Doom Movie

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Special Edition)
$19.99
First, this is a good action flick for when you are bored. It has all the basics any would find in the adventure genre.


Unfortunately, some of the first "1" score reviews reflected some of my concerns. I would suggest approaching this movie as a fiction and based on an individual group of villains, as opposed to the entirety of the worship populace of their goddess. Not only is the depiction of Shiva being a God of Light figure and Kali being a demonic goddess inaccurate to the views of their religion, people still have this tendency to believe these stories reflect the culture. Consequently, I warn against this. When I watched the movie, the Thugee controversy was the least of concern when I saw what people were having for dinner in the film. In some ways I actually cannot blame people for thinking it negatively portrayed South Asians.

That aside, I had other critiques. The female lead, while played well, was not my ideal character. I also thought Lucas could have written a better movie if he actually made it like he did with Star Wars (which redeemed him in the end, as far as I am concerned). The story would have been better if it was deliberately portrayed as being based off a myth made by him and inspired by Hinduism, as opposed to have been based off what was already established (albeit with the addendum of negative colonial propaganda and orientalism). Not only would this remove some cultural representation (or misrepresentation) concerns, but it would emphasize his strengths.

If one can take this as what it is - a fiction - and try not to judge South Asians based on this film, I say this is a good film to watch for what it is. I personally preferred the other Indiana Jones movies for what they had to offer as far as content goes. I just would not would not call every German a racist Nazi (who even they had their heroes who opposed the inhumane ones).

Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom
$8.90
I really like this game. I wanted to give it five stars on every category... but it isn't especially educational and it's a card game... it's as durable as can be expected. It takes a little bit to get used to how to play it, but all in all it's fun. It has nifty little quotes that are very funny. This probably is not a great game for young kids. Maybe teenagers and older would appreciate it the most.

Dr Doom Adult Mask
$26.10
The NEMESIS of the 'Fantastic 4'! Full over-the-head vinyl mask. Chrome finish gives a nice movie look!

Doom
$6.99
I do agree that the Doom movie (and therefore this novelization) isn't much like the Doom game. But after all 'Dafydd Ab Hugh' wrote a four book series based on the first two games and Matt Costello is currently putting out Doom 3 books. You can always read those for the 'true' Doom experience. For what it is, this novelization is a fun read.

I'm surprised how much I enjoyed John Shirley's adaptation of the Doom movie. Really. I picked it up because I wanted to blow off some steam with a nice, goofy read about space marines shooting monsters. I got that in spades.

What surprised me though, was that even with these meager ingredients, John Shirley's strength as a writer was able to shine through, polish it up a little and make it something better. The book is pretty compellingly written and worked well as a thriller for me. One of those books where I would tell myself 'one more chapter' before putting it down. He takes a pretty laid back, colloquial writers voice. It kind of felt like the story was being narrated to you by one of the soldiers themselves, though the book isn't written in first person.

Though there is plenty of action to be had in these pages, he also builds in a lot of suspense and tension. I also have to give him credit for trying to give his characters a little bit of depth. He doesn't quite pull it off. You are still reading about space marines who call themselves Reaper, Destroyer or Sarge, but I appreciated that he tried. It kept what really should have just been a hack job from being just that.

The book did have the same problem that the (fairly decent) movie had: the ending. The ending just seems to take the concepts the book was playing with a little too far. It makes the mistake of switching from sci-fi/horror to a sort of goofy super-hero brawl to try and pump up the adrenalin at the end.

Still, the novel is a fun, action packed and grisly weekend read. John Shirley seems to have been the perfect author for this project. He really added quite a bit to what should have been terrible. I have to say that I enjoyed Doom much more than my previous John Shirley experience Aliens: Steel Egg.