The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976 Movie)

    To be honest, I didn't care much for this movie, it was hard to follow and it seemed to drag on. This movie stars David Bowie, which surprised me to see that he did a movie before Jim Henson's movie Labyrinth, which I think people remember him more from that movie than this one. In this movie Bowie's acting is good, his character Thomas Jerome Newton has a mysterious, odd and quiet personality. Thomas is an alien, a humanoid that came to earth to get water for his dying planet. But we don't know that till near the middle and end of the movie. Thomas become a billionaire by starting a high technology company, he does this so that he can use the money to build a new space ship and return to his home planet.

    For a movie made in the 1970's, this is a good idea for a story, more original than most sci-fi alien films today. But the thing that I didn't care for was the annoying girl Mary-Lou and that half of the movie was her and Thomas  or some other characters that we never see again, having sex. It really was just a movie of people having sex and a girl having sex with a alien, and the movie had to make those scenes go on forever. Long story short, it was just plain awkward.

    There was one scene that did catch my attention. When Thomas was in the bathroom, he starts taking tweezers and taking something out of his eyes. His human eyes were only a cover up of what his true eyes looked like, and with his alien eyes and his bone face structure, he definitely looked out of this world. I'm glad that they didn't make this alien have different color skin or something silly like that. His alien eyes look almost like snake eyes with the whole eyeball colored orange/red.


    All in all, I think this movie isn't terrible for those who like sci-fi movies, but for me it's not something that I would hunt for in a movie store and buy it on dvd. To me I rate it as a "OK" (4 out 10)  movie. If they did a better job editing scenes and making sure the story isn't loosing its interest, then maybe it can be better. I like Bowie's acting (and I'm not just saying that because I like his part in Labyrinth), but loose that annoy sex craving girl Mary-Lou, she is just embarrassing herself.

Serenity (2005 movie)

The movie Serenity was an interesting movie that kept me interested from begining to end. For anyone who is familiar with the TV series Firefly, this movie relates to that show. I have never seen the TV show, but this movie did superise me that I would like another sci-fi movie other than Avatar and Star Wars. What I liked about this movie, is that they didn't treat this as scientific as I thought. They didn't go on and on about some scientific thing that no one would understand. They call their space craft a ship and the people on the ship are called the crew. It seemed like if they were on a real ship, a pirate ship with a group of different kinds characters (different kinds of personality and skills), on the run and are embarked on a adventure, an adventure that they didn't expect.

There are two characters that I liked in this movie, the captain of the ship (played by Nathan Fillion) and the young girl named River (played by Summer Glau). I've seen Fillion on tv shows like Castle, but didn't think I would see him in a sci-fi action film. His character is Mal and his personality is staying focused. He only cares for him self, the ship and maybe the people on his crew (which is not a lot of people).  He is also a man that is focused on getting a job done, even if its a job that is against the law, as long as it comes with pay, Mal will take the job. Through out the movie there are parts where you can see that he does care for the people on his team, but he makes sure that he still shows authority to the crew to remind them of who the leader is on the ship. Mal also comes across as both a friendly and funny person but also a person that remembers to stay focused on the job. He also becomes interested in River after he sees her go biserk (almost like she changed her personality) and took out everyone in the club. Now he becomes interested in knowing why River was able to do that and why a special forces is after her (and try to kill her). From that point he becomes the hero character in the story, the one that won't let the secret service continue to kill good innocent people just for getting River.

The character River was a hard character to figure out at first. What was hard to read from her is that she showed little facial emotion other than fear and anger. She went from being innocent to a dangerous weapon, a killing machine (she isn't a robot). Most times in the movie she was very quiet and her face seemed to stay on one facial expression. River is a special girl with incredible powers, she is a telepath, who can read people's thoughts and she is skilled in combat. She also knows a secret that wasn't meant for her (or anyone) to find out. We are introduced to her when we see her being forced with experiments on her, a lot of the experiments were focused on her brain (because she is a telepath). River is also a dangerous weapon, she is skilled to fight and kill (if something triggers her to. Like hidden message that is broadcast on tv). The big secret that she knows is that the people that were experimenting on her, know the real reason why a planet called Maranda and why there aren't any people living on it (compared to the other planets).

