Logan

I saw this movie on a drizzly Sunday night in London, at a cinema that was running it on a gigantic screen.  I watched from the second row in the balcony, a beautiful seat from which to take in the entire film.

I absolutely loved this movie.  The story, the cinematography, and the acting were all excellent.  Rather than the usual superhero movie formula of action, action, snarky comments, and more action, Logan relentlessly follows its decaying namesake character as he reluctantly ends up in another battle when all he's trying to do is live under the radar and take care of an increasingly frail Charles Xavier.

Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart turn in very strong performances in those roles, but young Dafne Keen steals the show as a mutant girl with enormous powers and minimal socialization.

My only real complaint about the film is its reliance on a bit of footage and dialogue from Shane, choices I consider to be blunders, but even with those errors the film is a powerful and compelling work that never wavers in its intensity.

I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I'll stop here.  Go see Logan.

No wolverine movie has yet been all that I've wanted

but this trailer makes me hopeful for the next one.

(Warning:  It's a violent Red Band trailer.)



I love how ragged this Logan is.

Enjoy.

Real Steel

Our local paper's reviewer, who's no longer local and instead lives somewhere else in the parent company's empire, gave this one a D+. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating is a sad 59%. So, you might reasonably ask, why did I go to see it?

It's SF.

Hugh Jackman stars.

I could watch Evangeline Lilly all day.

Rock 'em sock 'em robots!

I walked out of the theater having enjoyed the movie. Others liked it less.

After discussion, I came to believe that the key to whether you'll have a good time at this film is the degree to which sappiness and a clear formula bother you that day.

I'm a sucker for father-son films. I was in a mood to be entertained, so the formulaic nature of the movie--and make no mistake, this one marches to an entirely familiar drum beat--didn't bother me. Plus, I had a good time watching big, loud robot fights.

Of course, if I think hard about the movie, the silliness of the plot, the completely cardboard and unbelievable nature of Evangeline Lilly's character, the inconsistency of the tech, the...well, you get the idea--the essential weakness of it all becomes hard to ignore.

On this Saturday night, though, sitting in the dark, staring at the magic screen, I suspended all those judgmental faculties and had a good time.

Changing my mind about Jon

As I think I may have written here, when people have asked me which actor I'd cast as Jon, I've typically answered, Hugh Jackman. He's fairly tall, especially for an actor, has done action, can act, and has the look.

Recently, though, I've changed my mind.

The right man to play Jon is Will Smith.

If you've read the books or seen their dustjackets, you may question this choice, at least in part because Jon's skin is decidedly lighter than Smith's. No matter; an actor of his quality will make the role his own. And, if a movie were to be made of one of the books, I'd be willing to do a quick rewrite of that book (or all of them) to fix this small problem.

Why?

Because I'm just that kind of money-loving fool.

Think about it. Will Smith is the most bankable actor in the world today. The man takes mediocre films and turns them into blockbusters, and he transforms blockbusters into insanely huge blockbusters. Make a Will Smith movie of one of my books, and the reprint sales alone would be happy news indeed.

This is all fantasy land, of course, because no one in Hollywood, much less Will Smith, is knocking down my door, but you have to admit, it's a good fantasy.

If you have to do it, is it fun?

After Tai Chi this morning, my friend, Eric, asked me a question that he thought might form the basis of a useful blog entry. My first reaction was no, but on further thought I believe he was right.

He had read an interview with Hugh Jackman in which the actor said that when he received the script for X-Men II he was afraid for a bit to read it, because whether it was good or bad he knew he had to do it--he'd signed a contract. Eric asked whether being committed to Jon & Lobo books I had not yet written would lead me to a similar reaction.

My answer was an immediate no. I like Jon & Lobo, I like the universe, and I'm having fun writing stories in it. For my taste, Slanted Jack is a stronger book than One Jump Ahead, and I hope Overthrowing Heaven is better still, and Children No More even better, and on and on.

I certainly have talked to writers for whom series have become mere obligations, commitments they wished they didn't have to honor. I can't picture that happening with these characters, but then again, I've only written two books in the series so far. Still, my vision for it, such grand plan as I have, extends out for at least a dozen books--and that's when we really start cranking!

The key difference between my position and Jackman's (other than the fact that he'll get paid about a zillion times more money for any movie than I will for any book) is that he can control only his performance; I control the whole book.

So, I not only don't feel trapped, I'm quite excited about writing the future books. I hope folks keep buying them--in fact, I want more and more people to buy them, lots and lots of people--so I can keep writing them.