potential insufficiently realized
584475
After watching this movie (and having seen 'The tree of life' and 'The new world') I suppose that Romance is not a genre that fits Terrence Malick well.
Though Malick shows romance with his typical and admirable abilities, which indeed provide us with some unusual and valuable shades of experience, as a whole the romance does not appear round or real or believable enough to me.
Probably, his female lead often possessing archetypical qualities (and lacking in earthliness and autonomy) has something to do with this. Also some of his abilities he does not proportion well, overexposing us with some typical Malick-images.

Yet, I believe archetypical qualities, a dreamlike or contemplating atmosphere, and spirituality can be combined - also in a romantic context - with a certain groundedness, a sense of concrete and raw reality. I do admire Malick's evocation of spirituality but this spirituality is not earthly in the sense of having harmonized with modern daily life. Reality remains largely compartmentalized into an acknowledged spiritual domain and a mainly disenchanted modern life. And his main characters seek to reunite these.

The fusion of these two domains (the spiritual and the daily) is portrayed cinematically far more succesful (than in the romantic storylines) in the storylines that focus upon finding meaning and/or spirituality, like the storyline with the priest in this movie, and more evident in 'The tree of life'.
I felt the storyline with the priest was too underdeveloped or could be more articulated.

One thing which bothered me in this movie is that Neil is left so undetermined. I think this is partly so because this movie is quite autobiographical and Neil is Malick's alter-ego. It was hard for me to identify or sympatize with Neil.

I did like the appearance of the older woman and especially the older negro talking to the priest, and the female friend stimulating Marina to live more freely.
And the editing remains great.

This movie was assumably very therapeutic for Malick to make but for me it did unfortunately not realize its potential.
2601637
Useful techniques; excellent applicability; however, it seems that the authors could not decide if they are writing a solid scientific analysis of the field of expertise on the subject or reaching out to wider audiences to allow the tools they propose to be used in everyday life situations as it seems to be the intent given the examples chosen for each approach or given that this could be an excellent purpose for this book.  As such, the book becomes a useful tool for a management professional but it may be too dense and cumbersome for a wider use.
630629
My title pretty much sums up this book.  It had great potential but not enough was made  of that potential ... Stuck too much to expectations and stereotypes.
3620497
This is an interesting take on a creation scenario by a competent modern physicist. It is too limited by the pedestrian concerns of academia and lacks much of the magnificent expansive wonder of our universe. Like trying to to express the glorious vivid colors of a bright summer's day with a black and white photograph, the shapes and forms and basic content are present, but lacks so much.

For decades I have heard someday advanced physicists will encounter the gurus and mystics as both advance their understanding. It now appears the mystics will need to find the physicists, probably over near the university.
2136309
I enjoyed the premise and the promise but left wanting more, analysis and application.  Make it more of a work book, and it improves
1588601
A very good premise for a spanking fiction with lots of potential, but the story fell short for me. So much more could have been done to build the characters and their relationship. Izzy was feisty and understandably dismayed at being taken for a mate without any input on her behalf. Grayson kept telling her that her opinions were valued, as were her feelings, but he was constantly scolding her for expressing those opinions, and he outright ignored her distress at others. I would have liked to have seen him compromise more - it was all about his needs and his way of life. I didn't care for the fact that he punished in anger at one point and used sexual punishments. I would have liked to have seen Izzy put up more of a fight over what SHE wanted - and perhaps have him make amends and again, do some compromising and learning what Izzy needed to be happy (and not sexually as that was OTT).
1027629
I liked the premise, the style was good, editing was fine, I think the key elements were there, but there could have been more depth.  Perhaps if Aggie has a second novel going into more detail and finishing things off it would help.  She has the potential as an alpha to do so much more against her father--bring him down in some way.  Her mother is supposed to be even more powerful than Aggie and lets herself be relegated to some teeny apartment while the husband brings in a bimbo--again not very alpha.  I haven't read the Natalya books so maybe there could be more there--maybe when they leave her on Natalya's doorstep they could join forces or something, but this novel just didn't have the punch (pun intended) it needed.  Maybe the jumping around from full novels to 0. whatever is part of the problem.
3479711
This book had the potential to be great. However, to me the heroine came off time and time again as weak and unsure of herself. The male "love" interest did a lot of staring into her eyes and almost kissing through most of the book. I am giving it four stars because it has serious potential and an interesting plot. The book was good but annoying at times. Hopefully, the author will take this series to the level of great in the next book.
1381055
What a timely concept!  With the controversy surrounding the U.S. Government's use of unmanned aerial vehicles to strike down terrorists without putting soldiers in harm's way, it's easy to foresee robotic soldiers as the next technological weapon in the war on terror.  Set in the not-too-distant future, Christopher Golden imagines a world in which the U.S. relies increasingly on these robotic enforcers (known as "Tin Men") to maintain the U.S. Government's vision of law-and-order in an increasingly chaotic world.  What makes these robotic soldiers especially intriguing is that they are piloted by U.S. soldiers who beam their consciousness (Avatar-style) across the globe and into the robots themselves.  When a group of anarchists launch an attack on the Tin Men, using an electromagnetic impulse that paralyses the world's technical infrastructure, the Tin Men lead the struggle to protect the U.S. president and restore some semblance of order.

