Reading, Riting and Reviewing

Review of the 1984 film 'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind'

2010-02-14T00:34:00.000Z

In the post-apocalyptic world, the sea of decay sweeps the land, devouring everything in its path and leaving the air toxic and unbreathable. In the Valley of the Wind, they stave off the spread of the sea of decay, but they otherwise let it be. Then people come from another land where they are trying to beat back the sea of decay with technology. Nausicaa, the princess of the valley of wind, resolves to stop them from destroying the world she has known and loved.

Nausicaa is one of the first Hayao Miyazaki films, and is considered to be the first film produced by Studio Ghibli (of Spirited Away fame). It has shades of some of their later works, and while it is not as polished or finely detailed as some of them, it is an excellent film, and I very much enjoyed it.

As a science fiction, there is an interesting world created in the post-apocalyptic waste. It is plain to see what they have lost from the time before. The world-building reminded me a bit of Philip Reeve's Mortal Engines series of books, in the way it alludes to what happened without making a focus of it. The focus is, instead, around the people living in this world, and the ways they have found of coping with its hardships. The creatures that live in the sea of decay are wonderful expansions, and enough within the realms of possibility that I found it easy to suspend disbelief.

The plot is brilliant and dramatic. It was based on a manga, which clearly had a significant imagination, as well as story-telling skill behind it, though I don't know precisely how much was borrowed. It was beautifully told and brought to life, with the possible exception of the ending, which I thought slightly rushed.

The environmental message that leaks through in so many of Miyazaki's films (perhaps just because he likes producing that kind of film) was very much in evidence. It wasn't too heavy-handed, though, which is good... and the message was both a vehicle for the plot and part of the plot, without detracting from the struggle that the characters were going through.

The antagonists and protagonists alike all have their strong and weak points, making it very realistic in terms of how people deal with situations. Nausicaa herself is nature-loving and kind, but she is strong, proud and determined. In all, she is one of the strongest female leads I have ever seen in an anime. She wasn't whiny or defensive; she was proactive, and well-loved by the people around her. While I don't normally tout the feminist card, especially in reviews, it was a refreshing change from some anime films I've seen with female leads who basically provide moral support and screaming.

Visually, the film is good, but not brilliant. With a more detailed animation style (such as that used in later Ghibli films), and with a higher frame-rate, this could have been a much more visually arresting film. As it was the power was in the story, which is good in some ways, but disappointing in others. However, the characters were all drawn expressively enough to carry the emotion of the film, and the plot lost nothing by its slightly primitive animation style.

While not the best Miyazaki film I have seen, Nausicaa was an excellent film. I would definitely recommend it to all anime fans (though I'm told the manga is better).

Review of the 1993 film 'Falling Down'

2010-02-13T23:09:00.002Z

Sitting in a boiling hot car in a traffic jam, a man known through most of the film only as D-Fens stews, growing increasingly frustrated. Eventually he leaves his car in the traffic jam and takes his frustration on a journey across town by foot, leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

Falling Down is quite a scary film, in the sense, that as you watch Michael Douglas' character growing more and more insane along his path, you wonder what he will do. I was scared for his ex-wife and his daughter, and what he might do if and when he reached them. I was scared for all the people he met along the way that tried to stand in his path. At the same time, the power of it was that on some level, it was possible to understand at least part of his anger and frustration, without ever condoning his actions.

The acting in Falling Down is brilliant across the board, with each character bringing his point and purpose to life, from the main characters down to the man in the traffic jam that first meets D-Fens. The plot is equally excellent, even in its simplicity. We watch the policeman that starts to piece things together from disparate reports, and we watch D-Fens wandering through town, dealing with people in his path. The two threads coalesce excellently, in a brilliant ending that is as fantastic as it is inevitable.

The dialogue and plot are likewise brilliant, and while I couldn't tell you a lot about the cinematography, it was a visually very effective film. I think the filming achieved a lot with camera angles and the right view at the right time. A particular example would be the opening shots of the movie, as we watch the man in the car sweating, staring at the things around him in quick, distinct shots of various items that he can see. The first thing we hear is his breathing, and then the incredible noise of the traffic jam breaks through and we see him in his car-prison.

As I've already alluded, a lot of the power was in the amount of compassion that I had for the lead character, even in his worst moments. Society had not been at its best when dealing with him, and I felt for him because of that. I felt that some of the things he was rebelling against did need to be rebelled against, although preferably not in so violent and dramatic a fashion.

As with so many films that I enjoyed, I am finding it difficult to come up with negative points to balance out my own enthusiastic opinions, which makes it difficult to give a balanced review. However, as I'm only doing this for fun anyway, I'm going to stick with that... Falling Down was a brilliant film, and I think it will stand the test of time well, if not as well as other things. It's another not-for-the-faint-hearted film, but I think it was definitely worth watching.

Review of the 1988 film 'My Neighbour Totoro'

2010-02-08T23:14:00.001Z

Conceived as a children's film with no real conflict, My Neighbour Totoro follows sisters Satsuki and Mei when they move, with their father to a house in the countryside. In the forest near their house, Mei discovers Totoro, a spirit of nature, and she and her sister have a series of adventures.

Totoro is obviously meant as a children's film, but it still had a lot of appeal. The plot is simple, but there is a lot of the kind of magic and wonder in it that makes such fantasy films so fun to watch. Visually, the film is beautiful and the characters are all likeable.

As a film with no conflict, you would think that it would be boring. I think if I was in the mood for a crazy action film, it would be a little bit boring. However, primarily this was a happy, funny film that is meant to amuse and delight. I very much enjoyed it, and while I hesitate to use the word cute, I think that best describes much of the movie.

This would be a great film to watch if you are feeling down, or if you want to watch something happy without the usual dose of angst that accompanies many films. I don't have many criticisms, positive or negative, beyond that, so I will stop there.

Review of the 2009 film 'Sherlock Holmes'

2010-02-08T23:12:00.000Z

When Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson apprehend a criminal mastermind Lord Blackwood and see him sent to the gallows, they think that will be the last of him. So it is somewhat surprising when Blackwood apparently rises from the grave, and Holmes must put his incredible intellect and deductive ability to good work trying to stop more deaths.

I had very mixed feelings when I first saw the trailer for this movie. It seemed far more sensationalist and Hollywood action film than I would have expected from the Victorian genius. However, it did look like an entertaining film, so I wasn't certain.

The result was far more pleasing than I had hoped, though, and I was thoroughly glad that I went to see the film, even while it was, in some ways as sensationalist and Hollywood action film as I had feared. None of my specific concerns turned out to be a reality, and I was instead confronted with a film that kept much of the spirit of the old Victorian hero, while giving him new life and breaking away from the fastidious old man character that populated the previous dramatisations.

In terms of plot, there is a great amount of interest and pleasant non-linearity to the Holmes plot. I didn't find it overly predictable, and I found each explanation and forward movement very well carried out. Holmes' ability to deduce facts from minimal information is as legendary as I remember from the stories, and each step left me with the same frustration that I remember Watson feeling when Holmes made jumps that no others would have been able to reach.

The mood was dramatic, but it kept enough of the intrigue you would expect of a Holmes movie so that it wasn't too cheesy (not to say it was never cheesy, because it was... but entertainingly so, rather than cringingly so). The film doesn't attempt to be too spooky, which would have detracted from Robert Downey Junior's curt and forthright Holmes. Visually, the film was stunning and very well set up and choreographed, from fight scenes to simple scenes of Holmes being eccentric in the comfort of his own, rather disorderly, home.

I think what made this film, however, was the acting. Robert Downey Junior and Jude Law do a fantastic job as the duo of Holmes and Watson, and the supporting cast around them are equally as brilliant. Downey Jr acts the true British upper class eccentric, smoking his pipe and approaching all problems with wild-eyed enthusiasm as he searches for puzzles that will challenge him. Watson, long-suffering friend of Holmes, does well at dealing with tiresome Holmes, and acting as foil, comic relief and sidekick at different moments. The other characters are equally as well-acted, from Rachel McAdams getting her 'feist' on, to the incompetent police inspector and the varied antagonists that appear throughout the film.

Put it all together, and I got an amusing (occasionally hilarious), high-budget action film, with a very good central plot-string, superb acting and an excellent soundtrack. My main criticisms would revolve around the silliness of many of the plot elements. Don't see this film if you like your movies to be rigorously historically and scientifically accurate. I also wasn't too happy with the obvious cue-for-a-sequel moment at the end, but I supposed we must let Hollywood have these things.

I can imagine that Holmes has polarised opinions somewhat, between those who think that it's a brilliant direction to take the old franchise, and those that think it's a travesty. I'm firmly in the former column, so if you still cling to the belief that Holmes should be a stately, decorous and cleanly old gentleman with a magnifying glass and a few minor eccentricities, perhaps you will not enjoy this film as much as I did. However... you might be surprised.

To everyone else, go and see Holmes, and you probably won't regret it, if you've ever liked a crazy action film. This is crazier than most, and more entertaining than most.

Review of 'Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham.

2010-02-08T23:07:00.001Z

I had a lot of preconceptions about Day of the Triffids before I read it, many of which I think stemmed from what I'd heard about the B-movie. For a start I thought that the Triffids were aliens. In fact, in the book, they are genetically engineered plants, created and farmed for their many useful properties, while their more dangerous aspects such as locomotion and a dangerous sting are overlooked.

The story of the book, however, mostly focuses on the result of a solar storm, which creates a fantastic light show across the globe. Most of the population are watching... and the following morning, it appears that everyone who was watching has gone blind. A few sighted people are left to try and forge a new life from the fall of civilisation. In the midst of this, the Triffids start to stir, perhaps realising that they have the advantage over a blind human.

Day of the Triffids has a relatively simple plot, following Bill Masen as he tries to make some sense of the world that has been left behind. He is forced to make a number of choices along the way, about whether to abandon the people left blinded, or to try and do what he could to help them. Along the way, he meets Josella Playton, another left sighted after the meteor shower. The charm of the book is partly in this simplistic plot; it is just the story of how people cope with adversity, and the kinds of things that they would have to start thinking about.

The characterisation is, on the whole, excellent, if a little dated by today's standards. However, in many respects I think that Day of the Triffids will age better than many similar science fiction stories, because it doesn't try to pretend that people are anything other than people. In the story, people deal with the crisis in a variety of different ways. Some panic, others get depressed, some remain rational against all odds and start trying to think of a way through it. This is dealt with spectacularly throughout the book, and was one of the most impressive things about it.

By far the best thing about the book, though, is the world-building. John Wyndham starts from two basic premises. First, accept the Triffids as reality. Second, accept the meteor storm that leaves most of the population blind. After those two points, everything that happens follows logically and naturally. John Wyndham creates a world that works, and stands up to enough scrutiny that for the whole length of the book, I didn't notice a single thing that stood out as being wrong or ridiculous. This is not to say that they were not there, but the book was written well enough, and clever enough, that it stood up to casual reading. And what more can you ask of a book that you are reading casually?

Finally, I cared about what happened. I was pulled through the story, interested in each plot turn and event that changed how things worked. I like books that make me care, and I like ripping yarn stories, so this book was definitely a winner.

This book is well-deserving of its place in the minds of the public, and is another on my list of highly recommended reads.

Review of the 2009 film 'Avatar'

2010-02-08T23:04:00.002Z

Welcome to Pandora; a verdant green world with an atmosphere that's poisonous to humans, and a considerable native population of large, blue-skinned humanoids who live in harmony with the world around them. When humans arrive in search of a mineral known only as 'unobtanium' the Na'vi fight back, concerned that the humans are destroying their world. In an attempt to negotiate peace, and become friends with the Na'vi, scientists develop the avatar project and create Na'vi bodies from a meld of Na'vi and human DNA, synchronised with the nervous system of the avatar's pilot so that the pilot can control the avatar, and live as a Na'vi. Jake Sully, a wounded ex-marine, takes on one of these avatars and attempts to learn more about the Na'vi.

Avatar has gotten a lot of bad, or at least tepid, press for being a beautiful but predictable film. People have said that although it is very pretty, it has stolen it's plot from a number of different films, and hasn't got an original bone in its body.

I feel this is unfair on avatar. To show my point, I will start out by discussing what I feel are the film's negative points:

It's true that the film is focused around an issue that's very much in vogue at the moment, and although it takes it out to a new locale, it's still essentially the same idea. Increasingly in films, the role of humans as bad guy is becoming more fashionable, and when you listen to the news, it's easy to see why this has percolated through into popular media. Much of the plot and thematic devices are reused, borrowed and adapted from elsewhere. The characters have clear and obvious traits, and nothing really surprised me about any of them. The romantic subplot was obvious from minute one, and a lot of the other plot devices were obvious, if not from the start, then from the second that their possibility was introduced so that their later use was not quite so deus-ex-machina.

So far, I guess, I'm agreeing with all of the other critics. However, and this is a big however, I thoroughly enjoyed Avatar. I sat willingly through nearly three hours of movie and was eager to find out what happened next, even when I knew what was going to happen next.

The overarching plot was very predictable; the fifty word plot synopsis wouldn't shock you at all, but there were moments when things happened that did surprise me. Without wanting to spoil anything, there were times when I hadn't predicted the outcome, and so I was saddened by the result. And, additionally, there are only so many stories, but there are a great many ways to tell a story. This story takes the science fiction telling, and many of the elements around the plot were brilliant; world design and technology design are brilliant across the board.

In some respects characterisation left something to be desired; each character had one trait that they were allowed to exploit, and one moment where they were allowed to show anything else, except for the lead antagonist, who was not allowed to be anything other than an irredeemable bastard. However (again), there was a lot that was good about the way the characters worked. The scientists acted like scientists. The soldiers acted like soldiers. The acting was, on the whole, excellent, and with slightly limited material, the lead cast did get to shine.

And yes, people are right, the film was beautiful. The 3D occasionally got in the way (for me), but for the most part added depth (hurr hurr) to the storytelling, and made it a great visual spectacle. The alien creature designers clearly had a lot of fun, but they ended up creating a wholly believable world. The human technology invented for the world is stunning, and there are some technologically very believable things. Indeed, looking at his filmography, one of Cameron's strengths seems to be creating generally accessible, but believable, science fiction. For this, he should definitely be praised.

The punch line is, of course, that if I was to make a list of movie features and rate each one individually, Avatar would score average at best in all but visual effects and world building. Yet, all of the elements come together in a superb package, that was supremely entertaining, and very good science fiction to boot. This is definitely worth seeing, and it was one of the most enjoyable films I saw last year.

Review of 'The Stars My Destination' by Alfred Bester.

2009-12-29T23:15:00.000Z

It's strange, buying a book mainly because a character in your favourite television show was named after the author, but that's probably the main reason I first picked up The Stars My Destination (also previously published under the title Tiger Tiger). This is another one of the books published in the Science Fiction masterworks series, though, so I suspected that I was in for a good ride, and I was right.

Gully Foyle is the sole survivor on his mostly burned-out ship. He is an uneducated nobody, surviving through sheer bloody-mindedness. He does not know how he came to be there. Eventually, he has a chance for rescue, but his would-be rescuer passes him by. At that moment, he vows revenge on those that passed him by, and in vowing and seeking his vengeance he becomes more than he was.

The central science-fiction premise around which the world is hung is the development (or rather discovery) of personal, instantaneous teleportation. With just the power of their minds, people can travel up to a thousand miles across the world. While the concept seems even more unlikely today than it did when the book was written, the society that Bester created around it rang very true, and I loved the way that he created the world where such a form of teleportation was possible.

Around this tenet, Bester also created a rich world where a number of other things were possible, and in this, Gully Foyle wanders and seeks his vengeance. He is helped and hindered along the way by a cast of characters with as much variety as I have come to expect from real life. There is a greedy, self-absorbed businessman who manages somehow to avoid many of the cliches that now hang around such a character; There is a woman who has grown so sick of the role that women are given in the world of instantaneous teleportation that she has turned to a life of petty crime; Then there is a poor teacher who has the negative qualities of telepathy (broadcasting her thoughts) without the benefits of being able to read minds.

And at the centre of it all is the determined Gully Foyle. He maintains his purpose throughout the story, even when it is difficult to believe that any real person would. But somehow, he forces himself to ambition when he is given a hook for his vengeance, and he channels all that energy towards getting what he wants. He doesn't care that it makes people along the path hate him for it, and he happily uses them to get what he wants. However, throughout the character grows from a down-and-out to an intelligent, well-educated human being, who has every possibility. It is strange watching how such a destructive force as revenge builds an incredibly intelligent and resourceful man out of a nobody, but in the pages of The Stars My Destination, it is pulled off with immense skill.

The story was brilliantly told, and I greatly enjoyed the simple (but not bare or too utilitarian) prose. The plot was rich, interesting and compelling, encouraging me with each step to read on. It was the kind of compulsion that I had missed in the Deptford Trilogy, in fact, though I will not state that the book stands as well as Great Literature. Importantly, the characters and story all rang true, once the central tenets had been accepted with a pinch poetic license and I can well see why this book has made it into the science fiction masterworks.

It almost seems bad form to comment upon the books flaws, but I probably should. Most of them stem from the fact that the book is quite dated; it was written some time ago and the views on society, women and science are a little out of date by now. This book has perhaps not stood the test of time as well as some science fiction books. Equally, though, in my opinion it has lasted better than some, and I can forgive a lot when I take into account that it was written a long time before the present day.

In the end, the story is made by the brilliance of the main character; and while I do not necessarily believe that anyone is capable of anything they set their mind to, Gully Foyle rings true as a character who does pull off that feat, and as such I found him inspirational, even though his motivation was questionable.

As you can probably tell, I enjoyed this book... and I think that most science fiction fans will. I do not think it has yet supplanted any of my top favourites... but perhaps that is only because my favourites haven't lasted through fifty years of time taking a completely different path to that which the writers expected.

Review of 'The Deptford Trilogy' by Robertson Davies

2009-12-29T23:11:00.003Z

Starting in the small Canadian village of Deptford, this trilogy of novels follow the lives of three men whose lives started, or were greatly affected by, that village. The first is Dunstan Ramsay, a relatively unremarkable history professor, looking back over his life to an event that occurred in his tenth year and shaped much that happened to him afterwards. The second is a rich, highly respected lawyer, David Staunton, the son of Ramsay's old friend Boy Staunton. The third is Magnus Eisengrim, the greatest magician in the world, who was also born in Deptford.

These novels aren't the usual sort of thing I would read, and I cannot say that I would have ever come across them if they hadn't been recommended to me. However, they are very good books, and are certainly very well written. The characters are all well-rounded, and interesting. Each has a good story to tell, and each is well told. Throughout each book, there are a number of interesting themes, such as friendship, loyalty, myth and vengeance. They are dealt with skilfully and as each story develops, you see how each character has been shaped by his past.

While I can honestly say that I enjoyed these stories, I have more to say on the negative side than usual, and this is perhaps because I have stepped outside my reading comfort zone. However, I also mainly noticed flaws that I have picked up on (or that others have mentioned) about my own writing.

Firstly, all of the main characters were all incredibly intelligent and self-aware. This in itself is not a flaw, but there were very few characters bought to the fore in the whole story who did not meet this general description, which I feel lost something of the tapestry of life.

Secondly, all of the characters seemed to speak in the same, or very similar, voices. The consistency of tone was very good for the first story, where it was all told in first-person perspective from Ramsay's point of view. However, when all three of the stories were told in the same tone, it became less interesting and lost the characters some of their variety, especially in the third story, where other characters have a lot more to say. This is not to say that the narrative voice was dull; just that the style was a little too consistent between characters.

Thirdly, although I wanted to read on, and was interested in the outcomes of all of the stories, this book was not what I would describe as a page-turner. Usually stories that interest also grab me, to a lesser or greater extent. For the Deptford Trilogy I wanted to read on, but I was not compelled in the same way as for many ripping yarn stories.

However, at no point did I consider stopping reading the book; throughout I wanted to find out what happened, it just took me a lot longer than some books. The first book introduced me to a cast of characters who had enough variety to intrigue (earlier comments notwithstanding). There was also a considerable amount of extraneous knowledge and information dotted around the plot. The second book, especially, taught me a few things that I didn't know, while exploring the life and character of the subject of that novel, David Staunton.

I've thus finished this omnibus with mixed feelings. The threads that pull all three stories together are intriguing and the characters and tales are very strong, and quite believable, even in their most fanciful moments. It was definitely strong literature, very cleverly and well written. However, while the book was entertaining enough, it just wasn't as gripping as I wanted it to be, so I found it took me a very long time to read.

If, like me, you prefer ripping-yarn stories that pull you through on tenter-hooks, and have a plot that grabs you, you may find, like me, that the Deptford trilogy is a surprisingly good read, but not precisely your cup of tea. If, however, you are very much into fictional life-stories and semi-historical fiction, I think that this is a fine example of its kind, and you will probably enjoy it greatly.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

2009-10-24T23:10:00.003+01:00

When I started this blog, I never intended for it to be solely reviews. Unfortunately it seems to have turned out that way, to the extent that I'm tentative about posting non-review blogging posts now. However, I've recently found a few things I wanted to write about, and seeing as that's what blogs are for... I might as well use the opportunity while it's there.

Two weeks ago, I was in Paris, visiting the touristy places in one of the best-known historic cities in Europe. I have a lot to say about a lot of things I saw there, but for now, I want to talk about the Arc de Triomphe.

The Arc de Triomphe stands at a junction between several big roads in Paris, the biggest being the Champs Elysées and the Avenue de la Grande Armée. It was built by Napoleon to honour his troops on their journey home. It can be seen from just about any point in Paris that stands above three stories high, but disappears surprisingly fast when you walk away from it at ground level.

An impressive white edifice, it stands proud and tall, with an ornamented but elegant design. The views from the top level are stunning. But the thing that really struck me when I was at the Arc, was not inside the giant structure at all.

Between two of the giant pillars there is a plain gravestone, with some flowers and a flame that is always lit.

“Ici repose un soldat Francais, mort pour la patrie.”

Here lies a French soldier who died for his country.

The tomb of the unknown soldier is a tradition I've known about for as long as I can remember, but until I stood there, under the arch, I didn't really understand it. I've never seen the soldier in Westminster Cathedral (a little closer to home), so I don't know if I would have been affected the same way there.

But as I stood there, surrounded by crowds, reading the signs that asked me to treat the site with the respect it deserved, I realised that it wasn't just the tomb of an unknown soldier. It was the tomb of every unknown soldier.

Here lies a man who fought and died for his country. Wrong or right, he took up arms to fight a force he believed needed to be fought. The Generals sat above him, somewhere, and directed him, but he was the one fighting. He was the one that faced the enemy on equal footing. And somewhere along the line, somehow, he was killed.

It happened to a lot of men. There are thousands upon thousands of graves, of those who died in two world wars. Some were recovered, named, buried. Their families knew and mourned properly.

But some just never came home.

Reality and fiction say a lot about how difficult it is to mourn properly when there is no closure. Burying a close loved-one, especially one who dies young, must be hard; I have been very sheltered in this in my life so far, but I can imagine something of what it would feel, even if my imagination could never truly harness the reality. It's even harder to imagine what it must be like to lose someone and never know what happened, to never be able to bury them.

So, when I stood beside the grave under the Arc de Triomphe, I think I realised just how much it must have meant. The symbolism behind the Unknown Soldier may have allowed people just a touch of what they needed. Perhaps they could imagine that their beloved lay underneath that well-loved grave; that buried in state is the man that they adored in their time. And while he was never named, he is still there, at rest.

It hit me with a cold wind, and I stared for a long moment.

Looking up, there is a lot of the Arc that is impressive, and important; a very powerful monument. It contains the names of many. But none of them meant anything to me; a name is just a name if it's someone you don't know and never will.

But an Unknown Person, unnamed... that could be anyone. And I think that will stay with me a lot longer than the views along the Champs Elysées.

Review of Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

2009-10-24T22:13:00.000+01:00

In the far future, humans have spread out among the stars, discovered alien life and is in the midst of a war. A series of catastrophic 'accidents' around the galaxy are preceded by communications in a language that no one understands. Rydra Wong, however, has an extremely keen linguistic mind, and starts to extract meaning from Babel-17. And with understanding, she sets out in search of whoever speaks the strange and remarkable tongue.

Babel-17 is another one of the sci-fi masterworks, so I had an inkling it would be good before I picked it up. As it was, though, I was still blown away by it. With a brilliant plot, a wonderful cast of characters and prose that I can only dream of writing, this stands rightly among the sci-fi masterworks.

Linguistics is a field I've always been interested in, but never had enough time to devote to it. Discovering a sci-fi novel, where the plot is based around linguistics is interesting, and it's always nice when a passive interest meets an active one. The linguistic explorations and Rydra's attempts to explain how things work make for very compelling and interesting reading. In addition, the other characters add a whole host of personas and interests to the plot. From the customs officer whose life is changed after spending one evening with Rydra, to the trio of navigators and the wonderful way they interact with each other... it all fits together seamlessly.

The world-building is fantastic, as well, I should say. The way the 'Transport' people work, and the way the society in general works is introduced gradually throughout the novel. There are one or two things that are introduced slightly too soon before they become plot-relevant, but in general, it all fits together. The world is beautiful, vibrant, and nearly completely believable. Even something of art and science in their world is described and painted beautifully.

