Living as a Lobbyist: a DVD Review

The movie “Thank You for Smoking” is now available on DVD and it is definitely worth adding to your NetFlix list or taking a trip down to your local rental store or whatever it is you do to watch movies these days.  If you want a movie that will repeatedly make you laugh out loud while also making you think with devastatingly biting writing and outstanding comedic performances than you need look no further than this movie.  While much of this has to be slightly over-stated for comedic purposes you know that there is much truth hidden here. 

“Thank You for Smoking” tells the story of Nick Naylor who is also known as the Sultan of Spin.  He works for the big tobacco companies and he does what he can to spin the negative aspects of smoking and the detrimental effects of smoking into something positive.  For example, in the opening scene as he sits next to a boy who is maybe sixteen and has been smoking since he was a pre-teen and is now dying of cancer he makes a surprisingly valid point.  Why would big tobacco want to kill this young man?  They are losing a customer.  The anti-smoking people, however, want this boy to die because in his dying he furthers their cause.  Now THAT’S spin. 

Naylor meets regularly with two other lobbyists and they call themselves the MOD Squad.  MOD stands for Merchants of Death.  Maria Bello plays the lobbyist for the alcohol companies who dreads the fact that 60 Minutes is running a report about fetal alcohol syndrome.  His other friend is played by David Koechner who is the lobbyist for the anti-gun control people.  He, right now, is trying to deal with yet another disgruntles postal worker who has gone berserk and offed some of his co-workers.  They meet, have dinner and discuss strategies and compare who has the larger death toll. 

Meanwhile William H. Macy turns in another outstanding and comedic performance as a
Vermont senator who is trying to pass legislation that will require a skull and crossbones to be placed on every pack of cigarettes.  You see he feels it’s unfair to  want to kill the people who don’t speak English because they can’t read the wording on the other warnings.  Macy sits behind a desk covered with maple syrup bottles of all shapes and sizes. 

Naylor works for a company that is supposedly created to study the effects of smoke on people.  This company has been in existence for thirty years, was created by the tobacco companies and has managed to, for thirty years, prove that there is no correlation between cigarette smoke and cancer and other diseases.  As Naylor himself admits of the scientist in charge he is “brilliant.” 

J.K. Simmons, he of J. Jonah Jameson in “Spider-Man,” is Naylor’s boss.  They come up with the idea that they need to get celebrities in movie to start smoking again.  Off goes Naylor to meet with Rob Lowe, who plays a superstar agent.  Lowe is also hilarious as a man who only wants to make a deal and doesn’t care about the consequences.  Eckhart and Lowe play convincing characters as they discuss that they cannot get superstars to smoke in a movie set in modern times.  However, if it were a period piece set in the past when everyone smoked or perhaps in the future when smoking would be made safe again…wellllll…. 

Katie Holmes even shows up and puts in a decent performance of a sexy reporter bent on getting the story behind Naylor.  Cameron Bright plays Naylor’s son and he turns in an outstanding performance.  He understands what his father does and he evidently has some of his father’s talents.  When his father shows up at his school on career day, before his father goes up to speak, he begs his father to “not destroy my childhood.”  Naylor then skillfully defends his position when told by a young girl in the class that her mother says smoking is deadly.  “Is your mommy a doctor?”  he asks. 

There is a definite note of deep cynicism of this movie.  However, one scene leads seamlessly into another.  The movie is put together beautifully and keeps you hurtling forward.  There is an interesting note that not a single person is shown smoking or holding a cigarette throughout the entire movie.  The closest you get is a scene involving nicotine patches and that turns out to be played for comedic purposes.  Also, Robert Duvall turns in a brief performance as The Captain, a man who is legendary as an advocate for tobacco.  He wields a cigar at one point. 

The movie is full of well-timed jokes.  The performances are all spot-on and that even goes for Katie Holmes who has, at times, been rather jarring for me in other performances.  The writing is crisp and intelligent and witty.  This is not a movie that resorts to scatological humor to get its point across.  There is also not a single scene of someone wrestling another man while nude. 