Besides those characters, I thought it was interesting to finding out what the special forces were trying to keep hidden and the reason for all those experiments on not only River but other people as well. The special forces were doing experiments on people to control them, to make them behave and stop fighting (control their actions). And unfortunatly they succeeded, and the experimet turns against them. The people on Meranda are either dead or have become cannibals. So the secret service has made sure that no information about this planet and their failures gets out. The crew finds out that they have never heard of this planet and it's not in their computers. The reason why River knows of this planet is because she has memories of other people inside her brain, she has other knowlegde that is not hers. Also while being experimetented on, she was reading the scientist mind, but keeping silent to make them think she's not aware of their past failure. It seems that man is always trying to control and contain something (or in this case people) and they know that it's out of their control. And soon it will come back to haunt them or kill them.

I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this movie, because I haven't seen many sci-fi movies or tv shows. Plus, when people start talking very scientific I just get lost in what they are talking about (science isn't my best subject). But I like the movies story, of these people on ship going off to help this girl escape from the special forces and find out what they are hiding. It's always interesting to me to see what writers and film makers do with the idea of people wanting to control something and play the role of God. Which always ends up a being a big mistake and proves that people should mess with things, and they should leave thing were they are. Also I thought it was interesting that the experiments were to make people behave (no fighting), but you can't have a world without some kind of violence. If everything just stayed peaceful and quiet then that would be a boring world. I'm for world peace and everything, but I don't believe in forcing people to do something that they don't want to do. Also forcing experiments on people, especially young people like River, is very cruel. I thought the action scenes were good, and that the film didn't go over the top with special effects, just because it is a sci-fi film. Sometimes a film like this will get to carried away with the 3D special effects, that it takes away from the main focus of the story and the characters.  This film had the right balance of special effects and live action scenes.

The Sirens of Titan

     This is a book that I could not get into. It was more confusing to understand what's going on with the characters than Neil Gaiman's book Anansi Boys. So I hate to say that I won't have much to say about this book, compared to my blog on Warbreaker. I think the reason why I couldn't get into this story, is because I haven't read many sci-fi books. I think this is my first sci-fi book. I guess what I can say about this book, is that it was formatted differently than most books. There are only 11chapters and it seemed like they squeeze tons of information and characters in every chapter, that it was hard to take it all it. I would prefer a book that had lots of chapters and giving it more time to form the characters and the setting. This story felt like it was rushing at hyper speed. The only characters that were sotra interesting was Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog, Kazak. Rumfoord is a wealthy man and has his own personal spacecraft and he and his dog travel through space. Rumfoord seems to really enjoy being a space explorer.

  Just like the Anansi Boys, I got lost in who was the main character. Also I don't think this book had a real villain like the past books I've read. At first I thought Rumfoord was going to be our main character, then we get introduce to other characters that to me became forgetful. In the begining chapters there is a character called Constant. He is the richest man and he goes on a journey from Earth to Mars for the preparations of a war that Mars was going to have against Earth. Even when the story mentions about a war with Earth v.s. Mars, they didn't build it up, and that would make the story more exciting. Long story short, there was too much talking and detail in each chapter. My reason for choosing this book was because when I read the title The Sirens of Titan, I had an idea of the story being a planet that inhabits siren aliens. And when a traveling space ship crash lands on the planet (like all sci-fi stories, the ship has to crash on a dangerous planet, unknown to mankind), one by one the space men are drawn to the sirens beauty and hypnotic voices, but slowly walking into their deaths. When I reads a story (any story) I get a image of what is happening in my mind, like my own movie or illustration of the story, that way I can understand the story better and have a fun way of reading a story. Unfortunately, this book didn't project any images in my mind to help me follow along the story. So I guess this was a lesson learned experience, just like the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" my saying is "don't judge a book by its cover title."

WarBreaker

This is an incredible book, from reading the title I didn't know what to expect  or what kind of fantasy story it was (like is it going to be another story with talking animals or a prophecy story). From the beginning chapters in this book, I was hooked to the characters and their world. And continuing reading chapter after chapter, I was always thinking that I knew what was going to happen next. But I was proven wrong, and I didn't mind it. I like it when a story makes you think one way, but then it turns around and surprises you with something that you never saw coming.

