Of Chapters and Reels

FLASH FICTION - Presents

2006-12-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

This was my entry for Horror World's Flash Fiction contest. Although I didn't win I did get what I'd call a "positive rejection" so I'm happy. Feel free to let me know what you think!

PRESENTS

“Luke, we’re ready!”

Marni scoffed. Who could be ready for this? she thought, absently biting at her fingernail. Mom noticed her discomfort and offered her a cup of hot chocolate.

“Now, now, honey. No frowns on Christmas.”

That joyful Christmas morning smile. If only the eyes would match it.

Under the tree, Dad counted the presents, intent on playing his role in their twisted little play.

From upstairs came a grunt.

Mom continued to offer Marni the chocolate.

Footsteps began making their way down the stairs. Heavy, uneven. More like thuds.

Marni stood up. Dad shot her a glance.

Her chest heaved, restraining a scream. Not this again.

“Marni, please” Mom begged, and stretched her smile as much as she could. Her arm was getting tired of holding out the cup. She’d spill it any second now.

Marni grabbed the cup before Mom made a mess. Things were bad enough already.

Mom sighed, her eyes inviting Marni to sit back down.

Marni did. Mom grabbed her hand, kissed her fingers.

“I’m not coming next year,” Marni blurted.

“Honey…”

“I’d rather spend Christmas at the dorm, I swear to God.”

“Marni!”

Dad’s voice, stern. He bore the no-nonsense expression of a father who’s heard enough whining.

Settle down now, Marni. Play along.

Marni could see the dread behind, weighing on his features.

Luke reached the bottom of the stairs with a wail. Marni thought she was ready for the shock, every year she thought she was, but taking it in was never easy. As her younger brother made its way toward the couch, dragging the stump it had for a foot, glaring at them with that only black eye, Marni clutched a cushion until the fabric ripped under her fingernails.

“Marni, please,” Mom whispered.

Fine, she thought. She’d play along.

Dad picked up a present. Mom wound a music box. Inside a crystal dome, Santa and Jack Frost danced to “Deck the Halls”.

“This one’s for you, son,” Dad said.

Luke mumbled something, words colliding with the spit dripping from its chin.

“Oooh,” Mom said, “I wonder what it is!”

Her brother’s deformed fingers clawed at the wrapping.

It’s a train, it’s always a fucking train!

And it was, of course. Luke picked it up, held it over its head and gurgled in approval, that sick, disgusting sound.

Marni shut her eyes. Beside her, Mom cuddled Luke, laying a kiss on its leathery skin.

“This one’s for you, Marni,” she heard her father say. When she opened her eyes she saw him holding a bright red box.

“Merry Christmas, baby,” he said.

It was Luke’s guttural cry what made her take the gift.

Mom smiled.

Dad smiled.

And with every shred of will, she smiled.

Luke’s cry stopped.

I won’t be coming next year, she told herself. No way in hell.

But for now she’d play her part.

For her family. And for Luke. No one wanted a tantrum this year.

No one wanted Dad to lose another arm.

The Closeness of Friends Abroad - An AW Chain Post

2006-10-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

That's right, it's time for another AbsoluteWrite chain post. Before me, Cath was talking a little about culture clash, about how it feels for a foreigner to suddenly be immersed in a different culture, with lots of different traditions.

I have my personal story when it comes to cultures and traditions. For those who might not know, I live in Peru, which for many might be an exotic place. Well, add to that a very close, very special friend of mine on the other side of the planet, and my view of the world increases exponentially.

Two years ago (was it two?) I was in a vaery similar community called My Writer Buddy where I met a real special member called Bhaswati, but who everyone called by her nick, Sury (Suryamukhi = sunflower). Sury is from India by the way. I didn't share much with her at the beginning, other than a "how do you do?". It all change when I made a crit on one story she wrote, one I really liked. From then on we started to chat. I recall back when I worked at the office, I used to spend lunch time before the computer chatting with her for one hour. And we had so much to share, about food, religion, transportation, different local traditions. She'd talk about Durga Puja and Indian deities and I'd talk about local ingredients, rituals, etc.

Today we are the best of friends, and I dare to say our view of the world is a bit bigger. We've shared everything from pictures to national anthems and we are inseparable, even from opposite ends of the world. Who could have thought that I'd run into this very special person who lives in such an exotic country and that we'd become the best of friends? It's always a mystery the things life keeps under it's sleeve for us. Bhalo Theko, Sury! This post is for you ;) .

Enough of me now, let's see what Quidscribis at Peregrinas has to say. If you want to follow this chain, here are the participants.

TaliaMana

Enjoy!

A Walk Down the Hall of Fame - An AW Chain Post

2006-09-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's once again my turn in the AbsoluteWrite Chain Post (this is their 6th Chain and the second one I participate in). Before me, Gillian was giving us her thoughts on how she regards fame and how much a part of it would she like.

Many people who look at the writing world from the outside believe that a writer is directly linked to the concepts of fame and fortune. They are used to watching these characters in movies, with their tweed jackets signing copies and drinking wine with hot editors. Most of us within the business have a more realistic view of things. Yes, writers also struggle to make ends meet, sometimes more dramatically than others. Let's face it, the world can only have so many Stephen Kings, J.K. Rowlins or Dan Browns. Of course I believe all aspiring writers (like me) want to get up there with them, but on our way we still need to worry about the bills and that horrible day job.

But the question is... do we really want to be up there with those names? Ok, sure we want, but... are we ready for it?

As I'm sure is the case with many of the peeps at AW, I love to get that comment, that email, that post saying "wow, I loved your story, you are really good". And when it comes from someone within the business, like an editor or another writer, it's a joyful moment. I want more, and more. But just how more can I handle? Am I ready to be recognized in the street by a housewife who will run up to me and ask me to sign her copy of my latest novel? Well, I'm sure the first few times I wouldn't mind at all. But what about when the number of housewives (or any other demographic, just using an example) increases? What happens the day I don't want to be recognized when I take a stroll down the street or run some errands at the grocer?

Someone once said "you are not truly famous until you have a stalker". A man once broke into Stephen King's house raving something about one of his titles. When he didn't find King, he terrorized his wife. Fortunately no one was hurt.

Do I want to be at this point of fame? Tough one. I sure want to be recognized, but I think what I want more is the credit, the pat on the back, more than the "groupies". I don't know about the rest of you but me, I'm afraid to say I'm not the most sociable person in the world, I'm actually very stuck to myself and to my few good friends (they know who they are =:) ). I'm also not good in crowds so I avoid them as much as I can. So, up to a certain point, I enjoy my peace and quiet. Jeopardizing it is not something I'm really ready for.

Does this mean I let that affect my dream of becoming a great horror writer? Not really. I do want the fame and fortune, it's the consequences I'm wary of. But then, another saying goes "never look at horse in the mouth". Whatever the future brings I hope I can embrace it, and above all, I hope I can enjoy it.

What about you? Are you ready for the consequences?

Maybe Cath at Curioser and Curioser will want to answer to this question. In any case, I know you won't want to miss what she has to say.

