Bryan Caron's Blog, page 28

Movie Mayhem – Terminator Genisys

Back in 1984, James Cameron gave us a sci-fi action thriller that seriously messed with our heads. A terminator from 2029 was sent back to kill Sarah Connor before giving birth to humanity’s savior, John, who sends back a fellow soldier, Kyle Reese, to stop it. But it’s only because of these events that John’s birth and judgement day even occur. Basically, the timeline becomes one crazy paradoxical time loop — if Skynet never sends a terminator to kill Sarah, John is never born (because Kyle is never sent back), thus eliminating the need to even consider sending a terminator back; at the same time without ever sending a terminator back, the technology that jump-starts judgement day would never have been found. It was a complex way to say you can’t change the past (or the future for that matter), since doing so would rupture the space-time continuum (as Doc Brown might say). That is unless you decide to add in the concept of alternate timelines, which is exactly what director Alan Taylor does in Terminator Genisys, a resetting of the classic franchise that takes a page from J.J. Abrams in how to alter the history of a franchise while staying true to the original source material.

Better than Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and more accurate than Terminator Salvation, Genisys mixes the flavor of the original Terminator with the bravura high-stakes action of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. As John Connor (Jason Clarke) leads the resistance against Skynet to a resounding victory, they locate the time machine that has just sent a T-800 model terminator back to 1984 Los Angeles to kill one Sarah Conner. Shortly after, Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) volunteers to head back and stop the terminator from killing John’s mother, who he has nearly fallen in love with simply from John’s stories. There’s a glitch, though, as just before Kyle is shot back to the past, someone (or something) grabs John, flooding Kyle with a set of new memories that he isn’t sure are real or simply a dream. It just so happens the timeline has been altered.

When we finally jump to 1984, the arrivals of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kyle Reese are as meticulously recreated as possible in some oddly nostalgic deja vu. Though there are times when I noticed the computerized rendering going on, for the most part, the way in which the visual effects artists craft a young Arnold out of digital pixels is pretty incredible, and to get to see this version of him take on the now older version is just a fun bit of cinema. Meanwhile, as in the original, Kyle steals a pair of pants from a bum in an alley and then runs from the cops. Everything about the sequence, from grabbing an overcoat in a department store to strapping on those cool 80s Nikes, is only altered by the fact that Kyle is now also being chased by an Asian configuration of the T-1000 (Byung-Hun Lee). This is where the similarities between the original and this new version stop. Before being completely terminated by the T-1000, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) pops in to rescue Kyle with his own famous words, “Come with me if you want to live.”

Now that Taylor has established a complete alternate timeline, he can basically do whatever he wants and keep from harming the continuity of the series up to this point (which in some ways ignores the third and fourth chapters, giving Taylor the freedom to create his own mash-up version of some of the elements introduced in them). It’s already been establishes that judgment day no longer happens when Sarah believes it will, and Kyle convinces her to use the time machine her and her guardian have somehow acquired (Did they build it? Did it somehow come from the future? It’s never clearly explained) to travel to 2017, where Taylor taps into the current state of everyone being plugged into their devices 24/7 by turning Skynet into an operating system known as Genisys, which will link every computerized device together into one communal operation (Apple, anyone?). Before the team can take down Cyberdyne (the creator of Genisys), they must contend with a brand new form of machine that was sent back to guarantee Genisys’s survival (and in a cool turn of events, its creation).

Clarke plays Sarah as a bridge between Linda Hamilton’s portrayals of the character. She’s not quite the same badass she was in T2, having avoided being hardened by her first encounter with the terminator, but she’s very capable and ready for war having been raised by her “Pops”, a T-800 programmed to protect her. On another level, Clarke gives Sarah a softer side; she knows she’s supposed to fall in love with Kyle, however doing so would mean Kyle’s death. Struggling with the information of a life she isn’t really going to live makes her incredibly vulnerable. It is a bit odd, though, to have John and Kyle constantly referring to a picture of Hamilton (a picture that could very well be the original image used in The Terminator) and then see Clarke inhabiting Sarah’s skin. With all the technology at their disposal, Taylor could have had Clarke recreate that photo, which would have paid homage to the original but kept the entire thing from feeling so awkward.

Courtney on the other hand doesn’t quite find his place as Kyle Reese. He does a decent job as the time-traveling soldier, but he doesn’t ever seem to find the pocket of sensitivity and weariness that Michael Biehn was able to use to show how distraught and fatigued war had made him. Because of this, his connection with Clarke (the female one) isn’t quite as authentic as the chemistry between Biehn and Hamilton, which kept me from caring about whether or not the two would ever hook up as they’re destined to do. So now we’re left with the core relationship failing to ignite the sparks needed to generate true passion and give us the one thing we need to care about.

