Lorien Legacies #2: The Power of Six

Sequel better than the series pilot?....Definitely. This is Lorien Legacies #2 The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore (Jobie Hughes & James Frey).

Here is the summary of the book:

I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us. Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together? They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed. I am Number Seven. One of six still alive. And I'm ready to fight.

I am Number Four ended with four a.k.a. John Smith loosing Henri, confronting the Mogs, meeting number six, finding love in the form of Sarah Hart, becoming best friends with Sam Goode and deciding to go find the other Loric - regroup and battle the Mogs once and for all with Sam, Six and his chimera, Bernie Kosar.

These lines pretty much say it all and this is where the next book power of six picks up. Our little band of the merry men....and women are on the run and doing all they can to evade the authorities and find all the remaining numbers....yes the police and the FBI have now instigated them as the terrorist as fake ids were found at their last residence in Paradise, Ohio....

And its one hell of a journey I tell you.....

That is not all there is to this book. Wait for it.....new characters. The book definitely introduces us to a horde of new characters. We meet seven and her Cepan who are in hiding in a remote area in Italy and trying to evade the notice of the Mogs. But even that is too good to last. Trouble seems to find them everywhere.

All that aside lets talk about the characters we meet here. Hector Ricardo, oh I simply loved him. He is a great friend to Seven, he is reliable, he is drunk (don't think too much about it), and he is what is you call a kindred spirit. Then there is number seven herself and she is feeling rather rebellious as she comes of age - developing her legacies and sense the deja vu.....her situation is somewhat the same as John's was.

John is every bit of tough and strong but he misses Henri and feels rather lost without his Cepan to take care of him. Add to that he misses Sarah.

The Power of Six, is for a lack of a better word, something you all shouldn't miss. A must read for all who are fans and who are readers. Pittacus Lore is the man, although the concept of an alien sci-fi tale but I must say it is the level of creativity involved here that makes it possible. You definitely can't miss this one.

And before I forget the title definitely doesn't seem the power of number six.

Lorien Legacies #2: The Power of Six

Lorien Legacies #0.5 I am Number Four: The Lost Files : Six's Legacy

A prequel tale that deals with the background of the independent and foxy number 6, how she came by her legacy, who was her guardian, what happened to her. I present before you all The Lost Files: Six's Legacy by Pittacus Lore.

Here is the summary of the novella:

Number Six—when John meets her in I Am Number Four she’s strong, powerful, and ready to fight. But who is she? Where has she been living? How has she been training? When did she develop her legacies? And how does she know so much about the Mogadorians? In I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Six’s Legacy, discover the story behind Six. Before Paradise, Ohio, before John Smith, Six was traveling through West Texas with her CÊpan, Katarina. What happened there would change Six forever….

Who is number 6? How did her legacies developed? Why did she not have her CÊpan with her when she met Number 4 - John Smith in I am number Four? And why was she searching for the others? -- All the questions are answered in here. The Lost Files is an account of the circumstances leading to the meeting of Number 4 and 6. We have 6's back story in here; how she met the Mogs and how her CÊpan Katarina dies.

And there is only word to describe number 6 - BADASS - yes she is badass - as we have already seen in Number four she is strong, fearless, a little reckless. This novella tells where she was, how she was captured and the death of her CÊpan. What I liked best was how the story drove home the point of how dangerous all of their lives are. The first book was more matter-of-fact, "Numbers 1, 2 and 3 were killed." It never really felt that John was in danger until the climax. But the harrowing saga of Number 6 really drives a hard nail. She kills without mercy and she also kills with vengeance. Now, all alone, she wants to meet her other kind. Three already died and she's pursuing the Fourth.

All in all Jobie Hughes and Jamie Frey aka Pittacus Lore did a great job. It was short - it was interesting - it was informative - and it was action packed. What more do you need?

Lorien Legacies #0.5 I am Number Four: The Lost Files : Six's Legacy

I am Number Four

Waited a long time for this after reading the book and yup i finally get to see it not in theater but on the internet and it definitely proved to be a good entertainment under the young adult category where i fall in. 

