Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter


I was rather interested to see what this movie would be about.  I had heard a book existed and seen the movie posters but that is about it.  I think this is the first movie in a while that I have seen without seeing any previews for it. I thought the poster looked kinda cool (great reason to see a movie right?) so I wanted to go.


Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter isn't a bad movie and it isn't a great movie.  It was entertaining to watch but there were parts that made me think "Really? you couldn't have done it a different way?".  Specifically a "chase" scene that between Abe and a vampire that takes place in a running pack of horses.  I can't think of any words to describe that sequence, other than bizarre.


If you are not familiar with what the storyline is, the title rather gives it away.  Abraham Lincoln is a Vampire Hunter.  That's right the 16th President of the United States was a Vampire Hunter, or so the movie proclaims.  Good ole' honest Abe (Benjamin Walker) witnessed the death of his mother at the hands of a vampire.  After his father dies, Abe wants to seek vengeance on the vampire, Jack Barts (Marton Csokas)  that killed his mother.  While trying to kill Barts Abe runs into Henry Sturgess (Dominic Cooper), who becomes Abe's "Vampire Hunter" mentor and ends up actually being a vampire.  Henry sends Abe vampire "hits", but it eventually starts to conflict with his love interest in Mary Todd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).  Eventually the movie  progresses to Lincoln's time as President, the Civil War, and Gettysburg.  Basically, it comes to that the vampires played a role in the Civil War and without using "silver" weapons at Gettysburg, the North would have lost the battle of Gettysburg.


I thought the overall acting of the movie was good.  Prior to seeing this movie, I had never seen the actors in anything.  I think I was most impressed with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, as Mary Todd Lincoln and Dominic Cooper as Henry.  I thought both did a really good job getting into character, especially Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  I think one of the best scenes in the movie was when her son, Willy was dying and she realized Honest Abe was not so honest as she thought.  He had been lying to her about vampires and his vampire hunting.


I thought the appearance of Abe was a not as haggard looking as some pictures that I have seen portray him as, but that really doesn't make or break the movie in this instance.


I found one fault in the storyline.  Abe did tell Mary about his vampire hunting, during their courtship; however, she brushed him off that he was kidding etc.  When their son was dying and she was upset with Abe about not saying anything about the vampires, it wasn't like he hadn't tried.  Her anger was understandable, but really maybe she should have been wiser.


On another note, I looked up the book version and it seems to be similar to the movie, but a little different, specifically the ending.  I think I will be checking it out soon.


If you take the movie for what it is worth, I think it's pretty good.  I'd   It is better than some of the other movies that I have seen recently.  I wouldn't buy it or anything; however, I would probably consider watching it again if it was on Netflix or something.

Review: Three Motives for Murder

Title: Three Motives for Murder

Author: Michelle Perry

Synopsis:  The small town of Coalmont, Tennessee is shattered when a car crash on graduation night leaves three of its teenagers dead and another three fighting for their lives. Four years later, the aftershocks still ripple through the town, and no one feels them more than Natasha Hawthorne, the young driver. When someone targets the survivors of the horrific crash for murder, the obvious motive is revenge. But things aren’t always what they seem, and the notion of revenge served cold doesn’t ring true with Brady Simms, newly appointed police chief. To make things even more difficult, Brady ultimately finds himself standing squarely between the killer and his next victim, the woman who broke his heart four years ago. As the killer escalates his attacks, Brady’s only hope of saving the intended victims is to get into the mind of a sociopath. When the relative of the first victim makes a startling revelation, Brady reopens the investigation and what he finds will change all of their lives forever.

This was another random book that I found for free in the nook market place.  For a free book, I was very impressed with it.  I was not sure what to expect from it.  When I opened it to read, I had no idea what it was going to even be about.  From the first page, I was hooked.  The plot was fast paced and it was easy to connect with the characters.  I felt that I couldn't help but love the characters.

The main reason that I liked this book so much was the characters.  I was very impressed with how Michelle Perry developed the plot around them.  Even though their situations were not really something that I could relate to, I felt a connection with them and understood their feelings.  They all felt very real.  I also liked the fact that even though the relationships between everyone were complex, it didn't feel that way.  Everything felt simple, familiar, and uncomplicated. It was a very easy story to fall into.

What I disliked about the book, was that about three quarters of the way through, it took on more of a romance story.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but before I thought there was a good balance between suspense, crime solving, and romance.  I thought the ending became a bit overdone in the romance. At times, some of the scenes seem a bit weird in the context of the rest of the book.