Taylor makes up for this lack of connectivity (sort of) with action sequences and moments of comedic levity that remain on par with the rest of the series. The restructuring of the timeline flows naturally alongside the original in order to reinvent the lore and fuel a new fire behind the ignition of judgement day. The only major question left to answer — why cast J.K. Simmons and then waste him in a thankless role that really has no purpose whatsoever? Unless he’s going to play a much bigger part in the inevitable sequels, this will end up being one of the most egregious casting choices of the year.

Really. He’s too good for that.

My Grade: A-

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Next week, new movies include Minions, The Gallows and Self/Less. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Max

We all need loyalty in our lives — that innate desire to have a friend or loved who will be there for us no matter what. And in cinema, this type of devoted friendship is often found in stories about a boy and his dog. From Old Yeller to My Dog Skip, a genuine bond is formed between a child and their four-legged co-star that isn’t always possible between two humans, and somehow finds a way to play the heartstrings in a way that even the hardest of men become blubbering children. Max is the latest of these films to hit theaters, and with its quiet release comes a honored tribute to the brave dogs trained for military service, adding a level of heroism and complexity that goes beyond the normal boy and his dog storyline. (And yes, I am aware there are girl and her dog stories (Because of Winn-Dixie) and men and their dog stories (Marley & Me), but let’s face it, the genre is predominantly young males… it’s just how it is.)

Max is an amalgamation of the hundreds of dogs trained to sniff out bombs and weapons in hostile territories such as Iraq and Afghanistan that, like many soldiers themselves, acquire a form of PTSD upon their return home. He also represents the dedication these dogs have to their jobs as well as the kinship they share with their handlers — soldiers who form bonds with the dogs that build the trust needed when out in the field. At one point in the film, we get to see footage of Max being entrusted to his handler, Kyle Wincott (Robbie Amell). It’s in these short sequences that we get to see the respect the soldiers and dogs have for one another, giving us better insight as to why a a soldier would risk his life for the dog and vice-versa. It’s this type of risk that becomes the inciting incident for the film. When Max becomes caught in the cross-fire during a routine scouting mission, Kyle’s first instinct to protect Max gets him killed in the crossfire. Since trying to pair an older dog with a new handler is far too risky, Max’s service is terminated, sending him back home where he needs to start a new life away from everything he’s ever known. To keep him from being put down (or locked up for the rest of his life), Kyle’s family chooses to adopt Max in honor of their son’s heroic service.

Max is quickly introduced to Kyle’s younger brother, Justin (Josh Wiggins), who right from the jump is an unintentional enigma. We’re never really privy to the reasons behind the distant nature of his relationship to either his parents (Thomas Haden Church and Lauren Graham) or his brother, so I was never quite sure where he was coming from in order to connect with him and his journey throughout the film. We never get to see what the relationship between Justin and Kyle was like before Kyle enlisted, subduing the emotional subtext needed to enhance the bond Justin makes with Max. Not only that, but director Boaz Yakin skirts any real attempt at the impact Kyle’s death has on the family. Max is supposed to be the driving force that allows the family to heal, but other than a very brief moment when Kyle’s family learns of his death, and an even shorter moment at the funeral, there isn’t much about Kyle’s death that changes anything in the dynamics of the family. Sadly, Kyle’s death does nothing but trigger Max’s arrival.

Another misstep Yakin makes in developing the friendship between Justin and Max is in how quickly they bond. There is a little friction at first, but with how bad the Sergeant (Jay Hernandez) claims Max’s PTSD is, there should have been a greater resistance than what they actually go through (and having Max sense Justin as being related to Kyle isn’t enough). It seems like it’s only a couple of days from when Max is brought home to when he’s obeying Justin without question or running alongside him in the woods in a playful chase among friends, glossing over the entire issue of Max and his PTSD. Even when we’re treated to a wonderful scene when Justin goes to comfort Max during the Fourth of July fireworks, I was still left with a sense of disconnect, as the moment happens after the two have all but forged a solid friendship (as opposed to this being the moment when that bond is officially born).

There are some terrific scenes, though, that really showcase Max’s loyalty and sacrificial nature. As part of the overall main plot, one of Kyle’s military brothers, Tyler Harne (Luke Kleintank), returns home claiming he was injured, but outright lies about how Kyle died, turning the devastating events on Max (leading to a subplot between Justin’s dad and Max that remains well above the surface). It turns out, Tyler is selling Russian weapons found in the field to a cartel, a connection he got from a thug (Joseph Julian Soria) who also buys bootlegged video games from Justin (yeah, that’s a stretch, but it works well enough for what it is). At one point, Max and Justin track Tyler to a pre-transaction meeting between Tyler and the cartel. When Justin’s phone is overheard, Tyler sicks a pair of rottweilers on them. Max fights them off (in a couple of brutal, yet mesmerizing sequences), but in order to protect Justin, Max runs away, drawing the dogs after him. It shows not only how smart these dogs are, but how much they care for those who care and protect them.

