Movie Review: Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Conan the Barbarian (1982) co-written and directed by John Milius based on the character created by Robert E. Howard

The early life of Conan the Cimmerian (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was brutal. His village was attacked when he was a pre-teen, with his mother and father being killed in front of Conan. He was then taken off to slavery. He wound up being trained as a gladiator, though soon enough he broke out on his own, seeking his own fate. He remembers the two-headed snake and sun emblem of the group that attacked his home, Conan hunts for them. He is out for revenge. He's joined by an archer and thief named Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and a female brigand name Valeria (Sandahl Bergman). They raid the Tower of Serpents in the next town they come to, putting the trio on the trail to a confrontation with Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), the leader of the snake cult and the destroyer of Conan's home town.

The movie delves into the broad world of Conan, with travels to many towns and cities. Conan is a rough character, fighting with brutality and living without morals. He'll have sex at the drop of a hat with any willing woman, including partner-in-crime Valeria. Schwarzenegger embodies the hulking brutality of Conan. The action is exciting and moves at a good pace. The movie is entertaining as a no-holds-barred swords and sorcery epic. 

Recommended, but this is a hard-R rated movie, not for kids or the squeamish. 

NYC 2026 Trip--Washington Square

Right by NYU is Washington Square, a park dedicated to the first president of the United States. The most famous part of the 9.75-acre park is the Washington Arch. Originally built in wood to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of George Washington's presidential inauguration in 1889, it was redone in Tuckahoe marble in 1892. 

Washington Arch seen from inside the park

View from the start of 5th Avenue just outside the park

The street-facing side of the monument has two statues of Washington. Washington As Statesman Accompanied by Wisdom and Justice was added in 1918.

Washington as Statesman

The other side of the arch has Washington as General Accompanied by Fame and Valor. It was installed in 1916.

Washington as General

The park has some other statues. Garibaldi is a statue commemorating Guiseppe Garibaldi, the 19th-century leader who united Italy under one government. The statue was donated by Italian-Americans and was erected in 1888.

Garibaldi monument

A dramatic pose

On the other side of the park from Garibaldi is the Holley Memorial. It was dedicated in 1890 to honor Alexander Lyman Holley. He is credited with founding the American steel industry.

Holley Memorial

Closeup of the bust

Since we visited in late March, the central fountain was not running.

The park fountain

The park is surrounded on three sides by New York University, a private college founded in 1831, so almost 200 years old.

NYU buildings

Fountain, arch, and NYU buildings

The park does have very nice bathrooms and a park office, our visit was too early to make use of them.

Unassuming amenities

It was also too early to see any chess players, a popular hobby in the square. The chess tables were back in a corner we didn't see.

Even though it was just barely Spring, some flowers were already blooming in the garden parts of the square.

A bit of color returning

Book Review: The Great Story of Israel by Robert Barron

The Great Story of Israel: Election, Freedom, Holiness by Robert Barron

In a theological overview of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible, Bishop Robert Barron discusses the role in salvation history played by humanity in general and of the Israelites in particular. The texts under consideration are fairly straightforward, recounting the history of the Jewish nation. Barron acknowledges a lot of modern scholarship that has made understanding these writings more clear while avoiding the pitfalls that modern scholarship also opens up. The writing styles used are often more poetic or allegorical, even in these historical texts. People did not think of writing a long list of facts, dates, and names; they told a story with a definite purpose in mind. Teasing out the proper meaning can be challenging but not impossible. Barron also looks at the texts through the lens of Christianity, since these texts are the anticipation of the moment of reconciliation between humanity and God that happens in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

One of Barron's main theses is that the Jewish people are chosen by God but not just for themselves to be saved. They are to be an example to the rest of mankind, a people set apart to show the right relationship between human beings and God. This example is seen with their struggles in Egypt during Exodus and Babylon during the Babylonian exile. The Jews are a model of right faith attached to the true God, the One who is greater than all other gods because He's in a completely different category. As Creator of all things, no subordinate thing is even remotely close to God in power, majesty, and care for humans. The Jews were a shining example of this in the ancient world.

