The Book Review Depository – “The Old Man and the Sea”

     The Old Man and the Sea, one of Ernest Hemingway’s later works, is about the struggle between man and nature.  Santiago is a fisherman who hasn’t caught anything in months.  A boy in his town, Manolin, brings him food and discusses baseball with him.  He fished with Santiago, but was forced to change boats by his parents after the old man’s uncontinued bad luck.  One day, Santiago goes out to the deep sea on his skiff, alone, determined to catch a big fish.  He sets his lines and waits.  Eventually he snags a marlin and begins to try to bring him in.  Over the next few days, Santiago is able to capture and kill the great fish.  The remainder of the novel deals with his hellish battle to bring his catch in unscathed. 

     I won’t spoil the ending as this was one of my favorite works to review for this blog.  Hemingway writes so simplistically, yet his themes are complex and germane to every one.  The struggle of man against insurmountable odds is a story that every one is familiar with.  At several pivotal moments in the story, Santiago’s veil of emotion is temporarily lifted and the reader gets a sense of who the character is.  Determined and wise, with a touch of romanticism.  He sympathizes with the marlin during and after the ordeal.  The author paints the picture that nature is simultaneously beautiful and devastating.  Santiago and Manolin’s relationship is one of kindred spirits.  They both love baseball and fishing.  There is the sense, too, that the boy regards the old man with filial affection.  The night before Santiago’s voyage, the boy offers to go out with him but is told to fish with his normal boat.  Other than the beginning and the end, Santiago is alone with his thoughts.  This book is as much about man’s overcoming of his fear and doubts as it is about conquering nature.  Hemingway adds a great deal of himself to the work.  The old man dreams of lions on the African shore; Hemingway enjoyed going on safari.  He also went deep sea fishing.  This is evident in the eerily descriptive passages about the sensations and emotions associated with the hunt.  As I said, its a great read and I would recommend it to all my readers.

The Book Review Depository – “Heart of Darkness”

     Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness follows the recounting of Marlow’s journey deep into the Congo.  Marlow is the captain of the steamship the Nellie and is trying to get upriver to meet Mr. Kurtz, an ivory tradesman.  Tales of Kurtz’s renown as an efficient collector of ivory peak Marlow’s interest.   His tale is inititally rather humdrum.  They drift lazily upriver, constantly keeping an eye out for natives that don’t come.    He stops at the central station along his journey and meets the manager, a scheming individual clearly interested only in personal advancement within the Company.  The Nellie sinks and Marlow is holed up for months waiting for the repairs to be completed.  His interest in Kurtz begins to border on obsession.  The journey upriver resumes and Marlow is more eager than ever to meet Kurtz.    An abstract sense of dread begins to occupy Marlow’s thoughts.  One might suspect that it has something to do with his crew of cannibalistic natives, but it is something more intangible than that.  He comments that he, himself doesn’t fully comprehend what it is that he is so fearful of.  The steamer encounters a dense fog and is attacked by natives once it clears.  The helmsman is killed.  Eventually, they are led to Kurtz by an eccentric Russian trader that has clearly been living in the bush too long.  Kurtz is ill and is taken downriver by Marlow.  He dies along the way.  Marlow delivers the news to his widow.   

     The story is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator listening to Marlow’s recounting.  Perhaps he chose to do this to filter out Marlow’s emotions from the narrative.  Conrad’s language is hard to follow at times.  He is more fond of semicolons and commas than periods.  Add his deeply expressive descriptions and you’ve got a short novel that reads a bit like War and Peace.  I found myself rereading several sentences to fuller comprehend their meaning.  Still, the picture he paints of the nightmarish Congo becomes starkly clear in the reader’s mind.  As the story progresses, the jungle becomes more ominous and visceral.  The story examines a great deal the effects of withdraw from civilization, both in Marlow’s growing trepidation and Kurtz’s madness.  Conrad’s descriptions of the surrounding jungle become more terrifying as the crew gets closer.When the natives are finally encountered, Conrad describes them as statuesque, bronze figures.  This bears mentioning, because although the author portrays the jungle as hellish and something out of your worst nightmare, he casts the natives in a favorable, albeit primitive light.  The contrast between the crew and the characters they encounter makes Heart of Darkness an interesting novel.  Just don’t be fooled by its length.  This one might take you a while.

