Movie Review: HONEYMOON

Magnolia Pictures
2014
R

“Before I was alone, but now I’m not.”

Young newlyweds Paul and Bea travel to a remote lake cottage for their honeymoon, where the promise of private romance awaits them. Shortly after arriving, Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night. As she becomes more distant and her behavior increasingly peculiar, Paul begins to suspect something more sinister than sleepwalking took place in the woods.

Having never been married (though coming close a couple of times), I’ve never been on a honeymoon of any sort. I’ve often wondered what the holiday would be like, you know, outside of the usual things everyone assumes happens during the time immediately after the wedding. Like taxidermy. I presume this is a common thing that happens during the honeymoon? Well, I can guess and fantasize no longer, as having watched this helpful documentary that was released in 2014, I now know that a “honeymoon” consists mainly of your significant other getting taken over by an alien parasite before they tie an anchor to you and toss you into the lake. Honeymoons are always held by lakeside resorts, right?

Anyway, all kidding aside, as it stands, Honeymoon always seemed to pop up on quite a few lists of independent and little-known horror movies that were considered frightening enough to warrant a watch. So that’s what I did (obviously), and having watched it myself, I have to agree that, while not exactly a mind-blowing experience (and not exactly a straight horror or psychological thriller, as you might be lead to think), Honeymoon was a nice slow burn of a movie, using what little resources it had to build up the tension and really get under your skin. Until the end, when my joke guess going into watching this turned out to be completely true. I really need to stop making joke guesses.

Anyway, after being made nauseated by watching clips from a young newlywed couple’s wedding video, we then arrive at the cabin by the lake in which they’re spending their honeymoon at. Then, after some more nausea-inducing acts of affection, the young wife begins to act rather odd: She’s given to suddenly sleepwalk into the woods, she forgets how to make a basic breakfast, she’s rather distant to her husband and doesn’t react to things like she used to before. Also, she begins to write down “My name is Bea”, “My husband’s name is Paul”, and other normal memories in her journal over and over again. You know, your basic Invasion Of The Body Snatchers type of stuff. Which, turns out to be closer to the truth, as, after extracting what looks like a Stargate alien from a place I never want to see extracted from again, she has just enough time to tell him that she’s full of those things, and she’s slowly losing her self to these entities. Then she completely loses it and tosses Paul into the lake, and then meets shadowy people in the woods. The end.

As you may have guessed, my very thoughts as I first pressed play to watch the movie was, “I hope this doesn’t turn out to be they’re invaded by alien parasites.” Which, to be fair, the outcome would have been either this, or demon possession. Which doesn’t necessarily disqualify Honeymoon from being a good movie; far from it, as the movie relies more on the actors ability to really ground the characters in a way that actually does make you care about them, and what is happening to them. Rose Leslie especially, as the freshly minted wife, is just…adorable as well as earnest. Yes, I admit to developing a bit of a crush on the character. The actor, as I understand, appears on something called Game Of Thrones; since I’m not a fan of game shows, I haven’t seen the series or her work on it. Here, both she and Harry Treadaway as her husband have a very thick chemistry that sells the situation. And like I said, it’s a slow burn, and will get under your skin in a way that no mere gore-infused slasher will do.

Come to think of it, I would also like to point out that I’m glad Honeymoon didn’t turn out to be another slasher. Or had psychobillies in it. Kind of puts that whole alien parasite ending thing into perspective, really.

Uncle NecRo’s TOP 100 CHRISTIAN ALBUMS FROM THE 1990s, Part 4: 40-21

Hey hey, it’s Part 4 of this list! Hope I’m not giving anyone any antacid flasbacks with this. Anyway, here’s the next 20 in the list:

40 – Friction (Stavesacre)
…I remember someone from the church I was attending at the time giving me this CD, stating that it wasn’t Christian enough for him. So, it was good enough for me, is what you’re saying?

39 – Lusis (Mortal)
…I remember having a friend in college play me this album, and then telling me to close my mouth as I was attracting flies. Behold my first taste of industrial music.

38 – All Else Failed [1996 Steadfast version] (Zao)
…yes, I happen to be one of those people who prefer the pre-Solid State Zao release to their later output. This just seems more raw, more ferocious.

37 – Learn (Deliverance)
…dark, introspective, and given to fits of artistic brilliance. That album cover, though. Needs to be re-released with artwork befitting the music.

36 – Fathom (Mortal)
…while Lusis was groundbreaking, this second release of theirs was darker, heavier and much more diverse. The video to “Rift” still haunts me.

