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

CLEMENTINE: A SONG FOR THE END OF THE WORLD by John T. Biggs

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John T. Biggs’ intriguing apocalyptic sci-fi novel CLEMENTINE: A SONG FOR THE END OF THE WORLD is fast-moving, punchy, and filled with strange ideas–a very entertaining read, though the last act diffuses to a soft resolution.

In this novel, Clementine, a teenage girl living in Oklahoma, hears voices–as if her brain were a receiver for radio signals. Only these radio transmissions are from the future, and they predict the end of the world. This attracts the interest of Carl, a government scientist looking for a way to save humanity from extinction. She runs for it, only to be killed one of Carl’s agents–and then wake up a thousand years later. Clementine but not Clementine, and as for Carl, well, now there’s two of him.

The story rolls out as juicy as this setup sounds (no spoilers there, by the way, it’s all on the back cover). Carl and Clementine are strong characters and solid antagonists, and I found their cat and mouse conflict fun. My only criticism is the last act, while strange in its own right, becomes repetitive toward a diffused conclusion.

Overall, I liked this odd sci-fi story. Biggs is fearless in his writing and knows how to create sympathetic characters. I’m curious now to check out his other work.

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS (2018)

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MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS (2018) is an entertaining take on an interesting period of English history, in which both Scotland and England were ruled by strong women, Mary and Elizabeth. While every aspect of the film exudes competence from the settings and costumes to the cast (Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, Jack Lowden, etc.), there’s a lack of a transcendent story line that ties it all together, resulting in a film that moves in fits and starts.

In the 1500s, Henry VIII’s daughter Elizabeth I is queen of England, while Mary, who’d been wed to the French king, lives in France. When the king dies, she returns to Scotland to claim her throne. Through the bloodline, she actually has a strong claim to England’s throne as well. A Catholic taking the throne in Scotland causes turmoil, and if Mary were to become queen of England, it might provoke civil war. Meanwhile, both Mary and Elizabeth struggle as women in a masculine world, as marrying would mean surrendering independence and power.

The film offers quite a bit of promise in the cordial but strained relationship between these two monarchs, but much of the film deals with Mary struggling with consolidating power in Scotland. Everything works well for the viewer except after the terrific setup, the plot stumbles from one challenge to the next without a cohesive narrative tying it together. For me, this made MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS a pretty good, but not a great, movie. Overall, I give it a B+.

THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN BIGFOOT (2019)

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Starring the great Sam Elliott, THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN BIGFOOT (2019) sounds like fun, and it kind of is. Despite competent production and being full of heart, however, this disjointed film is also a bit of a letdown. The whole experience is kind of like being a kid told to get in the car cuz you’re going somewhere super fun, only to find out it’s the grocery store.

The film is about Calvin (Elliott), living out his old age in seclusion. Calvin obviously has a big hole in his life, apparently flirting with suicide and experiencing flashbacks to his mission to kill Hitler during World War 2, which made him a legend nobody ever heard of. Then government agents arrive to ask him to do one more mission for his country–kill Bigfoot, a creature living in the Canadian wilderness, which is carrying a horrific plague capable of wiping out all life on the planet, one Calvin is among the few who are naturally immune. He takes the mission, kills Bigfoot, and comes home. No spoilers here; it’s all in the title. Otherwise, a big part of the film is a romance between Calvin and the woman he loved before the war, which ended tragically.

As I said, there are a lot of solid elements here. Sam Elliott, the romance, Calvin’s relationship with his younger brother, a sad meditation on living one’s old age haunted by one’s regrets, how he feels about killing Hitler, and let’s not forget the promise of killing Hitler and Bigfoot. However, the film doesn’t unite them, resulting in a disjointed story that doesn’t quite make Calvin a superhero, doesn’t explain a bunch of meaningful incidents like what’s in the box and the pebble in his shoe, and for a character-driven story doesn’t explore Calvin’s few relationships, like the one with his younger brother and more detail about what happened to the woman he loved. Even the killing of Hitler and Bigfoot are kind of glossed over and a bit of a letdown. The whole thing is so odd I kept wondering if there was going to be a gotcha reveal that it’s all in his head.

I can almost see where the filmmakers were aiming, and it would have been something amazing if they’d pulled it off. Instead, we get a lot of great elements that are glossed over without anything holding them together. It’s a weird movie for me, as I want to say I liked it but can’t quite bring myself to do it. So give it a shot if you’re in the mood for something really quirky, noting a strong YMMV warning.

VELVET BUZZSAW (2019)

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Horror movie/art world satire VELVET BUZZSAW (2019, caught on Netflix) works far better as satire than a horror film, but the result is a lot of fun in no small part due to solid performances from a terrific cast.

The film initially introduces us to art critic Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal delivering a unique blend of earnest and smarmy), who at an art convention starts an affair with Josephina (Zawe Ashton), an employee of Rhodora Haze (Renee Russo, rocking it), owner of the lucrative Haze Gallery and formerly a member of a rock band called Velvet Buzzsaw.

When an old man in Josephina’s building dies, she discovers a treasure trove of paintings in his apartment that are disturbingly visceral. Knowing they are bound for the trash, she takes them and cuts a deal with Rhodora to sell them to her rich clients. But the paintings are haunted, and don’t want to be sold, resulting in a trail of death.

The deaths themselves are predictable and not very interesting, though there are some superbly comical elements to it, such as people visiting a museum mistaking a blood-soaked corpse as being part of the exhibit and admiring it. Where VELVET BUZZSAW shines is in its satire of the high-brow art world. The ensemble collection of characters, all played by solid actors from Gyllenhaal and Russo to John Malkovich, are all bullshitting, backstabbing, manipulative, ruthless, and greedy, so there’s a comeuppance aspect to their deaths. The esoteric art dialogue is spot on for the kinds of things you hear in that world, as is the industry insider machinery engaged in building brand and value into artists and art.

Unfortunately, while the satire shines and the characters make the movie a lot of fun, as a horror film, VELVET BUZZSAW is weak and predictable, and even though the characters die “artistically,” let’s say, the two elements of the film never really mesh to its rich potential. An example of a missed opportunity is the paintings exact misery on their owners individually, while I kept hoping for a wholesale massacre at a museum exhibit, which would have made for an amazing climax.

Overall, VELVET BUZZSAW is fun and quirky, and I enjoyed it, though as a horror movie it could have been so much more.