5 July 2012
Call no: 800
Genre: detective & mystery, psychological fiction
Setting: Berlin
7 Stars
2 Comments
translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside. Seeing a couple break-up in public Kris goes over to apologise to the woman. He tells her that her ex is sorry for what he has done, that he wishes he hadn’t, that … Continue reading
25 May 2010
Call no: 800
Genre: epistolary, general fiction
Setting: 1930s, Germany, USA
3 Comments
Address Unknown is a very slight book. It is told in letters between Max Eisenstein in the US and Martin Schulz in Germany, and begins in 1932. They are business partners, and friends, both have fond memories of Germany, where Martin is originally from. And both seem to start out with similar beliefs and politics. But then comes the rise of Hitler, and where Max sees cause for alarm Martin sees a chance for humiliated Germany to rise up. Continue reading
6 May 2010
Call no: 800
Genre: historical fiction, sff
Setting: South Dakota, USA
2 Comments
Author: Dan Simmons
I’d never read any of Dan Simmons work before picking this one up. I’d heard good things about Drood but that’s about it. So picking this up was a total impulse decision. I hadn’t heard anything about the book, and I don’t really trust blurbs.
In the opening sentence we meet our main protagonist, Paha Sapa, a young Lakota boy who has raced into the middle of the Battle of Little Big Horn in order to go counting coup, there he touches the dying George Custer, the infamous Long Hair, and from then on shares his mind with Custer’s ghost. The book shifts in time, usually within Paha Sapa’s life, but occasionally we get to hear from Custer. He usually talks about his wife, Libby, and the sex they had. To be totally honest this was the one bit I wasn’t that interested in. Okay, so he and his wife have a great sex life, and so…
The rest of the book though, well, it is one I recommend you take a look at.
8 October 2007
Cast: Devon Aoki, Jason Statham, Jet Li, John Lone, Luis Guzmán
Script: Gregory J. Bradley, Lee Anthony Smith
Genre: Action
3 Stars
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Supposedly this is a martial-arts action film about an FBI agent hunting down an assassin because he killed the cop’s partner. But in reality there isn’t enough plot for that. Which is very surprising because there is a LOT of story and very little martial arts. There is a fair amount of action, but it is all things we’ve seen before.
19 September 2007
Cast: Albert Finney, David Strathairn, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Matt Damon, Paddy Considine, Scott Glenn
Script: George Nolfi, Scott Z. Burns, Tony Gilroy
Genre: Action
8 Stars
6 Comments
Bourne is back. Or maybe it’d be more accurate to say that he never really went away, as this film picks up even before the second in the series, The Bourne Supremacy, has finished. So it is worth your while making sure you’ve seen that before you take a look at this one. That being said it isn’t vital, you’ll pick up on a main plot soon enough, and while what you miss out on does add to the film it isn’t totally necessary as there is plenty of back story floating around in this film.
8 September 2007
Call no: 800
Genre: historical fiction, sff
Setting: 1870s
7 Stars
7 Comments
It began on a train, heading north through England, although I was soon to discover that the story had really begun more than a hundred years earlier.
The Prestige is a book that covers three different generations of two families, told by a number of different narrators, all in the first person, as they tell their stories in their diaries. Those of you who have seen the film version will be aware that the prestige of the title is the payoff to a magic trick. What you might not know is that this term was invented by Priest but has since come into common usage among practising magicians.
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5 September 2007
Cast: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Brian Cox, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Franka Potente, Gabriel Mann, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles, Karl Urban, Matt Damon
Script: Tony Gilroy, William Blake Herron
Genre: Action
8 Stars
8 Comments
As in The Bourne Identity And The Bourne Supremacy
Both based on the novels by Robert Ludlum. No spoilers.
I remember really enjoying The Bourne Identity when I watched it first. But for some reason I never saw the sequel, but with the third out now in the cinemas I thought this is an ideal opportunity to catch up. And when I spotted the dvd set of the pair was only 18 euro I nabbed it.
I haven’t watched any of the extras yet, so can’t comment on those, but I really enjoyed the films. The are the perfect blend of reality and fantasy violence.
15 March 2006
Cast: David Wenham, Emily Watson, Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone
Script: Nick Cave
Genre: drama, western
Setting: Australia
10 Stars
4 Comments
Sometimes you go to the cinema hoping for a good film, but thinking that what you are about to watch isn’t going to be fun, it may not even qualify as entertainment. The Proposition written by Nick Cave had that … Continue reading
25 April 2004
Cast: Chia Hui Liu, Daryl Hannah, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Michael Parks, Uma Thurman
Genre: Action
7 Stars
Comments Off
Bang bang, my baby shot me down You know there isn’t really all that much for me to say about this film. Did I enjoy it? Yes, but it isn’t great, although I do think it is better than Vol. … Continue reading