GemLil

All reviews - Movies (34) - TV Shows (20) - DVDs (1) - Books (5) - Music (14) - Games (14)

CSI Middle Ages???

Posted : 2 days, 4 hours ago on 9 May 2008 07:18 (A review of Cadfael)

Im the only one who has rated this classic; so I feel duty bound to bring it to your attention. If you like period dramas of crime dramas, you have to give Cadfael a try.

Derek Jacobi is one of histories greatest actors, and was born to play the overlooked, genius in a period piece.

Cadfael, is based in England in the middle ages, and follows a genius, monk/herbalist Brother Cadfael. Cadfael uncovers the mysteries behind many of the murders that blight the time.

Granted, 'crime fighting monk', is not going to sell itself and seems a little absurd; however it isnt. Give it time and you will find it thoroughly enjoyable..like CSI set in the middle ages.



Let me put it a little more 'sinfully'

The middle ages comprised of;

Plague
Povety
Rampant and unpoliced crime
Murder
and a fundamentalist catholic rule, marred by corruption, sadism and perversion.

When you put it like that, maybe it might be worth a watch? ;)


0 comments, Reply to this entry

Cate wet Blankett.

Posted : 2 days, 5 hours ago on 9 May 2008 07:04 (A review of Babel)

I loved the 'foreign' story lines in this film; but found myself bored out of my skin in the Pitt/Blanchett segments.

I cant pin point exactly what made these bits so dull; if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it was Cate Blanchett. I think Cate has a tendency to become easily dull and vapid in any role. I fear she's so used to playing the 'virgin queen' she'll never act well again (if she ever did).

Aside from the sparodic moments of the dull american storyline, I was totally encaptivated by the storylines of the 2 morrocan brothers, the mexican nanny and the Japanese, deaf girl. A whole movie dedicated to each of of these would have been amazing; but Pitt and Blanchett kept dragging it back to 'Hollywood'...and it didnt work.

I still give this film and 8/10, purely due to how interesting the other stroylines were. But I think Babel has taught us that independent films are independent films and hollywood is hollywood; and never the twain shall meet.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

New lamps for old

Posted : 4 days, 8 hours ago on 7 May 2008 03:53 (A review of Mafia)

There is absolutely no point buying this game; it is too close in price to, and utterly dwarfed by the 'Godfather' game.

Mafia was clearly brought out to cash in on the gangster game craze; and is almost identical to the layout and theme of the Godfather game.

I found the controls, awkward and the graphics sub par.

This is like buying crystal for the same price as diamonds. Really, very disapointing.

2 comments, Reply to this entry

Do we even need the Gym anymore?

Posted : 4 days, 15 hours ago on 7 May 2008 08:31 (A review of Wii Fit)

This 'game' is just like having your own personal trainer.

It will calculate you BMI, tell you what type of excercise/routines to take and what level to start them. It allows you to pick a weight loss 'goal' and marks your progress toward it.

Perhaps, more interestingly it measures your posture and centre of gravity; with an array of games to improve and moniter your balance skills.

The main categories covered are:

Aerobics
Muscle building
Balance and posture and
Yoga

You can choose which area you focus on, the more time spent on the game; the more levels and games made available in each category.

I highly recommend this, not just for the body conscious or the fit freaks. Its a great way to measure your fitness progress. Its similar to Brain training in many ways; but be prepared to work up a sweat!

3 comments, Reply to this entry

Schindler's List review

Posted : 2 weeks ago on 27 April 2008 09:23 (A review of Schindler's List)

I have watched this film many times and it never lost its emotiveness or poignancy.

The whole film is like a stab in the gut; scene after scene of terrifying acts of genocide, racial hatred and sadism that defined The Holocaust.

Filmed with art and dignity; it is by no means a gory 'snuff' film like 'The Passion'. Filmed in black and white throughout and thrown into colour at the end; when hundreds of present day Jews (many of them Schindler's workers) come to pay their respects to him.

Liam Neeson acts superbly throughout; after all his work Schindler feels nothing but guilt at how many more he should have saved. This scene in particular had me reaching for the cleenex.

There is no obvious happy ending as is typical with Spielberg. Despite Schindler's work, we are still left with the overwhelming loss of people and the devastating effect the nazi regime had on those who did survive.

This film raises the deepest levels of disgust in me for the acts of the nazis; while simultaneously evoking a pride and respect for those suffered through the regime. It is the real and disturbing subject matter, dealt with so well, that puts this film head and shoulders above any act of fiction.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

Cooking Mama: Cook Off review

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 25 April 2008 07:16 (A review of Cooking Mama: Cook Off)

I had to babysit my 10 year old cousin the other week; she bought this game to my house. After about five minutes I had to throw down the wii stick. The object of the game is to cook a meal; ironically my cousin was too busy playing this game to help me cook the actual meal we were going to eat that night.

This type of game is so vapid and dull and damaging a young generation of women, who will think that this is as good as it gets. I have said before, the point of a video game is to do the things you cannot do. This game is just the un-doing of hundreds of years of feminism.

I have a programme for women who want to get into real gaming:

Mario>Spyro>Zelda>Tomb Raider>Call of Duty.

It certainly doesnt involve this farce of a game.

3 comments, Reply to this entry

A firm favourite

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 25 April 2008 06:34 (A review of Call of Duty)

My favourite FPS, I must have played COD a thousand times. The maps are outstandinding, each an important real-life location for the allies in WWII, detailed and full to the brim with nazis.

The scenes are awesome and in places create a real sense of tension and fear. In one particular epic level, which requires the player to blow up oncoming german tanks with a set of badly damaged panzerfausts, the wait for reinforcements is genuinely tense and wearing (I'm obviously not real war material).

Each level is so different, requiring different skills. Some are machine gun based, some require a stealthy crawl into enemy territory, some say hello with a grenade in the face.

Anyone who like FPS should love Call of Duty; and there is no better platform to play it on than the PC. It also offers an epic multi-player/online link-up mode.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Absolutely shite

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 25 April 2008 06:02 (A review of Scouting for Girls)

Just going to reiterate what is said below; I burst out laughing when I saw the TV advert for this album...every single one of the songs they bosted sounded the same.

How they can have the audacity to charge £11 for this 'album' is beyond me, it should be sold as a single, there is definately only one track on this album. The bost benign, droning and repetative album I have ever had the misfortune to hear.

0 comments, Reply to this entry

Boring and samey

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 25 April 2008 05:35 (A review of Beautiful World)

Gary Barlow: We have one alright track for our comeback album....how do we fill the rest of it? I dont have the talent to right another 10 good tracks.

Music Manager: Dont worry Gaz; you've not got any real fans anyway, you're running on the publics nostalgia and fear of growing old. Fill it with covers and a series of forgettable songs that all sound the same and sound like they were written by 'The Fray'. People will only listen to 'Patience' anyway.


0 comments, Reply to this entry

Like a fine wine.

Posted : 2 weeks, 2 days ago on 25 April 2008 05:02 (A review of South Park)

Southpark was bad; it was crude, it relied on fart jokes and poos to make its humour; at this point everybody left it an tarred it for life.

After season 3 however, it did a u-turn. Matt and Tray themselves have admitted they felt the need to make a more relevant, intelligent and satirical series.

Now in its 11th series, South Park is one of the funniest, and often most intelligent programmes on television. The average show only take a week to make; so it stays much more relevant and can deliver up to date satire at the drop of a hat.

Everything has evolved so much about the series now; that it is hardly recognisable as the same show in its early seasons. If you wrote SP off back in the day, you have to give it a chance again....you might be pleasently suprised.


0 comments, Reply to this entry