Somewhere along the way, in
Hollywood, comedies became an attempt to throw as many jokes at you at once as could possibly be fired.  It’s like loading a cannon with grapeshot and firing it at a group of marching soldiers.  You throw as many as you can and see what sticks.  Those that don’t you just ignore and hope that more sticks than doesn’t.  This becomes a way for writers to find a way out of writing decent comedy.  Rather than carefully crafting humor or creating humorous situations you just need a bunch of quick jokes in rapid succession.  “Thank You for Smoking” takes the time to let its jokes build.  I feel this makes the laughter more rewarding. 

Of course you know there is truth behind this story.  Despite the payouts big tobacco has had to make in recent years you know they still have spin doctors out there.  They put out ads telling people about the dangers of smoking while still putting ads in magazines telling you how great their cigarettes are.  More and more of them seem to be selling towards younger and younger people.  You get them hooked young and then maybe you can get thirty years out of them before the smoke finally kills them.  I am sure tobacco companies loved the idea of the cigar bar and the popularity of cigars that swept the country for a while. 

In the end this is a very good and smart piece of comedy.  It is a movie that should be seen by adults as it is a comedy made for adults and made for adults who are intelligent and capable of thinking.  It is also a satirical and biting look at the inside of spin-doctoring and how companies and organizations can use people, words and images to make their policies a reality and affect legislation. 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.

What Big Oil Wants, it Gets: A DVD Review

The movie “Syriana” came into theaters in 2005 and won George Clooney an Academy Award.  At the time the critics praised it but they warned that the plot was a labyrinth and almost impossible to understand.  Upon hearing that it was determined by me that I would simply not try to connect all of the dots or put all of the pieces together and that I would just watch the movie and watch the performances.  Although the DVD has been out for a while, I must recommend this movie because you cannot watch it without having the feeling that this is true. 

Essentially what you need to know about the plot is that big oil companies have gained such power that they can influence the policies of not only this country but the countries where the oil comes from.  That, in a nutshell, is the point of this movie.  The details as to how each individual story fits together are really secondary.  This is a complex movie with very adult themes and that trusts its audience.  This is a movie that does not pause to explain at length what is happening.  This movie trusts the people watching that they are adults and capable of adult thought and it makes its point and moves on.  This is a rare thing in modern movies. 

The cast list is very impressive and it is long.  Matt Damon, George Clooney, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Jeffrey White, Christ Cooper, Tim Blake Nelson.  The main characters and those whose stories you follow are Clooney, Damon, White and the story of a man who wishes to become the next Emir of his country played by Alexander Siddig.  Also within this story is that of a man looking for work who ends up recruited by a fundamentalist Muslim group and ends up a suicide bomber. 

Each of these stories is told compellingly.  Matt Damon’s character is an energy analyst living in
Geneva who ends up invited to a party thrown by the Emir in some foreign land.  He accepts on a whim and pressured by his co-workers.  What happens at that party sets him onto a path he has not predicted and that brings him toward a conclusion that brings together his story, that of the prince and that of George Clooney. 

Clooney shows he deserved his Academy Award by turning in a fantastic performance as a CIA operative pretty much on his way out.  He is a man looking to stop playing around in the field that has become increasingly dangerous for him and to settle down behind a desk until he can retire.  The problem is he has trouble keeping his mouth shut at the right times.  Soon he is back in
Lebanon and meeting face-to-face with the leader of Hezbollah.  Not long after that he is tied to a chair being tortured in a scene that beats the one from “Reservoir Dogs.”  Trust me, this is a scene that is not easy to watch. 

Jeffrey Wright is a lawyer who is looking into the merger of two large energy companies.  He has to prove that these companies are doing their due diligence and that may mean certain people may need to be sacrificed to keep appearances up.  He is not a lawyer meant to show some great noble quest.  He is a lawyer who knows how this game needs to be played and he plays it. 