Like any other film of this nature, we pretty much know what will happen during the climax, but like everything else in the film, that too is watered down a little too much. The events happen so quickly, that we aren’t given anytime to absorb what happens before we’re treated to the resolution. In trying to cater to both themes (the boy and his dog and the tribute to military dogs), Yakin (who also wrote the screenplay with Sheldon Lettich) isn’t quite sure how to manage either one, but is able to keep us entertained and inspired, mostly because of his respect for the subject matter and the way he portrays Max, proving just how remarkable dogs truly are.

My Grade: B

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Next week, new movies include Terminator:Genisys and Magic Mike XXL. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Movie Mayhem – Inside Out

Ever since Pixar exploded onto the scene with their game-changing animated behemoth, Toy Story, there’s one thing they have never strayed from — their integrity. It doesn’t matter whether or not audiences are blown away by their stories or are indifferent to them, John Lasseter and his team will defend their product without a second thought. The best example of this integrity was in their decision to delay The Good Dinosaur because they knew it wasn’t ready. Instead of releasing an inferior product, one they couldn’t get fully behind, they pulled it from its release date even though it caused some pundits to claim that Pixar’s magic was starting to fizzle. I’d much rather they take their time and be extremely happy with the final product than to have them shove something into the marketplace simply because that was the plan. It’s because of this integrity (as well as not shying away from the darker, more adult themes that leave grown men crying) that has kept them creatively astute. No matter what you may have thought of something like Cars 2, you can always rest assured there will always be a film like Inside Out just waiting in the wings to prove why Pixar continues to be the reigning champ for high quality entertainment that doesn’t condescend to its audience.

Having grown up in the nineties and being a fan of Herman’s Head (and I’m sure there are other examples), the idea of going inside a character’s head to see what they’re thinking is far from original. However, the way directors Pete Doctor and Ronaldo Del Carmen deal with the topic is tremendously unique, exciting and heartbreaking. It all begins with the way they depict how our brains work. There’s a central control tower where all memories are created (compressed into little glass spheres highlighted in the color of the emotion they’re most affected by) and stored until you fall asleep, at which point the memories are transported to long-term memory — a plateau of shelves that house every memory ever created, except that is, for those memories that have faded and are sent to the wasteland of the forgotten. If the memory is adversely affected, it transforms into a core memory, which are then inserted into a storage wheel that forms pathways to little islands just outside the main tower to make up your personality. And that’s just the beginning of dozens of inventive ideas.

Running the control tower, of course, are your five main emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler), a yellow sprite that tries to keep everything as upbeat as possible; Sadness (Phyllis Smith), a bit of a downer, blue and completely unsure of her place as an emotion; Fear (Bill Hader), a scraggly purple scaredy-cat; Anger (Lewis Black), a red pillow person who fumes with flames when he gets extremely upset; and Disgust (Mindy Kaling), a condescending green teenager. Together they control young Riley, an eleven year-old hockey nut whose parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlin) have had to uproot her from her life in Minnesota because of her father’s new job in San Francisco. Joy tries to keep Riley smiling and playful, even as things seem to be falling apart at every turn. Her father spends more time at the job than at home, the moving truck continues to delay their arrival, leaving Riley to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor, and she ends up breaking down during her first day of school when Sadness accidentally changes one of her joyous emotions sad. The scene is only the first hit to the heartstrings in a film that explores to great effect the challenges that come with moving to a new city and starting over.

The concept of dealing with these emotions manifests itself when Joy tries to stop Sadness from turning one of the core memories blue, leading them both to be sucked from the control tower and sent to long-term memory. As they try desperately to get back, it’s up to Anger, Fear and Disgust to navigate this trying time in Riley’s life, inadvertently making things worse by causing Riley to become standoffish, indignant and reserved, which itself begins to cause the islands of her personality to crumble and fade into the wasteland. With Joy at the helm, Riley is trying to be brave and put on a happy face, when in reality, she’s scared and alone, but can’t convey those emotions due to Joy’s persistence. Without Joy or Sadness to help guide her, she shuts down. Most of us can relate to this coming-of-age story in some way or another, and the film is not afraid to test the waters by allowing Riley to make a very frightening decision. When Joy finally figures out why Sadness is turning all of the memories she touches blue, the effects of her realization are some of Pixar’s best work. Basically, if you aren’t crying by the end of the film, Sadness must have fallen into the wasteland of forgetfulness.

