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Reviews Written By: A39W3263A9HCMN

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	Shutter Island: A Novel
	"One bloody page turner"	2009-09-29
A mental asylum can be an unpleasant place to investigate a disappearance, and for Edward "Teddy" Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US Marshals, this proves to be rightfully so as they track down the disappearance of Rachel Solando. Dennis Lehane crafts one of the most intense and amazing suspense novels of all time with "Shutter Island, his 2005 mystery set in the 1950s that has recently been turned into a movie with Leo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. Having read the book, I must say I am excited to see this movie, and dunno why Paramount took that d--k move in delaying the movie until Febuary. With how scary and challenging the book is, this would make one hell of an october scare at the cinema. Dennis Lehane proved that he was no flash in the pan with his previous novel, "Mystic River". Mystic River was a complex and challenging piece that is definitely hard to enjoy with how close to real life it is, and it was a hit with me. Shutter island takes place in 1954. Edward "Teddy" Daniels and Chuck Aule are two US marshals visiting a mental asylum on an island with crappy weather called "Shutter Island". On this island, it is said that a mentally insane murderess named Rachel Solando has escaped. Daniels and Aule are assigned by the head of the asylum, Cawley, to find Mrs. Solando and help them solitarily confine her. However, the downside is- a hurricane is to strike the island, and Daniels begins experiencing a series of strange events, ones only he can solve. Make no mistake, Lehane has done it again with this masterful piece. Taking more of a horror/mystery direction, Shutter Island is suspenseful from beginning to end, and never lets up. It has one of the most shocking twists I've ever read- once it comes, you won't believe what just hit you. And that ending... what an ending. Lehane is a masterful author, and proves so with his amazing effort, Shutter Island. I can't wait for Scorcese's adaptation in 2010! He brilliantly adapted The Last Temptation of Christ, so I assume he'll make an amazing movie of Shutter island!
	Shutter Island
	"One bloody page turner"	2009-09-29
A mental asylum can be an unpleasant place to investigate a disappearance, and for Edward "Teddy" Daniels and Chuck Aule, two US Marshals, this proves to be rightfully so as they track down the disappearance of Rachel Solando. Dennis Lehane crafts one of the most intense and amazing suspense novels of all time with "Shutter Island, his 2005 mystery set in the 1950s that has recently been turned into a movie with Leo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. Having read the book, I must say I am excited to see this movie, and dunno why Paramount took that d--k move in delaying the movie until Febuary. With how scary and challenging the book is, this would make one hell of an october scare at the cinema. Dennis Lehane proved that he was no flash in the pan with his previous novel, "Mystic River". Mystic River was a complex and challenging piece that is definitely hard to enjoy with how close to real life it is, and it was a hit with me. Shutter island takes place in 1954. Edward "Teddy" Daniels and Chuck Aule are two US marshals visiting a mental asylum on an island with crappy weather called "Shutter Island". On this island, it is said that a mentally insane murderess named Rachel Solando has escaped. Daniels and Aule are assigned by the head of the asylum, Cawley, to find Mrs. Solando and help them solitarily confine her. However, the downside is- a hurricane is to strike the island, and Daniels begins experiencing a series of strange events, ones only he can solve. Make no mistake, Lehane has done it again with this masterful piece. Taking more of a horror/mystery direction, Shutter Island is suspenseful from beginning to end, and never lets up. It has one of the most shocking twists I've ever read- once it comes, you won't believe what just hit you. And that ending... what an ending. Lehane is a masterful author, and proves so with his amazing effort, Shutter Island. I can't wait for Scorcese's adaptation in 2010! He brilliantly adapted The Last Temptation of Christ, so I assume he'll make an amazing movie of Shutter island!