If you'd like to read the other posts in this 6th chain, here are the links:

TaliaMana

Peregrinas

IndianRaj

Just a Small Town Girl

A View From the Waterfront

Southern Expressions

Mad Scientist Matt

Organized Chaos

At Home, Writing

Writing From Within

Pass the Torch

BCOM

Fireflies in the Cloud

Sounds of Serenity

Kappa no He

Infinite Vanity

Gillian Polack

Of Chapters and Reels

Curiouser and curiouser

The Road Less Traveled

Livien

Enjoy!

awchain

The Kindness of Others - An AW Chain post

2006-08-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's my turn -not to mention my first time- on the AW Chain, a great blogging exercise by the folks at www.absolutewrite.com. I was just tagged by Kelly at Organized Chaos and among the experiences she wrote about, one thing reminded me of an incident a few years back when I was still in college. You see, Kelly mentioned this friend who offered to pay her share in order for her to go on a trip with friends. It is indeed a moving experience when you meet such kindness from people who are your friends, but it becomes even more special when it comes from someone you are not that close to.

I had a 1/4 scholarship when I entered college here in Peru but that didn't make it easy for me. You see, since I was coming from a "rich hich school" (even when I was anything but rich) I was immediately tossed into the higher paying category, which was estratospherical and a very big problem for me. I remember going to the financial aid department saying my family couldn't afford this category and the lady there said something like "you should have thought of that before applying".

Anyway, I managed to get through the first couple of terms with huge sacrifices and I eventually got a job on campus with a woman who turns out was the wife of the head of Student Aid. Who knows whether I would have been able to finish college without her help, but there she was, out of the kindness of her heart, putting in the good word for me.

So eventually things got more manageable but never easy. You see, tuition was not such a big problem anymore, but courses demanded some money for some projects. On my 8th term (the program had 10) I enrolled in a TV Production course which I needed for my specialty (Media). Our project was to produce 2 episodes of a soap opera with everything that implied: actors, props, food, equipment, etc. As you can imagine, this was quite a problem for me.

When things got really bad and money began to become a problem not just for me, our group (7 of us) decided to raise funds by helping organize the faculty's fraternity lunch. So there we were, all day buying food, making sandwiches, handing out beers... and losing money by the minute. By the end of that day we were deep in the red and now we not only had the course to pay but we had to cover the losses.

So there I was. The following Monday I was ready to walk up to the teacher and say I was dropping out because I simply could not afford the project. Seconds before I walked in the group said they were having a meeting upstairs. I went there and this guy, Gastón Vizcarra, said "you don't worry, I'm gonna cover your part, you pay me whenever you can". And that was it. The group immediately moved onto some other issue and I was left there standing holding back tears (yup, tears).

Gastón was a great person, fun to be around, but we were never really close. But that was him. And that's the way some people are. They are there ready to help others. It was a touching experience I would never forget.

Eventually I did pay him back. And I passed the course too ;)

So there we go. The next in the chain is Just a Small Town Girl.

If you want to follow the whole chain, which I invite you to do, here you go:

Peregrinas

Pass the Torch

The Road Less Travelled

Fireflies in the Cloud

Even in a Little Thing

The Secret Government Eggo Project

Curiouser and Curiouser

At Home, Writing

Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

I, Misanthrope - The Dairy of a Dyslexic Writer

Beyond the Great Chimney Production Log

Flying Shoes

Everything Indian

The Hal Spacejock Series

Organized Chaos

Of Chapters and Reels

Just a Small town girl

Midnight Muse

Kappa no He

Hope you enjoyed this post, a bit different from what you might expect to find but no less fun.

awchain

Shadow Regions

2006-08-09T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here's something really special I'd like to share with all of you. As some of you might know, last year I started an anthology project called Shadow Regions. I grew up in the 80s and I remember growing up mesmerized by the different anthology TV shows that were on back then (The New Twilight Zone, Tales from the Darkside, Monsters, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc.). It was those stories which fueled my desire to become a writer, to create tales of my own, to have a taste of those worlds created by such names as Rod Serling and Richard Matheson.

I love horror, but I've always prefer the psychological aspect of horror. The unease. The fright. The restlessness. These things in my opinion don't need to be triggered by a monster, a ghost, a vampire or anything similar. They can be activitated in a very subtle way by just a peek of the supernatural, and it can happen to anyone. So that's what I wanted to get for Shadow Regions. Stories that dealt with everyday people whose lives are inevitably change by a supernatural event.

I got lots of great stories during the selection process, and it was hard to settle for only 20. But I really like every single one of them. I love the fact that John Shea's "The Bus Ride", while being the longest of the 20, pulls me into this nerve-wrecking atmosphere and doesn't let me go until the end. I love Chris Hawkins' "The Painfully Slow Seduction of Aldus Lamb" where the spark of an office crush starts the fire of a lifetime obsession. I love Trent Roman's "Lost & Found" and how it instantly took me back with a classic tale of the supernatural about two boys and a magic box. I love the fear in A.C. Wise's "Under the Bed" and the smothering heat in William Carl's "Three Days"; the anxiety in Nick Tyler's "Invisible"; the poignancy in Lon Prater's "A Road Like This, At Night"; the need for love in Brian Rappatta's "Passage". I love the way the real world collides with a picture perfect sceneario painted by Lynn Carney in "Pulse".

These are just a few. I love them all.

After so many months I am so glad to inform that Shadow Regions is finally up for presale at the Surreal Magazine website and at Shocklines.com. This beautiful trade paperback will be ready for distribution in September. In the meantime you can read a great review at HorrorScope.

Thanks to everyone who showed their support for this product. Now I can only hope that you will enjoy this collection as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Nightmares & Dreamscapes

2006-07-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

Starting tonight, TNT wil be showing "Nightmares & Dreamscapes", an anthology 4-episode series based on stories by Stephen King. Each episode will contain two stories, starting with "Battleground" (from Night Shift) and "Crouch End" (from Nightmares & Dreamscapes). Future episodes are:

July 19
"Umney's Last Case"
"The End of the Whole Mess"

July 26
"The Road Virus Heads North"
"The Fifth Quarter"

August 2
"Autopsy Room Four"
"You Know They've Got a Hell of a Band"

For complete information on the episodes, trailers, interviews, and much more, visit http://www.nightmarestnt.com

Perfect Nightmare

2006-07-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

The prolific John Saul has a new book ready to be published called In the Dark of the Night which should be hitting bookstores later this month. In the meantime, I suggest picking up his previous novel, Perfect Nightmare, a gripping thriller that will sure keep you reading past your bedtime.

Perfect Nightmare tells the story of the Kara Marshall, a woman who has made the tough decision of leaving the nice little town where she lives and moving to the city where her husband Steve works. Even though the move will help them financially and will also help to breach the ever-growing gap between Kara and Steve, the news is of course not well received by their 17-year-old daughter Lindsay. But suddenly all plans come to a screeching halt when Lindsay is kidnapped from her own room after the house is put on the market. When the police takes charge, they of course believe the kid is just making her parents feel guilty about the whole move.

