Movie Review: John Carter (2012)

Title: John Carter
Director: Andrew Stanton
Format: 3D
Runtime: 132 min
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: March 9, 2012 (US & Canada)
Production Co: Walt Disney Pictures
Rating: 8

My Review
John Carter (2012), based on the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, is a planetary romance mixed with some historical fiction. It’s really quite awesome as it takes place during the American Civil War, following a southern cavalryman named John Carter on the hunt for his big break – gold. After a run in with a group of Apache men, he escapes into a cave with mysterious markings. Somehow, with the help of a medallion, he is transported to another world. The natives call it Barsoom but we know it as Mars. While trying to find out where exactly he is and how to get back home, he runs into a woman named Dejah who is trying to save her people in a one-sided war. Carter, being the southern gentleman that he is, agrees to help her.

I have never read Burroughs’ series, although I have heard of him through his famous Tarzan novels. I was skeptical going into this because the idea of a science fiction novel written in the early 1900s being adapted to film in our time seemed like a daunting task. Fortunately, my fears were scrapped just within the first 30 minutes of the film. Carter, played by Taylor Kitsch (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), is highly likeable and I became immediately connected to him. As soon as he arrives on Mars he is confronted by Tharks, a native species. He is cordial yet doesn’t bother trying to hide that he’s not to be messed with. His goal is to get off this planet and go home to his gold. However, this doesn’t mean he treats the Tharks without respect or compassion. In particular, the bond his forms with the Thark Sola becomes one of my favorites of the movie.

The other main character, Dejah Thoris, played Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), appears as a damsel in distress but as Carter soon finds out, can handle herself. Despite the bikini armor she tends to wear, she’s an accomplished scientist and fighter. Of course they develop a romance, which I thought felt rushed and borderline insta-love, they made a great team. I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Dejah explained life of Mars and what the culture is like there.

The only real issues I had with the movie were the insta-romance and the extremely rushed ending. I felt like the ending was sped through to provide some sort of closure, otherwise it would have been a major cliffhanger. I understand this, but they should have dedicated a little more time to the big reveal and conclusion.

Rating: 8
Overall, I loved John Carter. I saw it in 3D and while I’m not a huge fan of 3D, I thought the quality was good. I also loved the special effects and the design of Barsoom. It’s a perfect action, science fiction movie that I encourage anyone to check out.

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Review: Fair Coin by E.C. Myers

Title: Fair Coin
Author: E.C Myers
Series: Coin #1
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 250
Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Publication Date: March 6th, 2012
Publisher: Pyr
Rating: 6.5

Summary:
From Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Ephraim Scott is horrified when he comes home from school and finds his mother unconscious at the kitchen table, clutching a bottle of pills. The reason for her suicide attempt is even more disturbing: she thought she’d identified Ephraim’s body at the hospital that day.

Among his dead double’s belongings, Ephraim finds a strange coin—a coin that grants wishes when he flips it. With a flick of his thumb, he can turn his alcoholic mother into a model parent and catch the eye of the girl he’s liked since second grade. But the coin doesn’t always change things for the better. And a bad flip can destroy other people’s lives as easily as it rebuilds his own.

The coin could give Ephraim everything he’s ever wanted—if he learns to control its power before his luck runs out.

Why did I read this book? The premise sounded really awesome and it was blurbed by two authors I love: Sarah Beth Durst and N.K. Jemisin.

Source: Publisher

My Review
Let’s start by saying how much I enjoyed reading a smart young adult novel that wasn’t a dystopia and didn’t have the usual love triangle. The story follows Ephraim Scott, whose life changes when he finds a coin with Washington’s head facing the wrong way commemorating the state of Puerto Rico. He discovers that when he makes a wish a flips the coin, it comes true. Or close to true.

For the first half of the novel, Ephraim uses this newfound power to take care of all the things gone wrong in his life. His mom’s a drunk and he likes a girl named Jena. Of course, this magic coin ends up being used on girls. Things start to go wrong when other things in Ephraim’s world changes along with his wish. People become different, events rearrange themselves.

