Brunner's Bar

Well hello to all of my loyal readers. All three of you. I have to admit I have been pretty lax in my blog posts recently and even more so on my reading. I am in the worst reading funk since my son was born. I have been so busy and preoccupied that all the free time I have is reserved for trying to catch up on sleep or spending time with my wife and kiddos. They grow up so fast and this is thee busiest time of year for us with all the family to see. I wanted to write one final post for 2016. I have decided that this is the beginning of a break for me. Yes I know I have been on a break on and off for awhile recently but I need to step back. I'm going to hopefully get back into reading and take this time to try and stock pile some reviews so I can get ahead of the game at my new slower reading pace. There are so many books I have on my to read list and so many I can't wait to read. I just haven't had the drive to pick one up. I wanted to be through the Dark Tower series

Star Wars: Bloodline I was expecting something completely different that what I got with this book. I had read articles on blogs and reviews that said this was what happens to Ben Solo to become Kylo Ren. I figured off the description for the book I was finding this would be awesome. I am dying to know how Ben Solo became the evil version of himself. I was so excited to put my name on the reserve list and read this. Now here is the description from Goodreads: From the  New York Times  bestselling author of  Star Wars: Lost Stars comes a thrilling prequel to  Star Wars: The Force Awakens,  set roughly six years before the events of the film. So reading this it tells you absolutely nothing about this book. Great marketing, let people think what they want with the very least amount of information possible. Well guess what, The blogs I read and reviews were absolutely wrong. This book has nothing to do with Ben Solo and barely has Han Solo in it. This book is all about Leia and

Wild Card I am in such a Dresden withdrawal. When I saw this was available on Netgalley for an advanced reader copy I jumped at the chance. I couldn't wait to get a new Dresden file to visit with old friends I have missed. I feel like all of my Dresden reviews should start with "Harry has gotten himself in a heap of trouble again.  Two women have their entire life force pulled out of them. The white court of Vampires are being blamed and Marconi is looking for any excuses to start a war. Dresden knows there is something deeper and he has a very small window of time to figure it out before everything blows up and takes the city with it. Karen Murphy is working hard on the police side while Dresden seeks out his Godmother and risks his life to get information from her.  I loved this book. The story is very well written and the art work matches perfectly. I am anxiously waiting for the next book in the series but I will happily take a graphic novel any day. It is s

Goodnight Batcave I'm going to be honest. I'm not a big fan of the MAD anything really. I saw Goodnight Batcave and immediately requested this to read to my kiddos. After I requested it I realized that this was made by MAD and I thought there is no way I will be able to read this to my kid. So thanks to Edelweiss I got an advanced reader copy of this and read it really quick on my own.  This is such a cute book and I loved it. It is totally a kid friendly book also. It's short and half of the artwork is in color and the other half is in black and white, but the story is cute and well worth reading to your kids.  The artwork is goofy as only MAD does but the story is clever for a kids book. I really liked it. There isn't all that much that I ca say about this book without quoting it word for word. I will be so sad when my ARC has expired and so will my kiddos. This is going to have to be must buy for my collection. If you have little kids who love Bat

The Final Days of Superman I have not read any of the Superman books since New 52 started. I stopped reading comics when my son was born because I couldn't afford my outlandish spending on comics so I lost touch with the world of Superman until New 52 began. Since Superman is one I enjoy but not my favorite hero I put these books on the back burner and then started hearing somethings I wasn't to keen on. There was a lot that was changed in Superman's story, most notably the fact that Lois and Clark were just friends and the man of Steel was dating Wonder Woman. No matter how many times I see this it is still weird. I figured with Rebirth having started I would just pick up with Superman here and see if it was back to the hero I knew. Then I heard that Superman was going to be killed once again. I had to find out what was going on. The Superman Doomseday story was epic and one of the best comic book stories I have ever read so I wanted desperately to find out how they

The Gates This was a really odd book. I have heard good things about John Connolly and I have been anxious to read one of his books. Sadly since the only time I have is for audio books at work this was the only one I could find at my library. I had no idea that this was a young adult book until I started to read it.  This book opens with the story of creation of existence. After a lot of footnotes about the beginning of existence we jump to a young boy named Samuel Johnson who has decided days before Halloween he is going to go Trick-or Treating to beat all the other kids to the best candy. I have to give Connolly credit for this Idea because I loved it I can totally understand the was Samuel thinks to make sure he gets the best pick, but the logic is flawed because not everyone gets candy until the day of. This begins to solidify the character aspect that he is an odd duck. After a failed attempt at his neighbor's house known as the Abernathy's, Samuel finds a side

