Mischief Managed

Well I guess it is time to discuss Thor: The Dark World. It's been a week since I first watched it, and maybe this is a late review, but in all honesty I have been busy. Namely by going to see it three times already.

I say already because I'm not opposed to seeing it for a forth time. (c'mon, the DVD release is months away.) Obsessive much? Perhaps. Or perhaps everyone I know was just so eager to see it and knew I wouldn't say no.
I don't even know where to begin? It was wall to wall packed full of awesome. We laughed, we gasped, we clapped.
I was unfortunate enough to be spoiled by some bitch on twitter, and I am also aware that it's not out yet in the rest of the world, so I'm reluctant to say much about the actual plot.
I will, however, say that I am in two minds whether it is as good as or even better than the first one...no, I'm actually not, it out-stripes the first one for the reason: Loki.
While Thor was Thor's movie (obviously) The Dark World is Loki's. He is the passion, the heart and a good proportion of the humour. Behind me, beside me and in front of me, there was someone still giggling at a line or two of Loki's by the end of the film. My nine year old nephew's new catchphrase is "Ta-dah." Hell, it's mine now too :-)

Bridge to Terabithia

*Spoiler Alert* From The Beginning*

Oh God, why? Why? Why did I watch this movie?
I was so very underprepared. I thought it was a sweet kiddie film of fantasy and friendship. I didn't expect to cry for ten minutes straight when Leslie died. Why did she have to die???? It was like this generations My Girl. Trauma. Major trauma.
*suck it up, be a woman.*
Okay, okay, I'm good now, I promise.

This was one of those films I didn't see in the cinema, I remember it, I just didn't have any interest in seeing it. Stumbling upon it on my sisters Netflix I decided that a fun adventure is what Sunday afternoons are all about.

BoT is not what is says on the tin, or to put it more appropriately, not how it looks in the trailer. It was less fantasy, more lonely boy struggling to find his place in the midst of an all sister family and a cranky ass father who seemed to show more favouritism to his daughters than his son, (I don't know, perhaps it was in a 'because he's a boy, and boys don't need outwardly shows of emotion *flexes muscle*' way?)
His way of escaping comes in the form of Leslie, the new and kooky girl next door. Together they explore their area, imaging the fantasy kingdom, Terabithia, and encountering all its self-imagined mythical creatures. These creatures resembling the issues facing the duo in school and at home.

As stated above, Leslie dies. *quiet sob* No killer bees that saw off Thomas Jay, though, (thus giving me a life long fear of bee-stings, btw) but an accident with the rope Leslie and Jesse used to enter Terabithia (cue a generation frightened of rope-swings) while J wasn't there. Cue survivors guilt from Jesse and hysterical sobbing from me. These films should really come with a warning for emotionally fragile dopes like myself!
And reading back through that, it comes across like I didn't like the film. On the contrary, I loved it. While it lacked the fantasy and much of the adventure I had been expecting, it more than made up for it in heart. Even before the killer emotional punch at the end.

Alpha Papa and the City of Bones

Out of the two films I managed to catch this week, one was a let down while the other was surprising enjoyable.
I am referring to The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones, and Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, respectively.

I was very disappointed in City of Bones. It had a solid cast and some great sets but it still couldn't be saved from Overload Central. While some things weren't explained, even by the end. (The runes thing wasn't. It seemed just a case of, 'yeah, write these things on you and you'll have that power. Ta-dah!' with no information about the pros and cons of such. Or maybe it was mentioned and I missed it? That was the main problem with the movie.) Other things happened too fast. Too many characters introduced. Stunts in fight scenes were cut too short, so we only really glimpse the character doing a cool back-flip or whatnot, which causes a slight bout of disorientation.
Perhaps as a result of introducing too many people at once. The characters didn't inspire any kind of interest in me. We're never given time to really care about them. When one, I don't even recall his name, was injured I really didn't give two swinging cats whether he survived or not.