Little do they know.

For they are not dealing with an isolated case. There is someone out there. A sick, delusional person who keeps watching. Someone who has been doing this again and again as he sets up the conditions to display an unimaginable scenary.

Perfect Nightmare is a pageturner. It is a great, little novel with all the elements of a classic psychological thriller: here we have a victim, a brave young girl with a mind focused on surviving; we have a parent -in this case the mother- who will stop at nothing to find her; and, we have a deranged psychopath who justifies his madness and records everything in a sick journal. Add to that the supporting neighbor who has been through a similar experience and who becomes a source of solace, and a husband whose role is pretty much decorative. The book succeeds in grabbing the reader from the start and never letting go. This is one novel that you can read in one sit (if you have the time; personally it's something I'd love to do but simply can't). The situations Saul creates and the reactions these cause on the characters are really well crafted and make the reader feel sympathy for the victims. The suspense scenes work very well and the book in general is set on moving the action forward instead of stopping at points for the sake of description or flashbacks. You could say this book has an economy of words and just goes straight to the point (as opposed to, for example, a Dean Koontz novel, where the vocabulary and word-weaving has a weight of its own). I would like to add I'm glad there was no hint of romance between Kara and her neighbor Patrick, something that has been plaguing a LOT of the thrillers I've read in the last few years.

Of course not everything in Perfect Nightmare is flawless. Unfortunately the book starts turning a bit predictable on it's last third. Saul not only leaves a few lose ends but he even raises some genuine questions in the last chapter, only to later say "guess we will never know". Mmmm. I do think we should know.

But don't let this discourage you. Pick up Perfect Nightmare. It's one of the most entertaining reads you will find.

Midnight Road

2006-06-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a really cool online contest called Midnight Road, hosted by Jason Evans in his blog, The Clarity of Night. This is a great way to get those creative juices flowing. Based on a photograph, you need to write a 250 (or less) words story (or scene) in any genre you please. Nice, huh? Take some time to check out the entries, you'll find some very neat stuff. While you're at it, check out my entry, a little flash piece called Silhouette. And if writing is your thing, what are you waiting for? Give it a try!

Below (Original fiction)

2006-05-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

Recently a dear friend told me about Tastes of the Darkness, which is described as a blog carnival of horror flash fiction. After reading the guidelines I truly found it appealing, but found one obstacle along the way. Flash fiction. Not something I'm much used to; I actually tend to write stories which are a bit longer. I did give it a shot though, and managed to produce this little oddity. The theme for this first running of the carnival was "isolation". I hope you enjoy it.

BELOW

The sounds wake him. A shout, a cry, a chuckle. He opens his eyes at first, not sure what’s going on, then sits up with a start. A familiar cold wave creeps up his back. He shudders.

They are down there, again.

More of them.

He clutches the blanket close to his chin and draws his legs toward his chest.

This is my space, the place where I go, and here I’m safe, from the things down below.

They had left him alone for a while. He had been happy, thinking they were gone for good. But they are back now. They always come back. They are loud, never idle. They drag stuff around, they shout, they laugh.

They pound.

The thuds frighten him; they are so loud. And when the thuds start, he knows what comes next.

Sooner or later they’ll want to come up.

This is my space, the place where I go, and here I’m safe, from the things down below.

Sooner or later they will come for him.

A sob escapes him. He wants to be brave, but his chest heaves up and down. He is shaking on his bed, his body rocking back and forth.

In the dark he looks for his shield. He finds it on the floor, just beside his shoes. It should be on the nightstand, must have fallen in the dark, somehow.

In the gloom of his room, he stares at the floorboards. He can feel them moving under the floor. Creeping, scuttling, running around. They are never still.

He clutches his shield to his chest and bites down on the worn head of the brown teddy. Not wanting to, but unable to stop himself, he gets out of the bed. His body cringes as his feet touch the floor. He stands up and stops.

He listens.

They laugh. They call each other. They keep moving.

He takes a step forward, and another, and one more. He can feel the vibrations under his feet.

This is my space, the place where I go…

They had come up twice before. The first time he was asleep, and their screams awoke him. They tried to take him with them. They dragged him. He had yelled for help, which never arrived while their fingers gripped his ankles, his waist, his neck.

Another step. He kneels down, the clutch on his stuffed shield never loosening.

This is my space, the place where I go…

He had fought them bravely that night, hanging on the bed’s leg for dear life, flinging shoes and toys at them. He kicked, he bit. And in the end, he won. He had found strength within, and he had been safe.

Slowly, almost holding his breath, he bends down until his ear touches the floorboards. It’s them, all right. They are laughing. Running. He can feel them closer now.

The second time they had come up, he had been ready for them. They wouldn’t get him. They wouldn’t take him from his room. This was his place.
This is my space, the place where I go, and here I’m safe, from the things down below.

He had his sword by then, and he had defeated them. It had been messy but they didn’t take him. He had cried so hard, but he had stood his ground. He was not going with them. No way he was.

A dry sound makes him flinch, and he jumps up from the floorboards. He wants to get back in bed, to cry for help. But help won’t come. He is always alone. It’s up to him to stand his ground.

There had also been a third time… but he had beaten them then. He had found a way of falling on them before they pounced on him. And how much easier it had been, taking them all by surprise. They had screeched and had lunged at him, but he had the upper hand.

Despite the dread inside him.

Despite the horror within.

He’d found a way of beating them down there. Below. Before they could even come up to get him.

A teardrop falls down his face. He sobs.

But it has to be done.

Before they get to him first.

He is ready.

Another thud. They are near.

He reaches under the bed and grabs his sword. His face, wet with tears, reflecting off the blade’s surface.

He hates looking at himself like this. His skin wrinkled, his nose plugged. The tears making a mess of his face, shimmering as they get caught on his beard.

He can hear them below. Never still. They always call at each other, they drag boxes, they bump into things. By now the people from the big truck, the ones who brought all the stuff should have left. Now it’s only the new ones down there. The ones who will come looking for him, sooner or later.

He needs to be brave. He needs to fight them.

Just like he did five years ago.

Just like he did ten years ago.

And just like he did thirteen years ago.

Waiting for the right moment, he clutches the knife close. And sobs.

Mission: Impossible 3

2006-05-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

It's here! The 2006 blockbuster season starts off with Tom Cruise and the mega-buck new sequel to the big screen version of the TV classic.

We start off with a loving couple who is ready to marry. The only problem is he is keeping something from her. You see, the man is none other than Ethan Hunt, who although still linked to the world of spionage is now working as a trainer of new recruits. However, days before the wedding Hunt is drafted for a flash mission when his brightest disciple Lindsey (Keri Russell) is captured while she was keeping tabs on the elusive Owen Davian (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Hunt then makes a new team which includes old acquaintance Luther (Ving Rhames), and newcomers Zhen (Maggie Q) and Declan (Jonathan Ryhs Meyers). The rescue mission is a bust but the team manages to get some intel that might lead them to the capture of Davian. A new mission is then carried out under the radar so that the severe head of IMF, Brassel (Lawrence Fishburne) is kept out of the loop. What follows is a story of betrayal, conspiracy and LOTS of incredible action sequences. But no matter what, Hunt knows he can count on his team.

