reviews | Cavalcade of Awesome

Archive for reviews

Year End Book Report: The Best Books I Read in 2014

Posted in Batman, books, comic books, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags Book Report, books, gunfighters, reviews, Star Wars, westerns, Year End Books on January 12, 2015 by Paxton

I can’t believe I’m doing these year end wrap up reports again. Where does the damn time go?!

Anyway, if you’ve read this article in the past you know I keep my book log online. Here’s the link to my Book Log on Google Spreadsheet. There are tabs for every year since 2007.

Looking at that log it looks like I read about 78 books/comics this year. That total includes not only books I read for the first time but anything I re-read for the second (or more) time. For the list below, though, I’ll only take into account books I read for the first time this year.

And I actually have four books on this list that were released in 2014. That ties my total from last year. It’s rare when I get to read a currently released book, but I’ve done it four times each in the last two years. Amazing!

On to the lists!

Below you will find, first, my list of favorite books and following that my list of favorite comic books/graphic novels. All that I read for the first time this year. Enjoy.

Books

Star Wars: Maul: Lockdown (2014) – Joe Schreiber – I predicted at the end of my 2013 Best Books I Read article that this book would be on the list for 2014. And, as you can see, I was right. Joe Schreiber really hit it out of the park with this one. A prison thriller that has Maul locked up in a prototype prison that pits its prisoners in gladiatorial matches and broadcasts those matches on pay-per-view. Very brutal and lots of fun we get lots of awesome Maul in this book. However, to be honest, the last third of the book sort of goes WAY bananas in a weird way. It’s still really good, but the book sort of becomes super-gonzo and you’re left scratching your head wondering, “What the f**k is going on? Did THAT just happen?!”. However, overall, still one of the best books I read this year.

Point of Impact (Bob Lee Swagger #1) (1993) – Stephen Hunter – I was not aware of this book until I saw the Mark Wahlberg movie Shooter, which is based on this book. I love that movie and finally picked up the source material this year to give it a go. And it’s AMAZING. Even better than the movie. A bit more story to sink your teeth into and a bit more of an epic bad guy for Swagger to focus his revenge on. Great action packed book. I look forward to reading more of Hunter’s Swagger books in the future (there are several).

The Shining (1977) – Stephen King – This Halloween I decided to fill another hole in my Stephen King reading list. Two years ago I had finally tackled The Stand and just last year I read The Talisman. So, I thought, let’s continue that trend this year and I decided to read ‘salem’s Lot. I enjoyed it more than I expected, plus it left me wanting to read more early Stephen King, so even though I only had about a week left in October, I picked up The Shining on my Nook for like $2 and dove in. And discovered probably the scariest book I think I have ever read in my life. The Shining is big on plot and character detail as early King likes to be, but once the stuff in the hotel starts happening, it gets seriously scary. Like several nights I had trouble sleeping it was so scary. So here it sits on my list. But as much as I loved this book, I really saw no need for a sequel so I have little to no desire to read Doctor Sleep. I even tried reading a sample and I couldn’t even finish it.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer (2007) – James Swanson – Earlier in 2014 I got into an American History phase. I read Walter Isaacson’s epic Benjamin Franklin: An American Life and was all wrapped up in the days of the early Revolution. I then watched Spielberg’s Lincoln and loved it before starting this book. This book is a fascinating account of the days leading up to and the 12 day manhunt that occurred after President Lincoln’s assassination. Lots of inside stuff I never knew about. And it’s written in a very modern way that keeps events interesting and not like reading events out of a history book. Right after reading this book, I watched Robert Redford’s The Conspirator to complete my unofficial “Lincoln trilogy”. So now, I’m on the lookout for Swanson’s other books he’s written, most specifically the one about Kennedy’s assassination. But I highly recommend this book.

Star Wars: Tarkin (2014) – James Luceno – This last slot was tough. I had a few REALLY good books I could have put here. Most notably The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch and When March Went Mad by Seth Davis. But I went with my gut and chose this book. The second Star Wars book on my list. I really love what they’ve been doing with the Star Wars novels the last few years. They’ve really been changing it up and getting really good stories out there. Luceno wrote one of my favorites from a few years ago, Darth Plagueis, and he looked to do the same thing here. But this is a more intimate story than the galaxy wide epic that played out in the pages of that earlier book. Luceno really fleshes out the character of Tarkin in this book and investigates a bit more his relationship with Vader and even the Emperor. Lots of Star Wars-y goodness to be had. It gets me excited to see what comes next for the Star Wars expanded universe.

