My brain overflows with... well, you'll see

Now Borrowing: Lionheart by Thea Harrison | Ro Reads #BookReview

‘Lionheart’ starts with a crisis:

King Oberon rest in an uneasy sleep that’s left his power uncontrolled and destroying his kingdom. But his Lionheart is in at risk should he awaken. Both he and Lyonesse will be lost unless he can defeat Morgan’s assassination the Dark Court will lose it’s both its King and homeland. Time is of the essence for the Dark Court in Lyonesse

King Oberon’s fate lies in…

Now Borrowing: Lake Silence by Anne Bishop from @AceRocBooks #bookreview #newrelease #newbooktuesday

Quick Take:  With next-level world-building, subtle social commentary, and addictive storytelling Bishop coaxes fans to become entangled with new characters. Lake Silence is a tense journey that reveals exactly how deadly it can be messing with someone under the protection of the terra indigene. Lake Silence Takes Thing Into the Wild Country Anne Bishop skillfully expands the world of The Others…

Now Borrowing: Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs from @AceRocBooks #bookreview #newrelease #newbooktuesday @Mercys_Garage

Burn Bright intertwines mystery and magic for a thrilling new installment of the Alpha and Omega series that changes everything. From the opening scene to the final word, Briggs sets an intense pace that reveals heartbreaking betrayals that may just cost the pack everything. With a stellar use of wit, Briggs brings new and secondary characters to the forefront in unforgettable ways. I was…

Now Borrowing: Promise Not To Tell by @JayneAnnKrentz #BookReview @BerkleyPub

Now Borrowing: Gunslinger Girl by @LyndsayEly | #BookReview @jimmy_books

  Quick Take: Gunslinger Girl centers around Serendipity “Pity” Jones. A seventeen-year-old facing the outside world and her own limitations head-on. She’s struggling while surrounded by people who are exactly who you believe them to be. As her world evolves, every moment drives the overall storyline in unexpected directions. Not one character was boring or ordinary. Even as you unravel schemes…

The Greatest Showman‘s a story told with a deliberately light dramatic touch and bombastic savoir-faire. It’s less traditional musical biopic and more a stylistic “highlight reel.”

But while P.T. Barnum may be the story focus, it’s the people who make up his menagerie that give this film its purpose.

This film entices its audience room to engage and have fun while gleaning its message from the margins. So if you wait around for this tale to told through dialogue, then you’re going to miss most of the important (and interesting) bits and leave feeling like it’s a film with little substance under the glitter and glam.

The Greatest Showman delivers its character backstory through song and dazzling visuals. It entertains and keeps the film’s pace with a delightful syncopated precision.

The cinematography and set design are nothing short of amazing. The period costuming and site location establish time and place perfectly. Everything behind the scenes works together to capture the heartbeat of this period piece and sets a believable image of the times.

I’m pretty sure I could watch the opening sequence of The Greatest Showman once a day. Great staging, fantastic lighting, perfect vocal drop in. It has the rush of an opening night, that moment of great expectation and Hugh Jackman striking a dashing pose.

This scene does more than just set the tone; it sets the pace and The Greatest Showman doesn’t slow down for a single second.

Grade: B- (due entirely to the extraordinary visuals and accidental revelations behind all that dancing)

Hugh Jackman (P.T. Barnum) and Zac Efron (Philip Carlisle) star in Twentieth Century Fox’s THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.

P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman) and Charity Barnum (Michelle Williams) share an enchanting dance on a New York rooftop in Twentieth Century Fox’s THE GREATEST SHOWMAN.

Reality Check:

But this isn’t really the story of P.T. Barnum, showman, impresario and circus master. It’s a tale invented by screenwriters Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon and Director Michael Gracey’s vision of a savvy American nobody who built an empire and fortune out of his wit, hard work, and ingenuity.

And that’s not who P.T. Barnum was at all. In reality, he launched his career as a showman by exploiting former slave and extremely elderly Joice Heath turning her into an exhibit then authorizing her public autopsy after death.

He wasn’t just a “hardworking Joe” turned businessman made good. He was a social climbing, fast-talking, huckster who wasn’t above employing a good gimmick to make a name for himself. He repeatedly and shamelessly exploited others for his own gain.

