Movie review: A Cat in Paris by Jean-Loup Felicioli , Alain Gagnol

Directed By: Jean-Loup Felicioli , Alain Gagnol
Genre: cartoon, black comedy

Release date: 2012

Synopsis:

Dino is a black cat with fashionable red stripes that leads a double life. By day he pretends to be a normal pet, living a luxury life with Zoe, a little mute girl whose mother, Jeanne, is a detective in the Parisian police force. But at night he sneaks out the window to follow and help Nico - a slinky cat burglar whose fluid movements and dexterity are poetry in motion. Nico steals money and jewellery, evading captors with ease and slips and swishes from rooftop to rooftop across the Paris skyline. Dino loves it as well. Still everything what is so good cannot last forever.

One night the cat's two worlds collide when young Zoe all of a sudden decides to follow Dino - and falls into the hands of Victor Costa. Costa is a blustery gangster planning the theft of a rare statue, soon to be displayed in a Parisian museum. Zoe's mum does her damnedest to prevent the theft and catch him. Now the cat and the cat burglar must team up to save Zoe from the bumbling thieves, leading to a thrilling acrobatic finale on top of Notre Dame. Will Zoe speak again?

My impressions:

A 2012 Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, this movie is very different from your ordinary Pixar/Disney fare (read: it is hand-drawn as opposed to CGI).Its style from time to time reminded me of paintings of Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani and, more generally, Art Deco  - strange but charming at the same time. Anyway the old-school animation which doesn't deal with photorealistic backgrounds was very refreshing to watch although I did need a moment or two to get used to it. The colours were surprisingly vivid,  particularly a midnight violet sky with pale yellow stars, and the characters - full of quirky detail: feet were tiny, angular and pointed; women's breasts, perfectly circular, bob up near their shoulders; Dino's nose, usually held high, is a delicate shade of light purple.

I admit the movie was breezy entertainment, boasted by some imaginatively designed sequences and a sly sense of humor (surely the henchman Monsieur Hulot is so named in honor of the great French comedian?).

The movie officially revels in Paris but it is a very schematic Paris of another era. If it wasn't for the Notre Dame Cathedral and the tell-tale Eiffel Tower you could say it was set in any big city. Some of the action (and violence) in "A Cat in Paris" borders on the jarring, and overall I found the plot a bit too simplistic to suit me (but hey, it is a children's movie, right?). It was especially funny that you could  tell who was a 'white hat' and who was the villain just observing the shape of the characters' eyes with 100% accuracy. It kind of ruined all the surprise element for me.

 The slam-bang finale — set atop Notre Dame Cathedral, where else, lacking just the hunchback — definitely favors bombastic effects over wit. Still getting there is a lot of fun, in part because the animators take time to make Dino a truly charismatic animal. And the movie includes one of the prettiest animated traffic jams I've happened to watch.

Final verdict:

A nice, original movie to watch with your children - but I admit rather those younger ones or those old enough to be already artistically inclined. It is a pity the directors didn't make the plot more complex to accomodate the tastes of a slightly older/more demanding audience. If you get bored, watch closer the animation - you might find many entertaining tidbits to carry you through this one.

Movie review: He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not ( À la folie... pas du tout) by Laetitia Colombani

Directed by Laeticia Colombani

Written by Laetitia Colombani Caroline Thivel

Cast:
Angélique- Audrey Tautou
Dr. Loïc Le Garrec - Samuel Le Bihan.
David - Clement Sibony
Rachel - Isabelle Carre
Release date: 2003

Genre: romantic psychological thriller, black comedy

Synopsis:

Angélique  is a pretty young girl and a successful art student who has just won an important scholarship. She seems so happy and so normal - in between creating her art projects, she has a part-time job at a cafe and house sits for a wealthy vacationing family. An ordinary life? Here comes the first darker fact: she also has an affair with a married man or so she keeps telling to all and sundry. The man in question is a well-to-do cardiologist called Loic Le Garrec, easily a decade older than her. The path of true love never runs smooth. The problem is that sometimes there is no path at all.

When Loïc's wife, Rachel, has a miscarriage, the pair separate. Happy Angélique prepares to leave with Loïc on a romantic getaway to Florence, Italy. However, Loïc doesn't meet Angélique at the airport, apparently having chosen to mend things with his estranged wife. This is the last straw for Angélique, who is thrown into a self-destructive cycle of clinical depression, ultimately losing her job and the scholarship. While watching the news one night, she learns that Loïc has been arrested for assaulting one of his patients, Sonia Jasmin. She goes to Sonia's house to convince her to drop the charges. The conversation turns into a scuffle, Sonia has a heart attack and dies. Angélique steals from the house to make it look like a robbery.

Thinking that this will win him back, Angélique goes to see Loïc at his office, arriving just in time to see him being arrested for Sonia Jasmin's murder, and embracing his wife as he is dragged away. Angélique returns home, turns on the gas and lies down on the floor. At that point the narration goes back in time and we see most of those events presented now from Loïc's point of view. As you can guess hardly anything remains as it was told by Angélique but saying more would be a huge spoiler.

What I liked:

Oh I liked plenty. It was a deliciously intelligent movie about the power of love and human imagination. It starts like one of these romantic comedies: a beautiful girl loves a man who is, sadly, already taken (aren't the best ones always already taken though?). Poor girl, deep in love, wants to do anything, simply anything, to have him for herself. Looking at Audrey Tautou you almost imagine that big fat HEA because, let's face it, who would say 'no' to those sweet, chocolate eyes and shy, innocent smile? Of course the fact that she played the main role in Amelie does enforce such an image even further. Well, here you are in for a big surprise. This movie is not a romantic flick and Angélique, even though as wide-eyed as Amelie, is hardly an innocent. Well, she might be called that, but it's only by reason of insanity. He Loves Me...He Loves Me Not has its own charms, but part of its wicked kick is that it's the anti-Amélie, presenting romantic fixation, not as noble and sweet, but objectively, as something selfish, destructive and highly volatile. In other words as something which might turn very bad.

