Room by Emma Donoghue

Apparently this book was very hype at one point. I didn't know, but I saw it on a list of scary books for the scary season, and I very much enjoyed it. Another juicy one, our narrator is a little boy who spends the first five years of his life in a cork-lined shed with his mom. They're held prisoner by a rapist.

Eventually our hero has to learn the difference between TV and a real world he's never before encountered. Even if you've seen the movie and thought it was cheesey, I wouldn't shy away from Room. It's a fun trip.

Looking Glass (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Directed by Tim Hunter (of great tv shows like Breaking Bad), I had high expectations for this atmospheric thriller. But do thrillers need to be good aside from their grim aesthetic? I do get the impression that fans of scary movies care mostly about mood, cinematography, and directorial vision; putting little value on the substance of characters and story.

But for any other kind of film, these aspects matter. So I've had mixed feelings about Looking Glass. It's the story of a couple who buy a motel in a little desert town. The motel has a dark past, leaving viewers wondering exactly what happened while our heroes try to keep it together in the suspicious town. So there's an element of mystery.

However, the mystery wasn't clever or creative, or any of the things you might have kept hoping for while waiting for the movie to get good. But still, it was an immersive experience, requiring you to pay attention in order to know what was going on. But it didn't really matter in the end. Just like life, there's no way of knowing what's going to happen until it does, and sometimes it's bad. And in the case of Looking Glass, I never felt a sense of fear on behalf of any of it's flawed, and unsympathetic characters. Still, I'm sure some people really like this kind of movie. Not me.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. The Boy in Blue
23. Honeymoon in Vegas
24. Amos and Andrew
25. Moonstruck
26. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
27. Bringing Out the Dead
28. The Family Man
29. Knowing
30. It Could Happen to You
31. 8mm
32. Looking Glass
33. Between Worlds
34. Ghost Rider
35. The Humanity Bureau
36. Next
37. The Weather Man
38. 211
39. The Croods

Knowing (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In this 2009 film, Cage plays yet another Joe. This one is a college professor, really struggling with the death of his wife. His son is exceptionally smart (movie kid smart) and wears a hearing aid because he hears weird sounds that nobody else can. Their house is huge, shabby, and awesome; the kind of house you'd want to have if you were an astrophysicist.

For those of you who don't remember, the late 2000s was a big time for the apocalypse. People thought the world was going to end in 2012, because that's when one of the old calendars ended. Of course, this premontion turned out to be of less consequence than the Y2K "virus". But in its day, this movie was intended to be scary.

That said, Knowing is a high-budget, fully actualized bad movie, better than Armageddon (as a point of reference). Joe finds the prophecy, and he especially cares about death and loss because it's something close to his heart. He teams up with the prophet's daughter, who turns out to have terrible coping skills, and doesn't help anything. But what can be helped? Some people are trying to stop the end of the world, others are trying to survive it, but most people are freaking out as hard as possible. As if there were anything they could do about it.

And it's hard not to spoil the story, but I will say there are aliens involved. They don't cause the pending apocalypse, but they do have a hand in keeping the "human spirit" from going extinct. In fact, there's a really huge scene with Nick Cage and the Aliens and an orchestra, which would make a great clip for an inspirational video if you were to ever give a presentation at your local church camp or dystopian coorporate job.

At just over two hours long, I admit to watching some parts of this film on high speed. It was too long and too stupid. Despite its daytime tv dialogue, vacuous characters, and boring story, Knowing was pretty well made, especially entertaining for those desparate for a thrill.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. Honeymoon in Vegas
23. Amos and Andrew
24. Moonstruck
25. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
26. Bringing Out the Dead
27. The Family Man
28. Knowing
29. It Could Happen to You
30. 8mm
31. Between Worlds
32. Ghost Rider
33. The Humanity Bureau
34. Next
35. The Weather Man
36. 211
37. The Croods

Between Worlds (feat. Nicolas Cage)

I respect Cage's inclination toward weird and artsy films. Between Worlds is one of those, sort of. It is, but not very much until I'd already decided the movie wasn't very good and that there wasn't much that could save it. I think writer/director/producer Maria Pulera felt the same way. She got halfway through her supernatural thriller and realized it was lame, and thought she could save it by making it as weird as possible, deliberately taking cues for style from Twin Peaks.