As is usual for a Pixar movie, the animation is astounding, right down to the fuzz that covers Joy and her companions, and they continue to play my favorite game, “Find John Ratzenberger” (the only voice actor to have appeared in some form or another in all of Pixar’s films). Along with a fun, goofy odd-ball (but yet extremely sentimental) imaginary friend named Bing-Bong, voiced by Richard Kind (who ends up helping Joy and Sadness find their way back to the tower), there some nice diversions into the heads of some of the other character’s to show how similar, yet different, they are from one another (and it’s great to see who’s in charge of the control board). But as a fan of movies, and as a filmmaker, the most exciting and fun part of the film is seeing the way they depict how dreams are created (or filmed), and how and why we react to some dreams in different ways. It’s one of the most creatively fun aspects of a maddeningly creative film.

I can’t say Inside Out is the funniest of the Pixar films (lacking in as many quotable lines as Toy Story and Finding Nemo), but after a two year hiatus in their release schedule, Inside Out is an emotionally unique (near) masterpiece that I will be surprised if it doesn’t end up in my top ten movies of 2015.

My Grade: A

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Next week, new movies include Max and Ted 2. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Memoirs of Keladrayia NOW AVAILABLE

Memoirs of Keladrayia: Jaxxa Rakala has arrived!

Book 2 in the riveting Jaxxa Rakala Saga (check out book 1) takes you on an emotional ride of self-discovery, as all of your favorite characters look deep within themselves to discover who they truly are while continuing their quest to find answers about Stacey’s abduction.

The book is available in both trade paperback (for all of you out there who still like the feel and smell of a good book) and all ebook formats (for all of you who want to fit as many novels as possible into your backpack). That includes Kindle, Nook, and iBooks, as well as anywhere tangible and digital books are sold. (If you can’t find it right away, especially at Barnes and Noble or Amazon, check back periodically over the next few days. It will show up — I promise!)

Head over to the book’s official page to learn more about the book and read the first two chapters. You may also download a larger sample here.

Now to all of you authors out there, to mark the release of my new book, I’d like to hear more about your new projects. Whether it be a book that has just been released, one that is on the verge of being released, or a current WIP, my followers and I would like to hear about it! Give us the title (if it has one), a brief synopsis (and by brief, I mean a logline… one, maybe two sentences), the first sentence of the book and a link to where we might be able to purchase it.

I’d like to thank everyone for your support, and wish everyone else out there like me good luck on their new, exciting endeavors.

Movie Mayhem – Jurassic World

“Yeah, but John, when the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don’t eat the tourists.” — Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Jurassic Park

Those words come to full, glorious life in Jurassic World when a flurry of liberated pteranodons dive-bomb the patrons of the now open dinosaur theme park after they’ve all been corralled to the “main street” of the park because the new attraction decided to outsmart its human captors and run amok across Isla Nublar, the island where John Hammond originally established his original Jurassic park. And like the hundreds of guests who ooh and aah the exhibits before becoming lunch, I was engrossed by everything director Colin Trevorrow had to offer in representing Ian Malcolm’s eloquent warnings.

The film centers on Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), the haughty, steely-eyed director of Jurassic World who’s attempting to acquire additional funding from investors with the reveal of their new “product,” the indominus rex, a hybrid dinosaur that she promises will be faster, meaner and scarier than anything anyone’s ever seen, all in an effort to boost tourism and keep those who have already visited the park coming back for more. She’s extremely calculating with a no-nonsense bravura and can’t see above the bottom line in anything in her life, not even when her nephews, Zach (Nick Robinson) and Gray (Ty Simpkins), arrive for a visit. She hasn’t the time to deal with this new distraction, so she pawns them off on her annoyed assistant (Katie McGrath), who of course loses track of the kids when she, too, is busy working.

Meanwhile, on another part of the island, Owen (Chris Pratt), a highly-respected animal trainer, is reaching a pinnacle moment in his attempts to train the velociraptors at the behest of the (*evil*) InGen representative, Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio). Based on past films in the franchise, anything having to do with InGen is going to turn out poorly, and that doesn’t change one bit here. However, Pratt brings his A-game charm once again, wrapping his quirky, quick-witted charisma under the guise of a serious, intelligent character who’s set up from the jump as the most logical character in the movie. He’s the Ian Malcolm to Howard’s John Hammond, and this dynamic works wonders when the obvious romantic tension comes into play.