The tale of the young prince is very compelling.  His father is aging and his younger brother seems to show more interest in partying and becoming some kind of rock star.  His younger brother wants to keep things in his country the same as they have been.  Of course, to the oil companies and the
United States this is fine with them.  That means the oil keeps flowing.  His older brother, however, wants to make changes. He has lofty goals.  He wants the Arab countries to start better-controlling the oil and to start exporting oil to
China.  Needless to say, this will not due and that sets things into motion with the CIA and the politicians owned by big oil. 

These performances feel very real.  Not once did I feel it was George Clooney playing an aging CIA agent.  I felt his character was real.  The story of the worker who ends up a terrorist is also compelling and shows how these men get jerked around by the large companies and how this could easily lead to disillusion and spin someone into fundamentalism.   

These tales are told with equal weight and drama.  There are a few stray plotlines that seem to go nowhere.  The Jeffrey Wright character has an alcoholic father who shows up from time to time but seems to go nowhere and add nothing to the overall plot.  Amanda Peet’s character is very well portrayed but limited perhaps due to time and I felt she could have had a bigger role.  These are small quibbles, however. 

One of the standout performances is that of Tim Black Nelson.  You may have seen him in “O, Brother Where Are Thou?”  In this movie he plays one of the executives at the energy company that is trying to complete its merger.  He gives a speech about corruption and how corruption makes the entire system work that has to stand up there with Michael Douglas’ speech about greed in “Wall Street.”  It is a brief performance but impassioned and memorable. 

This is, in short, a very good movie.  It may make you angry.  It is amazing to think that this kind of thing must be going on.  The
United States is in very dangerous waters with its reliance on a substance that exists only a few places on the planet.  It seems a very cruel joke of nature that so much of this much-needed substance exists only in some of the most dangerous places on the planet.  So, despite hating terrorism and the policies and morality that is evident in some of these countries the
United States has to accept them and put up them because they need that resource.  Therefore those who may want to bring about real change in this region are considered dangerous because any upsetting of the balance may cut off the flow of that substance.“Syriana” is not a light-hearted movie.  It is not a movie to sit by and watch passively.  It tells multiple stories and it does it well.  The performances are powerful.  The camera-work is excellent.  The plots are intricate and well-written.  The overall plot may be too thick to see through, but if you take it in its component parts you can enjoy and amaze at excellent modern filmmaking.   

In short, I recommend a viewing of this DVD.  It will make you think.  It will make you gasp in surprise.  It will make you wonder about this country and who really runs whom.   

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.

Low-Tech Movies for You to See

I am a movie snob.  I have a degree that gives me permission to be this way.  Considering the tremendous amount of money my parents forked over to the university I went to so I could earn that piece of paper I think that truly entitles me to the right to be a movie snob.  It wasn’t my actual major but my minor and it technically is called Film Theory and Criticism. 

The great thing about getting this minor is that you spend a lot of time watching movies.  The other great thing is that you got to watch a lot of older movies.  Older movies are things a lot of people don’t think about these days.  I know some people who don’t even want to consider looking at a movie that isn’t in color.  It’s like there is an entire generation who thinks the history of movies started with “The Godfather” and then advanced from there.  Good lord, it would be unthinkable to consider watching a movie that’s in black and white. 

The problem with that line of thinking is the tremendous amount of great movies that are not being watched by large generations of people.  Of course, watching something in black and white and older than 1970 seems counter-intuitive to modern home film watchers.  The problem is that the modern home watchers all have these high-tech fancy crystal-clear DVD machines with state-of-the-art sound.  The fact that older black and white movies are often a tad blurry or indistinct means that most don’t want to consider watching them.  I think this is wrong. 

So, get out that Netflix list and start jotting.  I am going to shock and amaze you.  Ok, really, I am just making another list, but it sounds so much better to suggest I am going to shock and amaze you.  In fact, I am going to suggest that you go back further than the 1940s for movies.  In fact, I am going to suggest you go back to the beginning of cinema.  Yes, I am suggesting you find some titles that are so low-tech that they don’t even have sound. 