Tautou could not be better: I am not a big fan of this actress but here, in my humble opinion, she fitted perfectly. She's infuriating — as well as emotionally present every moment onscreen. The best part is when, because of her great looks and intelligence, hardly anyone believes she might have some serious mental health problems - neither her friend, David, nor her co-worker and best friend, Héloïse, question her credibility when she repeatedly announces how happy she will be with Loïc, how much he loves her, how he is so completely prepared to leave his pregnant wife etc, etc. She is a skilled manipulator with a face of an angel so she gets away with plenty of bigger or smaller lies, a blackmail and even a murder. Who would think such a delicate, pretty girl could be so cruel? You observe with a shiver ( spoiler, highlight to read or skip) how her vaunted affair turns out to be the obsessive fantasy of a stalker barely acquainted with the object of her desire, who just lives in her neighborhood.Where Amélie was a guardian angel for the loners and broken hearts of Montmartre, Tatou's Angelique is a kind of succubus who ruins people's life without a second thought. The scariest thing is that she manages to do so from just outside the sphere of perception of pretty much everybody. Such a lovely girl...can she be morally flawed or nasty or vindictive? Nah, impossible she looks so nice....

What I didn't like:

If you watched 'The Sixth Sense'' the twist in the middle of this movie will be hardly very surprising for you because here it was done in the same way - the movie replays events just from a different perspective. Also I admit there were some boring moments during which I had to stifle a yawn or two and it especially concerns the narration of Loïc. Still the ending was a joy, with some pearls of scenes which definitely made the rest really worthwhile.

Final verdict:

I recommend this one wholeheartedly (pun intended, see the section below) especially for a St.Valentine evening. To encourage you even further I decided post a riddle from the movie.

 After Angelique has tried everything with her perfect but rahter unwilling man: sending him flowers, lionising him in a post-impressionistic portrait and even leaving him twenty seven answer phone messages of 'their' song ('L.O.V.E' by Frank Sinatra, yay!), she decided to send him the last gift. One which would be the biggest proof that she loves him dearly and they are simply made for each other. What was it? Try to guess the answer (or highlihgt to find out): it was a real pig's heart, so similar to a human one, pierced by a metal arrow; all wrapped tastefully and put into a pretty pink-violet box. How very romantic, n'est-ce pas? ;p

Review: Temeraire 01 His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

Book info:
Form: pdf
Genre: alternate history fantasy 
Target audience: older YA and adults

Synopsis:

The beginning of 19th century. Imagine Napoleon Buonaparte fighting Admiral Nelson in quite unusual way - both sides use dragons of various kind and size as their air force support. Dragons are creatures which think and talk, can spit acid or fire, acting as bombers or means of transport. They are great weapons but they must be treated with utmost care and attention, even love, plus a lot of fresh meat. ;)

An egg ready to be hatched is transported on a French man-of-war. The ship is taken by the British Navy and soon enough the sailors are having a lot of fun, watching a dragonet to emerge from its shell. However a newly-hatched dragon is a great responsibility - it must be named, tethered and harnessed immediately, right before its first feeding; if not it turns wild and there is more trouble than gain from it – it will hunt people and won’t obey anybody. Dragons, intelligent, sentient beings, can choose their handler at their will. The dragonet from the French frigate chooses captain William Lawrence and he names it Temeraire, after a famous dreadnought.Nothing will be the same again for those two. They are joined forever and they must face many life-changing experiences, learn to trust each other and undergo a training. So their adventure begins!

What I liked:

I loved the dragons, I really loved them or rather the great imagination of Ms Novik which supplied them with colourful hides, intelligence and power of speech. Temeraire is my most favourite dragon in fantasy fiction, I am not joking! He is sweet, loyal, he knows French, Latin and English, he loves mathematics, jewelry and reading! He can’t read on his own but his faithful handler and friend, Lawrence is always happy to oblige!

My other source of joy: some dragons tolerate only women handlers! Yes, just imagine it: a lady straight from the salon of Jane Austen riding a dragon, EVEN being made an officer in the army! It was a dare but it paid off – the notion was great in practice but I do regret the women weren’t given a more pronounced role in that installment. Still  I hope there will be more of them in the next ones and the author deserves kudos for the mere idea! It was as if equal rights for women were imposed on the English society some 200  years earlier, imagine that!

The book is really about the developing relationship between Temeraire, the Dragon won from the French in battle, and Captain Laurence. I admit that, at times the relationship seemed a little weird. Let me give it to you straight - there are the homoerotic undertones clearly present. Is the dragon Laurence's lover? He is given gifts of jewelry, he had fits of jealousy, and does Laurence really call that 10-ton creature "my dear" time and again ? (pst pst - yes, he does). One time he even makes his beloved pet very excited indeed if you get my drift...it was an accident as Laurence didn't know what he was doing but still...and you know what? It worked for me! These two had a very unusual dynamics - William does things like reading books to Temeraire, or giving him baths, that the other aviators just don’t do. And in his own, unassuming way, Laurence upsets the status quo. This isn’t, generally, a good idea if you happen to be in a military outfit—less so when it’s the nineteenth century.

What can be said: I understood. I love my pretty, pretty dragons and I know pets can be pretty jealous as I am the owner of a very jealous dog!