	Muse - Origin of Symmetry (Enhanced)
	"Amazing album from the British Art-Rockers"	2009-09-21
Origin of Symmetry is Muse's second album, and probably my favorite of theirs. As I type this right now, I am scrolling through and looking at the negative reviews. One says that Bellamy's voice is "rubbish", and that "he wants to be Jeff Buckley". I don't see the resemblance- the falsetto is just Bellamy's style. And that said, I think Bellamy has one of the best singing voices of recent times. Origin of Symmetry is definitely Muse at their peak, beginning with "New Born", which begins with a nightmarish piano riff you'd hate to hear in the dark while you're trying to sleep. Then more piano kicks in and Bellamy's soft vocals just help the song drift off. Then a totally [...] guitar riff kicks in and the band just explodes, the song soon turns into a kick-in-the-teeth metal song. Then the second track, "Bliss", which is Muse's best song, begins with a dreamy keyboard riff that makes you think of an island somewhere far away, then the rest of the band kick in and give us 4 minutes of pure kickass. "Hyper Music" cuts away from the soft, dreamy intros and just explodes into a great metal track. Song number 5, "Plug in Baby", is one of the best tracks on the album, and one of their biggest tracks ever. Sure the title is enough to make you cringe (to the point where your muscles tension up) but aside from the lame title, it's one hell of a rocker. "Micro Cuts" is Queen-esque Muse at work, and is just enough to make you claim this as their best album. THeir cover of "Feeling Good" is great too, and even makes an appearance in the recent Will Smith movie Seven Pounds. In short, this may be their best album, and is totally an example of why, as the other reviewer says, "Art Rock Lives".
	Muse - Origin of Symmetry
	"Amazing album from the British Art-Rockers"	2009-09-21
Origin of Symmetry is Muse's second album, and probably my favorite of theirs. As I type this right now, I am scrolling through and looking at the negative reviews. One says that Bellamy's voice is "rubbish", and that "he wants to be Jeff Buckley". I don't see the resemblance- the falsetto is just Bellamy's style. And that said, I think Bellamy has one of the best singing voices of recent times. Origin of Symmetry is definitely Muse at their peak, beginning with "New Born", which begins with a nightmarish piano riff you'd hate to hear in the dark while you're trying to sleep. Then more piano kicks in and Bellamy's soft vocals just help the song drift off. Then a totally [...] guitar riff kicks in and the band just explodes, the song soon turns into a kick-in-the-teeth metal song. Then the second track, "Bliss", which is Muse's best song, begins with a dreamy keyboard riff that makes you think of an island somewhere far away, then the rest of the band kick in and give us 4 minutes of pure kickass. "Hyper Music" cuts away from the soft, dreamy intros and just explodes into a great metal track. Song number 5, "Plug in Baby", is one of the best tracks on the album, and one of their biggest tracks ever. Sure the title is enough to make you cringe (to the point where your muscles tension up) but aside from the lame title, it's one hell of a rocker. "Micro Cuts" is Queen-esque Muse at work, and is just enough to make you claim this as their best album. THeir cover of "Feeling Good" is great too, and even makes an appearance in the recent Will Smith movie Seven Pounds. In short, this may be their best album, and is totally an example of why, as the other reviewer says, "Art Rock Lives".
	Pippin
	"Great show, mediocre adaptation"	2009-09-18
My school is currently doing the production of the show "Pippin" as our 2008/09 season play this year. Now I am fortunate enough to have seen a video of a professional production floating around on the internet somewhere, and it was really well done. Then I saw this movie... I'll break down this version of the movie. THE GOOD: We have a version of Pippin out on DVD finally. Ben Vereen is in it and gives a very good performance, after all he IS the Leading Player, nobody else can hold a candle to him. The set is FANTASTIC, Most of the cast are really good (William Katt ESPECIALLY), and not to mention this video was shot in Canada! THE BAD: Several songs are cut down here. For example, half of Spread A Little Sunshine is cut out, therefore making it confusing to anyone who has not seen the show on stage already or have had any experience with Pippin whatsoever. The second (and most essential) verse of "War Is A Science" is out, "Glory" is extremely missed opportunity. The slow-mo battle scene is cut out! This isn't no G-rated happy-go-lucky play. And What happened to I Guess I'll Miss The Man??? Pacing problems also ensue; some fast songs are too slow, some slow songs are too fast (Simple Joys is ruined by this), and the cast seems to be rushing it at times, as if they have somewhere to be after the show. EVerybody, even the incomparable Ben Vereen is guilty of this (Glory is a sign of this). And the final line (cutting out "But Happy") is a total WTF moment. THE UNFORGIVABLE: THe social Commentary/political overtones of the show are missing, and elements like Pippin not being used to life are gone and replaced with happy-go-lucky family version themes. This is a show that kids shouldn't watch. And the band of players didn't really come off to me as creepy, not to mention as much as Ben Vereen is an amazing actor and singer, he seems to be a tad psycho in the last 20 minutes. I felt like I was watching a demented lunatic serial killer have a freakout. Martha Raye's performance was PATHETIC (what's with the microphone????), and the guy who plays Charlamagne YELLS a lot, which did get on my nerves after a while. At times I wondered if Fosse even saw a production of the original production. Lastly, the camerawork is not the best- the audience shots on "No Time at All" make me cringe. THe blame for this falls squarely at the feet of Bob Fosse, who apparently had the wrong ideas. In short, I give this 3 stars for Ben Vereen and William Katt, and the sets. I'd say purchase it, despite its flaws, because this is the best version we'll currently get on DVD.