Warbreaker is a fantasy book that has no talking animals, magic rings, young kids on a prophecy. This story has Gods, two royal kingdoms, mercenaries and a talking sword. The kind of magic that is most talked about in the story is the power of breaths. The magic of breaths can keep you young, give you life and give life to object (or dead things) to control. This story felt like it was meant to be read by older teens  and adults, no kids stuff in this story. The kinds of things that goes on in the book would be difficult for a young teen to understand. They should stay with the Narnia books for a while. They discuss war between two kingdoms and how the king sent his younger daughter to marry the enemy kingdom's God King (arranged marriage). There are also parts in the story that tell when the older sister (that was suppose to marry the God King) goes to try and rescue her younger sister. Things don't go the way as she had thought and she has to do things that she doesn't want to do, in order to get money to survive (she almost had to be a prostitute to get money). Also that the only reason why the princess was sent to the God King was so that she can have sex with him to have a new heir to his kingdom. A lot of the characters, mostly the two princess had to do things that they didn't want to do and through that they changed who they are, and it was for the better.

My favorite character is Siri, she is a different kind of princess. She is the youngest of her siblings and she had an easier life of not have to be trained with everything that her older sister Vivenna had to learn in order to be married to the God King. This Agreement was made before Vivenna was born, and since she has been born, she has be trained and waiting to fulfill the agreement. But when their father decides to send the youngest instead of the oldest, both girls feel out of place. For Siri, it's not being free to do as she pleased and has to act more proper in order to not anger the God King. For Vivenna, she doesn't know what to do with her life now. After years of training and to see her youngest sister sent, makes her feel like she is useless and unimportant. To me it seems like the two girls are in the other person's shoes. Siri learning more and more about the political issues and following orders, and Vivenna learning what she can do on her own without someone telling her what to do. Vivenna learns a lot when she is in the world outside her kingdom and about herself.

Why Siri is an appealing character to me, is because I see a lot of her personality in myself. Just like her, I can be stubborn at times and I tend to do what I want, and I hate being orders what to do or where to go (like being herded like sheep, I am no sheep). And if someone pushes me too far (or if I can't take it anymore) I will speak out. My favorite part in the book is when Siri is in the God King's bed chamber and it's been weeks now that she has been ordered to stay on the floor naked and wait there till the God King desires her. But she's tired of the weeks just staying there and he's not doing anything but staring at her. So she doesn't take off her clothes, she goes on his bed and jumps up and down and makes noise. To make it seem that she and the God King are having sex, because she knew that the God King's Priest were probably listening (the priest have been telling her over and over that she must have his child). I laughed at that part and could imagine her acting like a kid jumping on the bed and the God King looking at her in both confusion and the look that says she is crazy.

I also like when she and the God King get to know each other better. Even though the God King can't talk (the priest took his tongue out so that he couldn't use his powerful breaths), he writes to her on a board and they start to grow closers together in their relationship. When at first Siri hated the fact that she was forced into coming to the enemy's kingdom and only be forced to marry the God King so there can be a new heir.  The God King is another character that I like just as much as Siri. For a man (he looks like he's around his 20's) with so much power and name to himself, he's really a kind, shy person who has had his whole life been ordered around and things done for him (not having to lift a finger to do anything). Siri is a good balance for him. She was someone that he couldn't figure out and that is why he liked her. She is outspoken and smart and she brings such life to him when they "talking." He seems really happy to have someone finally talking to him.

There are many other things that I could write that would show how much I really enjoyed this book. But that would be a very long blog and it probably would sound like a book review. I can honestly say that this a book that I will come back to again and re-read it. I don't do that with some of the books I have read, but this book really captured me into the story and the characters. That I want to read it again. I hope that some director is thinking of making this book into a movie. I can see this being a great movie, just don't put it in the hands of M Night Shamalan or Steven Spielberg. Their recent films haven't been that great in the box office (or movie reviews). I can see Jerry Bruckheimer doing the movie justice, just as it is in the book and not disappointing any fans.