Barnum’s motto might well have been, “scandal equals sales.”

Phineas Taylor Barnum is not a hero, he wasn’t a trailblazer; but he is very much so the embodiment of a capitalist-minded, win at all costs (as long as the profits wind up in my pocket) American businessman. He should not be lauded as a role model or example of how to get ahead. But this is America, so of course, he’s cast in an admirable light and given the “Hollywood” treatment.

So, how do you build a movie around such an unapologetic shyster?

With music, dancing, to die for costuming and sublime set designs. Naturally.

With a story that wholeheartedly distracts from a few truths: 1) there are plenty of people who believe that realizing their dreams are more important than people’s lives; 2) “American ingenuity” is usually just code for a willingness to lie, cheat, steal and shamelessly use people to get what one wants. Obviously.

By focusing on the dazzling extravaganza of it all and peppering the rest of the cast with people and story arcs that uplift and only hint at the grime behind it all. Of course.

This entire script is a lie. But that doesn’t take away from the fact this ensemble cast led by Hugh Jackman, Zac Effron, and Michelle Williams do a pretty solid job of selling it (jazz hands and all).

P.T. Barnum would be proud.

♦

After the opening credits, time swiftly rewinds to reveal a young Phineas and his father struggling to make ends meet and working for an upper-crust (socially and financially) family. Phineas lives in his head where anything is possible including marrying the daughter of his father’s employer Charity. Almost immediately, talking gives way to singing and the lyrics carry the story arc and character development forward right through to the end.

This part of the story is, for the most part, sweet and intended to have you rooting for Phineas to capture his dream, win his girl and sail into a great future. But while it offers insight into how Charity and Phineas grow closer and remain true..ish to each other and their hopes, it also reveals the beginnings of Phineas’s willingness to do anything to make a buck.

♦

Jackman plays Barnum with enduring wit and a charmingly slick edge. He’s a guy with his eye on the main chance and his head in the clouds. He’s promised himself a grand life and he’ll stop at nothing (and for no one) to make it happen.

It’s clear from the story angle, Gracey wants you to see Barnum as a man unafraid to step outside the norm (exploit), to innovate (cheat), and invent (lie). You’re supposed to be inspired by his ingenuity (sticky fingers) and quickwittedness (con); it’s supposed to showcase the American work-ethic and “bootstrapping” mentality at work, so to speak.

His relationship first with Charity and then with his daughters in the movie humanizes Barnum up to a point and the reworking of the Jenny Lind years serves to underscore that he’s not completely without loyalty (he so is) and integrity (just saying that word would totally give him hives).

I found this more accidentally unvarnished look at a man of his type refreshing. Jackman’s portrayal leans “into the light” but the overt inferences and his onscreen interactions tell the real tale. P.T. Barnum was a selfish, smarmy asshole of a man.

His use of the subversive wasn’t intended to benefit anyone although that was a very real secondary effect (the primary being he made money) for those ordinarily cast-out and shammed. Those “othered” by society found kinship, homes and a greater sense of safety working under his banner. He wasn’t a humanitarian. He didn’t give a damn about the plight of others unless it could make him a dollar.

So kudos to the film’s screenwriters for finding a way to paint Barnum as just a quick-thinking American with a dream and a heart of gold. It only goes to show what good writing and a loose relationship with the truth can really accomplish.

♦

Despite being issues of the day, the secondary storylines are decidedly modern feeling: A tale of star-crossed love (a story I’d much rather watch unfold with greater detail), the combustible public protests against his showcase of Oddities, the hostile environment his cast members navigated daily and the chokehold Barnum had over the players in his exhibits (let’s not pretend he wasn’t running a human circus).

All these story arcs serve to balance the scales (but not nearly enough) and insert a dose of the realistic into The Greatest Showman. Some of the musical numbers didn’t sync with the time period and therefore rang slightly false. They’re great songs but not always put to their best use. This may be due to the aggressively modern niche Ben Pasek and Justin Paul seem content to rest in.

Plus the story angle and direction took gross liberties with what truly would’ve been permitted which undercuts the emotional payoff in the end and makes it all just one more element of Barnum’s showcase.

