Sep 19 2008
Book Request
What are some well-known books that have major flaws? We’re looking for books to use to help our readers improve their writing, so I’d especially appreciate books that are superhero-related, fantasy or sci-fi.
Our RSS Feed- 2020: Even Wonder Woman Lets Us Down–Wonder Woman 1984 is not nearly as good at the original. Pluses: the cast is still very charming, and a few of the fight scenes are effective. I did actually like most of the first hour of the movie. –Setting: In the original Wonder Woman, the WWI setting contributes to a hard bleakness which effectively […]
- FRPERG ONFR CypherIn Griftlands, Rook finds a rebel map with FRPERG ONFR written on it and chuckles. The writing doesn’t explain this, but it’s a crude cypher for SECRET BASE. Solution: rotate each letter 13 digits. E.g. the secret message starts with F, the 6th letter of the alphabet, and adding 13 turns it into S (the […]
- Captain Marvel Review: 1.5 Stars Out of 51. I don’t know where to start with Captain Marvel. So many things went so wildly wrong that we’d need a presidential commission to get to the bottom of it. It’s like the Chernobyl of superhero movies. 2. If at any point you feel like your action movie would benefit from a character whose main […]
- Spider-Man: Far From Home Review (1 star out of 5)1. This version of Spider-Man is a useless toolbox who actively avoids doing interesting things, and what he does attempt is usually wimpy and/or incompetent. 2. Unlike most main characters, his choices don’t matter much. For example, he chooses to leave his supersuit at home (but his aunt sneaks it in anyway) and he tries […]
- Rotten Tomatoes Score Dataset UpdatedWe’re up to 72 superhero movies since 2000 (current as of November 2017). You can download the full data here. Some observations: R movies are making up the quality gap with PG-13 movies. Superhero movies are improving. Over the last 5 years (2013-2017), the average superhero movie is averaging 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, up […]
- Letters from DeadpoolHey DeadPool, You are a funny guy. How did you become a super hero? What do you do when you’re not doing anything? Do you like being a superhero? Why do you wear a mask? Why do you wear red and white? Are you Canadian? Getting superpowers is sort of a long story. Some people […]
- Preliminary review of Dr. StrangeI feel like a marketing executive put a gun to the screenwriter’s head and said “I don’t CARE what the movie is about, put New York City, London, and Hong Kong in it. Just do that thing where the villain is trying to collect plot coupons around the world in places that happen to be […]
- 2020: Even Wonder Woman Lets Us Down
Lord of the Rings. The characters are extremely bland, the writing is longwinded and occasionally aggravating, and the flaws of practically every character are blamed on a ring; no one seems to have flaws of their own accord.
Good call on LOTR! I had considered it, but initially demurred because I feared that a negative review would anger its fans. Still, what you said about its insufferable long-windedness and characterization is dead on. I’d lay at least half of the terrible fantasy writing out there at Tolkein’s feet… particularly those scenes where people sit around and eat.
One of Christine Feehan’s books. Anyone whose readers are that defensive is obviously up to no good.