Book 69: The Thieves of Ostia, by Caroline Lawrence

Read: Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st July. My 14th challenge book.
Review: Flavia, adept at solving life's small mysteries (such as the whereabouts of a missing ring) is rescued from a pack of wild dogs by her new neighbour, a boy called Jonathan. He and his father Mordecai and sister Miriam have different beliefs from the Romans surrounding them. But can Jonathan, along with the slave Nubia and the wild boy Lupus, help Flavia to solve her first criminal mystery? The competent storyline of this children's mystery is augmented by a sub-plot of friendship and responsibility and themes of language, communication and belief.
Time: Two days. In between going to see India in her Year 6 show (Troy Story - it was good - well done Indy!); visiting Grandma and Grandad and going on a trip to a garden centre with very competent soup and an impressive (metal) ostrich and (living) peacock; and driving back to Scarborough to pack up the rest of my belongings. That's it. This will be my last review as a resident of Yorkshire!

Film 62: "Star Wars" Episodes I-VI (6/6 reviewed)

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away...

REVIEW WARS

Actually, it's just me looking at Star Wars. I can't actually review it, because it seems that everyone's seen it, loves it, knows all about it, and any attempt to review it would be but a silly attempt to squeeze something new out of one of the oldest pillars of modern society.

I'll just write something short.

Reviewed in chronological order of the film's release date.

Synoahpsis, "Episode IV: A New Hope":

The special effects may seem a bit cheesy now, but when I thought about the fact that this film predates CGI and animation programs, it's actually quite staggering. From the opening shot of the Federation cruiser, to the battle over the small moon that is the Death Star, the film now and has always had an epic feel.

Kudos Mr. Lucas for making something that awesome.

The best bit:

I just can't help but love the high speed fight between the rebels and the Federation fighters through the trenches of the Death Star. It just make you feel good about life.

Marks out of 10: I'm I allowed to give it anything other than a 10??? Well... yes: amazing effects, fun story, and a great creation of a world you dare to dream actually existed, but there's not much other than some fun battles going on, so 8.9

Synoahpsis, "Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back":

The title promises a strike back of the Empire and Strike back it does! This is a grand follow-up to the already huge-scale space epic that was "A New Hope". Taking you from the rebel base on frozen wasteland of Hoth, racing through asteroid fields, trudging through the swamps of the great Jedi master and fighting to the death in the city in the sky, this film is a worthy sequel to Lucas' spacey design.

I wonder if they made these films all at once, like with "Lord of the Rings" or if they decided to follow up Episode IV with Episode V because it grossed so much in the box office. Seeing as how the film makers continue to weave an intricate story throughout the multifaceted universe of "Star Wars", and also how the special effects seems to have gotten even more complicated, I'm sure the movies must have been produced in the full knowledge of each other.

Anyway, fun film... the series of events were a lot more interesting to keep up with than with the last one. More intense acting and some worthwhile character development happening, so good times. I would only complain that Yoda, after growing up with all of the Yoda hype and film references, particularly to the way he speaks, turned out to be a little disappointing. I don't think that's the film's fault though.

The best bit:

Seeing the Rogue squadron fly around and through the legs of the Imperial walkers to trip them up with some tow rope was a lovely experience.

Marks out of 10: Being faithful to the level of jaw-dropping special effects as the first film with the addition of some interesting plot twist brings this film's score up to a 9.3

Synoahpsis, "Return of the Jedi":

This too, was awesome. I think that I ought to just go and see films whenever people stand, mouths agape at the fact that I haven't seen them yet.

Luke and Leia travel back to Tatoine (spelling on that one?) to find a carbonite-bound Solo in the custody of big bad Jabba in order to bust him out. Some fighting happens, and the group goes off to stop the Empire from completing their work on the new replacement death star. Luke learns that in order to finish his training, he must face his father (or maybe that happened in the last one too... I'm confused now). But again, awesome big-scale effects, and a darn good time.

I wasn't a fan of the Ewoks though. I don't think a primitive race of cuddly, moon-dwelling teddy bears would last very long in this particular galaxy.

The best bit:

I loved and hated the big chase on the hovery motorbikes through the forest. I kept looking away because I thought any second someone was going to whack into a massive tree (I wasn't disappointed). There haven't been too many scenes in the history of film that can make me turn away from the screen... well scenes without Hugh Grant in them anyway.