Mirrormask

    This film The Mirrormask, was very stunning with the visuals and the story. The idea of using the reversal of what a mirror does and make it work for a fantasy world (the world of a 15 year old girl that was created from her drawings) was interesting. Gaiman has a talent for creating stories of strange fantasy that can also be a bit scary or threatening to the main character. One of the things that I liked about this movie was that is was made under the Jim Henson company. Even though it not a film of placing an actor with puppets, it's nice to see that the Jim Henson studio is still working and maybe it's just the start of future films from them (I really hope so, next to Disney films I grew up with watching all the muppets and their films. Like Labyrinth, Dark Crystal).

   I like how in this mirrored world was a relfection of Helena's world. While Helena is in this other world, the Shadow Princess is in Helena's world. The Shadow Princess is the reflection of Helena and while the Shadow Princess in the world of Helena's life. She is ruining Helena life and destroying her drawings that connect to the kingdom. Helena must find the mirrormask to save the kingdom from destruction (by the shadows) and return to her world. It like the story is fighting the darker side of yourself (or at least that's how it looks like when I  was watching Helena confront to the Shadow Princess, telling her that she doesn't belong there.) Also to be greatful of what you have and when you are ready, you can handle life on your own.

    In the begining of the film you see that Helena is living with her parents and they run a circus, but Helena is tired of it and yells at her mother and wishes that she was "the death of her." When her mother then falls ill, Helena is angry and upset that she yelled at her mother and wants to tell her that she's really sorry. This is similar to what's going on in the kingdom. In the other world there are two kingdoms, one is light and the other is shadow. The Kingdom of Shadow, their Princess ran away from her mother (the Queen) and wants to have her own life. This is probably what Helena thought and felt at the time when she was angry with her mom and wished she was done living the dream of someone else (it's her father's dream to run a circus and she is thrown into it).



    To me this movie is similar to Gaiman's other story (that also was made into a film) Coraline. Both stories have a main girl character (the heroine) and she has relationship problems with her parents, mostly towards her mother. They both long to escape and that's what they get (weither they asked for it or not). But the wonders of the other world turn against them and they must defeat the villain that's keeping them from returning to their real world (both villains are female).

The Anansi Boys-by Neil Gaiman

   This book was kind of hard to get into, unlike the other books I have read/ listened to on audio books. The thing that made this story hard to get into (hard to follow along) is that it just drags on and on. Also our main character Charlie (aka Fat Charlie), has a plain and simple character. He was a boy that didn't like his father very much and has grown up to be a simple, but happy man with his new fiance. Then when we get introduced to his brother, named Spider, his character is strange and kind of annoying sometimes. I guess that works well for the reader to get the sibling rivalry between them.

Sometimes in the book Spider can be pretty annoying to Charlie as most siblings can relate to that annoyance of their brother or sister. When Charlie talked to the spider (insect) and asked to find his brother, at first it was a surprised that Charlie had a brother. But soon, all Charlie wants is his brother to be gone from his life. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, Spider says that he has a plan. He goes to a new place, stays there for a while, and when he feels bored then he leaves and goes to another place. The more time that Spider stays in Charlie's life, the more miserable it is for Charlie. Spider even goes as far as pretending that he is Charlie and goes into his work and goes out with his fiance, then starts to have feeling for her (he's in love with her). Spider is taking everything that Charlie has.

    There seems to be a lot of things going on in the story, that get all tangled up, kind of like a spider web. Or, at least that is how I see it. Because there are so many characters that keep popping in and out of the story and sometimes taking up more time than focusing on Charlie's problem with his brother. To me it seems like I am getting more confused  with additional story lines over lapping the main one.  Somewhere in the chapters Charlie goes to a cave that has people acting a lot like animals (or maybe they are half human, half animal). I did think that it was kind of cool when Charlie was in the caves and he goes to this bird lady and asks her if she can get rid of his brother. The reason why I say that it was cool is because when you look back to the Animal Planet show, people know that birds eat insects (as well as worms and other bird food), so having this bird woman chase away the spider was a cleaver idea.

