T.D. Wilson's Blog, page 26

For most of my life as a kid, I was a huge fan of the big...

For most of my life as a kid, I was a huge fan of the big monster and giant robot movies.  Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, King Kong, Ultraman, you name it.  You see them now and they look kind of cheesy, but back then, it was really cool stuff.

The Godzilla movie in 1998 with Matthew Broderick was just not the same.  I left that movie feeling a little deflated.  I wasn't sure if it was the story line around the monster or the monster itself.  It will be interesting to see what comes out of the new Godzilla movie to be released in 2014, but I digress.

In Pacific Rim, monsters have entered our world through a dimensional rift in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.  The creatures continued to get stronger and slowly began to appear more frequently.  Soon, mankind's conventional weaponry can't handle them.  So, the Jaeger program began.

Let me stop there.  I am a big Rifts roleplaying fan, as well as Robotech and Battletech.  The idea of developing hundred plus ton robots or powered armor with human pilots is just freaking cool.

Now, the movie's plot is not deep and for a summer action movie like this, it doesn't have to be.  It was made for one reason; ENTERTAINMENT.  Trust me.  For an old monster/robot movie fan, this movie had that in spades.

I really liked the idea that the invaders were sending clones of the monsters or Kaiju through the rift.  It was really interesting to learn the clones were mentally linked.  They helped future monstrosities learn and adapt to the human tactics. The Kaiju were intelligent and they were sent through with a purpose. I thought the idea that the would be invaders were colonists and had tried to come over before using the dinosaurs was also a fun idea.  I give the writer kudos for the back story.

Now for the Jaegers.  Wow.  I liked the Drift.  In my own writings, I have employed the uses of neural interfaces with machines.  I could easily understand the impediment on the human mind if a solo pilot tried to control one of those huge mechs.  For me, I would love to be one of those who sign up just to try.  I have a twin brother is who is a six degree black belt in Okinawan Karate.  Hmm.. Drift compatible for kicking butt..  Heck yeah!!!

I loved the idea of this movie and want to see more.  If the rift continues to be a problem and budgets aren't too much, I could see this being made into a TV series.

I give it an 8.5 out of 10 for its butt kicking monster bashing action.  The Jaegers were awesome.  Also, I took my kids to this movie.  Nine year olds, who like their dad, love big robots and hulking monsters on the big screen.  Gotta love it.

My family and I had waited a long time for Christopher No...

My family and I had waited a long time for Christopher Nolan's Man of Steel.  To be honest, there had to be something to redeem the Superman story line after Superman Returns.  There just had to be.  I have several friends who have been dogging this movie.  Too much of an action sequence here, not enough depth here, these characters didn't work....  I'm sorry.  I liked the movie.  It was good representation of who DC plans to portray Superman for the near and hopeful future.

Characters..  Amy Adams did a good inquisitive Louis Lane.  I liked her in this and the red-hair was a nice change of pace too.  Now, I have heard all kinds of grief about Russell Crowe and Kevin Costner.  I don't know why.  "They didn't offer anything!" is a claim I heard a lot.  My two cents, here.  They are not the main character!!!!  However, they did provide us the unique boundaries of Clark/Kal's personality.  What they valued, what they believed in, and how much they loved their son.  What lengths should someone go or even sacrifice themselves to save others whom they have never known.  Jor-el and Jonathan Kent showed their son the value of life.  In doing so, it made it so much harder for Superman to take the Zod's life in the end of the film.  Zod gave him no other option.  That choice that Superman makes will undoubtedly haunt him to the end of his days.  All through the film we really begin to see the depths of Superman's humanity.

Now with Zod gone, Kal-el is truly the last of his race.  That is unless a new way can be made to reopen the phantom zone.  But if the Kryptonians there are freed, would they listen to Clark and try to find a new life for Krypton?  Or would they continue the course Zod had already put on?

There are a few nitpicks on dialogue and some confusing character interaction, but they didn't overly detract from my enjoyment of the story.  I did like the idea that all Kryptonians are essentially clones that are generated from the same codex.  It also makes sense that Jor-el, the rabble rouser (if there is such a thing on Krypton) that he is, would break with society and have a naturally conceived child.  I give it a 7.5 out of 10.  It was good, but not quite the wow.

I do think this film is a good starter that can make more inroads into other films for DC and ultimately to a Justice League movie.  Marvel has done a fantastic job integrating story lines for its characters involved in the Avengers and I would truly like to see DC step up and bring us something worthy of the World's Mightiest Heroes.

I forgot to post this one... I took the family out ...

I forgot to post this one...  I took the family out to see the third Iron Man movie the weekend it came out.  a bit crowded, but not too bad for the time slot we chose.  My boys and I were really psych'd about this one.  The movie was action packed, full of good witty humor, and I wondered when AIM would show up in the Iron Man story.  This movie really is Tony Stark's final transformation from playboy to hero.  I liked the interaction with the kid in the movie and I think it kept him grounded.

Despite how much fun it was, I did have a few issues.  First of all, some of the one liners and comic jabs looked forced and felt as if they were only there to get a laugh, rather than be truly something Tony or one of the other characters would really say.

Two.  After all the other crap that Pepper Potts has been through, she is playing the damsel in distress?  Come on!  She should be flying her own suit by now.

