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Will have to check this one out. Love the million movie references….

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As noted previously, I am now offiically addicted to Alex Verus books – just finished the 2nd (Cursed) and 3rd (Taken) books, awaiting the fourth, Chosen. I just can’t put these things down once I start them – very entertaining and engaging!

As before, Alex Verus is a mage (wizard or warlock) who lives in London and walks a fine line between Light and Dark mages (and other occasional magical entities who pop in) while trying to keep out of ‘magic politics’ and train his apprentice and friend, Luna. The books have a good level of back-story without getting to the detail level of say, Lord of the Rings, where you then have to go into epic backstory and bog things down too much. I like the way details are revealed as needed, which if not used carefully can look too convenient (side rant – Star Trek holodeck screenwriters, I’m talking to YOU) but here Alex is portrayed as many times out of his league compared to other mages and also battling with self-esteem and confidence issues along the way.

Check out the books – you won’t be disappointed!

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Sadly, Dennis Farina passed away today. While in many roles he played a hard-a** cop, I will always remember his classic performance as Avi in the movie Snatch…

here’s a couple great clips – profanity police beware!

R.I.P.

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candybowl

(finally) saw Iron Man 3 tonight. As noted before, I personally think the first Iron Man is by far the best of the so-called ‘comic book’ movies, but this one wasn’t bad. In this go-round, our hero begins his march down the road of anxiety and self-doubt, just as Guy Pearce shows up in his next star turn as another super-evil bad guy (not too far removed from his role in Prometheus, if you think about it).

The usual amount of wise-cracking is had – truly only Robert Downey Jr. could play this role the way its’ been mapped out in the Iron Man and Avenger movies – and Gweneth P. is given more to do this time around than in the past, so that’s good. Special effects are their usual high quality, too, especially in the attack on Tony Stark (resulting obviously from Tony Stark’s media challenge) by The Mandarin. Also always fun to see Miguel Ferrer in a movie, even if he’s sadly underused here. And Ben Kingsley is also great.

Now, the nits and spoilers – be forewarned:

1) if the USA was being threatened by ‘Osama x 10’ which is implied by The Mandarin’s character – I find it hard to believe that NO ONE ELSE but Iron Man has to save the day? Where the heck is SHIELD and the rest of the Avengers – Bermuda? At minimum you’d think the guy with the word ‘America’ (first name: Captain) would be involved? Hmmmmph.

2) The ‘fall apart’ Mk 42 suit flying from Tennessee to Fla. in the space of a few minutes when called remotely from The Mandarin’s hideout – a wee bit unbelievable, to put it lightly. And the ‘falling into a flying suit’ trick that Tony Stark does repeatedly in the midst of crazy mayhem gets a bit overused.

3) Iron Man seems all but outmatched in several fights with Guy Pearce’s Extensis people – yet in the last movie he was able to knock Thor around more than a bit? Come on. I *have* to believe Thor is tougher than any of these Extensis ‘burning mutant’ people? Please.

4) What is actually *powering* all those suits? In the first movie they go over and above out of their way to show how the arc reactor in TS’ chest is powering his suit. Yet apparently this applies to no one else (because no one else has one in their chest) and in this movie’s last fight there are Iron Men flying all over the place – Hmmmm?

5) Tony Stark gets the shard(s) finally removed at the end of the movie – Really? If it was that easy, why not do it three movies ago? And that’s a major break from the comic in so doing….?

All in all, an entertaining ride. Not quite the bruiser villain that Mickey Rourke could have been in the second one – Guy Pearce is more of a James Bond-style ‘master’ villain by contrast. The kid is good, even if his character is a bit cliched, but they have fun with it.

Onwards – likely Pacific Rim or Elysium next. Oblivion isn’t in the theaters around here anymore so that’s waiting for video – doh!

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candybowl

I wanna go!

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