What I didn't like:

I admit the narration was predictable - you could see plot twists coming a mile away - but that doesn't make the story any less satisfying. Have I mentioned all those pretty dragons? And yes, the book is rather one big adventure than something character-driven but...the dragons!!!

Final verdict:

His Majesty’s Dragon is a fantastic combination of wit and humour with conflict and difficult decisions. It is also one of the best books featuring a dragon as a main character I've read so far. Paolini's immature rendition of a draconian 'plaything' doesn't even come close to this complex tale of love, loyalty and sacrifices. You may find some parts of the story hard going, but if you persist, it's totally worth it. Personally I am in for another installment!!!Give me more dragons!!!

Silent Saturday

Mont Blanc. Photo courtesy of my brother - thank you!

Review: Kiss of Steel (London Steampunk 01) by Bec McMaster

Book info:
Form pdf format
Genre: paranormal romance, alternate history fantasy, steampunk-flavoured
Target audience: adults

Synopsis:

After the tragic death of his father Honoria Todd found herself in dire straits: impoverished, with two younger siblings to care for, one of them seriously ill, forced to move to a seedy quarter of London to save on her lodgings and forced to change her name because she had to hide from her father's aristocratic patron, Vickers. If she thought her major difficulties were over she was wrong. Soon enough Blade, a self-styled ruler of Whitechapel, asks her to pay him a visit. Honoria lives now on his home turf so either she will earn his protection or she'll sink spectacularly, dragging her sister and brother behind.

Blade is a rogue blue blood - a kind of civilised vampire but not sanctioned by the government. He is also known as the master of the rookeries—no one dares cross him. It's been said he faced down the Echelon's army single-handedly, that ever since being infected by the blood-craving he's been quicker, stronger, and almost immortal. What can Honoria offer to him? Her beauty? Her blood? Or maybe she can simply teach him how to read and speak like a gentleman?

Matters between these two get complicated every ten pages. Blade knows more about Honoria than the girl would like to divulge. Honoria lies to him because she distrusts blue bloods in general, having been treated horribly by some of them. Still their mutual attraction seems to be a prevalent factor - that and the diaries of Honoria's father with a secret every blue blood vampire would gladly kill for.

What I liked:

I liked the vampires and werewolves (here called verwulfen) and the whole premise with vampires being scheming aristocrats and politicians who keep ordinary humans as thralls to feed upon. Oridnary citizens have to pay taxes in blood; some of them are forced to work in Blood Factories. What a pity we couldn't visit one of them, though. The romance was also good and steamy - no complaints here. Whenever Honoria and Blade meet sparks are flying and of course they end up together.

What I didn't like:

First let me tell you that the name of the whole series, London Steampunk, is highly misleading. I could count steampunk elements of this novel using fingers of just my one hand. First: steam cabbies. They appear 5-6 times throughout the book never playing an important role in the narration. Second: a mechanical arm of one of Blade's ruffians, again never being something more than a prop. Third: Honoria's father unusual gun, also never described in more detail. Add to it some mechanical spiders Honoria's childhood nemesis, Leo, used to put into her bed. Steampunky? I'm afraid only superficially so. I am not impressed. I know steampunk is a fashionable genre but it demands more from a writer than just mentioning some machinery here or there.

What's more I must say I never bought Blade as a well-rounded character. Don't get me wrong, as a love interest of Honoria he is more than fine but as an evil overlord, controlling one of the nastiest London districts, he was out of place to say the least of it. He should be a ruthless, cunning, violence-prone bas***d, and he was portrayed as a Mother Theresa wannabie who carries razors and drinks blood. All his thralls love him because he treats them like a cat lover might treat newborn kittens. He's never hurt an innocent in his life (insert a guffaw or two here). All very fine but why actually his ennemies fear him? Because he kills them with kindness? In real life such a tame mobster would be overthrown in a second by one of his closest buddies.

Finally the cover art doesn't work for me either - not even one single moment. If it is supposed to portray Blade and Honoria then I regret to inform you that Blade's hair was light blond or golden even, not dark, and Honoria, being brought up as a lady, would never ever be caught outside in such a vulgar outfit, straight from a house of ill-repute.

Final verdict:

Overall the book was not bad for a debut but, as it was definitely more paranormal romance or alternate history fantasy than steampunk, I felt a bit cheated. I don't like being cheated. Oh well. I bought it cheap. ;p

Review: Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity 01) by Justina Robson

Book info:

Genre: Cyberpunk/Sci-Fi/Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Form: pdf format
Target audience: adults

Synopsis:

Welcome to a new world, in the aftermath of the Quantum Bomb. After ‘the explosion at the Superconducting Supercollider in Texas, at some point in the Lost Year, 2015, scientists discovered a hole in the fabric of spacetime over the blast site.’ The blast brought at least five other realities into contact with Earth (now called Otopia): ‘Zoomenon, the realm of the Elements’; ‘Alfheim,’ the elves’ world; ‘Demonia,’ self-explanatory (‘The demons are, like the elves, life-forms which appear adept in magic’); ‘Faery,’ very ancient, & with a ‘long association with certain regions of the Earth over the more interesting parts of human history’; & ‘Thanatopia’ an ‘unlikely place … bound tightly to the I-space continuum’ (to ‘cross into Thanatopia requires death and return is not possible to those not greatly skilled in necromancy’).

