Black Dog (1998):

When I was a young kid, one of my neighbors was a long-haul truck driver. I’d see him climb into his rig and watch as he fired up the engine and drove away. The thought of thundering down the highways in one of those giant vehicles seemed to me, at that impressionable age, like a glamorous and exciting goal to aim for when I grew up.

Life didn’t pan out that way and I never became a truck driver, but I always remember my youthful dreams when I watched movies like Convoy (1978) and Black Dog (1998).

Written by William Mickelberry and Dan Vining, and directed by Kevin Hooks, Black Dog opens with the first of several well-staged car/truck chase sequences.

Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze), is an ex-con with limited choices and a wife and daughter to support. He finds himself caught between a financial rock and a hard place when he falls behind with the house payments. His boss, Cuttler (Graham Beckel), refers him to the coupon-clipping religious-maniac crook, Red (Meat Loaf), for a no-questions-asked driving job that pays well enough to save him and his family from eviction. Crews’ wife, Melanie

(Brenda Strong) urges him not to take the job, but the money is too tempting and he takes to the road with Earl (Randy Travis), and with Sonny (Gabriel Casseus), and Wes (Brian Vincent) following close behind the truck in a Camaro.

The consignment is a wagon load of toilets, until closer inspection also reveals a hidden cache of weapons. The illegal run is then beset with further hazards when Red attempts a double-cross to hijack the load for himself.

Further complications ensue when FBI agent, Ford (Charles Dutton), and ATF agent, McClaren (Stephen Tobolowsky), have to put aside their differences and work together to bring the gun-runners to justice.

The title, Black Dog, is a reference to the insidious fatigue that can creep up on a driver during the long hauls, causing them to lose concentration, or even fall asleep at the wheel, which resulted in Crews serving a two-year jail term for vehicular manslaughter.

This, for me, is one of Patrick Swayze’s better roles. His career waned somewhat since the success of earlier movies like Point Break, Ghost and Dirty Dancing. He was a versatile actor, multi-talented and often better than the material he had to work with. His death from cancer, at the age of 57, was both tragic and untimely.

Some may sneer and call Black Dog a dumb movie and, in many ways, it is … but so what? The plot is simple; there are some clichés and lines of corny dialogue, but it’s also entertaining and a lot of fun to watch. If you’re looking for something light to help you wind down at the end of a long day, you can do a lot worse than this movie. Black Dog doesn’t take itself too seriously and is no more improbable than other movies about giant CGI robots that create a lot of stupid migraine-inducing noise, zombies, people who can fly, become invisible, walk through walls, cast spells, suck people’s blood to hold off the ageing process, shape-shift into wolves, or aliens that burst out of people’s chests and run amok. Many people who sneer at Black Dog would most likely have no problem enjoying those other movies … if they admitted it.

Finally, it’s all about the trucks, the cars, the carnage, the speed, the spectacle, and the well-staged stunts, all of which combines to make Black Dog a fast and engaging ride.

Enjoy it for what it is.

Impediments (Sonnet Trilogy #1) , by Lee Holz:

Opening with a celebration on June 5, 1970, Gerard Letrange, on his 35th birthday, sits in contemplative mood as he looks across Lake Geneva. He reflects on his life so far, as he prepares to attend a family get-together in his honor. He was born into a privileged and financially secure family in the banking sector. His friends are similarly affluent and their lives and interactions are recounted here over two decades, as their personalities are forged through a periodic series of dances, study, chess, swimming, tennis, discussions on the popular culture of the day, hiking, poker games, college fraternities, the passions, pains and desires of the transition from youth to adulthood, along with the imposed manners and etiquette of high-society living, where people drive Rolls Royce cars and smoke Montechristo cigars.
Will these friends and lovers remain as such as time progresses and they strive to secure lucrative careers and positions in the world?
What changes will settling into marriage and domesticity bring to them?
Will life hold up to their high standards and expectations?
This is the first book of a trilogy that sets the stage for the next two books in the series: Alteration and True Minds.
Although a gentler story than his first two hard-edged Tom Bowin thrillers (The Abomination Assignment and The Honeymoon Assignment), this is another story that is thoughtful and accomplished in detail, pans out over separate continents and takes in a variety of well developed characters in an interesting period drama. I admire authors who don’t get mired down in one particular pattern of writing and what has impressed me about this book is that author, Lee Holz, has tackled different genres with equal skill.

