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Book Review: The Darkest Minds Series Book #1:

I read this book to prepare for the movie that’s coming out tomorrow I will also write a review on the movie. This book is a YA dystopian novel where there’s a deadly virus that has killed the majority of the child population. The ones who didn’t die and have developed superpowers and have been sent to modern day version of concentration camps. The children are called Psi’s there are four colors that they are organized into. Blue which is the kids that have telekinesis. Then there’s Green which is the kids that have enhanced smarts. Then theres Yellow which are there kids that have electricity. Then there are the two most dangerous colors and those are red and orange. Red which are the kids that cam control fire. Then there is orange which are the most dangerous because these kid’s have mind control. This book follows a girl named Ruby who has orange powers and has escaped the biggest camp Thurmond. She escaped with the help from people in an organization called the League. She eventually ditches the league then meets and joins three other kids who escaped from another camp on their journey to find a safe haven ran by a orange who goes by “ Slip Kid”. These kids are Liam who is a blue and the leader of the group. Then there is Charles a.k.a “Chubs” who is also a blue. Then to round off the group there is a little girl named Zu of asian ethnicity who is a yellow but wears rubber dish gloves because she cant control her power. While on this journey they become family. 

     Can five very different and individualistic superheroes come together and save Planet Earth?

     And if they cannot save us, can we be sure they will Avenge us?

     By now, I am sure, you have seen the buzz if you have been anywhere near the internet within the past week or so. The opening salvo in the Summer Movie Season has been launched, oddly enough a little early, making over $178 million US overseas opening weekend, breaking opening weekend records in countries like Brazil and Mexico, and projected to make over $150 million US this opening weekend in America.

     The movie I am talking about, of course, is The Avengers.

     Every superhero movie that has been, and is being, made is surrounded in controversy. One of the first big internet explosions about The Avengers was Disney hiring Joss Whedon as the Writer/Director.

     You may be familiar with Joss, he is the mastermind behind such TV series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, the driving force behind the episodic internet mini-series Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, and big screen Writer/Director for Serenity and The Cabin in the Woods.

     The Marvel fandom went into an uproar but were quickly silenced by Joss' fans and supporters; the same people who desperately (and still do) want him to write and direct the Wonder Woman movie.

     The second was the lose of Ed Norton (American History X, Fight Club) as The Incredible Hulk. Many people saw this as a betrayal, a giant snub, and a huge break with the tradition of the current actor portraying the character in a same time line, team-up sort of movie like this.

     I, for one, thought Ed Norton did an excellent job in The Incredible Hulk and was slightly leery of the hiring of Mark Ruffalo (Just Like Heaven, The Brothers Bloom). Do not get me wrong, Mark Ruffalo is a great actor; my hesitation had more to do with Ed Norton being replaced than Mark Ruffalo's acting skills.

     That was to be the only replacement though, all the other actors have reprised their roles for The Avengers.

     Robert Downey, Jr commends every scene as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as the deadly and beautiful Black Widow, Chris Evans as the powerful super soldier, and original Avenger, Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as the demi-godly Thor, Samuel L. Jackson as the no nonsense Nick Fury and Clark Gregg as fan favorite Agent Phil Coulson.

     For music lovers, you will be very pleased with the soundtrack, composed by Alan Silvestri.

     Opening night is great for movie lovers, especially at a midnight show. The audience is there because they are fans, because they expect greatness, because they cannot wait another second more.

     We laughed, we cried, and in the end I do not believe there was a person in the theater who was not like a child discovering their love of roller coasters for the first time.

     “Let's go again!”

     I cannot recommend The Avengers enough. This is a must see, even if you are not that big of a superhero or comic book fan.

     What Joss did was open the door to geek fandom a great deal wider, everyone should walk through.

     I read it on the internet and heard it while leaving the theater, audience members saying this was the BEST super hero movie ever.

     I am inclined to agree.

     Five college friends, two couples and a pot smoking genius fifth wheel, head out for a weekend at a Cabin in the Woods high up in the mountains by a lake. These are some of the basic ingredients for a horror movie, which the characters themselves acknowledge, the twist is, this is a Joss Whedon film...

     From the very beginning, with its Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino Grindhouse title card, The Cabin in the Woods runs smooth as silk with its writing and pacing on target like a...holy crap that is a hot redhead in her underwear (Thank you Joss and where the hell do you find them?)...

     In all seriousness, there are times, especially in the first half of the film, I lost myself in the story and its traditional horror film genre feel, and then the tension is broken a little and I am reminded that this is a Joss Whedon co-written and directed project.

     Then I remind myself that Joss is well acquainted with horror.

     You are not sure who Joss Whedon is?

     Maybe you have watched one of his TV shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, or Dollhouse.

     Maybe, you have watched his Firefly sequel/series continuation film Serenity.

     Or maybe you are familiar with the extremely popular internet release Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog he wrote, directed and co-produced during the last Hollywood actors' strike.

     I know, maybe you have seen his name mentioned because Joss Whedon is the writer/director of the upcoming summer blockbuster movie The Avengers?

     Not to mention he wrote Toy Story and Titan A.E.

     There is a reason he made io9's “Science Fiction and Fantasy Creators Who Became Their Own Genres” list. You get the point.

     Joss Whedon's co-writer is Drew Goddard, Lost and Alias producer and writer as well as, I know I am on the fringe with this, one of my favorite films Cloverfield. (I cannot wait for the sequel!)

     The Cabin in the Woods stars Kristen Connolly, as Dana, the hot redhead I mentioned before, and this is her first major role and the only thing I have watched her in so for.

     Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek (2009), Snow White and the Huntsman), the demi-god Thor himself stars as Curt.

     Anna Hutchison (Legend of the Seeker) is Jules.

     Jesse Williams, another relative unknown, as Holden.

     And, rounding out the five, is Fran Kranz (Dollhouse) as the pot smoking Marty.

     The cast also includes Bradley Whitford (The Good Guys, The West Wing), Brian White (Moonlight, The Shield) and Amy Acker (Angel, Dollhouse).

     The Cabin in the Woods is an incredible film, in many ways, it redefines the genre like Scream and Saw, remaining unique while paying homage to nearly EVERY horror film out there.

     I am not going to go into this any further, you deserve to see it with fresh, untainted eyes.

     I will say this:

     If you love Joss Whedon and/or if you love horror films, this is a definite MUST SEE!

      Every year each District selects a teenage boy and girl to send to the Capitol as tribute to compete to the death in The Hunger Games. This year, in order to save her sister's life, Katniss Everdeen volunteers. Wilderness survival is something Katniss knows very well, but to survive the games, she must learn to survive in a society alien to her own.

      I have never read the books, though, I know a few people who have and their level of enthusiasm when this movie was announced has only been rivaled by the Twilight franchise. Maybe not a glowing endorsement for some, but, then again, I have not heard anything negative about Suzanne Collins' trilogy, at least nothing remotely close to the scale of hatred surrounding Twilight.

      For those who may not know, The Hunger Games is the first book in a trilogy of the same name by Suzanne Collins. The books center around a young woman, Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to go in the place of her younger sister and ends up becoming a symbol for the exploited districts.

      The first trailer I saw for The Hunger Games intrigued me and, since I am familiar with the buzz surrounding the novels, I decided to go.

      It doesn't hurt that Jennifer Lawrence, the actress who portrayed Mystique in X-Men: First Class, is cast in the lead as Katniss Everdeen.

      The supporting cast consists of Stanley Tucci (Easy A, Captain America) as Caesar Flickerman, Capitol city's biggest TV host, Elizabeth Banks (Spiderman 1, 2 & 3) as Effie Trinket, escort and chaperone for the District 12 representatives, Donald Sutherland (The Mechanic, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within) as President Snow, and Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy, former winner of the 50th Hunger Games, now trainer and tribute representative for District 12.

      Gary Ross (Dave, Pleasantville) directs and also co-wrote the screenplay with the author Suzanne Collins.

      The soundtrack was expertly put together by T-Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and James Newton Howard (Do not know who he is? Really?).

      Where does The Hunger Games fit into the genre of movies? I would put it into the Reality show/Blatant commentary on today's society genre along with The Running Man and Gamer. While not as heavy handed as the latter and not as funny as the former, it does manage to bring some of the books feel to what is ultimately an all-ages Hollywood film.

      At least that is what I have read.

      I really enjoyed this film. The settings are extremely well done, I genuinely felt for the main characters, was even moved a little by the deaths of the evil secondaries, and I have moved the book series up in my 'To Read' list.

      If you have even entertained the thought of seeing this film, go, now. If you were unsure, dragging your feet, loved the book and hate adaptations, or whatever reason keeping you from the theater I believe you are missing out on this film.

      As someone who has never read The Hunger Games, I look forward to the inevitable sequel.

    While escaping a war he wants no part of, John Cater is transported to an alien world and into the middle of another war. Somewhere between the two planets, he will find his place in the Universe and a cause worth dying for.

    When I saw the first trailer for John Carter last year, I was excited. It went down a notch when I found out this was a Disney production.

    Sorry, yes, Disney makes great family-fare movies, but I will forever cringe when they do more adult movies because of their ‘Disney-fication’ of franchises. It may be irrational, but there it is.

    John Carter was written and directed by Andrew Stanton, the writer/director of Wall-E and one of the main people behind the Toy Story franchise.

    Taylor Kitsch plays John Carter and, while I have never watched an episode of Friday Night Lights, I did enjoy his brief appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit.

    The beautiful and talented Lynn Collins is Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars, who was also in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Kayla Silverfox. Dejah is kick ass.

    The CGI characters were voiced by such giants of the industry as Willem Dafoe (Spiderman 1, 2 & 3), Thomas Haden Church (Spiderman 3, Easy A) and Samantha Morton (Minority Report).

    Pixar, of course, is the machine behind the special effects.

    Special mention must also be made of Michael Giacchino for his work on the score. You may remember him as the mastermind behind the music in Lost, Star Trek and its upcoming sequel, Super 8 and 50/50.

    Ok, brass tacks. Did I like this movie?

    Yes! Do not believe the negative press. While this movie will not win an Oscar, it is a fun movie the audience, as well as I, thoroughly enjoyed. We all got the jokes the negative reviewers apparently could not and 75% of the audience stayed until the final rating screen just in case there was one of those additional end credit scenes.

    The story was straightforward with a little twist to bring it home. The CGI was excellent as well as the costumes; I loved the designs. The music is great and I am going to look for the soundtrack to add to my library.

    My verdict: definitely see John Carter film. It is essentially an all-ages film that does not strip things down to a kid’s ‘level’, so take your children of age as well.

    As for the Star Wars prequels answer, well, I feel John Carter is a cleaner concept, with no annoying characters, cooler speeders, a more exciting arena fight and a better love story. The only things they have over John Carter are Jedi and lightsabers. You should make your own decision though.

    I will be adding John Carter to my library when it comes out on bluray later this year.