Comic Books/Graphic Novels

Incredible Hulk: Planet Hulk (2006) – Greg Pak (writer), Carlo Pagulayan (artist) – Oh, man, this book is epic. It’s bad ass. It’s just awesome. Hulk is deemed “too dangerous to stay on Earth” by a think tank of Marvel’s smartest so they devise a way to shoot him off to another world so he can’t hurt anyone. The only problem, something happens en route and Hulk crash lands on the wrong planet. A planet that enlaves Hulk and forces him to compete in gladiatorial games until he decides he’s had enough and stages a coup to take over the planet. So much awesome contained within. I can’t recommend this enough.

Savage Dragon Vol. 1 (1993) – Erik Larsen (writer/artist) – Back in September I decided I wanted to read the first 10-20 issues of all the original launch titles of Image Comics. Most of them were forgettable. However, Erik Larsen’s Savage Dragon was not only readable, it was GREAT and deserves a spot on my list. I was surprised how much I thoroughly enjoyed this comic and I look forward to catching up on all that I missed with this character.

Hawkeye, Vol. 1: My Life as a Weapon (2012) – Matt Fraction (writer), David Aja (artist) – This was suggested to me by several people but I never listened. But the more I heard how good it was the more I became intrigued. So I grabbed the first volume of Matt Fraction’s series for cheap and read it. And loved it. This is minimalist storytelling at its finest. Sort of a “between the panels” look at what Clint Barton does when he’s not being an Avenger. Quirky, but it’s charming and lots of fun. I’ll definitely be checking out more of this series.

Thief of Thieves (2012) – Robert Kirkman (writer), Nick Spenser (writer), Andy Diggle (writer), James Asmus (writer), Shawn Martinbrough (artist) – I’ve actually read the first three volumes of this title which cover the first 19 issues of the series. And it’s pretty great. Master Thief (retired) Redmond is called back into the life in order to save his estranged son. This is a pretty great comic with some pretty great writers. It’s also a nice change from all the super hero books I normally read. Just a regular guy, trying to get on with his current life but his previous life and his reputation won’t let that happen. Great book.

Krampus! (2013) – Brian Joines (writer), Dean Kotz (artist) – I think I’ve talked about this book before. This is such a fun read. It makes great references to all the Santa/Christmas iconography you can imagine and even makes someone like Doc Holliday, that has nothing to do with Christmas, fit right into the story. Great art, fun story. I really hope this gets picked up for some sequels. So much potential awesome to be mined out of these characters. GET IT AND READ IT NOW.

That’s my best of list for 2014. It was really hard to pare some of that list down as I read some really good stuff this year. But I also have some good stuff lined up for myself next year. I plan to continue my Stephen King reading by possibly tackling Needful Things as well as possibly It. There are some good Star Wars books coming out next year featuring Luke Skywalker (Heir to the Jedi) as well as two of our favorite Lords of the Sith.

4 Comments »

A review of The Master Key, An Electrical Fairy Tale by L Frank Baum (1901)

Posted in books, Frank Baum, reviews with tags Baumalong, book, Book Report, Frank Baum, pop culture, reviews on January 5, 2015 by Paxton

Well, it’s been a while since I did an L Frank Baum review. The last Oz book I reviewed was the first post-Baum Oz book The Royal Book of Oz (#15 in the series) back in September 2013. I then reviewed Baum’s non-Oz The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus back in December 2013. Unfortunately, now, I see I’d not done a Baum review in 2014. And that’s a shame. Really sorry about that.

So I thought it was time to check out another of Baum’s non-Oz tales. There’s a short novel Baum wrote that always sounded interesting and has intrigued me ever since. So I thought I’d do that book today.

