They don’t make them like that anymore

For the first time ever, I watched “Born on the Fourth of July”, the 1989 feature by Oliver Stone. Tom Cruise is playing Vietnam veteran Ronnie Kovic, who got paralyzed after taking a wound in battle and was traumatized before by killing civilians and a friendly-fire-incident. If you’re interested in my assessment on the quality of the movie – it’s pretty good and still watchable, mostly thanks to Cruise, who proves his dramatic qualities here (it’s so weird he turned to action movies late in his career after starting out as a drama actor). So if you’re interested in the subject matter and can cope with the somewhat unusual structure (getting there), then by all means, give this classic a go.

Book report: A Feast for Crows

In the reviews of the previous three books I repeatedly mentioned, that while they are intricately and expertly plotted, the literary quality of the series performs a leap with the next two books, which together form the "Feastdance". We can see this quite clearly with "A Feast for Crows", which, when it was released in 2005, created some consternation. After the flurry of endings and payoffs that was "A Storm of Swords", this book seemed like a letdown to many, not following up on the breathless quality of its predecessor. That is understandable, as it began its inception as a written-out version of the ill-fated five-year-gap.

Book report: A Storm of Swords

Continuing my reread, I've now finished "A Storm of Swords", and once again, I won't assume you need any kind of synopsis and quickly delve into the analysis. In the first book, my main theme was early installement weirdness, and in the second book, I focused on the expanding scope of the story and the developing of some themes. "A Storm of Swords" continues along these lines, but the two major aspects I want to discuss is the flurry of endings and what they're purpose is, namely setting up the five-year gap.