Howard and Pratt work very well together, producing enough electricity to keep us believing that they have a flirtatious, in some ways romantic past that has been neutered by the inability to see past their own egos. When they team up to look for Zach and Gray (who have conveniently decided to go off-roading in one of the awesome gyro-spheres), the conflicting personality types share a compassion that neither want to embrace. It’s only when they stop to help a dying apatosaurus do they allow themselves to show any vulnerability in front of the other. It’s at this moment that they finally find common ground on a deeper, emotional level, connecting them for the second half of the film, where she becomes more motherly (though still a bit too uptight for her own good) and he becomes more reliable.

Of course the humans are only secondary to the main attraction, which of course is the dinosaurs. And this shows in the writing of several subplots that are used to help us connect to the characters, but go absolutely nowhere. This includes the possibility of the kids’ parents (Judy Greer and Andy Buckley) getting a divorce and the seemingly wandering eye of Zach, who has a stalkerish girlfriend back home waiting for him. These ideas are supposed to develop the characters and give us some extra dramatic moments, but neither is handled with any sense of logic and must have been eaten by a pteranodon halfway through the film, because by the end, it’s as if the issues never existed. Then again, the entire story arc involving Hoskins and his need to test the training of the raptors so that he can eventually militarize them is done very well, especially when BD Wong (as Dr. Henry Wu, the only returning character from the original film) plays a major role that helps lead into a very new and different sequel.

And Wong isn’t the only easter egg or reference that reminds us we are in the same timeline as the original film. Hear that, Internet — this is NOT a reboot! The best come in the form of Jake Johnson as tech-nerd, Lowry, who not only sports a vintage Jurassic Park t-shirt, but believes that Hammond’s original park was so much cooler. His character adds most of the comic-relief when Pratt isn’t around and does his best to match Samuel L. Jackson’s tech-nerd (which, really, I don’t think is possible). Some other references include a return to the Jurassic Park visitor’s center and nods to some of the sequences in the original film. But nothing is more delightful than getting to see that the mother of all dinosaurs, the tyrannosaurus rex herself, is still very interested and susceptible to flares, so much so that the team uses them to feed her her signature goat.

The film would be nothing, though, without the raptors, which are much more defined here than they ever were in any of the Jurassic films thus far. They are each given a clear personality that makes each one dynamic and interesting, none so much more than Blue, Owen’s favorite and the one raptor that shows the most compassion (and the most fight). Watching them bond with a human in a way that we’ve never seen before (leading to a terrific climax) makes you root for them in hopes they will all survive the Indominus terror.

Jurassic World may not live up to the original’s ability for true wonder and magic (what can nowadays?), but that doesn’t stop the film from delivering on the goods it promises, which helps it outmatch the first two sequels in its glorious retro state while giving us a glimpse into the future of evolution that very well may kill us all if we’re not careful.

My Grade: A-

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Next week, new movies include Inside Out and Dope. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Secrets of the Desert Nymph WINS Best Feature

This past weekend, I attended the Temecula Independent Film Festival in the Temecula Valley wine country, and I am honored to have received the Best Grape Dance Feature award for my feature film, Secrets of the Desert Nymph. The grape dance award was given to the best films from filmmakers who live in the Inland Empire (which includes Temecula, Murrita and Riverside areas).

Me (alongside festival director Gary Vinant-Tang) showing off the award for Best Grape Dance Feature at the Temecula Independent Film Festival

There was very stiff competition, especially from the film, Found on South Street, a very well-made film about a deaf man who believes the only way for him to truly live is to find a way to hear again. I was fortunate enough to meet the writer and director of South Street, Jonathan Blair, and from what I saw in his film, he is definitely one to watch out for in the future.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the majority of screenings on Thursday and Friday due to other obligations, but I was able to see almost all of the films on Saturday and Sunday, the majority of which were good to great (of course, as you would expect, there were a couple of duds — at least from my perspective). From drama to comedy, action and horror there was plenty to see (and you can check out a few reviews of these films on my Twitter). But like attending any good festival, there was plenty of opportunity to network, and it was also great getting to meet several of the filmmakers, none more so than , who had her film, Kittens In a Cage (in which she wrote, directed and starred), screen on Saturday.

Me and Jillian Armenante at the 2015 Temecula Independent Film Festival

When I first saw her at the festival, I was curious in that I could swear I’d seen her somewhere before, and then it clicked — Judging Amy (among plenty of other things)! At first, I didn’t think it could be her, after all, this was a small first time festival; what’s a pretty major talent like her doing here? But there was no denying it, and I thought it was absolutely awesome that she came down to attend and get to see Temecula. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to introduce myself, and we ended up sitting at the same table at the awards dinner, where she was gifted with two awards (Best Comedy Feature and 3rd Place Best of the Festival). Other than winning my award, that was certainly the highlight of the festival for me!