Hush Hush

I didn't expect to like and enjoy Hush Hush as much as I did. Aside from the first 38 pages I began the other day, I got through the entire book yesterday. Plus the opening chapter to Crescendo, it's follow-up. I had been in two minds whether to continue with the series, but truthfully that was an intriguing first chapter and I'm a little interested in what's next for Nora and co.
My biggest complaint about the book is the love story side. And I know that's a strange thing to say since it is a YA supernatural novel and the romance side is a huge part of it. But, meh! I wasn't crazy about it. I never got a sense that it was a proper romance. A guy stalking you with the intention of killing you is not my ideal way to start a relationship.
And while Patch wasn't as bad as I was expecting - yes, he's not a nice character, but you know, he's a fallen angel. I was lenient on him being a shit because, by default, he was supposed to be a shit. His pendant for pining Nora to things does creep you out though.
I really liked Nora. She did do some stuff that has you screaming at the page - mainly when Patch was around. And mainly involving the words "punch him harder and run, you silly mare!" - but that kind of interest in a characters actions is good. If MC's are constantly doing what you want them too, well where's the fun in that?
Vee is a good best-friend character too. Again, you're shouting at her. But again she has redeeming characteristics that keep you interested in what happens next.

The whole thing holds up as a great, fast-paced story with likable characters (and some not so nice) and a great concept. I've been into angel mythology for years now so some aspects of it threw me in a - hey, that's not the legends at all - way, but once I got rid of those preconceived notions, it was easy to fall back into Ms. Fitzpatrick's twist on an old favourite.
I'm still a little confused on some matters. I wonder if they'll be explained in later books? Or maybe they were explained in Hush Hush and I just read too fast? I'll have to think about that. As I said above I may or may not continue with the series. I do have Crescendo sitting on my blanket-box-cum-desk so perhaps. It just comes down to time. If I have it I'll read it, but before then I've that novel on Zelda Fitzgerald to get through.

My rating for this would be a 3.5 but I'm in a good mood so it's getting a 4 ****

The Dopple Ganger Chronicles: The First Escape

The concept of the illustra-novella is new to me. In fact, before The First Escape, I had never actually heard of them.
Why? I hear myself asking. They are brilliant! Half novel, half graphic novel. It's the best of both worlds. Add a fun story with great characters and you have yourself my new favourite thing.
"Hotter than Potter" perhaps not, the series' don't really compare as The Dopple Ganger Chronicles are awesome in their own particular way. They actually put me more in mind with Ronald Dahl than J.K Rowling.

The Internship

 



Urgh! I didn't have high hopes for this film, but then again I didn't expect it to be so dire either. Woeful, just painfully woeful.
I saw it with my nephew, not my friend who wanted to see it. When I told her it was dreadful she said 'not another Wedding Crashers then?' It is, most certainly, NOT another Wedding Crashers. Wedding Crashers had, a least, a few funny moments that weren't shown in the trailer.
In fact when I asked for two tickets, the cashier corrected my pronunciation. I had pronounced it like someone was being interned in Guantanamo Bay.
By the end of the film, I wanted to confront the cashier, I was right, she was wrong. That pronunciation was fitting: someone should have been interned in Guantanamo Bay for this crap.

New Moon: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1



Now, the story of how I came to be the owner of New Moon: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1 was a little less eventful. I actually purchased that. (Oh Lord! What have I become?)

I will be honest, I purchased this solely for the book cover. I actually adore it. It holds some sort of charm for me, I don’t exactly know why. (Perhaps it was because Jacob was the only character that I found I could tolerate within the whole series – until Aro came prancing along, that is. Actually no, strike that. That’s not the reason.)
I was a lot more disappointed in this that I was in the first book. Perhaps I had expectations for this and had none for the first one? Perhaps it just wasn’t up to the first ones standard?
I’m going with the latter. It was too short. Relied too much on Bella’s narration and not the images (if I wanted Bella’s narration I would read, and be bored by, New Moon again.) I wanted graphics to tell the tale in a visual style, that’s why I purchased it. I also hoped for a bit of Volturi. Instead what we get is the exact same image of them as was in the first book. That’s just plain lazy.