	Beatles - Help! [UK]
	"Making history all over again"	2009-09-13
Wow, I can't believe for the first time ever, I'm writing a review of a CD BASED on the remastering. Earlier on Tuesday, The Beatles' entire catalog was re-released on CD, with new remasters by George Martin from the original tapes. Painstakingly remastered, they are now released in new digipack cases with booklets with exclusive photos and notes. First off, about the album itself, this is my favorite Beatles album right next to Revolver. All the songs are excellent. We have the catchy opener "Help!", the Ringo-sung "Act Naturally", hits like "Ticket to Ride" and McCartney's signature tune "Yesterday", the tongue-in-cheek "You Like Me Too Much" and the extremely catchy "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". As for the remaster... HOLY FRIG! Seriously, this is the best version of the album. I had the 1990 release for a short time, but today I bought this and Sgt. Pepper. This remaster is, in every sense of the word, amazing. We have much clearer sound, no tape hiss at all like on the 1990 version, Paul's Rickenbacker bass really sticks out and thanks to this amazing remaster. These editions are to the Beatles what the 1998 remasters are to my favorite band, Iron Maiden. The booklet is interesting too. One can expect lots of on-location photos since a movie was released from this album. And there are- quite a few screencaps actually, especially one of RIngo standing covered in blood in the water on a beach in the Bahamas. Having seen all episodes of the "The Beatles ANthology" Documentary miniseries, (I think it was) Ringo said that it was freezing cold down there, and they had to wear T-shirts as if it was extremely hot. I can imagine how hard it was to film that! (Apparently the shooting of the finale of "Ichi the Killer" on the climatic rooftop scene at the end had the same thing- extremely cold) The photos have subtitles desribing when and where the pictures were taken. There are also some historical notes on the album which are interesting to read, and a brief insight into the recording of the album from Mr. George Martin himself. In short, even if you already own the entire Beatles catalogue, do not hesitate to buy the remasters, you will not believe your ears.
	Muse - Showbiz
	"This is how Muse used to sound??????"	2009-09-11
Needless to say I like Muse a lot, they're my 3rd favorite band, and I had only 2 albums, Black Holes and Absolution, before buying this. Anyways, I picked this up the other day, because I was curious to hear Muse's debut. It's not a bad album... it's not much of an album really, it's more of a taste of things to come than anything. I like "Muscle Museum", "Unintended", "Hate This and I'll Love You" and "Sober". The rest is all... ehhh to me. That said I can excuse that. This was their first album and they were still searching for that sound. Needless to say, Origin of Symmetry is a better album and has their best track, "New Born", which was used at the end of "Haute Tension".