Lila Amanda Black is hired as a bodyguard of a rock star, Zal Ahriman, the lead singer of The No Shows. Lila is not your average muscle woman - she is a bionic hybrid, something like a cross between Robocop, a bakugan and a human being. In a diplomatic mission gone wrong in Alfheim she was tortured to near death, turning her into a cyborg was her only chance of survival. Now what was left of her body is meshed with carbon, metal alloy machinery and an AI system, supporting her brain. Zal is also not your average rock star - he is an Elf which has been adopted (?) by a family of Demons and decided to make a career in Otopia, a very original and rather unheard-of move. Now somebody seems to be very keen on murdering him for reason or reasons unknown. Will Lila manage to save him and her own sanity, which is rather quite a challenge  taking her past into account? What will she discover about herself? Despite her best efforts, some Elf agents manage to kidnap Zal back into Alfheim, where an Elf Queen seeks to create a spell that will once again seal her world off from all the others, in order to preserve its purity. Lila will face plenty of challenges in order to prevent the worst. Some of them will surprise even her AI self.

What I liked:

The world building was great- well tought-out and intricate, exactly as I like. I adored the  concept of mixing high tech (cyberpunk) with Faery, other lands and their magic - it was perhaps not exactly new but was executed in a fresh, intelligent way. Also the descriptions of Elves and Demons sometimes made me want to grab a pencil or felt-tips and draw.

The main heroine was your ordinary girl closed in an artificial body but with old problems (do I look hot?) and old questions (does anybody consider me hot?). Still I liked her unique way of dealing with them - when she gets into Combat Standard it seems nothing matters anymore. She matches well Zal who is a bit of a mystery at first, an elf who has chosen to defy his people and "go native" in another world, exiled and persecuted because of his career. His character is rather complex and undefinable because he has decided to change into a hybrid of a kind - half Elf, half Demon, with some very human sense of humour and a penchant for human pop music.

What I didn't like:

I admit it felt like a romance novel in disguise from time to time. For a cyborg freak-girl, Lila had surprisingly a lot of sex experiences...well, she was certainly something different but still you would think a machine doesn't have those urges anymore. Her adventures in Alfheim featured some 'jump the shark' moments which are not among my favourite features in any book because they belong to those more silly computer games. Also the novel is guilty of minor infodumps - I suppose it would work for me better if the author spent more time showing how the new technologies worked in practice. However this is just a beginning so I hope the series will get better.Yeah, sometimes I am deluded like that! ;p

Final verdict:

Not bad for a first book. I think I am going to continue the series as I am really curious about the other worlds, not featured in the first installment. Demonia? Hmmm...Anyway if you like to read an action-filled book with a strange heroine in a strange world this series might be right down your alley.

Movie review: Bernie directed by Richard Linklater

Directed By: Richard Linklater
Written By: Richard Linklater

Genre: Criminal comedy ? 

Release date: 2012

Cast: 

Bernie:Jack Black

Danny Buck: Mathew McConaughey

Marjoire Nugent: Shirley McLaine

Synopsis:

In the tiny, rural town of Carthage, TX, Bernie Tiede, an assistant funeral home director, was one of the most beloved residents, the backbone of the whole little community. He taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Apart from that Bernie was a perfectionist in every element of his life, a devoutly religious, tightly-wound man of impeccable manners. Everyone loved and appreciated him, especially elderly widows and widowers he used to visit and comfort after funerals. Although he wasn't paid for doing so he simply thought it was the right thing to do, he could do it so he did it, no strings attached. But the Devil never sleeps and you are never completely safe, especially from your own little urges. Or so say the Scriptures.

It came as no surprise that Bernie befriended Marjorie Nugent, an affluent widow and a woman well known for her sour attitude towards pretty much everybody. It was a surprise, though, that soon enough those two so very different people became inseparable. Marjorie simply didn't want to let Bernie go. The poor man moved in with her, as she owed a big mansion and her family didn't want to share it with such a hag. They frequently traveled abroad, to Europe and to Egypt, always first class; after some time Bernie even started to manage her financial affairs. Marjorie made it worthwhile for him and she quickly became fully dependent on Bernie and his generosity. Still her demands were increasing almost as fast. One day Marjorie disappeared. Bernie continued to handle her affairs, claiming that she had a stroke and was recovering in one of sanatoriums. After nine months the people of Carthage were shocked when it was reported that Marjorie Nugent had been dead, and Bernie Tiede was being charged with the murder. 

My impressions:

'Bernie" is a pleasant little movie about an 'accidental' murderer. Based on a 1998 magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth (who co-wrote the screenplay with Linklater) and peppered with interview snippets from real people who knew Bernie Tiede, the film often plays like a dramatised documentary about a man who should have gotten away with murder but, unfortunately, didn't. Yes, unfortunately - you read it right. Watching this amazing, true tale unfold is in fact one of the great joys of this flick. Let me just tell you that rarely on film you are able to get a portrait of  a community captured so wholeheartedly. While there are a multitude of ‘redneck’ moments that make you laugh, these people are also capable of breathtaking kindness – Linklater obviously has a huge amount of sympathy for his subjects.

Jack Black is phenomenal in the titular role. He delivers a lovable, highly nuanced portrayal of a man who is hard not to feel sympathy for, even if it does grind against your conscience after a while. He makes Bernie a sweet, kind man who believes in God, welcomes Jesus as his personal saviour and just wants to make life better for everyone around him. But, unfortunately, Satan is always lurking at the corner so (spoiler, highlight to read) one day Bernie shots his patroness, the cruel, selfish Marjorie, in the back four times in a fit of powerless rage. No, he is not one of these types who plan a murder with cold blood and execute it flawlessly. In the end Bernie is as shocked at his own behavior as everyone else. He also tries to 'atone' for his sin, givng away a lot of Marjorie's money while (another juicy spoiler, you know how to proceed) keeping her body in a freezer which proves that either he wasn't such a good Christian he pretended to be or he didn't understand a word from his Bible.