In 1901, one year after Baum published the first Wizard of Oz book, he released the short novel The Master Key, An Electrical Fairy Tale.

frank-baum-the-master-key

The book was illustrated by Fanny Young Cory who also illustrated Baum’s The Enchanted Island of Yew in 1903. It’s a short boy’s adventure novella with some early elements of science fiction.

The story concerns a young boy, Rob Joslyn, who likes to experiment with electrical devices. He spends his time in his workshop creating electrical inventions that spread all throughout the house. One night while tinkering with his switchboard, he is assaulted by a bright light and sees a being made entirely of brilliant light appear. It’s the Demon of Electricity. Apparently, Rob has touched the “Master Key” and has earned the right to command the Demon. For this honor Rob will receive three gifts from the Demon for the next three weeks to total nine gifts. Over the next few weeks Rob takes the gifts from the Demon and has several adventures all across the globe.

The gifts that Rob receives are all based on electricity and are supposed to show Rob how electricity can be harnessed in nature to do wonderous things. Rob receives a transportation device that uses electrical and magnetic energy to physically transport someone swiftly over great distances. He also receives a tin of food tablets that provide all the nutrition a human body needs for 24 hours (that is somehow based on electricity). He also receives glasses that read a person’s electrical aura to tell if they are good, evil, wise or kind and a small tube that shoots out an electrical signal that knocks a person unconscious for 1 hour. Rob uses these gifts to travel across the globe and help out people like the Kings of England and France, two shipwrecked sailors and a group of middle eastern peoples in a war with each other.

It’s a fun, fanciful read. Typical Baum. Rob winds up getting into a lot of his mischief because he falls asleep at inopportune moments but he’s able to use the gifts and his own ingenuity to get out of the situations. The story reminds me a lot of Aladdin with the Demon of Electricity as the genie and Rob as Aladdin.

Baum makes a few good predictions with his gifts. Especially considering he was writing in 1901. The electrical tube that incapacitates people for an hour is strikingly similar to a Tazer. In a later passage, Baum comes very close to describing intellectual piracy with another gift the Demon bestows on Rob. It’s a small device that can look in on any event that is happening throughout the world. At one point Rob watches a brand new play being performed and is suddenly filled with guilt because he didn’t pay to see the performance. Rob goes on to think that if these little devices become more common then people would sit at home to watch the performances and the actors would all starve to death. Very prescient if you ask me, Mr Baum.

Fanny Cory’s illustrations are simple yet fit the story well. Below are two of the color illustrations. There are also numerous smaller black and white illustrations throughout the chapters. The picture on the left showcases the first time Rob uses the electrical transporter to fly away from his house in front of his family. The right picture shows Rob after encountering a tribe of cannibals on an island. Click the images to see them bigger.

master key 04

I love the cover to the book, it has always intrigued me. It comes from an illustration on the inside. Here’s that illustration from inside the book. It is the first time the Demon of Electricity appears to Rob in his workshop.

Considering the Demon is the main thrust of the story, I’m surprised there are not really any big illustrations of him. He is only showcased a few times in some of the smaller black and white chapter drawings.

Overall, yes, I can recommend this book. It has the typical Baum charm and is fun to read. Very much a journey story where the protagonist learns a lesson and essentially figures out that he was better off before the fantastical events of the book started.

The book is in the public domain and can be read in its entirety here.

2 Comments »

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Cheerleader Camp (1988) movie review

Posted in Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Fangoria, Fangoria Movie Friday, Halloween, holiday, horror, magazines, monsters, movies, pop culture, reviews, zombies on October 31, 2014 by Paxton

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Okay, this is it. The final Fangoria Movie Friday Review and the final post for this year’s AWESOME-tober-fest. Like I mentioned yesterday, I had serious issues deciding what movie to review today. There were so many awesome 80s slasher movies to choose from. But one movie stood out just a little from the rest. Sort of “the little movie that could”. So, I went with my gut (and other parts a little further south of my gut) and chose Cheerleader Camp from 1988 starring a metric ton of 80s cult movie stars.

