Movie Reviews - Let Me In - revisited

After watching it again I must admit my original review of Let Me In last October was probably a little harsh. The film was just recently released on DVD and after another viewing I can now appreciate it much more. Part of my problem was my high expectations for this new version compared to the original Let the Right One In. I was hoping that I would find this retelling just as touching, horrifying and breathtaking as that first film and I'm sure my disappointment affected my review. I stand by my statement that the original is the better film but this version can be appreciated on its own merit. Let Me In is an excellent horror movie, Let the Right One In is poetry. Last time I also failed to mention the remarkable soundtrack by Michael Giacchino, a huge omission on my part. His score does an incredible job of conveying the many moods of this production and he makes everything from the absolute dread to the beautifully tender moments that make up this film come alive. In my earlier review I would have given this a solid B but after seeing it again thru less jaundiced eyes I now feel it deserves an A–. Let Me In is not perfect but certainly much better than the typical Hollywood assembly line garbage, and definitely worth seeing.

Worthy causes

The other day Oleg Volk posted on his site about needed contributions to a worthy gun cause, the Heller Foundation. I have had a link to the Second Amendment Foundation up for a while now but find myself a little embarrassed that I had already forgotten about Mr. Heller and his fight. How soon we forget. I have contributed and hope you will too. I am having technical difficulties right now with Blogger but when they are fixed I will have both of these worthy causes linked at the top of my page. For now you can follow the link here and I hope you do, every little bit helps.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Chapter seven of my novel is now posted. Please note that I have changed the book page settings so that you can leave your thoughts there at the bottom or you can leave them here in this section just as before, whichever you prefer. Let me also say again that I appreciate your commentary and emails, good or bad. Of course my ego loves to read encouraging comments but if you critique my writing that's cool too. Just don't put me down without offering any substance. If you're going to tell me I stink at least explain why, give me that much. At my rate of progress I hope to have Joshua finished sometime late this coming summer.

Window shopping

Went to my local funshop today and they finally got in two rifles that I have wanted to check out for a while now, the Kel-Tec RFB and the FN SCAR 17. After getting it in my hands I must say that the FN is very nice, I liked the ergonomics of it and I really liked the sights. The only thing I wasn't happy with was the polymer lower, which made the rifle seem cheap to me for some reason. But it's not cheap, cost or quality wise. FN has an excellent reputation for good reason and I am sure this rifle would give its owner many years (probably a lifetime) of dependable service. It is irrelevant anyway as the $2898.00 price tag is well beyond my price range. The SCAR is an exceptional rifle but I don't see one in my future. Next up was the Kel-Tec and I was also impressed with the little powerhouse. When I first walked into the store I saw it lined up on the wall next to a few full sized M1A rifles and looking at it there it was hard to believe it was even legal to own (without a tax stamp). Man is it short! I also liked the way the RFB handled and despite having a lot of plastic in its construction seemed solid and felt "right." It doesn't have sights and one thing that was obvious while holding it was the need for a high mount for whatever optics you would put on it. The RFB is certainly an interesting rifle and unlike anything else out there. The Kel-Tec is much less expensive and I could afford it, but not right now, but I can dream can't I?

Movie Reviews - Defcon-4

Time for another installment of apocalypse cinema, and it's a good one too.

Ahh, Defcon-4 (1985) the apocalypse of my youth. This is doomsday 1980s style. No deadly asteroid strike, melting polar caps or rage virus to wipe out mankind. Not even wandering legions of the undead bothered us much at that point. What we worried about most was the mutually assured destruction of nuclear confrontation with the USSR (remember them?). That lunatic cowboy Ronald Reagan was going to get us all killed, Dan Rather was hysterically screaming it from our TVs practically every night on the evening news. And this is where Defcon-4 comes in, it's the perfect over the top illustration of that entire overindulgent, paranoid era, it's also a couple of hours of good, mindless entertainment.

In the film a group of three astronauts stationed on an orbital nuclear "Star Wars" missile platform watch the whole world get blown to smithereens (did you catch the 1980s reference I made there?) safe in the comfort of their space station high above. Then after many months going stir crazy in orbit the station unexpectedly goes kablooey and our heroes fall back to earth. They have to crash land their capsule in a now highly irradiated Canada and are suddenly confronted with the new facts of life (another '80s reference). They have to contend with cannibals, a crazy survivalist Maury Chaykin and his teen slave girl and ultimately end up captured and taken to a military encampment. It is ran by a ruthless and narcissistic teenage boy who rules over the enslaved peasants with an iron fist and wants to use our intrepid astronauts to create his own perverted dynasty (another '80s reference). It's a small wonder (yep, one more '80s reference) that any of them survive! Did I forget to mention that the now captured capsule has a live nuclear warhead on it counting down to go off! That's probably important to know...

I won't go into any more details about the "story." If you enjoy watching the apocalypse, if you're into cannibalism, if you're desperate to see filthy ragtag nuclear war survivors fighting each other to the death for the last remaining scraps of food, or if you love corny movie productions in general then Defcon-4 is the movie for you.