S. Lee Spelbring's Blog, page 11
January 6, 2020
[Netflix] Movie Review – The Da Vinci Code
As Robert Langdon puts it at the end of the movie, “It’s whatever you believe”, and while the question proposed throughout the movie is controversial, it does make for a good movie. I would liken it to Indiana Jones and National Treasure movies as they are all a search for “treasure” of one kind or another.
Symbols, codes, clues, and secret societies fill this movie with intrigue and interest. I also love all the history (however true it actually is) reported throughout the movie to prove the religious theory that the Holy Grail isn’t an object, it’s a person.
I also love the ending, where everything is revealed, and all the mysteries are (somewhat) laid to rest. Tom Hanks, while not a favorite actor, is one I do enjoy watching on the big screen, and Ian McKellen has been in some great movies too. Paul Bettany even makes an appearance. No matter what you believe, it does make a good story and gives us all a little food for thought.
December 30, 2019
[DVD] Movie Review: Resident Evil: After Life
The story continues with Alice now targeting the head of the Umbrella Corporation along with her many clones. However, not all goes as planned, survivors are disappearing, and Alice herself has finally been cured of the T virus that has made her superhuman.
More survivors are holed up in a prison awaiting rescue from Arcadia, the ship and sanctuary promised over the radio. Alice arrives and of course all hell breaks loose forcing all involved to abandon the prison and make the dangerous trek to the Arcadia, only to find the ship seemingly abandoned as well.
The secret of the Arcadia is revealed, only leaving more questions rather than answering them altogether, but eventually giving everyone left a sense of hope for the future…
—Now there are two more movies in this film series, however I only had the first four (in a 4 in 1 DVD set). The story continues in RETRIBUTION and finishes with THE FINAL CHAPTER.—
Scared Buddies return in Resident Evil 2 (The Remake):
December 23, 2019
[DVD] Movie Review: Resident Evil: Extinction
A continuation of Apocalypse, Extinction proves that the T virus has spread throughout the country and survivors keep on the move to stay alive, but there may be a sanctuary out there.
However, Alice is again detained by the Umbrella Corporation, she’s the only one who has successfully bonded with the T virus and they want to know why, thus her presence is a danger to anyone she encounters.
The numbers of the undead rise to include animals, and the danger is all too real. Will Alice escape a third time? Will the survivors continue to survive? The story continues…
I like this movie series in general, but my favorite is still the original movie, because I can rewatch it again and again and not be, well bored comes to mind, but I think movie lovers will know what I’m talking about.
Scared Buddies return for more Resident Evil 2 (The Remake):
December 16, 2019
[DVD] Movie Review: Resident Evil: Apocalypse
While Resident Evil (the first one) is my favorite so far, that doesn’t mean that the sequels are bad, far from it. Apocalypse continues the plot as the virus spirals out of control from the Hive into Raccoon City above.
Milla Jovovich returns to play Alice, who is now infected with the virus herself, but in a very different way from the zombies. She teams up with the survivors to pull off a rescue mission and escape the city before it’s overrun.
It’s not that easy when zombies and lickers are around every corner, plus Umbrella isn’t just experimenting on Alice, and by morning Raccoon City will be sanitized…the story continues.
Scared Buddies return for more Resident Evil 2 (The Remake):
December 9, 2019
[DVD] Movie Review: Resident Evil
This film is the first in a four part series starring Milla Jovovich, she is the only recurring actress and character throughout the series. The movies are based on the video game for the PlayStation.
It’s a zombie movie to put it simply.
But it is so much more than just a zombie movie. This first film is probably the most well known of the series and has been on TV on occasion. It’s also a bit blood and gore (dead people eating live people, gun fights, and gory injuries), but not graphic; the camera doesn’t linger on the death scenes but continues moving with the plot.
The mystery of the Umbrella Corporation, who Alice (Milla Jovovich) really is, and what exactly happened at the Hive slowly unravels throughout the movie, and at the end…well it doesn’t really end, the next movie starts (sort of).
I have previously admitted to a fondness of dark movies, and this is certainly one of those. Also, this all started because I found a 4 in 1 DVD of the Resident Evil film series, so be prepared to see reviews of all four.
