|
|
 |
Reviews, Films |
|
 |
|
Last Updated: 25/03/2007 22:24:04
Due to the extreme cheapness of pirate DVDs it is often tempting to hand over a couple of sweaty coins to a
council estate heavy at Walton Street market rather than pay six English pounds for a seat at
your local cinema because that way you can smoke your lungs black, order a pizza, sit in
your pants and not have to brave the uncomfortable chairs, high prices and bastard children
that comes hand in hand with any trip to the multiplex.
Still, some films demand to be seen on the big screen and if you are one of the poor
unfortunates who never caught The Lord of the Rings, Spiderman, Star Wars,
The Matrix or movies of that ilk at the pictures then I think you can never fully
experience the flick, no matter how wide your new high definition television is.
|
|
|
300 is pure cinema at its very best.
It has a plot wafer thin, the accents are
muddled ( a Greek king with a scottish drawl for one) and its historical inaccuracy
verges on biblical but for sheer visual spectacle and entertainment value it pisses
in the face of most modern movies and calls it Cherry Cola.
|
I have no desire to run through the storyline because if you are reading this you most certainly have a computer, so follow the links at the bottom for the trailer and a bit of background knowledge and I'm sure you will get the gist.
If you are physically unable to click on them, I sincerely apologise but I'm not going to waste my time prattling on about the plot just because you're some kind of cyber spaz who can't operate a mouse without hurting themselves.
|
|
|
So anyway, 300 is indeed the business and caters for all creeds and persuasions.
Some will see it as an allegory for the Iraq War, some will be convinced it's blatant homo-erotica and others, I can only hope, will see it has being nothing more than a good old sword and sandals romp but with amazing special effects and buckets of Persian blood.
|
I should also note that if you are a man and you go to see this feature before a night out on the Guinness, it will cause your testicles to double in weight and you'll be overcome with the urge to beat up random strangers, shag a nubile princess and move to Sparta.
But hey, it's healthy for a chap to feel like that for time to time.
Rating: Three hundred and One
Links:
300 Trailer:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhi5x7V3WXE
The Battle of Thermopylae:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae
|
|
|
Reviews, Theatre - The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler at Hull New Theatre By Becky Martin
|
|
How The Vagina Monologues reflects wider anxieties and atrocities in modern society.
Thank God for Eve Ensler! Finally a strong female figure with the tenacity to stand up for and work to protect women and young girls all over the world, initiated by her wonderfully comic and complex tales of women's experiences of their own sexuality
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Games - Mr Smoozles Goes Nutso Reviewed by Daniel Chaplin
|
|
The game was very enjoyable and I think that the game was created for 6-12 year olds.
The playability of the game was extremely good but on the other hand I did not understand on how
to play the game because I could not find any instructions.
The game is about an alien attack that brain washes one of Mr. Smoozles' friends and kidnaps another.
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Books - Mark Frankland The Long and Winding Road to Istanbul (Glenmill Books) Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
|
|
It's 1977 and Liverpool FC are set to compete in their first European Cup final. For football crazy 13 year old Mickey McGuire it's the night of his life. Elder brother, Frank has different plans, as he
starts working his way up the criminal career ladder alongside local hard-man and minor criminal,
Eddie Tate. Volunteering his brother for a Tate job, Mickey is introduced to Eddie's sister
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Theatre - October 06 - The Northern Theatre Company - Thoroughly Modern Millie By Dirk Snatch
|
|
It was a Monday and after a cruel weekend of amphetamine abuse and barely legal sex, all I wanted to do was to slip into a Night Nurse induced coma and dream of Monica Bellucci's backside. However my rat bastard agent informed me that unless I
produced a theatre review within the next 24 hours, he was going to stop paying my liquor bills and feed me to the poor and so it was,
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - The Damned United By David Peace Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
|
|
This latest work from Yorkshire born Peace is another slice of his
distinctive style that combines fact with fiction to boil down the
story to its true essence. Previously tackling the Yorkshire Ripper
investigation in his Red Riding quartet, and the miners' strike in
GB84, this time Peace turns his attention to Brian Clough's turbulent
44 day reign of Leeds United
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Books - Perfume - The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind Reviewed By Laura Kilvington
|
|
Perfume - The Story of a Murderer was recommended to me by a friend
who described it as, one of the books you just have to experience before you die.
