Demons, Zombies, and Batman
‘ve been doing a lot of reading and movie watching lately, and I’m afraid I’ve been slacking off in the reviewing department. So, that having been confessed, let’s play catch up.
World War Z, by Max Brooks
Do you own this book? Why not? You should. You should own it, perhaps several copies of it, because writing this good needs to be rewarded, so the author writes more of it.
First and foremost, Max Brooks spends entirely too much of his free time thinking about zombies and how to defeat the mindless hordes, and thank God for it. Thanks to Max Brooks showing us the way, there’s a slender possibility that the human race may survive the impending zombie apocalypse. Maybe.
This book is written in the format of one-on-one interviews with various survivors of the zombie war, detailing how they survived, and what they experienced. Some are just regular joes like you and me, some are famous or semi-famous, and some were active military. The interviewees are from all over the world, so we get a truly global look at the situation.
Each survivor’s story is worse than the last. Just about the time you finish a small section and, horrified, think to yourself, Jesus, it can’t get any worse than that!, you turn the page, and Max has come up with something even nastier. The book is terrifying, funny, and action-packed, able to keep the reader on the edge of their seats throughout each story, even though you know the teller survived. This is, hands down, the most fantastic thing I’ve read in several years.
Monster Island, Monster Nation, and Monster Planet, by David Wellington
This was a fun little trilogy, but it suffered some in my opinion for having been read after I read World War Z. What can I say? Max Brooks is a tough act to follow. However, despite this, the Monster trilogy was a lot of fun, a good, quick popcorn read. It got silly in a few places, but I found it to be an acceptable level of silliness. (Except, possibly, for the one “hero” dressed in a skull-printed leather bondage outfit. That may have been a bit much.)
Over all, though, they were a good read. David’s got some neat ideas about the zombie apocalypse, and some new twists to add to the equation, which I approved of. Many of the characters were vastly enjoyable, particularly Mael, the Scot, and Gary, the evil zombie overlord wanna-be. I have a feeling that David was identifying a lot more with the villains than the heroes while writing this, and it shows, delivering a lot of fun for the readers.
If you get a chance, give ‘em a read. They’re worth it.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
I was so disappointed with this movie. I’d been looking forward to it for months. The first was was really good. The trailer looked awesome. The movie stunk the place up.
Cliche plot? Check. Shabby FX? Check. Lackluster acting? Check. There was one amusing scene with Hellboy and Abe getting drunk while lamenting the woes of dealing with their girlfriends, and they end up singing along to sappy love songs in the library, and resultingly too drunk to deal with the bad guys when they show up. That was funny. The bad guy, Prince Nuada, has a couple of cool moves during the fight scenes. And that was about it. Steal it off the internet, watch it for free if you must. It’s certainly not worth paying theater prices for.
The Dark Knight
All you need to know about this movie is that you need to drop whatever you’re doing and go see it right now. Even if you’ve already seen it. I just got back from seeing it, and seriously, it was so goddamn good I almost paid to watch it again at the midnight showing. If I’d had the cash, I would have.
Heath Ledger’s Joker was motherfucking brilliant. I know everyone is saying that, and I just want to let you know that everyone is telling you the truth. I cannot imagine how anyone will be able to ever top Ledger’s performance in this role. I am so damn pissed that he’s dead, right now, that I can’t even begin to explain it, but it starts with the fact that we will never again see his Joker on screen.
And while I’m at it, the writers deserve a fucking standing ovation. Heath Ledger did a fantastic job playing the Joker, but the writers made that character a work of fucking genius. I can’t gush enough praise for this movie. I just can’t. Plot? Brilliant. Acting? Unbelievable. FX? Excellent. The Joker? Made me want to piss myself. He was a psychopathic murderous lunatic, exactly what the Joker is supposed to be.
Are you still reading this? Didn’t I just tell your ass to go see the movie? Hop to it! Chop chop!
(Photo credit: Why So Serious?.)
