My top reviews of the year - Top 12

So, I’ve been blogging for a little more than a year now and have reviewed loads of things. Thanks to the Western Regional Section of the LAI and the Rudai 23course I’ve gotten off to a great start and published over 100 blogs so far. I’ve reviewed loads of books, movies and TV series. It would have been cool if it were a top 10 list, but it turns out I gave 12 reviews a 10 out of 10 planet, so here is a round-up of the best of the best:

I have to start with Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda(Book Review). This is by far one of my fave reads in the last year, an amazing book written by Becky Albertalli telling us of the story of Simon, how he is as normal as most other teenagers with the same problems and – oh ya – he’s gay.

 

Quote: "Your real friends will not have a problem when you come out and if they do, well they weren't true friends in the first place. You can go and find some better ones"

 

This is closely followed by Love Simon, a seminal movie for the LGBT community, the first proper – big budget – big production of a young teens coming out story based on Albertalli's book.

 

Quote: "You get to exhale now, Simon ... You get to be more you than you've been in a very long time”

  

Deadpool 2 (movie review) is the fab sequel from the Marvel Universe; it's possible the odd occasion where the sequel is better than it’s predecessor.

Quote: "the soundtrack, it's just amazing. Songs like Celine Dion's "Ashes", Dolly Parton's "9 to 5," and even "Tomorrow" from Annie accompany some of the movie's most violent scenes, making for a delightfully weird playlist.  Weird yes, perfect also yes "

  

History is all you left me  (Book Review) is an amazing book dealing with love, loss and rebuilding one's soul. The author Adam Silvera is great, check out all the other titles he has.

Quote: "The short sticatto sentences are brutal and honest. In one paragraph we learn so much about Theo. The last sentence is just perfect. Sums up the whole book really. It’s been one month since you lived. It’s a beautifully written story of grief, rebuilding and hope. A must read"

The supernatural horror - The Lodgers (Movie Review) - was amazing and to see something filmed in my home town of Wexford is great. An awesome screenplay by talented writer David Turpin makes this a must see. 

Quote: "When you see the interior parts of The Lodgers, the closest movie I can compare it to is Crimson Peak. Seriously, the visuals and feel of the crumbling building stack up against the multi-million-dollar creation of recent Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro" 

Noah Can’t Even  (Book Review) is one of the funniest reads I've gotten my mitts on in ages. Another must read by the very talented Simon James Green

Quote: "Skittles and Haribo will solve all problems"

 

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp (movie review) is another great movie from the Marvel universe. A great plus is that it is stand-alone and can be viewed without extensive knowledge of all the Marvel movies over the last few years (of which there has been way way too many)

 

 

Quote: "The fight scenes are awesome, the special effects are brilliant but more than anything the story, dialog and interactions between the characters are really funny"

 

 

As part of the Rudai23 course I was doing, here's a blog on using the App Quik which allows you to make a video/photograph slideshow with a soundtrack 

 

 

Quote: “ It was really intuitive and with no instructions one could use it straight “out of the box”

 

 

 

Logan (movie review)

 

One of my fave ALL time movies, Logan is the story of (Wolverine) and Charles (Professor X), in this time-line they are the only two superheros left in the World.  Patrick Stewart (who might return as Captain Picard) proves yet again that he is one of the best actors to ever grace the screen. We also cannot discount Hugh Jackman - possible the Greatest Showman on Earth, only gets better with age.

 

I also speak about the "Disneyfication" of movies in this review. 

Quote: "Stewart is amazing, portraying the role of an old man losing control over his mind with poignant understanding and realism"

 

 

 

I came across this gem of a book in work and just had to add it to my blog - Declaration of the Rights of Boys & Girls.

 

 

 

Quote: "The illustrations are fun and cheerful, girls having the right to be dirty and boys having the right to wear pink ... the book does a fantastic job of spreading a message of equality without being preachy or insulting to anyone’s faith ... It is quite frankly a book that every child from the age of 3 should have on their shelf"

 

 

 

Last year we saw the remake of IT by Stephen King, hitting our screens with mixed reviews but I loved it.

 

 

 

I talk about remakes and then review IT. The second part is due to be released in September 2019.

Quote: "Final Verdict:  A massive success that will instil a fear of clowns for generations to come"

And finally, my first podcast (but hopefully not last) I reviewed 3 movies together with Black Panther getting the highest marks. All I can say is it's an awesome movie and of course #Representation Matters

That's me all done. Please like and follow me on FACEBOOK to keep up to date with all my blogs.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the fish.

John The Captain Ryan

Review of my Reviews

A summary of all my book, TV series and movie reviews.

