TV Show Review: Marvel's Iron Fist

When Netflix first announced they would create a series of original mini-series starring Marvel characters, I was excited for only two of the four characters announced: Daredevil and Iron Fist. I was pretty upset that I had to wait years since Iron Fist was the last one to debut, but I figured it would be worth it. Oh, Netflix, why? Why?

Marvel's Iron Fist is a 13-episode Netflix original series based on the Iron Fist character in Marvel Comics. It is rated TV-MA for a few brief scenes of gore, but otherwise is pretty PG.

The Good

Story. This series actually has a pretty story, it's just badly told. But I was hooked enough to finish this in three days.

Joy and Ward. The brother and sister duo who run Rand are the most interesting characters in the show and actually show a lot of range and go thru a lot of changes. Both the characters and the acting are actually really interesting.

The Bad

Pacing. The biggest problem with this series, and probably the reason so many people are hating on it, is the sloooooooow pacing. The first two episodes could easily have been wrapped up in one episode without losing a single thing.

Fan Film Quality. The second major problem that has most people upset is the low quality. After the masterpiece that is Daredevil, fans expect a similar quality. Jessica Jones and Luke Cage were both let downs and not in the same league, and this was another rung down the ladder. The acting was stiff. The dialogue was amateurish and too wordy. The fight scenes were few and poorly executed. The storytelling was weak. The direction was not at a professional level. The cinematography was disappointing. It really felt like a couple of high school buddies went out behind one of their houses and shot this in a weekend.

Weak Source Material. There is a reason Iron Fist is not one of the main character in the Marvel Universe and why he hasn't had a long running series. He just isn't that interesting. There aren't that many good stories to tell with him. He works much better as a minor character in someone else's story.

Cry Baby Protagonist. It really annoyed me how petty and easily angered Iron Fist was. He encountered the smallest obstacle and suddenly he flew into a violent rage. And his confidence swung from ridiculous bravado to a loss of all hope with no degrees in between. Not what I want to see from my heroes.

Power Constantly Shorting Out. One of the really cool things about superheroes that sets them apart from every other genre is their superpowers. I love to see the powers, I love to see what unique and clever ways characters come up with using those powers. I don't like seeing powers on the fritz for the entire 13 hours. Why even bother having them if that's what you're going to do? It didn't add to the story or the character.

No Costume. Iron Fist has one of the few comic book costumes that could be directly translated onto the screen and both look cool and make sense for the character (minus the giant yellow color from the 70s), and yet no attempt was made to show any sort of a costume. And the character had long, curly hair and a beard, two things that he doesn't have in the comic. Something that's made the latest Marvel adaptions so successful is their faithfulness to the comic. This is a huge step backwards by throwing away so much of the comic.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I was so excited for this series. I wish they had a better director who knew how to shoot a movie and pace it. I wish better actors had been hired. I wish the script didn't feel like a first draft. I wish Iron Fist had appeared in costume. I wish the fight scenes looked cool and there were more of them. I wish Iron Fist's power would work for more than ten seconds.

Overall

Overall, Marvel's Iron Fist had a pretty good story, it just wasn't well told. The script, the acting, the fight scenes, and pretty much everything else felt like a first draft and needed a lot more thought and work. I give it 3 out of 5 remotes and recommend it for hardcore comic fans who'll watch anything with their favorite character in it. It's not a waste of time, but it is disappointing.

    

Book Review - Meet Me in Atlantis: My Quest to Find the 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City by Mark Adams

I've been a lover of mythology since I first heard listened to the tales of gods and heroes as a little child. The fact that many of these stories were likely based on real events intrigued my young mind at the time and continues to intrigue my old mind making it wonder what really happened all those thousands of years ago.

Meet Me in Atlantis: My Quest to Find the 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City is a nonfiction adventure / travelogue written by Mark Adams. It's available in all formats: eBooks, Audiobooks, and those paper things your grandparents used to read.