Babel-17 is only a short book, so it's necessarily quite punchy and fast-paced. There are a few plot elements and 'decisions' that strike me as strange. And there are some scenes that the author seems to dwell on, when perhaps others may have seemed more plot-relevant. However, in the span of 200 or so pages, the author built a world and a cast of characters, and made me care for all of them. The ending seemed slightly rushed; there was a chapter that was only vaguely coherent, followed by a few that led the book to its end, but never really fully explained everything. On the whole, though, it was very well paced, and everything up to those last few chapters made me enjoy it all the more. At the end, I was left wanting more, so if that was the intention, Mr. Delany certainly achieved his objective.

One thing I found slightly strange is that the main character, Rydra Wong, and another character who is only present for a short time, are the only two convincing female characters... the others are slightly bland, and don't have as much stage-presence as the male characters. Another criticism I'd have is that there are the occasional bits that are hard to read; especially a three-page long sentence (not as bad as it sounds, and skilfully done, but even so; hard going).

In general, Babel-17 was an excellently crafted, easy-to-read 200 pages, with world and characters I didn't find it hard to love. I'd recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who likes science fiction, especially, but not exclusively, if you also enjoy linguistics.

Review of the 2004 film 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow'

2009-10-24T21:25:00.001+01:00

I'm discovering it's very difficult to review things... especially if I really enjoyed it. If I was to embark upon this properly, I'd have to pick films at random, rather than choosing films that I am fairly certain I'm going to enjoy. However, my intent was always to be an 'everyman' reviewer. Hopefully I can attempt to be balanced even when I enjoyed a film, and hopefully people can judge from my reviews whether they would enjoy something or not. I'm sure that professional reviewers quickly become jaded, so a film has to do something very special to stand out. Not so for me, as I like cheesy crazy action movies as much as the next guy.

However, sometimes I watch a film that I have lots of things to say about, positive and negative.

And so to my next review... Sky Captain.

Jude Law stars as Sky Captain, a mercenary crack pilot with almost the almost superhuman ability to fly through cities without destroying buildings (much). Gwyneth Paltrow plays a cut-throat journalist who will do just about anything to get a story. Together, they set out in search of the coordinator of a series of attacks involving highly technologically advanced giant robots and flying machines.

If it sounds steam-punk and cheesy, it is... but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There is a quite gripping and thrill-riding-ly entertaining plot, veneered with strong stilton. The plot held up to closer examination better than most other elements of the film. If you took for granted that the level of technology was possible in the supposed time period (the 50's I think), and that Sky Captain and his number-two tech expert Dex (Giovanni Ribisi) are as good as they are claimed to be, then everything else sort of works, in a silly way. There were some good action scenes, a good mystery element and some amusing twists. It came with comedy and drama and managed both pretty well.

My main problem with this film was that I didn't particularly like the characters. The Captain himself was arrogant in the way only crack pilots in film seem to be, but he was good enough to pull it off. Dex had enough screen presence to stand up, but he didn't really stand out, or have enough screen time to make me really like him. Angelina Jolie's character had enough charm to actually make me like Angelina for possibly the first time ever... but again, she had limited screen time, so it wasn't enough to redeem the movie.

And then, trailing notably behind these characters in my estimation, I hated Gwyneth Paltrow's character. I didn't actively hate her in the way that you'd hate a well-done bad guy. I hated her in the sense that it was a terrible character, and I didn't find the portrayal good enough to rescue it. In the vein of journalistic stereotypes, Polly Perkins, puts herself in harms way and almost gets killed several times in her determination to get a story and a few pictures. Far from brave and ambitious, I found her irritating and stupid, and I wanted to slap her face on more than one occasion. She was worse than useless in aiding the plot, and spent a lot of time fretting about her beloved camera in a way I found vexing.

Leaving my ire behind though, let's move on to the filming. While the special effects would not be considered ground-breaking, they were adequate, and the filming style covered that a lot; the film user a lot of sepia and blue-filters, which I think dulled the difference between real and CG. However, aside from this notable benefit, I didn't particularly like the sepia. I found it hard to watch (as in, odd glares and shadows, rather than the this-film-is-too-frustrating sense). I can cope with blue filters, though, so for those bits of the film I wasn't squinting at the TV quite as much.

I should add a note that this film had a brilliant soundtrack, which added greatly to the atmosphere of the film. Reminiscent of some of John Williams better works, Edward Shearmur does a brilliant job of backing this film and adding a pinch of what's needed to every scene.

So, let's balance up: pretty good, quite gripping plot, with some good characters and one supremely irritating one who gets a lot of screen-time. Filming techniques that I half-liked and half-disliked. Reasonable acting and adequate special effects. But for a film I watched on a lazy Saturday and had hardly heard of before, it wasn't a bad couple of hour's entertainment.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a fairly good film, but it's not quite the epic it could have been. It's not going to top my list of favourites, and it won't be high on my list of things to re-watch soon, but it might be worth giving it a go, if you like that sort of thing.

Review of the 2007 film 'Bridge to Terabithia'

2009-10-24T19:45:00.001+01:00

I knew nothing about Bridge to Terabithia before watching it. Reading this review will somewhat deprive you of that opportunity. I recommend approaching this film with your mind open, so if you want to see it before reading this... know only that I recommend you watch it. I had trouble even deciding whether to post this review. However...

For those that would rather know more...

Bridge to Terabithia affected me in ways that only a couple of other films ever have. It was incredibly effective, and for many reasons really got to me. It's hard to review it without spoiling it, but I'll do my best.

Josh Hutcherson is a preteen with the usual trials of the kid who isn't quite in the cool crowd. When Leslie Burke starts at the school, the pair initially start off on the wrong foot, but soon become friends. Leslie has many of the same problems as Josh, but she is much better at letting things wash over her. She has a strong personality, and some wisdom far beyond her years, with the imagination and playfulness of youth. Together, they create a world of their own, Terabithia, driven by imagination and escapism.

I don't know what I was expecting when I sat down to watch this film; I think I expected something far more fanciful and fantastical than what I got. Perhaps I thought it would a fantasy similar to 'City of Ember'. I thought it was a kid's film, and I thought it would be the kind of hollywood kid's film cheese I've come to expect. As it was, though, I got something that took me back to my own experiences of youth; my own attempts to use imagination and fictional worlds to escape from the world of today. I was incredibly sympathetic towards the characters, which made it easy to enjoy the highs, and to feel the lows even more distinctly.

The acting in this film is brilliant, by children and adults alike. Even Zooey Deschanel, who I normally find annoying, was good in this film (though her part was thankfully reasonably small). Everything meshes together perfectly.

On the other side, there were a few things I liked less about this film... some of the characters didn't fit quite as well as others, and nothing much is ever made of two of Josh's sisters. In one or two places, there were ideas that not everyone will agree with, but as it was all presented as children's ideas, I think it was easier to swallow.

The visual effects are pretty average, and the plotline is fairly simplistic. But, this is not an epic storyline about children discovering a Narnia-like fantasy world. This is about children and the power of imagination. It reminded me of a lot of things I had thought gone, and evoked a churn of new emotions (to get overly poetical).

I think Bridge to Terabithia has wound its way rightfully up into my favourite films. There's something about it that I think, and hope, will stay with me. It's something I think I could watch again and again, and each time love it anew, even if the twists and turns have less punch than the first time.

In a way, I'm glad I knew nothing about the film before seeing it. It caught me and immersed me in a way that few films I have seen ever have. I loved every moment, even the saddest moments. And I hope that if and when you see it, you enjoy it on as many levels as I did.

Review of the 2006 film 'A Scanner Darkly'

2009-10-24T19:35:00.000+01:00

A Scanner Darkly is a story about the dangers of drugs. In the future, a drug known as 'substance D' is the current bane of civilisation. The narcotics police send undercover agents out to try and infiltrate groups of addicts, to find and bring down those who are distributing the drugs. Keanu Reeves plays a narcotics known by codename 'Fred'. His undercover guise is as Bob Arctor, living in a house with two other Substance D addicted men.

Having never read the book, I cannot tell you how true it is to Philip K Dick's original creation, but I can say that as a film, this stood up very well. There was some brilliant acting from all of the cast, especially Robert Downey Jr, who is fast becoming one of my favourite actors. The film is shown as cell-shaded live action. You can tell that the cast are real, but the unreality of the overlaying colour accentuates the drug-haze that its characters are living in. There are some interesting effects as well. When not undercover, the narcotics officers wear suits that hide their identity, showing images of switching faces, flashing a series of strange and different images.

The plot thread that the majority of the film follows is relatively simple. It is mostly following Bob and his group, and watching him as he tries to discover more about the drug network. Throughout there are a series of interactions that show the life that they are living, listening in on their 'trippy' conversations. It is an interesting sketch. The ending of the film, however, shows what everything else has been leading up to, and it impressed me greatly.

At times the mood of the film is relatively comic, as you watch the characters having conversations that most level-headed people would never have. At these points, I found myself wondering if they were based off actual conversations that Philip K Dick had had. Often the film is a lot darker, as Bob becomes more drug addicted and starts losing his faculties.

The film held my interest throughout, and made me think about what it was trying to achieve. As well as good acting, and a very good script, it captured a variety of moods. From the opening scene of watching a drug-addicted man imagine that he is covered in insects, to the final conclusion, there is a lot of good story-telling, and a wonderful variety of characters. As science fiction it is squarely within the realms of possibility, perhaps making the film that little bit more plausible and unnerving.

This isn't a light-hearted film, but I enjoyed it very much as a film to watch and get my teeth into. I think it would have a lot of appeal to many people, and definitely not one just for science fiction fans.

Review of the 2009 film 'Up'

2009-10-18T22:47:00.000+01:00

The Pixar film series have included many that are brilliant, and Up is no exception. I thoroughly recommend this film, so you should go out and see it now... and then come back and read the rest of my review.

Up follows the story of Carl Frederickson, an elderly man who is living alone in a house he has known since childhood. Then there is Russell, a young 'wilderness explorer' looking to get his Helping the Elderly badge. Karl sends him off on a fake errand, but Russell ends up on Mr Frederickson's house, when Carl launches the house with an enormous bunch of helium balloons and sets off to South America.

With poignancy, adventure, comedy and sadness all rolled into one film, it's hard not to find something to like in Up. I liked everything. The action sequences were clever and exciting, without being overdone. I found the comical elements and characters hilarious. There were also some surprisingly hard-hitting emotional moments that made me think; this is still Disney, so it wasn't exactly a tear-jerker, but it was still quite special.

Likewise, the characters in this story are wonderful. Carl is a grumpy old man, with a life-story that I could really relate to, and I felt for him even in his most crotchety moment. Russell, while overeager, has a lot of admirable and amusing character traits. Even at his most annoying, he is a nice character. The other side-kicks and the antagonist are likewise amusing.

Up also comes with an incredible soundtrack by Michael Giacchino. The main theme is catchy and brilliant; adaptable for all highs and lows and beautiful. I've been humming it for the last two days, and I'm going to attempt to learn it on the piano. It really adds something to the film to make it extra special.

For a balanced review, I should try and say some things that don't make Up to be perfection incarnate, because it isn't. There are some moments where the plot is a little predictable, and there are perhaps a few too many scenes showing the house floating amongst the clouds, with no good reason. I also found there were moments where characters were rather more sprightly than is generally possible for their age.

However, my overall feeling is overwhelmingly positive. This was a highly entertaining children's film, with a considerable amount to keep the adults amused as well.

As a final note, I should say that I watched Up in 3D at the cinema. The last (and so far only other) film I saw in 3D (Coraline), seemed to use 3D as a gimmick to have lots of things jumping out of the screen. I didn't like this. Up, however, used it to give much more depth to the shot, and had hardly any needless things jumping out of the screen at you. It made good use of the 3D, and it was far less annoying and distracting than I think it would be for many things.

Review of the 2008 film 'Cloverfield'

2009-10-04T22:28:00.000+01:00

In Manhattan, a small group of friends are throwing a farewell party in honour of Rob (Michael Stahl-David). His best friend Hud (T.J Miller) is going around the party collecting farewell messages using Rob's handheld video recorder. When an earthquake shocks the city and all hell breaks loose, Hud keeps hold of the camera and documents the progress of a small group of his friends as they attempt to escape the havoc.

I'm not sure how to describe my experience of this film. In some ways I thought it was brilliant, in other ways I was slightly disappointed. However, when I think of some of the things that disappointed me, I wonder if it would have been better had it been done differently, and I am uncertain.

I'll start with the characters. Quite quickly, I got an idea of what all the characters were like, and enough of their backstory to give them the shade of realism required. And so, I found that I cared about what happened to them. As the film progressed, those attachments were used well in the plot to shock and scare, and worry and interest. It kept me watching. It was well acted and throughout I had a good impression of the character's fear and their real-world heroism as they suffered their ordeal.

What plot was there was designed to keep the characters in the city for long enough to show off all that was happening. There were some visually interesting moments and some (slightly) scary ones. As none of the characters that the film was following really knew what was going on in the larger picture, the viewer didn't really know what was going on either. There were bits of subplot revealed through snatches of the tape that was being overwritten. As the characters make their way through the city, there are some excellent monster-shots and some spectacular displays of destruction and death. What can be described as the main plot thread, following friends going to rescue another friend who is trapped, was a little bit weak, and a little too cheesy, but it was covered well enough by good acting and some superb action sequences.

Telling the story through a camcorder was an interesting choice. In some ways, it turned what could have been a fairly run-of-the-mill monster flick into a good film. It kept you with the action, at ground level with a small group of people you could relate to. As they ran and screamed and attempted to work out what was going on, the camcorder shooting made it a little bit more realistic. The snatches of monster-footage were very interesting, and didn't give enough information to form a cohesive picture of the alien/monster to start picking too many holes in it.

In other ways, I didn't like the camcorder approach. There were moments where I wanted to tell the cameraman to put the camera down and act like a sensible human being. The camera was nearly always at head-height, even when its holder was running, screaming, fighting, climbing and falling. It felt more like a story being told from first-person perspective than a film told through a camcorder. Where most people would have dropped the camera to protect themselves, even temporarily, the camera always showed enough of the action. And no one seemed to mind the camera; they didn't mind bearing their souls in front of it, or the fact that Hud had at least one hand always glued to it.

On balance, I think Cloverfield was a good film. I did enjoy it, but I won't be adding it to my top-ten any time soon. There was a great monster-movie hidden somewhere within an interesting method of story-telling and while I enjoyed it, I was slightly dissatisfied with many of the choices taken through the film. I found the plot on the cheesy-side, and the ending frustrating, but I enjoyed the concept and feel of the movie. If you get a chance, I think it's worth seeing once.

Review of the 2008 film 'City of Ember'

2009-10-04T22:23:00.001+01:00

When disaster threatens the world, people survive in the City of Ember, deep underground and powered by a generator that gives light and heat to the city. The first Mayor of Ember is entrusted with a box, that contains instructions about what to do when 200 years are over, and Ember is reaching the end of its intended life. However, the box is lost, and over 200 years since Ember was founded, the people are beginning to run out of stored food, and the generator is dying.

I found the concept behind the film very interesting; Ember itself and the story behind it is a very nice idea. In mood, it reminded me of a cross between two of my favourite children's books. Visually, the make-do-and-mend feel was put across very well. The characters are often wearing threadbare or worn clothes, and all the machinery and buildings look like they are two-hundred years old, run by a society that doesn't have the expertise or resources to maintain them.

In addition, the feel of the society seemed about right. When the children come of age and leave school, they have an 'assignment day' where they do not choose jobs, but rather pick them randomly from a bag. There seems to be a strong community spirit, and for the most part the people seem to band together to make things work in the city. However, there is the normal kind of conflict that you'd expect with people living in close quarters. As a world, I found it worked very well.

The story follows Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), a messenger, and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway), a pipeworker. When Lina finds the box and realises that they contain instructions about how to leave Ember, she and Doon try to put the torn instructions back together in order to save the people of their city.

Once you get past the stunning visuals, and interesting underlying concepts and society, however, I found City of Ember to be a fun film, but not as special as everything else might have implied. There were a lot of great actors (including Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and Martin Landau), and a lot of good acting, but the main characters didn't hold the plot together as well as I thought they should. Ronan and Treadaway did a very good job of getting the plot across, but I felt they were a little too much the all-American teen to really carry off the steam-punk style film.

The plot was a little thin, and at times predictable. I think the film was aimed at children much younger than I am, and having children as the main character tends to enforce this opinion. I would hope, though, that a film with as much conceptual promise as this one would give a little more to its adult viewers. It seemed to use every conceivable plot 'trick' to get the characters through to the film's conclusion.

Having said that, I did enjoy the film. It was a pleasant, easily watchable film and it was a fun plot, even if I felt it did not quite live up to the brilliant concepts and world. If you have an hour and a half and want something fun to watch, I'd recommend this film, but I wouldn't go into it with your expectations set too high. Although it's visually brilliant, it's a little on the shallow side, and it is probably much better when viewed by people under the age of fourteen.

Review of the 2009 film 'District 9'

2009-09-27T22:52:00.000+01:00

Set in Johannesburg, either in the present day or the not too distant future, District 9 is about the aftermath of the arrival of aliens. The race, known as the prawns, arrived on Earth in a mothership, which came to a stop over Johannesburg and stayed there, without moving, for three months until the ship was cut open to reveal a large number of malnourished, leaderless aliens. The aliens were given a temporary home, which became a shanty town for the aliens. Gangs seized on the opportunities that arose, creating new crime, and people became more and more scared of the aliens, until eventually it is decided that they must be relocated outside of Johannesburg. While searching one of the shacks for illegal weapons, Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), finds a device, which sprays him with a strange black fluid. Not long after he starts noticing some strange effects, as alien DNA starts to transform him.

There are a lot of things I could say about this film, and it's difficult to know where to start. Firstly, the film is a good science fiction movie. It doesn't explain any of the technology, but while some of it seems outlandish, none of it seems completely implausible. Often the most difficult thing to believe is that the aliens could have made their technology on Earth with their obviously limited resources, and with what is known (or at least assumed) about their societal structure. The aliens are sufficiently alien to seem different and almost terrifying to us. However, they are bipedal humanoids with a similar facial structure, so they have enough in common to be sympathetic characters when the plot requires it.

One of the things I liked, from the science fiction points of view, is that the aliens cannot speak English, and the humans cannot speak their language; both have learned to understand the other, but they lack the vocal devices to produce the alien sounds.

At times the film leaves science fiction in all but weaponry and make-up and becomes an excellent action movie. It is often very gory. In a way this makes it more effective on a visceral level, but in other ways I found it unpleasant and at times it made watching difficult. I wouldn't recommend this films for the faint-hearted, and as one of my friends warned me, I wouldn't take snacks. There are some very good action sequences and fight scenes. The character of Wikus gradually grows throughout the film from slightly gawky bureaucrat to the action hero victim and there is some brilliant acting along the way. The difference between the man that laughs as he finds and aborts a nest of alien eggs, and the person he becomes at the end of the film is marked, and each step of the transition is very well performed.

The film also has a significant social message. It carries many themes, the most noticeable being xenophobia. Setting this film in South Africa was quite brave, almost providing commentary on some of the actual events that occurred in that part of the world. The film manages to evoke considerable sympathy for the aliens, while in places still revealing an understandable human point of view. The message was thought-provoking, but I don't think it over-laboured its points, and it was all the more powerful because it didn't spoon on its social messages. They are there, but the plot is more important, which allows the film to be an entertaining science-fiction/horror movie whilst still exploring some difficult issues.

From start to finish, I think District 9 was a very good film. It was gory, which might put me off watching it again in the immediate future, but it was also very interesting. The science-fiction elements were not as well conceived as some of the societal themes, but it was still a very good science fiction movie. I am not sure I could call it a brilliant movie, but it is a film I might recommend everyone (with a sufficiently strong stomach) see at least once.

Review of 'Inversions' by Iain M Banks

2009-09-10T21:54:00.001+01:00

When I struggled through 'Excession' by the same author, a friend who had similarly found Excession difficult, recommended to me that I read Inversions. I am glad I listened to his recommendation. Inversions was a very enjoyable read.

Where other Iain M Banks novels suffer from lack of characterisation, over-verbosity and too much love of AI, Inversions is almost the opposite. To the uninitiated, it would read as a curious fantasy story of mysterious and seemingly unrelated events across two kingdoms. To those in the know, it is a novel about the Culture, in disguise. Told from the point of view of the affected, the meddled-with, Inversions tells two stories. One narrator is apprentice to a Doctor who brings medical knowledge far in advance of what is known at the time. The other tells the story of the bodyguard to another leader of a different regime on the same world.

Usually I am most impressed with Iain M Bank's aliens, and while there was a hint of this in his world-building, all the people in it were very much people. His characterisation was stronger in this novel than I've seen in any of his other science fiction, with the possible exception of 'Consider Phlebas'. The apprentice, Oelph tells his story as loyal servant, loyal apprentice, and as a man who has a great deal of affection for the subject of his narrations. Doctor Vosill herself has a great deal of character; she brings progress and change and controvesial opinions as she acts as physician to the king.

On the other side of the sea, the bodyguard DeWar and the cast of characters in his story, are likewise well-rounded and developed as people. DeWar struck me as a conflicted and fervently loyal man. As his story unfolds, he tells a series of stories that sound remarkably familiar to anyone who knows anything about the Culture. The concubine Perrund, the Protector and his son, all have their own strong personalities, in many different ways. It was easy to follow their stories, and to care about the outcome.

Telling the story from the perspective of those who are being manipulated is an interesting twist, and provided me with the viewpoint of the Culture that I enjoyed from Consider Phlebas. In the earlier work, the Culture was the enemy and it was never made clear whether they were the force for good or evil. Inversions returns to that ambiguity, and allows the knowing reader to enjoy the thought experiments that Vosill and DeWar present.

The characters, the story-telling and the interesting plot intersections and parallels made Inversions a compelling read. It was a lot easier to digest than some of Banks' other stories, and because it was primarily about small groups of people rather than whole civilisations I found myself able to really enjoy it as a science-fiction fantasy crossover story. It wasn't trying so hard to be clever that it forgot to be good, and it wasn't striving so hard for moral discussion that it forgot to be interesting. These things all conspired to make Inversions a brilliant book, with enough depth and plot-interest to keep attention throughout its pages.

Review of the 2009 film 'Public Enemies'

2009-07-28T23:05:00.001+01:00

Public Enemies tells the story of the notorious bank robber, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and his associates as they win their illicit gains in Chicago in the 30's. At the same time, J. Edgar Hoover is looking for blood, and places Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) in charge of catching Dillinger and his friends.

While I know little of the history surrounding the true story of Dillinger and Purvis, this film had the 'ring of truth' about it, that made me believe in it. There are scenes showing expertly planned jailbreaks, bank robberies, charming villains enjoying their down-time and smooth policemen. It all looked and felt like everything I know of 1930's America, and I'd be happy to believe there is enough of the real history in there that any changes were within poetic license.

From very early on in the film, I found myself rooting for Dillinger, although in essence he was the 'bad guy'. In a way, I was also rooting for Purvis, though I knew that in order for the film to be good cinema, only one of them could win. With each event, I worried, wondering if the end was coming for Dillinger's crime wave. He was a bank robber, and he used people as human shields... but as he did so, he offered a cold hostage his coat, and sang to another hostage in the getaway car.

Johnny Depp has proven to me time and time again that he is a versatile and brilliant actor. His performance as Dillinger did not disappoint me at all. With each turn of events, you could see every facet of the character played out. While he was a violent man, there were also ways in which he was gentlemanly, and Johnny Depp brings both of these sides of the character out with confidence and surety. He especially excelled in showing Dillinger's love for Billie Freschette, but also his carefree attitude, never thinking ahead.

On the other side of the screen, Christian Bale pleasantly surprised me. I have often being underwhelmed by his performances on the big screen, but in Public Enemies he plays the polished policeman well. Playing a character somewhere between the emotionless cleric John Preston of Equilibrium and the vigilante superhero Batman, Bale portrays the single-minded, practical Purvis with keen insight. While grieving for a dead colleague, or staring down the barrel of a gun, Purvis had great screen-presence, and was a believable leader.

Aside from these two stars, there was an excellent supporting cast, which made the whole film immensely watchable and entertaining. All in all, a very well filmed and put-together show.

If I had to make any criticism, it would be that the large cast made it occasionally difficult to follow who was who, especially amongst the people that Dillinger found himself working for. However, this can be said of many films that set out to mirror real-life, which has its own extensive cast. And although I was occasionally lost in the supporting cast, the leading roles strung everything together well enough that in most parts it didn't really matter.

As a welcome break from mediocre action movies and overly depressing dramas, I thoroughly enjoyed Public Enemies.

Review of 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood

2009-06-28T20:43:00.001+01:00

I didn't take English A level myself, but many of my friends did. Through most of the AS year, there were copies of The Handmaid's Tale kicking around the sixth-form common room, and I was always intrigued. Occasionally I'd overhear conversations about the book, scholarly discussions, and the kind of in-depth analysis that put me off English Literature as a subject in the first place. But it sounded interesting, and so I promised to read it on its own terms.