MacLaine, meanwhile, is a coiled ball of bad vibes as Nugent, and yet she exudes small traces of humanity beneath her stern veneer that hints at loss and loneliness. Watching her treat Bernie as if he was her personal slave you might start wondering why that man tolerated it so long but the director provides an easy and believable explanation - loneliness, once again (Bernie doesn't have a family of his own which is a bit surprising when you come to think about it) and a golden collar. After a while even such a man like him (or maybe especially a man like him, with plenty of inhibited urges hidden behind a pleasant front) can't imagine a life without a small private plane or ski jet, a fleet of cars and a pampered treatment at different luxurious resorts. The riches become his hangman's noose which he puts around his sturdy neck very willingly, trading money for more approval and more recognition that he craved so much and more comfort. Every good man deserves some degree of comfort, right?

Observing the whole process was a joy and also a great argument against greed delivered without giving heavy-handed sermons.

Final verdict

"Bernie' isn't a monumental or a scenic film, but it is a finely tuned character study with some nice innovations. Personally I liked it very much. I suppose the key to the Linklater's success with Bernie,  isn't only the director's empathy for each and every character involved in this story, but also his willingness to present them as honestly as possible, flaws and all, without any judgmental commentary.

Review: Chasing Magic (Downside Ghosts 05) by Stacia Kane

Book info:
Form: pdf format
Genre: urban fantasy + romance
Target audience: adults only

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Magic-wielding Churchwitch and secret addict Chess Putnam knows better than anyone just how high a price people are willing to pay for a chemical rush. But when someone with money to burn and a penchant for black magic starts tampering with Downside’s drug supply, Chess realizes that the unlucky customers are paying with their souls—and taking the innocent with them, as the magic-infused speed compels them to kill in the most gruesome ways possible.

As if the streets weren’t scary enough, the looming war between the two men in her life explodes, taking even more casualties and putting Chess squarely in the middle. Downside could become a literal ghost town if Chess doesn’t find a way to stop both the war and the dark wave of death-magic, and the only way to do that is to use both her addiction and her power to enter the spell and chase the magic all the way back to its malevolent source. Too bad that doing so will probably kill Chess—if the war doesn’t first destroy the man who’s become her reason for living.

What I liked:

Once again it was a very entertaining, highly readable installment. Book 5 in the Downside Ghosts series moves at a great pace, with the action revolving around tainted drugs and an army of ghost-infused junkie zombies. Awesome :) The last 25% of the plot is a constant rush.

Chess and Terrible's relationship is developing just fine, thank you very much. Of course Chess is insecure like hell and Terrible is a tad too jealous for his own good but overall I am not tired by them, not yet.Thankfully, Terrible and Chess haven't turned into the one of those boring book couples like Cat/Bones, Mercy/Adam amd Sookie/Eric.There is a strong focus on their relationship throughout the story. Working together, you get to see the respect, pride and absolute trust that they have for each other. Lex is an annoying piece of gangster crap but I hope he'll stay that way because I wouldn't like to see any evil love triangles, nuh huh.

What's more, Chess is one of the most unlikely heroines you will ever read about in any sort of romance, not just urban fantasy. She’s a liar, a cheat, a junkie. She’s arrogant, stubborn, impulsive, and full of self-loathing and self-sabotage. She just can't cope with bad (and most good) feelings so she turns to drugs to block everything out. She might annoy you from time to time but she'll never bore you.

What really makes this series, however, is Ms. Kane’s ability to make the reader actually care what happens to all of her characters. It’s not just Chess, and Terrible, and for some readers, Lex and Blue. It’s the Elders, Bump, even some of the minor characters that we meet in pipe rooms and back alleys.

What I didn't like:

It seems the Church won't see any honest-to-gods competition any time soon and I do lament that fact. I am also not very satisfied with Chess's opponents - so far all of them have been a bunch of evil losers who had dabbled in dark magic because they were power-crazy, greedy b******s. A nice, three-dimensional baddie, somebody for whom you might feel a tiny amount of sympahty, would really make me happier. Bump? Are you ready for your new role? I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Apart from that let me tell you just this: after five installments full of Cesaria's adventures in the Downside Wonderland I feel it's time to change the formula a bit because it is getting old. In every book there was plenty of trouble occurring in Downside, and of course Chess was expected to solve any magical issues that had arised, and of course they somehow affected her legitimate working life not to mention her pill-taking habits.I suppose it's high time for some real problems catching up with our girl. I hope Chess will at least realize that her drug addiction, getting worse and worse, is something which has been steadily ruining her life. The most epic battles usually you fight with yourself and let me tell you, dear Cesaria, I suppose your turn has come.

Final verdict:

A great UF series but I think being on the brink of changing, for better or for worse.I cannot wait for book six to come out but it might be the last one  to be read by me. I hope for the best of course, I have a feeling Ms Kane is going to a certain direction with Chess' development and I like that heroine and these books, I really do. Still there comes a point where it gets just a little bit dull and if it doesn't change soon I might ditch Chess after all.

Movie review: The Cabin in the Woods by Drew Goddard

Directed by Drew Goddard
Genre: Mystery and suspense horror
Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard

Cast:
Dana: Kristen Connolly
Jules: Ana Hutchinson
Holden: Jesse Williams
Curt: Chris Hemsworth
Marty: Fran Kranz



Synopsis:

Five college students, Dana, Jules, Holden, Curt and Marty, want to spend a weekend far from the civilised world, in the middle of nowhere. Curt's cousin owes a cabin in the woods near a small lake which seems like a perfect location. They arrive there, explore the old building and find a creepy basement with all kinds of 'toys', a hand-written diary among them. When Dana reads some Latin verses from it she seals their destiny. Bad things are going to happen soon and they've just chosen how they are going to die. Or maybe not?

