This week, I’m focusing on mythology – Norse mythology to be precise, the subject of the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor: Ragnarok. While the movie does not even attempt to stay true to actual mythology, Neil Gaiman does in his latest release aptly titled Norse Mythology. Here’s my review. Anyone who has…
With little time to blog today, I thought I’d pass on an interesting article in io9 titled “J.J. Abrams Told Us the Origin Story of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” I’m as excited as anyone for the new film (Episode VII in the Star Wars chronology). And, as a writer, I was fascinated to learn…
Recently, my daughter and I caught The Maze Runner on HBO and liked the movie enough to see The Scorch Trials this weekend. What we found was a plot hole so big it literally swallowed the first film. And it left me wondering: what in the world went wrong with this franchise? Note, some *SPOILERS*…
It looks like Inferno might be coming to the big screen. I don’t mean the film version of Dan Brown’s latest novel starring Tom Hanks. But Dante’s Inferno. Yep, you can’t make that up. I learned about it yesterday in an article on io9 titled “Get Ready, Sinners: Warner Bros. Is Making Dante’s Inferno Into…
This past weekend, my daughter and I saw Jurassic World, and we both really enjoyed it. I wish I felt the same way about the original Jurassic Park when I saw it in 1993, but I didn’t. I had a big problem with that film. Here’s why. I had no beef with Jurassic World –…
I’ve had no time to write this week, which never fares well for this blog. Fortunately, Marvel Entertainment has released the latest trailer for the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron film, which looks amazing. Generally, I like to keep this blog about historical and fantasy fiction, but the Avengers get an exception thanks to every Vikings’ favorite…
As a follow-up to my recent post on 5 Reasons Peter Jackson’s “The Fellowship of the Ring” Was Better Than Tolkien’s Original, I’m offering my thoughts on the merits of Jackson’s second film, The Two Towers, as compared to the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. (My daughter and I are still reading The Return of the…
For the past few years, my daughter and I have been slowly making our way through J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece The Lord of the Rings (this is the third time for myself, the first for her). After we’d finish a part of the trilogy, we followed it up by watching the movie version by Peter Jackson….
For my final post of 2014, I’ll offer my thoughts on the final installment in The Hobbit series and what will likely be our last visit to the Middle Earth envisioned by Peter Jackson. So, without further ado . . . Two movies would have been enough. 1. This should have been a 2-movie series…
I have been travelling all week, but before the week’s end I wanted to offer a few thoughts on the new teaser for the upcoming Star Wars film: The Force Awakens. Having grown up in the 70s and 80s, it’s hard to measure just how much influence the original Star Wars trilogy had on my…
I’ve had very little time to write or blog this week, but I thought I’d share some brief thoughts on Christopher Nolan’s new film Interstellar. While I’ve avoided talking about any of the plot twists, there are some minor spoilers, so venture on at your own risk. To begin, I wish I had time…