What lies in The Mist?

If you haven’t read the novella by The Mist by Stephen King– which I can only assume most viewers have not, given the novella format not being as widely available – you may take a glimpse at tone of the trailers and think that The Mist is another The Fog remake, but rest assured it’s not. While sometimes considered ominous looking on their own, fog and mist have many elemental similarities, but that’s where similarities end regarding storylines.
Something that I’ve always found interesting about works of Stephen King, which I think much of the time goes un-noticed, is that his works are almost always about much more than horror or the supernatural. While he may draw ideas from either of these, like having the mist be some deadly entity, but if you look deeper, you notice that the story is about the human nature of the people trapped inside the supermarket. This isn’t always the case, but look at some his other popular stories such as The Stand, in which we see religion and redemption as central themes of the storyline that just so happens to be intertwined by a plague. In short, The Mist, like other Stephen King stories, is about the fight between good and evil. True, it’s sometimes hard to find the line between the two and The Mist is no different in that regard. The characters are forced to take sides, look into themselves, believe in each other, test faith and religious beliefs.
I can’t say as though I was overly scared watching this, but I loved it. It is classic Stephen King with all the aforementioned creative pieces and yes, there is certainly the fear factor. I can only imagine myself in the situation these people are in. I try to imagine something like this happening and not having a clue if it would end or if indeed the world was coming to an end.

I guess I'll flip-flop a little

Just two days ago, I wrote right here that reviewing novels or books should be kept to those with the expertise to do so. While I still agree with that... two days later, I feel compelled to comment on a movie recently saw. Nope, I'm not an expert on movies, but I think I know a little about motion pictures. My opinions probably differ greatly to those of the Hollywood pundits and the Oscar watchers, but I'm okay with that. We all have our subjective tastes and favorite film genres. My favorite, probably either thrillers or sci-fi, but I still watch a wide range of movies.
As Halloween approaches, I've yet to see Rob Zombie's take on the holiday classic, but I did stop in to Blockbuster the other night after 28 Weeks Later came out. Part of me wanted to see if the filmmakers would again take the notion of zombies to another level like they did with the original release, 28 Days Later. Another part of me was intrigued by how this film actually got acclaim. And there was also the part of me that always enjoys taking a trip back to my teenage days as an ex-patriot living in London.
What I found was surprising in that the sequel actually seemed to have more of a plot than the original. It certainly had a bigger budget and I felt that the cinematography and special effects were excellent. In my very subjective opinion, I thought the movie was pretty good. What does that mean? Truly nothing more than that it entertained me. I don't see any awards in the works, but to say it kept me on the edge of my seat would be agreeable.
For folks that like graphic violence and gore, this is your type of movie. I don't really fit into that category, but I actually found myself caring enough about the characters to see past it. So while I don't want to give anything away regarding the plot, I will say that anyone wanting to escape to a world even more terrifying and disturbing than our own should rent this movie. I wouldn't; however, recommend it to families or the faint at heart.

Gone Baby Gone is more than a movie

Let me preface by saying that while I write fiction, I am not a book reviewer. I believe that one has to be a seasoned veteran as a novelist or even a journalist to have the needed credibility to review a book or novel. And yes, knowing the difference helps! So I'm not going to review a novel or movie in this post, but instead just give some thoughts.

That being said, I was reading USA Today last week and happened upon an article about a movie coming out on October 19th called Gone Baby Gone - written and directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother, Casey.

I've known about this project for some time, as I have closely followed the career of Dennis Lehane. You see you'd need to read the second page of the article to know that while the screenplay was adapted (written) by Affleck, it is based on a novel of the same name by Boston native and bestselling author, Lehane. Perhaps most of you are saying Dennis who? Fair enough, but you may recall a little movie from a few years back that grabbed a few Oscars - Mystic River. Mystic River was Lehane's breakthrough novel and was published a few years after this newest of adaptations. In speaking with Dennis at a writing conference the year the movie came out, he talked about his time on the set and his involvement with the production. The fact he was involved is actually not the norm for a movie being adapted. Usually the rights are sold and the producers and directors have the freedom to hatchet away, but this didn't happen to Dennis with Mystic River. While the movie isn't exactly like the novel, it's pretty true to form. Kudos to Clint Eastwood and the screenwriting for saving the integrity.