The silent film era is really not understood by a lot of modern movie-watchers.  The mere idea of reading anything is anathema to most of them.  The fact that so many were willing to read subtitles about Jesus still amazes me.  However it is amazing to look at film when it was still going through some growing pains.  It is amazing to watch movies that use emotion and the lack of dialogue and still tell a story with mood and images.  Movies should be about images anyway, really.  It is a visual medium. 

Some of the best uses of silent film fall into two genres: horror and comedy.  When it comes to horror you can’t go wrong with mood and images.  “Nosferatu” was directed by F.W. Murnau and released in 1922.  It was a very loose adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.  However, it was close enough that Broker’s relatives sued the filmmakers over it.  Still, how effective is this movie?  How scary is actor Max Schreck as the vampire?  So scary that when they made Stephen King’s “Salems ‘Lot” into a television movie they made the chief vampire look like the vampire in this movie.  The special effects are cheesy but they add something to the creepiness of the movie.  The weirdness of the film run backward gives the whole movie a sense of unrealness. 

“The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” is considered by many to be the first true horror film.  It uses a term that became known as expressionism to great effect.  Buildings branch off at crazy angles.  The movie deals with madness.  This movie uses darkness and shadow to tell the tale of a kidnapping, a sleep-walker and one of cinemas first mad scientists. 

When it comes to silent film comedy a lot of people will steer you towards Charlie Chaplin.  This is all right.  I have seen a lot of Charlie’s work and he’s funny.  However, if you want to see where Jackie Chan got his inspiration and you want to see some movie stunts that will make you gasp and some gags that will truly make you laugh until you hurt then you have to go with Buster Keaton.  He is often referred to as “Old Stone Face” but that isn’t entirely true.  He does show emotion but somehow he manages to keep that face pretty serene in even the most ridiculous situations.  For my money you can’t got wrong with “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” and the tornado scene.  You also should watch “The General” which many consider to be one of the greatest films of all time.  Also, catch one of his later works “The Cameraman.”  There are scenes in that movie that had me rolling in the theater I was watching it in. 

Finally, when it comes to silent films I recommend a movie that will surprise many.  It is called “
Sunrise” and it is probably the finest silent movie that ever was, in my opinion.  It’s, of all things, a love story.  Yes, I know, I said it was a love story.  It tells the tale of a marriage, temptation and redemption.  When I was told what this movie was and what it was about I was not looking forward to it.  I am not a love story guy.  We were going to see a special showing of it at a theater on campus.  As the movie started, complete with a live piano, I found myself completely taken up in it.  I found myself edging forward on my seat.  I was amazed.  It touched me.  It was moving.   

When it comes to silent film you also can’t go wrong with Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis.”  The movie took two years to film and was the most-expensive of its day.  Sadly, it is also reported to be one of Hitler’s favorite films.  Lang went on to make sound films and the movie that falls into the “must-see” category is his serial killer movie “M.”  You must see this movie.  Yes, it’s in German but you will never look at the actor Peter Lorre the same way again.  You will also be shocked at a movie that old dealing with a child serial killer.  There is no music in this movie save for the creepy whistling of the killer.  Lorre’s tortured performance will do a truly remarkable thing – feel for the monster.  Seeing him on his knees screaming “I can’t help myself!” is movie-making magic at its best. 

Once you start getting into sound the usual suspects in black and white start to emerge.  Too many critics have hyped “Citizen Kane” to the point where it cannot possibly live up to expectations.  I happen to love the movie but, as I said, I am a movie snob.  It should be seen for movie historical purposes.  It is an amazing character study as well as a commentary on money, power and the media. 

Finally, I am suggesting you get a health dose of Humphrey Bogart.  For my tastes “The Maltese Falcon” may be the best black and white detective movie ever.  “
Casablanca” is another movie that suffers from too much hype but it’s a movie that is tense, funny, moving and strangely touching.  It really should be seen if you haven’t. 

