O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
— Miranda, “The Tempest,” by William Shakespeare
Tag Archives: Eric Robert Nolan
My beard has a name, and it is Grendel.
Seriously, it’s huge. I think it might soon require it’s own social security number.
I’m starting to think it might rival the face-manes of pals John Kerr and Pete Harrison. I’ll post pics when I can.
In other news, I am trying to pen a poem about a raven. Someone gave me a funny look and told me that it’d been done … apparently there’s ANOTHER poem about a raven by a well known poet?
I’ve got submissions in to a few online publishers, for flash fiction and poetry — I’ll let you know if anything is accepted.
I wrote a zombie long story that actually DOES have a main character based on me, which is a first. His name is Steve, and he’s inquisitive and physically quick. Also penned my first (and predictably dark) time-travel tale, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.
And I’m hard at work behind the scenes on a major project as well. I hope everyone is having a terrific holiday season!!!
Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes”
Stephen King’s “Mr. Mercedes” is a terrific thriller that will be sure to please his fans. It’s the story of very unlikely heroes and friends pursuing an at-large, highly intelligent and remorseless spree killer/serial killer.
It is occasioanlly slow. We spend way too much time getting to know Hodges, for example, before his character becomes either likable or even plot-relevant. But this is forgivable for such a great book. I loved the characters and found certain scenes touching. And the character development for the eponymous Mr. Mercedes is consistently disturbing.
And for horror fans … Jeez, does this book deliver. It’s a frightening story, to say the least. One part, involving a certain mixup (I can’t say more without spoilers), is positively horrifying, even by Stephen King standards.
My pal Steve Miller told me that this is the start of a trilogy — I can’t wait for the next installment.
A veritable flood of ideas for short stories —
— characters, motivations, voices, plot connections. Their lives touch or intersect when an overarching mystery threatens them all. I can hardly write fast enough to get it all down.
And yet … I can’t manage a single word of poetry. Assonance, aliteration, metaphor … I reach and it’s just not there, which has never really happened before.
The human brain is a strange thing.
Anyway, alums … with the above, I am starting what I hope will be a set of five closely connected short stories — Mary Washington College will be in the backstories of many characters (i.e., college students on holiday break).
A quick review of “Iron Man 3” (2013)
I love all the “Iron Man” movies, and I was never even a fan of the comic book character. They’re the smartest movie franchise Marvel’s got going, with more plot, story and characters, all combined with the action and special effects for a great comic book movie. (They’re only real competitor in these areas would be Spider-Man 2.) This was just great – I’d give it a 9 out of 10..
My review of “The Hunger Games” (2012)
I am blogging some of my past years’ movie reviews on Facebook — this was what I thought of “The Hunger Games.”
*****
Yeah, okay. As it turns out, “The Hunger Games” (2012) was actually a really good movie – I’d cheerfully give it an 8 out of 10. I thought that this would be a sci-fi equivalent of a Twilight franchise, or a mainstreamed ripoff of “Battle Royale” (2000), but it was none of the former and only a little of the latter.
It took a decent story and populated it with fully realized, three-dimensional characters, then cast good actors across the board. You know a movie works if you’re cheering for the main protagonist. It was also a surprisingly dark story for a young adult book adaptation.
The pacing was a little off … characters and plot devices are raised and dropped a little abruptly, and you can tell they were included because they were elements of Suzanne Collins’ book that fans were expecting. And the action directing wasn’t the best I’ve seen – the final standoff was a little awkwardly staged and anticlimactic. Those are small quibbles, though.
If anyone really likes this, it might be fun to watch this and “Battle Royale” back-to-back on a rainy Saturday.
My review of “The Grey” (2012)
For a few reasons, I’m finding “The Grey” (2012) a difficult movie to review. For one, I think it’s a little hard to do without spoilers – especially with respect to the fact that this movie is absolutely NOT what viewers are expecting. For another, this appears to be a very thoughtful movie, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t understand it as well as other viewers. Finally, certain aspects of this movie really are just a matter of taste, and what some viewers like, others will abhor – especially the ending.
It was very good – I’ll tell you that much. I’d give it 8 out of 10.
If you read reviews of “The Grey” online – which I’d advise you not to do because of spoilers – you can see that many people are downright angry about this movie. There’s a good reason for that. This film’s marketers absolutely did mislead audiences with its trailer – especially with one climactic scene that DOES NOT APPEAR IN THE MOVIE.
This isn’t an action-adventure movie at all. We really don’t see “Liam Neeson kick ass.” Nor is it a survival horror movie. You could describe it as a thriller, but it’s actually very slow in some places, and has offers no “payoff” or climax. I think it’s an existential drama, and it’s heavy with symbolism. An online review from The Guardian informs me that the wolves are a metaphor for death, and I’m embarrassed to admit I never picked up on that. I thought they were an arbitrary plot device set up to explore the characters’ coping abilities. Maybe they were that too?