35 – Living Sacrifice (Living Sacrifice)
…Deliverance may have been the Metallica rip-off, but the first release by Living Sacrifice was definitely the Slayer rip-off we all needed.

34 – Released Upon The Earth (Vengeance Rising)
…it may have been made under very tumultuous circumstances, but this one is still a pretty good thrash/death release. Upon the Earth. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

33 – Numb (Klank)
…I know what you’re thinking. “Hey, this was released in 2000! This doesn’t count!” And you’d be right…for the re-release on some label that stiffed him and thus shall not be named. My copy was the 1999 version on Klank’s own SmokeDogg Productions, purchased at the band’s merch table at Cornerstone 1999. Hah.

32 – Post Momentary Affliction (Mortification)
…my third-favorite Mortification album, a bit more progressive death metal style. And the last death metal album Mortification would release.

31 – Stop The Bleeding (Tourniquet)
…blistering speed metal with a vocalist that could give King Diamond a run for his money. Mmmmm.

30 – Dissection (Crimson Thorn)
…thick, heavy, innards-congealing DEATH METAL. That’s all you need to know. That, and their cover of Stryper’s “Loud N’ Clear”. It’s awesome.

29 – Inhabit (Living Sacrifice)
…third release from Living Sacrifice, and it’s a nice blend of thrash and death metal. The only complaint I have is that it’s too short, really. Also, the last to feature DJ on the vocals, and a switch to a Sepultura-inspired metalcore sound.

28 – Stay Of Execution (Deliverance)
…I remember getting this when it was first released in the late summer of 1992; I listened to the cassette so many times, it wore out within the year. Sure, it wasn’t speed metal; it was fantastic dark heavy metal.

27 – Misguided (Argyle Park)
…another one I got from that guy who gave me the aforementioned Stavesacre CD, for the same reason. His loss. Sometimes knowing that one holier-than-thou person pays off.

26 – Psycho Surgery (Tourniquet)
…many consider this release to be the bestest Tourniquet release, like, evah. They are wrong. But, it’s still a really good collection of technical thrash metal. Second best, easily.

25 – Snakes In The Playground (Bride)
…my first introduction to the band that is Bride, and it was this particular one that took the gritty heaviness of Gn’R’s Appetite For Destruction and gave it a nice Southern glaze.

24 – The Pillars Of Humanity (The Crucified)
…crossover thrash classic. Recently remastered and re-released with much better album artwork.

23 – Sanity Obscure (Believer)
…complex technical thrash metal that still rips it up after all this time.

22 – Once Dead (Vengeance Rising)
…quite a bit more honed than the debut, but still some tasty raw thrash metal here. Great cover of Deep Purple’s “Space Truckin'”, too.

21 – Weapons Of Our Warfare (Deliverance)
…this is the one everybody says is the ultimate classic Deliverance release. I disagree with it being the best of their releases, but it is a fantastic speed metal album.

::END TRANSMISSION::

Uncle NecRo’s TOP 100 CHRISTIAN ALBUMS FROM THE 1990s, Part 3: 60-41

Part Three of this list of Top 100 Christian Albums Released In The 90s. Continuing on, then:

60 – River Disturbance (Deliverance)
…in an interview with Deliverance main man Jimmy P. Brown on a podcast, he mentioned that, after he recorded this particular album, producer/artist extraordinaire Terry Taylor told him he just recorded his Rubber Soul. Sure, why not.

59 – Saviour Machine II (Saviour Machine)
…basically a continuation of the first album, only more orchestral and grander in scope. Eric Clayton sounding as pretentious as ever.

58 – Scarecrow Messiah (Bride)
…I remember this being some great hard rock. Others remember this as the album where Dale Thompson cut his hair. Good grief, people.

57 – This Might Sting A Little (Disciple)
…before they transformed into another modern rock band indistinguishable from the others, Disciple played hard and heavy southern fried rock and metal, and this one here was the best of the bunch.

56 – Prints Of Darkness (Dead Artist Syndrome)
…my favorite of all the DAS releases, as it’s also the darkest one going. Helped me through some really dark times. On my Existential Meltdown playlist.

55 – If But For One (Detritus)
…second and last release by the U. K. heavy metal group. Even in the early 1990s, you had to import the good stuff.

54 – Primitive Rythm Machine (Mortification)
…essentially “Steve Rowe & Friends”, this one was tuned to a brighter Standard E, but still retained the heavy.

