So I’ve just back from two weeks in sunny North Devon, well sunny for most of the time, this is Britain after all. Forgetting the 800+ comment spams I received in my absence (I have got to do something about that), it was an enjoyable holiday in a beautiful part of the English countryside. Of course, just because I was returning to my Neanderthal roots, camping and all, doesn’t mean I couldn’t bring a bit of entertainment with me. Movies, books and a laptop make the free time much more enjoyable than just sunbathing (or sitting in a tent listening to the rain). So here is my review of all that I took on holiday, and if you want to actually see what I did then just check out my flickr sets (almost 250 photos).
Movies
Two dozen DVDs. When they’re on a shelf they don’t seem to take up that much space. Put ’em in a bag however and they soon take up much of the available room. Enter a CD wallet I totally forgot I had, used for old PSone games. That, coupled with a few ripped movies and I had all the films I could want to watch. Naturally I had to bring some of my sisters’ movies along (the new Charlie & the Chocolate Factory which is absolute detritus) to please her. Five of these movies I hadn’t watched before, so here they are, with my opinion on each.
Inside Man
For a film about bank robberies, hostage taking and action this film was surprisingly boring. The ‘master plan’ feels overly clichéd and predictable and even the ending was weak, with its cliff-hanger-wannabee style. The entire Nazi blood-money plot suffers from a serious lack of thought and the film leaves you wishing you’d spent the time listening to the rain instead. My rating: 43%.
V for Vendetta
Ah, one of my favourite films when I went to see it at the cinema (yes I have seen this one before, but I never got around to reviewing it). Unlike Jeremy I’ve never read the novels it’s based off of, but still this film is simply brilliant. The plot, acting, dialogue, camera work, everything sparkles as if this film just knows it stands head and shoulders above all the other crap coming out of Hollywood. This has to be one of this years must see movies. My rating: 97%.
Final Destination 3
Allow me to make an observation about Hollywood and American TV in general. If a movie or series makes money, the studio will make a sequel. And if that makes money, even not as much, they’ll make another. Brilliant you say, until that is they run out of storylines and start dredging the bottom of the barrel for ideas to try and keep the series alive. Thus, I give you the third final destination film and this time they are really struggling. I loved the original final destination, it was brilliant, not only in concept but execution. The second, though not as good in my opinion, tied in very well with the idea of a ripple. The third film? Nothing, no relevance to the prequels apart from a few nods back to the original. The entire idea of a plot seems to have been excused in favour of gory and more violent deaths. And hey, you might say, the deaths are what make final destination what it is. So weird and unexpected. Well yes, I’d have to agree, they are good, but they are not the only things holding up the film. I don’t care how violently someone dies if there is no reason for a certain action. Maybe I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent, but my sister rightly pointed out one very serious flaw in the entire plot. As anyone who has seen the trailer will guess, the ‘big dream coming true part’ is the rollercoaster crash in this film. However, if the characters responsible for the crash get off (namely the big black dude and the perv with the camera), then how come the thing still crashes in the same way?! Hollywood wouldn’t care because people would go to see it anyway, but I seriously doubt there will be a fourth film now. My rating: 27%.
The Descent
August last year I went to see the Cave with my cousin at a late showing. In one simple word it was crap. It had Hollywood written all over it with a rubbish ending just begging for a sequel that will hopefully never be made. After reading Jasons’ review on The Descent I got it to see the difference for myself. Boy, was there a difference. The Descent is scary, it has all the same features that made Dog Soldiers such a good film only transplanted to an utterly claustrophobic underground environment. I will say only this, get this film along with V for Vendetta. My rating: 93%.
Walk The Line
Admittedly not mine, this film tells the life story of Johnny Cash, one of the best musicians in modern history. Joaquin Phoenix does an excellent job as Cash, actually singing all the songs. The only omission in my opinion is the ending which glosses over the last 35 years of Cash’s life. Admittedly it is a very delicate subject, but perhaps a final rendition of Hurt (his last and my favourite song) could have been flitted in. A very touching film for those who have heard the man or not. My rating: 86%.
Books
I’ve always enjoyed a good read. Some preach about how games can create a living breathing world, but in my humble opinion, books are still the daddy, creating entire worlds better than any 3D engine. I bought two books off Amazon a week before I left, but ended up reading one before I even left. Thank goodness for Tescos then (cheaper than Amazon as well).