Now, after reading it for myself, I have to agree.
Perfume is a bildungsroman (a novel of education), which tells
the story of Grenouille who is born into the slums of
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Books - The Night Gardener By George Pelecanos Reviewed By Nick Quantrill (Available 10th August)
|
|
The 14th novel from George Pelecanos, The Night Gardener sees him weave an ambitious story that aims to lift him up and beyond the conventions of the crime-fiction genre. Pelecanos has never flinched away from tackling difficult social issues, and his remit here is to take a broad look at how crime touches the lives of those outside of its direct consequences,
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Friday 30th June 2006 -
Galloway: A Language Of Dissent? A Personal View By Pablo Luis González
|
|
Having watched the rather impressive performance that George Galloway MP put at
Hull Truck Theatre on Friday 30th of June 2006 as part of the Humber Mouth Literature Festival,
where he spoke without notes or sitting down for nearly an hour, in spite of the rather fancy
white leatherette chair provided for him on stage.
I was enthralled not only for what he
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Theatre - Northern Broadsides Company at Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough - Wars of The Roses by Patrick Henry
|
|
Battles depicted by semaphoric flag-wielding and huge rattling drums, vigorous balletics,
sack-barrows deployed as steeds or track-turning tanks; speeches characterised by robust Northern
or Midlands accents, and their inherent ironies and wiliness; intrigues concocted rapidly and
sadistically, mirroring statecraft strategy related to our day now.
Such are the best
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Saturday 1st July - Germaine Greer at Hull By Laura Kilvington
|
|
As a enthusiastic follower of feminist literature, I attended the talk by
Germaine Greer with the expectation of an intense, second wave feminism
discussion like the, all societies on the verge of death are masculine
(Greer:1984) type opinions which I associated with her.
Instead, the rubric of Greer's discussion was Anne Hathaway, the older
and greatly overlooked
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - Friday 30th June - Galloway Trucking in Hull By Martin J Deane George Galloway Photographs by Ben Gurevitch
|
|
George Galloway, MP for Tower Hamlets in East London played Spring Street Theatre, Hull on Friday.
Despite introducing himself as having spent 6 hours in the back of a car suffering from food poisoning he delivered an entertaining, insightful and though-provoking show.
Here is a flavour of it! It's not verbatim but from notes so any errors are my own!
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Humber Mouth 2006 - John Pilger at the Ferens By Martin J Deane
|
|
Blair is the most right wing Prime Minister I have ever known. And that includes Thatcher!
In a wide ranging talk on Tuesday night, John Pilger shared his experiences of nearly 40 years of
investigative journalism giving a flavour of the man who, over 40 years, has made it an art.
In his opening remarks, John Pilger said how he used to cover northern England for
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - The Storm Watcher By Graham Joyce Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
Simultaneously an unusual and extraordinary story set in France, a multitude of winning
elements ensure that The Storm Watcher is always an engrossing read, as sheer drama is
played up against some chilling thrills and spills.
The author in the award-winning Joyce grew up in Coventry, but over the years he has
lived in various places, such as on
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Books - Bowie : Loving The Alien By Christopher Sandford Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
Rock writer Christopher Sandford sure doesn't beat around the bush when it comes
to writing highly detailed and thoroughly engrossing biographies of some of the
biggest names in rock music.
As well as having written this mini-masterpiece about Bowie, he's also dedicated
huge swathes of time and energy to documenting the fascinating lives and times of
other rock
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - Lunar Park By Bret Easton Ellis Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
This has to have been one of the most extraordinary and surprising books published
in 2005, simply because it has been written by the hugely controversial author
of American Psycho - and because the form that Lunar Park
takes is so jaw-droppingly unexpected.