(picture source from www.pickaweb.co.uk)

One of the main reasons I started blogging this year was to write reviews and share my thoughts on books, TV series and movies so on the 12^th September 2017 John “The Captain” Ryan’s blog was born. Below is a list of all my reviews, with the best on top, i.e. 10 out of 10 planets dropping to the poorest of 6 planets.  I hope this year I have a much wider range of reviews and aim to have at least three reviews per month, one for books, TV & movies each. If you only have time to read one book in the next few weeks I would urge everyone to try Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.  It is just awesome.

All of these reviews have labels of Review, Book Review, Movie Review & TV Series Review.

 (10/10)

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Book Review) – 22^nd December - HERE 

IT - I Love Remakes – 26^th September -  HERE 

Declaration of the Rights of Boys & Girls – 5^th December - HERE

 (9/10)

The Girl with all the Gifts – 12^th September - HERE 

Mr Mercedes (TV series & book review) – 24^th October - HERE

 (8/10)

Thor Ragnarok Review – 27^th October - HERE

Stranger Things, Season 2 – 6^th November - HERE

Zero World by Jason M. Hough book review – 9^th November - HERE

 (7/10)

The Walking Dead, Season 8 review @ Mid Season stage (episodes 1-8) - 12^th December - HERE

 (6/10)

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card (Book review) – 17^th November - HERE

That's my review of reviews done, thanks for reading everyone and please comment your thoughts on the stuff I have reviewed.

That's all folks

John The Captain Ryan

Stranger Things, Season 2 review (no spoilers)

I am woman, hear me roar...

(Drew Barrymore in Firestarter, Jessica Alba in Dark Angel and Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things)

First impressions of Stranger Things is “This series is so cool”, the 80’s vibe with the detail of music, costume, sets, cars, mannerisms and speech is spot-on.  The more you get into Stranger Things, the more similarities there is with Firestarter – the government agency called “The Shop” trying to control Charlie (little baby Drew Barrymore) and the US Department  of Energy research lab at the centre of Stranger Things.  Following this theme, you can then see how similar it is to Dark Angel & Manticore who created those pesky genetically enhanced soldiers so our screens could be graced with the awesome Jessica Alba.    

For any fans of Stephen King they will love Stranger Things, the similarities to Stand By Me, IT & Firestarter are obvious because the story is about children and their perceptions but the feeling – attributed to the lighting & soundtrack – is also so similar to most of the B movies made in the 80’s based on Stephen Kings work.  King himself is a huge fan of Stranger Things...

I like the format of a shorter season – 8 episodes in season 1 & 9 episodes in season 2.  This means you’re not devoting too much time in watching “another” series as we are drowning in stuff to watch today.  The shortened series forces the creators/directors, The Duffer Brothers, to get on with the story and of course also gives them less opportunity to mess up (read more later on about episode 7).  It’s also great to be able to watch a whole series in a few days rather than having to wait week-on-week as a series is drip fed, let’s not even mention those bloody series cliff hangers – Who the hell gets to meet Lucille up close and personal?

Anyway, to concentrate on season 2 of Stranger Things – you can comfortably manage it in 3 nights with 3 episodes per night.  Perfect.  Short and sweet.  It picks up perfectly from the ending of the previous series, telling the story of how Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is looked after by Officer Hopper (the hunk that is David Harbour who will be the new Hellboy).  You have the separate storyline of the four boys attempting to get back to normal life after the revelations in the “Upside Down”.  Hopper plays the vital role of being the common denominator, of course you know at some stage both storylines need to intertwine.

  

There are unfortunately a couple of problems with the plot.  A common story line when children are involved is to split them up, throw in a bit of jealousy, unrequited love, brash racism but then have them join back together at the end of the series, hug-it-out and beat the monster.  Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Scooby Gang are the prime example of this, so why would Stranger Things do anything different.  Next, the story is a little bit predictable, the seemingly unbeatable monster can be slain (maybe) if the star of the show – who has been sidelined for most of the season – turns up and does her thing, which, surprisingly she does.  Unfortunately, this lack of originality means Stranger Things season 2 loses a review point here.

All of the characters (except one) are great and the acting is sublime...the cringe worthy “rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”  by Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is hilarious and the cast bounces off each other really well.  Ultimately it’s a story about a group of friends banding together over seemingly insurmountable odds and winning.  I like the idea of a group of unpopular nerds (reminiscent of The Losers Club in IT) saving the day and can maybe reach out to geeks today.  My one exception is Winona “Whining” Ryder as Joyce (Will’s mother).  She spends two whole seasons bawling and needs to be in as many scenes as possible.  The story isn’t about her Duffer Brothers, we want more of Eleven! 

This brings me neatly to Eleven, HELLO!  She is the one with the super powers...let’s make a film about Superman but not actually have him in the film.  No, just No!.  We want more of Eleven, episode 7 is just a mess, it could have been so much more, exploring the origin of Eleven and her meeting her sister instead it was clearly an episode thrown in there to create a spin-off series.  Just concentrate on this series; let’s not worry about the next one quite yet.  Whining Ryder and episode 7 loses another review point. 