Anyways whats done is done lets get on with the plot now shall we,

The movie springs up from the book by the same name by the duo James Frey & Jobie Hughes written under the pseudonym of Pittacus Lore who coincidently happens to be a character in the novel but we don't see him on the film. Directed by D.J. Caruso, got to givee it to him, he sure knows a thing or two about finding and cultivating young talent. In 2007, he picked a fresh from Disney Shia Labeouf to headline his Rear Window homage Disturbia, which sent him on a path to super stardom. Now four years later he’s doing the same with British actor Alex Pettyfer who stars as the title character in his sci-fi action flick I Am Number Four.

What’s interesting with this bit of backstory is that Dreamworks bought the film rights to ‘I Am Number Four’ before a final draft was completed of the actual book. They wrote various versions of the script which they shared with Frey who wound up using many of their ‘suggestions’ to put into the final version of the book, so for those who think the film followed the book faithfully, it’s more that the book followed the movie version more faithfully. Interestingly enough, even the ending was Dreamworks idea which wound up becoming incorporated into the final book so having a pseudonym for this book series is smart since it sounds like many hands are in the pot creatively saving Frey more embarrassment of not having written them all himself. 

Let's break it down now shall we,

John/Daniel/Number 4(Alex Pettyfer), a mysterious teenager who is smart, brooding, handsome and athletic but doesn’t fit in at his new school. He and Henri (Timothy Olyphant), who poses as his father but is in reality his alien warrior/ protector, have just landed in Paradise, Ohio. It is a small town where they hope to exist under the radar and evade their enemies, Mogadorians, a group of space assassins in long black coats and deeply scarred and tattooed heads. 

John and Henri constantly change their identities; that’s life on the run. They do their best to appear normal, a tough gig considering that they look perpetually freaked out and behave in a hyper vigilant manner. 

Three other beings like John have been killed and John is Number Four, and will be the next to go in the mythic order of things.  Pettyfer and Olyphant carry it off well.

Back at school, John is bullied, and despite his spectacular physique and mad fighting skills, allows it.  I don’t know I’m buying what they’re selling, but nonetheless this is the position in which he finds himself.  John befriends the perpetual bullying victim Sam (Callan McAuliffe, an Australian who also scores with a Yankee accent) who becomes his warrior in the soon-to come epic battle against the Mogadorians.
 
John meets and falls for Sarah, played by Glee’s Dianna Agron who also doubles as Pettyfer’s real life girlfriend(although there have been recent news that they broke up). Sarah is a loner who obsessively photographs her environment and the people in it. But his opening up to her seems to give him special powers. He can manipulate matter with his powerful, glowing hands.

Sarah puts John in a difficult spot by taking his picture and posting it online.  The Mogadorians are tech savvy (who would have thought) and John knows that if they find his pic online, they’ll be able to locate and kill him.  BTW there is enough texting and internet surfing here to satisfy the most hardened screenager.

Australian actor Theresa Palmer (an Australian who lets her accent fly) arrives on the scene, a sexy super-powered motorcycle mama who reveals herself as Number 6 and a capable fighter.  The battle with the Mogadorians is on.

Alright lets look over some Good & Bad points of the flick:

So Pettyfer and Agron hardly turn in Oscar-worthy performances. They are sufficiently moody, rebellious and moony-eyed to get the point across. Certainly, they’re more believable than Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson were in the Twilight installments. Sorry to all those Hardcore fans out there but its true (yes i also like the twilight novels but their chemistry doesn't really appeal to me very much).

Next up on the good point is Olyphant, now none of the characters in this film have any real substance and Olyphant’s Henri is the closest we get to someone likable. The role was previously supposed to go to Sharlto Copley,but Olyphant was definitely the better choice. Not every actor can take cheesy dialogue (more on that below) and make it somewhat tolerable. Then comes the action sequence (that definitely was the best part) Caruso did a great job of directing those scenes because there’s a lot going on but you can actually see what each person is doing. The fights are actually comprehensible. The CGI looks pretty good and the fight choreography is great.

Lets highlight some bad points; first up in line are the few gaping plot holes that have obviously been left open in the hopes of a sequel. Millar and Gough never explain, for example, why the Mogs hunt the kids in order. This one point is such a pivotal storytelling device that it is unforgivable to not explain it. While we’re asking questions, how did the Loriens come to choose Earth as their new home? Why do they look so much like humans, albeit preternaturally attractive ones? Other than surviving, did the nine have a mission?(although yes a lot of these points have also not been addressed in the book, clearly left the more novels to come in the future). Then comes the editing, there are a lot of continuity issues in this film. There are several sequences where people go from point A to C, and they never explain what happened to B. Sometimes that can work and as a viewer you can piece together how someone got to where they were, but that isn’t the case here. It looks like the editor took out chunks of shots to save time and it’s extremely obvious.