The final issue I had was really my kids issue.  I loved Ben Kingsley, but my boys wanted the Mandarin.  THE MANDARIN!   And yes, SPOILER; the Mandarin is a fake setup by AIM that uses Ben Kingsley's character as a prop.  Maybe the real Mandarin will get offended and come back wanting an Iron Man 4.  LOL.

All in all a good film.  I would give it 8 out of 10.

Ok, I pulled out my geek card to get stamped last weekend...

Ok, I pulled out my geek card to get stamped last weekend and trundled off to the movies with the family to watch the second J.J. Abrams Star Trek film, Into Darkness.  It was awesome!  The knitting of the old story timeline with the new one fit right in and Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal of Khan was well done.  I know there are many of us Star Trek purists out there that believe that no one could replace Ricardo Montalban as Khan, but come on.  Just face it.  Benedict did the character proud.

There was only one issue I had with the movie and that goes back to the purist thing.  Long ago Gene Roddenberry declared that the Enterprise design could not operate in an atmosphere.  Well, even in the first movie, Starfleet was building the ship on a Earth ground based shipyard.   Not in space.  With the right thrust capabilities and stabilizers, I believe it could work, but that is my engineering background coming out again.

One spoiler.  I did like the movies role reversal with Kirk and Spock.  This time it was Kirk that lay dying in radiation chamber and Spock looking helplessly on the outside.  Very well done and nicely played.

Ok, second spoiler...  My son asked my why Spock went after Khan in the final big chase and not some of the security guys.  One, the red shirts die..  The walking dead...sorry.  Two, Vulcans are strong.  Much stronger than humans and there had to be someone that could face off with Khan in a hand-to-hand fight.

Only one final comment.  Alice Eve as Dr. Carol Marcus... Hot!

Crucible continues to get great reviews! It has fo...

Crucible continues to get great reviews!   It has four 5 Star and one 4 star already.  To start off the summer, I am putting both Crucible and Embrace on sale for $0.99 from June 1 to June 7.

Check out my Podcast interview on Gizmosapiens. I h...

Check out my Podcast interview on Gizmosapiens.  I had a great time discussing Crucible and many of the characters from this series.  We even talked about other authors we enjoy and took a quick look ahead at what is to come with Echoes.

http://www.gizmosapiens.com/

Crucible is now available on Kobo and Apple iBooks! &nbsp...

Crucible is now available on Kobo and Apple iBooks!  Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Diesel Ebooks should be ready soon.  If you are looking to get Embrace on Kobo, I am still working an issue there.  The price is wrong and sample version still showed the older version that some changes for formatting and the preface, among other things.  I am working with Smashwords on the issue.  I recommend you get Embrace directly from Smashwords and use the Epub version if you normally use Kobo.

Crucible has been released! Currently, it is availa...

Crucible has been released!  Currently, it is available on Amazon and Smashwords.  Smashwords has approved it for their premium catalog.  I will update everyone with the retailer links as they come available.

Here are the links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CJNDLMK

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/310418

Crucible is already off to a strong showing.  Be sure to check out the first book of the series, Embrace, if you haven't already.

I plan to release excerpts from the third book, Echoes, here and on Facebook in the coming months.

Just one week until the release of the second book of The...

Just one week until the release of the second book of The Epherium Chronicles.  Crucible will be available on Amazon and Smashwords, just like Embrace.  I will keep everyone posted as the availability from other online retailers is known.  Keep your eyes peeled for the announcement here or on the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/TheEpheriumChronicles.

While many of us are still waiting on more news from the ...

While many of us are still waiting on more news from the Transformers universe concerning Transformers 4 (it just started production shooting BTW).  I wanted to take a small aside to another aspect of the Transformers genre: Transformers Prime.

This animated series has begun it third and final season on the HUB network only a few weeks ago.  The developers have stated that the series will be changed or re-invented, but I do hope the storyline will continue.  This series has been ripe with great stories and new looks at Optimus and Megatron from their early beginnings.  The third season has an added tag: Beast Hunters.

At the end of the second season, the Decepticons had destroyed the Autobot base on Earth and Optimus' fate is once again uncertain.  The new season brings about a new Decepticon foe, the Predacon.  It is an engineered clone created by Shockwave whose purpose is to hunt down the surviving Autobots.  To me, it sort of looks like a cross between and dragon and one of the alien Predators from the movies.

I don't know about you, but the past weeks with my kids has put me on edge.  My boys have been theorizing every possibility related to Optimus Prime.  Is he dead?  Will he come back?  Who will take over?  It reminds me of the days when my family used to talk about Who Shot JR on Dallas.  Yes, I am that old...  After week 4 of the new season, we see that Optimus was about to enter the All Spark again and pass on the Matrix to a new leader, only to be remade into a new and more powerful form.

I am personally grateful that another death of Optimus was averted.  There have been so many deaths and subsequent rebirths of the character, but this series has managed to continue to hold my interest.  There is good writing, great animation, and the musical score is inspiring.  I wish more of the threads in past episodes could have been followed up, but I understand there are limitations.

There leaves only one thing in my mind when I think about the series since they added the Beast Wars tag.  Bring on the Dinobots!