This is just a minor quip and an odd one, but I did not like the characters names for the most part.  I thought they really did not fit with the whole Southern atmosphere.  I think something more traditional would have worked better for some.

I would give Three Motives for Murder 3 out of 4 stars.  I thought it was an overall good book to read.  It was simple and uncomplicated.  I couldn't put it down but at the same time I didn't want it to end.  I think this would make the  perfect summer read.

Why I'm Excited for July: Breaking Bad

Why am I excited for July?  One reason: Breaking Bad.  The AMC series returns for it's fifth season on Sunday, July 15th at 10pm EST.

I had not watched the show until last fall, but once I did I was immediately hooked.  I think it is probably the one of highest quality series on TV, if not the highest.  I have a couple of speculations with what will happen in this upcoming season.  The series is nearing it's end and I do not think that the writers etc want to leave any loose ends.  Based on the poster for the new season (see above pic), Walt is obviously going to be the king of the meth drug trade and take over basically where Gus left off.  I also think that two other characters will play a critical role in the season Jesse (obviously) and Hank.  However, I think Walt's relationship with Jesse will become increasingly strained.  Over the past four seasons, Walt and Jesse have had their ups and downs and season four was probably their most strained yet.  I think Jesse will find out about just how involved Walt has been in his life (in a not so good way).  Walt witnessed the dying of Jesse's girlfriend, Jane, and probably could have done something to prevent it.  The end of last season, Walt put Brock in the hospital by planting the berries from a plant in his backyard.  I think Jesse will start to make the connections and turn against Walt.  He'll realize that maybe Walt does not have his best interests at heart or value him as much he thought.  Walt has increasingly looked at Jesse as a pawn in getting what he wants, especially at the close of last season.  Jesse's feelings are disposable to him.

With Hank, Walt has generally gotten along with him and there really hasn't been any conflict between the two of them.  However, there is a bit of conflict of interest between them.  Walt makes and sells drugs.  Hank arrests the people that make and sell drugs.  Their two worlds can't exist without eventually colliding.  I think this season Hank is going to find out about Walt's involvement in the meth drug trade.  Maybe not the total extent of it, but at least some of it.

As for Walt's final fate, I think that there are four options.
1) Jesse kills Walt - I'm not sure if Jesse would have it in him to kill Walt.  He got pretty worked up over killing people he didn't know as well or have an extensive working relationship with.  However, if Jesse does find out the extent of Walt's betrayals, he is going to very upset.  Who knows what state of mind he would be in?
2) Hank kills Walt - I think that this is maybe a bit more plausible than Jesse killing Walt, even though Hank and Walt are family.  Hank has a bit more fire in him to do right.  Also, Hank has a bit of an obsession with finding out who is behind the meth ring.  Hank wants to know who is behind Hisenberg and he won't rest until he does find out.  I don't think that Hank would set out to intentionally kill Walt, but might be put in a dangerous situation with Walt. Both have been shot at numerous times and this season will probably will be no different.
3) Walt is arrested - I think this would probably be the least climatic ending for the series.  However, there is always the possibility, especially with Hank being a member of the law enforcement community and his interest in the area drug trade. Maybe even Jesse or Skylar would turn him in?
4) Walt's cancer comes back - I think this would probably be the most fitting ending.  Finally, when Walt has defeated all the "bad" guys and the people that stand between him and success, something that he can't beat will come back.  Walt would finally be in charge of the drug trade and not have to worry about answering to someone like Gus or Tuco.  His cancer returning would just be the one last thing standing in his way.  Also, it's the reason he got involved with the meth to begin with.

Anyways, whatever happens, Season 5 of Breaking Bad is sure to be a good one and won't disappoint.

Review: 212

Title: 212

Author: Alafair Burke

A little background summary provided from the Alafair Burke's website:

When New York University sophomore Megan Gunther finds personal threats posted to a Web site specializing in campus gossip, she's taken aback by their menacing tone. Someone knows her daily routine down to the minute and is watching her — but thanks to the anonymity provided by the Internet, the police tell her there's nothing they can do. Her friends are sure it's someone's idea of a joke, but when Megan is murdered in a vicious attack, NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced that the online threats are more than just empty words.