Marks out of 10: Loved the film, but not quite up there with the last one. Great ending though. 8.9

Episode I "The Phantom Menace" - Watched Prior to Challenge

Synoahpsis: "Attack of the Clones"

You know how some movies are more of a bridge between good films rather than a story in it's own right? Attack of the Clones did have some good moments, but it was more of a building block between Episodes I and III than anything else.

Tensions are mounting as the separatists build up an increasingly powerful droid army. Palpatine wants the Republic to breed a clone army, for he fears the Jedi are no longer powerful enough to keep the peace, or so he says. Other folks aren't so sure. Meanwhile, Obi Won is sent to investigate the attempts on the life of Senetor Amidalla (or is she Padmé)? His search for the bounty hunter Jengo Fet takes him to a mysterious planet which has been removed from the Jedi council's archive.

There, he discovers some not boring things. Anakin, on the other hand, has a more personal struggle throughout the film- he's loved Padmé for years, and now that he's assigned as her personal body guard, can he fight his feeling, for the Jedi can't know love.

The best bit:

I know people hated having to wait ages and ages to finally see Yoda whip out his light saber and go to town, only to not win, but I still found it awesome seeing that little green dude flying around like a monkey.

Marks out of 10:

I don't think this is anyone's favorite Star Wars. I did like it. It was entertaining, fun effects for the most part and a very necessary transition. Worth a watch, but not worth seeing twice. 6.3

Synoahpsis: "Revenge of the Sith"

Now we're talking. By the end of the last film, the senate voted emergency powers to Chancellor Palpatine, who ok'd the creation of the clone army (dressed in storm trooper gear) and the clone war has begun. Anakin and Padmé, on the other hand, just got married (oooo.... he's not meant to do that) and are living a life of secrecy. Palpatine has also taken quite a shine to Anakin, and has appointed him to the Jedi council as his representative (much to the Jedi masters' displeasure), but refusing him the rank of master leaves Anakin feeling untrusted.

Power hungry and afraid of his premonitions of loosing his wife coming to fruition, Anakin pledges his allegiance to the teachings of Palpatine, who is actually the sith Lord Sidious. Fighting, phasers, saber fights and drama ensues and Obi Won and Padmé try to keep Anakin from slipping ever further toward the dark side.

The best bit:

There was definitely a lot of cool stuff in this one. Obi Won taking down general Grevious was fun stuff... two guys fighting with 5 light sabres. What's not to love?

Marks out of 10:

You do wonder how someone so cute and pod racery can become the world's favorite super villan, and this film does an amazing job of showing Anakin's slow and steady decay into the dark side. The interactions between him and the other Jedi are quite good, particularly his relationship with Obi Won throughout the film, culminating in the final battle on the volcanic planet which looked a bit too cartoony. Good stuff though. 7.8

Book 68: The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

Read: Sunday 18th and Monday 19th July. This is the 13th book I've read since starting.

Review: It's hard to review a book you've heard so many people talk about. I liked it, I mean I really liked it. It killed me, if you know what I mean. I found that I could empathise with the narrator, Holden, and his feelings of depression and dissatisfaction. The actual story as written takes place over about three days, but a lot that happens before then is cleverly woven in. Although in some ways this is a very sad book it has brief glimpses of brightness. I very much enjoyed it. It was easy to read, too. But I'm finding it hard to write a review that its protagonist would not consider 'phony'!

Time: I guess this was about two days. In between, we went to church, climbed Roseberry Topping (photos to come) and had a most pleasant day out in Whitby.

Book 67 (the twelfth): Cirque du Freak, by Darren Shan

Read: Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July
Review: Not my kind of book at all! Full of gore and vampire lore; the only bit I liked was the astonishing performing spider. But I did like the way the book treated the vampire myth more seriously than some films I've heard of. It's framed as a real-life account of two boys and their dealings at the Cirque du Freak with Mr Crespley who, Steve instantly realises, is a vampire. Darren doesn't want to believe it, but the evidence is too great. He is horrified to hear Steve challenging the vampire - and then begging to become his assistant! But Mr Crespley declines. A series of unfortunate events bring Darren into the necessity of further consultation with the creepy Mr Crespley. And what choices can Darren now make? How can the story end? This tale is well thought-out, and well told too, in the style of a thirteen-year-old-boy. Just... not really my kind of book.
Notes: Noah, this is the prequel to The Vampire's Assistant. I'd guess the film people put the two books together then took the inferior title, because it has the word 'vampire' in it. And, you know, audiences might not realise what it was about otherwise.
Time: About 24 hours, in between spending a nice day at the seaside with Lukie, Mum and Dad, having tea and cake and fish and chips, and trying some most delicious liquorice flavour fudge!

