Rise of the Planet of the Apes - A Review

Okay, so this film is a few years old now, but seeing as I've only just watched it - Having kids has certainly taken my finger of the pop culture pulse - I wanted to offer my thoughts.

Rise is clearly the start of a new run of Apes films. With Dawn having just gone through the cinemas, I felt it was time to watch it.

As the title suggests, Rise is the Apes book of Genesis.

In Rise, we get to know the first Ape - Caesar. Used in experiments to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease, Caesar develops way beyond the expected intellect of a normal ape. This is handled well in the film, always highlighting the potential problems for messing with nature and science.

When Caesar's death is ordered due to an experiment going wrong, Will Rodman (played by James Franco), takes him home to live with him.

The inevitable happens and Caesar becomes a threat to society. This is when he's transferred to a sanctuary. Up until this point, I was invested in the story, cared for Caesar's plight and really wanted to see him make it through. But it was at the sanctuary where the film lost me.

While in the sanctuary, Caesar finds himself in the care of a worker who hates apes. The thing is, the worker doesn't seem to have any motivation for hating the apes other than his own inherent cruelty. While this sets up the tension required for the conflict that sees Caesar eventually pop, it makes the sanctuary worker hideously one-dimensional and unbelievable. It was like they'd drafted in a Scooby Doo villain to push the story forwards because they didn't know how else to create conflict.

As the title suggests, the ensuing drama leads to the rise of the planet of the apes.

Were it not for the weak middle this would have been a great film. I'll definitely watch Dawn and hope Draco Malfoy is nowhere to be seen. The annoying thing is, he would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky apes.

Rating - 6.5 out of 10.

A Review of Dead Hunger by Eric A. Shelman

Dead Hunger is book one in a series of books by Eric A Shelman - His author page on Amazon can be found here.

Dead Hunger is a zombie book, which I'm sure is pretty obvious from the cover image. We see the outbreak though the eyes of Flex Sheridan. The book starts with him rushing to see his sister, who is turning into a zombie while talking to him on the phone.

In my reviews I try to avoid spoilers where possible, so please forgive my talking around the plot without much specific detail.

Like all good zombie stories, this book has a core group of characters at the centre of it that I truly cared about. The story starts with the main character, Flex, introducing the group. Time is then rewound to the start of the outbreak, or at least Flex's first experience of it, before the group had formed. You see how the group came together. I thought this was an interesting way of telling the story and made the first appearance of each of the group members all the more powerful.

The first few chapters really pull you into the story, the behaviour of the zombies is human, yet alien at the same time. They're portrayed in a way that's truly unsettling.

Having read a lot of zombie fiction, the actual zombies don't usually affect me. However, in Dead Hunger I found myself suitably unsettled by how they acted. Especially Flex's sister. The horror is subtle in Eric Shelman's prose, it's layered and creeps up on you like a rising tide.

This is a well written book that sets up the series well. I look forward to reading book two.

A review of The Fault in our Stars by John Green

Okay, so this book probably doesn't need any more press, but I've just finished it and I thought I'd add my thoughts on it.

Before I read this book, I wasn't sure if it would be for me. I like young adult, but it's not a genre I actively seek out.

Unless you've been living in a cave, you've probably heard about this book. It's the story of a teenage girl, Hazel, who is terminally ill with cancer. While at a support group for people suffering with cancer, she meets Augustus, who is in remission, and so the love affair begins.

Hazel isn't self-pitying about her disease. All she's trying to do is live her life, respond to her emotions, and make the most out of the time she has left. It's this attitude that makes her life so engaging.

Hazel's love interest, Augustus (Gus), is witty and eloquent. At points I found him a little too eloquent and borderline pretentious, but those moments were fleeting. On the whole I loved him and his role in the story.

Getting to know these characters and see their love grow was a pleasure. Green manages to negotiate teenage love without making it feel like an over-emotional mess. It was well handled and captivating to read. This made the sad scenes all the more heartbreaking.

While reading this book, I felt so close to the action I could smell cancer and everything associated with it. The treatments, the hospitals, the drugs...

To avoid spoilers I won't take my review any further.

John Green is an amazing author, with a wonderful prose style. Incredibly conscious writing makes for an easy read, but a well crafted one.

This is a great book and one I would recommend to anyone. It's funny, heart breaking, and incredibly well told.  

Space Mullet, Chapter Two, by Daniel Warren Johnson -www.space-mullet.com

After reading chapter one last month, I've finally managed to find the time to return to chapter two, and I'm so glad I did. Following on from the first chapter, the plot reveals more about the space marines and Jonah's dark history with them. 

In a bid to avoid spoilers, all I'll say is the story gets darker and more complex, introducing new characters and depth to the narrative.