Overview

Meet Me in Atlantis: My Quest to Find the 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City is the story of one man's journey to discover the lost city of Atlantis. He begins by summarizing the myth as told by Plato and then travels to several possible locations and explores the pros and cons of each.

The Good

Writing. This is really a fun book. The writing sounds like a buddy has just returned from a great adventure, and he is so excited to tell you all about it. It's crisp and clear and never drags or gets bogged down in scholarly prose.

Explanation of the Myth. The author does an excellent job retelling the original tale first told by Plato and then elaborated on by later writers and philosophers. He presents several new interpretations from scholars and experts on ancient ways and how they constructed myths and hid messages using numbers and placement. It was very fascinating and gave whole new meanings to familiar old tales.

Travelogue. I love traveling. I love travelogues. A good travelogue makes you feel like you've truly experienced a distant local, and this book does that marvelously. The author's descriptions are so vivid with concrete, relevant details. Each place he spends an appropriate amount of time painting the milieu, introducing the reader to the people and cultures and history. I feel like I've been to Morocco and Crete and locations in between.

The Bad

Purpose/Point. The title of this book is "quest" which naturally leads the reader to suppose that at the end of the journey he will discover something wonderful. There's nothing wonderful at the end of this book. It just ends. We're no closer to finding Atlantis than when the author started. I was pretty sure the author wouldn't be walking the streets of the ancient city situated beneath a dome at the bottom of the ocean or in another dimension, but I had hoped at least something would have been accomplished by the end. 

Guides along the road. At each stop the author meets with an "expert" who believes his or her location is the site of Atlantis. The idea of such a guide is great, but I question his choice. They aren't the most interesting of souls and are pretty blind to contrary evidence. 

What I Would Like to Have Seen

As much as I enjoyed the journey--and many people will tell you that the journey is more important than the destination--I still like a meaningful destination, and this book really didn't have one. We're no closer to finding Atlantas or even knowing if it ever really existed than we were before the author took his journey. I wish he had added something to the search.

Overall

Meet Me in Atlantis is an incredibly enjoyable ride with stops in several interesting and exotic locals and a fascinating look at history and possible history I'd never heard of before. Though nothing is really accomplished or discovered by the end of the book, the journey itself is enchanting enough to make the trip worthwhile. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

Movie Serial Review: Tim Tyler's Luck

I love old Saturday matinee movie serials from the 30s and 40s. They were fun, exciting, and escapists in the best sense of the word. Each week the movie viewer could find himself swept off to exotic locals both real and imagined. And it was the first time most fictional characters from comic strips, comic books, and radio dramas were portrayed in live action, something that makes every fan giddy. They were low budget and most followed a very similar formula, but still they contained that element of fun which makes them classic and enjoyable to watch today.

Tim Tyler's Luck is a 12-chapter action, adventure movie serial from 1937 based on the comic strip Tim Tyler's Luck created by Lyman Young that ran from 1928 to 1996. It's appropriate for all audiences.

Synopsis

Tim Tyler is a young boy whose father is an expert in gorillas and has gone off to Africa to study them. Tim becomes worried about him after receiving a letter and sneaks aboard a ship traveling to Africa. On the ship he encounters a young woman hunting a dangerous criminal, Spider Webb, who can help free her brother currently serving time in jail for a crime Spider committed. The action continues to Africa and the search for the legendary elephant graveyard.

The Good

Story. Most movie serials introduce a MacGuffin during the first chapter (a new scientific invention, archeological discovery, or some other thing) and the remaining chapters are spent trying to obtain the device. Often it's divided into parts and each chapter is devoted to the search for one of those parts. They're written very episodically with it possible to watch the first and last chapter and miss very little of importance in between with each chapter serving as a mini story that is exciting on its own but adds little to the overall story beyond obtaining one more piece of the MacGuffin. Tim Tyler's Luck broke from this tradition by presenting one long story broken into chapters like a novel. Each chapter was essential to the overall story and moved the plot forward presenting significant events. There were almost no gratuitous action scenes or side stories. Everything that happened directly and significantly contributed to the resolution. This was really, really strong storytelling.

