America Great Again”  became perverted. Except for the veterans who were maimed and killed as a result of this myopic malfeasance, no greatness is portrayed here, only a charade performed by politicos who played with people’s lives in their abuse of power.

While the history leading to our present circumstances is made clear, the movie leaves out some important things. The part that Saddam’s oil played is barely mentioned via a map showing how petroleum companies like Halliburton would carve up Iraq; the role that Bush’s desire for revenge for the attack on his father isn’t mentioned at all; and the neo-cons and their view of the world had to be ferreted out from the focus on evil personalities. President Bush’s deer-in-the-headlights look at that primary school would have also been a nice addition to the black humor too. Maybe the screenwriters, producers (including Brad Pitt and Will Farrell), and director didn’t think it was possible to satirize all that evil.

Reviews are mixed for this movie, so I’ll offer my summary: it’s the best movie I’ve seen all year! It’s a clever, pithy, commentary on how things can go terribly wrong in Washington when powerful but incompetent people are in charge…as if we needed a reminder about that.

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Comments are always welcome!

The Last Humans. A dysfunctional Washington DC could cause man-made disasters of many sorts. In this post-apocalyptic thriller, ex-USN and LA Sheriff’s diver Penny Castro surfaces from a dive to find the apocalypse. Few survive the airborne plague. Her subsequent adventures put her in some hopeless situations as she struggles to protect her adopted family. The reader will be biting his nails all the way through. Coming from Black Opal Press this year. Look for it.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

Can You Ever Forgive Me? Marielle Heller, dir. Maybe all frustrated authors should see this movie as a lesson on what NOT to do when they feel unappreciated. It was funny at times but also often sad. Melissa McCarthy has a very different role as Lee Israel, and she delivers her finest performance. Richard Grant, as Lee’s gay friend Jack Hock, is marvelous too.

The movie is also a portrayal of the seamier side of the NYC art scene and the hypocrisy and unethical criminals who prey on people by selling fake memorabilia who enabled Lee. The snarky attitudes of Lee’s agent and the bookstore owner were painfully real too, looking down their noses at an author who’s no longer popular.

Not recommended for action movie fans, this one is for a more cerebral audience who appreciate a great story and great acting.

Bohemian Rhapsody. Bryan Singer, dir. Freddy Mercury (played here by Rami Malek) was the larger-than-life lead singer of Queen, but what I liked about this movie was that it showed both that this rock group was a team of geniuses working, squabbling, and expanding the frontiers of the rock genre. Queen needed Freddy and every other member of that band.

For a Hollywood biopic, this portrayal of Mercury’s life from bag boy at Heathrow to the best known rock star of the pre-internet era is better than most. Of course, there are always the Hollywood distortions of history (e.g. the movie has Freddy diagnosed with AIDS just before the Live Aid concert in 1985, when in fact he was diagnosed in 1987). There was never a dull moment in this movie, whether in the portrayal of Mercury’s tortured existence or in the encore of some of the group’s best hits and their origins.

I also learned more things about Mercury (assuming they’re not Hollywood distortions)—a talented man who died too young, a true showman and musician. The Steinway at Wembley everyone used was his, and that twenty-minute gig there will be remembered for a long time.

I’m afraid in this internet era music fans don’t know Queen. Maybe the movie will help them discover the group and help others rediscover them. We old folks can relive our youth through this marvelous biopic, but it’s worth seeing by everyone.

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Comments are always welcome!

Goin’ the Extra Mile. The U.S. made the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), Russia stole them, and now China wants them…and will kidnap Mary Jo Melendez and her family to get them. Returning to the globe-trotting suspense and action of #1 with many of the same actors as #2, this third book in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” is a rousing finale for this trilogy. Available on Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliates (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, and so forth).

In libris libertas!

[Note from Steve: Not exactly a movie review…or is it a review of two?]

While I reviewed Andy Weir’s book (Oct. 16, 2015), I don’t think I reviewed the movie with Matt Damon, which I saw (readers can confirm that by perusing the movie review archive—I couldn’t find one). I’m sure I won’t see First Man. Ryan Gosling can’t compare to everyman Matt Damon, but that’s not the main point of this article. My intention is to compare the focus of these two movies.

Although The Martian is clearly fiction, both movies are fictional, the second being historical fiction, of course. They’re both about space exploration, the first about exploring Mars and the second about exploring Luna. That’s where the similarities end.