There is much more I haven’t seen.  That’s the great thing about movies.  They have been in existence for a long time now.  That means there are a lot of movies to watch.  I hope you get a chance to see the ones I suggested.  Happy viewing. 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s latest novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.

The Good Ol’ Days of Horror

I have been a fan of horror and horror movies for almost as long as I can remember.  I have been through the various phases of horror.  When I was a kid it was common to find those black and white movies that probably instilled terror into the hearts of movie audiences in the 1930s.  Back in those days, during the depression, the idea of mummies and vampires was probably pretty scary.  Bela Lugosi in a cape and speaking in a strange accent was probably enough to scare the heck out of people. 

Even as a kid I never found those monster movies very scary.  I mean, for crying out loud, you could get Dracula, Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein’s Monster action figures when I was a kid.  How scary is it when you can get a plastic toy to play with?  Especially when the plastic toy is only slightly bigger than the Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader action figures I had sitting somewhere across the room, how scary can they really be? 

When I first started watching movies on video it was the time when the slasher films had just started to take over.  I watched Halloween and had nightmares.  It was wonderful.  Like all trends, however, before too long the entire pool was saturated and by that saturation the entire genre got diluted.  With the creation of other movie monster like Jason and Freddy it kid of diluted the fact that the original Halloween is a brilliant and simple terror story about the boogeyman.  It’s scary because of the use of shadow and implication rather than splattering gore.  There is just enough blood to put the idea of blood in your head and then your brain fills in the blood the rest of the way. 

Since the pool became diluted the glory days of the slasher film came and went.  In fact, it seems like horror films went through a period where nothing was particularly good.  There was the gorefest films, of course.  I saw most of those during college.  These were movies that just amped up the gore and made it so that nothing was left to your imagination.  These movies dazzled with amazing special effects and sly tricks.  The great movies in this genre are “An American Werewolf in
London,” “John Carpenter’s The Thing,” and “The Fly.”  The fact that those three all took old-time monsters and updated is not lost upon me.   

Those movies were good.  They entertained.  They scared.  I remember watching them and turning away from the screen.  It was fun.  I have written about these movies and given my opinion about which ones you should watch.  Yes people died in these movies but there was always this sense of fun about them.  It is hard to explain this to someone who does not like horror movies.  The fun of horror movies is that they often are things that could not happen.  It is not possible for Michael Meyers to really exist.  You cannot have a man in a spray-painted Shatner mask who is invulnerable and comes back to life after being shot six times.  There really are no werewolves.  Vampires really do not exist.Watching a horror film was my equivalent to going on a thrill ride.  I hate thrill rides.  My stomach cannot take all of that dipping and spinning and turning upside down.  However, I can experience a visceral thrill watching a guy with knives for fingers swallow Johnny Depp into a bed and then fountain gallons of fake blood onto the fake ceiling.  That’s fun.  It was all done with a wink and a nod. 

I think that maybe horror films are, in some way, a reflection of the times in which they are made.  I, personally, enjoyed the brief dip into Japanese horror films.  While the American remakes may be a little less intense than the original Japanese movies I enjoyed them for the most part.  I like the way the Japanese are willing to accept ghosts and mediums and vast mental powers even from little girls trapped down wells.  To cynical American society such things have to be explained and, in that explanation, some of the magic and scariness of the originals is lost. 

There has been a more disturbing trend lately and it is one I am just not willing to take with the horror movie industry.  I am not sure I understand it.  I guess we live in a world when our own military is accused of torturing prisoners and you can find beheadings of hostages online if you look hard enough.  We live in a world when faceless people seem to be plotting to do us harm and the harm done in our minds is so terrible that seeing someone tortured must not seem so bad. 

Of course I am talking about the recent spate of torture films.  I don’t understand them.  I have not watched them.  It may have started before the movie “Saw” came out but I really don’t remember them before that.  I think maybe “Saw” just become enough of a hit that others figured they could make copycats of them. 