The Handmaid's Tale is a science fiction story, but science fiction is an almost incidental affectation. The book is good science fiction, because the world in which the main character lives is essential to her story. Otherwise, it is purely about the character, who she is, what happens to her, and why she made the choices that she did. The story is set in a future that seems bleak and dark. Women have been segregated into functions, and Offred is a Handmaid; her function is produce offspring for married couples that are otherwise unable. Stripped of her individuality and even her original name, Offred must struggle with her memories and with her knowledge, and with her emotions.

As science fiction, The Handmaid's Tale is a very interesting exercise. The world is so different from that of today, that it is almost inconceivable how it could come about from the current United States. However, as the story progresses this becomes believable, even inevitable. It is a future well told. The narrator reveals snippets of information, very gradually throughout the story. Very little is exposed at any one point, but gradually I got a picture of the world, of the character, of the past that had led to this future.

As Offred is not in a position of knowledge or power, not everything is revealed. This is both brilliant and slightly frustrating. I was devouring each snippet of knowledge, wishing for more. I wanted to know what was going on in the world as a whole; what was happening outside Offred's home city. Throughout, I got the feeling that the author knew and just wasn't telling me... but this in its way is brilliant. The world is so thoroughly conceived that I was convinced that these details existed, but a first-person tale would have to have had a very different narrator to gather all of those details, and then it wouldn't have been a Handmaid's tale at all.

The story follows a character's development, so it doesn't have a single consistent plot stream. The most I could say is that it's a story of Offred's posting with one particular Commander. At some points it seems like a particular story thread is going to open up new opportunities, but while there are many interesting occurrences, there is nothing world-changing in her story. She is there to tell it how it is, living and dealing with a heavily oppressive regime. She is not there to change the world.

I have to say that I was slightly unsure about the ending, or rather the fact that it does not end. Offred's story just stops, and the epilogue explains nothing of what happened to her. In some ways, I find this frustrating. I wanted to know what happened to her, and what became of her. In other ways, the ending would perhaps have been less powerful if it had been more neat. I am unsure. However, in most cases, I think I would prefer a more complete ending, with a little less ambiguity.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Handmaid's Tale. It was compulsively readable, very easy to read and very well written. I found pages slipping by without effort, which is a very refreshing feeling. Every emotion is conveyed skilfully and powerfully, and at times I felt like I was totally immersed in Offred's world. While I classify it as science fiction, I would by no means limit its readership to science fiction fans. This book is very accessible to all kinds of readers. In fact, it might appeal to non science fiction readers more, because of the way the story is about a single person, in an unremarkable position, struggling in a cruel world.

There is only one novel that I have still loved after tearing it apart and reading it numerous times at school. I would tentatively say that, if I had continued, I would still have loved The Handmaid's Tale. While not my usual kind of ripping yarn, it was a powerful story, brilliantly told. It is definitely added to a list of highly recommended texts.

Review of 'Stranger in a Strange Land' by Robert Heinlein

2009-06-09T14:06:00.000+01:00

It's difficult to say how far into the future this is set, and Heinlein cleverly avoids mentioning dates (almost certainly a wise move). In some ways his world is far beyond ours; interplanetary travel, hovering cars, and grass carpets some of the things we can expect. Socially, perhaps, Heinlein is half a step behind our current progression, but it is not so far behind that it rankled. In this future, an exploratory manned mission is sent to Mars with several couples aboard. However, after arriving on Mars they are never heard from again. Many years later, a follow-up expedition is sent to find out what happened to them. Once there they discover the Martians, and they discover the only survivor of the original expedition; a baby born soon after the original crew's arrival on Mars, raised by Martians.

Stranger in a Strange Land is compulsively written, beautifully descriptive and incredibly well-paced. Heinlein reveals his future Earth piece by piece, and unravels his ideas about the Martians and Mike's upbringing equally carefully and gradually. The characters are all believable, from Mike himself as he struggles to understand people, to the people that become his guardians and friends. Everything about the book is incredibly well put together, and has many elements that give it the air of realism that makes it very easy to fully immerse yourself in the book.

The plot seems to split the book into two main sections. The first half sees Mike's arrival from Earth and escape from the confines he is originally found in, into the care of nurse Jill Boardman and lawyer-doctor-writer Jubal Harshaw. They try to teach Mike about the world and the human way, at the same time learning a lot about the Martian way. I thoroughly enjoyed this half of the book, smiling and laughing and feeling along with the characters. The plot was at times intense, at other times carefree, and always expertly crafted.

In the second half, Mike undergoes a (sharp, by human standards) transition into adulthood and the story follows him as he attempts to find his way in the wider world, and show others the Martian way. In this half, Heinlein gets a lot more political, struggling through Mike with religion and world politics. To me, this half felt a little odd; I did not fully comprehend the point of view being put forward, so I found it difficult to roll along with it. As Mike would say, I did not 'grok its fullness'. While it was still very well written, the plot became less intense and more thought-provoking, while the subject matter became a lot more controversial. I began to see why people at the time had sought to suppress the novel.

Part of me thinks that the novel would have been complete had it finished at the end of the first half, but in another way it needed it. Either way, the sudden change in mood and energy half way through left me lurching slightly. I was not entirely comfortable with the subject matter in the second half of the book, which made it more difficult to enjoy. However, throughout, it remains well-written and everything is excellently described. Only the ending seemed a little short, with a couple of loose ends not quite tied up as I would have liked.

All of the characters grow and change throughout the novel, especially Mike, and his friends. The only character that doesn't seem to change dramatically between start and finish is Jubal Harshaw, who is already old, set in his ways, and wise. For me he was a brilliant character, able to play devils advocate for any position and understand things always from all points of view. This quality is something I strive for (and usually fail) for myself, so seeing it so well-done in a character on the page was wonderful. Jubal's point of view made it easier to enter into the story more fully, and for that I loved him.

Stranger in a Strange land is a long book. It took me a very long time to read, mostly because of limited time available for me to devote to it. However, I think it was worth all the time it took to read it. Perhaps not for the faint-hearted, but definitely a good read. I've heard that others of Heinlein's books are better, and I am looking forward to reading these enthusiastically, because if they are as good throughout as the first half of Stranger, I feel I will begin to fully grok how Heinlein worked his way into the ranks of science fiction masters, controversial political opinions and all.

Review of the 2009 film 'Coraline'

2009-06-06T21:03:00.001+01:00

It seems I'm developing a habit for mainly seeing Neil Gaiman's works on screen. Aside from Stardust and the first of the Sandman comics, I have read very little of the author's works... but this is the second of his films that I have seen at the cinema. It seems his works lend themselves well to the big screen.

I saw Coraline in 3D... so I'll talk about that, once I examine the film on its merits.

On moving to a new house in the country, Coraline Jones feels she will not like it much. In her neighbours she finds some amusement and eccentricity, but the only child her age she finds annoying, and her parents are too busy to entertain. In a search of the house, however, she comes across a small door in the wall. Behind is apparently bricked up, until she is led back there in the middle of the night and finds herself in another version of her house, with her Other Mother and Other Father, and exciting wonders created for her. It all seems amazing, but as you might expect there is more to it than meets the eye and it's all a bit too good to be true.

I was intrigued by the plot and swept along by it as I watched. I was not surprised to hear later that the book on which this film was based has often been compared to Alice In Wonderland (my initial thoughts were Through the Looking Glass, but the point stands). Many of the same themes were in the film as Coraline explores the new world and tries to find her way home when she discovers the truth. However, Coraline is a lot darker than Alice, and while Coraline even has her own version of the Cheshire cat, the darkness in the other world, and the threat that the Other Mother eventually possesses is quite different to Alice's own travails. The plot was rich and interesting. The themes covered many of the problems that children might face after a move; loneliness and looking for adventure and new friends, as well as some of the more general emotional troubles a child with busy parents might face. As Coraline learns and grows through the film, I grew to really care for her character, and it was a very nice progression.

In pacing the film slipped somewhat. The main part is wonderful for creating interest and suspense, while the latter part the film feels somewhat rushed, with the ending reached all too soon. It felt almost like a mini-adventure tacked on the end, except for the way in which it resolved the plot.

The film was brought to life in brilliant stop-motion animation. It was very pretty, although stylistically I felt it was trying a little to hard to mimic Tim Burton's unique style of animation and modelling, which it did not quite achieve. However, it was still beautiful and an interesting and quirky style that brought the surreal plot and characters to life.

As a film and as a story I would very much recommend Coraline to viewers of all ages as an occasionally creepy, ever-so-slightly scary, very entertaining film.

To the 3D aspect of the film, then...

Well, to be honest, if I could have found a showing in 2D I would have seen that instead. The 3D thing, while interesting, strikes me as a bit of a gimmick and doesn't really add anything to the film itself. I'm glad I went to see one film in 3D, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. Some people have said they found the 3D disorienting. While I did, I did find some of the more gratuitous 3D shots a little strange. There were lots of shots of things done purely to make the most of 3D filming, whereas for the majority of the film the extra depth did very little. I'll be interested to see how the 3D thing goes, and as the technology improves I expect it'll become even more common. However, I was not particularly impressed by it, except from the position of scientific interest.

Review of the 2009 film 'Star Trek'

2009-06-06T19:38:00.001+01:00

It was obvious from the start of this film that it wasn't the same Star Trek that I grew up with. If I'm honest, when I saw the trailer I thought that they had made Star Trek into something alien and wrong, and just given the characters the same names.

I wasn't entirely incorrect in this, but I wasn't entirely right either. There was lots of hat-tipping towards the fans of the original series (some would say too much), but in many other ways the characters and people were completely different than their original counter-parts. Perhaps they were striving hard to find a balance, and in some ways they made it, in other ways they did not.

The plot of the film follows Kirk and the other characters from the original Star Trek series as they end their time at the Star Fleet academy and arrive on the Enterprise under Captain Pike, ready to embark on a rescue mission. Kirk finds himself up against many hardships, including the logical, by-the-book Spock as he fights to forge a name for himself.

While the plot spans the boundary between action-adventure and science fiction, it seemed to me that it was veering a little more towards action, with the science fiction played down except in as far as the technology available acted as a useful plot-device. There was some overuse of the 'Character Shield' however, and from quite early on you could begin to see which character was going to survive the story.

As far as the characters go, I felt that some of them captured the essence better than others. Kirk had much of the same fearless attitude as his original counter-part, and he certainly had the same approach to hand-to-hand combat. He had a lot of the cocky youth about him, but he also had the air of the effortless genius, which I think was what they were aiming for with the impassioned Kirk. His relationship with Bones McCoy was beautiful from the start, and there was very good onscreen chemistry between the two. Bones himself did a very good job of straddling the boundary between the old character and the new. He had the same variable temperament, and I loved his portrayal. I believe Bones actually captured something very important and developed on it from the original character. While he had relatively less screen-time than Spock or Kirk, I loved every minute of it.

The start of Spock's shaky relationship with Kirk was an interesting twist on the original version of events. While, as I have said, the film-makers made it very obvious from the start that they were moving away from the original canon, the Spock-Kirk relationship had to be strong, and it was. Starting antagonistically, the two have to come around to the mutual respect and admiration that was present in the series, regardless of canon. Both actors managed this admirably.

With Uhura they tried to improve the original character by making it clear that she had a well-defined job role and necessary skills. However, in many ways, she was still the bridge-ornament that the original character had been, and was the only candidate for the shoe-horned romance, which made her a weaker character in my opinion. In many ways she was even more lacking than Nichelle Nicholls' Uhura, because the original character was a black woman was appearing in a position of command on a television program in the sixties. In those days, any presence was an improvement on what had gone before. Nowadays, I think they could have gone a little further. While she was a very good actor, and portrayed the character she was given very well, I was somewhat disappointed by the conventional Uhura. The shoe-horned romance also annoyed me for several reasons, but I'm attempting not to spoil the details for those who have not yet had a chance to see the film.

Scotty was played by Simon Pegg. He captured the humorous side of the original scotsman very well, but in some ways seemed to miss some of the original's professionalism and scottish darkness; in many ways Pegg's performance turned Scotty into something of a pastiche, and while his comic relief was well-received, I cannot say I was one-hundred percent convinced by it. Chekov and Sulu were both brilliantly acted, but as with Uhura I felt that while the original characters did a lot for multiculturalism, the new characters almost held it back. Chekov's accent is made a source of comedy, although the character is brilliantly intelligent and stands out despite his relatively minor role. At another point, I was very disappointed that in a combat situation Sulu pulled out a sword to use, both because it stereotyped the character, and because in the future I'd expect some other weapon to be far more effective.

Overall, however, Star Trek was a good action movie, and a fair Space Opera. It was not the original Star Trek, and separated itself both in canon and mood, but it was an entertaining film. It had enough to keep the older fans amused and also to encourage a new audience, and as such I will recommend it. I will be interested to see if this is kept up in any future sequels, if future sequels occur.

Review of the 2007 film '300'.

2009-06-06T18:51:00.000+01:00

The Persians are threatening the Roman empire, and the oracles refuse to condone war against them. In defiance, King Leonidus leads 300 of his best Spartans to face them in battle, hoping that their skill will prove superior to the enemies much greater numbers.

I have no idea about the voracity of the events of this film, but I suspect that it was only loosely grounded in the facts of the time. Stylistically and cinematically, however, I immensely enjoyed this film, and would recommend it to anyone that likes action films.

The acting is strong throughout, and they make the warlike attitude of the Spartans completely believable. I have never understood how anyone can find war glorious or wonderful, but somehow the actors in this film made me feel it. King Leonidus (Gerard Butler) was a brilliant character, defiant in the face of tradition and proud. However, his confidence and hope in his men was not completely misplaced. He felt his small army was the best hope for Sparta, and he was prepared to risk death alongside them. More importantly, if the screens were to be believed, they were proud and willing to fight alongside him.

Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) was, for me, one of the most interesting characters in this film. She was a proud Spartan woman, keenly intelligent and strong, like her husband. The story following the queen showed a woman that loves him fiercely, but accepts their way of life whole-heartedly. The actress gets across the pain of parting, without showing a moment of weakness. This felt like one of the most realistic portrayals in the film.

In plot, the film is mostly a long sequence of battles and politics. There is a lot of attention paid to action sequences, with plenty of gore to please the more bloodthirsty viewer. The subtleties of the plot are few, and politics mostly come down to explaining why the King is still fighting with only 300 men.

I was not quite so keen on the slightly over-exposed film, but it was at least stylistically fitting. There was not much colour in the film, which I think brought across the Spartan way of life quite well.

If you like large-scale action movies, I would recommend 300. If you enjoyed Troy, you will definitely enjoy 300, because it is a similar vein, but done better (albeit with less famous actors). However, even if you didn't enjoy Troy, I wouldn't rule out 300, because it was a very enjoyable film quite separate from the other. I connect them only as films about a similar era, with a similar attitude to historical fact; that it should never be stuck to so rigidly that it gets in the way of an entertaining film.

Review of the 1998 film 'What Dreams May Come'

2009-06-06T18:30:00.000+01:00

In this film, Robin William's plays Chris Nielson, a devoted husband and father of two. In a tragic accident, both of his children are killed, and a while later, he too follows in another accident. He is transported to heaven, where he is led through the first stages of coming to terms with his own death by a friend from his past. As he is learning to love the afterlife that he is granted, he finds out that his wife, his soul-mate, has committed suicide, and her own despair has condemned her to hell.

There are many beautiful themes in this film, with a lot of very effective imagery. Death is bitter-sweet, with knowledge of the people that are left behind, but also joy as they realise that everything can be exactly as it should be. The darker parts of the film deal with despair and the agonies that humans can put each other through just as well.

Visually, the film is quite stunning. The scenes carry splendour and serenity all in one, as the characters forge their own worlds in which to come to terms with death. In particular, there is a fabulous scene when Chris first comes to heaven. He finds his solace using a rendering of a painting his wife had made for them. At first, the world is literally painted and Williams is paddling through the painting, covering himself with splots of all different colours. It was very well done, and a wonderful image that helped me to really immerse in Chris' journey.

The plot, while relatively simple, is very well paced. The beginning and end have a kind of symmetry that made me smile, and everything in between seems to go through, dealing with events in their own time without rushing or lingering.

The acting was consistent and very good throughout the film. Robin Williams always manages happiness and sadness with equal strength, as Chris tries to be light and happy through dark times and as he struggles to deal with his own losses. Chris' guides in the afterlife play teacher and friend, and are believable in each role. The characters' emotions are portrayed wonderfully by all of the actors, from the happiness in normal life, through to the anguish of loss, and the confusion of death.

My main criticism of this film is that sometimes it seems a little too dark, and a little too monotone. While there is a clear difference in the emotions that are being conveyed at different times, sometimes the overall mood and atmosphere does not seem to change enough to really capture this. There is always a sense of loss throughout the film. Perhaps this is a strength, rather than a weakness. However, it felt that at the times when Chris is trying to be happy and preparing to wait for his wife to join him there should be more of a lift. And when he receives the bad news, and the explanation of his wife's death, there should be more of a dip in the mood.

However, in general this film was warm and thought-provoking, getting across many interesting ideas about death and people and souls. Conceptually, it is a very good film, and I thoroughly enjoyed the way it portrayed its chosen slant, regardless of whether I completely agree with its choices or not. What Dreams May Come is definitely a film for those that like quiet, thought-provoking entertainment, and as such I believe it succeeds in its aims.

Review of 'Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency' by Douglas Adams

2009-04-25T17:38:00.000+01:00

Douglas Adams' outlandish and slightly surreal sense of humour is brought to bear on the detective genre in fantastic style with this book. The story follows Richard MacDuff, Cambridge graduate and software engineer working with Gordon Way at WayForward industries. After an evening dining with a Professor at his old Cambridge college, a series of unusual occurrences lead Richard into the services of Dirk. As a detective, Dirk Gently firmly believes in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things; somehow there is a connection between a sofa stuck in a stairwell, a conjuring trick and a mysterious murder, and he is determined to find out what it is.

The plot of this story is a beautiful example of the kind of forward planning that I have never found myself quite capable of. It opens a series of strings, then brings them all back together seamlessly by the end of the book. There is no rushing, no unnecessary detail, and the yarn is spun extremely well. Anything that is important is mentioned at its first occurrence as commonplace, then brought up later as extraordinary. The story is compelling and never boring, and the suspense is kept up until the last few pages where the reader is let down just slowly enough to avoid the ending feeling rushed.

The characters in this book were all brilliant. They each seemed rich and real, despite everything that was going on. Richard is a good example of a computer scientist obsessed with strange ideas and given enough freedom to explore them. The Professor of Chronology was only a slight fantasy caricature of the Cambridge Don stereotype, and within it he was believable and real. Even Dirk, eccentric as he is, has an air of reality that is carried through the book. As well as starting out good characters, I felt that there was excellent consistency throughout.

In terms of comedy, I don't know if Douglas Adams' humour is for all; it is often off-the-wall and odd, but for me that was one of it's greatest charms. This book wasn't often laugh-out-loud funny, but it was consistently amusing, and I had a smile on my face for much of the reading. At each turn the strange events fit perfectly with what is known of the world we have been introduced to.

Generally, this was a very entertaining read, well written and very well composed. This is another to add to my list of recommendations of a very enjoyable, if slightly odd and irreverent science fiction comedy.

Review of 'Broken' by Martina Cole

2009-04-10T21:55:00.001+01:00

Broken sees the return of Kate Burrows and Patrick Kelly from 'The LadyKiller' in a new story. Young children are being taken from their mothers and left in peril. Most are rescued from harm, but then the body of a small child is discovered... Kate is on the investigation. In the mean time, Patrick gets into trouble with some very dangerous individuals.

Despite my continuing tirade against Martina Cole, I have to say this wasn't that bad. It was an entertaining read with a good plot and some good characters. Perhaps I started the book with such low expectations that anything would have seemed good, but as I read I found myself forgetting how much the style annoyed me for large swathes, and I was actually quite keen to find out what would happen.

As the plot unfolds, Cole hints at things that are to come with excellent pacing, and I was actually genuinely surprised by some of the revelations. Despite Cole's continuing attempts to undermine her characters by spelling out their traits and thought processes, I found myself quite liking Kate Burrows, even though at times I couldn't believe in her. While I couldn't understand or relate to the bad guys or the unfortunates that Cole is writing about, I did for the most part accept them enough to get into the story, which was a huge improvement over some of the things I've read. For the first time in a long while I glimpsed something of what has made Martina Cole quite so popular.

However, while the elation I feel at never having to read another of Martina Cole's novels has left me with a propensity to be magnanimous, I feel I must also mention some of the major criticisms that occasionally reminded me why I disliked the previous books. For one thing, certain characters were undergoing regular personality-transplants which grates on the reader a little at times, especially when it is drawn attention to by some of Martina's stock phrases.

Which brings me to my main criticism of all the books: I don't understand why all her characters talk and think in the same annoying cockney accents. I'm sick of rhyming slang. I'm sick of people loving each other 'in their own way' as opposed to the normal, healthy way. I'm sick of Kate 'feeling the pull' of Patrick: yes, she's hot for him, I get that... please, move on. I'm sick of characters telling me that people are 'a touch'. A touch of what? Plague? All of these would be fine if they appeared a couple of times, but the fact that I noticed them means that they are used far too regularly, and as Martina's characters are so fond of saying: it got on my wick.

I'm harsh, by now... as I bought these books, I had to read them. If I had bought them all consecutively rather than in a batch, I would have read perhaps three or four before growing tired and not bothering. So they were entertaining reads, once upon a time, and I don't believe for a second that the ones I read first were just inherently better. So, as I have said before, you may well enjoy Martina Cole. As an experienced hand, I believe this is one of her best books, and certainly one of the most interesting plots that she has written. It could have done with being half the length, but it was not as mind-numbing as other things I've read.

In conclusion, while I tentatively put 'Broken' forward as a good read in comparison with other Martina Cole novels, I am still very glad I do not have any more such books waiting on my shelf.

Review of “2001: A Space Odyssey” by Arthur C Clarke

2009-03-23T21:31:00.000Z

If I had realised that the book was based on the film, I probably would have seen the film first. However, now that I have read the book, I will review it. Even if it is now a few years out of date (dating sci-fi is always a dangerous thing to do).

In the far distant past, a tribe of mankind's ancestors are affected by a strange alien crystal monolith, which gives evolution a nudge in a certain direction. In the (for the sake of argument) near future, a black monolith is uncovered on the moon. Two years after this, a ship is sent on a mission to fly-by Jupiter, using it as a sling-shot to grant it the extra momentum required to reach its target; Saturn.

This is a story told in three parts, and two of them, at least, I found interesting. The first section, following Moon-Watcher the man-ape as his tribe is affected by the monolith was interesting enough to keep me reading eagerly to find out what happened. It was perhaps a little slow, containing a lot of unnecessary detail, but it was not bogged down by them, and it got its points across very well. The second was more fast-paced, more intriguing and had a character I found it easier to relate to as he was swept away from Earth to a mission on the moon. The suspense as he made his way to the moon was very well done, and the pacing such that I didn't get bored before anything happened.

The third and final section, though, following David Bowman and life on the ship Discovery, I found quite boring. Dave himself didn't have much character, and the story of his life onboard ship I found dull and unnecessary: I have seen writers give much clearer and better descriptions with much less text and the story would have been better if this had been cut back. Perhaps the dull tone was there to be in keeping with the monotony of life on the ship; but it also has to tell a story, and for a long while nothing happened.

When finally things did start to happen (as I stuck with it knowing that they must) I found the attempts at suspense crude and obvious, the pacing (again) flawed and slow, and the peril did not feel real enough for me to be at all disturbed by it. When the famous scenes with Hal and Dave came about, I was reading dispassionately, and I wasn't particularly interested in the fate of Dave, Hal or any of the other characters. The ending, at least, redeemed the book a little, but even then it was a bit too surreal and strange for me to really get behind it. Perhaps it would have worked better on screen, but from what people have told me, they didn't get that far in the film... I have to wonder if anything actually happened in this movie.

All in all, I was not overwhelmed by 2001 a Space Odyssey. It was bland, quite interesting in parts, but not the science fiction classic that the film's cult following would have led me to believe.

Review of the 2009 film 'Watchmen'

2009-03-22T18:07:00.000Z

My first cinema trip of the year (it's been a slow starter, to be sure) was to see Watchmen, yet another superhero flick. I have to say that after watching it, it became immediately obvious where some of the inspiration for the Pixar superhero spoof The Incredibles (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317705) came from. I should also say that I have never read the graphic novel, so my opinions might be different to those of someone that had.

The 'masks' started as a way of fighting back against masked gangs, but they became a superhero group. None of them, bar one, had any actual super powers; aside from intense physical training, fight-skill and gadgetry, these are supposed to be normal people taking on the masks. But they fought crime, delivered their own brand of vigilante justice, and the masked heroes became the expected day-savers. Later, though, as the second generation of masks came to fame, the public grew angry at the vigilantes, and eventually the masks were outlawed and the heroes went into retirement. The plot begins when one of the first generation of masks is murdered, and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), the only mask who never revealed his true identity to the other masks, investigates in the belief that someone is seeking out masks. All this on the background of the cold war, with the doomsday clock sweeping ever closer to midnight...