In Between Worlds, Cage plays another Joe, a down-on-his-luck trucker with a tragic past. By chance, he finds an innocent woman, Julie, getting strangled in a gas station bathroom. The catch is Julie wanted to be strangled. Getting close to death allows her into the 'other' world, where she can revive her comatose daughter.

So Joe strangles Julie too, but the magic at play goes wrong and bad stuff happens to everyone. The story is more interesting when told in a few sentences than when stretched out over an hour and a half of bad movie. I should have known this movie would be bad when I saw, for no reason at all, a close up of the gas station attendant's butt crack, a shot I found analogous to the quality of this film.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. Honeymoon in Vegas
23. Amos and Andrew
24. Moonstruck
25. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
26. Bringing Out the Dead
27. The Family Man
28. It Could Happen to You
29. 8mm
30. Between Worlds
31. Ghost Rider
32. The Humanity Bureau
33. Next
34. The Weather Man
35. 211
36. The Croods

Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates

As you know, my older sister got my The Accursed by Joyce Carol Oates for Christmas a couple years ago, so I wanted to return the favor. Wonderland is about a guy who has a messed up adolescence, and copes with it by becoming a top brain surgeon. In the early 70s it must have been some perfect mesh of literature, edge, and pulp. In the year 2021, it's a fine book. Nothing revolutionary, but you know, good for an Oates Completionist, or anyone who needs a reminder of how good writing is done.

Joe (feat. Nicolas Cage)

Joe is like a super hero film, but our hero isn't super at all. He has no powers aside from the fact that he's a boss among the crew of outlaws who work with him, poisoning trees so the lumberjacks don't have to get their hands dirty. Still, Joe has to do the right thing, and all the while, doing the right thing keeps getting more dangerous.

While many of Cage's heroic roles haven't aged well, Joe gives us a very modern, immersive experience. It is gloomy and emotional, for those of us who don't naturally feel emotional over the events in films like Ghost Rider. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Joe without feeling disturbed.

So I guess you get more bang for your buck with this one. It's not for everyone, and maybe not for watching more than once. Maybe this is the kind of film all those edgy, 90s directors wanted to make, but couldn't. Instead they kept themselves from going too far. Though I guess the makers of Joe intended to go as far as possible.

However, they knew what it takes to make a good film. Even the worst of lives have their best days. And it is the best of films that remind us of how those good times felt. In addition to the talents of Cage, we get star performances all around, bringing the villains and the demons all too close to our own realities.

Despite Joe's goodness, I can only dish out so much love to the format of a hero story. Amid Joe's challenges along the arch of his story, none of the characters go through any satisfying, internal changes, leaving us with a lack of dimension. But gosh, I'm probably expecting too much.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Joe
8. Dog Eat Dog
9. Color Out of Space
10. Mom and Dad
11. Peggy Sue Got Married
12. Zandalee
13. City of Angels
14. Bangkok Dangerous
15. Drive Angry
16. Lord of War
17. Gone in 60 Seconds
18. Matchstick Men
19. Vampire's Kiss
20. Con Air
21. Face/Off
22. Honeymoon in Vegas
23. Amos and Andrew
24. Moonstruck
25. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
26. Bringing Out the Dead
27. The Family Man
28. It Could Happen to You
29. 8mm
30. Ghost Rider
31. The Humanity Bureau
32. Next
33. The Weather Man
34. 211
35. The Croods

Zandalee (feat. Nicolas Cage)

In New Orleans, Thierry and Zandalee are having relationship problems, which can happen to even the sexiest of us. Thierry's dad died, and he decides to quit being a poet/professor in order to take over his dad's business. It's a sad time for Thierry, but with his new position, he's about to help Johnny get a job. Johnny, played by Cage, hasn't lost his passion. In fact, you might consider his singular verocity to be problematic as he forces himself between Thierry and Zandalee. You might wonder, 'what's the worst that could happen?', and find yourself surprised at how dark this film really gets. Cage also blesses us with a supreme freak-out, one of his best.