With smooth, straight-talking partner J. J. Rogan at her side, Ellie tries to identify Megan's enemies, but she begins to wonder if the coed's murder was more than just the culmination of a cyber obsession. Phone records reveal a link between Megan and a murdered real estate agent who was living a dangerous double life. The detectives also learn that the dead real estate agent shared a secret connection to a celebrity mogul whose bodyguard was mysteriously killed a few months earlier. And when Megan's roommate suddenly disappears, they know they have to find her before another young woman dies.

I downloaded this as the free nook book offer of the week.  I was not sure what to expect from this novel.  The free download of the week is hit or miss and since this was one with a female character, I was expecting it to be a bit heavy on ditzy girl drama and romance.

I did a little research on the author, before reading it, just to get an idea if my expectations should be low or high.  I found out that the author is a Criminal Law Professor, so that slightly improved my expectations.


I liked the fact that 212 did presented a strong female character.  Lately, a lot of the books that I have read with a female investigator have been heavy on being an overall ditz and light on actual thought.  While Ellie does have a love interest in the DA, it is not the overall focus of the story.  I like that fact that Ellie was not dependent on her relationship with the DA to get things done.  At times, she was aware of the fact that people might view their relationship as an advantage and tries to keep the relationship separate from her job.

The main thing that I disliked about 212 was that I felt I really did not get to know the characters or get a good impression of what they looked like.  This did not interfere with the overall story that was being told, but I think knowing a bit more about the characters would have helped in better visualizing it.  At the end, I really did not feel attached to any of the characters or think much about them.  As this is the third novel in the series, I am hoping that more was revealed in the first.

I also disliked the fact that I was able to figure out the twist or "big reveal" of who the murderer was.  I did not totally figure it out towards the end of the novel, but I was disappointed that the ending was not more of a surprise for me.

The one thing I didn't get was the two separate murder story lines (Megan's and the bodyguard's).  At the beginning of the novel, the two appear totally unrelated, but as the novel goes on and more is revealed it starts to look like there is some secret connection between the two.  When everything is revealed, the connections between the murders are more of one big coincidence.  This disappointed me because I thought Burke was doing an awesome job leading the reader through all the connections and then the end felt like a big let down.  I feel that maybe the murder of Megan and of the bodyguard could have been two separate novels and that dividing the two up would have been better suited.

Overall,  I would rate this book at 2.5 out of 4 stars.  I think 212 is a good read overall, but it is not one of the best that I have read.  I would definitely read more of Alafair Burke's novels, especially the rest of the Ellie Hatcher series.  It was an entertaining read and one that I couldn't put down; however, I would have preferred if the ending was more of a surprise and better planned.

Review: Alien and Aliens

With the impending release of the next installment in the Alien franchise, Prometheus, I figured it would be a good time to introduce myself to the movies.  So far, I have watched both Alien and Aliens, which are the first two movies in the series that were released.  I went into watching both of these movies with low to moderate expectations.  I had never heard of Ridley Scott until now. As for James Cameron, can anyone say Titanic and Avatar?  My experiences with both of these directors were rather limited, until now.

I have to say, these two movies are probably the two most suspenseful movies that I have ever watched.  The movies each accomplish this in their own, different ways; however, the feeling is the same.

Alien accomplishes the feeling of suspense and terror with much less effects, guns, and explosions than Aliens or any other movie than I can recall seeing.  I think that's why I liked it so much.  I feel like it was very basic by today's standards.  The movie uses what it needs to tell the story.

Aliens, on the other hand, uses more guns and explosions.  I do not think that these additions made the film anymore suspenseful.  They did assist in telling the story, but with or without the guns, it would have still been an intense movie.

Both of these movies made me, I'll admit, scream.  As the title gives it away, there's an alien.  I won't give away much about how exactly the Alien or Aliens are involved.  However, I will say that I never knew when the Alien was going to pop up.  Even when I did expect it to appear, it still made me wince or jump.

What I like about both of these movies is Sigourney Weaver's character Ellen Ripley.

The character is probably one of the best that I have seen in a movie, especially a female one, and it's the one that makes the movie.  The rest of the characters are all secondary, in my opion.  Ripley is both strong and compassionate.  Even though she does have her faults, I think that these faults make her character even better.  I also think that Sigourney Weaver did an awesome job portraying the character.  Her performance does the character well and is a strong and symphatetic one, just like the qualities of Ripley.  The only downside that I found to her character, was that sometimes I found Ripley to be just a little bit too stuborn or compasionate.  I found this to be moreso true in the first movie, with her cat Jones.  If it were me, I would have gone back for my cat at the end but I don't like how it worked in the movie.  In Aliens, I think this worked well because of the character Newt, a young girl that is the sole remaining survivor on her home planet. I think Ripley's compassion and stubborness worked well in the situtations that she faced with Newt.