This was an incredibly well-produced and well-directed film. Everything in it fitted together supremely well, and the filming was exemplary. The special effects were brilliantly done, and while some of it documented unrealistic events, they didn't overshadow the importance of plot or characters. Equally, the costumes were all wonderful, and very much of the time; the 'classic' costumes belonging to the first-generation masks looked like they were made in the 50s, while the later costumes were better produced and looked more like they belonged in their own timezone. There was a lot of comic-book violence, with a lot of gory scenes in various places around the movie... all looked extremely realistic, terrifying and sickening. All in all, not a film for children.

The film also did a very good of mixing the fantastical elements with the realistic. Aside from Doctor Manhatten (Billy Crudup), a superman explained by a freak accident in a physics laboratory, there is very little that could not fit into the world as we know it. Night Owl's (Patrick Wilson) flyer (Archie) and glasses, and Rorschach's mask all stretch the limits of what was possible then, and indeed now, but there was a surprising amount of realism about it all.

What I found to be the best thing in this film, though, were the characters; all of the actors seemed comfortable in the roles, and while they were given limited space for back story, each of them appeared to have a real past, even if it was never explored. While Rorschach, Silk Spectre and Doctor Manhatten were given a reasonable amount of flashbacks, telling of their relevant past, the other characters all seemed to have just as much depth, complicated emotions, human reactions and thought processes... they were all very real, down to the slightly self-conscious, humorous slant they put on their being masked superheroes.

While I could accept Doctor Manhatten's super-powers as they were given a reason, albeit an implausible one, I was very conscious that the other characters were not supposed to have any innate abilities. Their strength and speed was supposedly the result of training and confidence... however, at various times throughout the movie I found the superheroes tipping over into super-human. I can forgive a lot in the name of plot, and in the end I forgave this as well, but I feel that the makers of this film should have chosen either to have outright super-powers, or kept the abilities of these heroes to within the normal tolerances of very fit and well-trained humans.

All I can say about the ending is that I felt it let the film down a bit. There was some very pretty filming sequences, but of all the film the conflict the characters were supposedly going through seemed to have the least effect; when it should have had most. Only Rorschach's outbursts had the same punch.

Overall, though, Watchmen was a brilliant film and I would heartily recommend it as both an excellent example of a superhero drama, and as an excellent example of the transition from graphic novel to screen.

Review of 'Chocky' by John Wyndham

2009-03-15T18:21:00.000Z

I am a few years older than the target demographic for Chocky, but a mark of a good children's book is accessibility to adults. My mum had spoken highly of it, as had one of my best friends, so I sat down to read it. As a children's book, it is an incredibly easy read... the narrative flow is simple and comprehensible, and the book is quite short. However, it was very accessible to me as a sometimes-adult reader, and it was another book that made up for my struggling through the Martina Cole at the beginning of the year.

When Matthew starts talking to himself and asking unusual questions, his parents think it is a phase he is going through. When he reveals the existence of Chocky, at first they think that it is an imaginary friend... an unusual phase for an eleven year old boy, but still something reasonable, explainable and above all fictional. Eventually, however, they have to face the possibility that Chocky is something else entirely, as Matthew demonstrates skills and abilities that no child of his age could easily pick up, and that no one has taught him.

The science fiction in this story is very subtle, and discovered only gradually over the course of the story. This made incredibly easy to immerse in the world, and meant that all the elements of strangeness, while quiet, stood out quite clearly as the narrative progressed. The main character, Matthew's father has a very down-to-earth attitude, which makes it very easy to follow his trains of thought and it is very easy to relate to his point of view. It is also very easy to relate to the character of Matthew; a sensitive, intelligent and above-all quite normal boy... with Matthew, John Wyndham has bypassed many of the usual pitfalls of adults writing about children, and Matthew comes across as a very real representation of an eleven year old boy.

As usual, I find it a struggle to come up with a balanced review; if I have enjoyed a book, its bad points fall behind... if I did not enjoy it, its good points usually escape me. The problems I might be able to pick out of this book all amount to the fact that it was written a few years ago, and times have changed. I find it quite easy to step my thinking back in time, but others might not. A feminist review might find the mother character a little irrational and annoying (in a sixties sit-com way), but from looking at my own mother (who would be about the same age at the time the book was written), I can see how the attitudes and thoughts of the time could have bred a woman (and family) that acted very much this way. A physicist or theoretical mathematician might question the logistics of the science fiction elements, but it's a children's books and the characters and story take precedence, so this doesn't really bother me.

In short, Chocky is a very good children's science fiction, and adults will also find it an easy and entertaining read. If you never enjoy anything that you construe to be 'dated' then you might want to give it a miss, but otherwise, I would recommend this to nearly anyone, even if they usually don't enjoy science fiction.

Review of 'Axiomatic' by Greg Egan

2009-03-15T17:09:00.002Z

Axiomatic is a book of short stories, so reviewing it becomes very difficult; do I sit down and review each story in turn, pick out a few favoured or disfavoured stories or do I just review the book as a collection? I choose to take a path somewhere between the latter two options.

Axiomatic is a very fine collection. Greg Egan is obviously very skilled in the art of the short story. Before I read Diaspora, I read the first short story in this book, and I really enjoyed it. It instantly hooked, explained events and the world over the course of the story and finished neatly in the course of the few pages allotted. This proved to be characteristic; with each story, Egan introduces his cast, world-builds and gives a plot to follow, each ending satisfactorily in a few thousand words.

While the title of the book might give the impression of a series of stories similarly structured and paced, the actual stories follow varying patterns, all of them interesting. The characters vary considerably, but all of them impress a strong sense of self within a page of reading them, and appear entirely self-consistent within their world. The worlds vary, and the topics vary. Egan explores many fields of science. He has a tendency towards hard SF, but he deals with it as well as he did in Disapora, and does not waste time explaining scientific detail over page-long expositions when the medium does not allow it. Character-driven hard SF takes complicated ideas back into the realm of the possible, and Egan did stunningly well in this for both Diaspora, and in this collection.

His characters vary from normal people in extraordinary situations, normal people in situations that are normal for their time (but nearly inconceivable in ours) to extraordinary people dealing with normal and extraordinary events. They are good, bad and neutral, they all feel very real and they all fit perfectly within their setting.

Obviously some of the stories are better than others, but people might disagree over which were the best. There is some continuity of narrative style, but that probably just proves that Egan wrote all of them in a smallish time-span, and is neither a negative nor positive point. Occasionally the stories deal with controversial viewpoints, or things that just didn't sit quite well with my own experience and upbringing. Again, though, I cannot fault the collection for this because I was made to think about my own world-view and experience, and that in itself is a valuable thing, and probably marks a good writer (even if I did not always agree with the conclusions).

Now to short-review a few of my favourites.

The Infinite Assassin follows a character walking into a strange disturbance of parallel worlds. The story starts in confusion, and gradually everything is explained until the plot rises to a brilliant climax and finished equally brilliantly. It was a thoroughly excellent and impelling read.

Eugene deals with a revolution in made-to-order babies and an attempt by one scientist to create the most intelligent child ever born. While the story itself is fairly slow-paced and descriptive, giving a lot of back-story into the characters and discussing their moral standpoints, the ending is intriguing, almost funny in its insight, but also very thought-provoking.

The Safe-Deposit Box deals with an altogether stranger topic; a man exists who wakes up each morning in a new host body, and attempts to carve out a life and his own personality while spending each day with different people, unable to have anything that is truly his own. It is a fascinating look at the adaptability of consciousness, and a very interesting world-view.

Into Darkness introduces a future world where a wormhole has become unstuck, and appears almost at random on the surface of the Earth. The wormhole goes one-way through time; from past to a few minutes in the future, and within the limits of the wormhole's area of effect, you can only travel one way. It becomes very easy to become trapped against a wall, and crushed by the inexorable pressure to move forward. The Runners go in to try and help who they can; to save children and other vulnerable people that are moving through the wormhole. The idea itself is fascinating, and the conclusion of the story almost frightening. This story really shows off Greg Egan's talent for making hard SF accessible to the world.

The stories I didn't enjoy as much dealt more with the concept of consciousness; implants to affect viewpoint, jewels that completely mimic the brain until a switch is made so that the jewel takes over. I did very much enjoy these stories, and they were definitely very skilfully told, but my own preferences tended towards the physical sciences, rather than the stories that discussed the 'magic' of consciousness. This is entirely just personal preference, though, so I would encourage other readers to give each story a chance. They are all brilliant in their way.

Being a book of short stories, Axiomatic was incredibly easy to read. Each little episode was terribly difficult to put down, and I found myself hungry for more after each story. If you want some excellent SF short stories to read, you could do much worse than Axiomatic.

Review of The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov

2009-03-15T16:10:00.000Z

After a prolonged absence in which I was mostly writing for my novel and getting caught up with the 'real world stuff', I return to my review blog to tell you all about what I've been reading recently. Starting with this...

The Foundation Trilogy was always one of those pieces of classic science fiction I was told I had to read from an early age. I never quite got around to it until about two months ago, when I borrowed the trilogy from my mum and started devouring them page by page. They deserve every bit of praise they ever receive, even if the first book starts quite slowly.

A very long time into the future, Hari Seldon develops the field of psychohistory; an interesting social science, which uses statistics and implied complex mathematics to predict, with startling accuracy, trends in culture and probable future courses. Asimov explains this science as well as is possible without it actually existing; he always explains that it wouldn't be possible in a population of millions, or even billions... but with the galactic population numbering in the multi-trillions, it becomes possible to predict mob mentalities. And thus, Hari Seldon predicts the fall of the Empire, and thirty thousand years of chaos and barbarism before the rise of the next. In an effort to reduce the length of this barbaric period, Seldon sets up two foundations... plotting out the course of their future with a series of crises they must overcome on their inexorable rise to the beginning of the next Empire. The novels follow the story of the first Foundation, set up on a small planet at the edge of the galaxy called Terminus.

The first book, as I have said starts slowly. Perhaps this is not quite fair; the very beginning is as instantly intriguing and interesting as one could expect from any novel, and it draws the reader into the world of psychohistory. However, the first book is a slow progression, waiting for the Foundation to overcome the inevitable crises with equal inevitability; it's just a question of seeing what happens and how it is resolved. This is not a weakness, because the results are always interesting, but it does lend a certain security for the reader, which is not perhaps as powerful as a plot where events are assumed to be random and unpredictable.

Another minor issue I had with the first book was that it was very episodic. Each section follows a different character and just as you are becoming accustomed to one character, another takes his place as the lead role, and the story moves on. However, this is probably a limitation of telling a story that spans 300 years, and so I can forgive it.

The second book follows two crisis stages. In the first, a strong general has appeared in the Empire, under the last strong Emperor, set on conquest of the Foundation. In the second crisis, it begins to look as though Seldon was not as omniscient as he appeared through the first book and a half. Psychohistory is a tool for predicting the behaviour of civilisations, moves and movements, and motives of entire cultures; when it comes to individuals, the tool is much less effective. And so, when a rather singular and completely unpredictable individual known only as 'The Mule' appears, the Seldon plan is set off course by some degrees, and it becomes impossible to tell what will happen next. Suddenly, the actions of individuals are important again.

This turn in the book means that the story keeps on getting more and more interesting. From the relatively small victories and stories in the first book, the first tale in the second book is considerably more epic, following a wider cast of characters. In the second tale, the characters are suddenly more than just tools of the wider plot and the whole story becomes easier to relate to, and a whole lot more interesting. The twists and turns in the plot are the work of a real master story-teller, and at the end of the book I was left in awe of the way everything was set up so quietly and perfectly.

The third book continues in form, with intriguing and intense plot lines and increasing excitement. With the longer plots, there is more time to grow to like the cast for each of the sections, and they remain prominent for longer than in the first novel.

The conclusion of the last book completes the trilogy very nicely, although I can see why many fans, and Asimov himself, considered it unfinished. In some ways, I would have been happy had he stopped there, but the book does not complete the thousand year's interregnum, so the reader is left with a sense of the yawning time gap ahead.

Plot and storyline is definitely the huge strength of these books. However, the individual characters that are involved are also very strong, and each and every one of them was incredibly likeable – or dislikeable- in their own way. While some of the cultural trends and attitudes may seem very dated now, for its time it also had some very progressive elements. As long as the reader is prepared to accept that the writer belonged to a slightly different time (as one does when reading Shakespeare, or Jane Austen, or Dickens) then none of these things should interfere with the enjoyment of the rich and well-woven world that Asimov has created for this story.

The Foundation Trilogy rightfully takes its place among the science fiction classics, and I look forward to reading more Asimov in the future. I recommend this to any science fiction fan who has not yet read it.

Review of 'The LadyKiller' by Martina Cole

2009-01-11T15:40:00.000Z

Since I started writing reviews, Martina Cole keeps coming back into the frame, because of the collection I bought all those years ago. I cannot in good faith give them away until I have read each book. Now I come to the penultimate book in the original set that I bought, and I find myself in the position again of reviewing a book I didn't enjoy, and trying to review it as objectively as possible. So here goes.

George Markham is a seriously disturbed man that starts out looking at BDSM pornography and ends up roaming the streets raping and murdering a string of young women. Kate Burrows is the detective inspector trying to find him. Patrick Kelly is a local hard-man, and father of one of the victims of Markham's killing spree. Patrick and Kate meet in the course of the case and start to fall in love over the background of tragedy, but love between a borderline villain and a senior police officer would be paved with troubles, even if there wasn't a vicious murderer on the loose.

The pacing of this novel is much better than of any other Martina Cole novel I have read. Rather than a biographical life story of a character embroiled in crime, this is a police investigation drama, where the reader has the advantage of knowing from the start who did it. The tension of the investigation mounts steadily over the course of the novel, as the police resort to more and more drastic methods of finding their man.

George Markham should be an interesting character, but aside from feeling a distaste for his views about women, I couldn't find him at all hateful or sympathetic. He wasn't real enough; he was another bland character brought to the pages. I couldn't believe in him, even as a psychopath. It was very disappointing. Cole tries to make him sympathetic by telling some of backstory and childhood, with his overbearing, controlling mother, but I couldn't believe in the mother either, so I didn't feel sorry for him... I didn't feel very much at all.

Psychologically, Cole's serial killer was slightly off. Markham starts out by watching snuff films, and acting as a peeping tom. Peeping toms do sometimes turn into rapists, but they usually do so by breaking into houses. Markham's first victim is killed in the woods near her house. Admittedly not many people will know the psychology of serial killers when reading these books, but often the devil is in the detail and here I was let down.

Detective Inspector Kate Burrows is a better character to me; she is a single mother living with her daughter and mother, trying to make ends meet. She loves her job, and has strict moral values. Theoretically she should be quite likeable in her actions as well; she has to deal with some sexism in the workplace, and keep a professional attitude when her home life is falling apart. However, again, Cole's writing style puts me off all of her characters. Cole states outright the character traits she thinks her characters have, without letting the reader come to any of their own conclusions.

Kate's relationship with Patrick Kelly is almost believable, but they both have fiery tempers, and start monologuing at each other at the drop of a hat. The constant repetition of arguments and heart-to-hearts and soul-seeking on the part of both of these characters gets very irritating, and with every rehash of a sentence to the effect of “no matter what he did, Kate still wanted him,” makes me lose respect for the character and the author in the same moment.

All or most of my gripes with Martina Cole come to her writing style. She switches point-of-view repeatedly in the middle of scenes, and she tells detailed stories about characters that will only be in the book for one scene in an attempt to make you feel sorry for them when their ends befall them. Why not let you feel sympathy through the family that have been left behind? Cole leaves very little about her characters to the imagination, but an awful lot about the places and rooms.

As before, I am finding a lot to criticise about this book, and little to compliment. However, after reading eight Martina Cole novels, I find myself still unable to enjoy them. If you can, then you will probably enjoy 'The LadyKiller' but I did not. I'm afraid I have failed in objectivity.

Review of the 2004 film 'The Butterfly Effect'

2009-01-06T21:08:00.000Z

The butterfly effect, also known as chaos theory, states that a small event (such as a butterfly flapping its wings) has knock on effects that can have very large-scale consequences. As a child, Evan has blackouts, with large hunks of time he cannot remember. A psychologist suggests that he should keep a journal, in order to jog his memory about the events. Later in his life, he re-reads the journals and finds that he can remember the lost sections of his memory. Soon afterwards he finds that he can change what happens.

Conceptually, this film is very interesting. By changing very small events from his past, Evan has huge effects on his 'present'. His future keeps changing, he completely alters the outlook for himself and his closest friends. Sometimes things work out better in some ways, but usually they end up worse in others. By trying to 'fix' one aspect of his present, he 'breaks' another.

In execution, this isn't a bad film; it is quite well acted, especially by the younger actors. I have often said that American children lose their ability to act once they hit puberty, and the adult (or rather late teenage) actors seem to prove this somewhat, although the leading lady, Kayleigh (Amy Smart) does a very good job of portraying her various different possible futures throughout the course of the film. The younger self of Evan and Tommy were definitely better than than their adult counterparts, however. The special effects used are understated but very effective, when they are used; more fancy cinematography than computer generated effects, but there are some clever moments that meant that the style of filming carried the plot well.

The reasons I didn't like this film were more to do with the bleakness of the whole thing. There are odd moments of romance and joy, but they are all quickly overshadowed by depression and destruction. Evan begins to realise that there is no way to make all of his friends have a happy ending, from the start that he has. It isn't one of those sad films that you enjoy because of the deep emotion, and there isn't enough action to make this into one of the bleak but dramatic ripping yarns. The film was impossible to 'enjoy', because it was so dark, and it wasn't quite good enough to forgive this, and right through the end it was incredibly bleak.

Perhaps the reason that I didn't enjoy this film was because of the time I watched it (late night on boxing day)... but I didn't particularly like it, and I didn't find it as gripping or interesting as the concept of the plot would have suggested. It was a very clever film, and thus it's not a film I would encourage people to universally dismiss. It wasn't a bad film, but as a subjective viewer, I didn't enjoy it. If you tend not to like dark, 'think' films, then I would recommend you find something less depressing to spend your time on.

Review of 'War of the Worlds' by H.G. Wells

2008-12-24T15:18:00.001Z

This is probably going to be a long review, as I have quite a lot to say about this book... so buckle in folks. War of the Worlds probably falls into the reviewing category of 'books I shouldn't touch with a 20 foot long barge pole', but I've opened the door on reviewing classics, now, so I'm taking the plunge. And because this is such a classic (and it's Christmas), I'm allowing myself to be a little bit more self-indulgent than usual (hoho).

After seeing two movies and hearing the musical radio adaptation of this book, the plot was not a surprise to me: In the late 19th century, a series of cylinders are shot from Mars, landing in and around London, containing the dreaded Martians and their unstoppable Heat Ray. Thus begins the slaughter and subjugation of humankind.

Style

This book kick-started a whole genre, and so it had to have been very good, and very powerfully written. However, by contrast with today's standards of 'powerful' this book was not filled with flowery prose and jarring statements. In fact, the most remarkable thing about the style was how plain it was. Written in a down-to-Earth journalistic style, War of the Worlds, tells the tale of the Martians from the point of view of a middle class man, a philosopher and writer. He could be virtually anyone, safe and secure in his post-Victorian steam age existence. Then the world he knew was stripped away, and he happened to be near the centre of it. He was not the first to discover the Martians' arrival, nor the first to see them; but he was among the crowd. It's an incredibly powerful story because it is so easy to relate to this incredibly ordinary protagonist and his plight.

One of the things that I found very odd about this book was that none of the main characters have names. The narrator refers to himself only as 'I' or 'me'; the other major characters are simply 'his wife' 'his brother' 'the artilleryman' and 'the curate'. While cameo roles are given names and explanations; the celebrities of the day; it is possible to put any name or face into the lead role. I have not read enough fiction from this era to know if this is normal, though I do know that referring to the reader directly was quite common at the time, but it struck me as both strange and a very useful literary device. By not naming his main characters, it is much easier in some ways for the reader to slip into their heads; to follow them without the separation of knowing that this is an entirely different person. Wells' oddest choice is also one of his most noticeable and powerful devices.

It is occasionally amusing how very last-century the writing style is. Sometimes the references to 'pop-culture' of the time fall flat on the modern audience, but the descriptions of the damage and desolation of places that are still thriving holds of civilisation in the modern-day never fall flat. In fact, I found descriptions I didn't quite understand much less annoying than the constant references of the edition that I had.

The Science

I never expected a 19th century writer to get all of the science correct, and knowing all that I did about the plot of the War of the Worlds, I knew there were many ways in which Wells got it wrong. For a start, we all know now that Mars is barren and probably lifeless... at least if there is life it is small, and almost certainly not intelligent. There is no 'red weed' giving the planet its colour. The Martian atmosphere is considerably different than ours, with almost no atmospheric oxygen. We also know that there are no current rivers or oceans, and that the ice caps are primarily frozen carbon dioxide, rather than water ice. Early on in his descriptions of the Martians, Wells mentions that there is no bacteria on Mars. From our current understanding of molecular, genetic and macro-evolution, it seems nearly impossible that life could evolve without this primitive first step, and nowadays we are no closer to eradicating bacteria than we are to snuffing out the sun. Also, what are the chances of life evolving on two separate planets that are compatible enough for them to use our blood as an energy source? What are the chances that bacteria that attack, disease and decompose human flesh would have such an effect on an entirely alien physiology?

However, from a century of extra knowledge it is very easy to focus on the negative. That's what suspension of disbelief is for. In the story, it only detracts from the events and the realism for a hair-splitting second, and it doesn't matter a jot in terms of the emotion and the tone of the whole story.

So I shall focus for a moment on all the things that Wells got right. This is a man that clearly did his research. He knew that the gravity on Mars was much less, the air necessarily less dense, the geology long since quiet and stagnant. The technological descriptions are at least conceivable, and his descriptions of the Martian's appearance and physiology is incredibly detailed, imaginative, alien and most importantly almost believable. The Heat Ray and the poison gas speak to a great imagination deriving from what was already known. From what we know now, the Heat Ray could be a very powerful infra-red LASER. The poison gas, though said to contain an unknown element, could be any one of a number of nerve gases or poisons discovered since then.

The Fiction

In my opinion, a lot of modern science fiction suffers a lot from too many scientific ideas, and fails to focus on the plots and the characters; the things that a reader can get their teeth into, and draws them into the world and its ideas. Wells does not suffer from this at all. His narrator describes all he knows of the Martians, but he does not let it draw too far away from the fact that the invasion is the important plot point. At the heart, this story discusses the human suffering, surprise and fighting spirit.

The main character spends much of the novel running and hiding; he is no hero. At times he is as far from the stereotypical hero as it is possible to be, but he recounts his every movement with supreme honesty. The War of the Worlds is more a story of survival than of warfare. Early on, the narrator and the reader both come to the conclusion that the technology of the day could not stand up to the Martian invaders. Though I knew how it was ended; though I even recognised many phrases that were used verbatim in the musical adaptation, I was nonetheless completely absorbed in the story.

The Conclusion

It is not surprising that Wells, among others, sparked the science fiction revolution. With such imagination and intensity and reality of these stories, if only one or two other novels at the time made this kind of grade, then it would prompt many other writers to at least try. With the next generation, the Asimovs and Arthur C. Clarkes, came a new degree of science in fiction, but War of the Worlds was one of those that sparked the revolution. Its pedestal is justified, and I would recommend it to you all as a literary and science-fiction master-work.

If you've read this far, I thank you... and a Merry Christmas to you. May it be altogether Martian free.

Review of the 2004 film '13 going on 30'

2008-12-23T22:32:00.000Z

The concept behind this film is incredibly silly, and another play on 'be careful what you wish for'. After a terrible embarrassment, Jenna Rink ends her thirteenth birthday party wishing that she was 'thirty, flirty and thriving,' like one of the models in her favourite magazine. The next morning, she wakes up as a thirty-year-old editor of the same magazine. Theoretically she has everything she dreamed of...

When I heard about this film, I never expected I would enjoy it, but it's actually quite amusing. Jennifer Garner plays the thirty-year-old Jenna expertly, acting in many ways like a gangly, growing thirteen year old that's just woken up in a grown woman's body. As she makes her discoveries about the world she finds herself in, she comes to face some harsh truths about what she's done to get where she is, and she deals with it admirably; trying to make the best of where she is and perhaps set right a few wrongs.

There are some incredibly funny moments in this film, and some lovely poignant moments. The inevitable love-story is delightfully underplayed, and doesn't end how you might expect it to. Though the ending is predictably cheesy, it didn't quite follow the overused route, and I found myself pleasantly surprised, and nicely warmed by the happy ending, rather than choking.

While the plot of this film is reasonably predictable, as most such comedies tend to be, it was dealt with quite well. There were moments when it broke away from the main plotline and focused on small aspects of Jenna's realisations about her age and status... these were, for me, the best parts of the film, and definitely the most funny, because I think if I was transported from my thirteen-year-old mind into my current body and life, I would have reacted to many things in a similar way.

This film wasn't a perfect rom com, and it wasn't a perfect cheesy teen movie; it had aspects of both, and of neither. It was not the most original, or the best acted story I have ever seen, but it was a lot funnier and more enjoyable than I thought it would be when I saw the trailer. I liked it a surprising amount, and I would recommend you to not count it out.