Just like when the pool became saturated with the slasher films the market is now inundated with these movies.  Far too often they do well at the box office.  “Hostel” begat “

Wolf
Creek” which begat “Chaos” which begat “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: the Beginning” which begat “Touristas.”  Now I see a movie that is supposed to come out this December about a torturer at Christmas time (although I think it’s actually a remake of a 1974 film, but I digress).  Perhaps I will need to reevaluate my holiday movie list, eh? 

In each of these movies it seems the same plot is followed.  A bunch of young people end up in a group going some place.  Most of the time they go somewhere in a car.  Then they veer off of their original course and end up somewhere where a guy is waiting for them.  Is it a slasher?  No, that would be bearable.  This is a guy who doesn’t just want to kill people.  This is a guy who wants to stalk, capture and then torture them.  As I understand it there are times when the bad guy doesn’t even want to kill his victims.  From what I read about the movie “Wolf Creek” there’s a point where the guy severs one of his victim’s spine and leaves her a “head on a stick.” 

I don’t understand the desire to watch this.  Maybe it is like when I was younger and people get some kind of thrill out of it.  I don’t see it.  These don’t seem to have a sense of humor.  They are dark and depressing and relentlessly mean and cruel.  It’s like being one step away from watching a snuff film.  Even “The Passion of the Christ” was, for all intents and purposes, a two hour movie of a man being horribly tortured to death. 

It’s strange to wish for the time when the scariest thing was Robert Englund with make up that made it look like he had a skin condition.   

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available in print and eBook format at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.

The Holiday Movie Thing

My original idea was to create another list.  Since the holidays are upon us I figured it would be a good time to write about some of the best holiday movies.  People like lists.  The other lists I wrote seemed to get a decent response.  It creates dialogue, it seems.  People like making suggestions.  As such, I figured holiday movies would be a great topic what with it being the Christmas season. 

However, as I sat down to write I immediately ran into a problem.  The problem is very simple and can be summed up in three words:  holiday movies suck.  Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying.  I tried to come up with a list.  I went for a walk.  I pounded my head against a wall.  What did I end up with?  I got sore feet and a headache. 

I couldn’t come up with a list.  Yes, there are classic films that everyone watches year after year but, really, they aren’t very good movies either, are they?  You only watch them during one time of year.  It’s the time of year when you probably have warm and fuzzy feelings going already.  A lot of people associate the holidays with good memories and some of those memories surround watching certain movies with family members.  All of that suddenly makes “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” suddenly seem like a good movie rather than a poorly-acted, cheesy
Chevy Chase comedy which is what it really is.   

So, here is my list of holiday movies that are heart-warming, funny, and classic: 

A Christmas Story – In my opinion there is nothing better than the story of Ralphie and his family and his attempts to get hold of a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time.  It’s funny and, more importantly, it’s universal.  Yes, the movie is set in about 1940 but the themes mean as much today as it must have back then.  I know in my life that every year there was one toy or one present I looked forward to more than any other.  I would sit there in class and daydream about it.  I would doodle pictures of it on my notebooks.  I would dream of playing with the thing.  Then, when I finally got the chance to play with the gift, normally I was done and bored with it by the end of the day. 

This is a story that brings up nearly every single family holiday goof-up and tradition.  My house too had outlets that were crammed with plugs.  My father wasn’t exactly like the father in the movie but he did love to pick at the turkey my mother would be cooking all day long.  I even had one Christmas where I was longing for a BB gun.  I then proceeded to shoot up the basement of my parent’s house with it. 

The rest of the movies that come out during the holidays just don’t have the same feel to it.  Everyone watches and talks about “It’s a Wonderful Life” but I can’t sit through that movie anymore.  I honestly don’t care much about Zuzu and her petals any longer.  I also hate the idea that every time a bell rings and angel gets its wings and wish Clarence would freeze to death and drown.  Am I cynical?  Probably.  Cantankerous?  Most definitely. 