But, to get back to the positives, the story is still well written.  The graphics and special effects are seamless and considering our standards are so high now-a-days it does brilliantly.  I suppose this is another advantage of a short season, it keeps the budget down so stuff can be done properly, gone are the days that the cost of special effects determine major characters, plot lines and sets.  It’s a fast-paced story and you would definitely benefit by watching series 1 before you start, if you don’t have time for that at least watch the last 2 episodes.  Throughout the series, you find yourself asking – who is actually responsible, is Eleven at the heart of everything? – is Dr. Owens good or bad, does he actually care for Will or Eleven? – both of these conundrums are answered (kind of) by the end.  The fast-paced story, comedic moments, great special effects and just enough intrigue gives a great series and a must-see in the ocean of burgeoning must-see series.

Overall, 2 review points are lost so my rating for Stranger Things, Season 2 is 8 out of 10 planets.   

John "The Captain" Ryan

Mr Mercedes (TV series & book review)

Disclaimer...I am a huge Stephen King fan and also love Brendan Gleeson so this is a slam dunk really.  The book & TV series are a delight and should be near the top of your pile to experience.  This is a review combining both the book and TV series (Although I have only watched episode 1-4)

We have the perfect pairing of writer and main character, Stephen King, who turned 70 a couple of weeks ago and Brendan Gleeson, a little younger at 62.  Two veterans of their art.  Brendan Gleeson is the perfect actor to fill the role of the vexatious retired detective who won’t leave that one unsolved case alone and Stephen King, has written a fantastic tale of intrigue with a little bit of reality and of course his trademark violence (but not too much).

The TV series reunites producer David E. Kelley with Brendan Gleeson, they previously worked together on Lake Placid, another great film with the delight of Gleeson’s sarcastic humour probably baffling some audiences but genius to Irish viewers.  I loved the part when they were looking for Gleeson’s deputy and found a toe.  When Gleeson was asked “is this the man that was killed?” Gleeson’s sarky answer was “He seemed...taller”.

Mr Mercedes is a departure for King (I will blog later in the month on the evolution of King’s work) but still remains true to his style of lovingly developing characters (whether they live or die) with a slathering of ugly reality.  The violence is portrayed brilliantly in small sharp bursts, it’s chilling and realistic, not like the boring “blood n guts” disgusting journey one takes with the likes of Saw & Hostel.  King’s use of violence is measured and dealing with the aftermath is as important as the act itself.  The reason I have always loved King’s work is that the psychological thrillers/horrors like Cugo, Misery & Dolores Claiborne are realistic; you can imagine these things actually happening.

The book is well balanced, developing the different storylines of the characters and then drawing them together with ease.  This is another characteristic of King’s writing, a well crafted plot that intertwines beautiful, and yet, is never predictable.  I also love the play on words, for example when the killer is contacting Bill Hodges he uses the name “merckiller”.  This can be read in two ways...Mercedes Killer or the more literal Mer...C...Killer, i.e. mercy-killer.  Little things like this are not accidental and to me are moments of genius.

A trademark style of King at the beginning of a novel is to introduce and develop characters, but as a veteran reader of King I know not to get too attached as I expect some of them will die...and Mr Mercedes does not disappoint – pigs in blankets anyone!  Most other authors only spend time developing characters that will remain, those characters who will die (or are the mass murderer) are looked over and only covered in a cursory manner.  For those who have read/watched the Stand you know what I mean...When Harold sets of the bomb you never expected Nick to die (Oops, spoiler alert). 

The TV series has been adapted really well.  This is aided with a simple story by King and the skills of the director David E. Kelley who has worked on some awesome series like LA Law, Chicago Hope & Ally McBeal to mention a few of his award winning hits.  The only criticism I have is the casting of Mary Louise Parker in the role of Janey Paterson.  Parker is a confident brash actor, fantastic in Weeds & one of my favourite series – The West Wing - but, in my opinion not a good match for the character of Janey Paterson.  Maybe that’s a problem only in my mind or maybe she is a little typecast in the role of a strong and confident lady, whichever is the case, she doesn’t work for me in this role.

In the last couple of years we see TV series taking over the entertainment industry.  Simply put, if this wasn’t the case so many top actors wouldn’t be moving into TV rather than the big screen.  This evolution has only been good for writers of the longer novel that lovingly develop their characters and plots for our enjoyment.  King has already had the adaptation of Under The Dome and 11.22.63 and you can clearly see the input he has had into these 2 productions and Mr. Mercedes.  Gone is the day where Hollywood buys the rights to the book and can then run off and do what they want.  (Unfortunately Under the Dome had one huge flaw...both in the book and the TV series, the ending was dreadful)

Anyway to summarise, the book is awesome, the TV adaptation is true to the book and really well crafted.  With only one negative of the casting of Mary Louise Parker, I give Mr. Mercedes a rating of 9 out of 10 planets.

John "The Captain" Ryan