Visuals. This serial takes place in the jungles of Africa and on a riverboat. We see lots of exotic animals from lions to monkeys to gorillas to crocodiles to elephants. We see great jungle scenery, the Ivory Patrols fort, the swamp base of the bad guys, nicely designed caves, and beautiful costuming. It was a visual feast.

Stunt Work and Action. This was made in the 1930s before special effects were very advanced, which means all the action is practical and real. While not as big and explosive as today's blockbuster action scenes overflowing with the wirework and cgi, there is something more exciting about knowing a real person is jumping into real water, swinging on a real rope or vine, or riding thru a real jungle. It actually looks better than a computer generated fantasy and is more far more exciting and satisfying. Visual production may have improved over the years, but quality of stuntmen was high even back then, and this serial used some good ones.

Fun. Movie serials are just plan fun. They were made with a single intent: to entertain and help the viewer escape, and they do this beautifully, even the bad ones. The strong story and beautiful visuals only added to an already good time.

Cliffhangers that didn't cheat. Saturday matinee movie serials are famous for their cliffhanger endings. At the end of each chapter the hero is placed in a life or death peril they can't possible escape from forcing the viewer to return the next Saturday to see if the hero can possible survive. Often the footage at the end of one chapter is different from the beginning of the next chapter showing some additional scene where the hero sneaks thru a secret door and hides in a closet or box to escape the explosion or fire or jumps out of the car just before it goes over the cliff, something that clearly was impossible the week before. Because the chapters were shown a week apart, the filmmakers may have been able to get away with such cheats, but watching the chapters altogether makes such sloppy filmmaking unforgivable. Tim Tyler's Luck did not have one single cheat, something I can't recall seeing in any other movie serial. This also meant that the perils weren't as great, but I'm okay with that. It adds believability to an otherwise fantastic story.

The Bad

Acting. Rarely do you see major actors appear in movie serials. Their low budgets usually meant they used second- and third-tier actors. This serial is no exception. Most of the lines are recited while characters stand stiffly. There is about as much acting here as a grade school play.

Convenient plot points. Most stories are guilty of convenient plot points--things that happen at just the right moment to advance the story. They always feel like cheating and weaken the story. This serial has a few of them, but they're pretty small and don't ruin the rest of the story as long as you don't think too hard about them.

Transfer Quality. The transfer was very poor with a fuzzy picture and poor audio. It looked like they tried to digitally remaster a public domain copy. Several times I really wasn't sure what was being said. And maybe a quality print doesn't exist and this is the best we have. Movie serials were created as disposable entertainment.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish a good print or even the original negatives had existed so a better print could have be produced. The fuzzy picture and hard-to-understand audio really detracted from an otherwise great experience.

Overall

Tim Tyler's Luck is one of the most enjoyable movie serials I've ever watched. It featured beautiful visuals and had the strongest story I've ever seen in a movie serial with a lot of variety in action and locations. I watched all 4+ hours in one sitting. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 boxes of popcorn.

Book Review: The Dispatcher by John Scalzi

I love science fiction, and I love mysteries and crime fiction. I also love clever, original writing. So when you put all three of these together, you're guaranteed to get a masterpiece, right? Most of the time I find myself disappointed when several things I like are put together, but not this time.

The Dispatcher is a science fiction mystery written by John Scalzi. It is an Audiobook exclusive for now, but a hardcover version is coming out this summer.

Overview

The Dispatcher takes place in a time when for some unexplained reason, whenever someone is killed, they come back to life 99.9% of the time. If the person dies for any other reason, he doesn't come back. Taking advantage of this, a new occupation is created, that of dispatcher, who can legally kill people who are ready to die anyway so they can continue living. And, of course, such a moral grey area and a whole new rule of living is going to cause a few problems.

The Good

Concept. This is actually a pretty original concept. I've never heard or read it before, and I read and watch A LOT of science fiction. It's also a pretty cool concept with a lot of possibilities and a lot of moral and practical implications, many of which are explored in good detail and depth.