Grouchy old bastard … at 44!!!

I’ve been informed that I’m getting grouchy. Or … more grouchy than I usually am when I point and swear at the television whenever there’s a politician on screen telling lies. Over the previous couple of weeks, I’ve been like the proverbial bear with the sore head because I’ve been struggling with a head-cold, made worse with a dose of sinusitis, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, lethargy, and if there was a market for snot I’d have made a fortune from the amount I produced. ICK!!! It’s had a devastating affect on my productivity. A few brief notes and memos scribbled, but no new pages established, and I kept my online time to just long enough to process any new orders I received, and then I promptly logged off again. Looking at the VDU monitor felt like I was provoking a migraine. I decided it was best to play it safe while my body finally won the war against this seasonal illness, but it ratcheded up my grouchometer a few more notches.
I turned 44-years-old last Friday.
It’s not a remarkable age in the grand scheme of things, but still a wake-up call to me that I’m not 43 anymore. What changes do I notice? Not too many other than my eyebrows are acquiring some white strands, so my winter plumage is getting a foothold.
Some friends I have conversations with on a regular basis have commented on how my sense of humor ranges from dry wit to zany practical joking, depending on my mood and the situations. This led to a conversation on who we imagine we’d all most likely be in our old age. So far, I have been likened to three fictional characters:

Walter Matthau, as Max Goldman, in Grumpy Old Men (1993) … for his caustic wit and penchant for practical jokes.









Peter Boyle, as Frank Barone, in the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond … for his similar sarcastic sense of humor.



Finally, because I love vigilante stories so much, and again for the humor inherent in the character, including the fact that I also swear like a trooper, they chose Clint Eastwood, as Walt Kowalski, in Gran Torino (2008).
I like that character best of all and it’s a vision of myself that may well come true, as one day I sit on a porch somewhere, with drink by my side, a dog (or several dogs) keeping me company, looking around with disdain, grumbling and snarling at the world – just like old Walt.Which grouchy old bastard do you imagine you might eventually turn into?
While you ponder on that … I’ve included some other great stills below of Clint Eastwood, in the role of Walt Kowalski, in Gran Torino. A great character study and a role Clint was born to play.
So ... in a couple of decades ... you pass by a porch and see a grouchy old bastard, with a dog at his feet, drink in his hand, looking like he's snarling more than his dog ... pay him no mind ... it might just be me!

Leviathan (1989):

I ended 2011 with a great cinema movie (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), but ended it with a bad one on DVD when I bought Leviathan.
I missed this dubious cinematic gem upon it’s initial release in 1989 and I thank God I hadn’t forked out the price of a cinema ticket. Nothing worse than having handed over money at the box office, to sit there during the screening for maybe an hour (less in this case – a lot less!) and think: Damn! This movie is truly crap!
I was buying up some used books and DVDs at one of the charity stores. During my rummage, I found a few good ones to either add to my collection, or sell on.
Then suddenly I found this movie. I looked at the cover, read the blurb on the back, looked at the few still shots … thought about it … tried to remember if anyone else had ever discussed it and gave it a thumbs up, or down … couldn’t remember anyone even mentioning it (which should have been a warning) … and then I thought: why not?
So I bought it, helped the charity along a little more, took it home, and then wasted about 90 minutes of my life watching it.
For those who haven’t seen it … stop me when this sounds familiar:
The crew of Shack 7 are an ocean bed mining operation on a 90 day shift cycle.
The Abyss, or Outland anyone?
They discover a sunken shipwreck, the Leviathan of the title, wherein one of the crew retrieves the safe in the hope of claiming a fortune in lost treasure, but instead unleashes a parasitic organism … sounds feasible!
Alien, or John Carpenter’s The Thing anyone?
Even the noises of the computers sound exactly like those of Blade Runner and Alien.
The biggest rip-off is the scene that will have all viewers pointing at the screen and protesting that they saw that done in Jaws!
Oh, dear … I watched this movie … I still can’t believe I watched it … I will never sit through it again.
What good came of me watching Leviathan? What was the only positive thing I could take from the experience? Buying it was a donation to charity. The next time I visited the charity store, I gave it back as a donation again so they could make twice their money as a resale.
It still made me wonder why so many movies rip off classics … and do it so badly!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011):

