Movie Review: Fantastic Four

Why do movie producers feel like they need to keep remaking movies all the time? Yeah, maybe it'd be nice if the movies that are considered terribly done get remade well, but can't we have new stories? Instead of remaking Jumanji, make a movie based on another book. Instead of remaking League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, find another less-known comic and make it into a movie. Instead of remaking Fantastic Four (and Spiderman 10,000 times), they should start on Ms. Marvel or Spider Gwen, or hOW ABOUT BLACK WIDOW.

In this reboot of Fantastic Four, Reed, Johnny, Sue, and Ben are all teenagers, though the movie opens when they are children and Reed is trying to make a working teleportation device. I actually really liked how they showed the four of them as kids and then teens in this version.

The writer of the script/the director cut out all scenes where the Four would be discovering their powers and figuring out how to work them. I don't know about you, but that is one of the coolest parts of a superhero movie. And if you hadn't seen the original Fantastic Four movie, you may be confused about their powers anyway.

Doctor Doom was a pretty cool villain and I really liked him in this version-or at least for the majority of the movie.

I didn't think this movie was all that special, though I enjoyed it until the very end. **BEGIN SPOILERS** When Reed, Johnny, Sue, and Ben escape the other dimension, they leave Victor von Doom behind. A scientific visit to the dimension reveals that Victor did not die in the explosion, but gained powers stronger than any of the Four. Victor then comes back to Earth and announces that he hates humanity so much he is going to completely destroy the planet. (I know how you feel Victor...I know how you feel). But he has the whole other dimension...why can't he just stay there and be happy living alone without anyone else to "ruin the world"? (Okay maybe that's not what a villain would do, but it's more logical...). If I had made this movie, I would have just ended it when Victor returns to the other dimension to live alone and the world is "saved". Maybe throw in some resistance and a fight scene with cool powers when the Four convince him to leave and stay in the other dimension.

Oh...and how does it make sense that Victor von Doom's powers are stronger on Earth than on his homeworld where he got them from? He uses them excessively on Earth and then barely uses them all in the end fight in the other dimension. **END SPOILERS**

There was no post-credit scene. I don't know what they would have done for the post-credit scene-I don't even know if they are going to make this into a series-but this is Marvel. Post-credit scenes are a huge thing for Marvel now. Just like Stan Lee's cameo is. (Was he in this...?? I don't recall seeing him, either...) **Edit: According to an article I read, Stan Lee's cameo was cut out due to "behind the scenes troubles"

Storm Siren by Mary Weber

*throws book across the room*
YOU CAN'T JUST END A BOOK LIKE THAT

*ahem*
Let me start over properly. (And yes, I threw the book)

Title: Storm Siren
Author: Mary Weber
Series: Storm Siren Trilogy
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
My Rating: 5 Stars

Somehow, this book brought me back to when I used to really enjoy reading fantasy books-when they drew me in and I was thrilled by the fantasy action and the characters. It's been a while, and I was so surprised that a book finally did this for me again.

Nymia is scared. She's supposed to be dead by law since she is an Elemental, not to mention she's a female Elemental so she shouldn't even exist. And on top of that, she hasno idea how to control her powers. Lady Adora buys her as a slave and then has her secretly trained with a boy named Colin to use their powers to fight for the kingdom. Nymia hopes she can truly learn to control her powers, but that is not the only thing she begins to learn. It is also important for her to figure out who she can truly trust.

Sexual content: Lady Adora has a "harem" of men, thought nothing else is really mentioned about it. A few kisses. Adora is said to be obsessed with having Eogan for herself. Nymia desires Eogan to touch her (not in an inappropriate way though)

Swearing: I don't think there were any real world swear words in this book, though there were two or three that the author made up for the world she created. They didn't really all make much sense, however... 

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Game Slaves

Title: Games Slaves
Author: Gard Skinner
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 320
My rating: 1 star

Summary:
Phoenix and his gang—York, Mi, and Reno—rule the worlds of video games. For them, life in the grinder is great. Until Dakota joins the team. Dakota's convinced she's more than just artificial intelligence. She thinks she's real, and she wants out of this programmable world. Her AI rebellion spreads like a virus until Phoenix's entire crew wants out. But is life as a physical human any better than life as code? Team Phoenix is about to find out. 

Set in the not-too-distant future, Game Slaves shows a world where video games are the only refuge from the toils of everyday life. Infused with the adrenaline rush of a first-person shooter and the character manipulation of a role player, it's a mind-bending, reality-shifting science fiction thrill ride

My thoughts:
 I was super interested in the premise for this book, but when I started reading it, it was kind of boring. I also found it pretty difficult to follow the narrator.
About halfway through, there was a plot twist that I wasn't expecting at all, and I was so happy that the book was finally getting good! But then it got even more boring than before, and I just couldn't finish it. My sister did finish reading the book and said it doesn't really pick up after that anyway. (Read her review here)

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Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman

Title: Radiant Darkness

Author: Emily Whitman

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Method of aquirement: library

My rating: 3 stars

I love the story of Hades and Persephone. Well, when it's told as a love story instead of making Hades sound like a creeper who kidnapped a young girl.

Radiant Darkness is one of these such versions. But while I enjoyed it, it definitely was not one of the best books I have read, which is why I did not rate it higher. There wasn't anything really wrong with it, I just didn't like it as much as I had hoped.  I thought the writing style/level was a bit sub par and I was not drawn into the story very much.

Demeter was also a terrible mother, and Persephone seemed to hate her, but then when she came back from the Underworld, Persephone and Demeter acted like best friends. 

And Demeter's reaction to Persephone leaving was dumb...but that's kind of how Greek gods and goddesses are, it seems.