Mystery. The main story revolves around a mystery of a kidnapping/possible murder and power plays between several powerful individuals and law enforcement. It's a very classic story that one will instantly recognize and easily get into, but the unique twist and engaging characters make is feel fresh and new. The end contains a nice twist that is mostly surprising, but the author included enough foreshadowing that it fells right and not contrived or cheating.

Narration. This audiobook is narrated by Zachary Quinto of Star Trek fame. Normally I find his voice and delivery to be too even and flat, but for this story it worked. To be a dispatcher, you need to be fairly cold and distant, and Zach captures that tone.

The Bad

Pace. This type of story requires a measured pace, but this story moves just a little too slowly. 

What I Would Like to Have Seen

Other than a quicker pace, I couldn't find any fault with the story. I was completely satisfied at the end and wouldn't mind reading more stories from this world

Overall

The Dispatcher takes the classic mystery/crime thriller story and gives it a really clever, original twist that makes it feel like I'm reading this type of story for the first time. The writing is strong, the characters are interesting, and the twists and turns are satisfying and feel right and not cheating. I give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

Book Review - The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is one of the most popular writers currently living with title covering a wide variety of genres in fiction. Strangely, I've never been a fan of his fiction--in fact, I've strongly disliked everything I've read by him--but his non-fiction I can't get enough of. It's brilliant and addictive. I'm not sure why his fiction doesn't do for me.

The View from the Cheap Seats is a collection of essays, speeches, introduction, and other non-fiction writings by Neil Gaiman. It is available in all formats: eBook, Audiobook, and those paper book things your grandparents used to read.

The Good

The Viewpoint. I really enjoy Neil Gaiman's viewpoints and perspectives on various topics. His views almost always seem to be thought out and has some reason, experience, or other substance behind why he thinks why he does, and he shares that with you. It's obvious he has very liberal leanings, but unlike most people with strong political leanings, he isn't heavy handed about his approach nor does he try to stuff his views down your throat. Many essays and writings are really about multiple viewpoints and expressing those. It's refreshing in today's heavy-handed, "you-must-believe-what-I-do" world of intolerance.

Variety. There are a wide variety of different types of writings from very brief introductions to very long essay-length stories. He covers all sorts of topics from comic books to writers to artists to movements to the publishing industry to awards to music to celebrities and many topics in between.

A Look Behind the Curtain. This book very much feels like the special features on a Blu-ray or DVD. A lot of these writings are how something was done or the story behind a story, which I find very fascinating, and considering how many people buy physical discs for the special features, I'm not alone.

Narration. Neil Gaiman himself reads this title, and I think it really ads to have the author actually speak his own words, especially when it's really his own thoughts and views.

The Bad

Repetition. Because this is a collection of various types of writings at various times for various publications and occasions, he tends to repeat himself a lot. If you were to hear him deliver the lecture live or read the introduction in a book, you probably wouldn't notice, because you probably hadn't read the other introductions or speeches he had written or given. But having them collected here all together and grouped into categories of similar genre, the repetition sticks out and gets a little tiring after awhile. I don't fault the author--that's the nature of the beast--but it is something that does distract from the enjoyment of each work.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish there were a little less repetition and instead included a few more topics and ideas. I also think this could have been trimmed down a little. It felt long, and the repetition of ideas only made it worse.

Overall

The View from the Cheap Seats is not the kind of book that will appeal to everyone, but for someone who likes to peek behind the curtain and see how things are done, it's fascinating. Neil Gaiman has a unique perspective on a myriad of topics, and most are fairly well thought out. I give it 4 out of 5 eReaders.

      

Book Review: Gateway by Frederik Pohl

I'm a huge fan of classic science fiction. Two of my favorite old time radio dramas are Dimension X and X-Minus One. Both adapted numerous well-known science fiction stories that still hold up well to this day. That's one reason I was excited to find a Frederik Pohl novel. I was even more excited to find out it had won two prestigious awards, the Hugo and the Nebula. Unfortunately, the story did not deliver.

