Even though it’s a documentary, Blackfish has been on my list of “movies” to watch virtually since it was released in 2013. Essentially focusing on the effects of keeping wild animals (in this case Orca Killer Whales) captive, Blackfish attempts to outline the psychological effects on the animals this imprisonment has, as well as, a …
Read MoreBook Review: Hunger by Michael Grant
Hunger is the second novel in the “Gone” series by Michael Grant, following on from the series titling original. The book picks up on the lives of a group of school children who have been cut off from civilisation, turned against each other as the realisation of their plight and the natural power struggle it …
Read MoreFilm Review: Straight Outta Compton
I truly believe that if you want to talk to people about peer pressure don’t use smoking, use music. Nicotine has nothing on the playground pressures of rap, rock and dance music. When I was growing up if you couldn’t rap The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, play Smells Like Teen Spirit on a Fender guitar …
Read MoreBook Review: Apache Dawn by Damien Lewis
I’ve owned Apache Dawn for a very long time. I can’t tell you why I originally bought it, chances are I was probably off ballooning somewhere and thought having a book with me “just in case” was a good idea, but whatever the reason it has sat unread, squished into the corner of my bookcase …
Read MoreFilm Review: Pixels
This may put me in a minority but I like Adam Sandler. I will admit he’s never going to win an Oscar or create a genre defining film but I went through my teenage years surviving on his movies. The Wedding Singer, Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison all repeated over and over and over, while …
Read MoreFilm Review: Cake
Ever since Matthew McConaughey went from zero to hero as a result of an amazing visual transformation and startling stand-out performances on both the big (Dallas Buyers Club) and small (True Detective) screens people have been throwing themselves to label any performance, that is slightly outside what is naturally expected, by any actor whose career …
Read MoreFilm Review: Inherent Vice
It’s been a long time since I misjudged a film as badly as I did with Inherent Vice. I was expecting almost screwball comedy, a parody of the private investigator and instead I got a complete mess. A film which made so little sense whilst watching that the longer it went on the more confused …
Read MoreFilm Review: Les Combattants
I like foreign language films. There is something wonderfully independent about the nature and style of films produced without the demands of Hollywood number crunchers. Films made primarily to tell a story, rather than sell a franchise. Les Combattants, or Love at First Fight as it’s been translated to in places, has been niggling away …
Read MoreFilm Review: Focus
When Focus was released into the cinema I was torn as to whether to see it or not. The trailer suggested it’d be another style over substance film sold on a big name – Will Smith – yet there was something about that superficial glamour that drew me towards it. Even if, as the reviews …
Read MoreBook Review: Around The World In 80 Days by Jules Verne
Having been left so disappointed by Falling Sideways by Tom Holt I was suddenly gripped by wanderlust. Mentally I just wanted to go on an adventure. I wanted to let my imagination travel, dream and walk upon foreign lands. I didn’t want reality. I didn’t want comedy. I just wanted to be transported from the …
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