	Equilibrium
	"Great action, awesome visuals, bad characters, non-existent story, rushed movie"	2009-09-07
Since this movie had so many rave reviews and quite a few friends of mine were telling me about how awesome it is, I decided to rent this movie because, for one, I love Christian Bale. I became a fan after seeing him in Newsies, which, while being a so-so movie at best, was worth it for Bale alone. Who thought he could sing very well? He was also in American Psycho, and a few other movies that I love. ALso, I love action movies, I'm a huge fan of dystopian stories and It seemed very matrix-ish. Let's get right down to the good: The action scenes are incredible. Some of the best I've seen in any movie. In fact, they alone save the movie from being downright awful. The action at the end was awesome too, and it was well shot and edited. No shaky camera, no rapid edits, the viewer can tell what's going on in the scenes. Also, no speed ups or slow motion, it's raw and down to earth. As for the visuals- the movie was shot on a very low budget, but even then they look great. The dystopian look really enhances the dark tones of the movie. Bale gives a great performance here, this is one of his better performances. However, that can't save the movie from being confusing and disjointed. The plot is really hard to follow. I had no idea what was going on, and at times it tried to echo The Matrix. Part of the reason The Matrix kicks serious ass is because the way it was done was incredible- when I watched the Matrix for the first time I was blown away, and I had not seen a movie like it. In fact, maybe had I not seen The Matrix before seeing Equilibrium, I might have liked Equilibrium more. Also, as much as I love the action scenes, at the same time I was wondering how it was possible that Bale's character had God like powers. The Matrix's scenes were more realistic in the sense that you knew why Neo had these godlike powers. Equilibrium offers no explanation, instead we're left wondering what the reasoning behind all of this is. Another negative point is the characters. None of the characters seemed to catch my attention at all. I personally couldn't care less if Bale died or not, and are we really supposed to feel sorry for Watson's character? I was just glad I didn't have to watch her anymore. As for Bale's character's kids, they were pointless and were out of place with the plot. Especially the son. In fact, when I saw that he was dressed like Bale, I laughed out loud. As for his acting, he sounded like he was reading off a teleprompter. Most of his dialogue was just him giving plot points away. In short, this movie is really a mixed bag. When it's good, it's good, but when it's bad, it's downright awful.
	Equilibrium
	"Great action, awesome visuals, bad characters, non-existent story, rushed movie"	2009-09-07
Since this movie had so many rave reviews and quite a few friends of mine were telling me about how awesome it is, I decided to rent this movie because, for one, I love Christian Bale. I became a fan after seeing him in Newsies, which, while being a so-so movie at best, was worth it for Bale alone. Who thought he could sing very well? He was also in American Psycho, and a few other movies that I love. ALso, I love action movies, I'm a huge fan of dystopian stories and It seemed very matrix-ish. Let's get right down to the good: The action scenes are incredible. Some of the best I've seen in any movie. In fact, they alone save the movie from being downright awful. The action at the end was awesome too, and it was well shot and edited. No shaky camera, no rapid edits, the viewer can tell what's going on in the scenes. Also, no speed ups or slow motion, it's raw and down to earth. As for the visuals- the movie was shot on a very low budget, but even then they look great. The dystopian look really enhances the dark tones of the movie. Bale gives a great performance here, this is one of his better performances. However, that can't save the movie from being confusing and disjointed. The plot is really hard to follow. I had no idea what was going on, and at times it tried to echo The Matrix. Part of the reason The Matrix kicks serious ass is because the way it was done was incredible- when I watched the Matrix for the first time I was blown away, and I had not seen a movie like it. In fact, maybe had I not seen The Matrix before seeing Equilibrium, I might have liked Equilibrium more. Also, as much as I love the action scenes, at the same time I was wondering how it was possible that Bale's character had God like powers. The Matrix's scenes were more realistic in the sense that you knew why Neo had these godlike powers. Equilibrium offers no explanation, instead we're left wondering what the reasoning behind all of this is. Another negative point is the characters. None of the characters seemed to catch my attention at all. I personally couldn't care less if Bale died or not, and are we really supposed to feel sorry for Watson's character? I was just glad I didn't have to watch her anymore. As for Bale's character's kids, they were pointless and were out of place with the plot. Especially the son. In fact, when I saw that he was dressed like Bale, I laughed out loud. As for his acting, he sounded like he was reading off a teleprompter. Most of his dialogue was just him giving plot points away. In short, this movie is really a mixed bag. When it's good, it's good, but when it's bad, it's downright awful.
