THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
05/20/22 -- Vol. 40, No. 47, Whole Number 2224

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Topics:
Correction to HERO OF TWO WORLDS Review (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Mini Reviews, Part 18 (THE BETA TEST; THE CARD COUNTER;
THE FRENCH DISPATCH OF THE LIBERTY, KANSAS,
EVENING SUN; TICK, TICK ... BOOM (film reviews
by Mark R. Leeper and Evelyn C. Leeper)
STARS AND BONES by Gareth L. Powell (audio book review
by Joe Karpierz)
This Week's Reading (THE DEVIL AND MISS PRYM)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Correction to HERO OF TWO WORLDS Review (comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)

Cut-and-paste strikes again! The final paragraphs belonged with
the review of HERO OF TWO WORLDS, *not* the review of ROME'S
REVOLUTION: DEATH OF THE REPUBLIC AND BIRTH OF AN EMPIRE. :

One paragraph definitely struck me as topical:

Earlier in the trip, [Auguste] Levasseur met some hard-core
Jacksonian partisans in the Pennsylvania militia who threatened
to take up arms if their man lost. After Adams won, he ran
into them again. "Well," Levasseur said, "the great question
is decided, and in a manner contrary to your hopes, what do you
intend to do? How soon do you lay siege to the capital?"
They laughed. "You recollect our threats," one said, "we went
in truth to great lengths, but our opponents disregarded it and
acted properly. Now that it is settled all we have to do is
obey. We will support Adams as zealously as if he were our
candidate, but at the same time shall keep a close watch on his
administration and according as it is good or bad we will
defend or attack it. Four years is soon past, and the
consequences of a bad election are easily obviated."

How times have changed! :-(

[-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 18 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Here is the eighteenth--and last--batch of mini-reviews of 2021
films sent as screeners.

THE BETA TEST: In THE BETA TEST, the main character is the sort of
over-charged Hollywood agent we have seen before, except even more
so. The main character treats everyone he knows the same
infuriating way, and that saves him the effort of trying to
understand any of the people he is dealing with. Then he receives
a strange letter inviting him to an anonymous sexual encounter, and
his frantic personality becomes even more so, as he attempts to
deal with the web ensnaring him. In many ways this is reminiscent
of EYES WIDE SHUT, and indeed the filmmakers have just done a live
reading of the Stanley Kubrick classic.

Released theatrically 11/05/21; available on various streaming
services. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11738830/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_beta_test>

THE CARD COUNTER: The beginning of THE CARD COUNTER recalls many
other gambling films (CROUPIER, HARD EIGHT, 21, THE CINCINNATI
KID), and you will see some of the poker played the way it is in
CASINO ROYALE. The main character (William Tell, played by Oscar
Isaac) tells how he gambles and what his strategy (and philosophy)
is. It is always interesting to see a professional do his thing,
as well as to see the tacky neon decoration of the casino town.
But then things take a darker turn as he is visited by someone
(Cirk, played by Tye Sheridan) who wants to use Tell's past skills
to achieve his own goals. There are peculiar chuckling sounds on
the soundtrack that never get explained. Caveat: There is strong
violence and full frontal male nudity.

Released 09/10/21; available on various streaming services.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11196036/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_card_counter>

THE FRENCH DISPATCH OF THE LIBERTY, KANSAS, EVENING SUN: This is a
typical Wes Anderson film, with lots of visual jokes, and many
actors in common with THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. Indeed, the cast
is rather spectacular, with seven Oscar winners, 9 Oscar nominees,
and three long-time Anderson collaborators. The script is notable,
consisting of three separate stories supposedly printed in the
title magazine: "The Cycling Reporter" (who reports on the town of
Ennui-sur-Blase), "The Concrete Masterpiece" (about mentally
disturbed artist), "Revisions to a Manifesto" (dealing with the
"Chessboard Revolution"), and "The Private Dining Room of the
Police Commissioner", all of which interconnect. The set design
has the same sense of symmetry as THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, and is
filmed in part in color and in part in black and white.

Released theatrically 10/21/21; available on various streaming
services and on DVD from Netflix. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) or
6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8847712/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_french_dispatch>

TICK, TICK ... BOOM: TICK, TICK ... BOOM (try putting that title
into print) is about real life Jonathan Larson, who composed the
Broadway hit RENT. TICK, TICK ... BOOM is based on an earlier
"autobiographical rock monologue". Andrew Garfield, who plays
Larson, is carving out a nice career for himself, not only as Peter
Parker (Spider-Man), but also in such roles as Robin Cavendish in
BREATHE. This is a very high-energy film, which for the actors
must be a bit like acting in a marathon, even given it is not shot
all at once. It may be heretical, but I liked this better than
RENT.

Released theatrically 11/19/21; available on Netflix streaming.
Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8721424/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/tick_tick_boom>

[-mrl/ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: STARS AND BONES by Gareth L. Powell (copyright 2022,
W. F. Howes, Ltd., 8 hours and 28 minutes, ASIN: B09RLLWWZ5,
narrated by Rebecca Norfolk) (audio book review by Joe Karpierz)

The history of space opera is littered with stories of alien races
saving humanity from itself. Our alien watchers keep an eye on the
citizens of the planet, carefully watching the development of the
human race, trying to make a decision regarding the worthiness of
humanity to survive or die. Then there's stories of humanity
encountering a mysterious deadly enemy that can't be stopped.
There are tales of living ships, who are the companions and
protectors of the people of Earth. There are tales of omnipotent
overlords who ensure that humanity doesn't do anything stupid.
Most of us have read stories that contain one or two or all of
these tropes, some of which are successful and some of which are
less so.

After reading Gareth L. Powell's collaboration with Peter F.
Hamilton, LIGHT CHASER, I was sufficiently intrigued to read some
solo work by Powell. So I picked up the audio book for STARS AND
BONES, a Continuance novel. What I got was basically all of the
above, with one minor twist: the alien race wasn't necessarily
saving humanity, it was saving the Earth *from* humanity. Told in
a series of flashback chapters, we learn that the inhabitants of
Earth were doing what they do best--destroying the planet much as
we are doing today--but were set to destroy themselves in a nuclear
holocaust. Those watchful aliens, sitting out deep in the solar
system, decided that the human race was worth saving due to a
technological advance that is essentially Powell's way of getting
around the FTL problem. The Angels, as they were called, prevented
the warheads from going off, and evacuated the planet of every last
living human they could. The price for that salvation was the
humanity could never again live on a planet where they could
destroy an ecosystem like they did Earth's. Hence, the Continuance
was born, a fleet of huge living ships--most of which were
arkships that carried human beings through space--which spread
throughout the galaxy looking for a place
to settle which wouldn't run afoul of the Angel's edict.