There are several twists and turns in the chapter, none of them contrived, and some of them made me giddy-the monsters so beautifully rendered. I wish I had some of these pages in my collection! 

The art is amazing. The story telling is such you can fly through the issue, transitioning from panel to panel smoothly. Although, each panel is so beautiful, it makes you stop and appreciate this amazing world. 

Fast paced, dark, imaginative, and beautiful, this is a must read, and is FREE to read. 

5 Stars.

Can we have a hardcover please Daniel?

A Review of Odium 2 by Claire C Riley

As the title suggests, Odium 2 is the follow up to Odium. Odium Origins is also available, which I'm yet to read.

The Odium series of books are about the zombie apocalypse. We start Odium well after the zombie outbreak with the main character, Nina, leaving the protection of the walled city she's living within. Sometimes taking your chances with the zombies is a better option than staying where you are.

The sequel follows on from the original, so Odium is essential reading before moving on to Odium 2.

Not only is the writing great in the Odium books, and the characters are well rounded and realised, but the thing that grabbed my attention more than anything was the settings the characters find themselves in.  I won't spoil the journey by listing them, but I found myself marvelling at the imaginative environments in which the characters ended up.

If you like well written zombie fiction, strong characters, and a strong female lead, then you can't go wrong with the Odium series. With intrigue from both the future and the past, I found myself hungry for more with every page turn.

My only complaint is that Odium 3 isn't ready yet!

A great series for anyone who loves zombie fiction. Tense, intriguing, funny, violent. What more could you want?

Keep up the great writing Claire.

For a full list of Claire's work, check her website out.

A Review of Sweet Tooth, Out of the Woods, by Jeff Lemire and Jose Villarubia

Out of the Woods is the first story arc in Sweet Tooth, a Vertigo comic by Jeff Lemire and Jose Villarubia. 

The first thing to grab me was just how beautiful this book is. Both Lemire’s art and Jose Villarubia’s muted colour palette set the tone for this bleak, post-apocalyptic tale.

The first story arc is called Out of the Woods and it introduces us to Gus, a hybrid child with antlers. We find out that his mother has died and his dad is keeping him in a cabin in the woods away from the rest of the world. Because of what his father has told him, Gus believes the outside world to be dangerous.

Having spent his entire existence in seclusion, Gus’ life is suddenly thrown into turmoil when his father dies. The boy knows nothing of the world and now has to survive in it. 

We find out very quickly that Gus’ antlers means he’s a hybrid. This makes him valuable to other people. Although, it’s not clear why. It creates wonderful intrigue as it makes the reader question every person’s motives that he comes into contact with. 

When Gus is approached by poachers, Jeppard, a haggard Clint Eastwood kind of character, rescues him. With the promise of being taken to a safe place, Gus goes with Jeppard. 

Seeing the world through Gus’ eyes gives the reader a naive view on things. You can see that the other characters have motives, but you can’t understand them because Gus doesn’t. 

It’s wonderful storytelling.

The set up of this book reminded me of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. We have a man and a boy trying to exist in a savage world where there are no rules. The biggest threat are the other survivors. 

I’ve always been impressed with Lemire’s story telling skills and Sweet Tooth is my favourite so far. The tale moves at quite a clip and the naivety of Gus broke my heart. He’s such a pure soul in a broken and violent world. 

I will definitely be reading more of this story. 

5 out of 5 stars! 

If You Write a Controversial Book - You're Going to Get Hate

I told myself this before I pressed ‘publish’ on Amazon and it’s taken all of five days for someone to offer their opinion on my mental health. Here’s my one star review: One star review of Crash

So how do I react to this? I’m human so it’s never nice to receive a personal attack, however, I was expecting it because my book is hard hitting. I have a really great group of friends that I play poker with. A lot of our humour revolves around how horrible we are to each other. We’re guys, what can I say. With that in mind, I thought I’d open myself up to the abuse of my peers and send a group message with the review. It took a while, but the abuse eventually came flooding in. What else can I do but laugh at it? 

In all seriousness I feel thankful that my work has made an impact. This person interpreted it as negative, but I’m glad to leave an impression either way. After all, a review is only a reflection of the reviewers view on the world and I can’t be responsible for that. I'd love millions of five star reviews but that isn't going to happen. 

I thought I would write this blog about it because this is my debut work and it’s a milestone. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

Does anyone have any opinions on how to deal with haters?

Michael Robertson (Author of Crash)

www.michaelrobertson.co.uk 

Revolution - Episode One

So having just watched Revolution, episode one, I thought I'd post my thoughts.

The acting - Maybe it was the wooden script and weak plot, but I didn't feel compelled to care about any of the characters. They all seemed to be stereotypes - The tough girl, the fighting uncle, the computer geek who used to work for, you guessed it - Google, the spunky brother, and the wicked step mother who seems to be handy with a knife and not so wicked after all - Aw shucks.