I watched “Miracle on

34^th Street

” and the remake just like everyone else.  Again, it was mildly amusing the first time I saw it.  Then it rapidly became annoying.  Once again I no longer cared if Santa ended up in the loony bin or not.  I’d rather just see the kid yank on the beard over and over again. 

I guess I still have a soft spot for the Rudolph movie.  Something about that harkens back to my childhood.  Does anyone remember the other Rudolph movie where he had to save the new year?  I remember that one because he had a friend who was a whale and I thought that was really cool. 

I have watched seemingly countless versions of “A Christmas Carol.”  I have to admit I was amused when I first saw the Bill Murray version “Scrooged.”  However, to me, the movie now seems dated.  It’s amazing that at one time having a movie with Bobcat Golthwait didn’t seem like a disaster in the making.  Even as I sat there in the theater I have to say I was thinking that this was not really a very funny movie. 

The problem in recent years is that the quality of these movies has managed to get worse.  Right now there is a movie about two guys who are competing or have problems with the decorations on the other person’s house.  Sounds like the same story that was “Christmas with the Kranks” which was just out last year and completely sucked.  Let’s not forget Ben Affleck’s movie where he tries to live with Tony Soprano or something. 

I blame Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad for this trend.  They did that stupid movie where the two of them run around looking for the hot toy of the season.  I knew it was going to be dumb for a couple of reasons, namely, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad.  Has there ever been a good movie with Sinbad in it?  I don’t think so. 

Of all of the movies I would have to say that the story of Ralphie, his brother, Scut Farkus and the BB Gun is the one I can watch again and again and again.  The great thing is that I can do exactly that because there’s that one cable channel that shows it all day and night on Christmas day.  I still laugh.  Just show me his brother saying “Meat loaf, beat loaf, I hate meat loaf” and I am on the floor dying. 

Beyond that, I have to say that holiday movies, much like holiday songs, have a very short shelf life and that is as it should be.  You can have your “White Christmas” and enjoy them if you want but you can count me out.  I can do without Bing Crosby in my holiday life, thank you very much.  I have no desire to watch that one again.  I saw it once and watched it with this really cute girl back in college.  Unless she is going to show up again to watch it with me, I really don’t care to see it. 

So, I am sure the airwaves will be filled with holiday movies.  There will be women having their lives made wonderful and various adaptations of Scrooge and his ghosts.  They will show the Peanuts kids shopping for that tree.  I will be taking walks in my neighborhood and enjoying the lights.  However, during that marathon, you had better believe I will be watching Ralphie dress up like a giant pink bunny. 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is now available in both print and eBook versions at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.

King Makes a Comeback

Stephen King is my all-time favorite author.  I just wanted to get that out there before I started a review of his latest novel.  You should know there is a bias.  I read his stuff no matter what.  That being said, he has not always written things I have loved.  His previous novel to this one, “Cell,” I felt was a decent effort but a retread of familiar themes that he had done better on previous efforts.  The book was entertaining, but his characters were not nearly as memorable as other books and the novel just felt half-thought-out and half-finished.  Thankfully, with his latest, “Lisey’s Story,” King is back in his proper form. 

Scott Landon is a world-famous author who has been dead for two years when the book first opens.  His wife, Lisey (pronounced Lee-See, a nickname for Lisa), is finally getting around to clearing out her husband’s office.  Her husband has the kind of writers office I can only dream of.  They live in
Maine on a farm and have converted the loft in the barn into his office.  For two years his books, unfinished manuscripts and papers have sat there while the world waited breathlessly to find out what might still be lurking in those nooks and crannies.   

Of course, this is a Stephen King story so if you were expecting merely a trip down memory lane then you obviously don’t know Stephen King.  It turns out her husband had a few secrets and Lisey has some buried memories about those secrets.  Her husband had a world known as Boo’ya Moon that he would journey to and find inspiration for his stories.  It is a beautiful place as long as you visit there during the day.  However, once night falls there are things there that may destroy whomever is there. 