So … 2011 is gone and we’re now into 2012. I’ll be 44 this year and there’s still so much I want to do.
I’ve broke from my normal way of doing stuff, which could be viewed as a form of organized chaos; I wrote out a daily schedule which I try to stick to as a New Year’s resolution – again something I don’t usually do. My intention is to manage my time more efficiently and consequently become more productive. My failing in the past is that I have a tendancy to forget that time actually exists. I get engrossed in something and forget to check the clock, so I forget other stuff I wanted to get done and before I know it – my stomach is growling for food and most of the day has gone.
Now, I’ll stick to a more strict schedule. If I don’t get some things done in the allotted time, it will have to roll over to the next day.
Already, in the past 3 days I have seen a benefit. I’ve also had more time to practise yoga, Tai chi, and the harmonica.
We’ll see how it all goes.
Looking back over December just gone, I also broke from my usual way of doing things when I went to see my last cinema movie of 2011. I held off watching the original 2009 movie adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, starring Noomi Rapace in the titular role of Lisbeth Salander, because I prefer to read the source novels first before seeing the movie adaptations. I have Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series trilogy of novels: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest sitting on my bookshelf, waiting for me to read them. However, I was in the city, footsore, in need of coffee and I’d already been tempted by the movie trailer, so I broke from the norm, came in from the cold, paid at the box office, and took my seat in the dark auditorium.
Few modern directors make dark thrillers better than David Fincher. His previous movies: Se7en, Panic Room and Fight Club have become modern classics. His talent for dark atmospherics was already established with the hugely under-rated Alien 3.
Daniel Craig plays magazine publisher, Mikael Blomkvist, hired by Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) to solve the mystery surrounding the murder of his young neice. This is an engrossing and multi-layered story, with a great cast playing a variety of characters that keeps the audience guessing. Mikael Blomkvist is credibly written; not the usual thriller protagonist: he shivers in the Spartan conditions of the cramped cottage he’s using as a base for his investigation, he bungles, gets hurt and needs rescuing from situations. At first angered when he finds out his background has been looked into by computer hacker and investigator Lisbeth Salander, he sees her potential and hires her to help him investigate the case. The story deals with subjects that will shake many out of their comfort zone. The theme of violence against women is never an easy one to handle and it’s presented here stark and unflinchingly.
The movie runs at almost two hours, forty minutes, but it goes by fast and left me wanting more, the mark of both great movie-making and superior story telling.
The anti-social goth Salander is by far a stronger character than Blomkvist, who would have surely perished without her intervention. She has the knack of remaining detached when he finds himself repulsed by the gory details and is compelled to turn away. She is diminutive in stature and damaged by her past experiences, having fallen victim to sleaze balls in her own life, but she’s not to be under-estimated, as several learn when they feel her wrath.
I fully recommend The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for lovers of dark thrillers with vigilante themes.
Lisbeth Salander is a lot like many books we find and know nothing about: you can’t judge them by their cover alone.