53 – Saviour Machine (Saviour Machine)
…not the first Gothic rock album in the Christian market, but definitely the first time I was amused by the CCM industry lose their collective do-do over this oddball group. The album is pretty good, too.

52 – Judgment & Restoration (Ethereal Scourge)
…this could very well be the first death metal praise & worship album I’ve come across. Pity there was only this one full-length release.

51 – Camelot-In-Smithereens (Deliverance)
…bit more metal than the previous release, a lot more somber, and the last Deliverance album we got until the new Millennium.

50 – Minier (Greg Minier)
…great crossover thrash from the guitarist for The Crucified.

49 – Perpetual Defiance (Detritus)
…a woefully underrated thrashy metal album from the U. K. Also, the production doesn’t do this justice.

48 – Circle Of Dust (Circle Of Dust)
…the first release by the second industrial band I discovered. This was remixed and re-released in 1995. Either way, it was groundbreaking for its time.

47 – Blood World (Mortification)
…even when toning down the death metal influence and adopting more of a groove and less growled vocals, this was still heavier than anything else that was being released then.

46 – Atonement (Strongarm)
…really good hardcore album.

45 – Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest (Zao)
…at a time when actual good metal was sparse, we had to make due with the metalcore that was beginning to come out. This was one of the least painful.

44 – Times Of Atrocity (Deracination)
…why these guys didn’t get as big as fellow Aussies Mortification is beyond me. The “Atrocity” referenced in the title has to be the really low production, otherwise this would have been a rafters-shaking classic death metal release.

43 – In Darkness Or In Light (Metanoia)
…some some really good death metal from the Land of Down Under that isn’t named Mortification.

42 – Liberate Te Ex Inferis (Zao)
…one of the more tolerable of the early metalcore releases in my collection. Also, Event Horizon reference.

41 – Advent Of A Miracle (Strongarm)
…pretty decent hardcore album. Again, it’s what we had to subside on until the bookstores and record shops started carrying metal again.

::END TRANSMISSION::

Uncle NecRo’s TOP 100 CHRISTIAN ALBUMS FROM THE 90s, Part 2 (80-61)

Hey everybody, I’m back now with Part 2 of the Top 100 Christian Albums from the 1990s. If you missed it, Part 1 is right here. Now, without further adeu, here are picks numbers 80 through 61:

80 – Chagall Guevara (Chagall Guevara)
…that one time that Steve Taylor fronted an actual band that was pretty good, but nobody noticed because it was 1991 and they weren’t from Seattle. Bummer, that.

79 – Pray Naked (The 77s)
…as alternative music goes, this one’s pretty good, but let’s face it: any band that can make the American Evangelical communities flip their collective lids over a title that encourages the listener to come before God with no pretensions, transparent and vulnerable has a place in my collection, regardless of the genre.

78 – Aunt Bettys (Aunt Bettys)
…speaking of artists that consistently manages to piss off the American Christian subculture without even trying to do so, I present you Michael Knott’s woefully underrated side project, Aunt Bettys. ‘Nuff said.

77 – Sin Disease (Scaterd-Few)
…sorry to say that I was a bit late in the game in appreciating this particular album. It’s a classic, yes, and one of those albums that was controversial for many reasons, but mostly because they weren’t safe like certain other so-called “Christian punk” bands at the time. Incidentally, “Kill The Sarx” is where I got the inspiration for my online persona, The NecRoSarX. Now you know.

76 – Last Train (Holy Soldier)
…a bit more bluesy, quite a bit more mature than the first released. Kind of like Cinderella’s second release after Night Songs. You get the idea. I hope.

75 – Fear Not (Fear Not)
…what is essentially the former Blonde Vinyl band Love Life, given the ol’ Elefante slick production makeover. Big, bombastic 80s hair rock, and a guilty pleasure indeed.

74 – Jawbonofanass (Scaterd-Few)
…this may seem like blasphemy, but I actually prefer Jawboneofanass over Sin Disease. I don’t know why, other than it flows a bit better, maybe? Is that pretentious-sounding enough?

73 – Clean (Deitiphobia)
…contrary to popular belief, there was an underground contingent of Christians producing industrial back in the 1980s, but they mostly didn’t get noticed until around the time Trent Reznor showed up. Or something like that. Anyway, this is a good album.

72 – Devils, Angels & Saints (Dead Artist Syndrome)
…”gothic rock”, “post-punk”, “gloom rock”, whatever, sometimes you gotta throw this one on with the lights off and stare at the wall.

