Author of sci-fi/fantasy, horror and adventure/thriller fiction

GREYHOUND (2020)

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Wow, now THIS is how you make a war movie. If you’re a war movie buff, especially WW2 movies, you owe it yourself to check out GREYHOUND (2020) ASAP.

Based on the book THE GOOD SHEPHERD by C.S. Forester, who produced the classic Hornblower series, GREYHOUND focuses on U.S. Navy Commander Ernest Krause, captain of the destroyer GREYHOUND and assigned to escort a convoy of supply ships streaming across the North Atlantic to aid besieged Britain. It’s his first operation, and he’s about to be baptized the hard way into the horrors of the Battle of the Atlantic. The most dangerous part of the voyage is a stretch of sea in which the convoy will be unprotected by air cover and under constant threat by German U-Boats. Almost immediately, a wolf pack collects around the ships, intent on ripping the convoy to shreds.

Starring as Krause, Tom Hanks also wrote the script, and he didn’t mess with the accuracy. The movie rolls out like a military procedural. We see the destroyer’s bridge crew work together under his direction, as he is forced to respond to constant threats and make tough choices with barely a break. The film gets everything right–the procedures, the gun battles, the way the crew look at their captain not only for direction and inspiration but to check if he’s cracking under the strain. The tension is terrific, the roiling cold seas a powerful setting, the German U-Boats with their distinctive insignia terrifying as they boldly attack like sharks. Characterization isn’t staged or forced to try to make us care. Good acting by Hanks and his captain’s mannerisms and working style tell us everything we need to know about him and make us root for him.

If you can’t tell yet, I loved this one and highly recommend it. It defies typical Hollywood movie conventions to offer something simple, entertaining, and pure.

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY

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I eagerly anticipated LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, HBO’s cosmic horror drama series. Loosely based on the novel by Matt Ruff, it takes us into the Lovecraft mythos through an African-American lens while examining big themes like America’s sad history of deep prejudice. Despite nailing many core elements, the show is so scattered and unfocused that despite the show’s earnest appeal to invest in the characters, I just couldn’t. There’s enough drama and spectacle to make it fun, but it often felt more like work than play.

The show has a fantastic premise, which is a family that practices magic has an African-American branch through bastardy, creating competition for a powerful birthright. Unfortunately, this premise doesn’t crystallize until we’re deep into the show, which kitchen-sinks Lovecraftian elements that are never really scary or do what cosmic horror is supposed to do, which is create a sense of wonder, mystery, and dread. (The girls who appear in a curse are a fantastic exception, they were amazing.) The result feels more like an anthology than a coherent story as long side trips are taken into explorations of prejudice against Blacks, women, homosexuals, and enemies in war, though the overarching narrative does eventually come together nicely at the end, with some brave story choices and satisfying sense of empowerment. The real horror in the show comes from, well, White people, who almost hunt Black people for sport, which can make the show feel exhausting at times but provocatively and ably also show White viewers what it’s like to live day to day as a target of mindless prejudice. There are frequent nonfiction recordings playing over visuals, pithy statements by great thinkers like James Baldwin, that give the show real gravitas early on but later clash as the show barrels ahead into full-on ’50s pulp.

Now to some of the story basics. The setting is fantastic, the horror effects are solid, and the acting is amazing, with the actors pouring every ounce of their hearts and being into their roles. These elements provide a solid bedrock for the series. Unfortunately, despite all that, character motivation and conflict change on a dime episode to episode, making it almost impossible for me to invest in them and care what happened. After a few episodes, the show felt like a hot mess, pulpy and fun at times but with shifting characters and discordant heavy thematic forays toward gravitas. One of the show’s producers is Jordan Peale of US and GET OUT fame, so it’s not surprising the show is a little nuts but sharply provocative, but while the approach works for me in his movies, it doesn’t quite in ten hours of series viewing.

So overall, I liked LOVECRAFT COUNTRY but despite its courage and distinct identity, I didn’t love it. It’s got a lot of great elements but they just didn’t come together right for me until too late, and its focus on pulp over cosmic dread waters down the power of the story.

THE KILLER ANGELS by Michael Shaara

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Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, required reading at military schools, the basis for the movie GETTYSBURG, and apparently an indirect inspiration for Joss Whedon developing the TV series FIREFLY, Michael Shaara’s THE KILLER ANGELS remains a classic war novel. I recently finished what must be my fifth reading of it, and I still love it.