Book 66 (the eleventh): Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, by T.S. Eliot

Read: In pieces over several days (it is a book of poems, after all)
Review: I particularly enjoyed the metre and rhyme of these poems - they'd be fun ones to recite aloud, and I was pleased to catch my first ever sight of the word "prestidigitation" in published literature. The subject matter is, naturally, cats; the poems each describe a particular cat and his or her peculiarities. I think my favourite poem was Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat, but I also rather enjoyed Macavity: The Mystery Cat.
Time: Ages! Almost a week! Reading one or two poems at a time, in between prose reading, and about a million other activities. Life is busy!

Film 61: "Romancing the Stone"

Aww, this one was just lovely. The plot was a little predictable, but for all I know, this is because so many film makers have replicated the story since. Here's a lovely summary...

Synoahpsis:

Joan Wilder is a cat-loving romance novelist who, after receiving a strange parcel in the post one morning, returns home later that day to find her apartment ransacked... a ransacking most foul. She receives a phone call from her sister, informing her she's been taken hostage in Columbia (dun, dun, dunnnnn). Joan must travel there in order to exchange a treasure map (then contents of her strange parcel) for her sister's life.

In Columbia, Joan gets into a bus crash in the jungle on her way to the exchange and discovers that the Columbian police are interested in her treasure map as well. As a police officer tries to take the map by force, a mysterious, rifle-wielding, man emerges from the jungle and saves her. The man agrees to take Joan to a phone, for a fee (which she just does not like at all), and the two begin their run together from Columbian police, kidnappers, and general bad guys through the rainforest.

The man convinces her to search for the item referred to on the map... a treasure known as El Corazón. They get the huge stone, keep running from the bad dudes, get Joan's sister back, and escape with their lives. Joan and the rifle-wielding guy go their separate ways after loosing the stone to a hungry alligator. Good thing he really liked her, because he eventually found the stone, bought a giant sail boat and took it back to Joan's place (along with his new alligator skin boots). The two sailed off happily together, their boat (sails hoisted) atop a truck in NYC.

The best bit:

100% had to be when the alligator jumped up out of the water and bit off the hand of the Columbian chief-malefactor just after he got ridiculously the big jewel.

Marks out of 10: A bit cheesy, predictable, but fun 6.3

Film 60: The James Bond Series (5 of 21 reviewed)

Films. The James Bond films. Yes... All of them.

I have to watch all the Bond films. 22 films resulting in the $4.8 billion franchise that is the 007 series. To my credit, I've already seen "Casino Royale", and I've played the video game Goldeneye, but I don't think that counts. I shall be reviewing these 21 remaining films in whatever order I receive them from Lovefilm, but they will appear chronologically on this here blog, in case you're interested.

Off we go!

Synoahpsis, "Dr. No"

The highly entertaining first installment of the Bond series kicks off with a murder most foul in Kingston, Jamaica. It quickly becomes apparent that some sort of fiendish plot is afoot.

Basically, this Chinese/German guy called Dr. No (who dresses very much like Dr. Evil, but I'm guessing it's the other way around), has been shooting out some radiation and interfering with NASA's rockets launching from Cape Canaveral. This all has something to do with world domination, I'm sure, but I wasn't clear on how the good doctor planned on doing that one.

So good old Jimmy sneaks onto Dr. No's secret and very off-limits island to find out what the dealio is, there upon meeting a shell-seeking Bond girl who doesn't like strangers. Bond eventually woos the girl, establishing the pattern to follow in subsequent films, I'm sure, and causes the radioactive rocket-interfering secret base to blow up along the way.

It was fairly fun to watch, but not that much actually seemed to happen in the film, and it could have done with a slightly more elaborate plot. As the first one of Ian Fleming's books to be put onto the silver screen, it was a good start.

