All reviews - Movies (107) - TV Shows (7) - Books (47) - Games (3)

New Moon Review

Posted : 1 month, 4 weeks ago on 8 June 2008 09:17 (A review of New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2))

Just like the first one in the series (Twilight) I found this to be a very fast, absorbing light read. It carried on from the first pretty well with showing more of Bella’s vulnerabilities and introducing more of Jacob. Something I felt was, although a surprising turn of events (yes I was surprised and somewhat pissed off too), a good turn of events. I think if the story had of carried on from twilight in the same vein it would have become too monotonous and as a result really boring.
Mind you after the turn of events in the beginning it still became predictable and it also showed just how daft the main character is which could at times be a tad frustrating seeing as you can figure it all out before the main character gets it together. Obviously the character can never seem to see the forest for the trees and yet for some odd reason I got over that pretty quickly. You just can’t help it with a character like Bella. I really think the daftness is just part of her charm.

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Oh The Pain...

Posted : 1 month, 4 weeks ago on 8 June 2008 09:00 (A review of The Darjeeling Limited)

Talk about painful. This was excruciatingly boring. It may have only been an hour and a half but it felt like it dragged on and on and on for hours upon hours. I feel like I have truly wasted my morning when I could have been doing some thing else, say another form of procrastination, that wasn’t so painful I wanted to scream.
Then there is the fact that apparently this movie is meant to be humorous. Where’s the humour in it? I didn’t come across one small part that was even remotely amusing. If movies were created not for entertainment but for sleep inducement then this would be a masterpiece but alas it was a pathetic attempt at entertainment and a huge waste of my time.

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Pretty Good Start To A Vampire Series

Posted : 2 months ago on 6 June 2008 03:24 (A review of Twilight (Twilight, Book 1))

When books and movies become popular and a fad I usually shy away from them until the curiosity gets the better of me. Which is pretty much years down the track for a movie or at the end of a book series. Curiosity won out far earlier then I was expecting and I'm glad I gave in.
This isn't exactly a masterpiece, it's not ingenious writing, it's not even crammed with detail but it was very absorbing and extremely hard to put down. You can't help but warm to these characters. Especially when the main one is such an endearing, although sometimes slightly daft, klutz.
The vampires also aren't your typical vampires which is fine by me because although I like my typical vampires I also like a bit of a twist and this offered that. Plus there's presenting vampires with moral conscience which could always work out wrong but it worked out fine in this story.
The romance aspect of it was quite unrealistic especially seeing as this is a young adult novel and impressionable minds and all... but as long as you chalk it up to fairy tale it's pretty easy to ignore.

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The Subtle Knife Review

Posted : 2 months ago on 6 June 2008 03:11 (A review of The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials))

A far faster and lighter read then the first one in the trilogy (Northern Lights), I didn't realise why until I'd finished and compared it to the first one. It was far less detailed then the first but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Rather then spending all that time reading into and absorbing the details you could really get into the story. Although it was a bit more predictable.
I enjoyed the introduction of Will but I didn't like how Lyra was portrayed. Something about her character seemed a bit off putting which left me not liking her as much. A thing I don't think is very good when it's one of the main characters. The dialogue that involved her was better though and so was some of the punctuation.


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Skinwalkers review

Posted : 2 months ago on 6 June 2008 02:56 (A review of Skinwalkers)

Atrocious and yet amusing. Which is why I watched the whole thing, so I could snicker at it. I figure I should get my moneys worth.
As a concept it was workable but once made into a movie, well it just didn't work. I think that's because it was not only poorly executed but perhaps shouldn't have been made into a movie in the first place. A book, now that could have worked. Could have, but then again who knows.
The acting was pretty bad and then granny with her gun was even worse but at least it was mildly entertaining in a humorous way. Throw in the looks these people gave each other, the nurse who was flirting with a child, the fact that the werewolves kept their clothes on and intact (pfft) and they didn't really look like wolves in the first place in my opinion and that's even more reason for it to be a movie to laugh at not spend your money on.

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Communion Review

Posted : 2 months, 1 week ago on 1 June 2008 01:30 (A review of Communion: A True Story)

This isn't your typical "little green men flew down in funny ships and took me away" alien story so if you read this expecting that you might be either disappointed or surprised. Yes there is talk of "visitors" but this isn't some sci fi novel. What this is, is a man trying to understand the disruption to his life and the people around him. I got the impression as I read the book that it was his way of coming to terms with and understanding his experience. In saying that don't expect a definite conclusion as to what is going on.
It was an interesting read though especially seeing as a fair bit of it was told via hypnosis transcripts but I think if it wasn't for those transcripts I wouldn't have found it as interesting. It also isn't a novel that stays with you while you're reading it, I was really only ever compelled to read it and not put it down when I finally decided to pick it up, but when I took a break and closed the covers it felt like I wasn't even reading it.