The Book Review Depository – “Animal Farm”

     Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is about a group of animals on Manor Farm who overthrow their master to establish a utopian society.  The revolution is successful and the animals begin governing themselves, under the leadership of the pigs.  It’s renamed “Animal Farm,” a flag is created and celebrations are held to commemorate their liberation.  However, as the story progresses, the pigs become more totalitarian.  The anti-communist theme is evident throughout the book; the animals often refer to one another as “comrade.”  Classical elements of a communist dictatorship begin to emerge around the middle of the book.  A common enemy, a pig named Snowball, is established and blamed whenever anything goes wrong.  Conversely, the leader of the pigs, Napoleon, is praised for everything, even if it was out of his control (i.e., water quality).  Meanwhile, the majority of the animals are starving while the pigs thrive.  The animals are constantly being fed lies and the rules are continually changed to suit the pigs’ needs.  If the pigs make a mistake, they cover it up with lies or simply tell the animals that they’re remembering it wrong.

     Orwell’s writing style is descriptive and easy to understand.  His narrative paints the picture of someone devoutly against communist ideals.  The transformation of the animals’ society from egalitarian to a dictatorship is obvious to the reader, but Orwell portrays the animals as stupid in order to develop the story.  This also might be an attack on the Russian people for allowing the Communists to rise to power.  Not being very well-versed in Cold War history, some of Orwell’s characters were difficult to understand.  Benjamin the donkey, for example, always gives cryptic answers, but never chooses a side.  Moses the raven is there briefly in the beginning and is not seen until the end.  Despite these complex, mysterious characters, Orwell does a fantastic job of laying out the evolution of utopian society to totalitarian regime.  The propaganda included in the novel is disturbingly realistic considering it was created by animals.  By using animals to portray his characters, the author is able to pull the reader back far enough to see what is really going on.  This book is required reading for anybody wanting to observe the corruption of power and the manipulation involved in keeping the lower class under control.

The Book Review Depository – “Ape and Essence”

     Ape and Essence is Aldous Huxley’s book about post-apocalyptic America.  Two writers find a script by William Tallis titled, “Ape and Essence” and the subsequent story is the recounting of Tallis’ film.  Prior to the actual plot, Huxley includes a scene with two Albert Einsteins fighting for separate ape armies.  Huxley’s contempt for military and weapons of mass destruction is easily ascertainable from the way this is constructed.  The story is set in Southern California in 2108, after World War III.  A group of researchers from Auckland, New Zealand travel there to study the effects of radiation on the plant life.

     Dr. Alfred Poole is digging samples when he is kidnapped.  He is taken to a community of survivors.  There, he bears witness to the atrocities of the post-war gamma radiation and the degeneration of society.  The people he encounters are deformed and being governed by devil worshippers.  While talking to the Arch-Vicar of the church of Belial, Poole is told that the devil had been sewing the seeds of destruction for decades.  A major result of this new system is the subjugation of women.  They are constantly referred to as “vessels of the Unholy spirit.”  There are even instances of infanticide.

     Juxtaposed with these horros are lines of beautiful poetry from various writers.  The effect of this is that the bleak seems more so, while the beauty stands out that much more.  The only source of inspiration is Poole’s relationship with Loola, a girl he meets shortly after he is taken.  In spite of this, the majority of the story is quite depressing.  Huxley’s thoughtful observations and creative phrasing forces you to take a good, hard look at humanity’s shortcomings.

The Book Review Depository – “Gulliver’s Travels”

     I found Johnathan Swift’s satirical novel to be a gripping yet amusing narrative.  His style is sharp and his words sharper.  Originally published in 1726, much of the context was admittedly lost on me.  Some passages are timeless.  You needn’t understand the context of Swift’s suggestion that the English nobility should imbibe their own bodily excretions to recognize the humor in it.