Director J.J. Abrams does an excellent job with this new sequel, the first one that really feels like a version of the TV Series. The clue here is the team. The series was all about how the team handled these missions together. One of the biggest flaws that part 1 had was the annihilation of this team and later on the discovery that the hero had become the villain. Part 2 had virtually no team and was more centered in idolizing Tom Cruise who could rock-climb with his fingernais; this sequel was plagued with doves and acrobatics which looked great in director John Woo's previous movie Face/Off but which in MI2 were neverending and boring. In MI3 the team is always present, though a little more individualization of it's members would have been nice. This isn't a huge problem though.

Abrams, creator of a few little TV shows you might have heard of called Felicity, Alias and Lost, brings all of his Alias experience into the game and sort of merges it with Mission:Impossible (you can see traces of Alias, like the tech specialist that feels very similar to Marshall Finkman, or the way the movie is told, starting at a very critical point in the story and then telling everything as a flashback). The result is a fast-paced, interesting product which doesn't fall in the game of centering every little thing around Tom Cruise. Having a great actor like Hoffman as the ruthless villain is a great contribution to this.

My only dislike of MI3 is the terrible epilogue, which in the desire of having a happy ending sets a situation which feels forced and very sappy. But don't let this discourage you. This is an edge-of-your-seat action flick, a great way to start the summer.

Forever Odd

2006-03-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

Yup, a book. It is a movies and books crit blog after all despite me tipping the balance to one side so far.

From one of my favorite authors, Dean Koontz, comes Forever Odd, the sequel to the hit that was Odd Thomas back in 2003. For those of you who haven't met him, Odd Thomas ("Odd" is actually his name)is a likeable young man who lives in a small town called Pico Mundo in California. An ordinary guy as any you might meet but for one peculiarity. Odd Thomas can see the dead. They appear to him unexpectedly, some looking as good as they did on their best day, some looking as frightening as the day they died. They seem to seek for solace in Odd, even if they can't talk to him. And Odd does his best to do whatever he can for them, even if it involves risking his own life to bring a murderer to justice.

The original novel (SOME SPOILERS IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS) introduced us not only to Odd, but to the picturesque residents of Pico Mundo (and not less important, the linguering spirit of Elvis Presley who for some reason now lives with him), in a day when their lives are threatened by a looming tragedy. By the end of that adventure, Odd managed to save the town, and lose what was most precious to him, his beloved girlfriend Stormy Lewellyn.

The sequel finds Odd a year after his loss. He has done his best to move on with his life, but secretly longs for the day he is reunited with Stormy in what she called "service" (acording to her we get three shots at life: the first is boot camp, when we basically train; the second is service, when we go through the real thing; ad the third is one of bliss). Odds attention however is quickly drawn in another direction when he receives the visit of the recently dead Dr. Jessup, who has just been murdered. Odd rushes to the Jessup residence where he realizes that his close friend Danny (Dr. Jessup's son who has a condition known as "brittle bones", that is, his bones are so fragile they can break by the slightest strain) has been abducted. With the aid of yet another gift, that of being able to be drawn psychically to a person he wants to find, Odd is lead through a system of sewers all the way to an abandoned hotel/casino in the middle of the desert, where Danny is held captive by a mysterious woman called Datura, and her two minions, Andre and Robert. When Datura exposes her true motivations, Odd will be forced to outwit Datura in a desperate effort to survive the night.

Forever Odd has a strong opening, with a first set of chapters that move at a quick speed and reel the reader in. However, as Odd is drawn through the sewer system and then has to find his way through the maze that has become this hotel, we realize this second delivery is not as effective as the original. The main reason: we are not in Pico Mundo anymore. The characters that gave the previous novel a fondness of its own are virtually absent here or appear in a minimum number of pages. As opposed to the first novel which had Odd running around town, trying to put the pieces of a mystery together with the aid of his friends and neighbors, here the number of characters is greatly reduced and most of the action finds Odd by himself.

The other big problem is the villain. Koontz can be brilliant when he creates evil characters. He can make them as evil as can be (Edgler Vess in Intensity), demented while living their own delusion (Corky Laputa in The Face, Junior Cain in From the Corner of his Eye), eerily disturbed (Bruno in Whispers) or as bizarre and unique as you will ever find (Konrad and Punchinello Beezo in Life Expectancy). Here Koontz has a golden opportunity bringing a female villain that allows so much in terms of character, but he misses the opportunity making her basically an annoying character who is taken out of the equation without major glory. The fact that the Odd novels are narrated in first person does not allow for deeper glances at the villain, but Datura in this case is a wasted character. Not to mention her minions whose motivations -and some of their actions- we never get to know.

The final problem with this novel is a mechanism which Koontz has used in previous novels but which makes readers like me cringe. That mechanism is called Deux ex Machina (and for those who don't know what it means, it refers to the intrusion of a totally implausible element that brings a situation, from where there apparently is no way out, to a most unsatisfying solution). The way the problem with Datura is solved could have probably worked if there had been hints about it (no matter how subtle) at some point in the story. However, the way it happens feels like cheating the reader and only proves the point that the villain in this novel didn't live up to her potential.

Now don't get me wrong. Forever Odd is an enjoyable, fast read. It reunites us with one of Koontz's most beloved characters ever and it delivers a story with many of the suspenseful moments that the author masters so well. However, the long-awaited sequel doesn't live up to the expectations set by its predecessor and would have benefitted from that uniqueness that Koontz can provide to his characters, especially the evil ones.

Zathura

2006-02-11T19:30:00.000-08:00

Board game anyone? The creator of Jumanji is back, this time with a new little game that's ready to shoot you into a galaxy far, far away in the new family movie Zathura.

Danny (Jonah Bobo) is a likable 6-year old with a vivid imagination and who tries his best to get his older brother Walter (Josh Hutcherson) --an obnoxious boy who can't wait to grow up-- to play with him. After their father (played by Tim Robbins) leaves them alone in their old house for a short while, Danny stumbles upon an old board game called Zathura, an old fashioned space adventure game. After he fails to get Walter interested, he decides to play anyway and takes a turn. His piece, represented by a little rocket, moves a certain number of spaces and he gets a card that says "Meteor Shower". What follows is an actual meteor shower inside the house which the boys barely escape. When the danger is apparently past, Danny takes a look outside, only to realize that their house is now hovering in the middle of outer space. Now they have to play the game and finish if they ever want to return home.

If you had the chance to watch Jumanji back in the 90s you might think that the storylines are very similar, and they are. In Jumanji a couple of friends played a board game which unleashed on them a bizarre jungle with stampedes taking the streets, children transforming into monkeys, and a wild Robin Williams who had been stuck in this world for years. This time we also have an ally character, an astronaut played by Dax Sheperd (Punk'd) who seems to have the upper hand on this world. In Jumanji, the boys were forced to play the game which became ever more dangerous until one of them got to the end.