Review of 'Diaspora' by Greg Egan

2008-12-14T15:33:00.001Z

Generally I don't read hard sci-fi. While I appreciate that many of the ideas that take place within the more rigidly scientific framework are extremely clever, I am much more of a fan of novels that have believable and entertaining characters and stories, regardless of how scientifically accurate the world is. I find that a good story can make fantastical science completely acceptable, and as I read for fun, I feel justified in this opinion. Generally, what I read is space opera or at least 'soft' sci-fi, somewhere between the hard-science and story-based adventure.

Diaspora is the exception that proves the rule. It is an absolutely exceptional work of science fiction, that develops and explores incredibly complicated scientific ideas while remaining rooted around characters (albeit AI characters) that are very relate-able and likeable. This story uses complex ideas, but remains a story. In that, I feel, it is quite lonely in the hard sci-fi field, but it is a wonderful and shining example of what happens when someone does it right.

The world of Diaspora is set in the far future. People found a way to make themselves into sentient, practically immortal software by means of the 'Introdus' software. After this, they split into fleshers, remaining in human form, Gleisner robots (sentient software in hardware bodies), and the polises: supercomputer homes for the sentient software. Yatima is an 'orphan': a piece of sentient software created by the polis mind without input from any of the other intelligent software. The story describes the process of the orphan's growth through 'childhood' and 'adolescence', and then it shows what choices Yatima takes along vis path.

Through Yatima, we discover the world of the polises, fleshers and gleisners. It's an incredibly rich world, which has obviously had a great deal of thought put into it. When disaster strikes, Yatima's choices leave us in the centre of the worst of the storm, watching the devastation surround him. And then we follow Yatima as he leaves his birth-polis for a polis that is bound for the stars, in its diaspora, hunting for a world where such a disaster will never strike again.

In terms of story, I cannot fault Greg Egan for his imagination. His descriptions of the way his AIs are born is sublime, and incredibly realistic. It drew me in from the very beginning and I was hooked as Yatima grew up and discovered the world, even as I did. Later, Egan's descriptions of his more 'out-there' scientific ideas are clear, and almost comprehensible... he invents a science that feels like a logical extension of our own. Throughout the book, Egan describes the indescribable, making it almost possible for us to view the world in 5-dimensions, and to understand the complex physics that drives his world forward.

Where I would fault diaspora is that in trying to explore a head-full of ideas, Egan seems to split the book a little too much into separate stories. There is Yatima's growth, then there is the discovery of the disaster, then there are three stages of the diaspora. Perhaps it was because I read this book over a very long period of time (unfortunately being too busy to read much, this last month), but there was a certain amount of disconnectedness between the plots, especially as the central part of the novel seems to drift away from Yatima somewhat. The plot centralises around equally brilliant characters, but my familiarity with Yatima made me want to follow the developments more through ver eyes.

Finally, the ending seemed a little rushed, and a little too keen to wrap up all the remaining loose ends. It's as if Greg Egan was approaching a word limit, and had a certain amount to say before he got there. However, this is a common fault in many books, and it did not detract at all from my enjoyment of the rest of the book, or indeed of the ending itself.

I would recommend Diaspora to all devoted science fiction fans. It is brilliantly written, and even in its more self-indulgent scientific moments, the writing style has clarity and comprehensibility at its heart. Even if you cannot begin to fathom the ideas (and I think we're not really supposed to), then the story behind Diaspora is wonderful, and brings to life the superb hard sci-fi ideas that live within it.

Review of the 1982 film 'Tron'

2008-12-13T21:52:00.000Z

It's not often I review films that were released before I was born, or films that are cult classics, but I feel I owe Tron a word or two, seeing as I had the audacity to review 'Do Androids Dream...'.

Tron, alongside the book 'Neuromancer' should be listed under a definition of 'Cyberpunk'. The film is about computer programmers, running around trying to bring down 'The Master Program'; an AI that seems to have sprung up somehow. In the process, Flynn (Jeff Bridges) is dragged into the computer world, where he meets up with Tron, a program written by his real-world friend Alan (both played by Bruce Boxleitner), who has the potential to finally stop the master program.

Unfortunately, from the perspective of a 2008 film reviewer, this film sounds cheesy and cliché, but it's much easier to swallow when I realise that this was one of the films that invented the cliché itself. It's also quite easy to mock the special effects, which are funny if not spectacular, even by the standards of the time. However, in terms of story, the film makes up in entertainment, action and variety what it lacks in believability.

I enjoyed Tron, and not just because of the amount of giggling I could do at the scientific 'advancements' and silly 80's haircuts. It's very easy to see why it has become such a cult classic, because within the confines of this film, there lies the groundwork for a lot of similar themed stories that coped far less well with the restrictions of the genre. Throughout the film I found myself saying that it was a cross between two other films; which is fine until I realised that every one of those films (except Star Wars) came afterwards. And the obvious parallels between Tron and Star Wars are more amusing than annoying. I kept thinking of the 'Recognisers' as AT-ATs, and singing the imperial march whenever the Master Program's direct underling came onscreen, which just added to my personal entertainment.

If you call yourself a science-fiction fan, and you haven't seen Tron, it is a *requirement* that you do so, in order to retain your credibility. For sheer hilarity it is worth watching, but also take into a account all the limitations they were dealing with, and recognise that in 1982 this was a pretty amazing piece of cinema. I enjoyed it on several levels, and I was very glad that I got to see it.

Review of the 2006 film 'The Fountain'

2008-12-13T21:50:00.001Z

The Fountain is one of the prettiest films I have ever seen. For pure visual spectacle, it is very much worth watching. With the soundtrack pushed up to full volume through the most awesome speakers we could get our hands on, it was an audio-visual masterpiece. Aside from this, however, there is also an atmospheric plot and excellent acting.

When I was first told about The Fountain, my friend described it as an extremely pretty film about death. This is a fairly accurate, but shallow, description of the main atmosphere. Yes, the film is about death and the fragility of existence, but it is also about the joy and pain of love. It is difficult to explain the depths of these themes without spoiling all of the plot, but throughout those who fear death walk hand in hand with those who are willing to accept it, and for all of them love of one kind or another is the driving motivation.

There are three seemingly parallel story-lines, each tracing a main character searching for immortality of one description or another. There is the past storyline, where a conquistador is going in search of the tree of life. In the modern-day storyline, the lead character is searching for a cure to cancer when he unwittingly stumbles across a cure for ageing. And then there is the future storyline where a space traveller journeys through space with the tree of life.

The messages in this film are far from heavy-handed, and to a tremendous extent you are allowed to draw your own conclusions about what the film is about; to the point that I have come across at least three different, completely plausible possibilities for how the three plotlines interlink. As such, I will let you draw your own conclusions about this, and instead focus on the aspects of this film that are easier to pin down and describe.

I have already mentioned that this film is visually fantastic; from the scenes set around a tree in outer space, to the more mundane image of a man working late in his office, this film is a cinematic masterpiece. Every scene is beautiful in its own way, and blends perfectly with the soundtrack. The soundtrack is a masterwork on its own, and it's probably worth watching the film twice, the second time with your eyes closed, because the music (by Clint Mansell) is stunningly composed and incredibly atmospheric.

Then there is the acting, and Hugh Jackman does a fantastic job in all of his three roles. Rachel Weisz, too, provides an admirable performance. The onscreen chemistry between the characters, too, is absolutely believable, especially in the modern-day storyline, and it makes the film that much more immersive.

The Fountain is a brilliant film that gives you a lot to think about, and three weeks after the occasion I actually watched it, I can think of little there to criticise. It is not in any way a fast paced action movie, and if you are incredibly keen that all of your plot points should be meticulously wrapped up at the end, the you might want to sit this one out. However, if like me you like all sorts of different movies, then watch the Fountain. Even if you don't 'get it', it is beautiful. And if you do understand and think about the themes that are driving through the film, then you will enjoy it on whole new levels. Even now, every time I think about this film, I get the warm feeling that I watched something very special and different from almost any other film I can think of.

Review of the 2008 film 'Quantum of Solace'

2008-12-13T21:49:00.001Z

I actually wrote most of this review some time ago, and completely forgot about it for a while. This week I have 6000 words to write in order that I don't fail my new year's resolution at the final hurdle, so in that spirit I thought I'd review all the things that I haven't yet had a chance to. Those of you with an RSS feed for this blog, I'm sorry for my length absence and sudden revival. Also, thank you. Now, to the review...

Bond films are generally renowned for their action content and the character of Bond himself. The peripherals such as plot and other characters tend to somewhat incidental, and merely tools to drive everything else forward.

Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's first Bond appearance, seemed to buck this trend, with an intelligent and honourable, if duplicitous Bond-girl, a dramatic as well as action-packed plot and a hard-edged Bond that leant away from the suave near-parody that previous Bonds had become.

Quantum of Solace, however, veers away from coherency in favour of flashy action and special effects. The plot, if present, is difficult to grasp and tenuous at best. At the end, every strand of plot I thought I had gathered slipped away again, and I was left with the sense that I had just spent two hours watching people running through odd scenes and having exciting car chases.

I enjoyed this film as an action flick. There were some fun, if stereotyped scenes of Bond running through burning buildings, across rooftops and swinging from ropes. There was lots of shooting and drama. The Bond girls were pretty, and feisty. They also followed the modern trend of Bond girls that weren't just kidnap fodder and eye candy.

The unfortunate and disappointing thing about this film was that, although all the elements of a great Bond film appeared to be there, they didn't quite fit together right. There seemed to be a plot until the end when I realised that nothing had properly been explained. The 'trust issues' that M feels towards Bond get old after a few re-hashings. And then the pretty action sequences just serve to further drive home that nothing makes sense.

After Casino Royale, this was a bit of a backwards step, but I still enjoyed it for its mindless entertainment value. If you generally enjoy Bond films, and chewing-gum-for-the-mind in general, then you'll enjoy this film as well, but I wouldn't go into it with your expectations set too high.

Review of 'The Heart of the Matter' by Graeme Green

2008-10-26T00:16:00.000+01:00

This book took me an incredibly long time to read, and I think in the end I only finished it through sheer stubbornness and force of will. While it was competently written, and had a very good style of prose, I found nothing at all to relate to within the whole novel.

The main character, Major Scobie, is an English police officer living and working on the west coast of Africa during the second world war. He has long since fallen out of love with his wife, but has such a sense of honour and responsibility that he goes on pretending and doing all he can to make his wife happy. He is an honest policeman, who never takes bribes even when most of his colleagues do. Then, his unhappy wife leaves for South Africa, and Scobie is left alone. He meets a nineteen-year-old widow and falls in love and becomes torn and tortured because of his strong Catholic beliefs and his desire to make his wife happy.

From the start, the joylessness of the situation made me less than eager to keep reading this novel, and it doesn't get better. Reading more than a page or two at a time had a tendency to either make me depressed, or angry that the characters could not extract any joy out of their life whatsoever. Granted that they are in an unpleasant environment; a long-term stay in Africa in hostile times, when one is used to the climate and routine of England is probably not the most enjoyable start. I understand that these people are living in adverse conditions; but while reading the book I was not given a single cause to smile. Even when the characters were reasonably happy, the dark mood of the whole novel brought it down so that each described smile had an air of falseness and fragility that made happiness seem fake, even impossible. Reading it became a chore. It was something I had to do because of an ingrained sense that once started a book must be finished.

I wish I didn't have that ingrained sense.

I'm sure there are people that could read 'The Heart of the Matter' and get some deep-and-meaningful message from it that transcends mere fiction and turns it into a literary masterpiece. Personally, I very rarely enjoy novels that try to impose their own world-view through fictional people. I read for enjoyment, and most of all I read for a good story and likeable characters. 'The Heart of the Matter' had a dull plot and lots of emotion-filled mood-inducing prose describing tortured people. I would have been much more interested if the story dealt with a hunt for diamond smuggler; a story about a 'tortured soul' in love with two women is not what I look for in my fiction.

It's not always that I prefer a ripping yarn page-turner to masterworks; but usually I need some element of the former to keep me reading. I loved 'To Kill a Mockingbird' because it had a suspense-filled plot, wrapped around a beautiful moral issue and characters that I could really relate to. It was a genuinely 'good book' that was also incredibly readable. 'The Heart of the Matter' for me had nothing. If there was a particular life-changing moral message in it, I failed to spot it. It was just an incredibly depressing novel. I don't even really know why I read it to the end. Really, I'd like back the hours I wasted on it.

Review of the 2008 film 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People'.

2008-10-19T22:23:00.000+01:00

Having enjoyed the last two Simon Pegg films I saw, I expected to also enjoy this offering from the British comedy star. While I cannot say that 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People' is even in the same league as 'Sean of the Dead' or 'Hot Fuzz', it was an enjoyable dig at both Hollywood star lifestyles and sycophantic journalists.

Simon Pegg plays Sidney Young, writer and editor for a failing magazine. He goes to great efforts to get his scoops, and is rarely rewarded. His writing style is sarcastic, bitter and altogether far too honest for most of Hollywood. When he gets a job offer from Sharp's magazine in New York, he thinks he's made it, but he rapidly realises that to succeed, he will have to give up on his honesty and start boot-licking with the best of them.

Simon Pegg has long-since proven his comedy acting ability, and I did enjoy his portrayal of Sidney as the slightly obnoxious English journalist. While he is a jerk at times, and definitely clueless, hapless and clumsy, he does come across as also being likeable to a sympathetic audience. I also found that Kirsten Dunst was better in this film than in many I have seen with her in, with the obvious exception of Claudia in 'Interview with the Vampire' which remains her greatest preformance to date.

Aside from these two characters, there are some other fantastic roles. The magazine owner, Clayton Harding, is fantastically acted by Jeff Bridges. He starts out as a cynical businessman who will play nice and kiss-ass to keep his magazine at the top... but Sidney alludes to his roots writing a sarcastic comedy celebrity magazine, similar to the one that Sidney used to write for. As the film progresses, it becomes clear that Harding hired Sidney through nostalgia for his honest journalism. This character development and interest is one of the most interesting part of the film.

The plot is reasonably predictable, and at any point most people could probably suggest the next plot development, but even so I found this film entertaining and very amusing. It had comic jokes and a large quantity of slapstick, and often it's humour was of the more painful variety, but even so I did enjoy myself at this film.

I wouldn't recommend you go to see this film with expectations that it will be as good as Sean of the Dead or Hot Fuzz, and if you are flat against humour-of-embarassment, it's probably something you should miss. However, if you are looking for something to entertain you of an evening, I can think of many worse films.

Amanda Palmer in Concert - 10th October, Koko in London.

2008-10-11T14:43:00.003+01:00

I went to see Amanda Palmer playing in London on the basis that I loved the Dresden Dolls. Until a couple of weeks ago, I hadn't heard any of the songs from her new solo record and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Would she play any songs I would actually recognise? What was she even like playing live? Would the support acts be any good?

What happened was one of the best gigs I've ever been to.

Let us start by describing the venue. If I could describe a place that would be the perfect venue for an Amanda Palmer concert, Koko would be pretty damn close. You enter the auditorium through a red-lit tunnel, and are immediately met by the perfect locale for a production of Phantom of the Opera. There are three galleries, each with their own bar, and standing room around the railings. To each side there are about half a dozen boxes. The walls are painted red, and above the main floor there is a giant silver disco ball. Above it, on the wall above the stage is an ornate carving, centred around a white-painted face. For all I know, this could have been put in place for this concert. But if not, then it was perfect.

The stage was backed by a sepia picture, and when we made it down to the auditorium floor there wasn't as much of the pushing and shoving that I've come to expect from gigs.

The first support act was Jason Webley; one man on stage with an accordion. He was beautifully entertaining and hilariously funny. I immediately have a huge amount of respect for a man that can not only get the audience to shout the word 'aardvark' in time with the Blue Danube's waltz beat, but can also make them spin around on the spot twelve times before singing a drinking song. And then there was the song where half of the audience were the violins and half the trombones.

Second up was Zoe Keating, a cellist. I didn't recognise the name at all, but as soon as she started playing, I realised the unique and haunting cello tones were very familiar. Turning to one of my companions I said “She's not by any chance related to the cellist from Rasputina is she?” “Yes!” she replied. “They have a one-to-one relationship.” Let's quickly pass by the small swell of pride I felt at recognising that purely on the basis of tone and quality and move on to Zoe's performance. She only played three songs, but they showcased her talent and heart. She gets a warm, entrancing tone out of her instrument that isn't quite like anything I've heard before. It is difficult for one girl and one instrument to make a full orchestrated sound, but Zoe used a relatively simple backing medley, introducing each theme on her real cello before the backing picked them up. Her way of playing, and the music she played were beautiful. While many talked through her performance, I stood entranced, watching her play and listening to the sounds she was producing. She was really incredible.

The tour is for an album called 'Who killed Amanda Palmer' so of course, Amanda was dead throughout these early stages... ready to come alive to play for us. The compère came on, telling us of the sadness and joy of the occasion... and then he introduced the man that was to introduce Amanda. Neil Gaiman.

If I wasn't already having a fantastic time, having Neil Gaiman come on to introduce the main act just about made my night. He read a piece that he'd written about people asking the question 'who killed Amanda Palmer'. And it was beautiful, and he read it perfectly. As you'd expect of a writer of the talent of Neil Gaiman. Gosh I need to read more of his stuff...

As I've already stated, the crowd was pretty friendly. So when someone comes past me around the outside of the auditorium wearing a purple veil, I didn't think too much of it. After all, this was an Amanda Palmer concert... I was one of the most 'normally' dressed people there, and I was wearing stripy fingerless gloves with mitten-tops. Corsets, pill-box hats, white-painted faces and black lacy skirts were pretty much the norm. Then one of the people to my right pointed and said to one of their friends “She's here.” Then, listening to Neil's speech from the front, I watched the veiled figure slowly make her way forward. On the stage, four people slowly made their way onto the stage, their expressions glassy and their movements robotic.

Amanda Palmer arrived... and came back from the dead to play 'Astronaut'; the one song from her new album that I had already heard. It was incredible.

Alongside her were Zoe Keating on cello and Lyndon Chester on violin. Both are amazingly talented musicians, who complemented Amanda's style perfectly, shining without overwhelming the lady herself. The four people on stage with glassy expressions were the physical theatre group the Danger Ensemble. Throughout the show they provided visual aid, dancing and mood-enhancement to the whole experience. They were fantastic.

Amanda herself was, of course, the highlight and centrepiece. Performing with one foot in a cast and being carried to and from the front of the stage by one of the Danger Ensemble, she was incredible. As well as singing live as well if not better than she does on her albums, she managed to convey comedy and drama and emotion with every song. It was interesting listening to her talk about her songs, talking about the people with her, and talking about the things she was doing. She was genuinely funny, and she seemed to be really enjoying herself on stage, which always makes tonnes of difference to the amount the audience enjoy a show.

As well as songs from her new album, Amanda performed some of the hits from the Dresden Dolls, including my personal favourite coin-operated boy. I was laughing out loud during the first verses, watching the performances of the Danger Ensemble, and I was almost in tears during the bridge. I also almost started crying during a song she wrote about the Columbine high school shootings. At the beginning of the song, Lyndon read out a list of the injuries and deaths from that event... it made all the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stand up on end.

For one song, Neil Gaiman and Jason Webley came back out on stage; Jason on guitar and Neil on tambourine. Neil also wrote the lyrics to one of the songs that Amanda sang; a jazz-style song that she described as the modern answer to the Sinatra-era songs describing heart-sick people in smoky bars being counselled by their bartender. (Paraphrased) “When you're in the last part of a relationship, and you're in that dark place, you're sitting at home doing something... you all know what it is...” Then she moved on to sing “I google you...” and it had such comedic and tragic punch. It was absolutely beautiful.

In the final stages of the concert, Amanda also sang a couple of covers; most notable 'livin' on a prayer' by Bon Jovi, with the whole audience singing along at the top of their lungs. It was an incredible moment.

Until I went to this concert, I never really understood what 'punk cabaret' was all about. Until I heard Amanda sing for real, and saw the comedy she could inject into tragic songs just with her facial expressions, I didn't know what Amanda really represented, aside from a fantastic musical talent. She stayed cool through what she described as her 'first ever wardrobe malfunction' and she took off her corset (leaving a very pretty lacy upper) to sing the last song to prove a point to her record label that she's happy with her appearance and doesn't want to pander to current trends. I had a tremendous amount of respect for her as a musician already and this has grown exponentially after seeing her in the flesh.

Her music may not appeal to everyone, but dammit if she doesn't know how to put on a fabulous show. I can't *believe* I was considering not going.

Review of the 2007 film 'Ghost Rider'

2008-10-11T14:33:00.002+01:00

Johnny Blaze and his father are a motorcycle stunt duo. When he finds out that his girlfriend is leaving town, he makes plans to run away with her until he finds out that his father is dying of cancer. And then a stranger arrives telling him that he can cure his father's disease if he makes a deal. A deal for his soul that will turn young Johnny Blaze into the Ghost Rider.

Ghost rider is an amusing film, with spectacular effects, but it is by no means the best film I have ever seen. The lead role, Johnny Blaze, played by Nicholas Cage, has a classic redemption storyline. He acts it well, but as with many films of the same ilk, I find myself far more interested by the antagonist leads. Mephistopheles, the devil (Peter Fonda) has a great blend of charm and evil. He pulls off the helpful stranger looking to make a deal, and then he pulls of the ironic trickster that causes the lead to fall. Likewise, the devil's son, Blackheart (Wes Bentley) plays a convincing evil bastard.

Roxanne, the female lead, lets the side down massively with her vacuous why-don't-you-love-me expression and her collagen face. Her role as journalist and love interest give her little opportunity to make a positive impact on the plot, and she mostly gets in the way. I found her very annoying, making the obvious observations and the very obvious responses to every situation that she finds herself in. Perhaps I found her more annoying having read quite a few Heroine Content reviews recently, but even so, Roxanne was far too typical of the superhero genre to be a very good character.

The plot of ghost rider is somewhat predictable, but still entertaining. The devil's son is seeking one of the devil's contract, which will give him the power of a thousand evil souls, which would give him horrendous amounts of power on Earth. Obviously, his father does not want this to happen, so he calls the ghost rider back into existence and sends him out to take his son and send him back to hell. Along the way, the rider fights the lackeys, upsets the female lead, has to show off his motorbiking skills to their grandest extent and of course there is the inevitable police chase. The police, of course, aren't put off by the fact that they are chasing a flaming skeleton riding a bike which is also on fire.

I think the main problem I had with this film was that it didn't have much substance beyond looking cool. There was no real underlying tension, and there was never any doubt that the good guy was going to win. Even the ending cue-for-a-sequel sequence was predictable, even though it didn't make a huge amount of sense. However, maybe I expected too much... Ghost Rider was a silly comic-book action flick, and operated very well within those borders. For cheesy entertainment, Ghost Rider is very watch-able.

Review of 'Blink' by Malcolm Gladwell

2008-09-28T18:03:00.001+01:00

Blink is a book about the power of judging a book by its cover, and how our snap decisions are often completely right. It is well written and laced with comprehensive examples and expert research and opinions. It provides a compelling argument for the power of training, and the usefulness of quick evaluations; and for the times when the snap decision is not quite as useful.

Dealing with such wide-ranging issues as art-experts being able to instantly spot a fake, the uses (and failures) of market research, and why policemen sometimes get things tragically wrong, 'blink' looks at situations we experience, or hear about on a regular basis. It takes each one apart, explains the inner workings, and then puts it back together again, polishing it off with the new knowledge gained from an understanding of the unconscious mind.

If you have the slightest interest in how the human mind works, then I would recommend 'blink' as an example of brilliant pop psychology. It is written for an interested, non-technical audience, and is very accessible. It is also very readable, occasionally witty and often thought-provoking. As I read 'Blink' I started to view the world in a subtly different light. I don't think I will ever dismiss a gut-instinct as easily again.

Review of 'Storm Front' by Jim Butcher

2008-09-21T19:08:00.001+01:00

In a geeky fangirl type way, I immediately liked the concept of a story about a Wizard Private Investigator. Harry Dresden, said Wizard PI, is a skilled sorcerer but he doesn't do very good business. What he does have is an in with a police department that specialises in cases of an unusual nature. Then two cases come up at once; a missing person, and a double murder. As soon as he sees the murder scene, Harry knows that there is a very powerful mage on the scene who is breaking the laws of magic. He also knows that to a lot of other people, he would be suspect number one.

As a PI story, Storm Front follows some of the traditional clichés. As a magic story, it follows some other clichés... but put the story together, and it becomes an interesting and amusing story. It is also a true ripping yarn; as the story progresses, the urge to find out what is going to happen next draws the reader through the story.

Harry Dresden is mentally tough, and he is a good conjurer. However, he is not the strongest, fittest or fastest, and I like this. He gets beat around as much as anyone else in the story, and when he fights hand-to-hand, he only does it when the element of surprise is well and truly on his side, or when there is no other option.

The other characters include an air elemental, Bob, who is imprisoned in a skull and acts as Harry's magical library. Then there is Harry's watchman, Morgan, a none-too-bright hard man acting on behalf of a wizard's council. The women in this novel are both good, strong characters, but Butcher seems to go out of his way to make them tough girls. I like them in a way; Police officer Karrin Murphy has a kickass quality about her, that makes her totally believable in the position of hard-nosed cop. Then there is the journalist who'll do almost anything to get a story... between them they provide a competent showing for the 'fairer' sex, but the more I read the more I found these characters to fall slightly towards the cliché as well. Hard-nosed cop and mercenary journalist are not exactly the most original character types.