Pandemic – James Barrington
680 pages and I read it in a week, that should give you some idea as to how good a book this is. Spies, action and a neat plot combine to make this a decent rival to any Bond novel. Although the end is a bit overblown (I won’t ruin it by revealing what the virus is, but it is a tad illogical) the story barrels along at a breakneck speed with many differing storylines converging into a final showdown. My rating: 81%.
Total Control – David Baldacci
I picked this one purely because of Amazon Recommendations. The story is very slow, especially compared to other recent reads. The characters are portrayed very well, something missing from Pandemic, and you definitely get a sense of what Sidney Archer is going through. The plot is really at the heart of this story, constantly making you guess at just who blew up the plane and what they were trying to achieve. The ending feels unnatural in that the characters portrayed throughout seem to have a sudden change of heart, however it all seems to come together eventually. My rating: 77%.
The Camel Club – David Baldacci
Another Baldacci I know, but when I saw it in Tescos I figured why not, seeing as how much I liked the first one. The scope of this book is definitely very different dealing with the President right down to the lowly protestors camped outside the White House. Again, Baldacci portrays the characters very well, and once again the ending seems to distort these portrayals. Why he does this I don’t know, but it does seem to work at some level. The plot is a lot thicker in this book, the main conspirators are defined early on as they plan their attack yet you don’t fully know their motivations, the relationship between the Camel Club members is touched upon to highlight their individual natures and the eventual goal of the terrorists, or not as they may seem, are both shocking and unusual yet they strangely begin to make sense in our current state of political affairs. My rating: 83%.
Forever Odd – Dean Koontz
Its been a while since I last read a Koontz book, namely Velocity (96%), so I picked this short little tale up on a whim. I love Koontzs’ writing style, both darkly witty and yet packed with little anecdotes, that I immediately felt comfortable with Forever Odd, however I felt this book was missing something. It felt as if the plot went from beginning to end without ever passing through a middle. Perhaps it’s the fact that this is a sequel to a book I haven’t read, but still, it shouldn’t feel this short. This book feels like the amount of time that passes, namely only a few hours, events happen too quickly, things flash past so quickly that you barely have a chance to register them. Maybe next time I’ll get the original and see if that is better as this isn’t Koontz at his best. My rating: 68%.
Gadgets
You can take the man out of the computer, but you can’t take the computer out of the man. Or something like that. There was no way I could spend two weeks without any electronics, loss of Internet was bad enough.
Apple iPod
Yes I know I didn’t mention it before, but I sold my Archos after two weeks because I just couldn’t take the interface. A stiff little scroll button and a hideously slow and ugly display made me more than willing to pay a bit more and get an iPod. I know sell out, but I just like the way they work. Why I didn’t get one in the first place I’ll never know. Amway, back on track. Loaded up with all my songs (sidenote: I absolutely fucking hate iTunes, how people can give it good praise I have no idea. It is slow, counter-inuitive and just plain annoying. Winamp Forever.) I must of played around 4,000 songs in two weeks alone, courtesy of the huge stretches of road between anywhere interesting in Devon. Also worth mentioning is the car charger I got of a mate, damn near invaluable when in the car.
Sony DSC-W15
This camera is absolute crap. A measly 3x optical zoom, terrible camera shake even when resting on something and the most confusing array of options ever on the top. What ever happened to turning a camera on, pointing and clicking. I took over a thousand pictures over the holiday, about half of them were passable. I’m no professional photographer, but then again a mid-priced camera should still be able to take decent shots.
Umberleigh Campsite
Small. That’s the first word that comes to mind. The last campsite I stayed at was not huge by most standards, but you could still cycle round in about twenty minutes. This site, a single road taking about a minute. Maybe that’s why I only did 40 miles this year compared to my average hundred plus. The scenery was nice, the stars bright, but I wouldn’t choose it again. Oh, and the RAF flying planes over mid-morning doesn’t help.
Fin
Overall, it was a nice holiday, relaxing yet stimulating. To all those in the UK who go abroad, why not take a look around your own country for a bit. It was 30ºC or hotter for almost the entire two weeks apart from a few cloudy days. And to those thinking of coming to Britain, do so. Man, I sound like a travel rep. On with the rest of my holiday, for when I return it is on to my A2 levels and final year of school.
