Drunken Sunday reviews

Admittedly, it takes more than a couple fingers of Black Bush to get me drunk —

Is that as rude as it sounds, or is that enough whiskey to get me drunk?

I rented Stardust on Net Flix, and we watched it today. Entertaining enough, particularly since Charlie Cox and Claire Danes are so very very attractive and likable in the lead roles, and the gal who plays Charlie Cox’s mom, Kate Magowan, is so very very striking. WHAT BONE STRUCTURE! I’ll let all the young bucks drool over Claire Danes, provided Kate Magowan will share a cup o’ tea with me.

But, yes, I’ll grant that Claire Danes has that thrilling beauty some actresses have. Reminded me a bit of Cate Blanchett circa LOTR.

Good stuff: The goat guy. Michelle Pfeiffer finally looking her age, bwaahaahaaha. The ancient “wall guard” going ninja on Charlie Cox’s ass. Peter O’Toole. All those dead guys. Charlie & Claire. Bob DeNiro, even if it might not be entirely politically correct to laugh at this stuff.

Not so good stuff: the ending. How TOUGH would it have been to set up Yvaine’s Special Power, rather than drop it in our laps at the very end? Great example of deus ex machina, though, which was on our homeschooling agenda this last week. Thanks, screenwriters.

Speaking of Neil Gaiman (upon whose novel Stardust was based) . . .

Anansi Boys, probably my favorite Gaiman novel so far. This sort-of sequel to American Gods (similar premise, different cast of characters) surpasses AG in having richer, more likable characters, and a tighter plot. It’s nice to see Gaiman improving at his craft with each successive novel.

Fat Charlie Nancy has been separated from his brother, Spider, since early childhood. They’re scions of Anansi, the trickster god, but it seems only Spider has Anansi’s creative powers. Dad’s death brings the two together. Hence the title.

I found Anansi Boys briefly tedious, when Spider was busy ruining Charlie’s life. Unfortunately, this is necessary to the plot, as Charlie’s subsequent actions must be justified. Once Charlie opens Pandora’s Box (no, no, no, not literally, although expect to see this as a new Gaiman novel sometime real soon), the story soars.

I had fun with this story, and it’s not-quite-400 pages were over way too soon. Gaiman has technically flawless prose and, as I’ve noted, he’s finally writing likable characters. Not that the protagonists of American Gods and Neverwhere were unlikable; frankly, they weren’t terribly memorable. And I enjoyed those two novels.

No, I haven’t read Stardust. Should I?

For what it’s worth, Gaiman’s Coraline remains my favorite.

I picked up Helix, by Eric Brown, because it showed up on a “Best of 2007” list. Here’s the premise: Earth is dying. In its last gasp, civilization rustles up the oomph to send a vessel to a star system several hundred light years away. Most of the crew remain in cryo sleep, but a few will wake up on arrival at their destination.

They crash land on an odd structure: a cylindrical helix winding about a central star. The helix has about 10,000 planets, seemingly all of which have an earth-norm atmosphere. Hey, that’s cool, not like I want to see all my main characters suffocating on page 40, you know? And Brown does do a nice job creating some hostile climates. (Admittedly, for me, snow on the road constitutes a hostile climate.)

Niven’s Ringworld will be on most everyone’s mind when they read this. It takes a certain amount of balls (at least two, I’d guess) to take on Ringworld. How does Brown fare? Pretty well, I’d say. On the one hand, his characters are far more human than Niven’s — more well rounded, less cartoonish. Brown tries very hard to get into his characters’ minds, and succeeds, for the most part. On the other hand, Brown’s aliens aren’t as memorable as Niven’s Kzinti or Puppeteers. On the third hand, Brown’s novel cruises along at a nice clip, while Ringworld (for me) bogs down in several places. And, really — the main character of Ringworld, Louis Wu, is like a hundred years old, and we’re supposed to believe Teela Brown, who has been bred for luck, is willing to bed the guy? How lucky is that? Or am I remembering this wrong?

Back to Helix. Brownie points to Brown for taking the denizens of Meerkat Manor and giving them intelligence and a vicious theocracy, to boot. Brownie points also for stirring up some tragedy early on and NOT magicking his way out of it thanx to Superior Alien Technologyâ„¢. Not-so-brownie points for an ending which could have been pinched from the mind of Gene Roddenberry. Blah, in other words. I mean, don’t you hate it when the vastly superior alien intelligence turns out to have understandable (even, um, human) motivations? Where’s the wonder? After a fun ride, Brown’s ending was a disappointment. He didn’t leave me yearning for a sequel.

There, how did I do? Any typos? Any career-ending fuck-ups?

D.

Walnut, February 17, 2008. Category: At the movies, Books 'n' Authors, Reviews.

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