This poster is balls-out amazing. I love it. FYI, the alternate title for this movie was Bloody Pom Poms. And I’m not even kidding.

bloody pom poms

So you see why I picked this movie. BECAUSE IT LOOKS F**KING AWESOME. Plus, there’s like five hot, known 80s actresses all over this movie. The premise consists of a cheerleading competition that takes place at some remote “camp” (read: isolated cabin) in the middle of the woods. Suddenly cheerleader campers start showing up dead and everyone wonders just who is the killer. We get several red herrings that are almost immediately proved to be untrue. The eventual culprit was a surprise to me up until a few minutes before the big reveal. But I wasn’t really sitting there trying to figure it out. We get lots of angsty female teen melodrama and pent up horny boys drama like in a typical Porky’s but less skin. The ensemble 80s female cast is pretty epic and you get several bikini/underwear scenes with all of them. This is a fun watch. I’d watch it again if only for the great visuals and not for the amusing story or dialogue. All in all, a great 80s sexy horror romp.

Here are some of the visuals because they are GREAT.

cc_00
Awesome, colorful title card.

cc_01
There’s going to be LOTS of pictures of the chicks in this movie because the vast majority of them are really hot and many of them are awesome 80s cult stars. You will probably recognize the chick in the middle here. That’s Lucinda Dickey. One of my personal favorite 80s actresses most famous for both Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo but she also awesomely starred in the phenomenal Ninja III: The Domination. The blonde on the left is Lorie Griffin who is most famous for playing, Pamela, Scott Howard’s crush in Teen Wolf. On the right is Betsy Russell. This brunette hottie is probably most known for her star turn as Angel in the movie Avenging Angel as well as the 80s sex comedies Tomboy and Private School and most recently playing Jill in the last five Saw movies. There are two more ladies in the back I’ll get to next in a better screenshot.

cc_03
In the middle of this pic is Lorie Griffin again. She plays a dumb blonde in this movie which is weird compared to her sultry turn as Pamela in Teen Wolf. On the left is Rebecca Ferratti. She was Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in June 1986. She had a small roles in Three Amigos and Beverly Hills Cop II but I know her most from her small but memorable appearance at the very beginning of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. And, on the right, we have Teri Weigel. Teri has been in a TON of movie and TV appearances such as Predator 2, Embrace of the Vampire, Return of the Killer Tomatoes and Married With Children. However, she is also most recently known for being a porn star. And these are the five ladies that awesomely headline this movie. But, wait, there’s more!

Continue reading →

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: Zombie Nightmare (1987) movie review

Yesterday you saw the ad for the flick, Zombie Nightmare from 1987. It starred Adam West, Tia Carrere and Jon Mikl-Thor. I’ve loved the look of that ad since I first saw it in Fangoria so I decided that it was going to be this week’s Fangoria Movie Friday review.

The only thing I’ve ever seen on this movie was yesterday’s home video ad. I remember the image vividly from when I bought the issue. So, since I’m filling in holes in my cult horror movie watching this month, I decided to track down this movie and give it a watch.

The premise is simple enough. A guy is run over by a bunch of teens in a sports car and killed. He is resurrected as a mindless zombie by a voodoo priestess in order to get revenge on all the teens that were in the car. Bloodshed ensues.

It stars Adam West and Tia Carrere, so this should be 100% a winner. And I mean that in the most B-movie awesome way. Now that I’ve watched it, what did I think? In a nutshell it’s a bit disappointing. There’s definitely some high moments here and there. The aesthetic is early Troma, as it seems with all the movies I’ve picked this month. Not a whole lot of gore, surprisingly, but a metric ton of cheese. Production values are on par with something like Street Trash but that movie was endlessly more fascinating than this one. Do I recommend? Hmmm, not really. I don’t plan on watching it again, even though it amused me a bit during my viewing. Another movie this reminded me of was Hard Rock Zombies which I reviewed last year for AWESOME-tober-fest 2013.

Let’s look at some of the more choice moments of this movie.

zn00
zn01 zn02
And the movie begins, and we see that right away, this movie has the potential to be several different kinds of awesome. Adam West in a schlocky zombie movie? Yes, please? Tia Carrere?! Yes! And maybe she’ll get topless for her kill scene. Those are the thoughts running through my head when I see the title cards.

zn03
Wait…slick back hair, tight t-shirt, cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve. Did I put on The Outsiders by mistake? Is Leif Garret going to show up in a letter sweater?

zn04 zn05
Oh, I see. Those greasers are here to endanger that young lady. And the husky, sweat panted dude is going to do something about it. And that something is participate in the most ridiculously choreographed fight scene I’ve seen since Miami Connection. Yes, husky sweat pants actually does spin around with the guy on his shoulders.

