Book Review: Superman by Mark Millar

Superman by Mark Millar written by Mark Millar, art by Aluir Amancio, Georges Jeanty, Jackson Guice, Mike Manley, Sean Phillips, and Mike Wieringo

Before Mark Millar became a star in comic writing with hits like Superman: Red Son, Marvel Civil War, and Old Man Logan, he wrote a variety of Superman stories in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They are collected in this volume. The stories are a lot of one-offs. Some of them are really odd and not satisfying, like an Elseworlds-ish story of Harvey Dent as a cop who turns into "Superman" by an intelligence-boosting accident. Another story has Superman blasted into an alternate universe where survivors of Krypton are coming to turn Earth into their new home world by force. In other stories, Superman faces off against Lex Luthor with more or less interesting results. This is a mixed bag that I only found occasionally entertaining.

Not recommended unless you are a Superman completist or a Millar completist.

Movie Reviews: Nosferatwo More

In the past two years, two remakes (or perhaps reimaginings) of F. W. Murnau's class Nosferatu have been made. I reviewed Murnau's version and Werner Herzog's 1970s remake. I found out about the first remake thanks to Hypnogoria Podcast #280. Here's reviews of the 2020s remakes...

Nosferatu - A Symphony of Horror (2023) directed by David Lee Fisher

This movie follows the same plot as Murnau's original, with Hutter (Emrhys Cooper) being sent to Transylvania to get the paperwork in order with Count Orlok (Doug Jones) to buy the abandoned building across from Hutter's Wisborn home. The movie retains the characters, plot beats, and even most of the backgrounds. The movie digitally copies sets from the 1922 version and places the actors onto them via green-screen. Some scenes are added or expanded to include more information and characterizations.

The visual style is a bit odd. It reminded me of Sin City, with the fake-looking backgrounds as if the characters did not really inhabit the world being presented. This use, which could have amped up the surreality of the story, only looks cheap. Just as I would get used to it, a scene would look poorly done, throwing me back into mild disrespect. Sure, the original movie's effects are antiquated but they still give an odd aura to the proceedings that works with the performances and the overall style, part of German Expressionism. 

Also, this new version has almost no scenes with more than two to four characters in them, which becomes very obvious in the tavern scene before Hutter goes to Orlok's castle. It's another instance where the film seems extremely low budget. Jones is good as Orlok but Cooper as Hutter can't quite strike the right balance with his character. His crazy employer Knock (Eddie Allen) is so over the top he feels like he's supposed to be in a different version of the film, not this one. 

The added scenes and dialogue don't help a lot either. Too much stuff is explained rather than shown, or a character explains what he or she just did. The filmmakers spend a lot on the unfulfilled nature of Hutter's marriage to Ellen (Sarah Carter), who has a mystical link to what is going on. That link is unexplained in the 1922 version but here everything is laid out for the viewer, making it less spooky and threatening. Hutter's dubious choices come off as really dumb, especially when he sleeps with the tavern maid. He comes around to the sincerity of the first film by the end, when it is too late for their marriage. The scripting could have been stronger. Also, Cooper and Carter don't have the chemistry needed and do not give convincing performances (though she is better than he is).

This movie does not have a lot to recommend it. Doug Jones is good in the Orlok role and his makeup is excellent. The marital tension is interesting but not well developed enough. The style is so eclectic, a viewer needs to be very sympathetic to buy into it. I ran out of sympathy (I didn't really like Sin City either, though that was more about the content than the style).

Not recommended.

Nosferatu (2024) written and directed by Robert Eggers

This movie also follows the same plot as Murnau's original, with Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) being sent to Transylvania to get the paperwork in order with Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard) to buy an abandoned building in Wisborn. Eggers' previous films show a lot of attention to detail along with interesting, period dialogue that feels authentic to the time of the film's action. He generally gets great performances from his cast. 