I love Halloween and as much as I love it and hate that it is over. I need a nap. Here it a day later when I write this and I'm still tired. My feet hurt, and I haven't had enough sleep. First of all I had the roughest week last week and I was on vacation. That's a long angry story and I'm not going to get into that. Second I went back to work after a busy fun weekend and then we took the kids out to Trick-or Treat last night. The weather was so perfect it was like something out of a movie. 70 degrees, clear night with a few wispy clouds. The kids are a little older and we decided to walk a little farther and hit more houses than we have in previous years. That only worked for a bit. Half way back to my Aunt's house and the kids were done.  This year we all went to Trunk-Or-Treat at my work for the second year and that is always a good time. We also went to a friend's house for a Halloween party on Saturday. My beautiful Wife made her own Scarecrow cost

Wes Craven's New Nightmare Happy Halloween everybody!!! I love this holiday and I am so excited to take my kiddos out Trick-or-Treating. They look so cute in their costumes and I just love hearing how cute they look by all the people we visit. As a parent I just love people gushing over my kids. If it wasn't for the fact that by the time we get home and get the kids to bed I'm just exhausted, I would do what I used to and watch as many horror movies in the dark as I could until I passed out on the couch. Instead I saved the best for last.  Freddy Krueger is one of my all time favorite monsters. I say this but I must clarify that he is one of my favorite next generation monsters. The Universal Studio monsters are still classics but there are those that came after. Freddy Jason, Leatherface, and Michael Myers; these are what I consider the next generation of monsters. Nothing has really come since them and the original movies may be considered classics but there re

Would You Rather I'm so sorry I'm a little bit behind on my post for today but we had a big day yesterday and I didn't have time to write this up. So let me start this by asking you a simple question. If your life was in a dire place and you could turn it around in the blink of an eye, what would you do to make this happen? I'm sure we all have played the game would you rather at some point in you life. Like would you rather risk a speeding ticket, or be late to the interview of your life? It can be harmless and funny, but it can also take a dark turn. This movie is the dark dark version of what this game could be.  Iris has lost everything and given up even more. She lost bother her parents, and her brother has cancer. She gave up school and a job to move back home to take care of him while trying to cope with the mounds of bills that her parents left her. One day she gets the offer to come to a dinner party and play a game, compete in a contest to win l

Hush So I know there are very few people who read this blog but I do this for me. Life happens and it has been a rough week and I happen to be on vacation. I almost didn't get this posted or watched but I like to keep up with my traditions. My wife and I just finished this movie and you know it isn't the best movie when your wife asks "How much of this movie is left" This movie is about a writer who is def and mute. She lives in isolation because she is isolated because of her disability. At the very beginning of the movie Maddie is a character you just like and root for all the way to the bitter end of the movie. It was very interesting to see her struggle from her point of view. It has to be so difficult to not wonder if someone is sneaking up behind you when you can't hear them coming.  This is a short movie but it felt longer. I think this clocks in at about an hour and 20 min. The suspense builds and then stalls very quickly. The ending of

Dark Skies I have to be honest. I'm not usually one for alien movies aside from the original Ridley Scott's Alien, or Independence day. Still this movie is on the list for best Halloween movies and I like Keri Russell. I've seen some of her movies and they have been enjoyable. I liked her in the Adam Sandler movie Bedtime Stories. So this movie is of course about a family plagued by Aliens and have no idea how to stop them or even if they can stop them.  For not being all into Aliens this movie really creeped me out. The thing that is so scary about this is that Aliens could be watching you for years and you'd never know until they decide they want you and its over. You could be living a peaceful happy life and be watched by Aliens and you'd never know it until it's to late. That is a really horrifying idea to wrap your head around which makes this movie scary on a different level. What do I mean by this? Well, normally when you watch a horror movie,

The Lazarus Effect I'm not going to lie. I love Olivia Wilde. I will pretty much watch anything she is in even if I don't care for the movie. The trailer for this looked so creepy that I was really excited to see it, yet, when it finally came available to rent or stream I always found an excuse to watch something else.  In this movie a group of scientists start out trying to find ways to help coma patients regain higher brain function and end up stumbling on the cure for death. They find a way to bring the dead back to life and not in a way that turns them into the Walking Dead brainless zombie. They begin with bringing back a dog and find that the dog isn't exactly quite right. Just at the peak of their research a pharmaceutical company swoops in and takes all of their research.  With hours left before they are locked out of their lab for good they decide to recreate the experiment and something goes wrong killing doctor Zoe. What what is left they go agains

