Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Geeks.
Book Review: 'Manitou Canyon'
Cork O'Connor is a half-Irish, half-Anishinaabe Minnesotan private investigator with a history of getting in too deep. Since 1998, his sleuthing exploits have been the subject of 15 books by author William Kent Krueger, and have seen him traveling across Minnesota and north Ontario to destroy a human trafficking ring, take down corrupt business moguls, solve inexplicable murders, and rebuild a marriage with a wife whose death he'd later find himself investigating. If you haven't checked out Krueger's work, do yourself a favour and head down to your local bookstore.
By Calvin Hayes9 years ago in Geeks
The Pledge, Turn, and Prestige
Upon rewatching The Prestige, my writer brain turned on after the second line. The one where Cutter (Michael Caine) explains how every "magic trick consists of three parts or acts." I dug deeper into this epiphany and what I found on the other side was quite cool, if I do say so myself. What I’m going to propose is another way of looking at the three-act format.
By Michael Bergonzi9 years ago in Geeks
The Struggle to Adapt
The greatest pain in adapting a stage play to the screen is bridging the disconnect between the experience of a film viewer and a playgoer. Whereas the play is for the most part stationary in its setting, the film is fluid. Whereas the performance of a play is ever-changing with each performance, the film remains fixed in existence. These differences are felt most prominently in the adaptation of a Shakespearean work, as these plays were written at a time when the very concept of filmed performance was beyond the bounds of the imagination. They were written with the knowledge that the play could not be fully realized without the audience’s active suspension of disbelief. Film has neither that luxury nor burden, as modern filmmaking affords the audience with an abundance of details, ensuring their disbelief is not suspended to a point of distraction from the drama at hand. As such the Shakespearean film adaptation loses some of its originator’s charm, and in turn demands creative liberties to fill the gaps made in the act of adapting. A straightforward stage-to-screen adaptation is impossible (the word “impossible” here meaning “incapable of being good”), for the qualities of a play are far too dissonant from the qualities of a film, and therefore adaptation necessitates reimagination. This necessity can be best explored in Richard Loncraine’s 1995 film Richard III. Loncraine’s film adaptation takes incredible liberties with the source material, most namely in setting and music, while still adhering to the original text. In doing so, Loncraine more adeptly captures the original tone of Shakespeare’s play than could a film adaptation that strictly follows how the piece would have been performed at the time of its writing.
By Devin O'Brien9 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars
Hello all, and welcome to the first of presumably many book reviews to come from yours truly. Before we get into the review proper, I'd like to give a little background information regarding why I'm reviewing a seven-year-old book. The long and the short of it is this; I've challenged myself this year to read 100 books, none of which I'm allowed to have read before. Yes, I'm on track, and yes, I really do enjoy it. But reading nine or more books a month has its downside—I've had to exhaust my bookshelf to find things I haven't read yet. So, more or less, that's what's brought me to this point (and a little further info—the bulk of my reviews will be of books I've read for this challenge, so many of the books reviewed here will fall into this "dated" category).
By Calvin Hayes9 years ago in Geeks
Classic Movie Review: Pathfinder
While watching a Criterion Film on an app on your phone is something akin to listening to Beethoven’s Fifth on a blown out Walkman, I must say that my purchase of the FilmStruck app has been a pretty great investment thus far. This week alone I watched Joan Crawford and Henry Fonda in Daisy Kenyon, my 10th viewing of Bogart in In a Lonely Place and this evening I indulged my taste for obscure foreign adventure films by watching the 1987 Norwegian hunting thriller Pathfinder.
By Sean Patrick9 years ago in Geeks
No Country for Old Men
No Country for Old Men is a 2007 neo-western/thriller directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin. This bleak, nihilistic tale tells a story of morality, causality, and the inevitability of death. One day while hunting, Llewelyn Moss finds the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong: most of the gang members dead and a briefcase containing 2 Million dollars. The only survivor begs Llewelyn for water, but he ignores him and leaves with the money. That night, haunted by guilt, he returns to the scene to deliver water to the dying man, only to find out that he's already dead. This simple act of consciousness leads to his downfall, as it alerts the ruthless assassin Anton Chigurh (who is looking for the money) of his existence and things start to spiral into chaos. In the middle of all this is Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, who is trying to make sense of all the mess and come to terms with the world changing around him.
By Camilo Caballero9 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: The Hitman's Bodyguard
The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a very divisive film. Not because it has any challenging themes but rather because it is both a laugh riot and quite a bad movie. At once, The Hitman’s Bodyguard is very, quite intentionally, funny and quite poorly directed. I call the film divisive not because audiences will either love or loathe the film in equal measure but rather because I am divided personally by the fact that I repeatedly laughed quite loud during the film and by the fact that the film’s green screen effects, storytelling, and casting are so shoddy that at times I physically wretched.
By Sean Patrick9 years ago in Geeks
Most Underrated Marvel Superpowers
Throughout the history of mankind, there has been one question that has either divided or united those that give an answer. It is a question asked by children and adults like. What superpower is the best? Many respond with the obvious choices, the comic greats that have permeated pop culture since the golden age. Flight, strength, mind-reading, laser beams for eyes, x-ray vision, time manipulation. Undoubtedly there is a good reason for these to hold their place as the most sought after of abilities. They are possessed by the most famous of superheroes. But what of the unsung heroes? Do they not possess great power as well? I'm not talking about those weird forgotten superheroes. I'm talking about the guys that just need more time to shine. The most underrated Marvel superpowers are nothing to ignore, as you will see.
By Bjorn Bjornson9 years ago in Geeks
