"Out of the Silent Planet" by C.S. Lewis

    Dr. Elwin Ransom, unaware that his life is about to change dramatically, seeks lodging at an old estate in the English Midlands. Dr. Weston, the owner of the estate, and Dick Devine, Weston's friend, both greedy and arrogant, are planning a trip to the red planet. For their nefarious purposes, they require a human sacrifice, and who better than one who seeks refuge from the night in your estate. Ransom is then drugged and brought aboard their space ship. Only when they arrive on the red planet, Ransom eludes his captors, but not before he catches glimpses of the Sorn, the aliens to who Weston and Devine were to give Ransom as a sacrifice. He may have escaped them but, but now he is cast adrift in the strange world of Malacandra.

    Published in 1938, this story is another work of C. S. Lewis that is just simply astounding. Part of the series called the Space trilogy, this is book one; "Perelandra" and "That Hideous Strength", being the the following two books respectively. Malacandra, if you didn't guess, is the "real" name of the planet that we call Mars. Though Mr. Lewis did not allude to know anything about Mar's topical nature; instead he let his imagination run wild and came up with a beautiful planet of wonder.

     C. S. Lewis has a way of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary; and taking a wild science fiction tale and turning it into a story of meaning and spiritual depth. This book takes you on a fantastical journey through Malacandra, in which he meets amazing and diverse alien creatures such as the seroni, the hrossa, and the pfifltriggi. (Don't ask me how to pronounce that last one) When I first read this book, about 4 or so years ago, I had a hard time catching on to the story, and let me be honest, my vocabulary wasn't ready for C. S. Lewis. However now it has to be one of my favorites from C. S. Lewis and definitely a book I recommend to anybody. Although I would recommend every single C. S. Lewis book to you.

    I would give this book a 10 out 10! If you haven't read it, you need to asap! Can you believe that January is almost over... My how this month has flown by! My next blog will be, as ever, next Sunday! Hope everybody had a good month! Make sure you follow me on Twitter and tell me what you want me to review next!

Peace,
Jake







   

"Looper"

      In the future; time travel is discovered in 2074, but is then immediately outlawed. Now, however, criminal organizations use time travel to send the people they want killed back in time. These people who are sent back are killed by assassins called Loopers, who get their payment by getting silver bars that are strapped to the victim. They are run by the crime boss Abe, who was sent from the future to make sure everything runs smoothly. When a looper is retired, his older self gets sent back to be killed by his younger self, also the victim is strapped with gold instead of silver. Joe, a looper and the main character, is getting rich and living the life until one day the crime syndicate decides to "close his loop," sending future Joe (Bruce Willis) back to be killed by present Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).

    Directed Rian Johnson, this film stars Bruce Willis as old Joe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as young Joe, Emily Blunt as Sara, Noah Segan as Kid Blue, and Jeff Daniels as Abe. This is an amazing movie, with great character development and a brilliant original story to go with it. My favorite thing about this film is there was some intricacies, but there was also a simplicity to it. It kept me interested, but yet I didn't feel overwhelmed with information.

      Something cool they added to the movie was that a minority of people, have a genetic mutation which gives them telekinetic powers. Now this telekinetic ability only allows them to float quarters in the air, so it's not a fully developed power yet. Now there is a character in the film that does have fully developed powers, but I'm not gonna tell you who it is because that would be giving away spoilers. I attributed this character, as having Jean Grey like powers (for any X-Men fans out there)!

This film got rave reviews from critics and was a pretty big hit at the box office too! This has to be one of my favorite films from 2012 and may actually make it into my top 15 favorite movies of all time! I would give this film a 9 out 10 stars! Now this film is rated R, so for any that are sensitive to language and violence, this movie is not for you. Follow me on Twitter and check back here Sunday for a new blog post! 

Peace,

Jake

P.S. Sorry for not getting this up Sunday. I'll be sure to have the next one up on time!

  

  

"The Wolverine"

   Following the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan now lives as a hermit in the Yukon mountains, and is constantly tormented by the memory of Jean Grey who he was forced to kill. While there, he has flashbacks to World War II, when he was a prisoner in Nagasaki. While prisoner there he saved one Japanese soldier from the atomic bomb by shielding him. Back in present day, Yashida, the officer that he saved, is dying and wishes to see Logan one more time. While there Yashida tells him that there is a way to transfer his regenerative abilities onto himself, so that he, Yashida, could live forever, and Logan could live a normal life.