My impressions:

This is a movie best seen with a minimum of foreknowledge, so I'll try to spoil as little as possible while explaining why I liked this one.

First of all there are two interwoven narratives taking place simultaneously: the one in the woods with the kids goofing around and another, at a secret bunker of the military-industrial complex, where two beleaguered company men, along with a large cadre of technicians, accountants, interns, and various other drones, are hard at work, doing—well, something spooky and definitely secret, perhaps even illegal. Soon enough you are not sure whether the whole premise is a practical joke, invented by some goverment people, or something more sinister.

 It is obvious Whedon and Goddard revel in toying with audience expectation, messing with archetypes, taking genres, chewing them up (while biting that tongue in their cheeks) then spitting them back out again in some glisteningly new form. For the most part it’s a hoot, tailor-made for those out there who like to whoop at the kills rather than vicariously drench themselves in primal terror and gore. The dialogue is sharp, poking good-natured fun at horror traditions with a twist. I admit that the spooky underground corridors, chilly vision of the future and skilful blending of horror with social comment recall a bit Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Now about the ending. The Cabin In The Woods ends up as the more biting satire on the entertainment industry, man’s appetite for violence and older people’s love-hate relationship with youth. Let me also assure you that I’m not spoiling anything by saying that. It’s clear from very early on that our two boffins are desensitised workers in an entertainment machine that regards human life as something that can be cavalierly ended in order to appease the audience.Who and what that audience is, the movie leaves teasingly uncertain until a big guest star cameo reveals all — but it may not be the answer you’re expecting.

Final verdict:

Is The Cabin in the Woods a great film? Of course not. But it is a devilishly cunning entertainment, being about 20-30 IQ points brighter than you expect it to be, a fun ride to an unknown direction. It’s much cleverer and more mature than The Hunger Games, but it’s about very similar things. If you want to enjoy it, though, DO NOT watch the trailer (that's why I don't publish one here.)

Ashes of Honor (October Daye 06) by Seanan McGuire

Book info:
Form: pdf
Genre: UF
Target audience: older YA and adults

Other parts in this series:

• Rosemary and Rue (October Daye, Book 1)
• A Local Habitation (October Daye, Book 2)
• An Artificial Night (October Daye, Book 3)
• Late Eclipses (October Daye, Book 4)
• One Salt Sea ( An October Daye Novel, Book 5)
• Ashes of Honor (An October Daye Novel, Book 6)

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

It’s been almost a year since October “Toby” Daye averted a war, gave up a county, and suffered personal losses that have left her wishing for a good day’s sleep. She’s tried to focus on her responsibilities—training Quentin, upholding her position as Sylvester’s knight, and paying the bills—but she can’t help feeling like her world is crumbling around her, and her increasingly reckless behavior is beginning to worry even her staunchest supporters.

To make matters worse, Toby’s just been asked to find another missing child…only this time it’s the changeling daughter of her fellow knight, Etienne, who didn’t even know he was a father until the girl went missing. Her name is Chelsea. She’s a teleporter, like her father. She’s also the kind of changeling the old stories warn about, the ones with all the strength and none of the control. She’s opening doors that were never meant to be opened, releasing dangers that were sealed away centuries before—and there’s a good chance she could destroy Faerie if she isn’t stopped.

Now Toby must find Chelsea before time runs out, racing against an unknown deadline and through unknown worlds as she and her allies try to avert disaster. But danger is also stirring in the Court of Cats, and Tybalt may need Toby’s help with the biggest challenge he’s ever faced.

Toby thought the last year was bad. She has no idea.

What I liked: 

I've always liked the fae from Irish and, more generally, Celtic mythology and Seanan McGuire can write about them like few other authors. You know, she can create the right atmosphere.  No matter whether October fights her opponents, falls in love with Tybalt or recovers from heavy blood loss she is always a little bit out of this world. Which makes her unique.

The plot this time was a little more easy to follow but still the book remained a page-turner, to be devoured in one evening. We deal here with another missing child; a changeling teleporter who is not aware of her potential but eager to explore it. Which is doubly problematic since Toby can't exactly follow a teleporter around and the girl must be stopped before she does some serious damage to the fairy lands. That's when it helps to have friends in high places, such as the Luidaeg, a  Sea Witch who can make a spell for almost any occasion, or a King of Cats who can travel through the shadows, which is almost the same thing as teleporting, but significantly more uncomfortable for a non-Caith Sidhe like Toby.

The best bits for me in this book were seeing the character developments. It's been a year since the last book (in Toby time as well as our time), and much has changed: Quentin, who's around 18 now, is growing up fast. May is becoming more and more like the twin sister people think she is. The Luidaeg still hasn't killed Toby and it seems she won't be willing to do so, no matter the circumstances. And maybe, just maybe, Tybalt doesn't 'dislike' our heroine as much as she once  believed.

What I didn't like:

In this part the author first introduces a certain kind of goblin  fruit which is like a drug to all fae, changelings and humans; then there are no consequences. I wonder what happened: a sudden change in the plot or just a bit of info which might be useful later? Anyway it sounded off - I waited and waited for the said fruit to be mentioned again, in vain.  I admit I also didn't get the meaning of the title. Ashes? What ashes? Of whose honour? Ok, maybe I am not exactly sharp after this year's Christmas but I really think the title needs some explaining...

Apart from that the fact that the author and/or the editor want to make every single installment a stand-alone started to grate on me a bit. You see, in almost every chapter you find those annoying infodumps - small but still noticeable. Let's face it, after six books the info becomes more and more repetitive, especially if you, like me, are a faithful fan so you've read every single one of them. Would it be so difficult to include a synopsis as an introduction - to be skipped or read according to your particular needs?