     Gulliver’s Travels follows a young surgeon, Lemuel Gulliver, who sets out to find adventure and improve his fortunes.  He travels to Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa and the country of the Houyhnhms.  In each kingdom he encounters a different race and comments about their various strengths and faults.  He uses these fictitious people to criticize aspects of England that he finds disagreeable.  Being a Tory, much of the book is devoted to ridiculing his rival faction, the Whigs.  He also attacks the Royal Society as well as the nobility in general.  The Lilliputians are a diminuitive race of people that Swift uses to illustrate the corruption that comes with power.  Brobdingnag contains a race of giant people that Swift primarily uses for humor.  However, he makes some allusions to the church and morality.  Laputa is a hovering island of astronomers and mathematicians who are hopeless at any other discipline.  Swift largely uses the Laputians to attack philosophers and the Royal Society (again).  The scientists of Laputa are portrayed as bumbling fools who refuse to abandon a failing project.  He visits the land of Glubbdubdrib where he is able to summon and converse with ghosts.  Aristotle, Homer, Plato, Socrates and several others are called upon by Gulliver.  Because he is removing his scope even further from himself, Swift makes some of his boldest statements here.  He comments on tyranny, the morality of the aristocracy and what it means to be a patriot.

     However, Swift’s greatest criticism is directed at mankind in general.  Through Gulliver, he is able to point out mankind’s flaws and does so at every available opportunity.  Although he mixes humor with his verbal reprimands, I was left feeling embarrassed for the behavior of the author’s contemporaries (and my own).  His final voyage to the country of the Houyhnhms is particularly depressing.  The horse-like race are lovers of reason and have no concept of lying.  It is in their company that Gulliver becomes so disillusioned that he vows to live out the rest of his life removed from humans.

     This book can be a little difficult to grasp at times and Swift often comes across as long-winded.  However, his sharp observations of his contemporaries and the lowliness in which he esteems humanity, make this a must-read for anybody interested in 18th century England or what an Irishman thought of it.

AMC – Around the Lens

Unknown White Male is a thriller about a man who awakens from a coma to discover that somebody has assumed his identity, and no one, including his wife, believes him.

I am conflicted about this one.  On the one hand, you’ve got a director, Jaume Collet-Serra, with very little experience.  He has directed House of Wax, Goal II: Living the Dream and Orphan.  The writers are equally experienced, having worked on a number of projects too obscure to mention.

On the other side of the coin, the cast is looking pretty good.  Liam Neeson is the lead role, Dr. Martin Harris.  Mad Men’s January Jones will star as Elizabeth Harris, Martin’s wife.  Inglorious Basterd’s Diane Kruger plays Gina, the woman helping Martin recover his identity.  Frank Langella (The Box) will play Rodney Cole.  Neeson has played similar roles as of late; Taken comes to mind.  His acting chops will definitely come in handy.  Jones is relatively new to the Hollywood scene and has yet to undertake a role that will define her as an actress.  Her performance in this is not something that should be missed.

However, I must say that this movie seemed eerily familiar to me.  Then it occurred to me that it has all ready been made.  It’s called The Net and it came out in 1995.  Are the studios in Hollywood so hard-up for movies that they’re recycling them so blatantly?  There are subtle differences sure, but I’m guessing that 80% of the movies are going to overlap.  If I were you, I’d wait for the review on this one.

AMC – Around the Lens

If you’ve never seen Captain America, don’t.  Craigerscinemacorner.com calls it the worst movie of all time.  It is considered by many to be a travesty that the Captain America series has never recovered from.  Hopefully, The First Avenger: Captain America will change that.  Directed by Joe Johnston, it follows the transformation of Steve Rogers from weak soldier to Captain America.  Johnston’s previous credits include: associate-producing Willow,  visual effects for Star Wars, Star Wars V – The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars VI – Return of the Jedi, and directing Jurasic Park III and The Wolfman.  The writers include Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely who wrote the screenplays for The Chronicles of Narnia series.  Producer Kevin Feige has worked on an endless list of superhero films including: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and (currently) Thor.

John Krasinski, Mike Vogel and Chace Crawford are rumored to be up for the part of Steve Rogers/Captain America.

Fans of the comic will undoubtedly be pleased with the team assembled for the film’s production.  If you’ve seen Star Wars, then you know the caliber of visual sequences that can be expected.  Suffice it to say that they will not leave you disappointed.

Pending the selection of Captain America, I can fully endorse this film.  A great team is poised to handle the adaptation of a classic American character.  If the cast is half as good as the team of writers/directors assembled, expect First Avenger to blow people out of their seats.  Release date is set for July 22, 2011.