     Directed by James Mangold, this film stars Hugh Jackman as Logan/Wolverine, Hal Yamanouchi as Yashida, Tao Okamoto as Mariko, and Rila Fukushima as Yukio. This was such a great installment to the X-Men series, and Hugh Jackman does such a good job with this character, it's like he was made for this role. I would say it was the best Wolverine stand alone film yet.

      Can we just stop and think about that amazing fight scene on top of the bullet train! It has to be one of my favorite fight scenes ever, it was so creative and ingenious. Another thing I loved about this movie, is that it stayed pretty close to the comic book series that came out in 1982. However, one of the problems I have with this film is that Viper aka Madame Hydra should have been delved into more, I mean she is a pretty big character in the Marvel comics. The reason they didn't affiliate Viper with Madame Hydra is because they didn't have the rights to her character, so Viper is a mutant in this movie rather than genetically enhanced. So I understand why they didn't, but I was still kinda disappointed with that. Hopefully she will be in a Captain America movie!

        The end credits scene gave me chill bumps. There was to much awesomeness seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen back together for their roles as Professor X and Magneto respectively! It sets up the X-Men: Days of Future Past perfectly, and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am for this movie! The cast has to be one the most star studded films of 2014, with of course Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, and Shawn Ashmore. I think with a budget of $250,000,000, most of it went to getting this cast together in one movie.

      For any of you wondering if there will be another Wolverine stand alone film, yes there will. It was announced last year that there will be another sequel, however no plot line has been given as of yet.

   I would give this film an 8.5 out 10 stars! Follow me on Twitter and come back here next Sunday for the next blog post!

Peace,
Jake

"Man of Steel"

      One of the most well known superheros, Superman, is brought to the big screen again with a new look and a slight twist to his origin. Krypton has depleted all of its resources and left on the brink of a civil war started by General Zod. Jor-El, realizing that the planet is about to be destroyed, sends his son, the first natural born Kryptonian in centuries, to earth so that he may live. Crash landing in Smallville, Kansas, he is taken in by the Kent's, who treat him as their own son and they name him Clark Kent. As he gets older he starts to exhibit superhuman abilities such as x-ray vision, superhuman strength, superhuman speed and heat vision. General Zod escaping from the phantom zone along with his followers, now searches for Clark aka Kal-El, because he wants the Kryptonian codex which Jor-El infused into Kal-El's DNA.

      Directed by Zack Snyder this film stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe as Jor-El, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent. This was personally one of my favorite movies of 2013, I think the story they told in this one was really good! It had a very realistic feel to it (the whole alien thing and all the CGI effects beside the point) that I really enjoyed! I thought it was a good representation of a new Superman for a new age!

   I know this film got a lot of hate, many claiming that it was in their top ten least favorite movies of 2013. Saying the film lacked character development, that the fight scenes lasted way to long and also saying that it lacked a "lightness" that the other Superman movies had. I agree that it didn't have the bubble gum pop feel as the others one did. I however enjoyed this darker version of the story, it reflected the hard choices that a hero, if they were to exist in today's world, would need to make. As far as character development, I agree that they didn't delve into the characters, but it didn't bother me that much as it is the first movie, I mean the first Thor movie had the same flaw but I still loved that movie!

   As you all probably know the new Man of Steel 2 was announced last year at Comic-Con. It will be a Superman Vs. Batman film which will most likely set up the Justice League movie. Zack Snyder will return to direct and Christopher Nolan will return as executive producer. Ben Affleck is cast to play Bruce Wayne/ Batman which I know not to many people are happy about. While I can't exactly blame them after "Daredevil", I ask that you keep an open mind till you actually see the film, because I believe Ben Affleck has come a long way since then. Also Gal Gadot has been cast Wonder Woman, it is not clear in what capacity she will be in the film, but I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! 

      I would give this film an 8 out 10 stars! I'm back everybody! Happy New Year! If you want, follow me on Twitter and check back here Sunday for my next blog post!!

Peace,
Jake