Despite its winning concept, this novel failed to generate the suspense and interest that I had hoped.  It suffered from too many characters, too few of whom created a real bond with me.  And too many page were spent chronicling battle scenes.  In short, it suffered from the same shortcomings as the types of movies that inhabit this genre: over-the-top action that overwhelms good character development and storytelling.
3149942
I wish there was more to this story. The characters have great potential. If this wasn't marketed as flash fiction it would make a solid foundation for a story, maybe not a short story but a good story. The plot is there unfortunately the details weren't. It feels like the characters are floating around in space somewhere. If the author gives us a sequel to this that would be great.
1071796
This had great potential, but there just seemed to be something missing from the story; that little something that would have made the difference between GREAT and OKAY.
2697507
An interesting and promising premise: discovering oneself, reluctantly, through one's own father's diary. The narrator/protagonist threads his way through his father's devious past from the Holocaust to Israel to America, surviving as a Nazi collaborator, German Jewish refugee, opportunistic Arab impersonator on the way to becoming a secular Jew. What is real and what is true in the diary, and what is the son's own identity in relation to his own son, his ex-wife, his dead sister, his mother, and the Jewish community he lives in. The story does not entirely escape improbability, nor does it quite reach the level of allegory. Underdeveloped or irrelevant characters clutter the progress toward the protagonist's enlightenment. I found it difficult to develop any empathy with any of the characters, except the son of the narrator whose part is very small. I think the author is aiming to pose compassion as a human dilemma; but, for me, the story is a little too cluttered to put the reader square in that place.
2650844
I wanted to like this story, but a strong beginning drifted into a weak middle, with an attempt to revive the story in the last few pages.
I enjoyed the speculation of where we are headed in a world dominated by supranational conglomerates which value only the monetary value of climate, bioresearch, and humanity.
I look forward to watching Mr. Paolo Bacigalupi's writings; he has important ideas worth reading.
3116149
This is a book that could have been great. The concept is compelling: a storm is brewing at a distance between those who embrace change, embrace technology and innovation, whom she calls dynamists, and those who fear change, believe it's corrosive on our way of life, and, like the Unabomber, want to stifle technological innovation and revert us all back to an agrarian, self-sufficient society, in effect. An eclectic mix of political factions -- the Pat Buchanan anti-free-traders, the Al Gore environmentalists, the Ralph Nader anti-industrialists, Bill Bennett cultural conservatives, the Hillary Clinton technocrats (who want to fiddle with everything to make it "better", Theodore Kaczynski luddites, and others are awkwardly but inevitably coalescing into a new party or faction that will oppose/is opposing the free development of technology and the like, ostensibly to protect consumers and in their minds, to protect a "status quo" standard of living or way of live, that in their mind is superior to whatever may lie
 ahead. In contrast, a separate cast of political factions -- Milton Friedman freemarketeers, "genomic" liberals (who want free rein in biotech research), Harry Browne libertarians, Cher social-liberal types, militant Timothy McVeigh federalists, the Howard Schultz entrepreneurs, investment bankers, and others. Weird bedfellows, to be sure. But recent protests at
WTO conferences, acts of sabotage by Earth Liberation Front cells, the popularity of isolationist rhetoric by Ross Perot or Pat Buchanan here and counterparts abroad are symptomatic of an escalating tension driven by the accelerating adoption of technology worldwide. Things are moving fast, and not everyone
  is comfortable.
The author argues that dynamism, the label she gives the pro-technology/pro-progress faction, is innate in each of us: we crave learning, and trial and error is part of learning, and technology is a logical result of trial and error, starting
  with early man's need to make stone tools all the way to a young engineer's need today to build a better ultralight aircraft. Much of what we do is utilitarian, but the author makes a forceful argument that play, or challenging ourselves
  just for the sake of challenging ourselves, is innate in each of us and thus argues that the dynamic path, not the stasist (status quo/anti-progress) path,
is our natural destiny. The implications for all of this are profound, and it will be fascinating to watch existing centers of power grapple with this issue as the transition to the "new order" oriented around this issue will be awkward and contentious, but I would agree the day is inevitable
  when this issue will be front and center.
My main, and significant, problem with this book is the quality of the writing: it meanders, could be more forceful, seems unclear in its purpose at times, and misses many opportunities to make earth-shattering points. For this reason, it's not a super-page-turner, but rather is something that can be power-read without missing important pieces of learning.
4974520
The story idea was charming, and the author had some really interesting and new ideas for story lines. However, many of them were undeveloped with characters appearing and disappearing. It feels like an early draft. I didn't dislike the story, the characters are somewhat noncannon; however, it doesn't take away from the feeling of the characters either (maybe with the exception of Colonel Fitzwilliam at times). This story has lots of potential, and with some editing and development could be a really great piece!
4705508
While not averse to sparseness (love Lisa Germano, Ani Difranco) there needs to be some strong underlying talent that can capture the imagination. These guys don't seem quite up to the task (keep trying) :>)
32546
More realistic choices would be much more helpful. I really expected more real life scenarios that could enhance decision-making and problem-solving skills.