Continue reading →

3 Comments »

AWESOME-tober-fest 2014: HP Lovecraft’s From Beyond (1986) review

Posted in Genres, Halloween, holiday, horror, movies, pop culture with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2014, Fangoria, Fangoria Movie Friday, Halloween, holiday, horror, HP Lovecraft, magazines, movies, pop culture, reviews on October 17, 2014 by Paxton

Well, this week has been Stuart Gordon Week. All of this week’s content has been leading up to my Fangoria Movie Friday review of Stuart’s 1986 horror classic, From Beyond. The movie, like the previous The Re-animator, was based on an HP Lovecraft short story.

You’ve seen this week how much Fangoria was in love with the idea of this movie. I remember it all over the magazine back in the mid 80s. For some reason, even though I love Re-animator, I had never watched this movie. But now I have. And it’s not bad.

The premise is rather interesting. A machine called “The Resonator” stimulates your pineal gland to allow you to see other dimensions which causes creepy creatures to manifest all around you. And the more you are exposed to the effects of “The Resonator” the more it changes you. Dr Pretorius and his assistant, Dr Tillinghast, who created the machine, turn it on and see these weird creatures appear. Suddenly an accident occurs where Pretorius is seemingly killed and his assistant locked up in an asylum for the murder (an asylum because he’s spouting gibberish about inter dimensional creatures killing the doctor). A beautiful psychologist, Dr McMichaels, believes the assistant is innocent and convinces him to take her to “The Resonator” to investigate the crime scene and they are accompanied by the awesome Detective Bubba Brownlee. And lots of horror and interdimensional craziness occurs.

This movie definitely has a “by the Creators of Re-animator” vibe. Not just because of the two principles, but the whole feel of the movie is very Re-animator-ish. Which, of course, I like from the beginning. Also, with like only 2 or 3 set pieces and only four principle actors, this also has a very stripped down, minimalist feel. Like we are watching this performance as a bizarre theater production. It absolutely feels like something you’d go see in a dark theater WAY off Broadway. And that works in the movie’s favor.

The actors are very good too. Jeffrey Combs is a little less crazy in this but he’s every bit as manic and interesting as he was in The Re-animator. Barbara Crampton is great as Dr McMichaels and I still have a huge crush on her. She doesn’t have an iconic scene in this like she did with the severed head giving her…well…head…in The Re-animator, but we do get a great scene of her in a leather dominatrix outfit. I was very surprised by Ken Foree as Detective Brownlee. He was AWESOME even going so far as fighting inter-dimensional creatures in nothing but a red thong. Seriously. It’s awesome. The final principle was Dr Pretorius played by Ted Sorel. He was the least interesting to me, but he played it fine. Nothing to complain about, but nothing really to praise either.

Is this as good as The Re-animator? No, it’s not. However, it’s a pretty fun little flick and I’d recommend giving it a shot especially if you loved The Re-animator.

I mentioned that this movie was based on a short story of the same name. I hadn’t read the story either, but since it was only like eight pages I went ahead and read it after I watched the movie. It’s essentially like a prologue to the movie. The events in the story are mostly what happens in the beginning of the movie with the machine getting turned on, the creatures showing up and Dr Tillinghast (Pretorius in the movie) getting killed and his best friend/partner taking the rap for it. It’s not bad, but short.

Let’s look at some of the more choice moments of this movie.

There’s the title card on the left and on the right, the opening shot of the movie which is a cozy image of one Jeffrey Combs, wrapped in a warm fuzzy sweater, biting down on a #2 pencil and drinking from a (vintage!) Coke can as he focuses all of his concentration on typing into that ancient computer that probably runs on a combination of steam and gasoline.

old computers old computer monitor
Here’s more old as the Bible computer machines. It looks like something Doc Brown would have in his basement. Check out the monitor colors on the right. Green background with blue writing? We honestly didn’t care about our retinas in the 80s, did we?