The movie diverges in the introduction, showing Hutter's wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) having a seizure while communicating with a disembodied voice that's not speaking English. The scene sets the tone for the horror to come. Ellen has a much deeper and longer connection to Orlok in this film. She's also found some relief from that connection in meeting and marrying Hutter. She has more control over herself and nightmares are less. When he says he has to leave town for his career and their happiness, she does not want him to go. He insists, putting her in the care of their friend Friedrich (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who is married with two daughters and another child on the way. Ellen has her usual trouble at the friends' place while Hutter is tormented by Orlok. Hutter's pre-castle visit to an inn is dominated by a gypsy group outside the inn, with its strange performances and odd behavior. He has a dream (or did it really happen?) of the locals offering a naked woman to a vampire's grave, though they dig up the coffin and impale the corpse. When asking Orlok about it, the count dismisses it as superstitious nonsense, though confirming in a way that it did happen. 

When the action returns to Wisborn, the plague breaks out and Knock is blamed, though Ellen and Hutter blame Orlok. Orlok threatens to kill all of Ellen's beloved if she does not consent to be with him in the next three days. Three days of agony and death ensue. On the third day, Hutter is finally able to convince some guys to go to Orlok's abandoned building to destroy the vampire while Ellen invites Orlok to their home so she can trick him into staying until after "cock crows."

The movie is very stylized in a different way from the original's German Expressionism. Eggers delves into the grittiness of early 1800s Germany, with a lot of bleakness and hardship. Night scenes often look black and white, a nod to the original. Eggers is also a lot more graphic, with some very bloody moments and more nudity and sex than in other Nosferatus. Skarsgard is great vocally as the vampire. Visually, he is mostly in shadows and hard to see till the end of the film. He's ugly but doesn't have the stark appearance of Shreck or other Orlok performances. His mustache is an odd choice that makes him less believable. 

Eggers is good at crafting an uncomfortable tone but the movie does not horrify enough. The relationship between Ellen and Orlok is underdeveloped and not quite convincing, even though it is central to the plot for this film. Eggers throws in some blood and mayhem to compensate. Those scenes feel more like add-ons than necessary to the story. I anitcipated a lot of the deaths in Wisborn before they came so they were less traumatizing. Overall, the movie was not satisfying enough for me.

Barely recommended.

So, if I had to rewatch one of these, I guess I'd go with Eggers, though I would rather re-watch the earlier movies.

TV Review: Skull Island (2023)

Skull Island (2023) created by Brian Duffield based on the King Kong franchise

Charlie and Mike are the sons of two sea explorers who are looking for cryptids, specifically a legendary island that is supposed to have a lot of them (obviously Skull Island, home of King Kong). Their boat picks up a teenage girl whose escaped another ship and is a bit of a wild child. They don't have long to talk to her when they are attacked by some men from the other ship. Those men don't have long to attack when a giant sea creature shows up and kills most of the crew and the baddies too. Charlie, Mike, and the girl (named Annie) wash up on a mysterious island full of giant, mutant animals. It's a hostile island with dangerous natives. The survivors of that other ship are there and want the girl back.

This animated series promises some King Kong action though the big ape does not show up till halfway through the eight-episode arc. The humans' adventures are the typical fight against a variety of giant, mutated animals. The action is fun if a bit gory (the show is rated TV-14). The creators want to appeal to a broader audience than the typical youthful cartoon watcher. Hints at a larger story are left unfulfilled as the show clearly sets up a second season which does not seem to be in production two years later. The story is enjoyable enough on its own if you are a Monsterverse fan, which I certainly am.

Mildly recommended--this is more for fans of the Universal Studios Monsterverse like me.

As I write (March 2025), this is only streaming on Netflix.

Book Review: On Basilisk Station by David Weber

On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington #1) by David Weber

Honor Harrington is an up-and-coming captain stuck with an impossible task during training exercises. The Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN) has invested in a new sort of weapon that only works at short range but is devastating. After a brilliant first use of the weapon, her ship, the Fearless, is targeted for the rest of the exercise, taking a moral pounding in addition to the virtual pounding. If that wasn't bad enough, the initial victory humiliated a politically-connected higher up who has Harrington assigned to Basilisk Station. It is a backwater system with iron-age natives. Basilisk System is important, however, as a jumping-off point for interstellar travel, so a good deal of commerce passes through. The RMN is supposed to work with the local government to keep an eye on things. But everyone in the RMN knows it's a hellhole where incompetent commanders are punished. Those commanders have shirked their duties and let a lot of enforcement slide. The current commander at Basilisk sees his opportunity to dump the duties on Harrington and promptly departs with his ship for a refit back on the homeworld.  She is left as ranking officer of the RMN at Basilisk.