I do want to take a moment to thank festival director Gary Vinant-Tang (as well as all of the program coordinators and volunteers) for putting on a terrific festival, which I am very much looking forward to returning to next year and for as long as they keep it running.

But now that the festival is over, it’s onto spreading the word for my new novel, Memoirs of Keladrayia: Jaxxa Rakala, which as you probably know is being released on June 23, 2015. What you may not know is that you can now pre-order the Kindle version now! (pre-orders for the Nook and iBooks will be available sometime this week — unfortunately, no pre-orders for the print edition are available).

Pre-Order your Kindle for Memoirs of Keladrayia today! (Official Release Date: 6/23/15)

Movie Mayhem – Love & Mercy

When it comes to music, the Beach Boys are one group that transcends the art form. The harmonies blended perfectly with the way the group mixed their music, creating a unique sound that made you feel as if you were out on the beach enjoying the warm sun and breezy ocean air no matter where you might be (and it never matter that they weren’t actually surfers). There is no doubt there was genius behind their creativity, and like a lot of creative geniuses, Beach Boys front man, Brian Wilson, tapped into a suppressed darkness to find the magic of his artistry (along with a little bit of drug use here and there — it was the sixties after all). Director Bill Pohlad examines this well of madness in the biopic, Love & Mercy, but in staying true to his subject, turns the formula on its head to not only explore his fall into psychosis, but his rebirth from it, interlinking them with the same tenderness the Beach Boys delivered to their fans.

Paul Dano and John Cusack play two sides of the same Brian Wilson coin. Though it doesn’t seem the most natural fit, both actors match their performances in a way that really captures Wilson’s exceptional talent and hardened but sensitive soul. Dano plays Wilson at the height of Beach Boys fame as he searches for a new sound that will keep the group one step ahead of the likes of the Beatles and Elvis. Taking time off from their tour in Japan to stay home and write new material, Dano displays a quiet deterioration into heightened madness, one that isn’t necessarily controlled, but harnessed into a ridiculously creative force. He hires a slew of studio musicians to record all of the music using animals, convoluted instruments and sounds that nobody has ever heard before. When the group returns to record the vocals, the first cracks within the group begin to show, especially between Wilson and Mike Love (Jake Abel), Wilson’s occasional writing partner who doesn’t like the new, darker direction Wilson seems to be taking them into. He believes it to be extremely detrimental while Wilson remains confident in his need to release the feelings he has buried deep within.

It’s very interesting to parallel this story with Cusack, who plays Wilson as he fights to control the madness via a brutal psychotherapist named Dr. Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), who literally controls every aspect of his life right down to the people he’s able to converse with. Cusack tackles the same quiet display of madness, but does so with a heightened abundance of small but noticeable ticks in his language and attention span — both of which can come off a bit awkward in the way he interacts with others. It turns out that Wilson (as well as his brothers, played by Kenny Wormald and Brett Davern) were abused as children, which produced the inability to connect with people in a normal way. He desperately wants people to care for him and believes that those trying to help him are sincere, while at the same time, he wants to remain inside of himself, rendering his ability to express himself outside of his music nearly impossible. When Wilson meets Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks), he knows deep down that he needs her to help him — that something is wrong with him and that she might be the only connection he has to normalcy. But he’s so scared of defying Dr. Landy’s rules that he’s unable to express his fear in the right way. Has he been diagnosed incorrectly? Is Dr. Landy taking advantage of him because he’s a famous singer? Can Melinda help him recover from the strain of pills and abuse that he’s now being faced with because Dr. Landy claims he’s the only one that can help him? It’s very heartfelt and frightening, especially when Wilson can’t even go out on a date without Dr. Landy sitting next to him making sure that Melinda isn’t saying the wrong thing.

The story lines intertwine beautifully with one another, though I did find myself wanting to see much more of Dano’s half of the story, mostly because it dealt a lot more with building and creating the music, but also because Dano’s performance is so captivating. One of the best scenes happens about halfway through the film, after the band gets high in response to the poor sales of their most recent album, Pet Sounds (which history would prove to be one of their most unique and creatively authentic records). Wilson, bordering on a bout of depression, stumbles to his piano (which sits in a giant sandbox!) and starts banging away on the same chords over and over. The determination and fierce need to find something inside those chords is simply electric. He knows there’s something there, he just can’t find the right melody… it shows Wilson at his most creative and most desperate, leading to the song “Good Vibrations” and returning the group to their original sound. It didn’t matter how much Wilson had to say beyond the poppy, bubblegum style music they were famous for, the fans just weren’t ready for that message or sound, wanting something fresh and new, but familiar at the same time.

