21 May 2012
Cast: Donny Alamsyah, Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Ray Sahetapy, Yayan Ruhian
Script: Gareth Evans
Genre: Action
Setting: Jakarta
7 Stars
Comments Off
The Indonesian version of SWAT are going into battle. An apartment block has become home to the bad and the violent. A no go area that the police never visit. But now they are going in, intending to get through … Continue reading
15 May 2010
Call no: 800
Genre: detective & mystery
Setting: France, Paris
Comments Off
Author: Fred Vargas ; trans from the french by Sian Reynolds
An Adamsberg novel
Chief Inspector Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg has recently been transferred to Paris. His police methods aren’t exactly standard procedure and his inspectors have a lot to get used to. But they can have no doubt that he is a born policeman, and while even he is unable to explain how he arrives at his conclusions he is usually correct. In this case he thinks that there is something strange about the blue chalk circles that have been appearing in the Parisian streets. He is convinced that there is something sinister about them. Continue reading
19 November 2008
Cast: Amaury Nolasco, Beau Bridges, Chris O'Donnell, Ludacris, Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Olga Kurylenko
Script: Beau Thorne
Genre: thriller
3 Comments
I knew going to see this film that I’d be disappointed. Was a big fan of the game but I’d heard negative things about this film. Often when that happens you go to the cinema with your bucket of popcorn … Continue reading
18 May 2008
Genre: detective & mystery
Setting: Paris
2 Comments
Author: Fred Vargas
Trans: Sian Reynolds
As you may already know I’m a big fan of Fred Vargas’ work and while this one is a library copy I’ll be buying this when it comes out in the proper size. I can’t stand these trade publications versions. They make no sense to me. All the negatives of a hardback with none of the positives. But enough about that; on to the plot.
The most straight-forward way of describing this book is to say that it is a murder-mystery. But with characters like Adamsberg there is no such thing as a straight-forward case. So when he spots something a little “off” about the two bodies that have shown up he decides that this case his rather than giving them over to the Drugs Squad.
18 February 2008
Genre: detective & mystery
Setting: Paris
6 Comments
trans. Sian Reynolds
I’m a huge fan of Fred Vargas’ work. And this book is no exception. The star, once more, is Commissaire Adamsberg. The plot revolves around a series of murders, the first in 1943, the latest takes place in the present of the book. Adamsberg has a special interest in this case, and the judge he believes to have committed these crimes. In each case the murder victim is killed by three stab wounds. And in each case an assailant has been found, always suffering from amnesia but also having a murder weapon in his possession. In each case the police decide that this individual is responsible and, there you go, case closed. Adamsberg is not so sure.
Continue reading
18 December 2007
Cast: Alex Veadov, Danny Hoch, Eva Mendes, Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Robert Duvall
Script: James Grey
Genre: thriller
Setting: 1980s, New York
5 Stars
7 Comments
Bobby is a night club manager. It is the 1980′s, New York. Life is good. Until the day his brother comes calling. Bobby’s brother, Joe, you see, is a cop. A drugs cop and he arrives in full on SWAT-mode … Continue reading
23 October 2007
Call no: 800
Genre: detective & mystery
Setting: America, contemporary
8 Stars
2 Comments
ISBN: 0753817853 Read for the RIP Challenge See also: Allan Guthrie’s Noir Originals ; Telegraph review ; The Little Bird ; Reading Matters It was past midnight when I got home Halloween night. The car lights swept across the yard. … Continue reading
6 September 2007
Call no: 800
Genre: detective & mystery, sff
Setting: Chicago
5 Stars
7 Comments
ISBN: 1841493996 Book two in The Dresden Files read for the RIP Challenge I never used to keep close track of the phases of the moon Harry Dresden is a wizard. Most people in Chicago don’t believe in magic or … Continue reading
19 April 2007
Call no: 9 Stars
Genre: sff
2 Comments
ISBN: 0575075783 Christopher Priest.co.uk ; The Universal Library ; Her name is Teresa Ann Gravatt and she is seven years old: She has a mirror through which she can see into another world. There were two reasons I picked this … Continue reading
14 February 2007
Cast: Bill Bailey, Jim Broadbent, Nick Frost, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Simon Pegg, Tim Barlow, Timothy Dalton
Script: Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg
Genre: comedy
9 Stars
9 Comments
Basically, if you didn’t like Shaun of the Dead you probably won’t like this film. Okay, so there are no zombies here, but the style of humour remains the same. Personally I loved it. Pegg plays the role of Nicholas … Continue reading