Gateway is a dystopian future, science fiction novel by Frederik Pohl. It is available in all formats: eBook, Audiobook, and those paper book things your grandparents used to read.

Premise

In a dystopian future, humans have discovered a space station with ships left by a past civilization that travel to various unknown (and occasionally known) parts of the universe. Those with few options sign on as crew members to travel to these far off locations in search of something worth a lot of money. More often than not they return having found nothing, or don't return at all.

The Good

Psychiatrist Robot. The best part of the story is the psychiatrist robot the protagonist sees every other chapter. He is funny, comes up with great one liners and sayings, and does the most outlandish things to annoy his patient while still helping him. It's the only original and remarkable part of the whole book.

Writing. The writing is pretty good. It's very conversational and enjoyable to listen to. The story is told from a first-person point of view, from a character who is discovering this world along with the reader.

The Bad

Characters. There aren't that many characters in this book, but most of them are likable and fairly developed even though they're pretty ordinary. None of them stand out and are memorable or unique. They say and do the obvious thing never surprising the reader.

Lack of Adventures and Other Cool Stuff. Most of the story involves people standing around talking to each other. The premise is a fleet of ships that can go anywhere to unexplored corners of the galaxy, but almost nothing is done with that. The author mentions a few flights and interesting finds, but there more in passing with no details about the adventures. It seems a waste.

Purpose & Ending. When I finished the book, my first and only reaction was, "That's it? That's how this ends? Really?" I was hoping for some meaningful resolution to justify this story's existence, but instead the story just ends with a pointless twist that feels more like lazy writing than anything. The fact that the protagonist was seeking counseling suggested something traumatic had happened, but the event was so sudden and shoehorned so quickly in at the end that it felt out of place and gratuitous.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish this story had a point. It meanders from one incident to the other and then ends with a dramatic scene that is over too quickly and is out of character for the rest of the book in tone and action. I wish this story had taken more advantage of the premise to visit unexplored corners of the galaxy. I wish the characters weren't so generic and predictable.

Overall

Gateway is a considered a scifi classic, but I'm not sure why. It's a competently written book with generally likable but ordinary characters who do and say exactly what you'd expect. The story meanders, but it interesting enough. The ending felt like it was shoehorned into the story. It's a decent book, not a great one. I give it 3.5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

Book Review: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

I had heard a lot about David McCullough, and had even purchased one of his books for my brother, but I had never read anything by him myself when Audible listed The Wright Brothers for preorder. I had a few dollars in credit to spend, and for whatever reason I clicked on preorder without thinking. I never preorder audiobooks. I also never order books I've never previewed or read reviews for unless it is by an author I love. In fourth grade I had read a biography about the Wright Brothers and figured I knew everything there was to know (because books for fourth graders are so complete and go so in depth). But something drew me to this title.

The Wright Brothers is a biography written by David McCullough covering the life of Wilbur and Orville Wright, their early life, the lives of their immediate family members, their venture into the bicycle business, and their work on inventing the first airplane and bringing it to market. It covers their personal lives as much as their public contributions. It's available in all formats: eBook, Audiobook, and those old-fashioned paper book things.

The Good

The History. The thing that surprised me most about the Wright Brothers is how normal and average they were. They seemed like normal people that might be living next door. I was also surprised that they didn't have some great stroke of genius or luck leading to their great invention. It was a lot of hard work, trial and error, and perseverance. Nothing happened to them that couldn't or hasn't happened to anyone else--they just happened to work on a project that had far reaching impacts. And it was that ordinariness, that common experience, that really drew me in.

The Storytelling. The Wright Brothers' invention was monumental to the development of so much in the Twentieth Century, and yet the Wright Brothers' story itself was pretty commonplace and similar to the stories of a thousand people both successful and unsuccessful. And yet somehow David McCullough made it sound like the most intriguing story of the last century. Every event he chose to include, every time he paused to add description or other details, held my attention. I never found myself bored or feeling like the story dragged. And yet there was nothing dishonest, hyperbolic, or overdramatic in his telling. It was very straightforward.