The situation changes as Harrington is not an incompetent commander and sets about restoring order in the system. Her crew prepares some limited defenses and traffic monitoring. They actually start inspecting cargoes, discovering a lot of smuggling and other illegal activities going on. The local government is delighted that someone is taking them seriously. But the smugglers and people from other star systems using the station are much less enthused. Also, there's a mysterious conspiracy involving the natives.

The story is a science fiction military drama focused on Harrington has a heroic young officer. She is an admirable character, clever and compassionate. She reads situations well and has the intestinal fortitude to win out the day. The combination of sci fi and military means there's a lot of detailed descriptions of the made-up technologies and planetary systems. The overarching political situation also weighs in on the story, giving a lot of background information that is less engaging than the present-day story. Harrington is so likable and the action, when it picks up in the second half, is so exciting, I enjoyed the book a lot and will try more in the Honor Harrington series.

Recommended.

Billy Goat Trail March 2024

Having a year-long pass, we went and hiked the Billy Goat Trail again at Great Falls Park, Maryland (see our previous hike here). This time, half of us did not bail out at the half way point. But more on that later.

We took the C&O Canal Towpath down to the trailhead, with some nice views of the Potomac and some sad views of the mostly dry part of the canal.

Potomac River by Great Falls

The canal has seen better days

More Potomac glory

A more peaceful bit of the river

Starting up the trailhead

We took a group selfie though only three-quarters of the group participated.

Two-thirds wear hats

Sad at missing the selfie? Probably not!

The river still has fascinating views all along the trail.

Does anyone ever make it to the island?

We tried out some walking sticks that a friend sent us. They are collapsible, so they can be stowed for climbing parts of the trail. We found them useful.

Where's the next trail blaze?

Rock climbers on the Virginia side

Climber close-up

I don't remember seeing this sign the last time we hiked. It's fairly honest, though since COVID the trail is supposed to be one-way. I remember twenty years ago hiking the trail backward once just for a bit of variety.

Discouraging news?

A green part of the river

"Does it match my hoodie?"

Beaches in Virginia in the distance

More green water

I took the high road at one point, letting me get this nice shot of the family.

Following the proper trail

We hit the ascent again, the scramble up a steep rock face. It seemed harder than last time. I still think it is easier going up than going down. The ascent has you looking at the rocks ahead. The descent has you looking down at how far you could fall!

Going up?

A view from the top

We made it to the bail-out trail where Mom and our youngest headed back over to the Tow Path. They'd wait by the Great Falls Inn, which was a public house on the canal but is now a small museum. 

Bye!

My daughter and I continued down the trail, eventually discovering beaches on the Maryland side of the Potomac.

Too bad we didn't wear swim suits!

Not very beach-like

A beach with way too many rocks

The trail eventually took us inland crossing one of the tributaries to the Potomac.

Unnamed waterway

Unnamed bridge over unnamed waterway

Another nice view downstream

The trail made a hard left, leading us up some dirt paths and short climbs back to the Tow Path.

Worst staircase ever

Signs of civilization!

The canal has a lot more water down at this point.

Navigable waters

Canal lock

Canal lock with house (but not with water)

Rough Potomac waters

We made it back to the Inn. The rest of the family was waiting on the back porch. They had listened to a bit of a music group that was playing (we visited on a Saturday, so more things going on than on a weekday). The kids were tired out so we headed home.

Great Falls Inn

Actually, it probably isn't a small museum. We'll have to go inside one of these times.

Book Review: The Irredeemable Ant-Man Vol. 1 by R. Kirkman et al.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man Volume 1: Low Life written by Robert Kirkman, penciled by Phil Hester, and inked by Ande Parks

Eric O'Grady is a low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who monitors a screen on their Helicarrier. In his off time, he plays poker with some friends and lusts after the female agents. His hometown friend Chris is a fellow agent. Chris is dating Veronica, also a fellow agent. When the Helicarrier is attacked, Chris and Eric are assigned to guard Hank Pym's lab. In the chaos, they accidentally knock out Pym. Chris tries on the latest Ant-Man armor prototype and gets killed. Eric takes the armor and starts wandering around the Helicarrier. The ship crashes and everyone is put on leave until repairs can be made. Eric and Veronica go back to his hometown for Chris's funeral. Eric starts worming his way into her affection as he also gets into more trouble.