Finally my last carping. Toby is a nice enough character, but I think she spends  too much time almost dead and having her friends rescue her and patch her up. It is hardly realistic . I know heroes are supposed to get hurt and overcome it, but they shouldn't get their ass handed to them in *every* fight and in every installment. Not to mention the fact that even the biggest heroes need some downtime to recover, think about their lives, clean the flat, go shopping, if only online, and do normal, day-to-day  stuff. I do hope such moments will be awarded to Toby in the near future.

Final verdict:

The whole series is far from perfect but the main heroine makes it worth reading anyway. Now more than ever October Daye ranks as a nuanced, fascinating fictional character. She is independed, she kicks butt in her unique way and the fae world building is really fantastic. It was satisfying to see October and Tybalt getting what they really want, and there was some progress made towards the deeper mysteries of the series.

Silent Sunday - Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebote

Movie review: Haywire directed by Steven Sodenbergh

Directed by Steven Sodenbergh
Written by Lem Dobbs
Genre: action-packed thriller 

Cast: 
Mallory Kane: Gina Karano
Kenneth Jay, Mallory's boss: Evan McGregor
Aaron Henry: Channing Tatum
Olivier Coblenz: Michael Douglas
Paul (MI6 agent) Michael Fassbender


Synopsis:

A guy called Aaron walks into a roadside diner in upstate New York and smacks the living daylights out of a woman named Mallory Kane. Mallory is not one to be beaten around by anybody though - she turns the table and after a few spectacular kicks her opponent is left immobile on the floor and she is escaping with another guy who very chivalrously decided to intervene on her behalf. Now he is in for a treat - Mallory is telling him her story so far, while screeching and careening through the snow. Then the local police catch up with them, then the FBI guys who prove not to be the FBI at all and Mallory is given plenty of opportunities to shoot, kill, maim and punch guys around her. What she does with gusto.

Cut to Washington, D.C., where Kenneth, Mallory's boss, is instructed by US senator Coblenz to eliminate the two-fisted Mallory. Flashback even further to Barcelona, where she and Aaron were once lovers on a hostage-rescue mission, before she discovered she was marked for assassination. In Dublin, while tracking down a Chinese nationalist, she poses as the wife of another secret agent, played by gym-pumped Michael Fassbender with typical out-of-the-shower, tight-towel nakedness. Instead of taking her to bed he tries to take her out. In retaliation, she chokes him with her well-muscled thighs (really next to her Michael looks... puny) and fires a bullet through his handsome head, so conveniently hidden under a pillow so the fans of Mr. Fassbender don't mind so much.

Trying to figure out why she’s been betrayed, she turns into a rogue agent and goes viral, throwing herself off rooftops, smashing through plate-glass windows, leaping from one building to another, bouncing off walls and kicking a lot of groins. It all ends up back in the present, at the elegant New Mexico home of her father, a former Marine turned best-selling author. Surprise! The anonymous killers and thugs show up immediately after Mallory and there’s more fighting to come as she demolishes a lot of beautiful furniture and marvelous architecture, heading for one last showdown with one final master criminal (Antonio Banderas, almost unrecognizable behind a bushy mouse-gray beard).The end.

My impressions:

My first unconnected thought was: what has Mr. Soderbergh paid or promised to so many current and former alpha males to persuade them to take part and make fools of themselves in this flop? They are wasting their time, but, boy, do we need them. My second more connected thought: you don't have to be very brainy to realize early that nobody connected with Haywire had any interest in coherent narrative filmmaking. The movie is nothing more than a locker-room joke. Nothing resembling plot, character development or a star-making career move of any kind is anywhere apparent. I would call it a string of well-orchestrated martial art scenes, nothing more.

Lem Dobbs has streamlined the script into a more or less basic revenge tale—with elements of an international spy thriller—that’s written within Carano’s range and hits action beats with satisfying regularity. It’s his and Soderbergh’s idea of lizard-brain entertainment, and its pleasures are remarkably distilled. In truth, Haywire is simply a delivery system for ass-kickings, calibrated to the specific talents of Gina Carano, a former mixed-martial-arts star and American Gladiator whose fists (and feet) of fury can rattle skulls and cave in chests. I admit it was a pleasure to watch a woman who actually knows how to throw a punch instead of crappy fighters like Jolie - Carano is hot and able to kick most guys asses - but without any logic and character development you get bored with her character after a while. Could Carano carry a movie that required more nuanced acting than this one does? Hard to say. Perhaps with a better script and another director...

Final verdict:

The whole point of this time-wasting movie seems to prove that women can punch, kick, slash, burn, maim and kill just like men—and make bad movies that are just as stupid. Mr. Soderbergh I liked Erin Brockovitch, so much but now I think it was a fluke, never to be repeated. Please prove me wrong!

Review: Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts 01) by Stacia Kane

Book info:
Form: pdf
Genre: urban fantasy
Target audience: adults

Synopsis: 

“And the living prayed to their gods and begged for rescue from the armies of the dead, and there was no answer. For there are no gods.”

—The Book of Truth, Origins, Article 12

Welcome to a kind of dystopic America with no God or gods but one Church of Real Truth – the only organization that can protect you against ghosts of the deceased which can appear out of nowhere and kill you. Cesaria Putnam also known as Chess is one of the Churchwitches who specializes in debunking – sending unruly ghosts to where they belong, using psychopomps. It is a dangerous job which doesn’t pay well but when you are an orphan coming from a seedy part of Triumph City such a position might be your only hope to survive and to forget; that and drugs of course.

