BOOK REVIEW: The Method by James Patterson and Zachary Quinto

 

This was more of a listen than a read. An audio drama from one of the most prolific authors today and one of the best performers to grace both film and stage, it follows a struggling actor who, after being a child star on a hit series, is trying to find the right part to once again launch him into the limelight. Along the way, a friend introduces him to an online teaching series called The Method, which is a completely immersive technique of leading an actor into the mind of a character. However, when the character happens to be a serial killer, getting into a mind like that may cost everyone their futures.

The production of this reminds me of the old radio dramas that were the rage in the early 20th century. As with any form of entertainment, there were the cheesy, corny ones, and then there were the ones that won awards and became entertainment legends. This is definitely one of the latter. The listener is drawn into the world of a young man who is attempting to bring a psychopath to life and ends up losing his own identity in the process. Quinto's ability to use only his voice to make you see through the eyes of a murderer is incredible, and paired with Patterson's writing the story takes on a life of its own. I definitely recommend this for anyone who is interested in discovering what audio drama is, but be prepared to be creeped out by one of the most endearing monsters to come along on a long time.

MOVIE REVIEW: Riding the Bullet

 

In 1969 a young artist named Alan Parker, who has visions of his own death, attempts to hitchhike home to see his mother when she is hospitalized by a stroke. On the way he meets an old farmer, an army deserter, and what is apparently the ghost of a man who died two years before and is now gathering souls for the Grim Reaper. This spirit gives Alan the choice of dying himself or choosing someone else to die instead, all of this being instigated by his refusing to ride a roller coaster called The Bullet when he was young, and where he first began seeing premonitions. To be able to get to his sick mother's side Alan must outwit the Angel of Death.

Inspired by a novella by Stephen King, this falls down the rabbit hole of being just a little too faithful to the work of that author. King has a gift of writing the mindscapes of his characters that can be very disturbing, but in a book there is always a hint whether or not what is being read is happening in reality or in the vastly layered mind. However, in film only audible or visual markers can let the viewer know when those periods stop or start, and here there are no such markers. Episodes of the mind are literally indistinguishable from reality, and this makes this movie really choppy and confusing to follow. It is so convoluted, in fact, that it literally wears the audience out and makes them lose interest about halfway through. I would not recommend this for anyone who has trouble telling fantasy from fact, and definitely not for imaginative children that it might excessively frighten. The only bright spot in the entire thing comes early on with the appearance of veteran actor Cliff Robertson as the old farmer that picks Alan up for one of his early rides, and who is mourning the death of his wife while also suffering from health issues. But the majority of this is a mess in film context. There are better things you can do with your time.