Towards the end of the story, it seems that most of the characters are in some way out to get Harry, and this grows a little frustrating, as viewers of many TV police dramas will understand. Once the actual plot draws to a close, there is a final wrapping up chapter that stings of TV drama sum-up. In fact, Storm Front almost seems designed for TV dramatisation; and indeed it was dramatised for a while on American TV.

Don't get me wrong though; Storm Front is a very entertaining, gripping read. It was well written, and the magic is convincing. I liked most of the characters, and it was only towards the end that I found some of the plot twists predictable. Even then, it was mainly character reactions, rather than actual events, that were predictable.

The major strengths of this novel lie in Harry Dresden himself. Although he is a wizard, he is a believable person, and as his backstory slowly unfolds, it becomes obvious that there is a lot more to him than meets the eye. Seeing the events through his eyes added an extra layer of interest and insight to the event. Harry's quirky, witty style of narrating made the characters rise to the front, and his way of dealing with the unfortunate series of events makes him a brilliant centre for the story.

Overall, I very much enjoyed Storm Front. If you are looking for a ripping yarn with excellent characters, Storm Front is it. I think that as a character, Harry Dresden is well worth following, and Butcher obviously has some skill at plotting and pacing a novel, which made Storm Front a very satisfying read. At some point, I will be purchasing the next in the series to see if it continues to be as beautifully executed as this.

My Reading List

2008-09-13T17:56:00.004+01:00

My friends and I are all keen readers, and if there is a book that one of us feels is particularly good, it will do the rounds of our group. I have introduced people to 'Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers' by Harry Harrison, which remains, in my mind, one of the greatest ever works of science fiction parodies. In return, I have been encouraged in the direction of 'Young Miles' by Lois McMaster Bujold, and a number of others that I haven't yet got around to reading.

But I'm getting there.

A recent trip home to see my parents had me leaving with an armful of classic science fiction, and a novel my brother left behind when he moved out. I have another book on long-term loan from a friend who thought it was much more suited to my sense of humour than hers. Not to mention the Discworld books I've been intending to read through for many, many years.

So, what am I reading at the moment?

Well, I'm about halfway through 'Storm Front' by Jim Butcher, a recommendation from a friend from university, which I am thoroughly enjoying. I will, of course, review this when I have finished.

Next up is 'Blink.' This is a non-fiction book, about the unconscious mind, and related psychology. Psychology is a fascination of mine, especially after taking a course in it during university.

Then I have a sizeable list of books on the shelf, including a Graeme Green novel I found in my brother's room after mum had been clearing it out, and 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson. I also have two more Martina Cole novels to read before I e-bay the collection. Then another borrowed novel; 'Diaspora' by Greg Egan, which has been universally acclaimed by people whose opinions I trust.

My classic science fiction selection includes many books that everyone says ought to be read by any self-respecting science fiction fan. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov; H.G Wells' 'War of the Worlds'; '2001 a Space Odessey' by Arthur C. Clarke, and 'Chocky' by John Wyndham.

After this, who knows? Christmas will be showing up all too soon, and it's traditionally the time I relax my moratorium on book-buying. Maybe I'll buy some more of the Jim Butcher Dresden File novels. Maybe I'll complete my Iain M Banks 'Culture' collection by buying 'Inversions', which many say is the best Culture novel after 'Consider Phlebas'. Of course I will be reading the Discworld novels too. And then there are the Neil Gaiman, China Meiville and George R. R. Martin books that everyone says I 'must' read.

One thing's for sure, though; I'm not going to be short on reading material for a while.

I just need to get better at finding the time to read...

Review of 'Look to Windward' by Iain M Banks

2008-09-13T17:54:00.001+01:00

'Look to Windward,' another of Banks' Culture novels, is set, mainly, on one of the Culture's orbitals; giant rings in space, providing accommodation for billions of humans and aliens. Eight hundred years after the Idiran war, the light of a supernova reaches Masaq' orbital; the result of a battle that took place during the war and destroyed two suns. As Masaq' commemorates the events of the ancient war and awaits the light of the second supernova, Chel sends a soldier to Masaq', ostensibly to try and convince the prolific composer Ziller to return to his home-planet. Of course, his intentions are not entirely honourable.

This book reaffirmed my faith in Iain M Banks' talent as a science fiction author. After reading 'Excession', I was not particularly looking forward to starting 'Look to Windward'. I felt the former work was long-winded, and lacked the human influence required for a reader to fully engage with the plot. 'Look to Windward' does not make the same mistakes. It includes all the facets that I loved about 'Consider Phlebas' without any of the problems that I feel have plagued his later books. It has the wonderful alien races and cultures, it has wonderful worlds and technologies, but more than this it has wonderful characterisation and a gripping plot.

I have always loved Banks' aliens and the aliens in this story are no different. There are the Chelgrians; a five-limbed species with a complex caste system, which eventually led to civil war. There are the Homomdans, three-legged aliens who sided with the Idirans at the start of the ancient war, before backing out altogether. And then, more spectacularly, there are the sentient Gigafauna of an airsphere environment, dirigible behemothaurs; giant living airships that live within bubbles of air that traverse the galaxy.

Additionally, Banks is telling the story mainly from the point of view of Culture outsiders, allowing the reader to view the far-reaching human society from the outside. The Culture is an incredible race, often hedonistic and very meddlesome... all these things are revealed during the story, and without the patriotism of its human inhabitants, allowing the reader to make its own decisions about Banks' view of our future.

However, what makes me like 'Look to Windward' more than almost any other Banks' science fiction novel is that, aside from the aliens, he tells a fantastic story, with an excellent cast of characters. While 'Excession' and 'Player of Games' lacked a strong lead character to empathise with, 'Look to Windward' has several characters that work within their given environment and act as wonderful bridges for the reader to gain entry to the world. Where 'The Algebraist' and 'Excession' had problems with over-complicated prose, and long sentences that made it difficult to follow, this novel falls back into the highly comprehensible space opera style, which makes it an incredibly accessible, beautifully written piece. The dialogue, especially, is realistic and compelling, making the story easy to read and immerse in. Importantly, as well, the plot is not overly complicated, but it does have enough intrigue and tension to keep the reader hooked.

The major criticism I would have for this novel is the ending. Banks seems to rush to tie up his loose ends in the last few pages, which is slightly jarring after the main climax of the novel. Aside from this, though, 'Look to Windward' is Banks at his best, and I would thoroughly recommend it as a starting point for a science fiction reader to enter his worlds.

Review of the 1983 film 'The Right Stuff'

2008-09-04T18:49:00.002+01:00

Amongst my music CD collection is a compilation of Sci-Fi theme tunes, and one of the theme tunes is that of 'The Right Stuff'. It has an absolutely amazing soundtrack, and so when I saw the DVD on sale for a couple of quids, I read the blurb on the back, found myself interested, and bought the DVD. It's a rather odd reason to buy a film, I know... but I was rewarded greatly.

In 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier. His success brought test pilots from all over the United States rushing to Edwards Air Force Base to attempt to become the fastest man alive. In 1957, the first satellite, Sputnik 1 was launched by the Russians. The gauntlet was thrown down; the race was on... the race to put a man into space. Shortly thereafter an unprecedented and rigorous training program began, and seven men (all military test pilots) were chosen to be the first American Astronauts of the Mercury Space Program.

'The Right Stuff' documents these events, and more. It shows the events that changed the world, but more than this it gives the personal touch; it shows the anecdotes and stories that make the race to put a man into space into the race to put a man into space. It not only shows the pilots and astronauts, it shows the people that walk with them; the men behind the venture, and the women behind the men. All through, The Right Stuff puts a wonderfully human spin on events, getting across how the Mercury seven astronauts felt as they took part.

And then, behind each of these men is a wife. The film gets across what it means to be the wife of a test-pilot, and astronaut. These women were sat at home, with their children, while their husbands went flying... knowing that there was a one in four chance that they wouldn't come home. The film portrays these women as strong and caring. They were women of their time, but they were as strong as any man, in their own way. The little struggles, and the larger ones, puts a fabulous backdrop on the launching of Freedom 7 and the missions that followed.

What I really love about this film, though, is the little details. Scenes like Chuck Yeager asking his flight engineer for a stick of gum before every one of his test-flights. The little tavern where the test-pilots all hang out. Alan Shepard asking for permission to urinate in his suit, when a 'fifteen minute' flight was delayed for several hours. Scenes of Gordo Cooper sitting in a radio shack next to a dish while John Glenn orbits over his head. The Mercury Seven at a welcoming event in Texas, watching a burlesque dancer while back at Edward's air force base Chuck Yeager, reaching the end of his test-piloting career, attempts to break another world record.

Although the fates of all the characters are sealed in history, the film captures the fear, excitement, tension and joy experienced by all involved in the historic flights. There are comic stories that paint the characters, showing the atmospheres and attitudes of the time. In places it seamlessly melds original footage of the time, with the actors and characters, in black-and-white sections. The film has also aged incredibly well. While it is filmed in the 80's, the quality still fits in alongside more modern films.

Without doing my own meticulous research, I cannot say how true to life the story is. I cannot say that the history is perfect; in fact I'm sure that parts of it are definitely not historically accurate. What I can say, is that 'The Right Stuff' is an incredible story, perhaps more incredible because it is based on a true story. It isn't Science Fiction, it is fact... and it is fact that is described beautifully in this film. The only criticism I could possibly have is that the film is 3 hours long, but I can honestly say that every moment is worth it.

Review of the 2008 film 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army'

2008-08-25T14:38:00.004+01:00

I did not like the first Hellboy film, for many different reasons. However, hearing that the new release was directed by the same genius responsible for Pan's Labyrinth, I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. I was even prepared to enjoy the film.

At first I was severely unimpressed. From the very beginning there was a huge juxtaposition between the monsters created by Guillermo del Toro and those that existed in the previous iteration. It was comic book horror meets epic fantasy; bright red heroes meet spectacularly designed villains, and to be honest it made me wince. A lot of the plot sequences struck me as extremely predictable, and it seemed that the first film's saving grace (the witty one liners) was also absent.

However, as the film progressed, I grew to like the new elements. There was a lot in the film that was beautiful and a lot that was very well-designed. The new monster creations were superb rubber-suited actors that looked real and either terrifying or wonderful, giving the other actors real cues to work from and making the scenes flow superbly. One such creature acted as the turning point for me; Johann Strauss the new character that joins Hellboy, Abe Sapiens and Liz on their team in the Department of Paranormal Research and Defence. He is an ectoplasmic matrix (ghost) in a suit, and a wonderful character. Additional bad-guy monsters, and the lead antagonist turned the film, for me, from a mediocre comic-book story to a reasonable fantasy film.

I still had a problem with this film. I loved the monsters, the animations were beautiful. There were some excellent action sequences, and the soundtrack was another wonderful work from Danny Elfman. Even the plot, once forgiven its more predictable elements, becomes a good story. However, all these good points aside, something kept dragging it back for me. The main characters not only stood out like a sore thumb against the stunningly crafted new creations from del Toro's odd imagination, they were actually unlikeable.

Hellboy himself is supposed to play the part of an evil being, 'twisted' to good, and occasionally haunted by his potential for evil. Instead, he comes across as a petulant ass who goes out of his way to annoy everyone around him. There is no tortured soul element at all, much as I wouldn't want it to be overplayed. He is just an irritating foil, who's only use is to hit things hard in the face. Liz is equally petulant and annoying... I just severely disliked her, especially in the face of the antagonists (portrayed by actually good actors). Even Abe, who I liked in the first film, plays the part of the stereotypical science nerd; his knowledge and wisdom is backed up by no physical strength whatsoever, except a passing familiarity with firearms.

Hellboy II is almost two films rolled into one. One of them, I liked... it had amazing visual effects and some excellent characters and creatures. The other one revolved around annoying characters who always seemed to be facing the wrong way when interesting developments were occurring, and who missed blatantly obvious leaps because they were selectively stupid, or because the director wanted to show off some new monster creation. As the film progressed, the first film took over and became the primary interest; it got better with time.

If you liked the characters in Hellboy, I am almost certain you will enjoy this film. The things added on top of the original are supremely good. However, if you did not like the original Hellboy, you may leave the film as I did, wondering whether you'd actually had a good time or not.

Review of the 2008 film ‘The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor'

2008-08-11T17:04:00.002+01:00

Your enjoyment of this film will depend almost entirely on your attitude when you enter the cinema. If you want a classy action drama, or expect even a modicum of self-respect, you will be very disappointed. If you go in expecting a very silly but entertaining action film, you are likely to enjoy this film immensely.

I went to the cinema with the latter attitude. After seeing the first two films (albeit a while ago now), I expected a ridiculous, but amusing plot and lots of action. The film was no more far-fetched than the first two films, just as funny and just as action packed. I came out of the movie feeling suitably entertained. It wasn’t the best film of the century, but I think it achieved its aims, and I certainly enjoyed it.

Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) is the bored, retired hero, who can fight his way out of so many different scenarios. Evy (Maria Bello), his wife, is equally bored with their retirement, and is trying in vain to write a sequel to her two famously successful novels; the Mummy and the Mummy Returns. Meanwhile, Evy’s brother, Jonathan (John Hannah) has a night-club in Shanghai, and their son Alex (Luke Ford) is also in China, raising the mummy of the movie: the Chinese Emperor (who incidentally has superpowers), played by Jet Li. Isabella Leong also joins the cast as Lin, charged with protecting the Emperor’s tomb, her job later becomes to chase the Emperor with a cursed weapon: the only one that can kill the undead Emperor.

All these characters are superb, well acted creations that were believable in their roles without taking themselves too seriously. They made the witty one-liners with a straight face, but the characters seem to realise that they’re in a movie at the right moments, so that it doesn’t become melodramatic. The onscreen interaction between all the characters is seamless. While there was never any question of realism, the characters made it seem almost plausible. I also liked the fact that while Evy and Rick have been married for quite some time, they are still very much in love. They took their assignment because they were bored of mundane life, but the excitement wasn’t necessary for renewing their love. It was a nice touch.

The plot erred on the side of the predictable: at any point you can tell immediately the outcome of their current predicament, just by realising you’re not far enough into the film for them to win yet. However, you can still be emotionally invested enough in the fantastic characters to actually care what happens to them, and I was still engrossed in the action, wondering about exactly how they would get out of whatever scrape the plot had put them in.

The film moves too fast for you to really care that it doesn’t make that much sense. The characters and the constant action kept me entertained without getting too repetitive, and I didn’t mind the predictability; perhaps there was something behind Brendan Fraser’s eyes that let me know that the character also knew the plot was predictable. He didn’t care, in fact he seemed to be having a lot of fun… which made it more amusing to watch.

I would have preferred if the actress that played Evelyn in the first two films could have returned, although Maria Bello did do a great job, and she had very good onscreen chemistry with Brendan Fraser. I also found the special effects used when the Emperor was cursed hilarious: it looked something like a man made out of chocolate. These are my two main criticisms.

This film probably got bad reviews because the critics have been to so many action films that they realise they’re mostly the same. They are probably bored by any film that doesn’t cross lines into new areas of innovation and excitement. I’m not a professional critic: I’m just a normal moviegoer, with a love of silly movies. In a book, I might expect better… but I very much enjoyed the Mummy III. It was never meant to be taken seriously, and as such, it is a very entertaining film.

Review of the 2008 film ‘The Dark Knight’

2008-08-01T18:00:00.001+01:00

The latest batman film follows on from the deeply broody gothic horror prequel ‘Batman Begins,’ leaving the old image of camp, flashy Batman movies far behind. Christian Bale plays the gravelly-voiced hero, and his more mellifluous alter ego, Bruce Wayne, as he battles his evil anarchist nemesis, The Joker (Heath Ledger).

I will immediately state the one thing I loved most about this film. Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker captures the insanity, psychopathy and genius of the role perfectly, and his anarchistic actions make for a disturbing, but highly skilled performance. The Joker has a shrewd mind and plenty of confidence, without cockiness. He always has a way out, which makes him a terrifying villain. The voice and facial expressions that Ledger gives to this character show an almost reptilian coldness, and his constant lip-smacking is disgusting, and perfect, all at the same time. Ledger’s Joker is one of the best antagonists I have seen in a very long while.

But Ledger is just the best of a brilliant bunch. Christian Bale acts rich jet setter and mysterious vigilante with equal competence, maintaining his acting standards from ‘Batman Begins’. Gary Oldman’s quiet, contemplative police officer, Gordon, says all that he needs to say, without needing to bully. Oldman brings across integrity, with Gordon’s understanding that while Batman’s vigilante justice is not pretty, it is sometimes necessary. Aaron Eckhart plays the honest good-guy, Harvey Dent; the prosecutor who’s determined to put the villains behind bars, and make sure that Gotham no longer need the vigilante. Harvey has some tough times in the film, and from start to finish, Eckhart’s performance is believable, strong and evocative.

Then there are the less major roles, played by equally leading actors. Michael Caine returns as faithful butler, Alfred. With steadfast loyalty and quirky (very British) humour, Alfred plays guide, conscience and aide. Even with limited screen time, Michael Caine has excellent screen presence. Then there’s Lucius Fox, played by Morgan Freeman, another fantastic actor playing a minor role. The intelligent manager acts as guiding hand and moral voice for Batman and Bruce Wayne, and I don’t ever recall seeing Morgan Freeman act anything less than brilliantly.

Unfortunately I have to say that the female actors in this film were either less inspiring or simply outclassed. I was not overly impressed by Maggie Gyllenhaal or Monique Curnen, although both gave competent performances… they were simply in a movie with too much male talent.

The characters of this film were good enough to make a slightly meandering plot highly watchable. But while the plot is occasionally haphazard, in a way it mirrors the Joker’s desire for anarchy as he causes havoc in Gotham. My major criticism of the plot is that there is little by way of an overriding arc, and the movie seems almost split in two by one scene. The borderline was slightly too abrupt, so that it seemed that the plot was over, but the movie showed no signs of finishing.

However, haphazard and chaotic as the overall plot was, the individual plot elements captured some incredible scenes of fear and tension. Many of these sequences would have made excellent shorts on their own. They also show people forced into making difficult choices. The Joker’s calculated scheming makes people show the horrible side of human nature, as well as the more hopeful one.

In terms of filming, many of the visuals in this film are stunning, if a little gratuitous. Also, much to my relief, the director rediscovered the steady-cam for fight scenes rather than the shaky camera-work that I found so annoying in ‘Batman Begins.’ The fistfights are short and punctuated, with ‘kapow’ ‘wop’ style effects, making them more realistic than protracted scenes that are common in other action dramas. The pyrotechnic effects are truly explosive (if you’ll pardon the pun)… I could argue this as a good point or a bad point, depending on personal tastes. For me, there was a little too much ‘boom.’ There are also some horrific injuries on display in this film, perhaps not for the squeamish. Frankly, I was slightly concerned that this film was dubbed ‘12A’ and not the ‘15’ or ‘18’ that would have been appropriate.

‘The Dark Knight’ doesn’t have the same broody gothic mood as ‘Batman Begins,’ and it could be argued that Heath Ledger’s performance carries the movie against improbable odds. It could also be argued that a more scissor-happy editor could have improved the film with no ill effects, or that the direction could have done with a little more consistency of atmosphere. However, all in all, The Dark Knight is an entertaining, if highly disturbing, action movie. The characters make it all worth watching, carrying a plot that would not carry itself. I wouldn’t recommend it for children, but if you enjoy the darker side of action movies, you will probably like The Dark Knight.

Review of ‘I Am Legend’ by Richard Matheson

2008-07-29T19:44:00.002+01:00

It is the fault of writers like Richard Matheson that the vampire genre of horror novels became outmoded and cliché. But I cannot dislike him for that, because with ‘I Am Legend,’ Richard has done what I so love, in creating a cross-genre novel. Straddling horror and science fiction, I Am Legend tells the tale of Robert Neville, the last living man on Earth, when a plague has caused the spread of vampirism throughout the whole of humankind.

While I was constantly aware that, at the time, vampires had not been done to death, I always had it in the back of my mind that, whenever I read anything about what publishers want, they always say ‘no vampires’. Writing in the 50’s, Matheson was not to know the difficulty that modern authors would face when trying to bring an original slant to the vampire story. He had only Dracula, and one or two others, to draw on. It is rather amusing to think that, today, Matheson would probably not have got this book published, especially not as his first novel.

I am Legend contains many of the standard vampire myths, including the fear of mirrors, the cross, garlic. At the beginning it seems that the science fiction element is missing, and it concentrates on the horror. It paints a tale of loneliness, of survival, of one man’s struggle to come to terms with a world that has become completely alien to him. Robert Neville is the face of humanity in this story. He has found some solace in routine, and in hunting by day, killing the living dead that walk at night. He struggles with his loneliness, he seeks comfort in his whiskey, he spends months tortured by the nightly shouts of vampires, especially the voice of a vampire that was, in life, his friend.

Over the course of the novel, Neville explores the nature of the vampire. Here is where the story becomes science fiction, leaving behind the horror-story. With halting steps, Neville investigates using the tools left over from the fall of society. Sometimes I found the ‘scientific’ explanations for the vampire myth to be somewhat weak. I was not sure how much was intended to sound weak, perhaps pointing out that Neville has learned all he has from books, and has little knowledge of scientific methodology. He is, perhaps, making most of it up as he goes along. However, a lot of what is explained sounds plausible. I found myself wondering if Matheson himself believed in vampires, or wanted to, and was trying to find ways to explain all the common vampire mythologies.

The modern approach to similar vampire stories seems to be to ignore those parts of the vampire myth that are based in superstition: the cross and mirrors, are conveniently disregarded, except in the rare story where vampires are demonic, rather than viral in nature. Matheson’s explanations draw on a variety of scientific disciplines, none of which sit entirely comfortably on my scientific shoulders. I am not a biologist, and I have no knowledge of bacteriology or physiology, so I could not speak to the rigour of his methods, or the truth in his explanations. But, from a scientific gut feeling, some worked and some didn’t.

Again I come back to the fact that this was written in the 1950’s. Perhaps Matheson had researched as rigorously as he could, knew all their was to know, and to people, even scientists, in the 50’s it all sounded perfectly reasonable. I would like to think so. And even if that isn’t true, it doesn’t matter. Because at its core, I Am Legend is a fantastic story. Neville was a stunningly crafted character, resilient but astoundingly human, with the incredible desire just to survive that many would lack in a similar circumstance. He is curious and inquisitive and he demonstrates the ability to adapt to the harshest of circumstance.

The writing is carefully crafted. Small details that seem to be almost incidental in the story come back again, with significance. I am Legend has barely a wasted word, which is a wonderful relief after reading verbose and poorly edited works of more modern fiction. It flips between anxious intensity and near-despair, amusement and raw survival instinct.

Despite my scientific scepticism, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and towards the end it was more and more difficult to put it down. This book would appeal equally to readers of horror and readers of SF. It is another title well deserving of the honoured classification of ‘SF Masterwork’.

Review of the 2008 film ‘Wall-E’

2008-07-26T17:11:00.002+01:00

Wall-E is an adorable, heart-warming story about a robot. It is also a thought-provoking science fiction story about the current environmental and ecological crises that we are facing as a species. In the future, Earth is a glorified rubbish tip, and the company that seems to run most of the world develops the ‘Wall-E’ class of robots to clean up, while most, if not all, humankind leaves on a space ship on a five-year luxury cruise. However, something goes wrong and 700 years later, only one Wall-E robot remains functional, and humankind is still in space.

The first part of the film has very little dialogue, and yet the robots in it, Wall-e and Eve, are incredibly expressive in their own way. The toils of little Wall-e as he struggles to come to terms with his own personality, his loneliness, and his sudden lack of loneliness is remarkably well described throughout the film. In some ways, the robots are much more expressive than the human characters.

While our little robot has spent 700 years cleaning up Earth as best he can, and collecting such trinkets as he sees fit, humankind has taken a downturn. The inhabitants of the spaceship live in hover chairs, eating food that comes in cups. They are all overweight blobs, communicating to each other through heads-up display, and very rarely actually taking note of what is around them. 700 years has left humanity in a rather sorry state, with robots to cater to their every whim, even walking seems an unfamiliar concept.

As the plot progresses we see Wall-e’s personality growing, and we see him gradually opening peoples eyes, affecting them for the better. Between the Captain of the spaceship and two passers-by that Wall-e happens to ‘bring to life’ we see the film’s world explored, and we see the vicious circles that lead down that path. We also see the changes that bring hope and encouragement, with some restoration of the faith in human nature.

Wall-E is a kid’s film. The emotions of characters have to be made plain, and the explanations have to be clear, for the younger viewers to understand. Younger viewers will also appreciate the chase-scenes, the cleaning robot that constantly chases after trails of mud left by Wall-e’s tracks, and the struggle of our human and robot protagonists against the rigid and unmoving ‘autopilot’.

But Wall-E is also one of those rare gems: a kids' film that also has a lot in it for adults. From humour that steps sometimes beyond what most young children will grasp, to underlying messages that are more disturbing to adults than they are to children, everyone can learn from Wall-E. And within the framework of a post-apocalyptic world, we are told a funny, endearing story about a robot that has developed sentience. It is witty, it is lovely, and it tells a story in fantastic style. The lessons are subtly driven home: they are taken-as-read to the extent that the plot can be enjoyed without feeling beaten down by the force of the warnings and moral debates the subject matter should raise.