The best bit:

The car chase on the Jamaican back roads between James, in his cool little roadster, and three guys pretending to be blind driving a herse and shooting at him. Bond does some fancy driving, causing his pursuers to veer of the side of a cliff, tumbling down and exploding, as ya do. A bystander asks what happened, to which the smug Bond replies "They were on the way to a funeral."

Marks out of 10: 5.0

Synoahpsis, "From Russia with Love"

This one was loads more fun. It had real cold war Russians in it and everything... even one of those cat-stroking faceless evil supervillans!!

a grand chess master working for SPECTRE devises a plot so thick, it just might get audiences everywhere to watch it. They set up a trap for the British Secret Service... particularly for their expereinced 00 operative, James Bond. What's the bait? The trap itself – knowing full well that British Intelligence see traps as challenges.

Anyway, Bond must extract a Russian dissident and a cutting edge decoder machine from the Russian consulate in Istanbul, but is there more to this woman than meets the eye? Well... yeah... it wouldn't really be a Bond film, otherwise.

The best bit:

The tense exchange aboard a sleeper carriage bound for Trieste between Bond and the highly trained SPECTRE operative sent to kill him.

Marks out of 10: A huge improvement over the last film in terms of story line, effects, action sequences and more warrants a solid 6.5

Synoahpsis: "You Only Live Twice"

This one was quite fun. I won't be spoiling anything by reveling that Bond dies in this film. Well, not really, but right at the start, we see him get assassinated and receive a hero's burial at sea, but he's not dead at all! Oh no... in fact, he's more alive than ever, and he's off to uncover the evil plot behind a U.S. spacecraft being mysteriously abducted whilst orbiting our fair blue planet.

This film also contains ravenous piranha, so look out for that one when you open the DVD case.

The best bit:

The flight of "Little Nelly", Bond's helicopter which folds apart and stows neatly into 4 large suitcases. Bond takes to the skies in this tiny helicopter loaded with guns and air -to-air missiles, only to find himself, not surprisingly, in the midst of a fierce dogfight with 4 baddies over the Japanese isles.

Marks out of 10:

For special effects and the inventiveness of the gadgets, as well as a quite amusing and hopefully farfetched plot line, I'd give this one a 6.2.

Synoahpis: "Moonraker"

This one was a little crazy. A space shuttle is on loan from the USA to Britain only to be hijacked in transit... from the top of a flippin plane. What follows is Bond's whirlwind, globe-hopping adventure all over the world to track down the missing shuttle, Moonraker.

Cut a long story short, he finds the spacecraft and uncovers a truly and fantastically diabolical plot to kill all humans on earth with a crazy nerve gas... but you know... Bond stops it from happening, so cool beans.

The best bit

No question... the massive fight in space between the U.S. space soldiers (which I'm sure are training at some undisclosed location even now) and the private malitia of the Drax corporation. There were way too many lasers, and it basically looked like the big fight out of Star Wars Episode IV.

Marks out of 10:

This one was very farfetched and way, way too cheesy. 4.0.

Synoahpsis, "Quantam of Solace":

So I went from watching the very 1st Bond film to the very last straight away, and I must say, there is a difference. The film opens with the same old hugely long credit sequence set to a backdrop of silhouetted women dancing about with bullets firing about in slow motion, so good stuff.

This was one of them globe-trotting, fast paced, action blockbusters, and a thumping ok one at that! Right from the get-go, we see Bond in a car chase in Italy, though we, the concerned audience, have no idea what's going on... and we don't care: there's a car chase! Guns! Aston Martins! Explosions! Who needs a story??

Basically, Bond uncovers the plot of a frighteningly embedded secret organization to control the world's resources by overthrowing governments, establishing dictatorships, wheeling and dealing in oil and land with big Western governmental bodies and all sorts of things. Bond and the Bond girl work to uncover the scheme, chase down the baddies and save the day for the people of Bolivia, fighting baddies, upsetting MI6 bosses, evading explosions and possibly even forge a deep and lasting friendship along the way.

The film was entertaining but a little disappointing, especially in light of Craig and the writers falling well short of the bar they set themselves in "Casino Royale".

The best bit:

It's a toss up between Bond's aviation talents whilst fleeing for his life from a trigger-happy fighter plane above the deserts of Bolivia and the big boat chase sequence through the busy harbor of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.

Marks out of 10: 7.0