My point (If I really even have one) is that I urge people to read the novel Gone Baby Gone before you start hearing the hoopla. Yes, the story touches the lives of many Americans, especially those with young children, but I am ever-fearful of such adaptations. Not that I think either Affleck would do an injustice to the novel. Both are friends with Lehane and Boston natives as well, but sometimes Hollywood has an influence that even a hot young director can't control. The subject matter is in no way light-hearted, nor is Lehane's writing. While Gone Baby Gone is actually the 4th in a five-novel detective series, it's power in character development, setting, honesty, and pure story-telling talent makes it one of my favorite thrillers I've read.

Once you read Dennis Lehane, you may become addicted. Or like me, you may aspire to be a writer, but that's for another time and post. For more info on Dennie Lehane and all his work, checkout his website.

"Once In A Lifetime: The New York Cosmos"

There are times in life when we see something that just blows us away and we feel the need to share. Having just watched the 2006 documentary titled, "Once In A Lifetime: The New York Cosmos," I felt so compelled.

I have to preface by saying that as a 33-year-old soccer fan, who has had the opportunity to live in a land where football (soccer) is the number one sport, and then returning here to the US where it is still trying to establish itself; I was blown away by this movie. Like most soccer fans, I likened the now defunct North American Soccer League with the New York Cosmos and the Cosmos with Pele. Aside from knowing that in the late-70's they sold out games at Giant's Stadium, my knowledge of the team was so limited. I knew that Franz Beckenbauer played for the team and that it was founded prior to his arrival, the teams and indeed the leagues success began with the most lucrative financial sports signing of the time in that of Pele.

Prior to seeing this, I was of the idea that the Cosmos were a team of has-beens who played against the never-weres, and whereas the latter is by-in-large true, The New York Cosmos team from 1975-1981 - particularly 76-79, was probably one of the best line-ups of playing talent ever - in any league. Yet with such an abundance of talent come the inevitable clashes of egos, which we in the US see all too often in our sports.

I choose not to write a lot about the content of this movie because I think it's important for any fan of soccer to rent and watch it for yourselves. I guarantee that your outlook on the development of soccer in the US will be seen in a different light. This movie changed my opinion and outlook on the long term prospect of the sport in our country and the reasons are many.

One thing is clear, the Cosmos and NASL grew too big and too fast. They were marketed poorly to Americans and without long term planning and player development, they were destined to fail, but for those great few years, I think there were wheels put in motion, which while not tangible, are evident today. I think that the folks who are so desperately trying to make the MLS work, understand what happened with the Cosmos and the NASL and thus are taking a different approach and letting the league grow a slow rate. I think the addition of a star like David Beckham is more than a shot in the arm. I think it's a first piece of a larger puzzle. Having learned more and more about soccer's successes and woes in the US I find people like Jim Rome to be absolutely wrong when saying that soccer has no future in the US. I just think that there are still so many people that don't get it, but if you look at the numbers, the MLS is growing in attendance and youth soccer is still the faster growing sport in the US.

Will the MLS ever be on par with the Premier League? Perhaps not, but I will not say no. I think that the sky truly is the limit for this sport and that without the lessons of the Cosmos as well as the huge, albeit short burst of enthusiasm of the sport over two decades ago, we wouldn't be where we are now.

This movie needs to be seen if you love soccer, history, and want to take a nostalgic look back American sports. Decide for yourself if Steve Ross was a visionary or threw around money in the wrong places. You, like me, will understand that the first team to sell out Giant's Stadium was not the Giants and the first million dollar players were not from our "big 4" leagues. While these two things have little to do with the huge impact this team had, they are interesting fact that when a few men have a dream, that dream can carry on, even after the initial impact is seemingly gone.