Bret Easton Ellis is one clever man, as revealed by the way in which this
novel unfolds,
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - Surfacing By Margaret Atwood Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
Poetry and prose. Two separate entities, right? Wrong! Surfacing bears full-frontal,
gob-gawping witness to that as one of the most important novels of the 20th century
(according to the New York Times anyroad) in this bizarre beauty naturally glides
with sheer poetry within rasping prose.
Set in remote Quebec, this super slow-burning drama shadows a young
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Films - Welcome to Silent Hill By Gregory Anderson
|
|
A deliciously dark film of fear mongering, Silent Hill takes you on a terrifyingly absurd quest. Where to? That is a question this film doesn't answer, but enjoys twisting round you to find it. Of course playing the game helps understand this film.
I found the game itself to be relatively arbitrary and linear, rather like this film. However, the game is foreboding and visually
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - Magic Hoffman by Jakob Arjouni Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
'We were young then, as if getting older were some kind of illness for which there was no cure.'
Magic Hoffman, the novel, is translated from the German original and follows
the captivating story of Fred and his best friends Nickel and Annette.
Following a botched bank heist, Fred serves 4 years' porridge and - as any friend would do - refrains from dobbing his mates in. Anyway,
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Films - An American Haunting (15) By Gregory Anderson
|
|
Possession? On rental, probably.
Call yourself a horror movie fan? Perhaps you'll get something from this.
Not particularly focused on horror movies? Then you may still enjoy it.
Imagine The Exorcist set in 1800s God-fearing America over the period of several weeks.
The premises for this film look awesome on paper.
Taking into account you've watched the trailer,
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - Stuart MacBride - Dying Light (HarperCollins) Published 2nd May 2006 Reviewed By Nick Quantrill
|
|
Dying Light is the eagerly anticipated second novel from new crime-fiction hotshot,
Stuart MacBride,
and follows sharply on the heels of last year's critically acclaimed debut, Cold Granite.
Once again following the story of Detective Sergeant Logan 'Lazarus' McRae, Dying Light opens
with him set to cement his position as the rising star of Aberdeen's CID.
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Films - The Dark (15) By Gregory Anderson
|
|
Clever psychological horror, perhaps too clever?
This clever psychological horror film perhaps lets itself down by being too clever? If you enjoy the blurred boundaries of the supernatural/subconscious, however, this is a well-paced, atmospheric film about a couple losing their daughter, only to believe they can bring her back from the dead.
There are criticisms, however, that
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
One should never underestimate the power of books.
New York-obsessed Paul Auster is back, and he's clearly writing better than ever in light of this astounding novel of epic and forever-surprising proportions.
Paul was born back in 1947, and since 1974 he's rightfully become a widely acclaimed writer of novels, screenplays and poetry ... amongst other things.
Read more...
|
|
|
Reviews, Films - The Road to Guantanamo, Channel 4, Thursday 9th March 06 By Patrick Henry
|
|
Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross's work is hardly like anything else ever shown on television, which makes it remarkable and welcome, though not to The New Statesman's reviewer who complains of its deficiencies, TV-wise, and that it fails to inform about the political attitudes of the protagonists or the real nature of Camp X-Ray and as a road movie lacks amusement.
Read more...
|
|
Reviews, Books - Mission Flats by William Landay Reviewed by Steve Rudd
|
|
Crime-thrillers come no better than this edge-of-the-seat masterwork from American
writer William Landay, who here delivers a truly superb debut novel that attacks the senses and ultimately leaves you reeling from the brilliantly-staged shock ending.
It's amazing how some Crime writers make their stories sound so authentic courtesy of the detailed lengths that they go to in order
Read more...
|
|
|
|
|
| What's Happening? |
|
|
|
| Chill Out |
|
|
|
| About Us |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|