The other thing I liked, with this franchise, is that I could have watched Aliens without watching Alien.  A lot of times with a movie series, you are totally lost if you have not seen the prior released movies.  With Aliens, I don't think that this would be the case.  Watching Alien first would add a bit more to the story, knowing what Ripley went through etc, but I don't think it is necessary.

The one thing that I disliked about these movies was how they ended.  Both ended in a similar manner and I think the final moments of both were too expected.  It was fine in Alien, the first movie, because while I did expect what happened, I was not totally sure what would happen.  In Aliens, the second movie, I 100% expected what was going to happen and almost felt that it was a cop out.  I think the movie would have been even better and opened up more to the series if the final moments back on board the ship would have been the total opposite of what went down.  It would have been more suspenseful and something that would have thrown the audience off.

Overall, I recommend seeing both of these movies, if you haven't already.  I have already seen them, then I recommend watching them again.  I think that these are two movies you can watch again and again and still feel terror, suspense, and all the same emotions as the first time. I'd give both 4 out of 4 stars.

Review: Awake

I am rather disappointed that NBC's Awake did not get renewed for another season.  I was starting to get hooked on it and found it to be intriguing.  *Spoiler Warning*

 

In case you are not familiar with the show, it is about a Detective (Britten) that was in a car accident with his wife and son.  The kicker: the detective is living in two different realities.  In one, his wife is alive and his son died in the accident.  In the other, his son is alive and his wife died in the car accident.  There were other twists to the show too, but for now I am just going to focus on the aspect of the two different realities, since that is mind bending in itself.

I felt that the different realities could be interpreted in various different ways.  The most obvious would be the Britten is dreaming up one of the realities to deal with the fact that he lost his wife or son.  From the episodes that I have watched, I feel as though the viewer is directed into thinking that one of these options is the case.  At some points, I thought that yes, his wife is definitely alive and his son is definitely dead or that his son is definitely dead and his wife is definitely alive.  However, these feelings were short lived as something else would happen or be revealed that would throw me for a loop.

Prior to hearing about the season/series finale, I thought there were two options for the realities that could make sense, other than what is given to the viewer.  I thought that maybe Britten had actually been the one to die in the accident, rather than his wife or his son, and that maybe he was coming to terms with the fact that he was dead or waiting in some sort of purgatory while that happened.  My other theory was that Britten, his wife, and his son were all alive and that the two different realities were either a) a way for him to come to terms with what happened in the accident and work out what really happened and b) the accident caused him to become mentally unstable.

I have yet to watch the season finale, but I have heard a summary of what the conclusion was. From what I have heard and read about the finale, I think it makes sense and can be interpreted in two different ways.  The show ends with Britten, his wife, and son all alive.  I think my second theory fits well with this ending and that maybe it was a combination of both:  a) a way for him to come to terms with what happened in the accident and work out what really happened and b) the accident caused him to become mentally unstable.

OR you could just take the end at face value and that everyone is alive and happy.  I prefer to think that there was more to it than that and that there was a reason why the people behind the show decided to do different things.

Overall, it think the finale was a fitting conclusion and I am glad that the realities were not left too open for discussion.  From what I have heard, I feel that there was closure to the show that made sense, unlike some of the other series.

If you haven't watched the show yet, I recommend doing so, even though it is only 13 episodes.   

Now, time for me to watch the finale and see if it is as good as it sounds.

I'm New to This

I guess the title of this post would be a dead give away to what I plan on writing about today, but in case you didn't catch it: I'm new to this.  As in, this is the first blog I have started and my first post on one.  I know a couple of people that have started them and I guess the itch got to me.  I wasn't really sure what I wanted to blog about at first, after all, my life really is not that interesting and it be rather boring for you to read about it or for me to write about it.  So I have decided, to blog about books and video games (mainly).  I know that's not a normal combination, but they are my two favorite forms of entertaining myself.  I'll try to stick to those two main things, but I can't guarantee that I might not ramble about the latest movie I have seen, music I've discovered, or TV show that I am watching.  So I guess, this might end up being a blog on entertainment, much as the title suggests.

Anyways, happy readings and blogging.  Comments and suggestions are always welcome!