Complete. When I read John Adams by the same author, I was disappointed how little was included outside of Adams' political life and events that directly tied to the destiny of the United States. I wanted to find out more about the man and his family. The Wright Brothers does not suffer from the same shortcomings. I felt I understood the brothers as people just as much as political figures. I also felt I knew the town they came from and the family and friends that were important parts of their lives. I felt this biography was complete with every germane fact included. I wasn't left with any questions or wondering about something that wasn't covered. I really appreciate that.

The Bad

The only thing bad I can say about this book is it was so good and so interesting, everything I've read by David McCullough since has been disappointing in comparison. I shouldn't have started with the best, because there's only one way to go when you're on top.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I've got nothing.

Overall

The Wright Brothers was such a well-written and engaging story, I couldn't put it down. Even though the events weren't the most momentous or exciting in history, somehow David McCullough brought them alive in a way that was as entertaining as it was informative. I appreciate how equal attention was paid to their personal lives as their public contribution with an objective eye. I highly recommend it for all readers and give it a solid 5 out of 5 eReaders.

    

TV Show Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

I could never get into anime during the Japanamation explosion of the 90s. Maybe I was too young. But when I got to college in the First Decade, there were a few shows from Japan that caught my interest. At the time I went to school at 8am, was on campus most of the day, then worked the afternoon and evening until around midnight. I'd come back to my apartment and watch Gundam Wing on the Midnight Run of Toonami, and I loved it!

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is a 49-episode science fiction anime that debuted on the 90s, an alternative reality in the Gundam universe that began in 1979 with the TV series Mobile Suit Gundam. In Gundam Wing, a number of people from Earth have moved into space and live in space colonies, but there is a lot of animosity between the colonists and those still living on the planet. Five pilots and their giant robots called Gundams are sent to Earth as part of Project Meteor. War ensues as the concepts of war, peace, power, and loyalty are explored.

The Good

Story. This series has a lot of content, which a lot of twists and turns and changing allegiances. If you miss even a few episodes, you've missed a lot of story. There is real change and real consequences to actions that have serious effects on characters and the war itself. Most tv shows and most anime are much more simplistic.

Characters. I love the characters in this show, even though they are very Japanese. They are so different and so multi-layered. No one is truly good or evil with all the major characters showing great acts of heroism and making great mistakes and even betraying their friends.

Art Direction. This show is beautiful to look at. The character designs are gorgeous and unique. The Gundams all look awesome. The scenery is beautifully painted. This show was produced before computers played a major role, so the show is hand drawn and hand painted very skillfully.

Ideas. This series explores several themes from war to peace to loyalty to doing what's right to acting with regards to the consequences for the future, and with 49 episodes, each is explored in good detail.

Fight Scenes. This series has the best fight scenes I've ever seen. They are exciting, intense, and beautifully shot. You feel the intensity but are still able to see what's going on, something current movies and tv shows have yet to figure out.

The Bad

Pacing. This series is very slow with a lot of narration and a lot of recapping. It feels like they came up with 26 episodes of story but were forced to stretch it to 49 episodes. It does drag more often than I'd like

Limited Animation. Like most Japanese animation, there is limited animation during the majority of the show. The slow pacing and overabundance of narration makes it more noticeable than other shows. When the animation is good, it's incredible, so I guess they had to balance that out to stay within budget.

What I Would Like to Have Seen

I wish they would have either had fewer episodes or more story so the show didn't drag so much.

Overall

Overall, I loved Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. The characters were all interesting, unique, and fully fleshed out, the animation during the action scenes was incredible, the character designs, vehicle designs, and set designs were all gorgeous to behold, and there were several serious themes explored. I recommend this series to fans of science fiction, philosophy, social issues, and war and give it 4 out of 5 remotes.