One question I would have for the makers of film is why did Wall-e survive, but not all his other companions? Throughout, our little protagonist strikes the viewer as resourceful, intelligent and almost indestructible, but it is unclear why he realised this potential while his companions fell by the wayside. It is also never made clear exactly what global crisis left the world as uninhabitable as it eventually is.

In the end, you have to come back to the explanation of ‘it’s a kids film, and there isn’t enough time for all the explanations’. However, what it deals with, it deals with spectacularly well. The love story, the adventure story and the drama mesh seamlessly into a beautiful work of animation and a film that both adults and children can enjoy to the fullest extent. If you haven’t seen it yet, do. I thoroughly recommend it.

Review of ‘The Runaway’ by Martina Cole

2008-07-26T15:54:00.001+01:00

This is another life story from Martina Cole, telling the story of Cathy Conner. Daughter of a dock-dolly, living in squalor in the East End, Cathy’s life is changed when an incident leads to her being taken into care. Of course, in this case ‘care’ is used in the loosest possible sense of the word, and Cathy very quickly decides she wants out… and so she goes on the run. Finding herself in Soho, a transvestite names Desrae rescues her, and turns the path of her life around. Then there is Eamonn Docherty, son of her former stepfather, and a soul to whom Cathy had incredible, incomprehensible love and loyalty towards. He flees to New York after a murder, and makes a life for himself there as a criminal… but of course eventually he returns, and his path crosses with Cathy’s again.

I found the first part of the novel quite difficult to read, because almost all of the characters are thoroughly unlikeable. This occasionally includes the protagonist herself, though for different reasons than most. Most of the characters are harsh, often violent, with motivations and justifications that just don’t ring true. Cathy is, at first, a basically good kid that occasionally acts out-of-character.

After a while, though, the style settles down, especially after Desrae is introduced. Transvestites and gays were not readily accepted in 1970’s London, but Desrae has a measure of protection from his lover, who is a big ‘face’ in the area. Desrae’s character is wonderful, motherly and genuinely kind, though very worldly. He makes light of many situations, and has learned to live in a world that doesn’t widely accept him. While Martina’s style of introducing and describing these characters doesn’t quite sit right with me (it is far too expositional for my tastes), I found myself rapidly coming to like Desrae. With Cathy herself (after her life story catches up with her character) and, eventually, the ‘good-cop-bad-cop’ Richard Gates, there were some characters I could relate to. After that I began to enjoy the story.

Martina Cole writes in a cockney accent. Her written Irish, American and Italian accents are slightly less believable, and even her Londoners eventually begin to all sound the same. The cockney rhyming slang and angry character monologues start to ‘get on your wick’. The general writing style is third person limited, which means that each scene is described through the eyes of a particular character. This usually works quite well. However, I take issue with the fact that it often switches perspective in the middle of scenes, or even paragraphs. I also take issue with minor characters being introduced in scenes told from their perspective, for them only to be killed in the next scene. I would consider it unnecessary, as most of what she tells about them (usually about their being a psycho, and generally unpleasant individual) could be told just as well from a different perspective.

Still, these little bugaboos aside, the story of Cathy Conner and her life in the Soho underworld is occasionally funny and heart-warming. Her unconditional love for the complete jackass that is Eamonn Docherty is strangely understandable from her background, and only serves to make you feel more sorry for her. Her relations with her odd ‘family’ consisting of a transvestite, a renowned ‘Madam’, a New York gangster, a bent policeman and her beautiful daughter makes for a varied life, spanning all the ups and downs one can expect from a life of crime led by a basically decent individual.

The things that annoy me most about Martina Cole annoy me because they crop up in all of her novels. I think that almost all of her stories include paedophilia, rape, incest and whores on one level or another, while gun crime and drugs are taken as read in almost every situation. The main character is almost invariably an attractive female ‘survivor’ lead into a life because of a desire to escape a more hideous earlier one. Cole’s children also have the ring-of-false about them, although I am the first to admit that I had a sheltered and happy, normal childhood in a privileged area, while the children in these books have led a much harsher lives. Still, even the more privileged children seem old before their time in these books. The minor characters; gangsters, hard-men, whores; seem to draw from a very small stock of characters that Martina keeps in a file and draws at random. The secondary main characters, next to the charismatic, strong female lead, tend to be a little more varied, but even they sometimes draw on a series of consistent tropes.

As stories about the criminal underworld, Cole’s novels work quite well, but the repetition is somewhat tiresome. On its own, any one of the novels is interesting and enjoyable. If you have never read any Martina Cole and enjoy books of the same persuasion, I have no doubt that you will enjoy your first Martina Cole book… whichever one you pick. Perhaps you are also of the persuasion that could read as many as you like and still enjoy each one on its own merits. All I know is that I am not, particularly, and while I read all of them, and often even feel some empathy with the characters, I do not enjoy them as much as I did my first Martina Cole novel, ‘Maura’s Game’.

All that said, I did enjoy ‘The Runaway,’ probably more than some of Martina’s books. It was worth reading, if only for Desrae, and by the end, though things seem to have taken a slide downhill, there is still the feeling that it could all work out for the best. And it’s still not enough to put me off reading the two remaining Martina Cole novels I have waiting on my shelf.

Review of the 2005 film ‘Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’

2008-07-17T13:04:00.000+01:00

With a brilliant (if slightly complicated) plot and wonderful characters, ‘Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang’ is one of the most entertaining films I have seen this year, and I think it will rapidly be finding its place on my list of favourite movies.

Robert Downey Jr plays quirky petty criminal Harry Lockhart, narrator of our tale. Chance circumstances lead Lockhart to LA, invited to a party where he meets the sarcastic private detective ‘Gay Perry’ (Val Kilmer) and the hopeful actress, Harmony (Michelle Monaghan). From there things go downhill, and ‘detective lessons’ aimed at making Lockhart a better actor start to have very real consequences.

This film manages to be funny without being too slapstick, and it manages to be dramatic without taking itself too seriously. While the events and plot might outline any number of Hollywood detective stories, the fact that the characters are aware of this makes it much easier to swallow, and everything takes place with a mixture of drama, suspense and entertainment. From the caustic remarks of Gay Perry to the naïve and occasionally idiotic bumbling of the narrator, this film is beautifully scripted, and the acting is behind the quality of story one hundred percent.

Unfortunately, from the point of view of a reviewer, any points that I could find to scorn are scorned by the characters in the movie before I have a chance. They constantly make reference to ‘Johnny Gossamer’ novels, which are cheesy paperback detective stories that Harmony read constantly as a child. That the plot reads like such a fictional flick is referenced, and even ‘explained’. The actual detective, Perry, mocks Lockhart relentlessly for acting like he’s a TV detective. And because it’s a comic film, these ‘flaws’ are arguably selling points, making the film more of a parody.

But ‘Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,’ also has its dramatic moments. Fear, anger, hope and love are portrayed beautifully on screen, and there is never a sense of any character feeling, leave alone being, invincible. From beginning to end, the film entertains and amuses, without forgetting to have an extra special flare.

Some films manage to capture a balance between comedy and action drama perfectly, and this is one of them. I would recommend this film to anyone. Unless you have serious problems with guns and violence and swearing.

Review of ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick

2008-07-15T21:26:00.000+01:00

I feel like something of a fraud even trying to review this book, but I feel I should at least try. It has been listed as one of the science fiction masterworks. Perhaps I can see why. I can certainly see why the film makers took up on it, creating ‘Blade Runner’ from the premises outlined in the book… although it should be stated from the very beginning that book and film diverge very rapidly in terms of plot.

In the future, after a war leaves the planet ravaged, many people flee the Earth in favour of the colonies. They are promised android assistants on the colonies, and as with any consumer product, the quality of these androids must continue to improve to meet demand. Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter, hired to hunt down and kill escaped androids that return to Earth, and it is his lucky day. Eight of the latest model have just landed in his jurisdiction, and he is hired to go after the remaining six when his superior is injured in the course of duty.

Philip K Dick does a brilliant job of laying out the ‘new world’ where this novel is set. It is a depressing reality, almost hopeless, dark and dreary. People can alter their emotions at the touch of a dial with a ‘mood organ’ and it’s just as well, because any inherent joy in the world fails to come across in the story. And then there are the androids… fleeing the colonies to seek a better life in this bastardised version of the planet that we, the readers, know. It is a very unfamiliar reality but it is written so as to be completely believable. The characters, too, fit perfectly within the context, and promote empathy from the readers as they struggle in the world the past has left for them.

I did not enjoy this book, in the usual sense of the word… it was thought provoking, it was very well written and the plot was engaging and interesting, but enjoying it would imply I enjoyed moral dilemmas and suffering. Rather I accepted that it was so, because the writing made it convincing, but it was very difficult to like it. Some of the characters were likeable, in odd ways, but the plot and events described a world that was fundamentally a horrible place. The fact that I didn’t enjoy it probably proves that it did what it set out to do, and is a testament to the writer’s skill.

This book sets out a disturbing world, and sets believable characters within this world. It is a very good book, and I highly recommend it to all readers of science fiction that worry about the world. This is deservedly a classic, and it is probably one of the greatest works of speculative fiction I have ever read.

Review of ‘Excession’ by Iain M Banks

2008-07-11T18:20:00.001+01:00

An Excession is an object that does not belong to the Culture, or that of any other species they know. It is beyond their current level of technology. Moreover, they have no idea what it is or how it does what it can do. It is potentially a threat. It potentially means the end of life as they know it. When such an object appears, everyone concerned rallies to try and work out what the object is, what it wants, and how to get rid of it.

As a novel, Excession is yet another example of the Fear of Editing. Aside from more typos than I’d usually accept, the introductory section of this novel is far longer than it needs to be. At least half of the book deals with introducing new characters (human, alien and Mind). There are innumerable names to remember, of ships and people and drones, and many of them appear only once or twice and have very minor roles to play. By halfway through, I was thoroughly confused as to which ships were aligned with which people, and who was on which side of confrontations. By the very end it is just about made obvious again, but I feel that a good editor could have encouraged Banks to be a little clearer.

Another problem I have with Banks’ less-edited works is his overly long sentences. Especially earlier in the novel, Banks seems to think that sentences are almost passé and decides instead to focus on the paragraphs. It makes much of it very difficult to read. Consequently, the first half of the book took a lot of reading to get through. The dialogue between Ships, especially, bordered on the florid and reading at any speed was almost impossible.

After that, though, the style starts to settle down a bit and get on with the plot. The story itself is actually quite good, as long as you can hold about a dozen ship names and several humans in your head at once. It follows a twisting thread of conspiracies, several strategies by various groups to attack or preserve or communicate with the excession. As each plot thread makes its way towards the conclusion, there is a definite sense of tension and intrigue. The ending itself is a bit of a disappointment, after all the build up, but as a whole the second half delivers almost enough to reward a reader that survives the first half.

In this story, the people are at worst incidental, at best pawns to the ship Minds. They have very little say in what goes on. While in some ways this makes for a unique perspective, it makes the story ring a little hollow. The ships themselves are quite brilliant characters and generally more interesting than the humans. The most intriguing thing is that they all think they are doing the right thing, even though this leads them to totally different conclusions. However, it is much more difficult to assign motivations and reasoning processes to AI Minds. As a consequence, the novel lacks a real human perspective to make it possible to really engage with the plot. In space opera, this is nearly unforgivable. Unfortunately, I also have trouble thinking of Banks’ Culture novels as anything other than space opera.

I enjoyed the latter half of the novel, but I felt it was excessively hard to get into, if you’ll excuse the pun. This novel could, and possibly should, be cut down to at most two thirds its current length, and then it would become a very good read. As it is, I wouldn’t recommend this book to any but the most devoted Banks fan, and certainly not to a first-time reader of SF or of Iain M.

Review of the 2008 film ‘Prince Caspian’ (Chronicles of Narnia)

2008-07-10T18:16:00.000+01:00

It has been years since I last read the Narnia books, and I can’t say I remember Prince Caspian terribly well... my references to the book come from a Wikipedia refresher. I also never saw the earlier production of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, although it received very good reviews from people whose opinions I trust.

However, none of us were particularly happy with this film, mainly because they twisted the plot into a standardised Hollywood epic fantasy. This film contained all that could be expected from such a film: swashbuckling battles, adrenaline-fuelled chases through woods on horseback, epic battles and even romance. The only problem is, this is nothing like the original Prince Caspian.

The basic synopsis is the same: the four children, Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy, are returned to Narnia after being summoned by Susan's horn. After working out where they are, they come upon a dwarf and discover that Narnia is now run by the Telmarine, who don't believe in the talking beasts or dwarves and other mystical creatures. And they certainly don't believe in Aslan. Prince Caspian does believe, and he should be heir to the throne but for his uncle, Miraz, who would rather his own son became the heir.

Admittedly, the film starts well. The scenes of the children returning to Narnia show their confusion and eventual realisation, and when they appear, fully kitted out as kings and queens of Narnia, they do look like they belong in that world. The dwarves and some of the talking animals are wonderful, beautifully animated and well acted. The centaurs let the side down slightly, with awkward movements and poor animation that makes them look more like a human stuck onto a horse, rather than a single beast.

Prince Caspian himself is, as well as a European heartthrob-wannabe, a well-acted role, encompassing much of the necessary moral dispute and attempts to marry Narnian with Telmarine culture. Aside from him, many of the human characters fell short of my expectations, through no fault of the actors. While C.S. Lewis has often been criticised for sexism, Susan’s exploits in this film were too reminiscent of Legolas from Lord of the Rings. When will Hollywood realise that an archer on the ground in the midst of a skirmish where all the opponents are in full battle armour with swords stands almost no chance? I can only assume that Susan was given super-strength for the purposes of the movie, that her arrows were tipped with a metal hard enough to pierce iron (when combined with her super-strength)… oh, and that her bow had a bladed edge.

Peter and Edmund were better: Peter was believable in the role of a sixteen-year-old with the memories of a king. Edmund played a more stoic role as sidekick and knight, but his exploits were within the realms of possibility, and certainly of fantasy and Narnian rules. Lucy was the most believable of all, slipping easily into the role of the youngest child, the healer who talks to the trees. It is just a small mercy that they didn’t decide to give the pint-sized heroine a sword and have her slash her way through the enemy with her siblings.

In terms of plot, this film includes battles that never existed in the book, and do nothing but call into question the motives (not to mention tactical abilities) of everyone in the film. An extra battle, never present in the book, only serves produce a blood-bath that is entirely Not Suitable for Small Children, and create unnecessary tension between Peter and Caspian. The only possible explanation for this extra battle-scene that I can find is to hold the attention of people who need an action sequence every ten minutes to keep them awake.

This film was not all bad. It is occasionally witty or heart-warming. There are scenes that arguably portray internal struggles and ill-wisdom much better than the book. But I was not happy with the way that Hollywood has twisted a story about chivalry and courage into an action-packed stereotype that uses every possible opportunity to create a bloodbath.

Even if you ignore the fact that this film was obviously filmed in the same place as Lord of the Rings, and that it often has delusions that it *is* Lord of the Rings, this film tries so hard to follow the Hollywood formula that it almost forgets its origins. I cannot blame the writers for wanting to modernise the story to a certain extent. The story line of the book can be used to draw rather obvious lessons about today’s world. But with ‘Prince Caspian’ the writers went too far the other way. In trying to create an action-packed film with characters and plot that the modern audience could Really Relate To, they forgot two of the most important tenets of writing this sort of film: to tell a good story, and to be entertaining.

Review of the 2008 film ‘Hancock’

2008-07-04T18:11:00.000+01:00

There have been a lot of superhero movies recently and Hancock manages to be something more or less dissimilar from all of them. It is no mean feat to bring something fresh and original to the superhero concept. So many of these movies have the stalwart protagonist and the evil super-villain it is their duty to thwart.

From the start, Hancock sets itself up as something else. Will Smith plays the almost apathetic superhero ‘Hancock,’ a layabout bum who ‘saves the day’ but wreaks all kinds of havoc in the process, causing billions of dollars of damage to Los Angeles. Strangely enough, his alcoholism and generally abhorrent behaviour leave the people rather angry. The turning point comes when he saves the life of failing PR man, Ray (Jason Bateman). In return, Ray offers to improve the superhero’s image, make him liked and appreciated and above all, less alone.

For a while after Hancock’s montage of redemption, it looks like the film is going to turn into a run-of-the-mill superhero flick… he is the only superhero in the world, the bullet-proof strong man flies in to save the day - and he even has the shiny superhero suit. But then another plot-twist arrives, which stirs things up and makes the second half of the film a little more interesting.

The superhero protagonist in this film is different from the square-jawed superman image in outlook, if not ability. Hancock’s life has shaped him into someone that feels alone, rejected by the people he tries to help, and therefore he doesn’t much care about what he damages along the way. The superhero’s battle to understand himself has been used to varying effect in many such movies, and Hancock’s has a lot in common with many such struggles. However, the excellent acting and some poignant moments mean that the story is very well handled.

Unfortunately, the film is let down somewhat by its villains. While the parts of the movie that focus on Hancock are superb, the super-villain, if he can be called that, is a rather weak character, and his lackeys show less flare than a damp squib. This is redeemable only by the limited screen-time these characters are afforded, and as the plot isn’t a straightforward superhero-pits-his-wits-against-the-villain story, it is more or less whitewashed by the more important struggles.

Some of the camera work is annoyingly shaky, and the more critical members of the audience may find some of the story a little hollow, or not fully explained. Parts of the second half of the movie try too hard to increase suspense, while not explaining events or characters properly. Unfortunately, there is a fine line between too much suspense, and too much exposition, and the script fell just shy of it.

However, for most viewers, out to see an exciting movie with a lot of action and engaging plot, this film is entertaining and witty, if very, very silly.

Review of the 2006 film ‘Miami Vice’

2008-06-29T18:07:00.000+01:00

My opinion of this film may be somewhat tainted by the time and manner in which I watched it. After an evening watching Star Wars and the Princess Bride, a drunken companion and I decided to stay up and watch another movie. Low volume and the late-night atmosphere is bound to alter perceptions of any film… on such a night did I first watch ‘Troy’ and I fell asleep. This time, we watched Miami Vice.

I didn’t fall asleep, but it was not because of the engaging plot and wonderful characters. I found very little in it to grasp my attention or keep my interest. Consequently I didn’t pay enough attention to understand where the plot was going, or even what the characters were called. I had a vague grasp of what was going on, but mostly the plot seemed to wind aimlessly. Scenes that were supposed to show character development seemed to be quite boring and derivative.

I would give a plot synopsis, but all that I could work out in my admittedly sleepy state was that there were some police officers going undercover to chase after some drug barons. With a name like ‘Miami Vice’ this film had plenty of opportunity for sex and violence. Both were present, the former in excess, but neither was particularly convincing. The acting did not greatly inspire me, although I have seen much worse. Despite potentially evocative material, I found myself completely emotionally detached from the film and its characters. In fact, the most interesting thing I found in the whole film was one of the more stoic female characters acting with military precision during a rescue attempt.

As I stated at the beginning, I’m sure that my state of mind at the time of watching was not ideal to fully appreciate this film. Perhaps if I had a fuller understanding of the plot and characters then I may have appreciated the film a lot more. At the same time, I was not falling asleep… if I was tired, then I *would* have fallen asleep during this film. I didn’t… I watched, and I tried to pay attention. By the end I had worked out that everyone except 6 or 7 characters were ‘bad guys.’ By the end I more-or-less understood the relationship between Jamie Foxx’s character and Gong Li’s character. By the end I more-or-less understood why they were undercover in the first place. But by the end I still wasn’t particularly concerned by the peril or even potential death of these characters.

There were some scenes of gratuitous violence, clustered around the beginning and end of the film… but any promise of a mindless action flick, which would at least have been entertaining, was rapidly displaced by boredom and monotony and characters occasionally shouting at each other.

Maybe one day I’ll watch this film again, in circumstances more amenable to enjoying such a film. But I have watched films in the middle of the night before, and I have enjoyed them. Even giving this film the benefit of the doubt, I suspect that I wouldn’t enjoy it if I did see it again, and I certainly didn’t enjoy it first time around.

Review of 'The Siren's of Titan' by Kurt Vonnegut.

2008-06-11T18:04:00.000+01:00

So far, the Sci-fi Masterworks series seems to have lived up to its name.

I had never heard of this author or this book before I decided, on a whim, to buy it. Now, having read it I am supremely glad that it entered my circle of awareness. The Sirens of Titan was written in the late fifties, so certain elements of the science fiction of the time have to be instantly taken into account. However, starting from this basis, it is a fantastically amusing and wonderful story.

In this particular future, space travel has been halted because of the discovery of a 'chrono-synclastic infundibulum,' which is a bizarre kind of spatial anomaly. One man decided to enter this anomaly, with his dog, and as a consequence finds that he is spread over space, only materialising at certain intervals. The benefit, however, is that he can see into the future.

This story has a wonderful cast of characters, and is beautifully told. It is an exceptionally easy read, being written in a simplistic, almost childlike tone, without being too childish. But at the same time, it is quietly philosophical, and often outright hilarious. It has an almost perfect balance of thought-provoking text, interesting plot developments and entertainment. The reader can leave it laughing, and dismiss it as an amusing read, or they can be engrossed in the story line, in finding out how the characters get to where they are going, and what happens there. Alternatively, it provides discussion material, in the form of age-old questions about whether the future is set in stone, or whether we can have any say in our own destiny.

I enjoyed this book so much that aside from a few comments about the way that science fiction has changed in the intervening years, I cannot find any negative points to mention. Yes, there is the fact that nowadays authors would never get away with native aliens on other planets in our solar system. Yes, there is the interesting juxtaposition between technology we consider antiquated, and technology we still have yet to achieve. Yes, there is the fact that the mood, characterisation and even length of this novel are somewhat of-its-time. But even so, I feel it has aged very well.

This book is deservedly described as a classic, and I would recommend it to everyone, whether or not they were a science fiction fan, because I feel it has universal appeal.

Review of the 2008 film ‘Iron Man’

2008-06-07T18:01:00.001+01:00

I enjoy superhero movies slightly less than the next girl. The original breed I found slightly too cheesy or too camp. I never liked Superman, in any of his incarnations. I never read any of the numerous comics, either, though I have heard a lot about them from friends, and I have to say I was never overly enthused.

But recently, the film industry seems to be getting it right. The X-men, Batman Begins, Spiderman… all of these took the superhero concept and made it inspiring, reworking the genre until it became a new form of fantasy. They have (mostly) ignored the camp 80’s concept of the lycra-clad well-muscled squeaky-clean protagonist, introducing levels of ambiguity that make the lead roles darker and much more interesting.

Iron Man is another example of the film industry getting it right. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), genius and director of Stark Industries, essentially an American weapons production company, is kidnapped and held by terrorists, who want him to produce an example of his latest deadly weapon. Locked in a cell, with the supplies he needs to make the weapon and one helper, he works… but not on the weapon. His escape attempt involves an iron suit, armed and virtually impervious to bullets.

Then Tony Stark goes home, to a place that has access to far better equipment…

The film starts with an engaging scene, in one go introducing character and conflict, whilst paving the way for the rest of the first act. From there on, there is a good balance of action, drama and emotional content. The inevitable Hollywood romance is quiet and understated. The main character is likeable as a protagonist, while still being believable as the rather immature director of a company that primarily produces weapons, and the character development is well acted and well filmed.

As a superhero, Iron Man is a very interesting take on the traditional element: similar to batman in that he is a rich man with resources, rather than an alien or mutant, but the emphasis is on his suit, rather than gadgetry and martial arts. The character of Stark, inside the suit, reacts as many people would if they realised they could fly, and his attitude to becoming a superhero is much more human and light-hearted than the great-power-and-great-responsibility style.

This film is not perfect, in some silly ways: g-forces are often completely ignored, and the revelatory scene where Stark discovers a new way of using his suit makes the viewer wonder what he’d originally intended it for… The antagonist, too, is a major down-point, because he errs on the side of stereotypical and in dealing with this antagonist, Stark makes some rookie mistakes that most ten-year-olds would question.

But these things can all be forgiven in an action film, even if they would be ridiculous in any other medium. What matters is the entertainment value, and this film contains that in great supply.

And be sure to watch until after the credits for the near-traditional sequel pitch.

Review of the 2008 film 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'

2008-06-03T17:57:00.001+01:00

I must admit when I heard that there was a new Indiana Jones film being released, I was a little apprehensive. This lifted somewhat when I heard that it was still going to be Harrison Ford, but I was still concerned that they would change the atmosphere, make it a camped-up slapstick comedy flick, with little else to recommend it. Alternatively I thought it might take itself too seriously, and ruin the light-hearted drama of the original trilogy.

I needn’t have worried. It seems that Steven Spielberg and George Lucas remain safe hands when it comes to Henry Jones Jr.

This film captured the atmosphere of the original movies almost effortlessly. Allowances were made for the fact that Indie was older than in the first films, and the occasional reference was made to his previous adventures, but there was the same balance of action and comedy, with the same one-liners that we’ve come to expect.