They were not, however, a perfect example. Often they would draw back or turn away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The consequences were dire. Even after the long string of miracles that led the Chosen People out of Egypt, soon enough in the desert between Pharaoh's land and the Promised Land they would complain about their current circumstances or switch to a golden calf to credit their salvation. Once established as a kingdom in the Promised Land, they often switched devotion to the local gods, often the deities that came with marrying local pagan women rather than Israelites. Punishment would soon follow, but so would prophets whose main job was not to foretell the future, but to get the Israelites back on track. The final cultural conflict before Christ was the Greco-Roman world coming in and taking over the Promised Land, chronicled in the two books of the Maccabees. 

Barron has a good way of explaining theological and philosophical concepts clearly without relying on a lot of technical language or very abstract ideas. He can bring those concepts down to concrete examples that help the reader understand. The book moves along swiftly, not dwelling on every last detail, covering the few thousand years in three hundred pages. Using Christianity as a guiding principle helps to narrow down the focus and put the writings in their larger salvific context. The book makes a great overview, either introducing new readers or providing insights to more seasoned readers of the Old Testament. 

Highly recommended.

NYC 2026 Trip--Hudson River Park

The Manhattan banks of the Hudson River have been transformed over the years. Originally, the West Side Highway and a bunch of piers were all there was to see. A lot of work has gone into making it a more attractive and usable area. Our first stop (actually, the first thing we came to) was a playground with giant fish.

Lots of good fish...on the land?

Fish climbing

At the top

Coming out the slide

We visited at twilight, so the sun was setting over New Jersey. 

View to NJ

More of NJ

The walkway along the river was full of people, some strolling along, some jogging. The area has a lot of activity. As we walked north, we saw some sculptures. Serpentine Structures by Marc Gibian are made from industrial trusses and have been shaped to imitate the nearby river.

Offshoot, a single-stemmed cantilever

Torque, a bench we did not sit on (can we?)

Twister, a double-stemmed unit

The next day I visited Little Island, an artificial piece of land at the former Pier 54. The island is held up by concrete tulip-shaped pillars. It opened in May 2021 and is quite popular for wandering around and getting good views of Manhattan and New Jersey.

Little Island

On the island

It looks taller when you are on it

View back to the city

Farewell for a minute

I took my wife back to Little Island on our last day, it was a rainy morning but still a special spot.

Dining/picnic area

A small amphitheater on the island

View of Jersey on a soggy morning

More sogginess

Book Review: Spider-Man: Brand New Day Vol. 3 by D. Slott et al.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Volume 3 written by by Dan Slott and Bob Gale, art by Marcos Martin and Mike Mckone

Looking for better pay, Peter Parker shifts over to the paparazzi section of The DB, formerly The Daily Bugle under J. Jonah Jameson. The new editor is much worse and encourages Peter to go after a Hollywood celebrity in town. Unfortunately, the celebrity has a supervillain stalker called Paperdoll who is in fact a flattened woman who can make other people just as flat (though they die from the condition). Peter struggles with the ethics of the job as he fights the very weird villain. A second story follows Spidey as he confronts The Bookie, a guy who frequents a local bar for supervillains and gets them to bet on pretty much anything. The Bookie might have some information on someone who is framing Spider-Man as a serial killer, so Spidey has a lot of motivation to take him down.