     Maybe I have to go back and re-read this book but I just didn't enjoy this book as well as I had originally thought. I guess the fault is mine because I know most of my friends have read some book by Neil Gaiman and they swear to it that his books are the best. Also after watching the movie adaptation of his book Coraline, I was expecting something close to that dark and mystery story. I know that some people can say that this book was mysterious, but for me it was just long and confusing.

Narnia The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

     Next to The Lord of the Ring, Narnia is the next best fantasy movie that explores far and beyond the term fantasy, and how far one's imagination can go. To be honest (again) I never knew about Narnia as a kid. What I mean is, that I was in a different kind of English class and my class read different books than the rest of my grade. So back in middle school (or high school), most of my friends knew the world of Narnia. I didn't know that I was missing out on a great fantasy adventure. My dad took me to see this movie when it came out, and together we enjoyed everything about this movie. I watch this movie over and over and never get tired of it. It's like when I put the disk into the dvd player, I'm journeying back into the wardrobe and to Narnia with Aslan, Mr. Tumnas, the Beavers and the many other creatures and animals that live there.

   This movie has great detail that captures a world that is ruled by creatures, spirits, witches and a lion. I like the Pevensie kids just as much as the creatures. But if I had to chose one, I would pick Lucy. The look on her face when she first enters the snow covered Narnia lands and taking in all the wonder and beauty of this strange land beyond the wardrobe. Also the care and the friendship she has with Mr. Tumnus. Even though at first he was going to follow the orders of the White Witch, he knew that what he was doing isn't right and he still believes in a free Narnia. He risked his own safety and protection from the White Witch's power in make sure Lucy (or any of her sibling) get in the hands of the White Witch. Another character that I like is Aslan. In Narnia, he is the true ruler and creator of Narnia (in the world of Narnia, he is God).  He can be both gentle and fierce when he needs to be, but above all he wants his people to be safe and the world of Narnia to be at peace.

 

    I would say my favorite scene in the movie is when winter is ending and Lucy, Susan, Peter and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver enter the camp ground of where the rest of creatures prepare for battle. There are centaurs, fauns, dryas and other creatures and animals that will serve their kings and queens (the Pevensie kids) and Aslan. I like it when everyone see's the three children walk to meet Aslan and everyone stops what they are doing and watches them pass. They are all happy that the hope to save Narnia has come (the prophesy). The designs of each creature was amazing and they looked accurate compared to the old illustrations of these creatures. They looked believeable, especially the centaurs. The centaur's design has always caught my interest. I like the look of the combination of half man and half horse. Next to the Lord of the Rings movie (The Fellowship of the Ring), Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe will forever be my favorite fantasy movies and a great source to get inspiration.

   What this movie (and in the books) has that fits well in the fantasy theme is that it has adventure, magic, talking animals and mystical creatures, and having the kids go on a journey and the change in them from being part of that world. Someday I'll read all the Narnia books, but I think that if C.S. Lewis saw this, I think he would be amazed and proud to see how well everyone that worked on this movie, captures that magic, beauty and wonder that is the Narnia he created.

The Golden Compass

    This was a very entertaining book. The main character in this story goes on an incredible journey and through her journey, you can see the changes in her personality and emoitons. What I really liked about this book is that everyone has their own demon, an animal that can change. These demon's are apart of the human's souls. When the demons felt pain, so would their human. I think it was cleaver of the author to have the demons change into different animals when their human partner was still a child. When the children grows up, their demon can no longer change into different animals, but must settle on one animal. It's this kind of fun and creative ideas that are great material for fantasy stories. I know that while reading about Lyra and her demon, Pan, reading their friendship and how he will fight to protect her. I thought if I had a demon, what kind of animal would he or she be. Would the demon have a similar  personality as me, or would my demon be the opposite, but still be strong/ strong hearted and will protect me (a protector/fighter demon).