There are moments where it’s clear Gracey wants you to see them as pivotal for Barnum emotionally. We’re to believe those moments are what shape his willingness to bring those living in the shadows to the main stage. Not that he’s playing to the public’s interest in the macabre and bizarre.

Gracey does a solid job of “show not tell” for the majority of the film but he’s occasionally a bit heavy-handed.

It doesn’t detract from the story or the glorious visuals but it does make everything feel as though it’s trying just a little too hard (because making P. T. Barnum not come across as the trash he is is hard work) and aiming to deliver the overall storyline with an edge that just a little too slick.

But anyone willing to can see P.T. Barnum was a charming flim-flam man who pitched the right scheme at the right time to the right banker to secure funding with a wink, smile and some slick talking and slight of hand. He saw a niche market he could capitalize on and goes for it with no remorse.

I will not be surprised if most critics flat out do not like The Greatest Showman.

The Greatest Showman is a song and dance extravaganza that’s anchored in joy, light, pain, hubris, laughter, and promise.  It’s far more than a simple “boy makes good” story.

Go, have fun but remember this is “theater” at its best; don’t get blinded by the lights.

Overall:  2.75 out of 5 (because truth in advertising damn well matters)

*originally posted on tggeeks.com

Bright is shallow (but thinks it’s profound) entertainment. It’s sometimes action-packed and funny. But this pedantic and stereotype-riddle script wastes this extraordinarily talented cast.

If you’re fond of exposition data dumps and a race through a city barely worth figuring out, then Bright is destined to be your jam.

I didn’t hate Bright; it’s just okay. I won’t lower the bar (that’s not my ministry) because I want urban fantasy stories (in all forms) to live large.

Bright could’ve slayed and been brilliant. So imma hold it against it (all day) that it isn’t.

Grade: C

The Details

The open credits drop story context (and apparently essential world-building elements) via graffiti all to the emotive and atmospheric track Broken People. Out the gate, you’re clued into the fact, there’s been a serious shift of power in the world. It all looks great and flows well into the beginning action. But overall, is only semi-successful because there’s hardly any (by hardly I mean not a damn bit) later development.

The “Feel” of Bright

This sequence does successfully establish a color-filled backdrop and gritty vibe Director David Ayer seamlessly maintains the course of the story. He should since it’s almost dead-on the rhythm and flow of his cop drama, End of Watch. You don’t get extra points for killing it in your wheelhouse.

Photo Credit: Matt Kennedy – Bright

Photo Credit: Matt Kennedy – Bright

Ayer’s direction creates such a believable environment it just begs for comparable character-based storytelling and development. We never get it. And without it, Bright suffers obvious drop-offs in character investment and comedic moments that fall short of the mark. The dialogue is choppy, predictable, and unacceptably overwrought at the height of the action.

The “Look” of Bright

While the make-up and prosthetics are all on point; costuming phoned in more than a few looks *ahem* jerseys? *ahem* really?

Visually, Bright does an excellent job of mixing a modern, gritty, “downtown” vibe with vibrant colors and slick imagery. This is a, sometimes chaotic and muddy, engaging setting. This movie looks good; had I not seen this neon-filled murky wonderland so skillfully employed in Atomic Blonde, I might said great.

I usually don’t but, hereafter it may feel like there are Bright spoilers…over at donthatethegeek.com

I like westerns. Well, usually westerns with a large amount of cowboying and violence. You know, the good ones. Blame my father and his turn with the remote.

  Photo Credit: Netflix – Godless

Godless at a Glance: Roy Good (Jack O’Connell) is on the run from the band of outlaws he used to call brothers. He ends up in La Belle, New Mexico.

  The town’s governed and populated primarily by women. Alice Fletcher (Michelle Dockery), widower and outcast, lets a wounded Roy stay on her homestead.

When Frank Griffin (Jeff Daniels) and his gang head toward La Belle on the hunt for revenge, the town bands together to take a stand.

The series’ catchphrase is: “Welcome to no man’s land.”

    A frontier town mostly populated and run by widows and single women

Jeff Daniels playing a notorious ruthless outlaw

Michell Dockery playing a rifle-wielding, grudge-holding homesteader

Godless is a limited series Netflix Original so you’re not following the white rabbit on a trip too far down the hole but it is still a good bit of time (seven episodes).