71 – Drop (Bride)
…stylistically different than the previous two heavier releases, more of a throwback to the Kinetic Faith release yet more mature than that one.

70 – MagentaMantaLoveTree (Dig Hay Zoose)
…released back when the word “Alternative” was thrown around like a brand name, this release saw Dig Hay Zoose as the spiritual successors to scaterd-few. Too bad it was to be their final studio release.

69 – Lo:Fi Vs. Sci:Fi (Deitiphobia)
…a electronic industrial sci-fi concept album. Enough said.

68 – This Is The Healing (L. S. U.)
…dark, introspective, with an underlying twisted sense of humor. Probably one of the first instances of discovering it was okay not to be a shiny-happy Christian.

67 – Happy Hour (Dead Artist Syndrome)
…this was sold in Christian bookstores. It started with a song called “Young Sexy & Dead” (sure, it was listed as “Y.S.D” on the CD, but still), and has another song referencing the Church body as a psychotic knife-wielding back-stabber. That’s called “irony”, folks. Delicious irony.

66 – Kinetic Faith (Bride)
…hard rock with a southern twinge, and a total 180 from the hair metal they played previously.

65 – The Splinter Shards The Birth Of Separation (Zao)
…at the time of this release, good quality metal was hard to come by, especially in the so-called Christian market. This had to due until some came around.

64 – Cashists, Fascists, & Other Fungus (Crashdog)
…one of my favorite punk albums, it has all the hallmarks: raw, crusty, and probably the first instance of outspoken Christians protesting the G. O. P.

63 – Livin’ In Babylon (12th Tribe)
…Run DMC style rapping paired with some metal riffs provided by Jimmy P. Brown of Deliverance? Yes, please.

62 – Blood (Red Sea)
…a collaboration between the guitarist from Fear Not and the vocalist from Die Happy, and it’s a monster of a bluesy metal rock album.

61 – Anthems (Wedding Party)
…basically Saviour Machine with all the beautiful richness without all the unnecessary pretentiousness. And a better singer.

Book Review: CHRISTINE

Stephen King
Viking Press
1983

If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.

Scene: a middle-class suburb of Pittsburgh. Time: 1978. Cast of characters: Arnie Cunningham, a bookish and bullied high school senior; Dennis Guilder, his friend and sometimes protector; Leigh Cabot, the new girl in school, won by Arnie…but wanted by Dennis as well. Just another lovers’ triangle, you say? Not quite. There’s a fourth here, the second lady, the dark lady. “Cars are girls,” Leigh Cabot says, and the dark force in Stephen King’s new novel is a 1958 Plymouth named Christine. She is no ordinary car, this white-over-red two-toned survivor of a time when high-test gasoline was priced at a quarter a gallon and speedometers were calibrated all the way up to a hundred and twenty miles an hour…a time when rock and roll in all its first crude power ruled America…a time when speed was king. Arnie Cunningham is determined to have Christine at any price, and little by little, Dennis and Leigh begin to suspect that the price of his growing obsession may be terrifyingly high, its result blackly evil. as Arnie sets feverishly to work on the seemingly hopeless job of resorting Christine, Christine begins to develop a terrible life of her own. Or is that only imagination? Dennis continues to hope so…and then people begin to die on Libertyville’s dark suburban streets and roads…and the time comes when Dennis can no longer deny the horrifying truth: Christine is alive.

Here’s another one of the Stephen King books that I was reading back in my Freshman year in High School, and was another one that took a bit longer than usual to get through. Mind you, my typical time reading a book is a few days, maybe a week at most if there’s a lot of things going on. I am a busy carbon-based meatbag, after all.

This particular tale of a High School nerd who comes across a classic of a car that gives him a boost of self-esteem that helps him cope with his messed up family life, bullies at school, and get a girlfriend. Also, the car is alive and possesses the nerd and becomes the ultimate jealous stalker girlfriend that will do anything to keep the nerd to itself…including kill. This is a Stephen King book, after all. Of course, it’s a bit hard to kill this particular car; try as you might, it keeps bouncing back. Even when stuck in a compactor…

If there’s one thing that King does well, it’s turning common everyday items into things to fear. Christine is one of his better loved works, having been turned into a movie by John Carpenter in 1983. I remember being creeped out by the story more than a few times, and at such was rather effective at that. It’s not my favorite, or even close to my favorite of his I’ve read, but it’s in the lower part of the Top Ten of Stephen King books I’ve read.