Which, in honesty, is what I would sum this book up as, lazy and a milking of the fanbase.
Fans of Twilight are hard-core. (I should know, I’ve been verbally attacked by a few in my time. Somehow or another they don’t welcome my open criticism of the awfulness of the films, or my extreme dislike of the hypocrisy of the “heroes.”) They deserve better than substandard - all true fans of fandoms do. This could have been EASILY one book. According to amazon Vol. 2 has even less pages than Vol. 1. And no doubt that as soon as both have been released a “collector’s edition” will follow suit, and that will offer a minor incentive that true fans will want to purchase, despite having both already.

And that is why I’m glad my main fandom is Harry Potter. For our visual desires we get the awesome Pottermore. And it’s free. All free. Just like Dobby. :D

Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol. 1

 

Picture it, it’s a crappy day. The rain fell heavily; the street is like a river due to so many puddles. Your jeans are slipping down your hips because you 1) forgot to wear a belt and 2) the rainwater has seeped up your legs as far as the knee and the added weight doesn’t help.
You missed the bus by a few seconds. In fact you got right to the door just as the busman closed them. You tap light, smiling, hoping he’ll take pity on you and will open the doors and allow you admission in to the dryness. But the shitebag sees you and turns his head, pretending you’re not there and awaits a gap in the traffic in order to pull out.
You’re seething. And feel like banging on the glass, giving him the finger and calling him a terrible name. But you refrain from it all, telling yourself that that wasn’t how you were raised.
You simply await the next bus. First in line.
It comes. Ten minutes late. Everybody crams the line, pushing, shoving you, until you realise that you’re now near the end of the line. Screw being nice! I was here first! ‘They are not skipping me,’ you fume.

The Tree of Seasons

I wanted to like this, I really did. Not just because I was a boy zone fan in my teens, but because its a great concept (the art work is also very pretty) I'm a woodsy girl so the prospect of a story in which the underlying theme is to cherish trees and nature really appealed to me.

I'm aware that I am perhaps not in the correct age bracket for this book, but most reviews I have read said that it was enjoyable for adults just as much as children.

Unfortunately, the writing doesn't live up to the standards of other books that have cross-over appeal. It's very simplistic writing and because of that I found it difficult to read because I found it very boring. 

Things aren't developed. The characters could have been fleshed out more. And the danger never felt all too real, especially for the main mortal protagonists - whenever things got a little bit hard, one of the magical characters just happened to have a spell for the job. Things were just too easily solved.

I'd give it two stars. And one of those is only because I love Stephen 'Key To My Heart' Gately.

Woman in Black (1989)

 

God bless YouTube, from the bottom of my cold dead heart. If it wasn’t for YouTube I wouldn’t be able to re-watch these great old shows. Not now HMV is gone anyway. There was a time when I could stumble across something I hadn’t seen in years and pick it up for four euro, but alas! those days are gone *sniff* (and I now understand Bella’s near catatonic state in New Moon after Edward leaves her. Love of her life he may be, but can he offer her a huge selection of movies for a relatively cheap price? I think not! My grief out-weights hers.)

Centered around Arthur Kidd, a young solicitor sent to the eerie Eel Marsh House to gather together the legal papers from the recently deceased client, Mrs. Drablow.
The sinister presence of the mysterious Woman in Black is soon seen and felt by Arthur.

This 1989 version of The Woman in Black is something I have been looking for on DVD for ages. I was delighted when I found the full movie on YouTube.
Like most things from the 80’s - namely the hairstyles and the fashion - it has potential to scare but when you come from seeing the new Daniel Radcliffe version you are ultimately let down.
I know purists will scoff and dismiss me, but whatever! The 2012 version was MUCH scarier, and held such little golden moments of film-making it made you an instant fan of Joe Wright’s directing abilities.
Of course the book out-does them all. But this adaption is a good one because it is, I can’t say ‘throw-back’ since it was made in the 80’s but it is in the style of old story telling. A manner of less is more. It doesn’t go in for cheap shocks, it simply relies on the eerie atmosphere of Eel Marsh house, of the marshland and it’s ‘frets’ (the sea breezes) to get across its frights.

I wish more shows were like this. I wish more ghost stories were like this. I think Mark Gatiss should bring back the ‘Ghost Story for Christmas’ tradition. If I can’t do it, I think he is the man to ;)