I'm a Cyborg, But That's Ok is an unconventional love story.
It’s set in a Korean mental institute as it follows Young-goon, a young woman who refuses to eat, instead opting to be ‘charged up’ from licking batteries. She converses with lights, clocks and vending machines and take daily guidance from radio broadcasts. This is all because Young-goon believes herself to be a robot.

The film introduces you to the other patients of the institution and their psychotic conditions as Young-goon settles into her institutionalised lifestyle with the nurses who seem to have as little clue about the realities of life as the inmates.

Flash backs from Young-goons earlier life show how she was raised by her grandmother who was one day carted off to a mental leaving behind her false teeth. Ever since, Young-goon has vowed to return them to her so that she will again be able to eat her favourite pickled radish.

The film centres on Young-goon’s need to eliminate all of her human emotions, which are the 7 deadly sins of the Cyborg world in order to kill all of the ‘White-uns’ and uphold her promise to her Granny.

In order to remove feelings such as guilt and sympathy Young-goon asks Park Il-soon, a psychopathic thief to steal them from her.
As he begins his observations of her he is amazed to feel, for the very first time stirrings of compassion and concern for another being from within himself.

I found this film to be very different from any others of Chan-wook Park. Essentially it is a light and warm hearted romance, but more in the vein of his other works this storyline is also multi faceted and original in it’s approach, dealing with an ultra heightened sense of our everyday human emotions.

This film is the saving grace for all students studying the play for their GCSE Shakespearian English paper. Pumping rampant life into what is often perceived as a tired old verse.

Everyone knows the age old story of ill fated love on the wrong side of the tracks, but this film spot on translates it into a modern context whereby the language barrier that exists for many just dissipates, as the talents and vibrancy of the cast render it invisible.
The cinematography is stark and contrasting in its hard edge to the unduely rose-tinted tale.

The soundtrack of contemporary, adapted and remixed songs adds yet another unexpected dimension of enjoyment to revel in.

The young cast rise to fill the big shoes laid out before them and the script flows like songs from their lips. The passion they display and the earnest portrayal of their emotions make my heart scream out to the two idiotic, lust filled youngsters each time, but alas head strong they are and to their deaths they run, and of course;

'The course of true love never did run smooth'

A marmite of a film, but I do love it.

Whether it is true to the gritty, depressing heart of life or actively trying to be shocking in its use of language and relational interactions it manages to be much more fresh, original and funny than any other mainstream film I have seen at the cinema in a long time.

The plot revolves around middle-class, but not quite middle aged professionals that you are openly invited to hate as you watch their twisted lies and egos rip apart the lives of those they love most before they in turn are crushed under the falling of their own self esteem.

The films boasts a great cast who do a fantastic job of painting these delightful everyday villains, almost like they too may have had a little too much practise.

Filled with dark comedy, some intelligent twists and well constructed and developed characters it is an enjoyable trip into the world of betrayal, begging the question how much can you trust your nearest and dearest...?

Thankfully come the end of the film, one can switch off and if all else fails stroke the cat.

Spanning over the course of one single night in the vibrant, neon lit city of Tokyo. The lives of several young adults, each coming to grips with their impending choices for the future, intertwine.

The story is laid out in chronological chunks throughout the night, with each characters tale taking up previous left off to resume their own separate agenda.

Murakami again shows his strength and individuality as a writer in the details. Excelling in his delicate descriptions and casual interjections that make his work such a pleasure to read. Whilst simultaneously weaving together several fragments of seemingly unconnected storyline, cumulating in the final scene.

The reader is given the view point of a floating camera, being the silent observer within the unfolding series of events that pass. Weaving in and out the characters lives as a stealthy shadow observing what takes place as a passive force.

Right from the off, I felt that this novel was written in a different style to those I have previously read, but that of course could be due to the difference in translator.

It lacks that fantastical magical element that I felt was so evidently present in 'Kafka on the Shore' and 'Hard Boiled and The End of The World'.
Replaced instead by a gritty sense of urgency and heavy foreboding.
The novel unfolds like a detective story, offering voyeuristic snippets of clues that I at times felt uncomfortable to be privy to, not because of their graphic content but because of the underlying sense of unease and invasion of their right to privacy.