The question you have to ask is... yeah, Zathura is basically a new version of Jumanji... is that so bad? Yes, the similarities are many, but Zathura manages to spin a tale of its own spinning around the tense relationship of the two boys, one who blames the other for everything wrong in his life (there is a especially moving moment where Walter even blames Danny for their parents divorce, and little Danny hurling the game and running away). The only problem is that perhaps this time the story doesn't really come round full circle. While Jumanji wrapped up to a very good conclusion, Zathura seems to leave a few questions unanswered, in particular those that have to do with the astronaut.

The basic problem with Zathura is that anyone who has seen Jumanji knows where things are heading up to the very end. Even the astronaut's role in the story becomes apparent after a few minutes of him appearing.

However I don't want to base my opinion of this film solely on its predecessor. Zathura is a nice family movie, well made, nicely acted, and with an interesting storyline. Might not be Spielberg, but director Jon Favreau (Ben Affleck's lawyer partner in DareDevil) manages to get a decent product which doesn't fall on boredom, with some very good moments (particularly the first time we see the house in space) and with a production that centers mroe on the story than on CGI and overdone effects (the creatures and effects in Zathura are old fashioned, which goes very well with the "vintage" feel of the game itself).

A movie with flaws, maybe not as good as the original but which manages to bring a nice story with not many pretentions and a happy ending. A nice matinee family movie. Nothing more, but then, no need for it to be anything more.

They

2006-02-11T18:53:00.000-08:00

A group of college guys who used to have night terrors in their childhood are stalked by creatures who live in the dark and who want to take them away into their world in They an under-the-radar horror flick which supposedly had Wes Craven behind it, though his presence isn't quite obvious beyond the "Wes Craven presents" tag.

Julia (Laura Regan) is a down to earth co-ed about to major in psychology. She splits her time between studying and her paramedic boyfriend Paul (Marc Blucas, from Buffy, Season 4) and all seems to be smiles and kisses until Julia receives a call from a childhood friend called Billy. When she goes to meet him, Billy, a freaky guy full of scars and zombie-like bags under his eyes, goes on a paranoid rant about things in the dark trying to catch him, only to put an end to his life by blowing his brains off in front of Julia. Short after, at Billy's funeral, Julia meets two of Billy's friends (Ethan Embry and Dagmara Dominczyk), who like Billy and Julia used to have night terrors when little. From that moment, Julia begins to be followed by fierce creatures that are slowly taking over the country in an ever-spreading darkness and who want to take her away with them.

They starts very much like another "boogeyman movie" Darkness Falls, with a little boy scared of the dark and a mother who tells him there's nothing to be afraid of. The initial sequence, as quite a few in the movie, is pretty effective. The creatures in this film are pretty decent, they remain in shadows most of the time and don't seem to be overdone by the CGI department. This is a movie that not only relies on the visuals (the slithering movements of the creatures, especially in the subway sequence, is really good) but also in sound.

However not everything's green in this valley.

The real problem with They lies on it's story, which seems so forced that you want yell at the writers. This movie is plagued with characters making stupid moves. For example, Ethan Embry is caught in his studio by the creatures who are able to cause blackouts wherever they go. Here you have this guy trying to escape with his life. So what do you do when you want to escape a building where the power is hanging on it's last thread? Well this guy has no better idea than getting inside an elevator, where, what do you know, he gets stuck. Later, in one of the worst character moves ever, Julia runs out of her apartment trying to survive the night so the best place for her to go is... the subway! Not only that, after she gets on the subway station she gets freaked out because the gate closes. It doesn't end there... she later takes a train and when the train stops, she gets out and onto the tracks and walks into the tunnel, and yeah later she tries to stop another train by running in front of it. If the creatures didn't get her, I would have taken my shot.

But apart from the characters the film's plot tries to hold water and fades. From the beginning we are told about these power failures all over the country which seem to be escalating to a point where citizens are asked to save all the energy they can. This marks the taking of these creatures of the dark. However we are later told that only people who have gone through a very traumatic event can see and be hunted by these creatures.

Sad, because not all of the movie is bad. The film has good moments and an enigmatic ending which could have been much more powerful if the rest of the movie had been treated in a different way. However, They doesn't get to take off and in the end we are left with a boring movie with some good moments. Another proof that sometimes the direction is not all there is to mind. Story weighs a lot too, and in the case of They, it lacks strength.

Doom

2006-01-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while since I last posted here, but decided that I should do a comeback so here I am. Now, people who have read my previous posts have mentioned that I'm sort of too benevolent wit some of my critiques. Me, I like to point out the good stuff about all movies I see, even if the bad stuff outnumbers the virtues. This approach however becomes impossible when you run across a movie so bad you simply don't care mch for it. Last year it was Boogeyman. This year, the first movie I caught turned out to be a bad start. I'm talking about Doom.

I'm pretty sure fans of the videogame have waited years for a movie to be released. I don't consider myself a die hard videogame fan but I do like to get into a FPS every now and then. However, from my experience, movies based on games have never been succesful, bringing results such as House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark (I must say I haven't seen them but I've heard from videogame fans all around that they are awful), Alien vs. Predator and yes, even lighter games like the terrible Super Mario Bros. movie back in the 90s. Maybe the one with a better outcome was Resident Evil, though it's fans who have the last word.

In Doom, we have an elite commando team lead by Sarge (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) that must go to Mars through a portal on Earth called "The Arch". His mission is to secure a research facility after news of an attack. Upon their arrival they learn from doctor Grimm (Rosamund Pike from Die Another Day) that six scientists are unaccounted for. Of course the team is eventually hunted down by mutant creatures with a taste for maiming and evisceration. Not only that but anyone who was killed by one of these is then infected and comes back from the dead as a hideous monster... unless they were a sweetie when they were alive, because all non-meanspirited people don't turn to monsters when infected but gain superpowers. Sort of a bad breed between a vampire movie and an aliens movie. Soon enough, Sarge starts showing a darker side and it's up to Reaper (Karl Urban for The Chronicles of Riddick), who is also Dr. Grimm's brother, to save the day, but not of course not before finding out what The Rock is cooking.

Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak (Exit Wounds), the problem with Doom is that it's terribly BORING, especially during the first hour where pretty much nothing happens. Remember when you start a new videogame and you walk around for a very long while and you find nothing and you get really frustrated? This is the same thing. The problem is the movie never gets any better. The creatures are just these humanoid hulky messes that always appear in shadows, we never get a clear view of them. Many times the camera movements are so fast that we can't make much sense of what's going on. And then there are the deaths. They are gruesome, they are plenty. But the movie is so unappealing and flat that we don't really care. At one point you simply lose track of who's dead or not and this is mainly because none of these characters have any depth. The only exception is Reaper who has a haunted face and a past, therefore he must be the hero.

