"Hercules" Meant for the Big Screen

Varied emotions dwelling in a vortex of an average story with amazing visuals made "Hercules" a difficult movie to review.

First and foremost, if your considering viewing this flick, seeing this movie on the 'big' screen in real d 3-D (digital 3-D) is a must. I still have cuts and scrapes from various debris, arrows and spears pelting my face. The fantastic visuals by senior special effects technician Scott Armstrong, daily special effects technician Bence Arik did along with the literally 100s of other visual and special effects tech heads did was A-plus stuff.

Dwayne Johnson, aka the Rock was an excellent choice to portray the son of the most powerful God, Zeus, his son Hercules. I feel if I were to punch Johnson in the chest with all my might, my wrist and some of my fingers would break if not shatter.

The story line is average at best. Having Hercules and his select few warriors, bandit types fighting battles solely for gold was too "Fist Full of Dollars" for me. The lead character Joe, Clint Eastwood in 1964s "Fist Full of Dollars" was a full mortal man who happened to be a wild west 'bad ass' (parliament language of our times) to thrawart evil sorts for cash. Half God Hercules should want more out of life than money, but that's just my opinion.

Hercules and his loyal warrior pals eventually conclude to themselves life is not just about money when double crossed by Lord Cotys, John Hurt. The predictability in the plot hinders the tension between the quote, unquote heroes and villains in "Hercules," but the special effects carried this movie to a three star rating for me.

Soul Ritual Rocks Cloverdale

Soul Ritual a Cloverdale band rocked the Grange Hall while displaying a true passion for real music.

I was thoroughly impressed that Soul Ritual has an actual singer. The band's vocalist and bass player was described to me as a hot Geddy Lee (bassist / vocalist; Rush) and I had no argument. Most hard rock bands today just have a vocalist who yells into the microphone.



In regards to Phil Garcia's 43rd birthday, his wife Gina acquired the use of Cloverdale's Grange Hall for the gathering of various friends and family including myself. Plenty of food and malted spirits enhanced the conversation and laughter amongst everyone.

It was refreshing to see local musicians who understand the nature of real music. Everyone in Soul Ritual displayed a penchant for high level musicianship. In an era in which pop music seems to cling one sound, Soul Ritual produced an original hard rocking sound that saturated the ears with musical bliss.

"I just appreciate the progressive playing," drummer Awseund Mejia said.

Hanging out with Garcia's is always a pleasure, but Soul Ritual's music heighten the fun and restored my faith in local bands.

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" in Digital 3-D doesn't Disappiont

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" in Digital 3-D Doesn't Disappoint.

Returning screen play writers from 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver added a third writer, Mark Bomback for this years "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes". These three screen writers did a splendid job adapting Pierre Boulle's novel "La Planète dews Singes" into an action adventure movie master piece.

"Dawn on the Planet of the Apes" doesn't require being seen in digital 3-D, but it was still an eye pleaser, especially on the big screen. A sturdy story-line carried the special effects and this movie is OK for most children I believe. (PG-13) The violence is very mild for today's standards and there is no profanity.

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" takes place 10 years after its predecessor, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." The human race has been devastated by a virus it caused, and the few remaining humans on Earth have been living without electricity during this time. The only way to get electricity back is to reach a damn near San Francisco's golden gate bridge, an area now vastly populated by Caesar and the rest of his ape clan. Caesar, also the main monkey in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" prefers that the humans stay away and he and the rest of the apes will live separate from the humans.

Actor Jason Clarke, a human in the movie named Malcolm wants what Caesar wants, yet he also desires to penetrate ape territory in order to regain electricity.

(The following paragraph contains the word; 'san' which means without. A word I acquired from William Shakespeare.)

Caesar is willing to allow humans into ape territory as long as they san guns and leave as soon as the power of the damn reignites the electrical age. Caesar's counter part, the ape Koba will not be satisfied until all humans are dead or in cages. Dreyfus, the human counter part to Malcolm portrayed by Gary Oldman feels the same way about the apes, thus the conflict of impending war between intelligent apes and people begins.

If your in for non stop over the top special effects with extreme violence and a minimal plot, don't bother with this movie. If you desire a well constructed saga complete with interesting characters, both human and ape weaved into the throngs of peace and war, this movie is well worth seeing on the big screen whether it's in digital 3-D or not. Three and a half stars for this flick.

Several Years After His Death, Paper Back Icon Mickey Spillane Still Packs a Punch

The character Mike Hammer first provoked readers in 1947. Induced from Mickey Spillane's imagination, Hammer and his detective stories were admits the first paper backs to seduce audiences into varied opinions about love, lust, violence, crime, integrity, greed and the pursuit of meaning.

"King of the Weeds" released in May is the last novel Spillane wrote (co-wrote). He died in 2006. How did Spillane co-write a novel seven years after his death? He's very clever and an amazing writer. Author Max Allan Collins has collaborated on several novels with Spillane including "King of the Weeds." The notes in the book state that Jane, Spillane's wife was told by him that when he dies there will be a treasure hunt around here. (Meaning Spillane household.) Spillane, years before his death instructed his wife to give all his manuscripts to Collin's, he'll know what to do he said. Indeed Collins did.

"King of the Weeds" is a sequel to 1996's "Black Alley" which I have not read, nor any other of Spillane's novels. So many books, so little time. Collins notes at the beginning of the book claim not having read "Black Alley" before reading "King of the Weeds" will not hinder ones understanding of "...Weeds" and he's right.

Suspense and action are presented with class and posh in this novel. Despite it's predictability, Hammer's guile on survival, including being shot point blank in the chest and surviving is very clever.

The book depicts Hammer as an aging PI with a long term girl friend Velda, and one year his fiancé whom Hammer describes as a timeless good looking older women. Her health regime consists of no smoking, moderate drinking and the gym every other day. "...Weeds" has a solid story line and vivid character development which enriches the imagination.

There are two main plots in this book. Hammer is researching whether a man in jail, Rodolph Olaf, aka The Bowery Bum Slayer is innocence for the serial killings of gay men. Hammer and his wife are also among the extremely few who know exactly where $89 billion in cash is hidden. Hammer and his woman Velda have even taken a few $100,000 for them selves.

The $89 billion is mafia money that has been stashed away in a cave large enough for trucks to drive in and out to stash the money, which the mafia has been doing since 1929. Needles to say, there's a lot of groups and individuals who want Hammer's knowledge of the location of the cash. Unsavory folks have nefarious methods in their attempts to attain the money.

The conclusion of the book was very unexpected and somewhat disturbing, but that's life, it sucks and is marvelous at the same time; four stars for "King of the Weeds."