The novel relays the events of the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most decisive battles of the Civil War. The story mostly focuses on the perspectives of Generals Lee and Longstreet on the Confederate side and General Buford and Colonel Chamberlain on the Union side. The story is character-driven, deeply insightful into combat and how the contestants viewed the causes of the war, poetic, and marked by incredibly artful and dramatic action scenes. It’s raw, honest, beautiful, and bears repeat reading.

If you’re interested in war fiction and the Civil War and haven’t discovered this gem yet, definitely check it out. Be sure to avoid the Lost Cause propaganda abomination that was GODS AND GENERALS, the film sequel to GETTYSBURG based on the novel by Shaara’s son, Jeff Shaara.

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

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Aaron Sorkin’s latest film, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (Netflix) takes on one of the most notorious trials in history. It is roughly based on actual events, inviting exploration of the actual history of what was arguably a political trial, and focuses on telling a story that is in many ways a reflection of our own turbulent times. It’s smart, it’s provocative, and it should make you angry.

In history, the Chicago Seven were seven leaders of various antiwar groups who called on them to come to Chicago during the Democratic Convention in 1968 to protest and demand an end to the war in Vietnam. (Bobby Seale, cofounder of the Black Panther Party, was the eighth, though he was eventually removed from the trial.) What followed in Chicago was brutal suppression of the protestors and violent retaliation in what ended up being called a “police riot,” in which hundreds of protestors and officers were injured.

The outgoing Johnson Administration decided the riots in Chicago were largely the result of mishandling by police. The incoming Nixon Administration, however, decided to make an example of and attack the antiwar movement, citing a new law against crossing state lines to incite violence. The protest leaders were arrested and charged.

What followed was not so much a courtroom drama as a circus, as the defendants, which included the likes of Abbie Hoffman (perfectly played in the film by Sascha Cohen) and Jerry Rubin, treated it as a joke, while the judge, Julius Hoffman (perfectly played by the great Frank Langella) was openly hostile to the defense, making the whole thing feel rigged. The defendants were convicted and sentenced both for inciting riots and numerous counts of contempt, all of which was overturned by the appeals court.

Much of what made it into the film is fictional, though providing a poignant reflection of our times, similar to the way Netflix’s WACO wasn’t accurate but still packed a hell of a punch as a story. The film focuses on issues of racism, social injustice, police overreach and brutality, and political suppression, declaring the trial a political trial in which the defendants were facing jail time for having “wrong” ideas. Among the defendants, we hear plenty of debate about respectability politics, what kinds of political protest and action work and what doesn’t, and whether mass movements are effective if they don’t work within the system–none of it surprising from the guy who wrote THE WEST WING and disparaged the Occupy Wall Street movement, though his script is surprisingly kind to Hoffman, who was far more wacky and offensive in the real courtroom than in the fictional one.

Overall, THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 is great–smart, provocative, powerful, and easy to relate to.

THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR

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Based on Henry James’ novella THE TURN OF THE SCREW, THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR (Netflix) brings back most of the cast of the successful HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE for another emotional, creepy ride. The character-driven narrative was a big too slow burn for me, and the gradual collision of its parts didn’t produce as big an explosion as HILL HOUSE achieved (starting with that stupendous episode 6 at the funeral home). Nonetheless, it’s a great ghost story–multilayered, emotionally deep, and very Gothic.

The story focuses on Dani, an American plagued by guilt living in the UK, where she applies for and gains a job as a governess for two precocious but troubled children, Miles and Flora, whose parents died a year earlier. The staff–the kind-hearted housekeeper, humorous cook, and brassy gardener–welcome her, as do the children, though the kids appear to have a secret. The secret, of course, has to do with a haunting…

Despite taking a bit too long to build tension, this was very enjoyable fare. As with HILL HOUSE, we get frequent digressions in various episodes to examine past events and how they affected each of the major characters. As with HILL HOUSE, sometimes the ghosts are psychological–the “Ghost” in the character arc portrayed as a recurring, haunting mental image–and sometimes the ghosts ar all too real. This is clearly a story about people that happens to have ghosts in it, not the other way around. All the characters are likeable or at least sympathetic. There are thankfully fewer jump scares than HILL HOUSE, as I’m not a big fan of the device, but when they come, they’re much more powerful, particularly when the main ghost is revealed. On a final note, I particularly enjoyed how a same-gender romance was portrayed. It feels completely organic–the people involved displayed real chemistry that starts the first time they meet–and is the best portrayal I’ve seen.

Overall, I’m thankful for this series, which reminds us that in a genre crammed with torture, shock, and jump scares, there are great literary horror watches that focus on character and theme.