While the premise is interesting, the execution is off-putting. Kirkman tries to make it more comedic but it just wasn't that funny. Eric is not some lovable loser or interesting anti-hero. He's just a jerk who is flying by the seat of his pants. He's too unlikeable as a main character to carry my interest. The other characters are okay but there's nothing else compelling about the storytelling or the art to make me read the next volume.

Not recommended.

Movie Review: Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

Venom: The Last Dance (2024) co-written and directed by Kelly Marcel

Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is on the run from the law since they assume he was the killer in the San Francisco cathedral incident in the last film. He's able to stay ahead of trouble since he has the symbiote to work with. They (Eddie and the symbiote) are hanging out in Mexico but decide to head to New York so the symbiote can see the Statue of Liberty. The road trip is interrupted by a xenophage, a horrible monster from the symbiote's home world that is hunting them. As the duo Venom, Eddie and the symbiote have a "codex" which is a special key that will free Knull (Andy Serkis), the creator of all the symbiotes who wants to destroy the universe (or something like that...at least he wants to wipe out the symbiotes for imprisoning him). While on the run, they are also pursued by a secret agency called Area 55 (hidden underneath Area 51) that is doing research on the aliens (like the symbiotes) for their own purposes. A lot of action and mayhem ensues.

The plot is fairly haphazard, moving from point to point with more of a focus on action set pieces and wrapping up the trilogy. Plenty of head-scratching moments have the characters losing track of what's going on or knowing a lot more than they should. Plot contrivances move things forward in hard-to-believe ways. The special effects are amazing and the filmmakers are creative in using Venom's powers, as well as using other symbiotes in the big final fight against the xenophages. The camaraderie between Eddie and the symbiote works better in this film than in the previous films and Hardy is as charming as ever. Overall, it's an enjoyable film but the story needs a lot more tightening up.

Mildly recommended--this is okay if you are fan of the character, not a general viewer.

TV Review: The Diplomat Season One (2023)

The Diplomat Season One (2023) created by Debora Cahn

Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is a mid-level officer in America's diplomatic service who looks forward to serving in the Middle East where her on-the-ground skills will be put to good use. She is sidelined into becoming the ambassador to Great Britain, a role that is supposed to be mostly ceremonial, with lots of parties and photo-ops (not a place for on-the-ground skills). The only problem is a British warship in the Persian Gulf has just been hit by an enemy. The initial assessment points the finger at Iran but a much more complicated situation arises as various assets provide intel on the incident. One asset is Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), husband of Kate and a former ambassador who is now relegated to "wife-in-tow" status. He is much more politically savvy and uses it to his own advantage (not necessarily for the good of his country or his marriage). This on-going behavior of his has brought the couple to the brink of divorce. Now that the United Kingdom is on the brink of war (both the Prime Minister (Rory Kinnear) and the US President (Michael McKean) are looking to improve their domestic standings), she has to use all her skills to get to the bottom of the situation and stop war from breaking out.

While the show sounds like a political thriller, which to a large extent it is, there is a lot of comedy and interpersonal romantic drama (i.e. soap opera). I was a bit confused if they really wanted to be taken seriously, especially with a bunch of over-the-top plot twists and Kate's no-nonsense attitude constantly being undercut by her survival instinct, making her do things she otherwise would never do. For example, she does a cover story with British Vogue on what it's like to be a woman in a powerful position, a move that keeps her from getting fired from the position that she does not want. She also doesn't like dresses or being prim and proper. She does her best to fix or improve the political situation as it spirals into a more convoluted pretzel of unlikely interconnections. She constantly waffles on her desire for divorce from the completely manipulative Hal for no other reason than it makes the drama more dramatic. The show is very hard to take seriously even though it seems like it wants to be taken seriously.

Russell gives a fun performance, though Sewell's weaselly performance steals some of the scenes. The rest of the cast is good in their more or less plausible roles. The show looks like a star vehicle for Russell, after her great turn in The Americans. Even so, the tone is so uneven that I was not sure what the creators were really going for.

Just barely recommended--I was entertained and confused in equal measures.