Book Review: CUJO

Stephen King
Viking Press
1981

The monster nevers dies.

Cujo is a two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard, the beloved family pet of the Joe Cambers of Castle Rock, Maine, and the best friend ten-year-old Brett Camber has ever had. One day Cujo pursues a rabbit into a bolt-hole–a cave inhabited by some very sick bats. What happens to Cujo, and to those unlucky enough to be near him, makes for the most heart-squeezing novel Stephen King has yet written. Vic Trenton, New York adman obsessed by the struggle to hand on to his one big account, his restive and not entirely faithful wife, Donna, and their four-year-old son, Tad, moved to Castle Rock seeking the peace of rural Maine. But life in this small town–evoked as vividly as a Winesburg or a Spoon River–is not what it seems. As Tad tries bravely to fend off the terror that comes to him at night from his bedroom closet, and as Vic and Donna face their own nightmare of a marriage suddenly on the rocks, there is no way they can know that a monster, infinitely sinister, waits in the daylight, and that the fateful currents of their lives will eddy closer and faster to the horrifying vortex that is Cujo.

This was the very first Stephen King novel I ever read. This was back in the Spring of 1988, when I was in 8th grade; I had to pick a book to read for a book report in my English class. Having been recently intrigued about this “Stephen King” person by my English teacher (who would regal us about the books plots), then fortuitously stumbling upon my mother’s old hidden stash of mass paperback in the basement of my home which featured three Stephen King books. I chose the one that didn’t seem as long as the others: Cujo.

Having been made curious about the author at a young age by the descriptions of his supernatural horror books, it’s rather…I don’t think “ironic” would be the proper word, but considering it was one of his non-supernatural based horror thrillers that was my first book to read is at least amusing. Regardless, at the age of 14, I found myself sucked in to the story of two distinct families from different backgrounds suddenly finding themselves terrorized by a Saint Bernard with rabies. One of the families, the couple are having marital troubles and have just moved to Castle Rock, Maine from New York to try and pick up the pieces. The other family just happen to be the owners of the titular Cujo; the dog itself is a sweet, gentle giant of a dog that only gets violent after contracting rabies from a bat after chasing a bunny. Cujo manages to kill his owner and traps a mother and her son inside their Ford Pinto, where they spend the later half of the book trying to figure out how to escape with their lives. It doesn’t end well, let’s just say.

What struck me as I read the book, as it does now, that there was no real stark and clean contrast of Good vs. Evil. There really is no “evil”, per say; just a good dog that had the unfortunate circumstance of contracting a virus that caused him to fear and lash out of everything and everything. This was a very tense novel, and while it didn’t make me a complete Stephen King addict at the time, it did make me want to explore more of his work from there.

Movie Review: SUICIDE SQUAD

Warner Bros.
2016
PG-13

“Huh? What was that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry. The voices. Ahaha, I’m kidding! Jeez! That’s not what they really said.”

Figuring they’re all expendable, a U. S. intelligence officer decides to assemble a team of dangerous, incarcerated supervillains for a top-secret mission. Now armed with government weapons, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc and other despicable inmates must learn to work together. Dubbed Task Force X, the criminals unite to battle a mysterious and powerful entity, while the diabolical Joker launches an evil agenda of his own.

I have to say that, finding a way to start off this review is proving to be a challenging one. By now, everyone has known about this movie and its hiccups getting onto the big screen. The extra shoots ordered in the aftermath of the Batman V. Superman backlash. The predictions of failure long before it was even released, the criminally low rating on Rotten Tomatoes that created an outcry. Jared Leto’s shenanigans. All I knew was, this being a movie based on a comic book title that I really didn’t know much about, outside of the general concept of the DC Universe’s bad guys brought together by way of the government agency for covert missions, this was kind of an odd choice to add to the budding DC Cinematic Universe. Because, while the comics have their fan base, and from what I understand they’re rather good, Suicide Squad is not exactly the first thing that springs to mind when one mentions DC Comics. It may not even be the fifth thing. Or the tenth. Then again, no one was expecting Guardians Of The Galaxy to be any good, so what do I know?

And of course, it was mandatory watching with the Exalted Geeks the weekend it came out. We even recorded a podcast about it, right here. But as for my own gathered together and jotted down thoughts on the movie…

Of the three DC movies that have been released in this series, I would have to say I like Suicide Squad the best. I think it’s easy to understand why; by default, because of its wackier tone, this one was much more fun than Man Of Steel or Batman v. Superman. It’s still dark and gritty, but at least it wasn’t a two hour angst-y wank-fest to sit through.