    The character Lyra was a character that I've never come across in my other books. Instead of the main girl character (the heroine) being scared and weak in the begining. Lyra was a stubborn, kinda wild, smart girl and would not let anyone push her around. Living in a college for most of her life (she's about 11 or 12 years old), she never had any real parental guidance to teach her things. Lyra is the type of girl that would go off and find the answers herself. That is what she did when the Gobblers were taking children, and when they took her good friend Roger. She wasn't going to let that pass, as many of the adults in the college seemed to act. She traveled far with gypsies, rode on a polar pear and many other dangers and she did all this with the focus in mind to rescue her friend and the rest of the children and return them home. I give Lyra all the credit for having such courage to take on this adventure. Also the fact that she has to learn how to read the golden compass (when you ask a question, it gives you the truth), filled with symbols that she has to learn on her own.

    Once we get to know more about what Dust is, we see why the adults, like Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are so desprate to know more about it and destroy it. In the story, Dust is sin, that is why Dust attracts more to adults than the children (children are too young to know or do anything sinful). There was a part in the story that was hard to get through. That part was when in the north, where the gobblers are keeping all the kidnapped children. They are doing experiments on the children and cutting them off from their demon. The detail of the pain that both the children and their demons were feeling, was vert visual in my mind. Then the sadness of once they are cut off from their demon, the children die and the demon vanishes.

    I listened to this book on audio book and I really enjoyed how they read the story. Instead of one narrator changing his voice for the characters. This audio book had many different people to read the roles of the characters. There was a young girl doing the voice of Lyra, an older man for Lord Asriel, a kind, sneaky voice for Mrs. Coulter, etc. It was like if I went back in time and I was listening to a radio show, listening to these different actors read off their lines. It made the book even more enjoyable to listen and follow along to. It was so much better than their movie adpatation. It's like what everyone says when a book is being made into a movie "the books are better than the movie."

The Fellowship of the Ring (movie)

To be honest, I never saw The Lord of the Ring movies. I have heard of them, but didn't know much about them at the time that they were popular. I do remember that the people that went to see the movies knew the books first, and as usual, the best way to see a movie that is based off the original book. Sometimes I would see parts of The Lord of the Rings movie on tv, but I would catch it at random times so I never bother to watch it without knowing more about what's going on (and the story that it's based upon).

If I hadn't read The Hobbit, I would have not understood some key points in the movie (that only the ones that have read the book would understand). My original thought was that this movie was going to start off with Frodo, but I was surprised to see Bilbo again and to find out that Bilbo and Frodo are related. Once I saw the character Bilbo in the movie, he looked just like how I imagined him to be. I was also surprised by the power of the ring that Bilbo took from the Mist Mountain. Also its affect on the holder of the ring, it was scary when Bilbo was acting greedy and angry and would not give up the ring to anyone. He even said that the ring was "his precious," the same way Golom had said it. Not only did the ring have the power to make the holder become obsessed, but also keep them from aging. This was Gandalf's first notice when he saw Bilbo for his (111th year old) Birthday part that the other hobbits were throwing for him.

Another thing that caught my attention is that Frodo is different from how Bilbo was on a journey. In the Hobbit (book), Bilbo didn't like the idea of going on an adventure, but then he grew into it and loved the experience and the places he'd seen. In the beginning of the movie, Bilbo has become the opposite of what Hobbits are known for (staying in one place). After his birthday party, Bilbo decides to leave his hobbit hole and go off somewhere on another journey. To me Frodo is the reverse of Bilbo's personality. Frodo has heard of Bilbo's adventures and he longs to go on one of them with Bilbo. But when he gets his adventure to return the ring. Frodo seems to be very afraid and it seems that he doesn't have the same cleverness and wit as Bilbo had when getting out of problems. But I do see that Frodo has the same will power to continue on the journey that he started.

The rest of the movie is with Frodo, Gandalf, a few other hobbits, and elf, man and dwarf going on a journey to bring the ring to the mountain where it was born and destroy it in the mountain's volcano. But the movie doesn't end with them getting to the mountain so soon. There's more to be continued from this movie and story. The movie ends with Frodo and his friend Sam journeying alone without the rest of their group to get rid of the ring once and for all. The situation with Gandalf is very suspenseful.

This has now become a favorite movie that I will add to my collection of movies. I'm a fan of fantasy films and like to try and draw fantasy work. This movie has inspired me even more. The visuals and the looks of the characters and environments (like the elves homes in the forest) was better than I could have imagined.