While I haven't gotten around to reading Mike Resnick's The Buntline Special, one of the Emporium's readers, Penelopecat, has and unfortunately, according to her, It isn't all that good. The basic problems seem to be the lack of tension in the story and the lack of intriguing characters. Also people tend to get out of situations FAR to easily. It sounds like it lacks focus and even that Resnick doesn't exactly know what Western Steampunk is, or he does but doesn't know how to write it well.
Ashe Armstrong may also be reviewing The Buntline Special when he is able so stay tuned for that, but until then here is Penelopecat's Blogger Page Sinister Urge to read her review.
Its too bad you can judge a book by it's cover, because if you could The Buntline Special would be GREAT...but alas....
There has also been some early reviews of the new animated film Rango. I'm still on the fence on whether its a Weird Western, and Ive heard on both sides for and against. Some reviews have stated that the main bad guy, a rattlesnake character named Rattlesnake Jake has a mechanical pistol on his tail in place of a rattle. Also I was informed by "Anonymous" that:
There are a lot of weird things in Rango, and yes, that includes science fiction references (spot the Star Trek one if you can...) and supernatural elements. Can't say no more, but I figure you guys won't be disappointed...
"Anonymous" says that THIS review at Aint it Cool is very accurate to the film. It is from someone who saw an early screening in Phoenix. There is also a fairly spoiler filled review over at Wegotthiscovered.com if you don't mind that sort of stuff.
Regardless, it looks like its going to be a fun film, and Ill do a review after it comes out. Until then however, check out these quick videos about the recording process Gore Verbinski had the actors go through for Rango. Its actually quite entertaining. I wouldn't mind seeing the live action footage cut together as an extra on the DVD!
Rango opens on March 4th
10 comments:
If you want me to review Buntline once the semester's finished, I will but I think Penelopecat's review says it all. And sadly, she confirmed my fears about the book. I had a feeling that's how it would turn out. And I actually had the opposite thought you did about the cover. I mean, the cover's pretty, definitely but it's so painfully steampunk. The Western bits are practically lost. Ah well.
I'm still a bit excited about Rango. At the least, it looks fun and should be an interesting watch.
As for another movie, you may have actually posted about it, I haven't checked but I saw Seraphim Falls not too long ago and it's a pretty good western tale of revenge that turns into a weird tale towards the end.
Theres no pressure Ashe, I had just thought you planned to review it at somepoint. No big deal.
Personally I think the cover is kinda perty. You are right though, the Western elements do tend to get a little lost. Doc's Mustache is Western-y and the Zombie silhouette in the background (I'm assuming that's Johnny Ringo) feels Western-y, but for the most part what tells you what it is is the "A Weird West Tale" tag-line.
I love Seraphim Falls. I haven't seen it in a while, but its coming to Netflix Streaming next week, so I may just give it another chance....even though I seem to remember the Weird West-ness of it as being a little ambiguous. I still need to do a review of High Plains Invaders. I also have 2 films from Netflix that I haven't watched yet Fort Doom and Sugar Creek.
I can still. I don't mind. Just, after hearing a friend's thoughts after he finished it and reading her review, I'm not really sure what else I could say about it, ya know? If I do end up reviewing it, I will definitely send it to you though, no worries.
Yeah, I mean it's very pretty but it's just so very very steampunk. But, I'm very biased because I was into steampunk before I knew what it was and in the past few years, the height its reached is given fairly strong example in this book. It's all too much, there's no balance. Steampunk Westerns are never in danger of being too much on the "western" side.
It was very ambiguous, which made it the more weird to me. Kinda like High Plains Drifter, ya know? I remember the initial post on Invaders. I still need to watch The Burrowers. Haven't heard about the other two you mentioned there. I'll be curious to hear your thoughts.
I'm going to review Buntline Special in a couple months, but the short of it is that I think Resnick is either clocking in a Steampunk novel with all the "right" ingredients, or he's making a pretty thorough parody of the genre. It kind of depends on exactly how one interprets and entire town coated in brass.
Aside from the many trippy sequences through Rango, there are at least four references to sci fi pop culture (I feel comfortable revealing some of these things now the film is in release). There's an oblique Star Trek reference (I'm only going to say that it involves a tombstone and you'll need a DVD player to pick it); an overt referral to alien abduction; a Star Wars reference and a 2001: A Space Odyssey tilt. There are of course numerous classic Western tropes. There are two definitely weird dream sequences and a truckload of other oddities.
I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it.
:)
Buntline Special was, unfortunately, a somewhat extended write up of a 'Deadlands' RPG adventure with a lackluster posse. It was an okay read, but not terribly imaginative. Popcorn literature.
Is this another dead blog?
Not at all, just a poorly updated one :) At least for now. I'm hoping to get back into a fairly regular schedule in a little bit.
Late coming, but I loved Rango. Just watched it.
I just watched it again this weekend also Ed, I though it was great...even the second time :)
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