Tag: review

John Wick: Chapter 2 – Advance Review *Spoiler Free*

John Wick 2 Invite

A few weeks ago, I received an unusual invitation: would I like to attend the John Wick: Chapter 2 World Premiere in Los Angeles? The answer, obviously, was: Hell yes! I loved John Wick, and have been a longtime fan of Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, and Ian McShane, not to mention the director of both films, Chad Stahelski (who you can see beside me in this photo from a meeting before the premiere).

Chad Stahelski and Jeremy Robinson

Chad Stahelski and Jeremy Robinson

I’ll be honest up front. I’m a little biased. My connection to the director, appreciation for the actors, and red carpet (it was black) treatment make my opinions suspect. But I’m a long-time action movie junkie, I write some of the fastest-paced novels there are (so I have a rep to protect), and I am generally an honest guy. If the movie sucked, I’d tell you.

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Why You Should Review Books You Love

Amazing Book
Reading a novel is, for many (myself included), a personal experience.

We get lost in a story, experience pain, loss, anger and victory along with characters that we (hopefully) come to care about, as though they were real. And when that experience ends, we miss our new friends and want their fictional lives to continue. Like, now. With the characters and plot still fresh in our minds we *might* tell a friend about it. You know the one. That rare breed who reads novels as voraciously as you do. And then…

Nothing.

The subject might come up again six months later, when your reader friend finally gets around to reading the novel, but your excitement is waning because you’re still waiting for a sequel that may or may not be on the way. A year passes. Then two. What is taking the author so frikkin’ long to write the next book?! It was amazing. How could there not already be a sequel?

Eventually you decide to take matters into your own hands and e-mail that author. He/she probably won’t reply (I will), but maybe your e-mail will spur them into action.

I get these e-mails. A lot. For Jane Harper. For Refuge. For Flood Rising. I even get them for books that were never meant to have sequels. And my response is always something like this: (Insert book title) needs to sell better before I spend a LOT of time and money writing and publishing a sequel. The best way you can make that happen is to post a review on Amazon.

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Two Movies, One Monster, Merry Christmas

 

Krampus vs A Christmas Horror Story

Krampus vs. A Christmas Horror Story
By Christopher Ouellette

 

I have always found it interesting when Hollywood comes out with an original idea, and then I find out that there are two films with the same idea at the same time. (Twin Films) The Addams Family, The Munsters, and Bewitched all started and ended at the same time. Antz and A Bug’s Life. Babe and Gordy. After Earth and Oblivion. And this Christmas, there are both Krampus and A Christmas Horror Story, which advertises a fight between Santa and Krampus. Both were pre-released as VOD, but only Krampus made it to theaters.

 

First off, they both really live up to their names. A Christmas Horror Story is just that. It’s a horror flick with blood, killing, monsters, psychos, and ghosts. Krampus is a straight monster flick. Family trapped in the house with a creature coming for them. It seemed very appropriate that Universal was the distributor.

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How do you follow up Ax Cop? A Hoard of Mutating Attack Bears!

A Review of Bearmageddon: Book One
By Christopher Ouellette

There are a lot of ultra-violent comic books, but they are not Bearmageddon.
Bearmageddon is the first ‘book’ of a graphic novel, currently presented as a web comic.
Ethan Nicolle, best known for creating Ax Cop with his then 5-year-old brother, has now put his art skills in line with his storytelling and they are a tour de force of paneled action. A group of early twentysomething, well-meaning slackers give up on society to live in the woods. This would be all well and good if it had not coincided with the bears of the woods joining forces to wipe out mankind. On top of that, they are mutating with other animals. The corpse of an octopus/bear is found. We soon run into a bear with the skin flaps and gliding talents of a flying squirrel. I feel like I’m seeing all of Daniel Peterson’s theories about the Eco Monstrous being dramatically illustrated in the context of a fast paced, well developed story.

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