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Lazy Writing

Posted : 1 week, 3 days ago on 4 May 2008 10:56 (A review of The Cosmic Puppets (Gollancz))

Even though I enjoyed this enough to read the whole story and I liked the way the concept was delivered (a concept that has been used time and time again) there were some things that irked me.
For starters the writing style I found to be frustrating, lacking proper description and fluidity.
Then there is the fact that the main character accepted certain reasons behind what was going on so quickly. I honestly can't accept that any rational human being however open minded could accept something so out there so readily. Yes I'm aware that this is a science fiction novel and pure fantasy but still there should always be a touch of rationalism to a story no matter how far fetched. Add to that, that no one attempted to ship the character off to a nut house or question his sanity more closely and the rushed ending and well you've got yourself a story that could have done quite well but was written by someone who gave the impression of being lazy.

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Wolfblade

Posted : 2 weeks, 4 days ago on 26 April 2008 11:33 (A review of Wolfblade (The Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade Trilogy, Book 1))

This being the first book in the Wolfblade trilogy but the fourth book in the Hythrun chronicles it’s hard for me to say as yet if this is better then the Demon Child trilogy (first part of the Hythrun chronicles).
Set some years before the Demon Trilogy it makes for an interesting read seeing as you get to revisit old characters and learn more about characters mentioned previously. It’s also obviously not really a carry on from the first trilogy. Other then the fact that it’s set in some of the same places and has some of the same characters it could probably be a stand alone trilogy, so far.
There is one thing that is better and stands out and that’s the mistakes. Someone did a ripper of a job editing this and I have to say I’m impressed with how few spelling errors there are compared to before.
That’s about all I have to compare this with the first part of the chronicles.
This isn’t your typical magical fantasy seeing as there are no dwarves, elves, dragons or as yet heavily magical battles but it is your typical fantasy when it comes to political intrigue, betrayal, royalty and war. Of course it wouldn’t really be fantasy without some magic and magical beings which it does have it’s just not riddled with it.
I like Fallon’s style because she adds so much detail and I feel this novel had a good amount of detail although slightly predictable at times it wasn’t as predictable as what I’ve read before (there I go comparing again) whether that’s because of what I did read of her work before or if it was really unpredictable I don‘t know. I’m referring here to a part at the end of the book that I was not expecting and it’s probably the first truly unpredictable part in the whole story. This probably made it an even better read then it started out as and has made me want to hurry up and read the rest so I can find out what’s going to happen next.

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Heart breaking

Posted : 2 weeks, 4 days ago on 26 April 2008 11:05 (A review of The Horizontal Instrument)

Upon finishing this I thought it was an interesting take on love, loss and grief about a man who losses his wife to dementia. At first it read like a book about time and timepieces interspersed with bits of the story but after awhile it became moments of introspective reflections on perspective, time, memory and how they are connected again interspersed with more of the story reading like two separate books in the one, yet fluidly moving within the two, until the two became the one and ended in a complete story that was quite heartbreaking probably even more so because of Wilkins’ writing style made it feel like someone was actually talking to you about their loss and their thoughts on that loss.

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28 Weeks Later

Posted : 4 weeks ago on 16 April 2008 11:31 (A review of 28 Weeks Later)

Now that was just stupid. Compared to the first one, which I loved, there just seems to be no real point to it. To me it just seemed like this movie was just an excuse to have people kill each other and blood, lots of blood. Basically it was as if they were using the story from the first movie as a pretext to create bloody chaos, in my opinion. And yet I liked it for reasons that elude me.
For most part the stupidity was with the characters. First off what the children did was stupid, then what the father did was stupid and the military well guess what? They were stupid in the first place! I couldn't help thinking through the whole thing how stupid these people were.
There was honestly no rhyme or reason to it and I don't see it ending with this one.

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Village of the Damned

Posted : 1 month ago on 13 April 2008 11:38 (A review of Village of the Damned)

What could be more terrifying then a group of children devoid of emotion, who all look the same and act the same? Nothing really. It’s quite disturbing and that’s what makes this movie worth watching. It’s not that it has a riveting story line or even great character development although I think Christopher Reeve did a good job, enough so to make me stop thinking about Superman and usually I can’t stand Kirstie Alley but she didn’t grate on my nerves in this movie. I might even consider that acting on her part.
What impressed me about the movie was the children and only the children. It must be a hard task indeed getting a bunch of young ones to play such sinister little characters and I think they did a remarkable job. They had me convinced! It’s safe to say that if I ever came across a town like that with children who were such little freaks (disturbing little freaks at that) I’d start getting as far away as possible and never look back.