	Eragon
	"How is this book popular?"	2009-09-05
I, for one, was incredibly disappointed with this book. Let me start by saying that I love Fantasy novels, while I'm no nerd, they're fun to read. And not to mention the fact that this book was written when Paolini was just 15 is pretty cool, although I did take that into effect. Now I'm sorry if this is a TL;DR review, but there's so much wrong with this book that it's hard to condense into a short review. I read this long before the movie came out (and take into effect- the movie was not much better). Everybody was telling me that this book was the next best thing since sliced bread. So I read it. And WHOA, I was shocked at all the good press it was getting. This book is ridiculous. It's so over the top it's almost a parody of books of its kind. It's almost like a 500 page fanfiction. For one, he may only have been 15 at the time of writing. But that does not excuse the poor writing. Sometimes, Paolini will say something, take one word from it and then use a sentence that's totally pointless and irrelevant. It's distracting and extremely retarded. I've read Harry Potter fanfictions that are much better written than this garbage. Also, the battle scenes are poorly written. THey look like they written by an 8 year old. And Typos! Don't forget the bloody typos either. This book is full of them. And my "hair blowing in the wind" count went up to 50 before I gave up counting. As others have mentioned, Paolini rips off several sources, most notably LOTR and The Wheel of Time Books, despite WoT not being well written either (except at least the first three books were good). Paolini seems to have watched the LOTR movies countless times for the dialogue. And this book is so SLOOOOOOW!!!! And you thought the Twilight and Dexter books were slow. No, this one is way slower. The action hardly happens at all. Everything is so wrong with this book. And the characters are even more facepalm inducing. Eragon is pretty much a whiny emo for most of the book, Brom is annoying and full of himself. The rest... ugh. Now I know you fanboys/girls will flame my review for hating this book. "He was only 15" is no excuse, no matter how old he is should not justify how bad this book is. "He was INSPIRED, not ripping off" is a bad excuse either. This book is a ripoff of every fantasy book ever written. So go ahead and flame me for hating this garbage, but be warned, it's not like I'll care.
	Eragon
	"How is this book popular?"	2009-09-05
I, for one, was incredibly disappointed with this book. Let me start by saying that I love Fantasy novels, while I'm no nerd, they're fun to read. And not to mention the fact that this book was written when Paolini was just 15 is pretty cool, although I did take that into effect. Now I'm sorry if this is a TL;DR review, but there's so much wrong with this book that it's hard to condense into a short review. I read this long before the movie came out (and take into effect- the movie was not much better). Everybody was telling me that this book was the next best thing since sliced bread. So I read it. And WHOA, I was shocked at all the good press it was getting. This book is ridiculous. It's so over the top it's almost a parody of books of its kind. It's almost like a 500 page fanfiction. For one, he may only have been 15 at the time of writing. But that does not excuse the poor writing. Sometimes, Paolini will say something, take one word from it and then use a sentence that's totally pointless and irrelevant. It's distracting and extremely retarded. I've read Harry Potter fanfictions that are much better written than this garbage. Also, the battle scenes are poorly written. THey look like they written by an 8 year old. And Typos! Don't forget the bloody typos either. This book is full of them. And my "hair blowing in the wind" count went up to 50 before I gave up counting. As others have mentioned, Paolini rips off several sources, most notably LOTR and The Wheel of Time Books, despite WoT not being well written either (except at least the first three books were good). Paolini seems to have watched the LOTR movies countless times for the dialogue. And this book is so SLOOOOOOW!!!! And you thought the Twilight and Dexter books were slow. No, this one is way slower. The action hardly happens at all. Everything is so wrong with this book. And the characters are even more facepalm inducing. Eragon is pretty much a whiny emo for most of the book, Brom is annoying and full of himself. The rest... ugh. Now I know you fanboys/girls will flame my review for hating this book. "He was only 15" is no excuse, no matter how old he is should not justify how bad this book is. "He was INSPIRED, not ripping off" is a bad excuse either. This book is a ripoff of every fantasy book ever written. So go ahead and flame me for hating this garbage, but be warned, it's not like I'll care.