In conclusion, 'After Dark' takes a slightly different 'off branching' from Murakami's previous works.
But none the less proves to be a poignant and thrilling journey into his ever surreal and pop cultured but now also current, grounded and under bellied Japanese world.

I reluctantly watched this film with my brother, expecting it to be a vain attempt at a Kung Fu comedy. How wrong I was...

The storyline opens with a young man (Sing) who is determined to bring the importance of Kung Fu to the public’s attention, with every novel idea, including dance routines and songs, he fails.
Sing involves himself in a fight, where he single handedly quashes a gang who offend his Shaolin master.

Fung a retired and lucked out star football player, watches his impressive victory and offers to train Sing, using his devastating kick, to become the world’s number one football striker. Realising that this might be the perfect opportunity to show the practicality of Kung Fu he readily accepts the offer.
The duo then attempt to round up Sing’s old Kung Fu partners to form an unstoppable football team.

The team initially face little opposition, pummelling their opponents with their excessively outrageous acrobatic football skills.
Of course the road to victory is never smooth and soon a worthy challenge and matters of love present insurmountable obstacles.

The plausibility of this storyline is of course utterly outrageous but thoroughly enjoyable, as its special effects are surprisingly elegant and technical and well used.

Its structure, to me seems to contain remnants of ancient wise fables, competently updated and modified for an original and contemporary story. Its characters are heart-warmingly sincere and unique.

There is also a love interest that isn’t overtly ‘mushy’ and distracting from the main story line, but rather it compliments it, running alongside and helping to create the wealth of deeper meaning and substance that makes this film so much more than the action comedy I expected.

‘When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere’

I’m not one for normally remembering quotes but this one has stuck in my head.
Used in the opening sentences it perfectly sets up the tone for the rest of the book; an eerie misplaced and hauntingly plausible and uncanny dystopian epic.

Set in an undetermined date, man has begun to dabble with genetic modifications. The result, 10 foot high plants with extendable stingers capable of instantly killing a man with one blow.
These vegetative beasts can uproot and mobilise themselves before sinking back in their roots.
Thankfully man has rendered them harmless by regularly trimming their stingers, and most are contained within controlled research labs.

For one man (Bill Masen) fate intervenes in, when as researcher on these plants a worker gets some of their venom in his eyes and is rendered incapacitated and blind under heavy bandaging for weeks.

One morning, waking in the hospital ( on the day of his un-bandaging) Bill is overcome with the feeling that all is not as it should be. He lies still in his hospital bed trying to swallow the growing fear of uncertainty and unease within him. What ensues is his firsthand account of the unfolding of what emerges to be a worldwide disaster.

Unkempt and without humans to maintain the order of the Triffids their species now holds the advantage over the blind fumbling survivors around them. They are quick off the mark and soon beginning to feed off of the rotting corpses littering the streets.


In this novel you truly find out if ‘The one-eyed man will be King in the country of the blind’. Or if all humanity is destined to fall against the background of an increasingly wild landscape and social chaos.

Wyndham perfectly delves into the human psyche. Discussing the rationalities of fear and morality that the survivors have to adjust to within their new world.
The key success of this story for me was that it was always one step ahead.

Often I have felt disappointed by apocalyptic storylines as they try to second guess what their heroes would do and how they manage to survive whilst explaining the process of events that lead up to the disaster. In these books I have often found plot holes or solutions long before the protagonist which has left me feeling completely unsatisfied.

This book has none of those irritating little ‘nit bits’ and is beautifully filmic in its descriptions and realistic in its problems and obstacles. It kept me guessing and uncertain to their outcome right to the last line whilst simultaneously avoiding all common clichés of this genre.

My number one apocalyptic dystopian novel and storyline to date!
9/10

I have always idolised this film. I watched it as a child with jealousy, desperately wishing I was one of Kate Winslet’s children in the tale. The film follows them growing up in exotic India, experiencing everyday adventures and encountering mysterious people at every turn. I think it fuelled my young ideals of a happy life far away and my early love of Kate Winslet.