The other reason Dano’s half of the story made it rise above Cusack’s half is in the way Pohlad slowly portrays Wilson’s descent into his maddening condition. Cusack does a terrific job dealing with the inability to create because the drugs he’s been prescribed are keeping him from tapping into the creativity that allowed him so much freedom and genuine love of the craft, but Dano is given the chance to show him trying to understand and fight his condition. Watching him slowly slip away from “normalcy” into this weird place of hearing voices and sounds that aren’t really there (such as an orchestra of clanking dishes at a dinner party) is simply mesmerizing. I don’t want to take anything away from Cusack’s half of the film, though, as both Banks and Giamatti also give terrific performances in support of Cusack, and those portions of the film are necessary to give the full, complete picture of who Brian Wilson was and how he was able to overcome his demons (both internal and external) to become one of the most influential musicians of the sixties (and most possibly, the twentieth century).

My Grade: A

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Next week, new movies include Jurassic World and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

Reading Sample – Memoirs of Keladrayia

It’s getting closer!

Before my new novel officially lands on June 23, you now have the chance to check out the first two chapters, which are ready to be devoured as part of the brand new Phoenix Moirai Publising site, which itself dives head first into what makes publishing with Phoenix Moirai so unique (or at least what will make it unique, once it’s fully operational in, say, ten or so years *cross fingers*; I know, it’s a long time to wait, but I’m still building the business, here, so be patient!)

I hope you enjoy this reading sample, which helps set the stage for what’s to come, and lets us in on what Jacquline and Tracey have been up to since they helped save their transport vessel on Xyneris and officially joined the crew of the Equinox.

Official Book Cover for Memoirs of Keladrayia: Jaxxa Rakala (Release Date: June 23, 2015) – Read Chapters 1 and 2 now!

Movie Mayhem – San Andreas

The majority of disaster movies are a lot like your favorite processed snack food — consuming too much of them may be bad for your health, but you consume them anyway because they’re just so darn enjoyable. And like any good comfort food, similar ingredients across all different types make them rich with delightful gratification. So it is with San Andreas, which doesn’t deviate at all from the tried-and-true, genre-specific formula that has made disaster movies of the past so successful. Let’s break it down point-for-point and see how it all shakes out.

An estranged family and/or separated married couple must work together for a similar goal that will more than likely rekindle their broken relationships.

The separated couple in question is Ray and Emma, reuniting Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino, respectively, after their flirtatious affair in the remake of Race To Witch Mountain, which sort of makes it feel as if those characters eventually got married, had a couple of kids and are now separated. Ray is an ex-military chopper rescue pilot who now works for the Los Angeles Fire and Rescue unit. I like how they humanized Ray right from the jump by clearly stating that he has saved hundreds of lives, but has done so under the shadow of the one life he wasn’t able to save — that of his younger daughter, the incident of which caused Ray and Emma to grow apart. He is so grief-stricken over her loss that he continues to save people in an effort to save himself from his anguish. Gugino, on the other hand, isn’t at the top of her game here, but she is able to add a bit of depth to an otherwise stock disaster heroines.

A new boyfriend/girlfriend that is the complete opposite of the main character’s other half will somehow cause more problems than they’re worth.

As Ray does what he does best to mourn his daughter, Emma has attempted to leave her grief in the past by getting engaged to Daniel (an underutilized Ioan Gruffudd), an architect who doesn’t have one ounce of bravery in his body. As Ray is risking his life to rescue everyone he cares for, Daniel does nothing but protect himself, which includes ditching Ray and Emma’s daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario), and throwing a stranger into harm’s way.

Someone is going back to school, transferring to another job, or is on a vacation so that our heroes must do everything in their power to find them after the disaster strikes.

Speaking of Blake, in perfectly executed disaster fashion, her plans to have Ray escort her back to school are thwarted when an earthquake hits a section of Nevada that destroys the Hoover Dam. It’s douchebag to the rescue as Daniel makes an attempt to bond with her by replacing her father and taking her to school on his private jet. The thing is, he has to land in San Francisco for a quick meeting, which ends up being the worst decision possible. Lucky for her, while she waits for her soon-to-be stepfather to finish his meeting, she just happens to sit next to Hottie McHotpants (aka, Ben, played remarkably well by Hugo Johnstone-Burt), whose socially awkward banter will eventiually be her saving grace when she’s left for dead in the aforementioned car.

A precocious kid or a dim-bulb stoner of a character will always get all the best lines.

Daddario and Johnstone-Burt are very adorable together, but it’s no match for the chemistry between Blake and Ben’s little brother, Ollie (Art Parkinson). Parkinson brings the movie to life in a way the other characters can’t quite muster. His quick wit and ability to capture the perfect reactions to what is going on around him make him the highlight of the film.