AMC – Around the Lens

Set for release on December 22, 2010, The Green Hornet is a long-awaited remake.  Done in 1940 and 1974, the film has never quite captured the spirit of the pulp/radio series.  People who grew up reading the comics might be a little perplexed at the studio’s choice of Seth Rogen for Britt Reid, the newspaper publisher who doubles at night as the Green Hornet.  Not surprising considering Rogen’s previous slacker roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Pineapple Express.  Christoph Waltz is on the ticket to play Chudnofsky.  It will be interesting to see if he can follow his truly memorable performance as Col. Hans Landa from 2009’s Inglorious Basterds.  Jay Chou will star as Kato, the Green Hornet’s partner in justice.  Cameron Diaz will star as Lenore Chase, Reid’s love interest.  The chemistry between Rogen and Diaz has yet to be seen, so there’s an element of romantic anticipation there.  Tom Wilkinson, whose previous credits include Michael Clayton and Duplicity, plays Jack Reid, Britt’s father.

Director Michael Gondry will spearhead the project.  His previous credits include directing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind.  He has also directed an episode of Flight of the Conchords, so look for some of that zaniness in the film.  Evan Goldberg and Rogen are credited with writing the screenplay.  Goldberg’s previous writing credits include Superbad and Pineapple Express.  He also produced both films as well as Funny People.

Coming from a Rogen fan, this film seems like a good idea but for the wrong person.  His roles have been tailored to his personality, most likely due to the fact that he’s written or helped write much of his material.  A superhero seems like a bit of a stretch for the star.  I would advise you to wait for the reviews before you see this one.

AMC – Around the Lens

Although The Hobbit: Part 1 isn’t set for release until sometime in 2012, the story is a personal favorite so you’ll have to indulge me.  The rumors of who will play Bilbo Baggins are currently saying Tobey Maguire.  Moving on from the ridiculousness of that idea, Guillermo del Toro is directing and writing the screenplay.  Director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson, is signed on to produce and write the screenplay.  Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh will also help write the screenplay.  The real question going through many fans minds is why isn’t Jackson going to direct the prequel?  Few and far between was the die hard Tolkien fan who disliked Jackson’s results from the trilogy.  Hollywood politics can be confusing, but the important thing to remember is that Jackson will still have a hand in the film’s production.  Still, it is now up to del Toro to guide the film in a direction fans will approve of.  His previous credits include directorship/writing of Hellboy and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

The cast of the film is rumored to have Cate Blanchett returning as Galadriel, Hugo Weaving reprising Elrond, Ian McKlellan as Gandalf and Andy Serkis as Gollum.

Tolkien fans will unlikely be disappointed with The Hobbit: Part 1.  Anybody who has read or even seen the book knows that you would have to cover every detail in order to make this story a two-part film.  Jackson will still be around to provide that style we’ve all become accustomed to.  My advice?  Run, don’t walk to your local theatre when this movie premieres.

AMC – Around the Lens

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 won over the hearts of America with their well-written stories and stacked cast.  Toy Story 3 is currently in production and I have just a few concerns.  John Lasseter, who directed Toy Story and Toy Story 2, is not involved in this project.  Lee Unkrich will be directing Toy Story 3.  His credits include a co-directorship for Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo, as well as editing credit for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and A Bug’s Life.  Quite the impressive resume, but what made the first two movies of the trilogy so great is still in jeopardy.  Changing directors has long been a dangerous game.  I hope that it pays off.  The writers for this film are also different.  Michael Arndt, who wrote Little Miss Sunshine, is signed on to write the screenplay.

The best thing going for Toy Story 3 is the return of an all-star cast.  Tom Hanks will reprise his role as Woody and Tim Allen is voicing Buzz Lightyear.  Robin Williams is also returning as Wheezy, the squeaky penguin.  Other names include: Joan Cusack, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Keaton and Don Rickles.  The remarkable thing about this project is that the last movie was made over 10 years ago, yet they’ve managed not only to bring back the original cast but also add a few new names as well.

I would urge any family who enjoyed the first two movies to attend, despite my admonitions about the change of director/writers.  An inspirational and touching series like Toy Story deserves our viewing it prior to criticizing it.  The movie is set to release June 18, 2010.