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Bloody Brilliant

Posted : 1 month ago on 10 April 2008 12:54 (A review of Oldboy)

Brilliant and disgustingly so. Min-sik Choi did a wonderful performance with his character. The transformation from drunken lout to tormented soul was excellent then add into that moments of insanity. I'm sure playing a man who has been imprisoned in solitary confinement for 15 years was hard but I felt he pulled it off enough to make it believable.
The story line was great and had me just staring like a slack jawed idiot at times with scenes like when he gets to the office building and the teeth then afterwards (that's as much as I can mention without giving anything away) but the ending was was what made the movie. Not only finding out why he was imprisoned but that little extra bit of torment was what made it disgustingly brilliant. I'd highly recommend it but not if you're squeamish. Not that it's overly violent, blood thirsty (seen worse) or that you actually get to see the acts of violence but it's the knowing that makes you cringe.

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Treason Keep

Posted : 1 month, 1 week ago on 7 April 2008 11:59 (A review of Treason Keep (Demon Child Trilogy))

I think this carried on from the first book in the series pretty well. It had a nice and steady pace and I had difficulty putting it down.
There were however some problems with it. First it's predictability. I think this one is far more predictable then the first it is also cheesier and has just a bit too much of a romantic element for me but then again I don't read for romance and I don't like girly reads so for someone who might like a bit of a lovie dovie touch to their fantasy this could very well be for you. I myself don't appreciate so many characters being paired up.
There was also the banter between certain characters which after awhile became a bit tedious and wore on my nerves. I wonder how much of it was really necessary.
Another thing is the mistakes. The grammatical and spelling errors are just ridiculous. Like the first book I wonder who edited this one and how they got their job.
As long as I don't dwell on the errors or any problems with it I still am enjoying the trilogy enough to want to read more. I guess that says something.


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A Cure For Insomnia?

Posted : 1 month, 1 week ago on 2 April 2008 11:34 (A review of Casshern)

That was the most drawn out, pretentious, over done piece of crap I have seen. Ok maybe one of... It was enough to put me to sleep and in fact almost did. Think I would have had more enjoyment watching grass grow.
I'm a bit pissed off, can you tell? I just wasted over two hours of my existence trying to stay awake. Sure I loved the imagery, some of it was fantastic but after watching it for awhile that's pretty much all it was.
An excuse to have a string of great imagery put together along with melodrama and dialogue that amounted to drivel. Drawn out drivel!
In the beginning it was a tad confusing and pretty slow but when the Neo Sapiens proclaimed themselves I thought maybe it was going to turn around.
Boy was I disappointed. I spent the rest of the time rolling my eyes and yawning. I had to mute the sound half way through because, although the soundtrack could have been great, it only added to making it feel like it was going on for ever and didn't even seem to match the movie. It started to drive me nuts.
The story line wasn't too bad though it's just if they had of cut a lot of it out and made it tighter then it may have been easier to watch but as it was it was just scene after scene of drawn out bull.
Basically more real action (not whimsical action) was needed & less melodrama. Pretentious try hards...

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BloodRayne

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 1 April 2008 12:24 (A review of BloodRayne)

After watching this I think I might just be sick in the head because I kind of liked it. Perhaps I was just in a trashy mood. In my defence I haven't played the games so I couldn't tell you if it was a good adaption but then again a good adaption doesn't happen often.
It's not exactly the best film. For starters I thought "Hmm this must be rated 18+ for a very good reason" after seeing the back of the dvd cover showed dismembered bodies but to tell you the truth I don't think it was as bloody as it could have been. Sure it was graphic in parts but I've still seen far worse. Although I feel that could be because I had a high expectation of gore and blood lust. In saying that it did still deserve the 18+ rating but if you're used to real gore it's pretty tame.
Secondly the acting was pretty bad. The actors emotions were out of sync with their characters experiences. Come to think of it they didn't really seem to have emotions. It's as if they were on this even keel the whole time and feeling nothing no matter what happened. Maybe they thought a raised eye brow here and a glance there was an adequate expression of emotion in the scene. I think they need to take acting classes...
Finally I felt like there was something missing. I think the movie could of had more detail.
Other then that I liked it but that could just be because I'm a sucker for swords and chicks running around slicing and dicing... Who knows?

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Snow Queen

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 31 March 2008 12:08 (A review of Snow Queen)

"Real cold will kill you dead, just like that." No kidding. With lines like that you know you're in for some riveting dialogue. Yes I'm being sarcastic. This movie was odd and not in a good way. It was also a tad stupid and slightly painful to watch at times and yet I couldn't look away.
First of all there is a polar bear that talks and who gives the impression that he has a smacking fetish. Then there is the horrible acting, the psycho spring lady with really bad fashion sense, a boy magician that sounded so much like a girl (plus couldn't act to save his life) that I had to look extra hard at just to make sure I wasn't being deceived, robbers who were meant to portray autumn (what the?) and then there was Bridget Fonda.
I can't quite accept Bridget Fonda as a villain. Sure the notion grew on me as the film progressed but to me it was like she was play acting or it was some sort of parody. I kept expecting her to break out of character and be all light and fluffy. I think she exudes too much innocence for a roll like that.
Add into that this stupid obsession with a mirror that you don't get to find out why she is so obsessed with until about the last 10 - 15 minutes. That bugged me.
All in all I think the polar bear was my favourite character as he turned out to be the most convincing of the lot.

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