Massive Review Overload!
Nov. 4th, 2016 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI have very much fallen behind on reviewing, so apologies for the massive info-dump!
I haven't had much luck with entertainment lately, either - lots of disappointments or things that left me largely unmoved. I think that may have at least something to do with the fact that I'm in a depressive cycle at the moment - but that hasn't stopped me enjoying some stuff, so I do blame the entertainment to a certain extent.
The Call by Peadar O'Guilan:
This is a pitch-dark YA fantasy novel where all teenagers are whisked away from the mortal realm for three minutes to the faerie realm, where they are hunted for a full day of faerie time and then returned in whatever state they end up in. Most die, and the few survivors are usually horribly changed by the experience, both physically and mentally. So, all children are trained in specialist schools, to prepare for when they are taken. The protagonist is a girl who suffered polio as an infant and so has significant mobility issues, making her odds of surviving the faerie realm very slim. It's a grim tale, and I'm not sure the setup was really served by the ending, which felt a bit too easy, after all the horror of the preceding story. Still, the characters were well drawn, the world well realised, and the relationships refreshingly credible.
How I Met Your Mother:
When I had food poisoning for the first week of October, I was looking for something inoffensive I could binge-watch, and How I Met Your Mother seemed to fit the bill very well. I'd never seen any of it before, and I subsequently watched all 208 episodes in three and a half weeks. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. I liked all the characters, it was quite funny, and the central plot arc kept me interested right to the end. The humour was patchy in places, and some of it either fell flat or had me cringing, but I found it consistently entertaining enough to keep watching. Then it ended, and a major exercise in brain scrubbing had to be undertaken. As far as I'm concerned, the show finished with the end of Season 9 Episode 22, which means the final two episodes never happened. What final two episodes? Exactly.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back:
It was inevitable that I was going to go and see this, regardless of reviews. But I was amused and confused by the reviews I did read - one which panned it completely (saying the makers should have heeded the sub title), and one which gave it four stars and called it "a superior sequel in every way". I thought it had its moments (sadly, the best one happened in the first five minutes and would only be funny to hardcore Reacher fans) and was indeed better than the first one. I like Cobie Smulders, and she made a good foil to Reacher, though their relationship was rather short-changed by the fact that the book where they 'met' was truncated into the first ten minutes of the film. There were few funny moments, some reasonable action, but it was very definitely nothing special, and Tom Cruise still doesn't really do it for me as Reacher.
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino:
Another revisit after re-reading my old LJ entries, and a resounding success. This is a genius novel, in my opinion, and I loved reading it again, especially since I couldn't remember very much about it at all. It's the most meta of all things meta, and utterly ridiculous, but marvellously so. It's a bit of a shame that the second person narrative is marred for 50% of the readership by the gender of the Reader being revealed as male early on, but I was prepared to forgive this for the glorious journey the book took me on. Some people I know would absolutely hate this book, but its humour and cleverness are pitched exactly right to appeal to me.
The Fall by Robert Muchamore:
I hope this book doesn't spell the start of diminishing returns for the CHERUB series. James was even more of a dick than usual, and got away with it more than usual. There wasn't even a real mission - just a couple of fragments that didn't really hold together, and most of the characters I particularly like weren't in it much. So, a disappointing entry in a series I've been very much enjoying. I'll forge on for the time being, and hope they get back to the early better standard.
Lazarus:
I was delighted to be given the opportunity to see Lazarus on opening night, and I joined the queue at the King’s Cross Theatre with a great deal of anticipation. I had very little idea what to expect and, now having seen the show, I’m still not quite sure what to make of it. On the surface, it’s the resurrection of a forgotten 1960s science-fiction novel into a borderline incomprehensible assault of a musical. It’s also, of course, a posthumous showcase of one of our greatest musical talents. On a deeper level, it’s a fractured narrative about broken people, and that’s where I found it to be most effective. If I had gone in with no prior knowledge of the show, I think I would have left both baffled and unmoved. The plotting was incoherent, the characters were largely unexplained, the little exposition was delivered in clumsy chunks, and the inclusion of the songs seemed alternately arbitrary and contrived. However, having read the book, The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis, I was already invested in the main character of Thomas Newton before going in, and this added welcome emotional resonance to my experience. Additionally, Michael C Hall gave a very effective portrayal of loneliness and despair on an interstellar level, as the alien trapped on earth after his failure to save his home planet. Ironically, he provided the only real kernel of humanity amidst the hallucinatory onslaught of video images, bloody violence and overplayed angst that made up the rest of the performance. Several critics have pointed out all the flaws I myself identified in the show, but have still praised it overall, and the rest of the audience certainly demonstrated their enthusiastic approval with a standing ovation. So, I must be missing something. I wasn’t alone, however, as my companion was also very much less than impressed, and we both left the theatre confused by the reaction of our fellow audience members.
Trick or Tease:
Dave joined me for his first experience of a burlesque show last Friday, as my scheduled companion had to drop out due to illness. It was more of a cabaret show than a true burlesque show, since there were acrobats and singers as well as burlesque acts, which made it more varied. The three course dinner was very good, and the performers were excellent. I got to see some of my favourite performers on top form, and also talk to them all afterwards. Tempest Rose was a consummate host as always, and a good time was had by all.
Fear the Future by Stephen Moss:
I made it halfway through this audiobook of the last in the Fear Saga before I had to give up because I just didn't care any more. It was all too dry and too technical, and I couldn't even make it to the end to find out what happened when the invading alien fleet finally arrived. It was a shame, since I'd invested so much time in listening to the series, and I liked a lot of the characters. But I kept phasing in and out of listening, and that's not what I want when I'm exercising or commuting. Hey ho.
