Category Archives: Review

These aren’t so much reviews as contemplations on the subject matter. What I loved, what pissed me off, what intrigued me, what I disliked, what made me think, what made me beg Google for answers.

21 and The Forbidden Kingdom

21 An exciting based-on-a-true-story drama, we follow the life experience of an MIT student who needs 300,000 dollars to go to Harvard Med…so he counts cards in Vegas, gets emotional and pisses off his mentor, gets cheated and gets revenge and gets cheated again. Lots of fun and lots of good jokes plus an important life lesson: if you get lots of money, DON’T HIDE IT IN THE CEILING OF YOUR DORM ROOM! 😉 The Forbidden Kingdom This film freaking rules! Well first off – the opening is ok up to the point where the gang banger starts beating up on Michael Angarano for hanging out with “those chinks in yellow town”…first off I didn’t know south Boston was so racist and second I didn’t know gang bangers took karate. My big issue with the opening was that is was SOOOOOO 90’s: kid is introduced; kid gets challenged or beat-up; … Continue reading →

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Communists by Gideon Defoe

The latest addition to Gideon Defoe’s masterful works continues the exciting and exhilarating romps through Europe with the witlessly brave Pirate Captain and his crew. The trouble starts when the Pirate Captain is mistaken for Karl Marx, but the adventure escalates as the Pirate Captain and his crew scour Paris to try and figure out why everyone hates communists. A brilliant comedic adventure that is a wonderful addition to Defoe’s other pirate adventures. Highly recommended.

City of Angels – Cal State Fullerton

A decent production of one of my favorite musicals, my first complaint is with the program. It kind of awkwardly describes whats actually going on in the play. It says that the story has two plot lines: one is an author writing the screenplay of one of his novels and the other is that same author dealing with the Hollywood politics as his screenplay is torn to shreds (or something to that effect). It also has two “cast lists”: the Hollywood cast and the movie cast. It is kind of hard at first blush to interpret that statement if you’re unfamiliar with the play, so let me try and lay it out for you in a less confusing manner. Stine, the author of City of Angels, is adapting his novel into a screenplay for his director, Buddy Fidler. While Stine is writing the screenplay, we see the film noir detective … Continue reading →

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Ahab by Gideon Defoe

It’s hard to review this book without a) giving away too much of the plot and b) finding enough different words to describe just how enjoyable the book is. It is a rollicking good time that presents an amusing take on the lives of pirates as they follow their devoted Captain around America searching for money to get out of debt with. I enjoyed this book very, VERY much and would highly recommend it to anyone, pirate fan or otherwise.

The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists by Gideon Defoe

If you’re looking for a book about Charles Darwin, piratical absurd-ism and radioactive elephants, then you’ve come to the right place. If you’ve come looking for a serious adventure starring pirates (does such a thing even exist?) then go pick up something else. A tantalizing romp around the Atlantic Ocean and merry old London, nothing is sacred in this nautical adventure. Pirates disguised as scientists fit right in at a meteorological ball…The Holy Ghost will be wrestled by a manpanzee….a pirate will attack Big Ben….and much more in this delightful tale of villainy and ham.

Sweeney Todd – Ahmanson Theatre

It’s closed now so you missed it, but it was definitely an interesting experience. It was REALLY nice to see the musical again after the movie since there were bits and pieces that I missed in the movie that are SO delicious on stage (mostly the main chorus – “Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd”). It was a very interesting performance because they make 2 major departures from the traditional presentation of it: 1) The play is more symbolic than realistic, taking place in a mental ward, allowing for each of the actors to extend their character into a psychological condition. Also there’s far less actual violence than in the original. For every death, a bucket of “blood” is transfered for another bucket and that character puts on a bloodied doctor’s coat for the remainder of the show. Also the “chair” which is a really cool part of the non-symbolic … Continue reading →

The Searchers

The Searchers Mose (Hank Worden) was in Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. “Smokin’ up a new batch Mason?” Lorrie’s father (Mr. Jorgensen – John Qualen) was in Casablanca. He’s in the resistance and contacts Victor Laszlo in Cafe American. “My name is Berger”. WTF is up with John Wayne? His character flips 180 degrees at the end of the movie. So does Natalie Wood’s character! I mean sure you can try and explain it with character choices, but it’s still very awkward at first blush. According to the commentary, the book has a much darker ending which they couldn’t use in the movie….but it makes things somewhat awkward….. But it’s still really funny, ya chunkhead. Is The Missing (2003) an updated version of this story? It’s based on a book after all… How odd! Both movies seem similar at first glance and they’re both based on books, but they’re … Continue reading →

The Last Days by Joel Rosenberg

Even though I read The Ezekiel Option (Book 3) before reading The Last Jihad (Book 1) and now The Last Days (Book 2), I really wish I hadn’t because now I have to read book 3 all over again….sigh. The Wikipedia spoiler highlights just aren’t good enough! Rosenberg has the talent as a writer to suck a reader in with characters and political/military excitement like you wouldn’t believe. I read this book in a week and usually I take at least a month to read a book. I don’t really have much else to say except how incredibly enjoyable and engaging Rosenberg is as an author. Oh and he continues his prophetic streak. The book begins with a terrorist attack in Gaza (don’t worry it’s not a one-trick pony) that kills Yasser Arafat and attacks a U.S. diplomatic convoy. “Two weeks before The Last Days was published, a U.S. diplomatic … Continue reading →

All Shook Up – MTW

This show is just so much fun.  Set to the music of Elvis Presley, it’s traditionally described as James Dean meets Shakespeare (specifically Twelfth Night and A Midsummer’s Night Dream) and it’s a very enjoyable romantic jukebox musical. I have no complaints about any of the performances.  I get to hate old people again because there’s one song that takes place in a “statue garden” and then it breaks into this musical number and the statues move about (they’re really people).  The audience decided to applaud for the statues after their first movement.  I GOTTA stop going to matinées…. There was also a really weird 4th wall break that happened midway through the second act….Chad (the Elvis/James Dean character) says something and a group of people behind and to the left of me (rear house left) shouted/screamed an affirmative answer and he broke the wall to go, “Yeah!”  It was … Continue reading →

The Last Jihad by Joel Rosenberg

That’s right I’m still awake. Why? Because Joel Rosenberg write a book you can’t put down when you get to a certain point. Sure he abuses the classic foreshadowing techniques of great fiction (if a character swears to let nothing interfere with his family’s upcoming vacation, you know that character will die), but the way Rosenberg writes…..I mean I read The Ezekiel Option about a year ago and I can vividly remember having to just stop what I was doing, take the book and go lie on the couch and read for several hours. Joel Rosenberg’s claim to fame (aside from being a phenomenal fiction writer) is that he’s somewhat of a prophet through his books. The Last Jihad is his first novel and was nearly completed before 9/11 happened. And in the book a hijacked plane attacks the President, who discovers it’s an Iraqi plot and charges into a … Continue reading →