First Man focuses on the past, namely astronaut Neil Armstrong. It’s a screen biopic. Nothing against Armstrong, who has been made into a folk hero, but it’s the focus on the past that bothers me. The U.S. government has all but destroyed NASA. They shut down the shuttle program and didn’t replace it. We’ve been forced to pay Russia to haul our astronauts to the ISS. Now that Russia’s rockets are having problems (the last one failed and came close to killing a cosmonaut and astronaut), we are basically excluded from manned spaceflight for the present. All of this is due to ill-advised budget cutting by various administrations, and public opinion seems to have gone along with it, saying we can no longer afford space exploration. Many of us have shed a few tears—space is the last frontier, and our pioneering spirit is dead!

A similar thing happened to the SSC (“Superconducting Super Collider”), cancelled by Congress. We have ceded our lead in space exploration to the Europeans and Russia; we have ceded our lead in particle physics to the Europeans (CERN). Per capita, other countries are spending far more on non-military R&D than the U.S. Worse, that parallels huge U.S. increases in military R&D.

All that looks backward at an ignoble past where past glories are forgotten as scientific research takes a back seat. Sure, it was great to step on the moon in 1969, but can we swallow the bitter pill of knowing we couldn’t reproduce that feat now, even if there was a desire to do so?

The Martian has a more positive outlook. Forget about the moon. Let’s look to Mars and beyond. While the book and the movie still tells the tale of budget-cutting bureaucrats fighting those who want scientific progress, it shows that a few plucky heroes can still get it done! The Martian is positive and First Man is negative exactly for those reasons.

Of course, Weir’s story suffers the same failings as Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. The latter has pages and pages of narrative about undersea flora and fauna. Excess narrative is characteristic of many 19^th century novels, from Moby Dick to Pride and Prejudice, and it’s damn boring. Weir’s narrative is too—worse than a manual for turning whale blubber into lamp oil (Moby Dick), it’s a manual for growing potatoes in human excrement.

But The Martian looks forward in a positive way that First Man can never do. That makes a big difference. Both movies are sad. First Man looks sadly back at NASA’s glory days. The Martian sadly reminds us of what might have been if our leaders weren’t so stupid. Yet looking forward is always better than looking backward. We can’t change the past, but maybe we can change the future? You don’t have to see either movie to make a choice here.

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Comments are always welcome!

More than Human: The Mensa Contagion. One reviewer compared this novel to Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series. The first part is about how an ET virus creates homo sapiens version 2.0 on Earth, though. The second is about how these new humans colonize Mars and discover a starship of ETs who sent the virus to Earth. The ebook is available on Amazon and Smashwords and all its affiliates.

In libris libertas!

The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Eli Roth, dir. Based on the classic 1973 book by John Bellairs (1938-1991). Do you have Harry Potter withdrawal symptoms? Looking for a magical movie that’s fantastic fun and not full of dark, adult-level angst? Trying to find a movie based on a good book that was a fun read? Then this movie is an answer to all three questions.

Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) loses his parents in a traffic accident and goes to live with his uncle Jonathan (Jack Black) in Michigan. The uncle is a warlock; his neighbor Florence (Cate Blanchett) is a witch who lost most of her powers. The boy wants to be like his uncle, but he becomes a bit too eager to try some magic.

There’s not a slow moment in this movie that’s perfect to get you in the spirit for Halloween—a good time will be had by all kids from 9 to 90 (it might be a bit frightening for the wee ones, though). Although Owen overacts in spots, Black and Blanchett do a great job, as do some of the little kids at Lewis’s school. The special effects are what you might expect in a film where pumpkins and a lion topiary come to life, and the music was just right.

Before and during the writing of the first edition of The Secret Lab (A. B. Carolan rewrote and reedited the second edition), I studied many young adult books. This book was one of those, and I thought it was decades ahead and much better than Rowling’s verbose Harry Potter series that becomes pedantic with all the spells and encantations. My research covered most of the YA genres—sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mystery, and thrillers (but no romance)—yet The Secret Lab was more inspired by Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars. Still, I think I owe some of the flavors in my book to the ones I perused, and I remember this one. Even if you haven’t read it, see the movie. You’ll be delighted.

As an aside, will I have to wait until I’m dead to have Hollywood make a movie based on one of my books? Just askin’. Bellairs, who was born in Michigan and died in my beloved Massachusetts, left this world nearly three decades ago. And it’s interesting that Disney’s Mary Poppins sequel is being made after both Walt Disney (1901-1966) and P. L. Travers (1899-1996) are dead. The duo, who developed such a good rapport, if you believe the movie Saving Mr. Banks, now have no say about the sequel! And did Lee Child really approve of Tom Cruise taking the role of Jack Reacher?