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Won't Leave A Lasting Impression

Posted : 2 months, 2 weeks ago on 25 May 2008 02:37 (A review of The Last Legion)

I think this movie had a lot of potential but it fell far short of it. It really didn't do anything for me which is a shame because I was looking forward to it. A lot of the actors weren't up to scratch and I think that was more due to the fact that they weren't suited to their roles rather then being bad actors. Aishwarya Rai, for example, although I love her in every other role I've seen her in she didn't perform too well in this one. John Hannah was quite a soft actor, it was almost like he was melting into the background especially when Colin Firth was in a scene with him. I found the best out of the lot to be Colin Firth who was stronger in his role then any of the others and the kid who played Romulus (Thomas Sangster) made an impression on me also.
There were also some attempts at humour which didn't amount to anything mildly amusing, the dialogue was questionable and I'm so glad that there wasn't more of a love story then there was because then it would be one of those movies you can't help but roll your eyes at. Something it was very close to being in the first place.
I did however find the ending interesting, not good just interesting because now I wonder if they'll continue on from that with a movie about Arthur.

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Into The Dark Review

Posted : 2 months, 2 weeks ago on 22 May 2008 09:43 (A review of Into the Dark)

It's interesting how at the end of the synopsis of this book it says it's an unforgettable erotic tale giving the impression that it's a vampire erotica. It's anything but that.
It's a vampire novel and yes it does have some erotica in it but not true erotica and that's more towards the end of the story. This is more a general vampire novel about Count Dracula being told from the perspective of Dracula's servant.
Basically it borrows a lot from Bram Stoker's Dracula which is not a rarity in itself but this is to a certain extreme. Kelleher has used characters from Dracula from Mina to Van Helsing, borrowing a lot of the story line which has made the novel remind me a lot of fan fiction.
It's an interesting perspective especially as there is more attention paid to Dracula and the other characters come off as being close to savage heartless men but for someone who has only recently read Bram Stoker's and loved it I find it hard to not get a little peeved with the story. Sure I read it all and I enjoyed the perspective at times but it wasn't exactly ingenious or original. Kelleher has a nice flowing writing style but perhaps if Kelleher hadn't borrowed so much from Bram Stoker's I would give it more credit but as it is I couldn't help be frustrated as it unfolded and neared it's ending. An ending which I thought was ludicrous and unnecessary.

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Not Your Typical Fantasy

Posted : 2 months, 2 weeks ago on 19 May 2008 12:29 (A review of Betwixt)

For a young adult fantasy this book turned out to be completely different to what I was expecting. For starters there wasn’t any innocence as I’d come to expect from young adult fiction, it actually turned out to be quite dark with sexual undertones to it which only seemed fitting seeing as the characters were young adults and at that sexual age. Being devoid of innocence was a shock but in the end not really surprising.
Another thing is, although I found it really hard to put down (it’s one of those books you could easily read in one sitting) it felt disjointed. Not the story over all but the writing style. Not much of it flowed and at times it was a bit confusing and disorientating and yet I loved it.
In mentioning the story over all it felt like it was in two halves. First half was the sexual undertones and the characters were a certain way, it had the potential to go a different way then it did because by the second half of the story the characters seemed to change and so did the story albeit subtly.
Nothing turned out quite as it seemed and the ending wasn’t all that clear cut. As if the author didn’t quite know how to finish it so left it somewhat open. I see the potential in that ending for this to turn out to be a trilogy or a series and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened, but because of the ending I also wouldn’t be surprised (even if I was disappointed) if it ended up being a stand alone novel.

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Dark and Sinister

Posted : 2 months, 2 weeks ago on 18 May 2008 08:20 (A review of Next Door)

Sometimes it helps to not know what a movie is about, to not know anything about a movie and that’s what happened when I started watching this one (It was on telly). It ended up being one of those movies that really messes with your head. I was riveted so much that I lost track of the time.
You can tell something isn’t quite right especially when it comes to the neighbours. The two actresses play such convincing roles which only adds to the sinister atmosphere of the apartment.
I thought the apartment was great with all the little signs of there being something out of the ordinary going on, add to that that the rooms seem to be never ending and you could get lost in there only adds to the gloom.
Although you get an inkling throughout of how disturbing this movie could be it’s not until you get to the end that you realise just how disturbed it is.

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