That’s not to say that the movie was without its flaws. That’s a given. However, the character dynamic seemed to work much better, combined with the action and the story itself, the time didn’t seem to drag and I found myself enjoying how this was playing out. The actors associated with the characters were decent enough; Will Smith once again played Will Smith as Deadshot, essentially the DC analog of Marvel’s Bullseye, only cooler. I don’t know about everyone else (I try to stay away from the nerd whining on the internet as much as possible), but I actually enjoyed Margot Robbie’s turn as Harley Quinn; I found her character rather amusing yet chilling, as fitting for the love interest for the arguably greatest villain in the DC Universe. And Viola Davis was dead-on perfect as the equally chilling Amanda Waller. Gads, you do not want to cross her. Ever. As for the other characters…well, they were adorable, but were just kinda there.

As far as the story goes…it’s your standard covert ops action movie that features a science fiction bent and pretty impressive effects. It’s better than average, in that it entertained me enough to make me not notice it’s over two-hour run time. I do think, however, that the whole Joker subplot wasn’t really needed; for that matter, barring further portrayals in future DCU movies building on his character arc, I don’t think I’m going to think more than just a “meh” as to Jared Leto’s take on the Clown Prince of Crime.

Overall, while I think that DC/Warner Bros. has a long way to go to get their stable of heroes up to the quality of films that Marvel has been knocking out of the park, the end result of The Suicide Squad is definitely a step in the right direction. Worth a rental, at the very least.

Movie Review: DOCTOR STRANGE

Disney / Marvel
2016
PG-13

“You’ll die defending this world, Mister…”
“Doctor.”
“Mister Doctor?”
“It’s Strange!”
“Maybe, who am I to judge?”

Dr. Stephen Strange, a young, arrogant surgeon with a promising career, loses his ability to operate after a terrible accident. Despondent and suicidal, Dr. Strange seeks advice from a mystical being knowing as the Ancient One and learns that he is the newly designated Sorcerer Supreme, responsible for protecting the planet from evil. With his girlfriend Clea and his loyal assistant Wong in tow, Strange sets out to fulfill his destiny.

So, here we have the final Marvel movie of 2016, and it’s another origin story of another Marvel character that I never really bothered to check out back in my comic book geek days. Truth be told, I was very much “meh” about watching this particular entry in the overall Marvel Cinematic Universe that I would have been more than happy waiting to watch it when it got released onto DVD. But, certain members of the Exalted Geeks felt that I should tag along and watch as a group whole the weekend of its release, going so far as to secure the reservation at the theater we were going to watch it at. That, and we normally record a podcast about it, and I had the recording equipment.

So, I watched it. And, it wasn’t that bad, really. I didn’t think it was going to be bad; like with Ant Man and Guardians Of The Galaxy, I didn’t think I would be as entertained as I was due to the lack of interest in the source material themselves. And once again, I was proven wrong. I sense a pattern, here.

Doctor Strange is the story of Benedict Cumberbatch effecting an American Accent and playing an extremely talented and successful neurosurgeon with the narcissistic ego to match. He gets into a car accident which injures his hands beyond complete repair, which sends him into a downward spiral and spending everything he has to find a way to bring his precious hands back. This leads him to Kathmandu (don’t hold your breath waiting for a Bob Segar joke, turns out the movie already makes one of those), where a mystic known only as the Ancient One reluctantly takes him in and begins teaching him the ways of inner healing…along with a bunch of trippy Hogwarts For Adults kind of things. Which all come in handy when some followers of a dark and powerful entity called Dormammu show up to destroy the three Sanctums and summon their master to this reality to cause darkness and chaos. Armed with his burgeoning abilities, along with the Cloak of Levitation and the Eye of Agamotto (Mister Roboto, domo), Doctor Strange must team up with the remaining slingers of the mystic forces and prevent Dormammu from coming in and messing with the Earth’s feng shui.

Doctor Strange can be boiled down as a mash-up of those Shaolin Kung-Fu movies with Harry Potter. Entertaining, yes; a nice mix of action and humor for balance, and some fantastic effects, especially with the first mystical trip-out scene. Ultimately, this is an origins movie, so the story is pretty straight-forward and not mixed in with the rest of the Marvel continuity as of yet. But, you get some glimpses of possible future usage of the future Sorcerer Supreme in the overall scheme. Most of the characters also have a kind of nuanced depth to their setup, which keeps them from being your standard “Good Vs. Evil” black and white hero story. Something they seemed to forget to do with Kaecilius, though it didn’t really hurt the overall dynamic.