I felt like there was a lot of this “discovery” phase for Ephraim – nothing particular happening for quite a while except making wishes and seeing how they turn out. Not until he shares this power with his best friend Nathan does things really start to go downhill. Actually, the whole story changes in that it becomes a science fiction thriller with a very human bad guy with a gun.

There are a lot of things to like about Fair Coin. All the characters: Ephraim, Nathan, Jena feel like real teenagers. Their minds are preoccupied on their crushes and other shallow things – I wanted Ephraim to do something selfless with the coin but he never quite gets there. On top of that, I felt like Ephraim didn’t have any real feelings for Jena other than her being cute and smart, and still he bases almost all his choices on her.

Towards the end we get the big reveal – I thought it would be the end of the story, but it actually opens up a whole new plot with scary villain and some intriguing science. I felt the story had two sides and it didn’t always flow between each other. This also caused a lot of the end to be rushed since we had to resolve the conflict with the big bad and also tie up the loose ends with the coin.

Rating: 6.5
Overall, I did enjoy Fair Coin and appreciated it for what it was: a different kind of young adult novel with a great science fiction story. There are some bumps along the way, the plotting, the pacing and some of the character’s lackluster choices when given power that is practically omnipotent. The end does wrap things up but I hear there’s a sequel coming out sometime next year. I’d be curious to see where Myers takes it. For one, I know I’d be interested in seeing more about the origins of the coin and the effect it has on the world.

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Review: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis

Title: To Say Nothing of the Dog
Author: Connie Willis
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 493
Genre: Science Fiction, Romance, Comedy, Historical Fiction
Publication Date: November 18th, 2009
Publisher: Bantam
Rating: 9

Summary:
From Goodreads: From Connie Willis, winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, comes a comedic romp through an unpredictable world of mystery, love, and time travel...

Ned Henry is badly in need of a rest. He's been shuttling between the 21st century and the 1940s searching for a Victorian atrocity called the bishop's bird stump. It's part of a project to restore the famed Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in a Nazi air raid over a hundred years earlier.

But then Verity Kindle, a fellow time traveler, inadvertently brings back something from the past. Now Ned must jump back to the Victorian era to help Verity put things right--not only to save the project but to prevent altering history itself.

Why did I read this book? This is the March Challenge in Calico Reactions Book Club!

Source: Bought

My Review
This is my first time participating in calico-reaction's book club, and I have to say what a great start! I decided to participate even though I have limited time to read because I wanted to read more scifi and having a community to discuss it after just made it more appealing.

To be honest, when I started the book, I thought it was definitely funny and entertaining, but I really couldn't get into the actual story. I had trouble reading more than one chapter at a time (which is unusual for me). Ironically, the first part of the book which mimics Willis' inspiration, Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome in which there are in fact about 100 pages about three men in a boat - to say nothing of the dog - was in my opinion the most boring part of the book. Nonetheless I was held by Willis' talent in writing passages that evoked visions of the past and present. For instance, one of my favorites was: "She was a delicate blossom, capable of growing only in a single time, adapted only to the select hothouse environment of the late Victorian era: the untouched flower, the blooming English rose, the angel in the house. She would be extinct in only a handful of years, replaced by the bicycling bloomer girl, the cigarette-smoking flapper and the suffragette." (p.94)

I noticed my attention piqued when the plot moved into the mystery aspect, and also when Ned Henry and Verity Kindle began to have scenes together. I thought the mystery was so well done, although I did catch some hints and guessed right on a couple things, nothing prepared me for the ending in which Willis reveals a very thought out and masterminded conclusion. As for Ned Henry, I can't really describe Willis' skill in creating and maintaining such a distinct narrative voice through that character. I feel like I know the guy. Some of my favorite parts were when Ned was time-lagged and had the tendency to sentimentalize, which was quite charming and hilarious.

Rating: 9
I think this book is great fun and also contains an impressive plot and that it could be good for fledgling scifi readers (like me). Also, anyone who is interested in Victorian history should read this too as most of it takes place in that time. I hope to read more of Connie Willis in the future.

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