But was this a great film? I think it was pretty good. Instead of setting out to make a 'great' blockbuster, it seems like the creators went ahead and made exactly the kind of self-indulgent film they wanted. And it turned out pretty good, not perfect but pretty good. I enjoyed it.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Red Rock West
4. Adaptation
5. Birdy
6. Wild at Heart
7. Dog Eat Dog
8. Color Out of Space
9. Mom and Dad
10. Peggy Sue Got Married
11. Zandalee
12. City of Angels
13. Bangkok Dangerous
14. Drive Angry
15. Lord of War
16. Gone in 60 Seconds
17. Matchstick Men
18. Vampire's Kiss
19. Con Air
20. Face/Off
21. Honeymoon in Vegas
22. Amos and Andrew
23. Moonstruck
24. The Sorcerer's Apprentice
25. Bringing Out the Dead
26. The Family Man
27. It Could Happen to You
28. 8mm
29. Ghost Rider
30. The Humanity Bureau
31. Next
32. The Weather Man
33. 211
34. The Croods

Bringing Out the Dead (feat. Nicolas Cage)

With Bringing Out the Dead, Martin Scorsese made one of his darkest films while excessively embracing the 90s; losing himself in the 90s. Cage plays Frank, a Paramedic in New York City with problems of his own. His love interest, Mary, is played by his then wife Patricia Arquette, which is cool to see, even if the movie totally sucks.

Cage does show all of his moods, and freaks out in all of his normal ways. I don't understand why so many screenplays have Cage narrating the film in which he stars. Imagine if Taxi Driver was narrated by the character DeNiro's Travis. It would be a real vibe killer. In this film, I can fully figure out what's going on by just watching and listening. I don't need our depressed anti-hero to explain his mood while the ambulance windshield casts shadows of dripping rain on John Goodman's bewildered face.

There were a few good ideas implemented in Bringing Out the Dead, however most of its ideas were both bad and poorly executed.

1. Raising Arizona
2. Leaving Las Vegas
3. Adaptation
4. Birdy
5. Wild at Heart
6. Color Out of Space
7. Peggy Sue Got Married
8. City of Angels
9. Lord of War
10. Gone in 60 Seconds
11. Matchstick Men
12. Vampire's Kiss
13. Con Air
14. Face/Off
15. Honeymoon in Vegas
16. Bringing Out the Dead
17. The Family Man
18. It Could Happen to You
19. 8mm
20. Ghost Rider
21. Next
22. The Weather Man
23. The Croods

Night Winds by Karl Edgar Wagner

Night Winds is a collection of hard-boiled, dark fantasy stories about Kane, a barely mortal evil sorceress in the form of a huge, red-haired man. People cower at the mention of his name. Really, it's a blast to see the seedy underbelly of a well-imagined high fantasy world. I had hopes that this was the first book of Kane stories, but it might be the fifth. None of the stories take place in a consecutive order, so you can read it however you want.

I think the fact that our hero is evil lends itself to more of a literary nature than most high fantasy. And I think with short stories, the substance of a piece is usually more apparent than in an epic-length good verse evil story with surprise zombies, etc. Night Winds is pulp fantasy the way you would want it to be. Wagner knows the effect and value of good prose without spoiling it with overuse.

Since with every story, the characters and immediate setting are different, I had a hard time getting attached. Less than a month later, I can't remember anyone's name but Kane. At the end of each story, he will live, and everyone else might as well die.