This film is very dark, and sometimes even depressing. I almost found it too much. That statement says a lot coming from me, because I’ve seen a lot of horror movies and war movies. When, near the end, my favorite character drowned in a particularly frustrating way, I started to feel that the screenwriter simply wanted to depress me.
I remain just a little confused about this movie’s themes. I was surprised to learn that this was marketed as a movie with Christian messages. That befuddles me. Characters express faith and are not rewarded for it. Fate deals out miserable ends to good people. At one point, Liam Neeson literally curses God and appears to renounce his faith. Neeson’s character does draw strength from his past experiences in order to fight and survive. But is this necessarily a Christian message? To me, that sounds like Freudian sublimation. There also appear to be some pretty questionable messages. Characters try their hardest and show character and courage – then fail. One character gives up entirely and resigns himself to certain death … and this choice seems to be represented quite favorably. Huh?
Finally, the ending is extremely ambiguous and open-ended. You really don’t find out “what happens at the end.” You don’t. Many people don’t know that there is a “cookie,” or post-credits sequence, in which we see more of the final scene. But this sequence is also ambiguous, and offers no clear ending to the story.
With all of that said, I actually would recommend this. It just happens to be a very well made movie. The directing was generally good. (This is despite the fact that I think we see way too little of the wolves; I’m the type of guy who actually wants to “see the monster” and not have all of it left to my imagination.) There’s one scene in which one character sees another after falling from a tree that is rendered just beautifully. (You kind of have to see it to get what I’m talking about.)
The characters and dialogue are extremely well written. To a man, the acting is top-notch. Liam Neeson is fantastic. And yet even he is nearly upstaged by Dallas Roberts, whose performance in a supporting role was flawless.
Even the sound effects and editing were great. Among many other things, the sounds of the animals were superbly rendered. At one point, the roar of the “alpha wolf” sounds like a@#$% tiger, and it scares the *&^% at of you at a key moment.
If anyone really liked this movie, as I did, there are two even better movies that incorporate similar settings and plots. The first is “The Edge” (1997), which parallels this movie perfectly and is much more satisfying. The second is the incredibly underrated “Frozen” (2010), which is one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. There are also two famous short stories that have a lot in common with this movie: Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” and Saki’s “The Interlopers.”
All in all, this was a well made film, but it still might disappoint those who were expecting something else.
A few quick words about “The Last Exorcism Part 2” (2013)
“The Last Exorcism Part 2” wasn’t quite as bad as everyone else said it was – I’d give it a 7 out of 10. Ashley Bell is a terrific actress, and many scenes were nice and creepy. I like stuff that’s a little more creative and interesting than standard slasher fare.
A few flaws stand out. The scene where she hovers above the bed is obviously wirework if we can see the actress swinging back and forth. It also boggles the mind that we see zero evidence of police involvement throughout the movie. This was still fun, though.
“There In The Bags,” by Eric Robert Nolan
Happy Halloween, everybody!! Here’s a little something for your trick-or-treat bag — a little horror flash fiction entitled “There In The Bags.”
This was one of my entries into Microfiction Monday Magazine’s 100-Word Horror Story Challenge. It was rejected by the publisher, while two other of my submissions were selected. I still have a soft spot in my heart for this one, though, because it’s just a brainless little gory ghost story.
Enjoy. 🙂
*****
“There in the Bags.”
Us little people dump the bags in the hospital basement – not them six-figure docs.
The trick is not thinkin’ about what’s in ‘em. It’s tough. I mean … they’re bright red, and the big black letters say “MEDICAL WASTE.”
My co-worker Barry’s a jerk. Keeps laughing and reminding me what’s in there – placentas, blood, gangrened burn tissue … maybe even a severed arm. Barry jokes that maybe a departed soul from a dead man will get lost and wind up there in the bags. Try to come back.
I want Barry here, now. God, I do.
One bag just moved.
What on earth was my COSTUME supposed to be?!
Burn victim? Zombie? Guy at the zoo at whom the monkeys accurately threw their feces?!
Anyway, this is me, circa … 1989 or so, at a Halloween party at Carrie Schor’s house (then Carrie Harbach) in Lake Panamoka, New York. Carrie always did throw the funnest parties at her house.
I lament this picture a bit because, as a child, I had a veritable FLAIR for Halloween costumes — you should have seen my incredible homemade Ghostbusters costume in 1985. It was the toast of Lake Panamoka.
But the makeup job depicted above just speaks of minimal effort.
The young lady pictured is Julianne Whitehead, another Longwood High School Alum, a great old friend, and one of the coolest girls I have ever been privileged to know.
Thanks for the photo, Carrie!!
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 