Movie Review: "A Scanner Darkly"

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

From the people who brought you Waking Life, from which all I remember was thinking the artists were forced to draw with their toes during an earthquake. Well, it turns out, I actually liked the story and animation within A Scanner Darkly, and I might go back and give Waking Life another chance. A Scanner Darkly is set in the not to distant future (I believe it is "7 years from now") where a mysterious new drug, Substance D (not to be confused with the obscure metal band from California), claims most people addicts. Keanu Reeves plays an undercover agent who has fried his brain on the very drug he is trying to track down to source of. The most likely candidate for the source of Substance D, is actually a help group called "New Path" who help people recover from the drug, and incidentally is the only location in America that is not covered by security camera 24/7. The police agency, of which Keanu's character is a part of, wear "scramble suits" to keep their identity hidden from everyone. The medics at the police agency begin to discover Keanu's character is showing signs of Substance D addiction (a good album by the way - Substance D: Addictions), which may force him to have to enter New Plan...

I thought the movie was pretty entertaining, as well as the making of documentary in the bonus features of the DVD. The entire movie was first shot in live-action, then a team of animators spent about 18 months drawing the movie frame-by-frame. I had just assumed they applied some graphic algorithm on top of the raw footage, but instead, they used a technique called Rotoscoping. I recommend this movie to people who enjoy thinking about alternate realities and what the future may hold.

Movie Review: "Children of Men"

Rating: 4 out of 5 - Children of Men Official Movie Site

Set in Great Britain in the year 2027, Children of Men is a story about the salvation of mankind. In 2009, something happens around the world which causes all women to become infertile. With no new babies, the world loses hope. Riots breakout in every nation; violence and destruction become the new way of life. Great Britain stands alone as the last nation with some sort of order to it. But, order comes with a price. Great Britain has turned into a police state and every illegal immigrant is hunted down and thrown out of the country. A group of insurgents known as "The Fishies" discover a woman who has become pregnant. This woman is the salvation of mankind, a new hope where all was lost. Children of Men is the story of the struggle to get this miracle woman to "The Human Project" where she will be protected and looked after.

I thought Children of Men was a great movie. The story was captivating and the plot moved and developed quickly throughout the flick. This is a violent film about smuggling a human life through refugee camps and battlefields to reach a mysterious group of people which nobody has direct contact with. At a time in which all hope is lost, the government hands out suicide assisting drugs to anyone who wants them, but marijuana is still illegal. The twists and turns at every step of the journey kept me focused and wanting more. I recommend Children of Men to anyone who enjoys movies about humanities struggles through times of war and peril.

Book Review: Ian Fleming's "The Spy Who Loved Me"

Rating: 2 out of 5

The 10th novel in the James Bond series of books by Ian Fleming centers not around James Bond, but Vivienne 'Viv' Michel. Viv is a newspaper reporter who was raised in Canada, went to finishing school in London, and decided to take a road trip across the States after a love affair gone bad. Two-weeks into her journey from Canada down to Florida, she pulls over into the Dreamy Pines Motor Court in New York and does a stint as a receptionist for the little motel. Once the tourist season ends, Viv gets tangled up in a deadly insurance scam when two thugs come to burn down the motel along with Viv! James Bond car happens to get a flat during a storm on that very night and pulls into the Dreamy Pines Motor Court. Needless to say, James Bond saves the day and gets the girl.

This is perhaps my least favorite of the Bond books thus far (I have been reading the series in order and have 3 more books to go). The novel is a little over 200 pages long and divided into three chapters. The first chapter is all back story, what took me one sentence to summarize above took about 90 pages to cover in the book. The long drawn out back story of a young woman leaving her home in Canada, getting her heart broken twice in London, having to get an abortion in Switzerland, then back to London to buy a Vesper and take a road trip across the United States, was something I could have done without. Things started to get interesting in the second chapter. The people who hired Viv on to help, the Phancey's, convince Viv to stay the last night to wait for the motel owner with her paycheck while they leave town. Two thugs, Horror and Sluggsy, show up at the motel, barge their way into the main cabin, and prepare for a night of torchure and rape before burning the place to the ground. Finally in the third chapter, James Bond shows up and saves the day.

Once the action starts building, the book good, it just takes a long time to get there. This is the third story thus far where James Bond is not the central character: in From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming tells the story through the eyes of a SMERSH killer; and in the short story the "Quantum of Solace" (in For Your Eyes Only), James Bond is a background character listen to the story of another man. If you are interested in reading through the eyes of another character in the Bond series, I highly recommend picking up From Russia With Love.

Overall, The Spy Who Loved Me was not a bad read, but could easily be left out of the series.

Book Review: Michael Crichton's "Next"

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Michael Crichton's Next is a story about genetic engineering in the not-to-distant future. Next is a story about a transgenetic chimp who is born with human-like features, an African Grey Ash parrot who can hold a conversation and help with math homework, and a cellular line that is thought to hold the key to curing cancer. The lives of three seemingly distinct groups of individuals intertwine as legal battles, bounty-hunters, and bloodshed fill the pages of the next chapter of scientific development.

Michael Crichton tries to stress a few points throughout the book: 1. Gene patenting is wrong and should stop; genes are naturally occurring. You can't patent an atom, why can you patent a gene. 2. We need clear guidelines for human tissue; you should remain in control of what happens to your tissues. If scientists/doctors/academics want to use donated tissues for a purpose other than that for which they were donated, they should need your permission. 3. Results from gene therapy trials should be public knowledge. 4. Avoid banning research. Bans on anything just don't work. From the War on Drugs to the Prohibition, we know (and have seen) that you can not enforce a ban on anything. Banning research just shifts the research to other parts of the world or makes criminals out of scientists trying to better humanity. 5. Rescind the Bayh-Dole Act; universities that use federal funding (funding from the people) should not be able to profit from funding by selling the results of their findings back to the public.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. Not my favorite piece of work by Michael Crichton, but it does provide a rich storyline about what the near future of genetic engineering could result in and outlines some major issues in the law surrounding genetics.

Lewis Black

Last Saturday, December 9th, my dad and I went to the Rosemont Theatre to see Lewis Black perform. For those of you who don't know, Lewis Black is a comedian, a topical comic to be exact, and appears on the "Back In Black" segment of The Daily Show (he has also done a few comedy specials, movies, and CDs, as well as written a book).

John Bowman opened up the night with some witty remarks about everyday life. His bit on the inactive part of your brain fucking with the rest of the brain (i.e. playing the same melody over and over and over in your head so you can't think about anything else) was pretty funny.

I really enjoyed Lewis Black. I have listened to 4 of his 5 CDs quite a few times (I don't have Luther Burbank Performing Arts Center Blues) and I was worried he was going to repeat a lot of his old jokes (kind of like George Carlin did when I saw him). But, I was pleasantly surprised, Lewis Black performed about 90% new material. Most of the night he was just funny, but by the end of the night, I was crying in my seat I was laughing so hard.

If you get the chance, I recommend going to see Lewis Black perform. His rage-ridden rants are quite hysterical.