I haven't had much luck with entertainment lately, either - lots of disappointments or things that left me largely unmoved. I think that may have at least something to do with the fact that I'm in a depressive cycle at the moment - but that hasn't stopped me enjoying some stuff, so I do blame the entertainment to a certain extent.
The Call by Peadar O'Guilan:
This is a pitch-dark YA fantasy novel where all teenagers are whisked away from the mortal realm for three minutes to the faerie realm, where they are hunted for a full day of faerie time and then returned in whatever state they end up in. Most die, and the few survivors are usually horribly changed by the experience, both physically and mentally. So, all children are trained in specialist schools, to prepare for when they are taken. The protagonist is a girl who suffered polio as an infant and so has significant mobility issues, making her odds of surviving the faerie realm very slim. It's a grim tale, and I'm not sure the setup was really served by the ending, which felt a bit too easy, after all the horror of the preceding story. Still, the characters were well drawn, the world well realised, and the relationships refreshingly credible.
How I Met Your Mother:
When I had food poisoning for the first week of October, I was looking for something inoffensive I could binge-watch, and How I Met Your Mother seemed to fit the bill very well. I'd never seen any of it before, and I subsequently watched all 208 episodes in three and a half weeks. For the most part, I really enjoyed it. I liked all the characters, it was quite funny, and the central plot arc kept me interested right to the end. The humour was patchy in places, and some of it either fell flat or had me cringing, but I found it consistently entertaining enough to keep watching. Then it ended, and a major exercise in brain scrubbing had to be undertaken. As far as I'm concerned, the show finished with the end of Season 9 Episode 22, which means the final two episodes never happened. What final two episodes? Exactly.
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back:
It was inevitable that I was going to go and see this, regardless of reviews. But I was amused and confused by the reviews I did read - one which panned it completely (saying the makers should have heeded the sub title), and one which gave it four stars and called it "a superior sequel in every way". I thought it had its moments (sadly, the best one happened in the first five minutes and would only be funny to hardcore Reacher fans) and was indeed better than the first one. I like Cobie Smulders, and she made a good foil to Reacher, though their relationship was rather short-changed by the fact that the book where they 'met' was truncated into the first ten minutes of the film. There were few funny moments, some reasonable action, but it was very definitely nothing special, and Tom Cruise still doesn't really do it for me as Reacher.
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller by Italo Calvino:
Another revisit after re-reading my old LJ entries, and a resounding success. This is a genius novel, in my opinion, and I loved reading it again, especially since I couldn't remember very much about it at all. It's the most meta of all things meta, and utterly ridiculous, but marvellously so. It's a bit of a shame that the second person narrative is marred for 50% of the readership by the gender of the Reader being revealed as male early on, but I was prepared to forgive this for the glorious journey the book took me on. Some people I know would absolutely hate this book, but its humour and cleverness are pitched exactly right to appeal to me.
The Fall by Robert Muchamore:
I hope this book doesn't spell the start of diminishing returns for the CHERUB series. James was even more of a dick than usual, and got away with it more than usual. There wasn't even a real mission - just a couple of fragments that didn't really hold together, and most of the characters I particularly like weren't in it much. So, a disappointing entry in a series I've been very much enjoying. I'll forge on for the time being, and hope they get back to the early better standard.
Lazarus:
I was delighted to be given the opportunity to see Lazarus on opening night, and I joined the queue at the King’s Cross Theatre with a great deal of anticipation. I had very little idea what to expect and, now having seen the show, I’m still not quite sure what to make of it. On the surface, it’s the resurrection of a forgotten 1960s science-fiction novel into a borderline incomprehensible assault of a musical. It’s also, of course, a posthumous showcase of one of our greatest musical talents. On a deeper level, it’s a fractured narrative about broken people, and that’s where I found it to be most effective. If I had gone in with no prior knowledge of the show, I think I would have left both baffled and unmoved. The plotting was incoherent, the characters were largely unexplained, the little exposition was delivered in clumsy chunks, and the inclusion of the songs seemed alternately arbitrary and contrived. However, having read the book, The Man Who Fell To Earth by Walter Tevis, I was already invested in the main character of Thomas Newton before going in, and this added welcome emotional resonance to my experience. Additionally, Michael C Hall gave a very effective portrayal of loneliness and despair on an interstellar level, as the alien trapped on earth after his failure to save his home planet. Ironically, he provided the only real kernel of humanity amidst the hallucinatory onslaught of video images, bloody violence and overplayed angst that made up the rest of the performance. Several critics have pointed out all the flaws I myself identified in the show, but have still praised it overall, and the rest of the audience certainly demonstrated their enthusiastic approval with a standing ovation. So, I must be missing something. I wasn’t alone, however, as my companion was also very much less than impressed, and we both left the theatre confused by the reaction of our fellow audience members.
Trick or Tease:
Dave joined me for his first experience of a burlesque show last Friday, as my scheduled companion had to drop out due to illness. It was more of a cabaret show than a true burlesque show, since there were acrobats and singers as well as burlesque acts, which made it more varied. The three course dinner was very good, and the performers were excellent. I got to see some of my favourite performers on top form, and also talk to them all afterwards. Tempest Rose was a consummate host as always, and a good time was had by all.
Fear the Future by Stephen Moss:
I made it halfway through this audiobook of the last in the Fear Saga before I had to give up because I just didn't care any more. It was all too dry and too technical, and I couldn't even make it to the end to find out what happened when the invading alien fleet finally arrived. It was a shame, since I'd invested so much time in listening to the series, and I liked a lot of the characters. But I kept phasing in and out of listening, and that's not what I want when I'm exercising or commuting. Hey ho.
