S. M. Robare

A very dry account of the filmmaking

Revisado: 09-27-23

The book is probably more of a 3.5, but it suffers from being written in a very dry voice. The author doesn’t interject himself enough, especially in the first 3 quarters, where he’s presenting facts or viewpoints but not filtering them or drawing conclusions. Some of his statements on Gein are incorrect, alluding to unproven connections to missing girls while overlooking his potential involvement in the slayings of some of his family members. In the Saul Bass bit about whether he stepped in to direct the famous shower sequence that he storyboarded, he presents like 9 viewpoints saying Bass was not on set, yet he still seems to side with Bass’ assertion that he directed that scene.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t a lot to love in the book. Despite the dryness, it’s still full of fascinating anecdotes and trivia.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Touching & Hilarious

Revisado: 09-22-23

My wife introduced me to Gary’s stand-up when we first got together 10 years ago and I’ve feverishly sought out every new special and appearance since. I really dig stand-up, but I very rarely relate so heavily to the material, right down to his loquacious delivery. His bit on state name abbreviations should be in the Smithsonian.

So it’s no surprise that I adored this memoir immensely. It’s touching and hilarious.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Great book that has trouble sticking the jump-kick landing…

Revisado: 07-11-23

I was thoroughly engrossed with the first 80% of this book. The story of Matthew’s search for training, discipline and enlightenment in Shaolin is insightful, entertaining and sometimes hilarious. Newbern’s narration, especially when handling the Mandarin is wonderful.

But the last leg of the book was a much different beast. There’s a humble quality to Matthew’s retelling of his time in Shaolin that is woefully undermined by a series of sexual encounters that paints Polly in a different, more misogynistic light. The way he describes dating in China makes every date seem like a john haranguing a prostitute. His certainty that knowing a woman for a couple hours ensures a happy ending is off putting, especially when he seems well aware that so many of the women he was dating were trying desperately to find a better life outside of the rural China they lived in and his being a transient American feels like he is/was taking advantage of that desperation. He should add that to his list of “things wrong with Matthew” list he frequently revisits in the book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Otherworldly Horror primer for kids

Revisado: 05-16-23

Loved this book. A touch of HP Lovecraft, a bit of Hellraiser, and a lot of great fun.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Loved this, perfect monster Kid-lit

Revisado: 05-12-23

Ocker, an expert in odd happenings and mythic beings has created a great new monster in the Smashed Man. Such a fun story, one I’m eager to share with my kids when they get a bit older…

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Machine Gun Anecdotes

Revisado: 04-26-23

There is so much packed into this memoir. Unlike most, it doesn’t dawdle or hang out in the build up. Just fires on all cylinders reminiscing on the golden era of NYC punk.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Must listen for those who are nostalgic

Revisado: 04-24-23

Eric’s way of articulating the range of emotions nostalgia triggers is so dead on. The lust, the need, the loss, the comfort, the irresponsibility, and the acceptance. His journey to reacquire a portion of his past through his record collection is heartfelt, hilarious at times, and kind of cuts to the bone. So glad I found this book.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

More of an article than a book

Revisado: 04-10-23

I went into this thinking it was going to be more of a fan exploring their fandom with Star Wars (kind of like a memoir), and started having second thoughts about when I realized the list format the book was in. The book reads more like a series of blog posts in this manner, not just because of the list, but also because of how disjointed the entries are and how briefly each is touched on. One early entry is on C3-P0 in the Force Awakens. It highlights his new red arm and is basically getting at the character’s return to form after his over the top slapstick appearances in the Prequels and his knack for injecting humor in just the right places. But there’s no talk of the red arm or what this implies in the story or how it ties into his silver leg and the importance of the character to the Skywalker clan. Does it need to? Of course not, but why highlight the change if you’re not going to talk about it. It’s the equivalent of having a youtube screenshot of the character from the film with an arrow pointing to the arm and a title like “You’ll never believe why this matters!” This is why the writing feels like an article rather than a book. It’s not that it’s clickbait perse, but it has that air to it.

Secondly, in the postscript to the introduction the author makes it clear that all of the “moments” from this book are from the proposed 2014 “Official Disney Canon” after the purge of the Expanded Universe to “Legends” status. This was another sign that the book was going to suffer as there are only a couple reasons to bring this up. It’s either to try an appease or appeal the fandom weaned on Star Wars mainly in the last 20 years, or it’s specifically trying to ingratiate itself with Lucasfilm. When you consider that the author was a fan since the 80s, there are a ton of aspects of the franchise that define a lot of the fandom from that post 83 to pre 99 era. That decade and a half of a relative drought of content is largely what turned so many casual fans into lifelong fans. The years of hopeful sci-fi magazine articles hinting at the possibility of new films, the first wave of folks becoming collectors, the nostalgia induced by the absence of new content, the introduction of the Expanded Universe via books and comics, the original Lucas Arts games like Tie Fighter and Rogue Squadron, the last official Kenner toy line in the mid 90s, and the role playing games. All of this stuff is huge to the fandom. To toss it all out in a discussion of what makes us love the franchise is disingenuous at best and weird pandering to “corporate” at worst.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

A novelization, not a prequel

Revisado: 03-07-23

I really enjoyed this book, though it felt billed as an original novel that was a prequel (hence the Origins subtitle and the fact there is already an existing novelization written at the time of the film’s release.) That said, this book eschews most of what was in the previous novelization, superseding it will this new version. It hews very close to the film and only adds a smattering of new material and expanded character backgrounds, all of which are a lot of fun. It also sets up the story for a sequel that appears to vary distinctly from the Fright Night 2 that made it’s way to film. Curious to see where this story goes.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña

Mazes & Monsters meets Ready Player One

Revisado: 02-14-23

This one is more of a 3.5 for me.. I'm fairly steeped in the 80s nostalgia world, so I was kind of apprehensive picking this up. To be honest, I'm fairly burnt out on the homages, particularly in fiction, but I've followed Anthony Grate from Retro Daze for a long time and was curious what his take on a retro story would be.

First and foremost, I loved all of the stuff from the book's first half that was rooted in reality. The bullying, the problems at home for Tommy, and his obsession with a cartoon that was getting a little embarrassing for his age were all super relatable and hit pretty close to home. That is the stuff that really sticks with me in the story.

The loose Masters of the Universe homage was a bit weird for me. I loved hanging a portion of the plot on the infamous MOTU create-a-character contest, but the turn to straight-up speculative fiction with echoes of Masters characters bridging the gap into the real world was hard to slog through. It seemed like there was a battle in the writing between the reality of the story and the hyper-reality.

The first half of the book builds up Tommy's anger and impotence to deal with it; a leaning toward the "dark side". But this is undermined in the road trip sequence where his goal of trying to get his evil character recognized by the contest winner is heavily at odds with his newfound fear of that character actually stalking him. Ultimately I think they leaned on the imagery of staging actual fantasy battles when the coming-of-age stuff was way more interesting and carried the story better. Having Tommy feel like he's interacting with that fantasy world now and then was plenty.

It's like they wanted the book to feel like Ready Player One when the story they were hewing closer to was Mazes and Monsters.

That said, the stuff with Tommy growing up and striking out on his own is great. I wish there had been more of that.

Has calificado esta reseña.

Reportaste esta reseña