In the end, Doctor Strange did turn out to be a good movie, entertaining and up to the standard Marvel Movie quality. Try and see this one in the theaters for the effects are gorgeous. Other than that, like Ant Man, I don’t really see myself seeing it more than once on the big screen.

Book Review: FIRESTARTER

Stephen King
Viking Press
1980

Hadn’t somebody said that perfect paranoia and perfect awareness were the same thing?

In 1969 Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson participated in a drug experiment run by a veiled government agency known as The Shop. One year later they marry. Two years after that their little girl, Charlie, sets her teddy bear on fire . . . by looking at it. Now that Charlie is eight, she doesn’t start fires anymore. Her parents have taught her to control her pyrokinesis, the ability to set anything–toys, clothes, even people–aflame. But The Shop knows about and wants this pigtailed “ultimate weapon.” Shop agents set out to hunt down Charlie and her father in a ruthless and terrifying chase that ranges from the streets of New York to the backwoods of Vermont. And once they get her they plan to use Charlie’s capacity for love to force her into developing a power as horrifyingly destructive as it is seductive. What they don’t take into account is that even a child can know the pleasure of the whip hand and the satisfaction of revenge.

So, I read this particular novel by Stephen King around my Freshman year in high school, which was when I was beginning my grand quest to read all of King’s books, but still wasn’t completely hooked as a fanboy. And at the age of 15, I wasn’t exactly the best at keeping focus on what I was reading. So, unfortunately, I have to admit that reading through Firestarter–King’s sixth published work–was a bit of a slog to get through at the time. Again, this was less to do with the quality of the story and more to do with my ability to get distracted by something shiny. Or have something in what I’m reading set off a chain reaction of thoughts that take me away from the reading experience. It still happens now, just not as out of control. Anyway…

The story involves a father and his young daughter on the run from a shady government group. The reason being that, years prior, the father and his future wife participated in covert experiments involving special drugs that would give those either psychic powers, or a psychotic break. They, of course, developed powers, and got married because they fell in loooooove while being tested on, and had themselves a kid that seemed to have developed an interest power of her own: setting stuff on fire. Now, after a series of horrendous events involving the government agency trying to round them up for more experiments, the mother dies and the father and daughter are on the run. Soon, those government officials and the mercenary they hired to capture them are going to realize that preteen girls are scary enough without powers; what’s gonna happen when they finally anger one with the ability to char broil you with her mind? Hint: nothing good.

Now seems a good time to get this out of the way: I never have seen the movie that stars a young Drew Barrymore. Never felt the need to do so. As far as the book goes, I think this would be another one I’d have a better appreciation for at this age I’m at now, rather than the 15-year-old me who read it back in the day. It had an interesting cat-and-mouse premise, and the more scientific–albeit closer to a mad doctor style, but still–buildup behind the father and daughter’s respective powers has this more as a psychological thriller with a bit of a science fiction base than a straight-up horror novel. Maybe that’s what was causing me to loose focus all that time.

Uncle NecRo’s TOP 100 CHRISTIAN ALBUMS FROM THE 1990s, Part 1: 100-81

So, some time ago, I came across a bunch of lists that the members of one of the Facebook Pages that I am a member of were doing. Namely, they were listing their top 100 favorite albums by Christian bands and artists that were released in the 1990s. I thought I would go ahead and write out my own list; the thing was, I was also in the middle of organizing and uploading the posts for the entirety of October, all of the Halloween’ing articles, and put the list on the back-burner to focus on getting all of that taken care of. I went back to it, and…well, I decided to not post it in the group itself, but instead share the outcome with everyone, along with some blurbs on the ones I picked.

Before I share, I want to point out that I had a couple of ground rules: 1) no live albums, and 2) no greatest hits type albums. Also, this list developed from the top down, as I thought of them, with very little messing with the final lineup. This is all as they came to me, so they’re in no particular order per se. So, now, without further adieu, here is my list:

100 – Addicted To Jesus (Carman)
…yes, I actually owned this one, way back in the day. It still remains a bit of a guilty pleasure, really. Especially with “Satan, Bite The Dust” on here. Pure, delicious sanctified cheese.