Christine, by Stephen King:

Ever wondered about those guys who say: “I love my car”, and look like they really mean it? Have you ever sympathized with wives and girlfriends who had a pained expression on their face as they complained: “He loves that car more than me”?
Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury, as red as the blood spilt during every term of ownership, in one of author Stephen King’s best horror stories about man’s abiding passion for cars, the need for speed, a greedy jealous love, and an obsession that turns into possession.
Arnie Cunningham is a lonely dork, bullied and rejected at school because of his looks and demeanor, in a plot thread reminiscent of King’s earlier book, Carrie, with the tormented being pushed to breaking point and taking bloody revenge on their tormentors. In Christine, the bullies are rebel Buddy Repperton and his gang, who torture weaker kids whenever they get the chance. Arnie’s only friend is football playing jock, Dennis Guilder, who narrates the story as a witness to the unfolding horror and ensuing tragedy. Arnie’s talent and passion is for auto-mechanics and he yearns for his own set of wheels. When he sees Christine, rusting and rotting away, in caustic old timer Roland D. Lebay’s driveway, it’s love at first sight.
Unknown to Arnie, Christine is possessed by a malign evil force that at first seduces and then destroys every owner.
Arnie’s attitude changes with his taste in clothes. His mood becomes darker and belligerent as he fixes up Christine, wins the most lusted-after girl in school, Leigh Cabot, and then alienates both his parents and Dennis.
For a while, Christine becomes the only good thing in Arnie’s life. She makes him feel invincible. But, like some bad people in society; the narcissistic, the sociopathic, those with no conscience who use, discard when there’s nothing left, then move on to the next victim, Christine is spiteful, seductively evil and relentless in her quest to take her owners on a fast ride straight to hell.It was filmed and directed by John Carpenter in 1983 and still stands as one of the most memorable movies of that decade, with an effective soundtrack and some great moments, particularly in the scene where the car rebuilds itself as Arnie watches on, and other scenes where the car communicates via the lyrics of rock ‘n’ roll songs from the era it was built.
Like Arnie points out: the thing about love … it eats … it has a voracious, all-consuming appetite, leaving no room for anything or anyone else.How far will you go for your love?


When you look at that prized possession in your life, that which Stephen King might have referred to in another of his stories as a “needful thing”, ask yourself a question:
do you own it, or does it own you?

Megan’s Way, by Melissa Foster:

Beginning in Cape Cod, 1988, Megan and Holly are teenagers and best friends enjoying the lights and laughter of a carnival. Acting on impulse, they find themselves inside the tent of an old psychic woman who delivers them a cryptic and chilling premonition. Spooked by what they hear, the two girls flee from the carnival.
Time then skips forward to 2009. Megan is now 38-years-old and a single mother earning a living as a freelance artist, as she raises her 14-year-old daughter, Olivia. Megan is gravely ill. The cancer she had once beaten has returned with a vengeance and she knows instinctively that her time is short. Faced with her own imminent mortality, and the prospect of the end coming sooner than she wanted, she must deal with the problem of who is to be Olivia’s guardian after her death.
Author Melissa Foster is a fearless writer who has produced a highly-charged emotional roller-coaster that will break readers’ hearts, as they progress through the story, and are made aware of the best and worst of human emotions and behavior. The author tackles controversial and sadly only too real issues, particularly in the part when Megan has to rescue Olivia from the clutches of a predatory rapist who has stalked her via an internet chat-room. This is an important issue: to raise parents’ awareness of the potential dangers of children being allowed to surf the internet, and the need to protect them from deviants who prowl cyberspace and hide behind avatars and aliases.
This is also a story of pain on duel levels: with one focus being on the physical and emotional agony that terminal illness brings, not only for the victim, but also the anguish experienced by close family and friends. This is coupled with the drama of the guilt the characters have over decisions they have made in the past, and the consequential stress of whether they should reveal these secrets to each other.
There are many themes for discussion: the many stages of life, those we meet and fall in love with along the way, the complexities of human relationships, the pain of illness, the mystery of death … including the transition of the soul after.
The overall message is that love overcomes all pain, and that death, no matter how agonizing and lingering, is only a temporary separation from those who have passed before and are waiting for us to follow them to that ultimately better place.
Nothing in this world lasts forever. Sooner or later, death takes all those we are closest to. It’s how we choose to come to terms and deal with that period of temporary loss and separation that is important.
The story includes an interview with the author, and a list of eight questions that make this story an excellent choice for post-reading discussions in book clubs.