The Awakening I knew nothing about this movie but had seen it in my recommend section on Netfilx. The article I chose to be the theme for this year's Halloween Week was all the nudging I needed to give this a watch. I can't believe it took me so long to watch this movie. It was amazing!!!! I'm going to go against my usual format and just rate this now. I give this 5 out of 5 stars and if you wish to read on you will find out why. If you have read enough and want to experience this for yourself then by all means. Hit up Netfilx and enjoy. This move was so scary and at the same time had a great story and a good ending. I will do my best to not spoil anything for any future viewers. This movie is about a woman Florence Cathcart who is racked with guilt and grief after the passing of her fiance during World War 1. She has made it her mission to debunk every psychic, ghost hunter, supernatural sitting, and fortuneteller. She wants to make sure her love isn't still

Re-Animator This is a classic. One of the best cheesy horror movies out there and this is only the second time I've seen it. This has every aspect of an 80's horror movie should have. Cheesy over the top gore, a story that is so out there it can be hard to wrap your head around, and gratuitous nudity. So what is this movie about? A scientist Herbert West is pushing the limits of life and death. He has developed a serum that restores life to a corpse. The movie opens with him and his professor in Sweden grappling in an office because West has brought his dead professor back to life.  I haven't read this because my exposure to Lovecraft is rather limited. Having said that though this movie really makes me want to read his stuff. This movie isn't scary but it isn't so goofy you tune this out. The story was really interesting and I was hooked from the very beginning, and I was so happy to see this pop up on the best Halloween movies to stream on Netfilx. I

Holidays I knew nothing about this movie before I watched this except that Kevin Smith write and directed a segment, and his daughter is in it. I had heard so many different things that either claim this as a cult favorite and the worst movie ever made. Usually if people claim a horror movie is the worst ever made it has to be good. This movie is a collection of segments or mini movies for each holiday. This movie is messed up and bonkers crazy. Some of the movies really held my attention because I wanted to know what was going to happen, but others were just goofy and dumb. It was a good mix of the two which I feel does raise this up to a cult horror favorite. The holidays I didn't care for were St Patrick's Day, Mother's Day and Father's Day. St Patrick's Day was just weird and Mother's day was a subject matter I'm not ok with. Father's Day could have been good but there was a whole underlying back story that was missing to make the shor

Happy Halloween week!!! This is my 4th annual Halloween Week and I can't believe it has been 4 years. I look forward to Halloween every year and no matter what I may be going through I have fun writing these every year. I have been trying to figure out what I was going to do this year because I like to have a theme. This year I poured over different topics and things just didn't seem to work out for me. My Blu-Ray player crapped out on me so I was limited to only movies I could stream. There are a lot of great streaming services that are out there but when you are looking for a specific movie it always seems none of them are ever available.  If you google Best Halloween Movies on Netflix there are a lot of great articles out there. I looked through so many different lists and then decided to pick my own movies on Netfilx that I wanted to see and finally clean out my watch list. I then found this one titled Your Guide to the Scariest Movies Streaming on Netfix in Octobe

From a Buick 8 I've had this on my to read list for a long time and this seemed like as good a time as any to give it a read. Of course when I saw the title I figured this had to be a re imagined version of Christine which was a great book. The more I read about this book I could see similarities but also differences between the two books. I honestly saw a lot of similarities between this book and NOS4A2 which just shows the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  This book opens with one of the weirdest events I have seen in a King novel. A man shows up with this customized Buick at a gas station and heads for the bathroom. After about a half hour the Attendant starts to wonder what happened to the guy. The Buick he left behind is taken by the local troopers and kept in a shed out back, Weird things start happening like fire work like shows coming from the the Buick as well as strange creatures coming from the trunk. Ok, this is about all I can say about the book tha

Dawn of the Dead I absolutely loved this movie, both versions too. The 1978 was just the right level of campy horror and lame special effects gore to make it one of the best cult zombie films. The remake in 2004 was a bigger budget movie with amazing special effects and a cast that fit their roles perfectly. So when I saw this book on Audible for 1.99$ last year as an after Halloween sale I jumped on it just for this year's RIP challenge.  I was so excited to get started on the book version of this and I hate to say it, but I preferred the movies. This is all about the end of the modern world. Zombies are popping up everywhere and those that have survived are constantly fighting to stay that way. A random group of people which includes swat officers and a reporter find their way into the local Mall and try to make a home. One thing I found reading this book is that, when you take out the over the top gore, campy horror make up and zombie action scenes, there really wasn&

