Reviews Round-up
Dec. 23rd, 2014 02:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI'm a little bit behind on reviews, so...
War Of The Worlds:
Dave and I first went to see this at the O2 on June 20th 2009 - I remember the exact date because it's the day we officially got married. So, when it came around again, we bought tickets, and went with Simon and Emma to see it again. There were some differences - most notably, the inclusion of a holographic Liam Neeson as The Journalist, rather than a giant Richard Burton head. Some of the music was different too, and there was more of a light show. It was really fun - though a bit loud in terms of bass in places, and I was rather fond of the giant Richard Burton head, so I missed him. Jeff Wayne was enthusiastic as ever, even when in danger of being set of fire by the pyrotechnics, and the whole thing is still pretty awesome, so it was a good outing.
Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller:
The Liaden Universe is a series of books written by this husband and wife team, recommended to me by Sursum Ursa from Stuff You Like on YouTube. She suggested this as one of the ways into the series, so I downloaded the audiobook. It was a pacy, exciting action adventure, telling the tale of the meeting of Valkon (a Liaden assassin/spy) and Mirri (a human mercenary) and how they fall in love while escaping organised crime bosses who want to kill them. Good, sci-fi fun, with likeable characters (the Clutch in particular), rip-roaring action, and enough intrigue to keep you guessing. I will definitely be listening to more of these books.
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies:
And so the Middle Earth adventure is over - again. The Hobbit film series doesn't come close to the Lord of the Rings trilogy in my esteem, but I enjoyed all three films, and have loved having another set of DVDs with vast amounts of "making of" special features to watch. BotFA was too long (as were the other two films) - by the time it finally reached the climactic battle between Thorin and Azog the Defiler, I had had enough of the fighting (which had been going on for most of the film) and was about ready to go home. However, it did have its moments (my favourite being the troll battering ram taking down the wall to Dale), and Martin Freeman continued with his phenomenal performance as Bilbo. I was not familiar enough with the events of the book to be prepared for the demise of the various dwarves, and I thought the inclusion of Billy Connolly and his battle pig a little over the top - but overall, I enjoyed the film, and will look forward to more special features when the extended DVD arrives.
Olympia:
Ukrainian Cossacks, the Metropolitan Police Activity Ride, the Shetland Pony Grand National, two showjumping events, dog agility - what more could you ask for in a horse show?
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker:
This is the hardest book I've read in a very, very long time. It's taken me over a month to finish it, and it made my brain hurt pretty much all the way through - but it was fantastic. It's about psycholinguistics - what our language tells us about our psychology and how our words affect our thoughts and vice versa. It's very funny, and very clever, and very dense, and very intellectual - but well worth the effort.
It's a Wonderful Life:
We had Christmas Film Club last night - I had never seen It's a Wonderful Life, and didn't even know much of the story, so it was all a lovely surprise to me. Jimmy Stewart is always good value for money and, even knowing that it was all going to work out in the end, I was still gripped by the changing fortunes of George Bailey. I'm not sure how I've managed to survive to the age of 37 without having seen this film before, but I'm very glad to have seen it now.
War Of The Worlds:
Dave and I first went to see this at the O2 on June 20th 2009 - I remember the exact date because it's the day we officially got married. So, when it came around again, we bought tickets, and went with Simon and Emma to see it again. There were some differences - most notably, the inclusion of a holographic Liam Neeson as The Journalist, rather than a giant Richard Burton head. Some of the music was different too, and there was more of a light show. It was really fun - though a bit loud in terms of bass in places, and I was rather fond of the giant Richard Burton head, so I missed him. Jeff Wayne was enthusiastic as ever, even when in danger of being set of fire by the pyrotechnics, and the whole thing is still pretty awesome, so it was a good outing.
Agent of Change by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller:
The Liaden Universe is a series of books written by this husband and wife team, recommended to me by Sursum Ursa from Stuff You Like on YouTube. She suggested this as one of the ways into the series, so I downloaded the audiobook. It was a pacy, exciting action adventure, telling the tale of the meeting of Valkon (a Liaden assassin/spy) and Mirri (a human mercenary) and how they fall in love while escaping organised crime bosses who want to kill them. Good, sci-fi fun, with likeable characters (the Clutch in particular), rip-roaring action, and enough intrigue to keep you guessing. I will definitely be listening to more of these books.
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies:
And so the Middle Earth adventure is over - again. The Hobbit film series doesn't come close to the Lord of the Rings trilogy in my esteem, but I enjoyed all three films, and have loved having another set of DVDs with vast amounts of "making of" special features to watch. BotFA was too long (as were the other two films) - by the time it finally reached the climactic battle between Thorin and Azog the Defiler, I had had enough of the fighting (which had been going on for most of the film) and was about ready to go home. However, it did have its moments (my favourite being the troll battering ram taking down the wall to Dale), and Martin Freeman continued with his phenomenal performance as Bilbo. I was not familiar enough with the events of the book to be prepared for the demise of the various dwarves, and I thought the inclusion of Billy Connolly and his battle pig a little over the top - but overall, I enjoyed the film, and will look forward to more special features when the extended DVD arrives.
Olympia:
Ukrainian Cossacks, the Metropolitan Police Activity Ride, the Shetland Pony Grand National, two showjumping events, dog agility - what more could you ask for in a horse show?
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker:
This is the hardest book I've read in a very, very long time. It's taken me over a month to finish it, and it made my brain hurt pretty much all the way through - but it was fantastic. It's about psycholinguistics - what our language tells us about our psychology and how our words affect our thoughts and vice versa. It's very funny, and very clever, and very dense, and very intellectual - but well worth the effort.
It's a Wonderful Life:
We had Christmas Film Club last night - I had never seen It's a Wonderful Life, and didn't even know much of the story, so it was all a lovely surprise to me. Jimmy Stewart is always good value for money and, even knowing that it was all going to work out in the end, I was still gripped by the changing fortunes of George Bailey. I'm not sure how I've managed to survive to the age of 37 without having seen this film before, but I'm very glad to have seen it now.
