Movie Review: Batman vs Superman

We just got home from seeing Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. I was reluctant to see it because I did not like Man of Steel at all, not that there's anything wrong with Henry Cavill. It just bored me. I literally fell asleep (though I tend to do that a lot when we rent movies). Batman vs Superman was the complete opposite. It was exciting and thoughtful and kept me riveted. I still don't buy Amy Adams as Lois Lane, but she didn't annoy me as much as in the previous film. And I adore Amy Adams. Lois Lane is just sacred to me. It takes a special woman to play Lois. But I digress.

 In this new Batman installment we see an older, angrier Bruce Wayne. He blames Superman for the destruction of his company and the death of his employees, as well as many other innocents. So do a lot of people. Superman has become the subject of debates. Should one man have so much power? Some are starting to worship him as a false god! Bruce is on the side wanting to stop Superman. Never mind that Superman was trying to SAVE lives by stopping evil aliens!

 This story is the struggle to understand good vs evil. Is it possible for someone good with so much power to remain good or will power eventually corrupt?

 Jessie Eisenberg was fun as a young Lex Luthor. Ben Affleck was brilliant as both Bruce Wayne and Batman! I heard a rumor that he will direct the next film and I hope it's true. I would've liked to see more of Jeremy Irons as Alfred just because I love him. I enjoyed the introduction of Wonder Woman, but it took me a while to realize the woman Bruce kept running across was Diana Prince. We also caught a glimpse of future heroes and villains: Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg and parademons.

 Finally, I just was to say thank you to everyone for not spoiling the ending! I won't spoil it for you either, but if you're a Superman fan you will definitely recognize this story. I nearly started squeeing like a little fangirl.

Movie Review: Source Code

The other night we watched Source Code. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a military helicopter pilot who finds himself in the middle of a secret government experiment.

Let me start out by saying I am not a big fan of action movies or anything to do with government or war. I didn't even know how this movie ended up on our Netflix list until we saw that the director was Duncan Jones. He had directed Moon, one of our favorite mind-bending science fiction thrillers. This movie was right in the same vein. It is a serious mind screw. It's sort of like Groundhog Day meets Inception.

Captain Colter Stevens (Gyllenhaal) wakes up on a train surrounded by strangers who seem to know him, but as someone else. After trying to explain he isn't who they think he is, he plays along. A few minutes later the train explodes and suddenly he is in a dark chamber full of electronic equipment and monitors. He is told he is part of an experiment that will allow him to enter the mind of someone on that exploded train and discover the identity of the bomber. He has the power to prevent a worse attack that is about to take place. The team will send him back to relive the same 8 minutes over and over until he finds out what they need to know. What the inventor of the "source code" doesn't realize is that there is more going on than what they intended.

I loved this movie! My whole family loved this movie. It had us gasping, laughing, crying, shouting at the screen and cheering at the ending. This is the sort of movie that has you questioning your very existence.

Silicon Valley Comic Con

This past weekend I attended the first ever Silicon Valley Comic Con. This event was created by Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Computer, and his desire was to create a fusion of comics, pop culture and technology. It had been three or four years since I had attended San Diego Comic Con with my husband. I stopped going because the crowds had gotten so out of hand. Being such a historic event, I had to attend this convention. Although I didn't go to any panels I had a great time watching the cosplayers and seeing old friends.

The highlight of the weekend was when my daughter and I went looking for the guest lounge so we could get some coffee for Mick (he was a guest artist, so I had his guest badge). A staff member led us upstairs. I thought it was strange, since another staffer had mentioned it being downstairs near the volunteer lounge. Whatever. We were led to a room with bagels and fruit and coffee. Yay! We put a couple plates together, grabbed some coffee and turned toward the door. At that moment William Shatner (Captain Kirk) walked in! I said, "Hey!" He said, "Hi, how ya doin'?" (or something like that... I was in shock, so my memory is fuzzy). I replied, "I'm good. How're you?" He honestly looked exhausted, so I just left.

At lunch time we went back upstairs to get Mick some food. My daughter and I made a plate for ourselves and sat down to eat before we went back. I glanced over at the table to my left and saw Nathan Fillion (Mal, Firefly). And across from him was Bonnie Wright (Ginny, Harry Potter). Then at the table to my right was William Shatner again. I immediately whispered to my daughter, "I don't think we're supposed to be in here." Later I found out that was the celebrity lounge. Oops! At least nobody kicked us out. That would've been really embarrassing!

Another Venue: Wattpad

I recently discovered a site called Wattpad, which has been dubbed YouTube for writers. When I mentioned it to my daughter she knew all about it. She even has the app! Who knew?

So this is just one more venue to post my early drafts and practice stories so I can get feedback from other writers and fans. The dominant genres on that site are horror, fantasy and young adult. That sounds about right for what I'm doing here. I have ideas for young adult stories, including horror stories.

You can find my account at https://www.wattpad.com/user/ConTales.

Sick for Weeks

You'll notice the last thing I wrote was over a week ago, and that was from my sickbed on the couch. I am just now recovering from a cold / sinus infection. I still feel the effects, but I'm finally alert enough to actually put a coherent thought together! It has been rough going these past two weeks.

I also started thinking about the quality of my writing here. I don't want to just post a bunch of crap on this blog, just to fulfill some goal of writing every day. So I will no longer write something here just to write something here. If I am inspired by a photo or a news headline I will write my thoughts. If I have a quirky story idea I will post that too. But I will not bore you with my pointless ramblings.

Just know that I really am writing every day. It just might not be on this blog. I probably mentioned that before, and I will probably mention it again...and again...and again.