As I write this (March 2025), the show is only available streaming on Netflix. 

Book Review: Ad Limina by Cy Kellett

Ad Limina by Cy Kellett

In a distant future, the first native-born Bishop of Mars is called for his ad limina visit to Rome. Typically, bishops come to Rome once every five years but transit time takes weeks or months from Mars to Earth. Martian Bishop Mark Gastelum has been shepherd of all souls on the Red Planet for nine years before having to leave. Arranging travel is tricky. The dominant political faction, UNAC, has banned undesirable people from traveling on government-run transportation, "undesirable" being what they think of as "hate groups." Catholic views "discriminate" against "group marriages, genetically-modified people, etc." and the tolerant UNAC won't allow such people access. Gastelum books a passage on an independent shipper which takes an indirect route back to Earth. 

The route is made longer when the Fascists, a high-conservative political group headquartered on Ceres, hijacks the vessel because of a spy on board. Gastelum briefly meets the spy though he only figures out he was the spy later. The spy kills himself before docking at Ceres. The bishop, through a lot of circumstances, winds up with a coded message to take back to Earth though he does not know that either. It's just a box of chocolates for the Pope. The Fascists don't find out right away either and Gastelum books a different transport. This time, he has more of a solar system odyssey that reveals the political, scientific, and social atmosphere of the future as imagined by Kellett.

Like a lot of other science fiction, the world Kellett crafts has much in common with our own. He flags up a lot of current problems, like genetically- or surgically-modified humans, fake tolerance in social and political arenas, and cyber-addiction. The bishop gives a Catholic understanding on such issues as the story progresses and he interacts with various people. Gastelum struggles with what to do in certain situations and has plenty of failings. Humanity has hardly been perfected by scientific advancements. Those advancements just present new challenges and new opportunities.

The book is enjoyable. It has some good descriptions of future colonies where people behave very differently from other places but not from other times like ours. Some of our current problems are cranked to eleven, which provides the author a chance to talk about them in a less threatening but still obvious way (like that Star Trek Original Series episodes with the guys who were half-white and half-black). Some bits are a little preachy, but hey, the main character is a bishop. Since I am sympathetic with 99% of his ideas, I enjoyed it.

Recommended.

This book is discussed on A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast #352.

John Downs Memorial Park, Pasadena, Maryland

After dropping my daughter off at her robotics competition, I headed over to John Downs Memorial Park. It's a county park that was originally owned by Charles Carroll, though much later (the 1880s) it was actually used as a farm. The land was bought in 1913 by H. R. Mayo Thom, who turned the area into a summer residence. The property was turned over to the county.

Typical park entrance

I noticed driving in that someone is collecting sap from the trees. From the variety of trees I was confused. Maybe it's a science experiment and not a maple syrup production.

Bleeding out a tree

The park has lots of picturesque bits, including Mother's Garden, a popular spot for weddings. I visited in early March, so the garden was not at its best.

Mother's Garden entrance

Statue in the garden

The garden has a "wishing bench" that dates back to the 1913 summer residence. A sign says if you are quiet and make a wish, it will come true. I tried it with no luck.

Wishing Bench

Proof I was there

A lovely feature of the park is its beach along the Chesapeake Bay. On a quiet Sunday morning, it was very peaceful and picturesque. The beach includes a pier for fishing.

View of the bay, not the beach

Sun rise (well, risen) at the beach

Rocky part of the beach

View from the pier

The park has lots of walking trails and a handful of geocaches, so I wandered all over. The park is split by Pinehurst Road, with a bridge over it.

Bridge

View from the bridge

With 235 acres, there's a lot of nature to preserve. I ran across this "bug hotel" set up near one of the geocaches.

Do bugs get better treatment than trees?

While a lot of the trails are paved, the Eco Trail is packed dirt with the occasional workout stops.

Eco Trail entrance

In case walking is not enough exercise

Work your arms, not your legs!

I returned to a paved trail that led back to the visitor's center.

Should have brought a bike!

Unfortunate tree

The park has many other amenities, including picnic pavilions, campgrounds, the visitor's center (which was not open since I was there before 10 a.m. on a Sunday), a concert stage, and a playground.

Picnic area

At least the bathrooms were open!

Outdoor stage

Deluxe playground

It was a fun park to visit.