STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS
(Previously Published at TrekWeb on 18 May 2013)
Format: Digital 2D
Studio: Paramount
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof
Rating of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS: 9/10
Rating of STAR TREK (2009): 9.5/10
The First Time I Saw JURASSIC PARKIt’s hard to believe that JURASSIC PARK was released 25 years ago this week. I still remember seeing it at the Galleria. My friend Adam turned to me as the lights went down and said, “So what’s this film about?” He had no idea. It was a Friday night and our group of friends always hung out on the weekends.
Time for another TSJ #ShortMovieReview.
SOLO — A STAR WARS STORY is a highly entertaining movie, delivering the history of Han Solo, the Millennium Falcon, Chewie and others in a fast-paced, f/x-filled joyride. Despite the tumultuous filming history, the changing directors and the re-writing and reshooting of over 70% of the film, it all works.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. Tom Selleck’s Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV is so ingrained in my memory due to my teen years in the 80’s. (I was born at the perfect time. See my thoughts on this here.) The series was watershed for me — it featured a strong cast of male characters who had bonded during war and were now living in the years after, still as close as brothers, but each dealing with their own memories and trauma from Vietnam. It was a show that portrayed Vietnam vets in a positive light, and Tom Selleck was the Alpha who held it all together. His humor, his self-deprecating portrayal of Magnum, and the great chemistry between the leads — including Jonathan Hillerman (Higgins) — kept the show going for eight years. It was also the first time a Navy SEAL had been portrayed in popular culture. When it finally ended, it went out on top, and almost from the instant it went off the air fans have been clamoring for more MAGNUM PI.
I had the good fortune to attend a screening last weekend as the guest of an old friend.
(No Spoilers)
First the bulkheads sweat, then there’s a trickle of water, and then in an instant you’re gone. The only thing left is a bloody pulp in the dark water and crushed bone fragments on the seafloor …
or
THE WAR BENEATH Jacket CopyHere it is — the book description for my upcoming underwater thriller.
I’ve always been excited by books and films set in this interesting, unique and dangerous environment. In many ways the undersea world is more hazardous for humans than outer space. With great depth comes great pressure. This means that structures face implosion at almost any time. It also means that more nitrogen and other gases dissolves in our bloodstream and tissues, and this results in The Bends if a character bolts to the surface. There’s therefore no escape in an emergency. Characters must solve issues on the spot.
They are prisoners of the deeps.
Throw in the superpowers of the world engaged in a new cold war, cities on the ocean floors, submarine warfare and espionage, love and family and greed and revenge, and it makes for an exciting and action-packed undersea world. I hope you enjoy it; the book is coming this fall.
Here’s the book’s jacket copy:
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The Best Movie Sequels of All TimeBefore I begin, here are a few basic facts about me that you might already know by now:
I love movies.
I love genre movies — thrillers, action, adventure, horror, science fiction.
I love sagas, series, and trilogies. Call them what you want; I love to revisit characters and storylines that captivated my attention in the first film.
Coming this Fall from ChiZine Publications
I’m thrilled to reveal the cover of this underwater thriller, coming from ChiZine Publications this fall!
It has been a long wait for a new novel since THE VOID, released in March 2015, but I promise it will be worth it. This new novel is action packed and exciting, and is set in the next frontier — the Earth’s oceans — during a new cold war. The environment is dangerous but compelling, and the novel takes place at a time when the world’s superpowers are fighting with each other to colonize and exploit the ocean floor.
Here is the cover, below!