The concept - This concept is good. Electricity fails, a few people knew why but have chosen to let it happen and the world falls apart. Militia and Bandits run things now.

The plot - It would seem that the fighting uncle, brother of dead Dad, also knows why electricity has failed. Monroe, the villain, who was once best friends with the fighting uncle, wants to know how to get electricity back so he can build his evil empire and take over the world. Mwahahahahahahaha.

The fight scene - There was a stand off between the fighting uncle and Monroe's men. The uncle walked down his huge stairs and fought maybe twenty men with a sword. I felt like I was watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Every time one of the good guys got in a tight spot, one of their pals popped up with a sword or crossbow to help them out. They shared a cheesy look of acknowledgment and continued fighting.

This seemed like a collection of weak, one-dimensional scenes, involving weak, one-dimensional characters, and getting resolved in ridiculous and cliched ways. The bandits actually drank poisoned whisky when prompted to by the wicked stepmother!!!!!!

This was a series I was excited to see. I'm not sure I'll watch episode two.

3 out of 10

The Walking Dead - Season 3 Finale

******** Spoilers ********

So, The Walking Dead has wrapped up for another season. How was the ending?

The whole season was building up to a showdown between Rick and The Governor. Having read the comic books, I thought I knew how this would play out. I was wrong. In the previous episode, Andrea was tied to a torture chair in what looked like a basement, Michone had just come back from being told that Rick wanted to give her over to The Governor to save the group, and Merle died after having taken out some of The Governor's gang.

In this episode, The Governor convinces Woodbury that Rick and crew are nasty and hellbent on destroying their town. He manages to rouse the able bodied and they storm the prison.

Once they get inside, the place appears to be empty. The group head into the prison and start their search for the other survivors. This is when Glen and Maggie pop up, armed with automatic rifles and turn the prison into a shooting gallery. The attack seemed to borrow heavily from 300, showing how tactics can out-fight the sheer weight of numbers. The army from Woodbury retreats.

Meanwhile, Andrea is trying to retrieve a pair of pliers from the floor so she can free herself from her tied chair. All the while that she's doing this, we see that the man who has just recently died in the room with her, is starting to turn into a zombie. It's a race against time and Andrea finally manages to free herself as the man turns. We hear a fight between them but don't see it. The assumption is that Andrea got out in time. Especially as she's still in the comic books that left the Woodbury storyline behind years ago.

Once The Governor catches up with his fleeing troupe, he executes them all for cowardice. Only one woman, who plays dead, survives.

One of the looters stumbles upon Carl, who is with Hershel and his daughter. The looter is about to give himself up but Carl shoots him anyway. Later on, Hershel tells Rick what Carl has done. Carl justifies his actions by saying that if other people had been so ruthless then a lot of deaths would have been prevented. This world is turning Carl into something that doesn't sit right with his father.

After the Governor has gone, Rick, Daryl, and Michone, head to Woodbury to finish things. On the way they find all the people that the Governor has killed, and the survivor. When they arrive at Woodbury, the survivor gets them in and The Governor still hasn't returned. This is where we find that Andrea was bitten in the fight with the zombie. She takes a gun from Michone and says that all she wanted to do was save lives. She then kills herself.

The episode ends with Rick bringing all of the people from Woodbury back to the prison. All of the women, children, and injured people. Carl seems confused by the act of compassion as he watches the people get off the bus. Roll credits.

Andrea dying came as a huge shock. After seeing her have sex with both Shane and The Governor, I suppose that it was the only thing they could do to redeem that character. Maybe Robert Kirkman recognised how annoying she was and could see that there was no saving her. I like that the show deviates from the comics so much. It makes the experience more exciting to not know what's coming. Like in the comics, anyone can die at any point.

This episode also showed that Rick has a heart. It was a real turning point for him. Carl killing the member of The Governor's gang reminded Rick that he had a little boy to be a role model for. We saw a moment with Michone and him where he appologised. He also confessed that he only took her in because of the baby food that she was carrying. Michone said that he would have taken her in anyway. His hallucinations of Lori continued but he's learning to live with them now. It seemed that he was stepping out of the long dark tunnel that he's been lost in for most of the series, and is becoming the compassionate leader that he has the potential to be.

I would have liked to see something else happening with The Governor. I was hoping that he would die in this episode and my worry is that the next series will drag out a storyline that could have been wrapped up in this one. Maybe the prison was an expensive set and they want to use it some more.

Overall this was a good series. It suffered at points for being a little too slow. This is a complaint I would also level at the comics. However, what Kirkman always does is gives you enough to keep you coming back. Also, when he delivers the big moments, the knock you on your arse.

Roll on season 4.