The Shining (1977)

The Shining (1977)

Author: Stephen King |  Page Count: 512

'A shaft of light coming from another room, the bathroom, harsh white light and a word flickering on and off in the medicine cabinet mirror like a red eye, REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM— '

The Overlook Hotel, aptly named in more ways than one, has an attic filled with memories and a basement filled with recorded history, printed and imprinted, patiently waiting to be rediscovered.

Sandwiched between the two catalysts are the guest rooms, impersonal spaces haunted by deeds more permanent than the people that temporarily occupied them. They say every hotel has its ghosts, but the Overlook's are more active than most other places.

As struggling writer Jack Torrance receives the details of his winter assignment at the Overlook, the reader gets a detailed rundown of the building, albeit from a biased perspective. It's an efficient device that also gives us our first insight into Jack's thought process. He's a quick-tempered, ex-alcoholic who's seriously lacking in paternal skills.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Dir. Nicholas Meyer

While TNG was kicking ass on TV, TOS returned to the big screen for one last old-crew hurrah.

And it went out in style. From the dramatic opening to the bitter-sweet ending it rarely puts a booted-foot wrong. I don't understand why it so often gets overlooked by many people.

Writer/Director Nicholas Meyer, having co-worked on the screenplays of II and IV, did the same for VI but took the helm as director, too.

Thematically, the end product is darker than Star Trek often dared to go. The optimism is still evident but it's bullied by heavy political issues, prejudices and ingrained racism, all of which are dissected and put under a microscope.

The Unwritten: Volume 05 (2012)

On to Genesis (2012)

Author: Mike Carey | Illustrator: Peter Gross | Page Count: 144

"There was a woman I loved, once. And she died. I have no idea when that happened. If it ever did."

Tom Taylor has uncovered a small part of his past and is beginning to understand the nature and power of 'the source'. But there's a second, more personal question still unanswered: who or what actually is Tom Taylor?

The concatenation of mysterious events that have led him to where he is now, in NY, hunted by the Cabal, stretches back further than he ever thought (or feared).

In order to progress further, Tom, with help from his two travelling companions, must learn more about his father, the author Wilson Taylor, a man for whom Tom has very mixed feelings. They say the best way to truly understand a man is to walk in his shoes, an action that for Wilson's son isn't an impossible thing to do literally.

Track 29 (1988)

Track 29 (1988)

Dir. Nicolas Roeg

A remake of Dennis Potter's Schmoedipus (1974) episode of Play for Today (S4, Ep 20) that falls under a weight of clashing styles; i.e. besides a few successful explosive moments Roeg's dramatic beat clashes with Potter's lyrical approach to the same subject matter.

The film is nicely assembled, but the moments that should be deeply felt are staged more as moments to be viewed when put through Roeg's lens. The emotional strain just isn't presented well enough to make the overplayed characters fully engage our sympathies, even though at least one of them is fully deserving.

Personally, I feel that Potter's 'visitation dramas' work best when made on a smaller scale with a more stage-like presence.

Playing With Power: Nintendo NES Classics (2016)

Playing With Power:

Nintendo NES Classics (2016)

Authors: Garitt Rocha / Nick von Esmarch | Page Count: 320

'If you imagine the Game Pak as a cook book, the CPU would be the cook who follows the instructions — for every dish in the book at the same time.'

The best thing about Playing With Power is its presentation, specifically the hardcover edition (214 x 291 mm) that fits snugly inside a sturdy embossed slipcase that is itself designed to look like an oversized classic NES Game Pak. It's clever and it's beautiful. The paperback is much less interesting.

The editorial content of both, on the other hand, is as flimsy as the cardboard box that an original NES Game Pak would've been housed in when bought.

Some of it is reprint from old issues of Nintendo Power magazine. I know a lot of video game fans in America have a great nostalgia for NP, but it's not a publication that I ever even saw as a kid living in the UK. Therefore, I don't have the rose-tinted glasses that would be needed to fully enjoy it. From an objective PoV, the writing isn’t very good, even when taking into consideration that it seems to be tailored primarily for a teenage audience.

ICO: Melody in the Mist (2002)

ICO: Melody in the Mist (2002)

Composed by Michiru Ōshima and Pentagon

The ICO score is just over twenty-five minutes in length, but during that time it encapsulates almost as many different emotional states as the game itself gives rise to while playing.

Some of the incidental music is so brief that it seems as if the lingering aspect you'd normally expect to have actually becomes the whole, but it's never cursory or perfunctory.

Other parts of it are so perfect, so refined, that making them longer couldn't increase their beauty, it would merely increase the duration.

As a whole, it's a gathering of musical moments ranging from serene, ethereal, forebodingly eerie and haunting to ultimately peaceful, filled with hope. That's a lot of ground for something that's only as long as my bus journey into town.

The HAMMER Collection: Part 2 of 3 (1966-68)

The HAMMER Collection:
DVD Box Set - Part 2 of 3 (1966-68)

A twenty-one disc DVD box set containing some of the best and worst films that the legendary HAMMER studio made before it succumbed to financial trouble and was forced to put away the costumes and close its doors.

I'm splitting the collection into three parts with seven films apiece and in chronological order.

That's not the order they're arranged in the box, but it makes sense to me, more so than the unusual order they're presented in the actual collection, and means that the post for each of the three parts will be roughly equal in size.

Thoughts on the second lot of seven films can be found below the cut. Part 1 of the collection can be found HERE, while Part 3 is HERE.