The villains in these stories are a little disappointing. It's hard to imagine them coming back again in future stories. The "Peter Parker trying to get by" story is more interesting and fun.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: Predator Badlands (2025)

Predator Badlands (2025) co-written and directed by Dan Trachtenberg

On the Predator homeworld, a young one named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is considered the runt of his clan. Dek's father orders Dek's brother to kill him. Dek's brother thinks he can still win honor since Dek has sworn to go conquer an unconquerable foe--the Kalisk on the death planet Genna. Dek is sent off in his brother's spaceship as Dek witnesses his brother being slaughtered by their father. When Dek gets to Genna, he finds out why it's called the "death world." Seemingly every biological entity is hostile, even the plants. Dek discovers Thia (Elle Fanning), the top half of an android sent by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation to collect samples from the planet as biological weapons. She's been on her own for years and is glad for the company. Dek, being from an intensely hostile warrior culture, is not open to friendship with her. She sells herself not as a friend but as a tool to help Dek in his quest. She has her own motivation--the Kalisk slaughtered her expedition, including another android named Tessa (also played by Elle Fanning) to whom Thia has a lot of attachment. They head off to resolve their ambitions.

The movie provides an interesting starting twist with the Predator character being the hero of the story. Typically the Predators are enemies to be vanquished. The plot looks very predictable for the first two-thirds of the film. Then the movie gives a nice and unexpected twist in the third act, making it more than the B-movie it was shaping up to be. A lot of thought went into developing the Predator culture and into the plot of the film, much more than I was expecting. The action is fun, the CGI is so-so, the performances are okay. Overall, it's a satisfying action film and a top-tier Predator film.

Recommended--highly for Predator fans.

Play Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child written by J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany

The highlight of our New York City spring break trip (posts coming soon!) was seeing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Lyric Theater just off Times Square in Manhattan. 

The story follows Harry's son Albus Severus Potter when he goes to Hogwarts. He has a hard time fitting in as the son of The Boy Who Lived, especially when the Sorting Hat puts him in Slytherin. Also in Slytherin is Scorpius Malfoy, son of Harry's nemesis Draco Malfoy. Scorpius is a bit spastic and also very unpopular, especially with the rumors circulating that he's really the son of Lord Voldemort, not Draco's child. Scorpius and Albus form an awkward friendship that disturbs both their fathers. The boys are not very distinguished at Hogwarts academically either. 

If that was not enough trouble for Harry, he's also being pestered by Cedric Diggory's father, who wants Harry to do something about the death of Cedric, especially since rumors abound of an illegal Time-Turner seized by the Ministry of Magic, where Harry works. Mr. Diggory is being assisted by his niece Delphi.

Al overhears the conversation with the Diggorys and decides to steal the rumored Time-Turner from the Ministry of Magic with the help of Scorpius. They plan to go back to the Tri-Wizard Tournament where Cedric died and try to save him. Delphi also helps in this scheme. But will it really work out?

The story quickly shifts away from life at Hogwarts (which is a miserable experience for Albus and Scorpius) to a plot more focused on parents and children. Harry has an argument with Albus that leaves a big rift in their relationship. Scorpius has a hard time relating to his father Draco, who is absolutely certain Scorpius is his son and bristles under the rumors. Old man Diggory pining for his son is touchingly portrayed. Sorting out these difficult relationships is the main driver of the plot. It's interesting and thoughtful and something of a departure for Harry Potter stories.

Even though the show has a lot of human drama, the production does not stint on action and amazing stage effects. At one point, Ginny leaves Harry and Draco alone for five minutes and they quickly devolved into a magic fight which is well-staged with the actors flying through the air (see the picture below). Plenty of other magic happens, my favorite being a hostile bookshelf that makes trouble for Al, Scorpius, and Delphi.  

The show does involve time travel, which is dangerous territory for me, because I am often unsatisfied with how a lot of creators handle it. Among the stories with time travel that I don't like is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban! The authors did a much better job here, I really enjoyed the show and thought the time travel was handled well. I am quite glad I saw the show!

Recommended, highly for Potter fans.

And yes, our timing was lucky enough that we saw Tom Felton portraying Draco Malfoy--he's the actor who played young Draco in the film series! His line delivery was spot on with his earlier portrayal.

Also, I reviewed the book version of the play a while back, read it here if you want.

Lyric Theatre Marquee

Poster of Draco zapping Harry

View from our seats at the beginning

Intermission curtain

Butterbeer in bottles!

Free Chocolate Frog with every purchase!