Also, I started watching Buzzfeed Multiplayer, and they played Resident Evil 2 (Remake), feel free to enjoy that too!
December 4, 2019
All That Glitters by V. C. Andrews
All That Glitters by V.C. Andrews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
All I can think about after reading this book is all the death that has occurred in this series so far. I have been reading them in order, just so we’re all on the same page. So far the death count (just in the book timeline) is seven. Seven.
Basically Ruby’s family is dead.
It leaves me wondering where this series is going as there are two more books in the series and there aren’t that many characters left to kill off. At this point it seems that all the family drama is gone since there is no more family anymore!
I’m interested in the next book because of this turn of events…
November 25, 2019
[Netflix] Review: A Good Marriage
A Good Marriage is based on a short story of the same name from Stephen King’s Full Dark, No Stars (book review). Like 1922 (another Stephen King short story) it follows the book plot fairly closely. Some of the details are different, such as the box under the tool bench, Darcy’s fears for herself and her family (which are depicted as hallucinations rather than her thoughts, which makes sense in a movie format), and some of the clues that confirms her worst fears.
It does start a bit slow, but so does the short story, establishing Darcy and Bob’s ‘good marriage’. The average couple, still in love, and two grown kids doing well on their own. Its very difficult to talk about this movie without giving away the pertinent point that the plot revolves around. But I’m going to try to continue.
Skipping to the ending, as the middle of the movie is mostly Darcy coming to terms with the truth, and deciding what, if anything, she wants to do about it. So what does she decide? Darcy’s family is her world, if she tells the truth, her children will suffer, so there’s only one solution left. That solution is to eliminate the problem.
*Note: As of this writing A Good Marriage is no longer on Netflix, but can be found on the Roku Channel.
November 20, 2019
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Orson Scott Card is a sci-fi writer of some renown, Ender’s Game anyone? (I still need to read it, but I’ve heard of it.) And he wrote a book on writing speculative fiction. You could really apply it to writing in general, but there are a few chapters specifically on the genre of speculative fiction.
He discusses the origins of the genre, before delving in further to what defines the genre. What is the difference between fantasy and science fiction? Is there even a difference? Well, a very broad definition is if the world doesn’t look or function like ours it’s speculative. I also liked the chapter on putting together ideas. The process of writing, advice for those who want to write, and general advice for getting published.
It took me a couple of tries to finish this book. It is packed with information. It is a bit outdated as it was written in the 1990s, pre-internet era, so it doesn’t touch on ebooks at all, but I would still say it is worth reading for any serious writer. He talks about beta readers (and training them!), how to put ideas together and formulate a story, things that don’t change no matter what. If you read sci-fi or fantasy, this is a must read.
November 18, 2019
[Netflix] Movie Review – The Flatliners
This movie has a ton of well known actors, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and the main character: Keifer Sutherland. It’s a sci-fi movie from 1990 that has been recently remade in 2017. This is the 1990 version that I watched and am talking about.
As med students, the group of five friends have questions about death and what happens afterwards. Julia Roberts for example, likes interviewing patients who have had near death experiences. And then Keifer Sutherland decides to experiment. That experiment is causing himself to flatline, or die for a short period of time and then have his friends bring him back.
Eventually four out of the five friends flatline, each with unintended consequences. Their sins come back to haunt them, but only after nearly all of them have flatlined do they actually confront this piece of information.
Its an amazing cast of popular 90s actors and I love that, its very rare to have more than one star actor in a movie (unless you count the collaborative Marvel movies).
November 11, 2019
[Netflix] Movie Review – The Devil and Father Amorth
This is a documentary of the inspiration behind the movie The Exorcist. It features an interview with the author of the book The Exorcist is based on, and even delves into the original exorcism that was based on.
However, this documentary features and builds up to an exorcism performed by Father Amorth, an Italian Catholic Priest who is one of the best at what he does. Father Amorth is elderly and by the end of the documentary has already succumbed to pneumonia.
The host is William Friedkin, the producer and director of The Exorcist, he explores exorcism from a religious stand point, but interviews several neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and other members of the clergy on their thoughts about the phenomena.
I have not yet watched the original movie, but I have watched other exorcism movies that are based on this idea. It is interesting to explore the basis of the movies and the myriad beliefs surrounding it.
