Micheal Crichton writing as his alter-ego John Lange delivers a fast-paced, odd, and occasionally uneven tale with Drug of Choice. I think the biggest problem with the story is that its too short. A number of the sequences could have been expanded on to unnerve the reader and immerse them into the mystery of what…
Tag: fast-paced
The Pearl of Death (1944) – Roy William Neill
Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are deep in it again this week as the take on The Pearl of Death. Using Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Six Napoleons as its basis, this tale ends up being a lot of fun. After Holmes foils Naomi Drake’s (Evelyn Ankers) attempt to steal the famous Borgia…
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) – John Rawlins
Nazis, I hate these guys. Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes leaves behind the trappings of the 19th century for this 1940s adventure, based loosely on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tale His Last Bow. A radio broadcast from Germany is threatening destruction on England, and it gleefully predicts and calls out each moment of destruction with eerie…
Alien: Out of the Shadows (2014) – Tim Lebbon
It’s been a long time since I picked up an Alien novel. I dug the Alien 3 novel based on the original script by William Gibson, and before that I read Alan Dean Foster’s adaptation of Aliens bach when it first came out. But I was eager to dig into the universe again, I was…
The Mercy of Gods (2024) – James S.A. Corey
When I see James S.A. Corey on the front of a book, I know I can buy it whether I know anything about it or not. I love their storytelling style, and The Mercy of the Gods, the first book in a new trilogy called The Captive’s War. Shorter than some of the entries in…
The Package (1989) – Andrew Davis
Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy and Tommy Lee Jones headline another Andrew Davis chase movie that counts among its cast, Pam Grier, Kevin Heard, and Dennis Franz. It’s a fairly well-crafted military thriller that seems to have the recurring themes of chases, Chicago and conspiracies running through it. This time out, Gene Hackman plays Master Sergeant…
The Paper (1994) – Ron Howard
Ron Howard and Michael Keaton paired up again for The Paper, a break-neck paced film about newspapers and journalism that still gets the adrenaline going while discussing the ethics of what is published. Set in a tabloid newspaper in New York, Howard and frequent producer Brian Grazer bring a script by David and Stephen Koepp…
Later (2021) – Stephen King
I have raved countless times about how much I love Stephen King novels. I love when I hit up one I have never read, though they are becoming fewer in number. Happily, Later was one that I hadn’t dug into yet and it absolutely delighted me. Later introduces us to Jamie Conklin, a young boy…
Armour of God (1986) – Jackie Chan
Jackie Chan directs and stars in this romp that seems to be a bit of a nod to an Indiana Jones-style adventure. Shot across Europe it’s not quite as exotic looking as a Jones film, or a Bond film for that matter, but it’s fast-paced, has some goofy humour, and features solid iconic stuntwork. Asian…
The Andromeda Strain (1969) – Micheal Crichton
I’ve read lots of horror novels, and enjoy Stephen King’s stories but nothing I’ve read in the genre has ever gotten under my skin and unnerve me. Michael Crichton’s The Andromeda Strain got me. I think the story got wrapped up too quickly, but the essence of the story really got to me, and seemed…
The Mind Reels 