99 – Beyond Belief (Petra)
…’tis the only 90s-era release of Petra’s that I don’t find myself flinching at too much while listening to. Also, that riff on “Seen And Not Heard” that everyone knew was a rip-off of the riff from the KISS song “Heaven’s On Fire” but couldn’t admit to in public circles because that would be admitting to knowing what a KISS song is.

98 – Adventures Of The O. C. Supertones (The O. C. Supertones)
…there was a brief time in the mid-1990s where everyone claimed to like ska. Well, the so-called “third wave” ska that seemed to pop up like a rash after using the public pool. I’m afraid this wormed its way into my collection due to peer pressure. This album is the equivalent of that one person you know that tries so very hard to get you to be as bubbly happy as they are, you can’t help but want to kick puppies into traffic. Good production, though.

97 – Jesus Freak (DC Talk)
…there was also a time in the 1990s where there was a list of albums you needed to own, otherwise your sincerity of claiming to be a Christian was called into question. This was one of those albums. The thing is…this still holds up.

96 – All Stand Together (Bloodgood)
…it’s a pity that the majority of the good Bloodgood albums were released in the 1980s, because they needed to at least be represented. This particular album, unfortunately, is not that great. But, it’s on here in hopes to get someone to check out their previous releases before this one.

95 – Third Day (Third Day)
…remember what I said about Jesus Freak being one of those albums you needed to have in your possession to justify your Christian existence? This was also one of these albums. That’s all I’m gonna say about this.

94 – 100 Million Eyeballs (Miss Angie)
…would you believe I got this after seeing the video she did for “Lift”, because I developed a bit of a fanboy crush on her voice and style. The album is pretty good, too, kind of a Veruca Salt vibe to it.

93 – Lonely House (Grammatrain)
…one of the actual decent releases from the glut of Grunge music that came out two years after Grunge died out in the mainstream. That’s the usual gestration period for a genre to be co-opted by the CCM market.

92 – Strip Cycle (Michael Knott)
…I like to pop this one on after someone claims they only listen to acoustic singer-songwriter music. Nine times out of ten, their heads explode. I also like to que up “Rock Stars On H” when the youth group is stuck inside the NEKRON 7 with me just to hear the uncomfortable silence.

91 – Space In Your Face (Galactic Cowboys)
…look, I agree that this should be quite a bit higher, had this been an actual ranking-of-the-worst-to-best list, but as I mentioned in the intro (in case you skipped it directly to the list, like I usually do with posts like these), this was thrown together as they came to mind. And this is my favorite of the Galactic Cowboys discography.

90 – Sacred Cows (The Swirling Eddies)
…finally. Proper renditions of Christian favorites. This has the superior version of “Satan, Bite The Dust”. Sorry, Carman.

89 – Squint (Steve Taylor)
…this is a classic. You need to own this, if you don’t. Period. Yeah, I realize I would say this to all of Steve Taylor’s output, but this was the only one of his solo albums released in the 1990s. So, there you go.

88 – The Pursuit Of Happiness (Crashdog)
…released at a time when punk was still underground and yet to be made into a joke, this release is legit.

87 – Microscopic View Of A Telescopic Realm (Tourniquet)
…Ted Kirkpatric’s “Tourniquet” goes back to playing “metal”, and the result is adorable. Eh, still better than Crawl To China.

86 – Dogman (King’s X)
…very raw, very dark and very angry. My favorite King’s X release. You know, whenever I’m in that kind of mood.

85 – EfFLoReScE (The Way Sect Bloom)
…something I came across while first exploring the industrial and Gothic side of Christianity. Produced by Celldweller, released on Flaming Fish, and one of the more interesting electronic industrial releases I came across.

84 – Grandmother’s Spaceship (Scaterd-Few)
…the legendary scaterd-few’s third full-length release I don’t really listen to as much as the first two releases, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s something to overlook, here.

83 – Vanishing Lessons (Tourniquet)
…Tourniquet back when they still had a few members of the classic lineup left, plus a new singer and a streamlined sound. Eh, still better than Crawl To China.

82 – Holy Solider (Holy Soldier)
…some say this self-titled released by Holy Soldier is better than their sophomore release. I disagree. Still a good album.

81 – Struggle Fish (Dig Hay Zoose)
…while I grant that Dig Hay Zoose actually tried to do something unique with their music, rather than just aping a style, this is a delicious hot mess when compared to their second album.

::END TRANSMISSION::