Jesus Ibarra

Aug 2015 24

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. : Movie Review

2015 Articles, Jesus Ibarra, Movies, Mysteryrat's Maze

by Jesus Ibarra

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer star in this modern update of the 60s TV series as a CIA agent and KGB agent forced to work with each other at the height of the Cold War. The movie is very much a mismatched couple meets spy conventions, and it is highly entertaining. Yes almost everything in this movie you've seen before from the two differing personality types bickering, to the spy tropes, to the twist at the end, but it was all done with an eye for style and tongue in cheekness that makes it all instantly charming.

Aug 2015 22

Magic Shifts By Ilona Andrews

2015 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra

by Jesus Ibarra

The eighth book in this exciting urban fantasy series is in a way a readjustment that cleverly sets up a possible endgame. It adds creative energy into this long-running series by having Kate and Curran break away from the Pack. This book takes that energy and runs with it. Seeing Kate and Curran living away from the Pack and dealing with new problems is so much fun.

Aug 2015 8

Killing Pretty by Richard Kadrey

2015 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra

by Lorie Lewis Ham

Richard Kadrey’s seventh installment of the Sandman Slim series picks up directly after the events of The Getaway God. Stark—having saved Los Angeles, and the universe, from old vengeful gods—is now saddled with his greatest challenge: living like a mere mortal. Still, there are supernatural shenanigans, like having to solve the Angel of Death’s murder while investigating cults dating back to the Weimar Republic, and figuring out where all the ghosts in LA are disappearing to.

Jul 2015 27

Ant-Man Movie Review

2015 Articles, Jesus Ibarra, Movies

by Jesus Ibarra

Ant-Man is another good hilarious Marvel movie that actually blew my expectations and continued to lay the groundwork for the hero stuffed Captain America: Civil War coming next May. Centering on Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) an exceptionally good thief who is enlisted by a retired genius scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to steal a new super powered suit that will unleash a secret he tried to bury many years ago. Marvel continues to use its tried and proven formula of taking a film genre and injecting its superheroes in it. Here is a heist film wrapped in super heroics and tied to the larger MCU.

May 2015 13

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie Review

2015 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra, Movies

by Jesus Ibarra

The Avengers: Age of Ultron picks up a couple years after the original film building on the development of the Phase 2 Marvel movies. When Tony Stark and Bruce Banner jumpstart a peace keeping Artificial Intelligence, Ultron (James Spader), things go terribly wrong and Ultron decides that the only way to keep the peace is through the mass killing of the human population. The Avengers must fight with everything they have to stop him, even adding new recruits to the team along the way.

Jun 2014 7

Skin Game By Jim Butcher

2014 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra

by Jesus Ibarra

Skin Game, the fifteenth book in the Dresden Files, is a heist book. Still acting as Winter Knight for Mab (the Queen of the Winter Fae) tasks him with helping Nicodemus (one of his most hated enemies and a fallen angel) break into the vault of the Greek god Hades to retrieve the Holy Grail. However, as always the case with the Fae everything is not as it seems and Harry has to figure out the real game Mab has him playing before Nicodemus stabs him in the back.

Mar 2014 3

RoboCop: Movie Review

2014 Articles, Jesus Ibarra, Movies

by Jesus Ibarra

Robocop, a remake of the cult classic 1980s movie of the same name, stars Joel Kinneman as the titular hero who is turned into a cyborg to combat crime. This movie shares only two things with the original, the transformation of Joel Kinnaman's Alex Murphy into RoboCop, and the corporation that makes him. Other than that it is a pretty good reboot of the franchise with a look at more contemporary views about technology, corporate control, and what those things mean for people and government.

Feb 2014 15

The Undead Pool By Kim Harrison

2014 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra

by Jesus Ibarra

Rachel Morgan returns in the addictively soon to be ending Hollows series by Kim Harrison. Yes folks this is the penultimate book in the Hollows series with the grand finale coming in book thirteen, which hopefully comes next year. The Undead Pool definitely feels this impending end, because a lot of stuff happens in this book that moves a lot of pieces in this universe.

Jan 2014 28

I, Frankenstein Movie Review

2014 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra, TV

by Jesus Ibarra

I, Frankenstein, an adaptation of a popular comic book of the same name which itself is an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, stars Aaron Eckhart as the titular creature. In this adaptation, Frankenstein creates his creature, his creature gets revenge on him for making him and then that’s where things delve into craziness. The creature is drawn into a war for humanity between gargoyles (basically angels) and demons, who want him for some reason.

Jan 2014 18

Tempt the Stars By Karen Chance

2014 Articles, Fantasy & Fangs, Jesus Ibarra

by Jesus Ibarra

After a long wait, Tempt the Stars is the sixth installment of the Cassandra Palmer series, once again featuring our favorite clairvoyant and time traveler, Cassie. After the events of the last book where she found she was a demigoddess, she has to deal with how this revelation affects her current life, as well as question exactly who her parents really were. On top of all this, Cassie has to deal with her relationship with the vampire Mircea, and half-demon, Pritkin, who is now in the demon realm, and with the increasing threats the old gods pose who want to come back to Earth.