The plot driving Godless is only semi-atypical (gunman on the run from his gang after betraying them horribly) but it’s more than just a good gimmick to capture your interest.

A tragic accident turned this into a town populated by widows, spinsters, the elderly and the extremely young. But these women mustered up the grit of the west and carried on. As to be expected, clashing personalities and the societal hierarchy’s upended.

Merritt Wever, Kayli Carter, Tess Frazer Photo Credit: Ursula Coyote/Netflix – Godless

Merritt Wever, Kayli Carter, Tess Frazer Photo Credit: Ursula Coyote/Netflix – Godless

Michelle Dockery – Netflix’s Photo Credit: Ursula Coyote/Netflix – Godless

In between shots of absolutely gorgeous countryside the byplay between the unfolding drama in town and Frank Griffin’s frontier-wide rampage in search of his arch-nemesis Godless presents a decidedly unconventional take at a period in time when women characters were usually paper-thin or merely vehicles for the story of their male counterparts. While the main story heavily features men, the show’s far more interesting and compelling storylines revolve around the woman and how they’ve adjusted and carried on.

These women embrace life as carpenters, homesteaders, business owners and the town’s council. The frontier may not be female but this town is and they have no interest in seeing that change. Even if more than a few are willing to embrace stupidity in order to get laid (every group has that one chick…).

The story arcs are intriguing and ultimately fully interwoven to credibly build a compelling storyline. The main arc contains all the expected elements of a manhunt that brings “danger to the populous” style western. Roy Good stumbles onto Alice’s property and directly into the path of her raised rifle.

She takes pity on him and allows him to stay. This decision sets off a chain of events that changes the lives of everyone in the region.

The story unfolds in an uneven fashion (flashbacks scenes replace voice-over explanation and act as inner-monologue) that leaves room for character development and interesting comparisons between personality types. There’s enough of the unexpected and secondary storylines per episode to keep this story from becoming boring or too predictable.

The writers were careful to include more than one reason for outside interest in this town and how those elements play out opens the door for more intrigue and mayhem.

Visually, there are moments when Godless, brought to mind High Plains Drifter particularly at the height of the movie.

I’m sure the comparison was deliberate – I do feel like it undermined some of the story development but not fatally so – but everything driving the action is still deliciously, subversively female without overplaying.

I mean how am I not supposed to be all ready to click play and settle in to see what’s what?

Verdict: Accidental Binge – if this turns out to be your jam you’ll have it finished before you realize you let all seven episodes roll one directly into the other. But the momentum (or interest) isn’t lost if you break up watching a few episodes a night.

I hope this series gets a second season that focuses more on the townswomen and how they move forward post-Griffin crisis. These ladies most certainly have stories worth telling.

**originally posted on tggeeks.com

Quick and Dirty: The stories in Amid the Winter Snow visit beautifully rich worlds weaving tales of love and loyalty. This anthology focuses on couples struggling to find their way to each other often in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles and emotional baggage almost blinding them to what could be. Each short story is vibrant and deeply emotional. These authors waste no time snaring…

Now Borrowing: Jade City

Now Borrowing: The Murders of Molly Southbourne by @tadethompson #bookreview #horrornovella #mustread @TorDotComPub @torbooks

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  Kat Howard’s written an enchanting tale of a people past due for a reckoning over the corruption at the heart of its magic use.  The writing is crisp, engaging, and addictive. The characters are fully formed with an intriguing mix of backgrounds and personality types. The story arc is compelling, well thought out and definitely have you picking sides. Sydney is unapologetic, vicious, take no…

Now Borrowing: Halls of Law by V. M. Escalada #bookreview #epicfantasy @dawbooks

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Now Borrowing: Secrets In Death

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Now Reading: Miles Morales by @JasonReynolds83 | See why I say it's a 2017 "must read" in my #bookreview

Overall Review: Jason Reynolds takes Miles Morales and Spider-Man to a whole new level of appealing. By exploring the realities of being a teenage superhero and living as a brown kid in a world not looking for you to succeed on a good day, he infuses Miles with such depth and personality that you’ll be rooting for him to win…for all our sake. From beginning to end, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, held…