On the last third of the movie we have a sequence where we enter the FPS (first person shooter) point of view. And yes, we are suddenly watching Doom! Yes, this is just like the videogame! Yes, fans of the game are clappign and cheering! And it does work but only for about a minute after which it just becomes weird and you are suddenly watching a trailer for the game in the big screen. While when playing you never know if you are going to be killed the next second, here you just sit and watch CGI monsters get blown to smitherens. That is the biggest problem with this movie. There is no suspense whatsoever.

The only part of the movie which actually stirs some interest takes place when we realize that Sarge is not the good guy since he kills an innocent guy. Thus, he must be a mean guy! Any ideas what might happen next? The moment of interest then fades again and we are left waiting for The Rock's next appearance, because, this is Rock after all so you bet there will be some wrestling.

Nothing against Johnson really, who has lately been seen in movies where although playing the tough guy, he's been in more humorous situations such as The Rundown or Be Cool. The trouble with Doom goes beyond The Rock or the characters. It is about a boring script taken to the screen with lighting that doesn't work, action sequences that don't generate any emotion, a plot that glues things together as effectively as a paper clip, and in general, a formula that has been worn down by previous movies that didn't work either.

My advise, stick to your joystick.

Madagascar

2005-07-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

Animals are on the loose and going "for the" wild in this new animated feature from Dreamworks, creators of Shrek.

Among the many attractions of the Central Park zoo in New York the biggest of them is no doubt Alex the lion (voice by Ben Stiller) a feline who loves his condition as the center of attention. Alex's closest buddies include sassy hippo Gloria (Jada Pikett Smith), hypochondriac giraffe Melman (David Schwimmer) and his best friend Marty the zebra (Chris Rock). In contrast to Alex however Marty dreams with wide pastures where he can run free and live surrounded by nature. When Marty discovers that a group of commando penguins are planning a breakout for Antartica, he realizes his dream of living in the wild might not be that far fetched. After Marty escapes and mistakingly heads for Connecticut (because it has wide open spaces), the three amigos go to the rescue only for all of them to be captured in Grand Central Station and shipped to a wildlife reserve in Africa. The crates however fall off the ship and the four animals end up in Madagascar, an island where they are adopted by a community of lemurs. Everything seems likea great party until Alex's carnivore instinct begins to kick in and he starts seeing his friends as food.

Madagascar is a cute, fun movie about friendship and dreams. It's style is more charicaturesque (the characters were not modeled to be accurate representations of real life creatures but sort of cartoonish versions) and there is a tendency to physical comedy as opposed to other productions that might stand more on wit or sentiment. There are some adult oriented jokes but this one is for the kids, with characters they will most likely be thrilled with. Thus, Madagascar doesn't have that satirical flavor that made Shrek a favorite in the not so young, nor does it have a story as immersing as Pixar's Finding Nemo.

In a technical aspect, the animation is pretty good, specially in Alex where we can see this physical degradation from the proud, well groomed zoo attraction to this psychotic, hungry animal with steak hallucinations.

The Amityville Horror

2005-07-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

Twenty six years after the original movie, the new version of The Amityville Horror is a tremendous improvement over its predecessor.

The Amityville Horror, inspired by actual events which spawned a non-fiction novel by Jay Anson upon which the movie is based, tells the story of the Lutz family who buy a new house in Amityville, New York as a starting point for a new life. George Lutz (Ryan Reynolds) has married Kathy (Alias's Melissa George) a widow with three children and is on that tricky stage where he needs to show he is not a replacement father, but a new member of the family. The problem is that the previous owner his wife and kids in that same house, arguing that voices told him to do so. Strange events begin to take place: George begins to have fits of rage, little Chelsea says she can talk to "Jodie" a spectre only she can see, and some inexplicable things start to happen, like a dead dog barking in the middle of the night or windows in the house opening by themselves.

The good thing about this new Amityville, which was directed by newcomer Andrew Douglas, is that it fixes many of the things that made the original movie suck. For starters the '79 version was excruciatingly long mainly because focus turned to secondary storylines that did little to advance the plot such as the brother's wedding or the whole story of the priest played by Rod Steiger. In this modern version the priest (played by Phillip Baker Hall) has only a couple of scenes and that's really all that is needed. This movie is 90 minutes long and it makes a good use of those 90 minutes.

Another significant change from the old version is the importance given to the kids, who were almost background in 79. Here there is tension between George and the oldest child as would be expected with a new father figure. This however got me thinking... This story is supposed to be set in the late 70s. However it doesn't feel like it. If you miss the cars and clothes and just focus on the movie it really feels like it could be happening right now.

The movie manages to give some genuine scares. There is a good use of editing and great timing specially towards the end (another thing that the original lacked). However this is of course a big budget movie made by a big studio so you can bet you'll get your share of spectacular scenes. And it is interesting how these two versions of the same stories can have such opposite endings. One of them, the most anticlimatic finale with James Brolin entering the haunted house to rescue... his dog. This one with a spectacular chase on the roof. The new ending is gripping and suspenseful, but it IS a bit too much. I'm pretty sure the Lutz's did no acrobatics on the roof in real life nor did they flee by speedboat... but then, I wasn't there.

Some people have mentioned they were disappointed by the new Amityville movie because it was a total diversion from the true story. That might be true. My advice: forget about the Amityville background. Watch this movie as if it were a new approach to the haunted house tale and you will be entertained.

King Kong - Trailer

2005-07-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

The trailer for the new King Kong movie was released this week. The movie will open in December.

Check it out at:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/king_kong/

War of the Worlds

2005-06-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Warm and toasty, just out of the oven, the new War of the Worlds is here (or as I prefer to call it: Independence Day 2).

Directed by Steven Spielberg, this new version of H. G. Wells' classic opens up with a little prologe narrated by Morgan Freeman. This little touch tries to tie the movie to the book's introduction which relates the musings of the lead character about mankind's everyday customs being watched by intelligent, envious martians. The movie centers on Ray (Tom Cruise) a divorced father who has to take care of his two kids for the weekend, one, Robbie, a teenager who doesn't want anything to do with his father and calls him by his first name; the other, Rachel, a (too) cute young girl who is intelligent, considerate, gets humus delivered for dinner and dresses in lots of colors. Although the baseline for the "not-involved-enough" father has been done millions of times, some of the dialogue says much more about this family than their actions. While hiding out in the mother's house, Ray makes some peanut butter sandwiches until Rachel says she is allergic. When an upset Ray asks her "since when?" she simply answers "Birth". Later, when they are on the run and Robbie wants to follow the army and kill one of the aliens for a change, Rachel screams at him that he can't leave because if he does there will be no one to take care of her.

But going back to what we're here for... aliens and lots of f/x. Similar to it's cousin Independence Day, people stop and heads tilt up when the skies begin to darken and a whirlpool forms. All of a sudden lightning starts to fall, only it falls exactly in the same place for 26 times. The result is something growing under the road. And then the destruction begins. From the place of impact emerges an enormous mechanical being. The interesting thing is that what this thing brings to mind are the huge mosquito legged shooters from the game Half Life 2. After just standing menacing but idle the machine begins to walk and emits bolts of light that destroy everything in their path and pulverizes any human beings it touches. This is just the first of many for after a while we find out that there are lots of these things all over the world. Thus, the War of the Worlds begins, although this war looks more like an annihilation (the actual fighting back from the humans happens in a very limited number of scenes). The aliens (no mention of martians of course) are here and they want to wipe us out, harvest our blood, spew our remains and fill our land with some red vein-like stuff.