It’s been a while since I saw the original film, though I remember most of them quite well. The ending of this film is no more sane than those, and some of the scenes have stepped well clear of the line between fiction and fantasy. But Indiana Jones was never about sanity, and the plot lines were never firmly rooted in our reality, so this much did not bother me. There was some inconsistencies, which were a little troubling, and a few scenes that seemed to border on the gratuitous: perhaps the result of a brainstorming session between fans who suddenly find themselves as script-writers, all saying “You know what we should do!”. The ending was about as far-fetched as could be allowed in a movie that was, still, set mostly in our reality, and suffered a little from Hollywood cheese.

However, I went into the film expecting to be entertained, and I was not disappointed. Characters both old and new were wonderfully acted and portrayed, and the on-screen chemistry between those characters made it much easier to forgive the more outlandish adventuring. It was also incredibly refreshing to have a love interest that wasn’t a twenty-something supermodel, inexplicably attracted to the much older Indiana (although I’d be lying if I said I didn’t see the appeal).

All in all I recommend this latest in the Indiana Jones saga to fans of the originals, and newcomers alike. It was a thoroughly entertaining adventure story, with an incredibly charismatic and strangely believable lead. Forgive the fantasy, and enjoy the thrill ride.

Review of 'Revelation Space' by Alastair Reynolds

2008-04-15T17:51:00.000+01:00

The story starts with three seemingly unconnected characters: First, a scientist and archaeologist researching an extinct civilisation on a barren colony world. Secondly, an ex-soldier, current 'Shadowplay assassin' on a once plague-ravaged world. Finally, there is a scientist and member of a ruling Triumvirate on a 'Lighthugger' ship, traveling between the stars. However, if these three characters were truly unrelated, this story would probably be quite short. Instead it turns out that Volyova, on the lighthugger is looking for two things: someone to fill a role on her ship, and for Dan Sylveste, the archaeologist. Khouri, the ex-soldier, is also looking for Sylveste, but for very different reasons.

From the very beginning, this book sets up a lot of unanswered questions, lays open intrigue and strings the plot along the fine line between vagueness and exposition. For a patient reader, there is enough to be going on with at any stage, so that the remaining questions only serve to encourage continued reading. As the plot moves along, some questions are answered, and others are opened. It is a masterful work of plotting.

One of the other wonderful things about this story is the characterisation. None of the characters are totally benevolent, none truly evil. Most are just doing what they can to reach their own personal goal: although most of these goals are at best neutral, and the characters tend to go further than most normal people would in pursuit of these goals. Importantly, the characters are all real enough to evoke emotional responses, which is a strength in any novel.

From reading 'Century Rain' by the same author, it would appear that Alastair Reynolds has two ‘favourite’ themes. One is the Fermi paradox: the galaxy should be teeming with intelligent life, so where is it? The other is nanotechnology, and the question of whether it has potential for good, or if it is simply more trouble than it is worth. This book contains both themes again, integral to the plot, in slightly subtle ways. But the author's views are not rammed home with any kind of force: both are questions that an intelligent reader has the opportunity to think about, to explore as they journey through the plot laid out for them.

Unfortunately, towards the end of the novel, some of the scientific ideas seem a little far-fetched, and the suspension of disbelief becomes more essential, and more difficult, as the plot draws towards its conclusion. While at the beginning, one need only accept things that seem possible, from what we know of science, by the end, readers are asked to accept more radical ideas, completely beyond our current understanding. There is a little in between, but the last section of the book introduces some concepts that are very difficult to think about in any detail without studying the related physics. The last 50 pages or so ask the reader to believe far more than the previous 500, and it makes it slightly less accessible as space opera; lunging a little more towards hard SF.

However, even with the slightly complicated science towards the end, the plot remains accessible, and the characters remain believable. The further you read, the harder it is to stop reading. Revelation Space is an intriguing and suspenseful read that most science fiction readers will enjoy.

Review of 'The Player of Games' by Iain M Banks

2008-03-16T17:36:00.000Z

Set in the same universe as some of his other books, 'The Player of Games' explores the Culture (introduced in 'Consider Phlebas') but is completely accessible as a standalone novel. Jernau Gurgeh is a member of the Culture; a wide-ranging space-faring society of humans and sentient machines. There is no money, no possession as such... and people can, for the most part, do exactly what they want to do with their lives. Jernau Gurgeh chooses to spend his life playing games. He is thought to be one of the best game players in the Culture, skilled in an enormous range of games. And he is bored of winning. Then he is approached, and asked if he will play a rather different game; a game that will be more challenging than any game he has ever come across before.

This book is another classic example of Iain M Banks' talent for creating alien races that are alien, and yet accessible. His main character provides a perfect viewpoint for understanding the Culture, and for looking at the new alien race. The plot is relatively slow paced; it mirrors the games that Gurgeh plays, with slow, deliberate, almost contemplative steps, but it is punctuated by action that adds intrigue as well as urgency to the plot. Despite the occasional lack of pace, it is by no means boring. The game is slowly revealed over the course of the story, and it also becomes evident that there is more going on, and until the end you're not entirely certain what that is.

For those hoping for complete, well-described details on the nature and rules of this horribly complicated game, the book will be something of a disappointment. While the overall form of the game is well established by the end, specific details are somewhat lacking. From the point of view of the writer this is understandable: if the game is as complex as the plot requires, complete description within the confines of that plot is almost impossible. However, this makes some of the descriptions of play slightly hollow, and it is difficult to fully empathise with the Player during the games. As a whole, though, the book is well written, with the events outside of the games skillfully described and the alien race developed wonderfully (although perhaps over-emphasising the similarities between these aliens and our current society).

The Player of Games is an enjoyable read, but it is not a completely gripping thrill ride, nor a wholly thought-provoking literary masterwork. Instead, it straddles the boundary, with an interesting plot that draws the reader (more sedately) through, and some thought-provoking views of society and humanity. One thing that Banks does very well is portray the Culture ambiguously, so that the reader is left to decide for themselves whether they are the force of good or a force of evil; and the reality feels somewhere in between. I would recommend The Player of Games to people that were well-grounded readers of SF (and, perhaps, of Iain M Banks), but it is probably not appropriate for someone making their first forays into genre fiction.

Review of the 2007 film 'The Darjeeling Limited'

2008-02-18T17:29:00.000Z

The Darjeeling Limited opens with a slightly abstract scene of a man in a hotel room, meeting with a girl he has been running away from. There is little holding the scene together, aside from some good acting on the part of Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman. It is quietly humorous, without being outright hilarious, the on-screen action is beautifully filmed, even if there is little by way of plot to cement the scene. Then, this scene closes as a short (with its own credits), mostly unrelated to the rest of the film, except in as much as it introduced one of the characters, Jack, and explains references that are mentioned later on.

The main body of the film opens with Bill Murray rushing to catch a train, somewhere in India. This, like the short, is a beautifully filmed misdirection, as the actual plot takes off with another man running past him on the station, to actually catch the train as it is pulling away. This man joins his two brothers in a compartment, for a journey across India together. The Whitman brothers, Francis, Peter and Jack, are a very believable trio, with quirky personalities that don't delve too far into the extremes. It is here that the theme of the movie is revealed. The oldest brother, Francis, has had a near-fatal car accident, and wishes to bond with his brothers on a spiritual journey through India.

All three brothers have their own issues, wonderfully explored throughout the film. The journey takes them to many places, beautiful scenes, and strange situations. The film is funny, whilst giving an interesting view of the characters and their lives. Their past is hinted at from early on, but not explained fully till much later.

There are recurring themes, which get more amusing each time they are repeated. In particular the inherited set of suitcases that the brothers religiously carry around with them for the entire journey act as a comedic device, while later being used as extremely poignant symbolism. Over the course of the film, it becomes clear that all three brothers have problems that they need to sort out... and by the end, you feel that they are on the way to doing that.

The Darjeeling Limited is a comedy that manages to delve into human nature and relationships and come up with a good plot and characters, whilst still remaining funny. It is slightly off-the-wall while not slipping off the rails into outright fantasy. Then there are the occasional poignant moments, which enforce that this film is not pure comedy. The acting was outstanding, and the direction emphasised the themes, whilst making the most of the some beautiful settings. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and it left me with that wholesome feeling that I had been entertained whilst still watching something that was, beneath the surface, a very 'good' film.

Review of 'Stardust' by Neil Gaiman

2008-01-27T17:27:00.002Z

This is an adorable fairytale about a boy who leaves his (mostly ordinary) home village, and sets out on a quest through the (magical) land of Faerie, to find a fallen star. As such quests tend to go, he is not the only person looking for the star, and at the same time, two other groups set out, both seeking it for different reasons.

Often sweet, regularly amusing and occasionally slightly gruesome, this book juxtaposes the childlike telling of a fairytale quest, with hints of the more realistic, the more worldly, and certainly the more adult perspective. The story is incredibly easy to read, because it is told in language that is, if not simplistic, at least easily comprehensible. And the tale that is woven is a wonderful mixture of the best that fairytales have to offer.

The strengths of this book, and its main source of charm, come from the way in which the protagonist, Tristran Thorn, finds himself in totally new and unfamiliar circumstances and how he deals with them. With his goal always in mind, he trips and stumbles through semi-typical fairytale adventures (all with a slight twist, so as to hold interest). There are those that help and hinder. There are witches, and princes, a unicorn, and talking trees, and almost all of the woodland animals seem to be enchanted humans of some form or other. The picture presented of this world is beautiful and magical, and it is described and explored wonderfully through Tristran's unfamiliarity.

Where I felt the book fell down slightly was in conveying the interactions between characters. While I often dislike books that over-labour the love-story aspect of the tale, I felt this book completely glossed over it, so that although you can tell from quite early on how the story will end, you don't quite believe it until it has already happened. It made more of a brief encounter between two other characters than it did of the love story that the book was leading towards.

However, in spite of this, this book was a very entertaining read, told in elegant style and well worth reading.

Review of 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks

2008-01-19T17:25:00.002Z

The first person narrator of this piece is a sixteen-year-old boy, with macabre habits, strange fascinations, and dark secrets. Frank Cauldhame, as he is called, lives on a small island, just off the coast of Scotland, with his father. The island is his world, his domain. Within it, he believes he has almost total power. Frank also has an older brother, Eric, who does not live on the island. But Eric is coming home.

There is only one way to tell a tale from the perspective of a mind as unconventional as Frank’s, and that is in a completely matter-of-fact tone of voice, that makes every bizarre event and belief seem completely reasonable. Frank describes his day, his thoughts and emotions, and at times there is the strong sensation that he is an inevitable consequence of his past and upbringing.

Each event is described with precision, each ritual is mentioned with the assurance of someone that feels such things are completely necessary. The narrator alludes to much in the first chapters, but does not describe any of these things in full till much later. It is this curiousity, as much as anything, which draws the reader through the book. But these things, when finally revealed, do not disappoint.

While there is much about this novel that is almost otherworldly, or at the very least slightly dubious, as a horror novel, it is disturbing in its plausibility. The characters, while skewed from the norm, are definitely not outside the realms of possibility, which makes their actions all the more emotionally wrenching. From beginning to end, The Wasp Factory is intensely readable, and equally disturbing.

Review of 'Endymion' by Dan Simmons

2008-01-19T17:21:00.000Z

Endymion is the sequel to Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion. Reading these two first makes everything much clearer, but I would not say it is completely necessary. Most of the necessary information is referenced somewhere within the book, although sometimes events that occurred in Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion that aren't important to the plot of Endymion are mentioned, which might be a little confusing without having read the first two books first. However, I will try not to spoil the plot of Hyperion in the review below:

Set 250 years after the end of ‘Fall of Hyperion’, this book picks up with completely different characters, a new world order, a completely different feel to the worlds. This is space opera in its richest form; a chase across planetary systems, new space drives, new technologies. The main characters include a child, a convict that narrowly escaped a death sentence, an android and a priest. Raul Endymion is the main character and the narrator. The story starts with an act of anger, of revenge. The harsh consequences lead Raul to meet a man that asks him to go on a seemingly impossible quest. And of course, he accepts.

The story gets increasingly improbable from there on in. But it is told in beautiful style, each new world described so as to make it seem completely believable. And all of the events fit seamlessly into the framework already described in the two Hyperion books. Each new twist of the plot draws the reader further into the story. This is one of those books you just don't want to put down. Each time it seems the pursuers are gaining, you worry for the main characters, you wonder how they can possibly escape in time. Occasionally you are lulled into a false sense of security, only to be shocked completely in the next chapter.

Endymion is beautifully written, wonderfully described. The leader is led through the story by a desire to know how Raul got into the situation from which he is writing, and by the tense, exciting events that are happening in his ‘past’. Perhaps Dan Simmons overuses the cliffhanger as a dramatic device, so that you are almost forced to read through the next two chapters before you even think about putting the book down. But if he is guilty of this sin, then he is acquitted by his skill at using the device. The two connected, interweaving narratives drive the reader through the world, seeing it from two jarring perspectives, and wishing the main characters forward, away from harm.

While I would definitely recommend reading Hyperion first, I can most assuredly recommend Endymion as a very worthwhile read. Dan Simmons has created a universe both beautiful and terrifying, and I believe that all science fiction lovers will revel in it.

Review of 'Young Miles' by Lois McMaster Bujold.

2007-12-18T17:19:00.000Z

Miles Vorkosigan, biochemically damaged son of the Prime Minister on his home planet of Barrayar, was determined to join the Imperial military, despite his physical fragilities. When he fails the physical part of the entrance exam (breaking both his legs in the process), he decides to pay a visit to his grandmother on a distant planet. Once there, he manages to start off a sequence of events that eventually puts him at the head of a newly formed mercenary fleet, under the guise of 'Admiral Naismith.' And this is just the start of his problems...

The story 'Young Miles' comes in three parts, relating to Miles' adventures between the ages of 17 and 20. The first part covers his rise to the admiralty. The second, slower-moving, more poignant section, relates a tale on his own planet involving the murder of a baby for the simple reason that the baby had a cleft pallet. The third part tells the story of Miles' first six months after graduating from the military academy. Each separate incident is a stream of events, with Miles an unwitting, but very clever, passenger on the path of destiny. His intelligence and natural leadership skills get him into and out of scrapes, with each attempt to solve things leading to yet another complication.

The twists and turns in the plot happen quickly, but they aren't hard to follow, the writer making sudden changes clear and comprehensible. This novel is a real ripping yarn, with each new turn almost forcing the reader on to the next page without pause for breath. Pausing to think, the story line is often quite ridiculous, with everything that occurs seeming utterly unbelievable. But the point of the novel seems to be that there isn't time to think, for reader or characters. When there is time to think, it tends to be during a juncture in the story line where the more ridiculous events are behind, or ahead.

Alongside the winding plot, there is a wonderful cast of characters, each one believable in their own way. The characters are far more real than any of the events they take part in, which allows the reader to suspend disbelief while they overcome yet another complication. Each character is completely internally consistent, their interactions with their world seamless, so that you take their surroundings for granted, no matter how they got there.

With an extremely clever, fast-moving plot and brilliant characterisation, 'Young Miles' is entertaining, amusing and occasionally very thought provoking. It comes highly recommended.

Review of 'Anno-Dracula' by Kim Newman

2007-11-29T17:14:00.000Z

Imagine yourself back to Victorian London: the time of Dracula, Jekyll and Hyde, Sherlock Holmes... Imagine, more specifically, the novel 'Dracula.' Imagine that Van Helsing failed.

This novel deals with the aftermath of such a failure... the success of Count Dracula's incursion into England and the propagation of his vampiric bloodline. Vampirism becomes more than myth in this story; it has become an accepted part of modern existence. It has bred new levels of society. But it has also bred Silver Knife; a vampire killer acting in Whitechapel. The principle characters of this novel include Genevieve, an elder vampire, older than Count Dracula and from a different bloodline, and Charles Beauregard, a member of a mysterious secret society, who has been ordered to investigate Silver Knife. The novel investigates the effect of vampirism on Victorian society, in the context of a variety of characters from different walks of life, and all coming back to the killer, Silver Knife.

The author has remained true to the original Dracula vampire legend, except for the vampiric abhorrence of religious artifacts, which has been written-off as superstition in this novel. The writer has also expanded some of the myths to include a series of different Vampire bloodlines, which encompass a variety of strengths and powers that are not available to all vampires. For example, the ability to shape-change seems to exist exclusively within Count Dracula's bloodline. The author has obviously thought in great detail about these differences and similarities, and carefully explores them through the whole course of the novel. Everything is given away in slow, easy steps so that readers find themselves drawn further and further into the world, until it seems completely real and believable.

While the predominant plot in the novel, the search for Silver Knife, seems relatively simple, the way in which it is developed and explored leaves a much greater insight into the society the author has created. This story is not a murder mystery with vampires; it is a much more detailed account, showing how people have changed and adapted to something that seems mostly inconceivable. Throughout some of the book, the Silver Knife murders seem almost incidental, just a background on which to paint a rich story of life in Victorian London under the Vampire.

The novel makes it incredibly easy to suspend disbelief. The characters, both primary and incidental, are utterly believable, even when they reach into the fantastical. There are repeated mentions of characters from the time (both real and fictional) and how they have fitted themselves into the new world that has arisen, which makes the book slip far more easily from fantasy into potential reality. On occasion, modern attitudes creep into the novel, which sometimes do not entirely seem to fit the time period. At other times the more graphic descriptions do border on the gratuitous, but for the most part, even these things allow the reader to be more thoroughly immersed in the world that has been created.

Whether the reader is looking for a ripping-yarn plot, and intriguing story line, or a beautifully described world and characters, this book delivers, in excellent style. Above this, it is possibly the best vampire novel I have ever read.

Review of 'Goodnight Lady' by Martina Cole.

2007-11-11T17:12:00.000Z

This novel is about a family with five daughters, the Cavanaghs, who were born in the deepest of poverty at the beginning of the 20th century. Their way out of this poverty was a rather reprehensible member of the middle classes. Briony was the second eldest of the five. She had a burning ambition to leave life in the slums behind, and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants. The novel winds its way from her childhood, aged 10 or 11, all the way up to her late old age. She starts a chain of whore-houses, is a notorious east-end 'madam.' Her and her consort, Tommy Lane, become undisputed rulers of the East End. She passes on the torch to younger members of the family, but she keeps her hand in. Throughout her life, she's the one that everyone goes to when they need a hand out of a fix. She's the archetypal strong female lead.

The story is quite well written, and most of the characters have a depth that makes them believable, at least most of the time. Briony and her sisters have surprisingly modern attitudes, considering that they were born at the beginning of the last century, but you can tell that they are very conscious that the rest of the world at that time does not think the same way. And despite the fact that the main character runs a string of brothels, you can't help but have a grudging respect for the way she treats people, the way she does what she feels she must, and the way that, to her, family always comes first.

Martina Cole's writing style sometimes detracts from the important character traits by over-emphasizing them. She will state things explicitly that should, perhaps, be left unsaid so that the reader can make up their own mind about the characters. Also, readers expecting, or wanting, a twisting-turning plot will be somewhat disappointed. This is definitely the story of a life. It details events that happen along the way, and how they shape the people. This in itself can be a good thing, but there is no coherent plot line, no thread to string you along through the story.

With Goodnight Lady, Martina Cole has produced an entertaining novel that deals with some evocative themes. However, consistent readers of Martina Cole may find there is a recurrence of certain themes and some repetitiveness in style and characterisation. If this had been the first Martina Cole novel I had ever read, I would probably have enjoyed it a lot more. I would recommend it to people who were looking for a good crime novel, but only if they had not read any work by the same author.

Review of 'Stargate Atlantis: The Chosen' by Sonny Whitelaw & Elizabeth Christensen.

2007-10-12T17:05:00.002+01:00

Before I start, I should explain *why* I am reading Stargate novelisations. The answer is 'my mother.' I bought one, to see what it was like... and my mother noticed, and bought subsequent ones. I didn't really mind at first, as the first novel was actually pretty good, but she was buying faster than I was reading, so it took me a long time to realise that the rest weren't as good, and I had many better things to read. She has now been told to stop buying them... but I have several left. And I don't want to get rid of them before reading them... and so...

'The Chosen' is a fairly typical Atlantis adventure... they go to a new planet, find a bunch of people with a connection to the Ancients... in this case, an Ancient mated with one of the natives and founded their society and left behind a lot of tech that can only be operated by 'the chosen' (or people with the gene that allows them to operate Ancient tech). The nature of this technology means that the Ancient also has to impose a strict set of rules to ensure that it works to protect the people against the Wraith. There are societal problems... it looks as though the Chosen are being typical elitist rulers, filling their bellies at the expense of the poor, who need them to protect from the wraith. But things aren't quite that simple, and by opening his mouth, Rodney unwittingly causes a massive uprising, with several factions fighting it out... and then the Wraith show up, and the Chosen have been killed, and are unable to protect everyone.

And it's just one thing after another in this story. Really. It's actually quite irritating. The writing style is simplistic, to say the least, and the writers employ all-too-obvious techniques to keep the reader reading, trying to make it compulsive. But in making it too obvious, they made it less enjoyable. There's only so many times you can enjoy the feeling of suspense when it looks like one of the team have died. It's even more ridiculous, because anyone who's watched the show will *know* that they all survive... they're not going to have an unexplained disappearance between episodes. So the suspense of 'have they died or haven't they?' becomes 'how the hell do they get out of this one?’. Usually it's overuse of plot-no-jutsu, and the main-character-protective-shielding. And I'm not sure that it would have worked even if you didn't know the characters survived.

The eventual defeat of the Wraith (yes, a spoiler... but you know they're going to do it somehow. It's what they do), arises because of one of the more ridiculous Deus Ex Machina ever used... even on Stargate. Some of it is alluded to in previous parts of the story... but not in anywhere near enough detail to make it any less annoying when the Wraith are finally vanquished after a long and unnecessarily arduous battle. It might have even been less annoying if the final Deus Ex Machina was the first... but at several instances throughout the plot, other Deus Ex Machina are used, which makes the last and worst one, the final nail in the coffin of respect for the authors.

The style of plotting has more in common with a small child telling a story of an exciting day out (and then X and then Y and then Z.... who needs punctuation anyway?). The characters that sometimes only partially resemble the characters in the actual series, and the original characters are paper thin. This should have been posted on fanfiction.net, rather than published as an official Stargate novel. Then at least, it might be considered 'good' compared to what is around it. As it was, I read it with an increasing bitterness that my mother has ingrained a sense that I must always finish the books I start to read. I felt like throwing it against a wall, or burning it, but I finished it. And it has not enriched my life in the slightest.

I am well aware that a good review should mention the strengths and weakness of the item under review and allow the reader to make up their own mind. But I have too strong an emotional feeling that hours of my life have just been stolen, that I cannot be impartial. And as far as I can tell, the strengths pretty much came down to decent grammar and reasonable descriptions of people and places. But descriptions do not a novel make, and there was very little about this novel that redeemed the weak plot and characters. So, I ask, no beg, you to save yourselves. Do not read this book. You could probably write something better yourself, and enjoy it far more.

Review of 'The Algebraist' by Iain M Banks

2007-09-23T17:00:00.000+01:00

In this particular incarnation of Banks-ist Sci-fi, most of the gas giant planets in the galaxy are inhabited by extremely long-lived, eccentric alien life-forms known as 'Dwellers.' They aren't particularly interested in the other inhabitants of the galaxy, but a few of them allow a few of us, the humans, to visit them and chat, and exchange information. Seer Fassin Taak is one such individual, and in the course of his studies of the Dwellers, he finds a piece of information that a lot of people think is worthy of a lot of attention. And he has to find the rest of it, before the attention arrives.

The actual plot of the book is fairly solid, and has the kind of twists that I expected of Banks, after reading 'Consider Phlebas'. Unfortunately, the first 20 pages or so could put off a lot of people. He starts quite slowly... using long, flowery, over-complicated sentences to describe people and events that turn out to be almost completely irrelevant in later parts of the story. Whether he meant to provide an explanation for Seer Taak's uncle transforming himself into a Walrus, or whether this was just an off-hand way of describing the kind of technologies available isn't really clear. But that, and a few other things, could have been omitted to no detriment (and possibly an improvement).

However, perhaps Iain M has earned some indulgence over the years. If you press on past the first few pages, which require a lot of concentration and perseverance, you are rewarded with some superb descriptions of the Dweller, one of the most original sci-fi species I have ever heard of. It seems that Iain M Banks' talent lies very squarely in his aliens, which in this novel were entertaining and original, while still having a necessary ring-of-truth. The Dwellers are eccentric, and utterly alien. Their interactions with each other and with the Seers make for amusing reading. They are without-doubt the best part of the book.

There are some plot side-lines, as well. Some don’t seem to be completely necessary, but most of them at least gave some good character-development. For a reader that can go-with-the-flow and indulge the author, it is still quite enjoyable, though perhaps the book did suffer a little from a lack of editing, as so many really famous authors seem to.

This isn't the kind of book that I'd tell all my friends to go out and buy... for Banks novels, I'd put 'Consider Phlebas' quite a long way above 'the Algebraist', in readability and entertainment value. For those that do decide to read it, I’d recommend skim reading the first few pages, to avoid some of the more detailed descriptions. However, once past this, it becomes a very enjoyable read.