Locke & Key I first read this series the way it was originally intended, in Graphic novel form. When I saw this was offered as a free pre-order last year on audio through Audible.com I jumped all over it. Since I have already read this series I saved this specifically for the RIP challenge this year. Let me start off by saying this review is based on the audio version only. I loved the series. These books were expertly written and drawn. This is a story about a house who holds all kinds of different keys and doors that have all kinds of magic. One Key separates the soul from the body, one puts your soul in the body of an animal, and other keys do things from controlling shadows and allow the user to open their head and remove or put in anything they wish. It is a very creative idea and I loved finding out all about the different keys as the story progressed. The Locke family has been through a horrible tragedy. While on vacation two students or the father kill him and br

Wizard and Glass I can see why some people may not have liked this book. It is very long and strays away from the path of the beam. This book picks up right where the Cliffhanger of The Waste Lands leaves off with the resolution of the whole Blaine the Monorail story. After this stressful event our Gunslingers take some time to rest and reflect. It is finally time for Roland to come clean about his past. Eddie and Susannah have asked a few times in previous books and Roland just answers with, it's not the time.  Flashing back to the days of Roland's teen years we get to find out exactly how Roland became a gunslinger and how he was the youngest to reach this honor. There is trouble in Roland's family and shortly after reaching Gunslinger status he walks in on his mother with another man. Torn with rage he goes to his father who just tells him that he knows. Roland is sent out to check a small town to keep him out of harms way. Little did his father know that ther

The Waste Lands I love this book. This is my favorite of the series even on a re-read. I will admit that I hate how this one ends and I'm so glad I read the Dark Tower series after it had finished so I didn't have to wait for book 4. I wont give away the ending but it just stops in the middle of the action. I bet King fans were furious when they read this book when it first came out. I remember I was buying the paperback copies and I only had the first 3. The day I finished this book I immediately spent money I didn't have and ordered the 4th book so I could start it. Thank you Amazon prime for 2 day shipping. Now that was years ago and here I am enjoying this for the second time of many I'm sure.  So the ending was the only bad thing about this book and it wasn't enough to change my review from my very first read. Speaking of my first read, I decided to check out my original review on Goodreads and like so many of my early reviews it is vague and not v

This Little Light These books are very much like the Walking Dead in the sense that they cover one big story. There are events that take place that make this an interesting read but if you haven't read the previous books you are going to be lost. So I will treat this like on off the Walking Dead books reviews. If you haven't read the previous book there will be spoilers but if you have read the other two and not this one, I will not spoil anything.  Ok, so this book picks up right after the second one leaves off. Kyle's sister has become possessed by a demon and her husband packs up their daughter and goes to ask Kyle for help. This is a huge step for him because he has hated Kyle from the very beginning, so to swallow his pride and ask for help is huge character wise. Kyle grabs Reverend Anderson and they head over to try to save his sister before it's to late. This is really only the beginning of the book but probably the biggest part of the story. At least

R.I.P. This year I'm a little behind the curve considering this challenge started September 1st. Where did the year go? The R.I.P. Event is my favorite blogging event of the year and I look forward to this from the moment it ends till the moment I can write my sign up post for the next one. I just love Fall for so many reasons, one of which being the return of cooler weather. I love everything about Fall, the leaves turning on the trees, that first cold breeze pushing the back drenching heat of Summer away, and the horror and mystery novels I pull off the shelf for this time of year. There is nothing better to help not only get my hyped up for Haloween, but also help me pass the time than the R.I.P Challenge. The Readers Imbibing Peril challenge is a whole event dedicated to reading Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, and Supernatural. This challenge is put on by  Stainless Steel Droppings  and I am so happy that Carl is running it again this year.

Suicide Squad I have been waiting for a very long time for this movie. DC Comics has done, I think, a great job with their new DC Extended Universe or DCEU. The movies are great no matter what those bloated Marvel loving critics think. One thing that remains constant in every review I have read for every DC Comics movie is they are always compared to Marvel movies and that isn't fair since they are different universes. DC is not as cheery and bright as Marvel is. For Chrristmas my wife and I got a gift card and ticket vouchers to go to the movies and I knew when this was going to come out Iwasn't going to have the excess funds to see it so I horded this and saved it. A few weeks ago my wife and I finally got to see this. I just haven't had the drive to write anything let alone a review for one of the best movies of the summer. Big claim I know, but I liked it.  So for those of you who don't know what the Suicide Squad is here is a basic explanation. The Gover