Confession: I have never read the novel by H. G. Wells, though I am about to do so. For this reason I cannot compare much. One thing I do believe however, is that the events in the book take place over a number of days, while this movie gives the impression of happening over a period of one or two days tops. I did have the opportunity to see the original movie however many years ago, though I must say I can't remember much. I also had the chance to watch the TV series from the 8Os. In any case there are some classic elements and visuals to War of the Worlds, the most famous of course being the alien hand with the three fingers that ended in this sort of suction cups. You won't be disappointed, the hand appears in all it's glory. However we not only get to see the hand. Even though the trailers have been very secretive about the lok of the new aliens, they actually have some scenes. As you can expect, a lot of money and time in a digital studio went into the creation of these beings (which again have a drift of similarity to the aliens in ID4). This can be a problem however, because this is one of those movies that proves that the less you shw, the more you scare. Even though the scenes of destruction are visually striking, Spielberg accomplishes the more scary moments when the characters are hiding in their basement. They hear a lot of noise, they see ots f lights outside, we know something is happening, we know we are in the middle of chaos and destruction... but we can't see. We don't know what is actually happening. It is that not knowing what makes the moment scary. Personally I would have preferred to see only the alien hand and not the alien itself.

Other classical elements like the peculiar sound of the alien rays being fired are not in this movie.

However one of the most interesting things is that the new War of the Worlds has been brought up to our present day in more ways than just technological. The best example of this is that when Ray grabs his kids and flees while everything is exploding behind him, little Rachel starts screaming and asks the hallmark questions of the movie: "Is it the terrorists?"

I want to say a few things about the ending without actually spoiling it. I'm not sure how the book ends, I imagine the same. I do remember the ending of the original movie. They are basically the same. Once again we have Morgan Freeman with a little epilogue. The only thing I would like to say is... you might be disappointed. You might find the ending sudden and even stupid. But this is it. It's supposed to be ironic. All I can say is, don't expect a huge super fight that takes the final half hour.

Since I compared this movie to Independence Day I must also mention the diferences. This movie is more about the survival of mankind from the point of view of this family. There are no loud, funny heroes in this movie and no one will be punching any aliens in the face and carrying their carcass through the desert a-la-Will Smith. Spielberg manages to keep this adventure within the two hour boundary thus avoiding to stretch the story more than needed as in the first collaboration with Cruise, Minority Report.

War of the Worlds is great visually and has great moments of tension, but it is the claustrophobic moments, the times of waiting in the dark which are more effective than the aliens destroying everything in front of them. A great example of this takes place in a confrontation with Ray and a crazy survivor played by Tim Robbins. Their struggle takes place behind a closed door. We never get to see what happens. Yet, it is a powerful.

A new War of the Worlds, a modern version with lots of eye candy and some tense scenes. The ending might have too many rose shades for some, I particularly would have accepted a grimmer outcome for Ray and his family.

This was after all a war.

Batman Begins

2005-06-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

Finally! Batman done right.

In the last few years the Caped Crusader has had to face his share of evil, not only in Gotham City but also from stylish Hollywood producers that managed to ridiculize the franchise more and more with every deliver. Althouth the first Batman (directed by Tim Burton) had that dark atmosphere which was expected, the movie was not about the hero but was more concentrated on the villain, an overweigth Joker played by Jack Nicholson. The script took a lot of liberties including changing the background story to make the Joker the killer of Bruce Wayne parents back when he was a child. Add to that a soundtrack by Prince and you had a very peculiar Batman. Years later came Batman Returns, with a much more caricaturesque Gotham City. However ths was not the big problem. The real probem came with the new villains (The Penguin played by Danny DeVito and Catwoman played by Michelle Pfeiffer) who totally opaqued the hero.

As if that wasn't bad enough, part 3 brought a new director, a new vision and a new set of problems. Gotham City became even more psychodelic; Robin was included in the plot and in order to quiet the ever existing rumors of homosexuality between the heroes, Nicole Kidman was brought as Bruce Wayne's couple. Once again however Batman was left behind by a pair of villains that were no longer sinister, but plain annoying. After all, what can you expect if the hero is played by Val Kilmer and the villains are played by Tommy Lee Jones (as a horrendous Two-Face, talk about killing a very interesting character) and Jim Carrey (The Riddler).

And then... the coup de grâce. Batman and Robin brought a metrosexual Batman played by George Clooney, a pair of unappealing villains played by Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzenegger (yes, Arnold), a script full of "witty one-liners" like the infamous "That's why Superman works alone", a Batgirl that was Alfred's niece, and a Gotham City set that used all the colors in the rainbow.

Was it too hard to get Batman right? Batman was not about villains, not about style, and certainly not about suits with nipples. Batman was about darkness, revenge and a redemption that never arrived.

But now Christopher Nolan (director of Memento) does tings as they should have been done from the very beginning. Batman Begins finds an adult Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) picking fights in a prison in a distant Asian country. There he is approached by a man named Ducard (Liam Neeson) who offers him the training --both physical and spiritual-- he needs to fight his demons. Ducard is the right-hand of a wiseman called Ras-Al-Ghul, a mysthic guru with his own ideas of chaos and order. Via a set of flashbacks we learn the story of Bruce Wayne, his phobia to bats as a child which indirectly led to the murder of his parents. After growing up under the care of hs guardian/butler Alfred (Michael Caine), a bitter Bruce decides to act as executioner when the man who murdered his arents cuts a deal with the district attorney. However, a crime lord gets to the man before Bruce can actually kill him, resulting in a sense of failure and the contempt from his love interest, the assistant DA played by Katie Holmes.

By the time Bruce finishes his training and goes back to Gotham City, the city has become a nest of crime and his state has been cleverly stolen by the guardian of his assets, played by Rutger Hauer. It is here where Bruce decides it is time to take justice into his hands. Gaining access to a secret department in his father's organization run by Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman) Bruce is able to round up a suit, a set of weapons and gadgets and, of course, a vehicle. Night falls, Batman rises. But the deed won't be a simple one, for there is someone with a master plan, the evil psychiatrist Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy from 28 Days Later), who as "Scarecrow" spreads a fear inducing toxin.

The choice of villains for this new Batman movie was simply perfect. Bruce Wayne needs to face his fears both real (his painful childhood memories) and artificial (the dread caused by the Scarecrow's gas). However these villains, as compared to the previous ones, are seriously played. They have their motivations, they have their plots, but they don't make a spectacle about it that will lead to stealing camera time from the hero. Even Gary Oldman, known for his very loud and sometimes oveacted representations, delivers a quiet Detective Gordon that notwithstanding pairs with the hero efficiently. This new Batman is all about the story. It's about an evolution and a new beginning. The mention of the Joker at the end of the movie is simply one of the greatest momens this series had ever had.