An off-the-wall scientist or crazy nut-job who knows the disaster is coming will be ignored until it’s too late.

Meanwhile, in a related, yet entirely disconnected story, Paul Giamatti plays Lawrence, a professor at Cal-Tech who just happens to be on the verge of finding a way to actually predict earthquakes when the San Andreas fault decides to finally end its relative slumber. Giamatti does a terrific job as the stressed-out scientist and has one of the better scenes in the film when he scrambles to seek out a student to hack into the television feeds so he can deliver his dire warning. But as far as the film goes, it seems as if he’s in a completely different disaster movie. For one, his character (and those he works with) has no relation to Ray and his family. Secondly, when he is able to deliver the news that San Francsico, though hit hard with the inital quake that rocked Los Angeles, is about to have a second, bigger quake, none of our main characters are aware of this news. Basically, if you were to excise this portion of the film, It would have all played out exactly the same, which is a big mistake on the part of screenwriter Carlton Cuse — if you’re going to have a character like this, they have to somehow connect to the rest of the main characters or else they end up absolutely worthless.

The plot, along with all of its manufactured coincidences, takes a backseat to the visual effects, which whether breathtaking or disastrous, are essential for optimum calamity.

I must admit, I was a bit frightened that the effects were going to be on the horrible side of the spectrum when, within the first ten minutes, we’re subjected to some of the worst effects this side of Sharknado as we watch a car tumble down the side of a mountain. The cleverness leading up to the fall is terrific — a young girl does everything in her power to cause a crash only for nothing to happen until the unexpected strikes. And when it does — cringe! Even the effects regarding the chopper rescue are a bit subject to ridicule. Suffice it to say, it did not bode well for the rest of the film… that is until the shaking started. I was relieved to know there was going to be some good stuff here, especially when we get to see the quake literally rolling across the land — absolutely mesmerizing.

Disasters immediately stop at the most convenient times.

Then again, I have to say I was a little disappointed in the amount of time (or lack thereof) devoted to the shaking. At the beginning of the film, Lawrence gives a lecture about how devastating earthquakes can be, preaching about the differences in magnitudes and how long the biggest quakes have lasted — including eleven minutes of fear-inducing shaking during a 9.5 earthquake. That doesn’t happen with the quakes that our heroes encounter. Despite them being supposedly the largest quakes on record, they hardly last more than five or so minutes on screen (at least it never felt that long). To add insult to injury, not once, but thrice are we subjected to the old disaster trope of ending the quake after something falls on our main characters. When Emma is waiting for Ray to come rescue her, the roof of the highrise collapses, taking her down with it and… earthquake over. Blake and Daniel are in a parking structure when the the ceiling collapses down on top of it and… earthquake over. Ray and Emma protect themselves along the side of AT&T Park, only to have several lighting structures fall nearby, nearly killing them and a bunch of civilians and… earthquake over. I know this is one of those things that adds dramatic effect, but for once I’d like to see a major event like this happen and the earthquake or tornado or falling meteors continue to attack our heroes. It would make it so much more exciting, and in some ways, more realistic.

But I digress. This is what disaster movies are made of. They’re hokey and nowhere near realistic — and that’s what makes them so much fun. They’re made to show how we piddly humans can overcome mother nature’s wrath with faith and love and the desire to protect one another from harm. And on that level, San Andreas succeeds, delivering a film that’s pure entertainment, allowing us to escape from the truth of what could really happen one day. Will you be ready?

My Grade: A-

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Next week, new movies include Spy, Insidious 3 and Entourage. If you would like to see a review of one of these, or any other film out next week, please respond in the comments below.

You Might Be a Writer If…

Bryan Caron:

You might be a writer if… you wake up angry because your dreams were full of plot holes.

Originally posted on Kristen Lamb's Blog:

A lot of “stuff” has been going on in my life lately. Hard stuff. Heavy stuff. The kind of stuff that just makes me want to write massacre scenes….except I am so brain dead I had to google how to spell “massacre.”

Masicker? Missucker?

WHAT AM I DOING???? *breaks down sobbing*

I am supposed to be an adult an expert okay, maybe functionally literate. Fine, I give up! I have nothing left to saaaaayyyyyy. I am all out of woooords *builds pillow fort*.

I figured it’s time for a bit of levity. Heck, I need a good laugh. How about you guys?

We writers are different *eye twitches* for sure, but the world would be SO boring without us. Am I the only person who watches Discovery ID and critiques the killers?

You are putting the body THERE? Do you just WANT to go to prison? Why did you STAB…

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