Chess is into drugs big time – she keeps swallowing or sniffing all those Cepts, Nips and Pandas which help her to cope with the ugliness of her everyday life. Small wonder soon enough she becomes dependent on the local drug lord, Bump. Like any thug, Bump has his own plans concerning Chess - he wants to use her supernatural talents in order to open his own private airport which has been supposedly haunted. If Chess manages to tether the unruly ghosts, allegedly appearing at that place, and send them where they belong her debt will be paid in full and she will have a free access to Bump’s drugs. It seems to be a proposition you cannot refuse if you want to do business with Bump any longer.

Chess accompanied by Bump’s scary chief enforcer, Terrible, goes meekly to the said deserted airport only to discover that something more sinister than a ghost might be lurking there – she senses the traces of forbidden, black magic. Will she be strong enough to face it? Will it interfere with her day job? What about her forced deal with another drug lord, a dangerously handsome man called Alex, who doesn’t want Bump to have a private airport? Who can she trust and why Terrible, known for his ruthlessness, is being so kind all of a sudden?

What I liked:

I liked Chess – mainly because she thought and acted like a real, three-dimensional person not like a Disney princess. Yes, she made mistakes, yes, she was addicted to those wretched pills, yes, she lied and cheated and committed so many crimes, mainly against herself but you could understand her and see her problems. Of course you might argue that it was done so many times - a girl with difficult past trying to forget - but I still felt Chess was different, more insecure and edgy. What’s more, despite her blues she was sarcastic most of the time, never whining about her rather grim childhood and her demanding job (unless suffering from withdrawal of course ;p).. For example while dealing with a rich snob in a suburban neighbourhood she thinks to herself:

“If Mrs. Morton would stop verbally jacking off her husband and son, this would all be done so much more quickly but then Chess figured it was just about the only sex the woman got. ”

I really liked Terrible for roughly the same reasons plus a less than pretty face and his vile reputation. Surprisingly his actions and personality, which is being revealed so very slowly and with utmost care by the author, make him a very hot male specimen. That’s rare and it was beautifully done, I only hope it will continue. Of course he and Chess are at the beginning of a very bumpy road to true love, trust, commitment and comprehension but I hope they will reach their destination more or less unscathed.

Now the world building – it was original and clever. One and the only Church which exists and supplants others just because it can deal with the ghost problem is something that makes you think ‘danger’ even if you didn’t know anything else. The quotes from official ‘holly texts’, some funny, some slightly paranoiac, added to the feeling of one big dystopian accident waiting to happen. For example this:

“There is much humanity cannot comprehend. The Church comprehends for you.”

Creepy thought control? Welcome to the brave new world…What’s more the Church is one of the main employers as it hires people to fill a variety of positions. There are Elders, what we nowadays would call spiritual leaders, there are Goodys, some kind of helpers for more menial tasks like secretarial or librarian work, and there are Debunkers who need to be gifted with magical skills. Will anybody dare to fight such an organization? I truly hope so.

What I didn’t like:

The baddies could have been a little bit more complex, not just so relentlessly evil.I do hope the Church will be forced to face a bit of fair competition.

The street slang used by Bump and other Downsiders sometimes grated on my nerves. After a while all those ‘yay’, ‘aye’ ‘dig’ ‘wanna’, ‘watcha’ used indiscriminately in any sentence slowed down my reading and I didn’t want to slow down. Of course you might argue that it was a great language for the world of crime and vice and I agree – it was as dark and nasty as everything in the Downside. Still there were moments when I felt there was too much of it.

Final verdict:

If you are into Urban Fantasy with truly original world building and a dynamic plot  it is one of those books you should read. Add to that gritty, real-life, flawed characters and you get a series which might be addictive.I was very pleasantly surprised how much I liked it and now I want more.

January - Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

January, not December was a month of gift giving and, apparently, Jean de Berry enjoyed giving and receiving; Paul de Limbourg and his brothers used to participate in the festivities, presenting the prince with an object worthy of their artistry and also looking for inspirations.

The Duke sits at his table in a striking blue robe decorated with gold fleurs de lys - indicating his support for the French monarchy. You can see some of the wealthy friends of the Duke de Berry bringing new year's gifts to their lord. Behind him the blaze of a large fire in the monumental fireplace is guarded by a wickerwork screen. Above the fireplace rises a red silk canopy bearing the Duke's heraldic motifs: golden fleurs-de-lys, strewn on a blue ground. Wounded swans and bears symbolize the Duke's love for a lady called Ursine. Tapestries hanging behind the canopy depict knights emerging from a fortified castle to confront the enemy; the few decipherable words of the poetry inscribed at the top of the tapestries seem to indicate a representation of the Trojan War as imagined in medieval France -  the knights fight dressed in medieval armour. It might also be a reference to the war which was currently being fought against King Henry V of England who defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

The table is covered with a damask cloth and laid with platters, plates, and a beautiful gold saltcellar in the shape of a ship, which is referred to in the inventories as the "salière du pavillon. " Behind him and to the right are two young men wearing black head gear who may be the Limbourg brothers who painted these scenes under the patronage of the Duke de Berry. One of them casually leans on the back of the Duke's chair. The atmosphere seems to be rather informal and pleasant, far from rigid restrictions of the royal courts. It conveys a feeling that Duke's courtiers and subjects were also his friends.

A prelate with sparse white hair and a purple coat sits on the Duke's right, thanking him for this honor. He is probably a close friend, Martin Gouge, Bishop of Chartres, who shared the Duke's love of beautiful books. Behind him several figures are seen entering and stretching their hands toward the fire; the chamberlain encourages them, saying "Approche approche!" "Come in, come in ! "The Duke's little dogs wander freely among the dishes and are generously fed. A cup-bearer, a pantler, and a carver, busy waiting on table in front of the officers of the ducal court, complete this lively tableau which recreates a familiar scene from the life at the aristocratic court of Jean de Berry.