Movies and Books, An Update

At Hamburger man Paul's prompting, and to get it off my chest, I will now regale you with tales of recent movies and books and how I feel about them.

Hitman
(AKA - Tattoo'd Killers)
I watched this movie on PPV and was glad I didn't spend the money on the DVD. I love Deadwood and love Timothy Olyphant in it. He did a good job portraying a hit-man, but without prior knowledge of the game, I was a bit lost on the back story. With that in mind, it was a decent action movie with enough splattering heads to make you think twice about getting close to bald guys with bar-codes on the back of the heads.

American Gangster
(AKA - Heroin Anti-Hero Hero)
Yet another tie-in with Deadwood. This time John Hawkes has a supporting role. While another violent movie, the most striking part of this movie to me was the sheer brutal and business-like attitude Denzel's character uses to go about his day job. He was a bit of a hero and a bit of a demon. He took care of his own but didn't care about the end result of his heroin empire. All in all, a good movie, just longish. Maybe a DVD to buy on sale.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(AKA - Hedwig? Dead. Dobby? Dead. Who's next? Your choice.)
I'm nearing the end of this one and thankfully so. I have no clue how it turns out but it's progressing nicely so far. I have my theories but won't share them because, well, I don't want you commenting on it and ruining the ending for me. A few more CDs and I'll let you know.

A Magic of Twillight
(AKA - Mrs. R. D. Vandertramp Goes Mad)
I'm still plugging away at this book. It's a bit thickish (546 pages) and has not one map, not two, but four maps. Quite nice. The plot is, well, political and religious and magical, with all sorts of twists and turns. Some predictable, some not. Oddest of all to me is the author's use of perspective. The POV is clearly labeled and tells the story, but takes away from the overall story by jumping around and by being in your face so much. I mean, it's labeled twice. Do we really need that? The worst part, the language. If this were written in French and translated to English, I would be a bit more forgiving. But the ci, ca, cu, ce stuff is a bit out of hand. I know it's part of the social hierarchy, but there could have been an easier way around it. Bottom line, it's good enough that I'm still reading it. But I'm only keeping it because it was free and it's signed.

Before They Are Hanged
(AKA - Torturer Joins Comedy Club)
I'm only a little way into this book, but I have to say, I actually laughed out loud yesterday. Why? Because the much hated Tortured Torturer cut off a man's nipple. Gross I know, but I've come to love Glotka. Very much. So much, if Mr. Joe Abercrombie kills him off, well, I'll just have to tell the prat he's a horse's arse and needs to suffer for it. My dry wit will flay him worse than Glotka. Well, I'll at least try, but likely lose.

So, there you are.