So on the whole only Alex Pettyfer and Timothy Olyphant are able to present believable characters  and they should being the ones on whose shoulders the plot rest. A likable teen oriented film that’s contemporary enough to be interesting to the kids, whether they’ve read the book or not. It’s no classic, but it’s fun and an eyeful.

I am Number Four

Promotional photo shoot for I AM NUMBER FOUR

Dianna Agron and Alex Pettyfer recently did a shoot to help promote their upcoming film I Am Number Four.

I don't know about you guys......but i recently finished the book and am pretty much psyched about the movie for the trailers did look amazing and coincidently these 2 appear to be the latest couple on the turf.............what do you guys think???

Promotional photo shoot for I AM NUMBER FOUR

I am number four

Just another case where Hollywood rushes to make a just released novel into a movie. I Am Number Four, which is already being made into a Steven Spielberg-produced film, looks expensive. The first in a six-book series pseudonymously written by the surprising pair of newcomer Jobie Hughes and memoir-fabulist James Frey. 


"We were nine. Three are dead"

When their home planet of Lorien was invaded by the evil Mogadarians, intent on raping the planet of all its natural resources, nine special infants were sent to Earth for safe refuge. Human in appearance, the infants were to wait until their superpowers developed so they could then return to Lorien to restore the planet. But the raiders have pursued them to Earth for a final mop up mission. A special charm placed upon the nine chosen youths means they must be killed in numerical order, hence the title character (Number Four) is the fourth on the Mogadarians’ hit list. The nine separate, fleeing to various parts of Earth; it’s only when a burning scar appears on their bodies that they know one of their kind has fallen.

Number Four has spent his life on Earth with his older protector, a father-like figure who calls himself Henri. They move from town to town, trying to live anonymous lives and stay several steps ahead of the alien assassins. The death of Number Three prompts a fateful move to Paradise, Ohio, a rather paradoxically named place for the duo. There, Number Four’s powers will develop to the fullest, and he’ll receive help from long-lost members of his race. But he’ll also fall in love with a sensitive Earth girl and find his desire for a normal teenage life growing day by day. But the Mogadorians will finally catch up with him, placing not only his life in jeopardy, but that of Henri and Number Four’s new-found friends. The war on Lorien may have ended, but the battle still wages on Earth.

I Am Number Four is written with energy and fluidity. It moves at an impressive clip, and though it's essentially just a collection of action set-pieces, it's none the worse for that, even if logic and clarity tend to slip in the later sequences.

That slippage points to a larger problem. Rarely have I read a book that felt so made up on the fly. The forward momentum isn't enough to disguise the fact that very little time seems to have been spent on the backstory. The science is laughable (everything from planetary sizes to evolution seems to have been written down as a best guess), until finally the writers just give up and call Lorien "magical". Why are these aliens with superpowers bound by amulets and charms? Because they are, that's why. I would certainly hope that this is a case of the authors being rushed rather than skimping because the book is "only" for teens.

This has far-reaching effects. I Am Number Four is a competent and entertaining thriller, but it has no deeper resonance, a resonance which was key to the runaway success of both the Harry Potter and the Twilight series. Even John's teenager-as-alien allegory doesn't work, because he's handsome and confident, with superpowers and a beautiful girlfriend. Which is what teenage years were like for everyone, weren't they?

I Am Number Four will probably be a hit. The movie will certainly help. But will it sell the millions the publishers are hoping for? I'm not sure, because it makes the possibly fatal mistake – both in the story it tells and the effort it expends in telling it – of not taking being a teenager very seriously. And teenagers, you may be surprised to learn, are likely to notice.

I am number four

First Looks 2

Sorry took a lot of time to put this one up, but was waiting for more trailers.

I Am Number Four:




Cedar Rapids:




Your Highness:



The Lincoln Lawyer:




Black Death:




Limitless:

First Looks 2