January 25 to January 31 Is Review Week!

I realize that things have been a little slow on my blog lately because I've been working hard on Spinward Fringe Frontline. So I've decided to take half an hour a day this week to review something on television or film.

I used to review interesting and terrible productions on this blog fairly regularly, and I thought, since there was little I could report on while the work continued on Frontline other than the fact that it's going well, I'd give reviews another spin.

There's a few things to keep in mind, however. I tend to be brutal when I review something, I've written such classics as "Top 10 Reasons to Avoid Starship Troopers 3" and "The Happening: Don't Let It Happen To You". The titles are only the beginning of these all out attacks. I actually enjoy pulling entertainment apart if it's likely to waste someone's time.

On the other hand I can be very generous in my reviews, and to be honest I enjoy writing that kind of piece a lot more even though I rarely find entertainment that's worthy of praise.

Anyway, there you have it: Starting tomorrow, it's review week on this blog and I hope to entertain you while I hack and slash or excitedly exult with some humour mixed in either way.

As far as Spinward Fringe Frontline is concerned, well, I'm having quite an adventure and I can't wait to pass it on when the book is finished. It's taking me longer to write this one simply because it's a bigger book, there are three running plotlines, and some very important things happen in this volume. I'll have more to say about that later on, until then, enjoy the fireworks.

RL

The Happening: Don't Let It Happen To You

The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable were great films. I was convinced that M. Night Shyamalan was a great writer and would provide his audience with several hours of good entertainment.

I was wrong.

Signs, The Village, Lady In The Water and his latest film, The Happening were nothing short of embarrassing. Some critics liked a few of these movies, and I'm lead to wonder who was paying them for a positive review.

I have no respect for M. Night Shyamalan. His directing style does not have any appeal to me, I found myself falling asleep while watching The Happening during the early afternoon. I like all of the talented actors in this film, and I'm very sorry they wasted their time.

It is difficult to review this film without spoiling any details because there really isn't much of anything to the plot and I can count the major events in the film on three fingers. This film reminded me of the B Movies I'd watch from the late 50's to early 70's. They didn't have much in the way of a location (a road, a farmhouse and a field), and no budget. They had to rely on shooting the reactions of the actors instead of creating a real antagonist. Sadly, M. Night had a big budget, but pretty much shot it in the method I just mentioned with the exception of some very affordable city scenes that he probably paid way too much for.

M. Night Shyamalan is trying to make a point with this film as well, and I get it. Sadly, it would have been much more effective for him to record a quick two minute statement with his camera phone and post it on YouTube like most ameteur film makers these days.

Now for the ultimate test: Could I do better with similar resources? Yes.

All the highlights are in the trailers, so go watch a high definition trailer for this film and rent something better.

RL