This is a novel that also deals with the strange phenomenon of being famous.  As the legions of Landon fans clamor for whatever new scrap of Scott Landon writing that might still exist some of them may not be exactly sane.  When one of those “Space Cowboys” pays a visit to Lisey her life may be in danger.  On top of all of that Lisey has a bit of a problem with her older sister Amanda. 

Just writing that out makes this novel sound a bit like a jumble, but it isn’t.  Slowly and deliberately facts are revealed.  Eventually you realize that each component is part of the story and it all comes together at the end.  Then, just when you think it’s over, King manages to reach into your chest and pull your heart out. 

All of King’s trademarks are here.  He creates truly three-dimensional characters here.  There are a few secondary characters that are not exactly fleshed-out but you don’t really want them to be.  What this book is about is the love story about Scott Landon and Lisey Landon.  Yes, this is a Stephen King love story.  He has made attempts at this before and I thought he had done an excellent job with “Bag of Bones” but this one may beat that. 

Where does this rank amongst the best of King?  It’s hard to say.  There would have to be a miracle to top “The Stand” and his “

Dark
Tower” series.  Considering his last novel, “Cell,” was written just after he finished that magnum opus perhaps it could be forgiven for him not quite hitting it out of the park.  With this one, you can tell King loves this story and these characters.  He does all he can to make you love them too and he largely succeeds.  Is this one likely to rank among his best?  Perhaps not, but it shows he can still tell a story and still tell it well. 

I think this is more of a three out of four-star novel.  There are some things he is repeating here.  The woman fleeing the dangerous man with the possible salvation being in some other dimension is reminiscent of this novel “Madder Rose.”  The thing is I absolutely hated “Madder Rose” and is the one King novel I found myself completely unable to complete.  This time he avoids much of the pitfalls he ran into in that novel.  Whereas the character in that novel was so completely unlikable you can’t help but fall for Lisey Landon.  Her husband is a fascinating character as well and knowing that he is deceased makes all that you learn about his life all that more tragic. 

There is horror in this novel, but it is of the kind of horror King has been writing for about the last ten years.  His last truly scary novel may have been “The Dark Half” which had a few elements in it that actually made me nervous while reading.  Since then he has incorporated horrific elements in his stories but the horror has not been the main focus of the novels.  He seems to be trying to create characters that are memorable and stories that will haunt you rather than terrify you.  Then again, after novels like “The Shining” and “’Salems Lot” it would be hard to conjure up terror beyond that.   

“Lisey’s Story” is also probably one of the best and most-realized female main characters King has created.  Early in his career he was often criticized for not having complete female characters he seemed to enter an experimental phase with the release of novels “Gerald’s Game” and “Delores Claiborne” but with this novel I think he achieves what he was going for with those novels.  Here is a female main character that is as well-rounded and memorable as any of his female characters.   

In the end that can I say about this novel?  It grabbed me from the first page and then held me until the end.  I did not want to put it down.  I wanted to see what would happen on the next page. I wanted to see what would happen at the end.  Then, when it ended, I felt an urge to start the novel over again.   

This is a very personal novel for King.  The male character is a best-selling novelist but he is dead before the first page.   I wonder if this was a book where King attempted to crawl inside the head of his wife, Tabitha.  Of course Tabitha is a writer in her own right, but it must be tough to be married to one of the best-selling writers of all time.  This is a novel that explores what it’s like to be famous and to create for a living.  Writers, in a sense, lie for a living and are one small step away from being insane.  As a writer myself, I have to say this may be one of the best representations of what an imagination is when you are a creative person.  There is always the temptation to live just in your imagination. 

“Lisey’s Story” is a great read.  It will grab you and hold you.  It will keep you up at night.  It will play with your emotions.  It will keep you entertained and get you lost in its story.  King is back to his old form and it’s really great to see that. 

 

Bryan W. Alaspa’s novel Dust is available for sale at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.