The film is narrated by the youngest daughter of a young mother, who estranged from her husband is unhappy with the grind of her life in England. She simply scraps together her savings, up-sticks and decides to relocate in India. The film is colourful and beautiful depicting the contrast of childhood innocence and naivety against that of their mother as they explore and become accustomed to a strange new land.

The originality of this film comes from the narrative and viewpoint of the daughters who are far more level headed and realistic than their flighty romanticised mother. They begrudgingly follow their mother around disliking their Nomadic lifestyle and craving stability and some consistency in their lives.

The film offers an interesting insight into family relations and growing up, as a young woman tries to provide a better life for her children according to her own desires. She instead becomes faced with the reality and irresponsibility of her actions.
Still, it’s a childhood I remain convinced I would have revelled in and loved every moment of.

I've wanted to see this film for ages, I have to say I was bitterly disappointed.
I had heard it was powerful, thought provoking and moving. Unfortunately I was left feeling angry at the overstated racial conflicts which are thrown into your face. Almost as if it had to be reinforced enough for fear of the audience ‘not quite getting it’. The film characters are explored by showing interlinking clips of their lives. By which the director thought that by connecting all of these hate filled hypocrites together the viewer will be convinced that the message is deep and clever.

The tag lie far the film is 'You think you know who you are. You have no idea.' Which is basically the synopsis of the whole film.
It follows a bunch of L.A cops around looking at their daily encounters and the civilians and criminals they come across. Just when you think there is someone likeable in the film they too fall prey to acting on racial stereotypes and prejudices, and vice versa those who are outwardly racist redeem themselves with outstanding acts of valour

If this films message was toned down and if it felt like it was trying less it would have been great and I feel would have had a genuinely powerful message. As it was, it left nothing to the imagination and I felt unable to identify or empathise with a single character, thus I felt little more than let down.

I think that taking into consideration the fact that D.H Lawrence wanted to call this book Tenderness bodes well for what sentiments he originally intended top portray with this novel.

The book focuses on a young, strong minded and educated woman named Constance who marries her intellectual companion just before the first world war. Unfortunately he returns to her a cripple and embarrassed by himself retires to a life spent a genius recluse. Bound by her sense of wifely duty and her intellectual connection to her husband Constance busies herself about the house relishing rare visits from guests, but ultimately becomes bored, trapped and isolated.

As her frustration builds with her situation in life and with her husband she realizes that no one can live solely by the mind, that to live you have to be physically alive.
In a desperate attempt to save herself she falls for the charms of a family friend who offers her what her husband has never been able to and an alternative source of mental. This relationship soon too turns out to be unreal and Constance’s only hope is to seek solace outside, in the nature and life around their grounds.
That is until she meets the cold and reproachful game keeper Mellors.

This book is filled with moral and social dilemmas and the problems of conscience and duty. Set against a time of massive social, technological and political upheaval.

The characters wrestle with fears of their country’s future as much as their own. The whole book is beautifully crafted and a pleasure to read as its poetry paints vivid pictures.
The quips are quick and quirky and never to be outdated.

‘"And I'm going to marry. Oh, yes, I must marry."

"It sounds like going to have your tonsils cut," laughed Connie. "Will it be an effort?"’

The feelings both for and of the characters are genuine and sensitive, a real achievement for a man of that period in time, who himself didn’t have the best luck with women.

If you’re going to read a classic, make it this one.

A good little animation bringing together Japanese animé and hip-hop music.

Fantastic stylised graphics and soundtrack by RZA accompany a bloodthirsty tale of revenge as a young boy is orphaned, vowing revenge for his assassinated father. He grows up nurturing an afro of immense proportions, wielding a samurai sword longer than you and a bad-ass attitude to match.
Driven by the single vision of becoming the number one samurai and literally cutting down all who stand in his way.
It was lots of fun with original death sequences stacking up along the way.

Unlike some of the other animé stories I have seen it managed to remain comprehensible throughout and followed a logical sequence of events.

The only let down for me was regrettably the character of Samuel L. J. as Afro samurai's companion, he tagged along in a manner very reminiscent of that of Donkey in Shrek, and became a slight annoyance with his repetitive nature of dialogue. 'Nah bro, you don't want to be doing that, you really don't to
want to be doing that. Watch it! He abouts to bust a two-sword move on you!'

All in all good bloody fun.