My only regret is that we never get to see the Scarecrow with his actual costume, he only wears the mask in this movie, so if you have been wondering why you haven't seen scenes of him in the trailer, you know why now.

There have been rumors of Sean Penn as the Joker for a new sequel, we'll have to wait and see.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

2005-06-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

Long time no see!

I had planned to talk about these movies I saw last week but I kept procrastinating. Well, no more.

The first of these movies I watched almost two weeks ago and it was simply great. In Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie star as a couple who has lost the spark over their five (or six, they are not sure about that) years of marriage. What none of them know however is that the other one has a secret, and a big one that is. Both John and Jane are assassins, working for different, and apparently rival, organizations. When both are assigned the same mark, and each of their attempts makes the other one fail, they come face to face with the striking truth. Now their agencies want them each to kill their counterpart, resulting in a string of hilarious action packed situations that lead to the rekindling of their relation.

Director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) manages to mix the right amount of comedy and action. The movie starts with Pitt and Jolie talking to a marriage counsellor --whose face we never see-- and from that instant we get a clear idea of the movie's vein. The couple --who met in an hispanic country in the middle of a revolution-- is bored and later we see why as they get up in the morning and go at their usual morning routine talking about traffic and a dinner they have to attend but don't really want to. Before the night arrives however, John has killed four men while passing for a clumsy poker player, and Jane has snapped the neck of an arms dealer and then plunged 40 ft to the ground (while taking a hair strand off her face). We begin to catch glimpses of the real John and Jane Smith, he keeping an arsenal in the basement; she, in the kitchen.

Then the secret is out, and the fireworks begin.

The chemistry between Pitt and Jolie is absolutely great. My favorite part is when both of them are escaping in a high-speed chase, shooting at their persecutors while comparing each other's "lies" about their marriage. At one point, while they are in mortal danger, John confesses he was actually married once. Jane loses it and starts hitting him. Scenes of striking visual appeal like when Jolie and her vixen squad escape from their hideout by sliding down wires, are mixed with funny, precise dialogue, the sort of "Let me drive, I'm the suburban Soccer Mom, sweetheart" or "You keep undermining my authority in front of the hostage".

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a movie that will guarantee you a good laugh without sacrificing the thrills (you'll still get yor generous share of explosions, shootings and car crashes).

Cool Stuff on the Way

2005-06-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened today, both in the US and in Peru. I plan to see it next week so keep an eye on my thoughts. Also next week is the World Opening of Batman Begins. I had the chance of listening to Ebert & Roeper's critic, they said it's the best Batman movie ever. I hope they are right, I'm sick of the Schumacher versions. Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) directs, so there's hope.

In books, this week was released Jeffery Deaver's latest novel, The Twelfth Card. As if a new Deaver novel was not enough reason to get it, there's the bonus that it's a new Lincoln Rhyme novel, two (or three?) years after The Vanished Man.

I got three audiobooks yesterday, all Koontz novels: Odd Thomas, Life Expectancy and Velocity. I'll be writing about them eventually.

House of Wax

2005-06-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't seen it:

Six friends go on a road trip with hopes of getting tickets from a scalper for the first game of the season. We have our usual set here: the hot girl with her feet on the ground, her goody-two shoes boyfriend, her thug brother, a not so bright annoying friend and a horny couple (Paris Hilton is in the cast, guess which of these is her character). When it gets too dark they decide to camp and wait till morning to continue the journey. Their bonfire is interrupted by a shady stranger who arrives in a truck and just stands there before thug brother smashes his headlight with a bottle. The next day the bunch wakes up (at 2pm) only to realize one of their cars is busted. After falling into a pit full of roadkill our female lead and her good boyfriend are offered a lift to the nearest town by a creepy fellow. They arrive to what looks like a deserted town, home of Trudy's House of Wax (which is literally made of wax), only to be hunted by a maniac (and we know he's a maniac because his headlight is smashed) who wants to make them part of the wax collection. You see the figures in the house are real people coated in wax...

For those who have seen it (spoilers):

The movie opens with a flashback of two little boys, one is well mannered, the other one apparently so psychotic that needs to be restrained so tight that his skin rips open. We never see their faces however. When later in the movie we realize there are two killers, one of them totally disfigured, it's hard not to add two plus two. Why conceal the boys' identities at the beginning of the movie? Because, you guessed it, the disfigured boy was the good one and the normal one was the psycho.

However... Both are psychos! If anything, the disfigured guy (Vincent) is even more dangerous than his brother Bo. Not only that but we have to watch a ridiculous ending where the sheriff gets the disturbing news that the mother of these lunatics "didn't have 2 sons; she had 3". Ooooooooooh. This "twist" is so pointless that one can only shrug. So what? Is this 3rd brother supposed to rebuild the house of wax and keep killing? No! All he did was be creepy. Is that a shocker? Is it a surprise that the only other guy in the cast, the one who pointed them in the direction of the town, was actually involved? No, this is just a lame attempt to close the movie with a so-called surprise.

Let's go back to our "heroes". Here you have this young couple who goes into this ghost town. Freaky place. Me, I'd like to get out of there fast. But, this guy can't resist peeking inside this House of Wax, which looks more abandoned than the town itself. Later when he is invited to the house to use the bathroom he leaves his girlfriend outside in an old truck with a complete stranger while he explores some of the rooms.

Our heroine has her lips glued shut and has to pry them open. One of her fingers is cut off too. Yet this girl picks up a baseball bat and turns the psycho's head into pulp. Talk about fast healing.

And finally, the way they escape from the melting house has to be one of the most ridiculous scenes out there. You have this enormous building literally melting around them, they have the wit to try to dig their way out through a wall, only to emerge inside the HOUSE OF WAX sign two floors above the ground. So it's really convenient that the whole sign detaches and carries them down to the ground like an elevator and then waits for them to jump off before melting.

My thoughts:

Far from being a film that stands on its own, House of Wax is a collection of references to other flicks. You can easily spot elements from Friday the 13th, Jeepers Creepers, Halloween, Psycho, among others. This is one of those films that could have been much more appealing with a better treatment of the story. Siamese twins stuck face to head. One an artist, the other one evil. A town where every single person is a wax figure. There is so much material there for a great story. However this movie takes the easy road, and rounds up its good share of gushing wounds and slashed ankles. The movie is never faithful to its plot, and the characters engage in ludicrous behavior in order to set up the slayings. The ending is pointless and just adds to the neverending string of clichés.

Finally I want to say this much about Paris Hilton's film debut. There are two kind of people out there: those who frown at the idea of watching her in a movie and those who can't wait. I'm among the frowners. That said, I have to say, she was actually pretty convincing in her role. There's no heavy drama of course, but I thought she kind of gave a twist to the "skank" character, making it more digestable instead of plain obnoxious. Of course the writers did throw in a strip scene and a hinted scene of oral sex. I wonder how she would do in a different role.