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Comments are welcome!

A. B. Carolan, The Secret Lab and The Secret of the Urns. Both these YA sci-fi mysteries are set millennia apart in the same fictional universe as my Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection and Rogue Planet. The first book is A. B.’s rewriting and editing of my original novel. The second book is all his great work. These are excellent holiday gifts for the young adults in your family…or yourself, because we’re all young at heart!

In libris libertas!

Operation Finale. Chris Weitz, dir. With Ben Kingsley as Eichmann and Oscar Isaac as Malkin, how can you not have a great movie? There’s no mystery here—the story is a true one, and we know how it ends—but there are plenty of thrills and suspense. The viewer gets a glimpse at the spy techniques of Mossad and a hint about how the Argentine Junta learned the dirty tricks for its Dirty War from the right-wing Argentines and German and Italian fascists who fled to South America.

There’s a warning here for all people who bury their heads in the sand, overlooking the bigotry, hatred, and racism practiced by fascist fanatics. I was thinking a lot about events like Charlottesville while watching this film. Fascists took over Germany, Italy, and Japan and murdered millions; they took over Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay and murdered millions; and it could happen in the U.S. and again in Europe where the situation is looking a lot like 1930s Germany and Italy. Something for you too to think about while watching this excellent movie.

I usually don’t like do-overs, but the previous takes on the Eichmann’s capture and trial just weren’t satisfying. This movie is that and more.  The trial was where the world first heard and saw the atrocities committed by the Nazis with their “final solution”; Eichmann was one of the architects of that, if not THE architect.  He was the last main Nazi war criminal—Hitler, Goering, and Himmler committed suicide. Eichmann probably wanted Malkin to do that job for him. Eichmann was first and foremost a mass murderer, but he was also a cowardly weasel. But a quick death for him was too easy. Israel wanted to show the world his crimes. They succeeded.

Both Kingsley and Isaac do great acting jobs in this suspense flick. I hope they’re remembered for awards. We’ll see more from Isaac in the future, I’m sure.

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Goin’ the Extra Mile. MECHs = Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans. Ex-USN Master-at-Arms Mary Jo Melendez, family, and friends, including the MECHs, battle Chinese agents who want the MECH technology. This is #3 in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries.” The action never stops! Coming from Carrick Publishing this fall—look for it!

In libris libertas!

Three Identical Strangers. Tim Wardle, dir. This documentary is disturbingly sinister and strange. Triplets separated at six months are given up for adoption to three different sets of parents by a creepy adoption agency. They are reunited at nineteen. During all that time, they had no idea they were a threesome. They live it up after they reunite, enjoying a long-delayed camaraderie. Then, as one aunt says, things started turning funky. Separation anxiety at six months and possibly an inherited propensity for mental illness causes the good times to unravel.

The movie leaves viewers with more questions than answers. I won’t spoil the experience by mentioning the ones still haunting me. The movie is a conspiracy theorist’s delight. Starting with that adoption agency that misleads the three sets of parents, we learn that the triplets and their parents were unwitting participants in a larger, secret, and unpublished study, its results now squirreled away in an archive at Yale that can’t be opened until 2065. Mind-blowing! You will be thinking about this one for a long while, wondering how this could have happened…and why.

Mission Impossible: Fallout. Christopher McQuarrie, dir. Ho-hum. Boring. More car chases, motorcycle riding, and daring-do with a helicopter. More contrived plot with stupid technology. More Tom Cruise, which is even worse. (I can’t help seeing him as the antithesis of the fictional Jack Reacher.)

I guess this film proves that the summer movie offerings were really bad: I went to see this lengthy, confusing #whatever in the franchise. There’s so little originality coming out of the Hollywood mega-studios anymore…sort of like Big Five publishers and their formulaic and expensive offerings v. small presses and indie authors, who offer fresh voices and original stories. Putting the review of this disastrous movie on the same page as the one above fills me with guilt. Three Identical Strangers took the bad taste out of my mouth that Mission Impossible put there, thank goodness.

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Soldiers of God. In the future, an FBI agent and a priest must battle religious fanatics…and a criminal mastermind. This stand-alone novel is a bridge between the “Clones and Mutants Trilogy” and the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.” Great late summer and fall reading.  On sale now at 50% off on Smashwords.

In libris libertas….