	Eragon
	"How is this book popular?"	2009-09-05
I, for one, was incredibly disappointed with this book. Let me start by saying that I love Fantasy novels, while I'm no nerd, they're fun to read. And not to mention the fact that this book was written when Paolini was just 15 is pretty cool, although I did take that into effect. Now I'm sorry if this is a TL;DR review, but there's so much wrong with this book that it's hard to condense into a short review. I read this long before the movie came out (and take into effect- the movie was not much better). Everybody was telling me that this book was the next best thing since sliced bread. So I read it. And WHOA, I was shocked at all the good press it was getting. This book is ridiculous. It's so over the top it's almost a parody of books of its kind. It's almost like a 500 page fanfiction. For one, he may only have been 15 at the time of writing. But that does not excuse the poor writing. Sometimes, Paolini will say something, take one word from it and then use a sentence that's totally pointless and irrelevant. It's distracting and extremely retarded. I've read Harry Potter fanfictions that are much better written than this garbage. Also, the battle scenes are poorly written. THey look like they written by an 8 year old. And Typos! Don't forget the bloody typos either. This book is full of them. And my "hair blowing in the wind" count went up to 50 before I gave up counting. As others have mentioned, Paolini rips off several sources, most notably LOTR and The Wheel of Time Books, despite WoT not being well written either (except at least the first three books were good). Paolini seems to have watched the LOTR movies countless times for the dialogue. And this book is so SLOOOOOOW!!!! And you thought the Twilight and Dexter books were slow. No, this one is way slower. The action hardly happens at all. Everything is so wrong with this book. And the characters are even more facepalm inducing. Eragon is pretty much a whiny emo for most of the book, Brom is annoying and full of himself. The rest... ugh. Now I know you fanboys/girls will flame my review for hating this book. "He was only 15" is no excuse, no matter how old he is should not justify how bad this book is. "He was INSPIRED, not ripping off" is a bad excuse either. This book is a ripoff of every fantasy book ever written. So go ahead and flame me for hating this garbage, but be warned, it's not like I'll care.
	Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1)
	"How is this book popular?"	2009-09-05
I, for one, was incredibly disappointed with this book. Let me start by saying that I love Fantasy novels, while I'm no nerd, they're fun to read. And not to mention the fact that this book was written when Paolini was just 15 is pretty cool, although I did take that into effect. Now I'm sorry if this is a TL;DR review, but there's so much wrong with this book that it's hard to condense into a short review. I read this long before the movie came out (and take into effect- the movie was not much better). Everybody was telling me that this book was the next best thing since sliced bread. So I read it. And WHOA, I was shocked at all the good press it was getting. This book is ridiculous. It's so over the top it's almost a parody of books of its kind. It's almost like a 500 page fanfiction. For one, he may only have been 15 at the time of writing. But that does not excuse the poor writing. Sometimes, Paolini will say something, take one word from it and then use a sentence that's totally pointless and irrelevant. It's distracting and extremely retarded. I've read Harry Potter fanfictions that are much better written than this garbage. Also, the battle scenes are poorly written. THey look like they written by an 8 year old. And Typos! Don't forget the bloody typos either. This book is full of them. And my "hair blowing in the wind" count went up to 50 before I gave up counting. As others have mentioned, Paolini rips off several sources, most notably LOTR and The Wheel of Time Books, despite WoT not being well written either (except at least the first three books were good). Paolini seems to have watched the LOTR movies countless times for the dialogue. And this book is so SLOOOOOOW!!!! And you thought the Twilight and Dexter books were slow. No, this one is way slower. The action hardly happens at all. Everything is so wrong with this book. And the characters are even more facepalm inducing. Eragon is pretty much a whiny emo for most of the book, Brom is annoying and full of himself. The rest... ugh. Now I know you fanboys/girls will flame my review for hating this book. "He was only 15" is no excuse, no matter how old he is should not justify how bad this book is. "He was INSPIRED, not ripping off" is a bad excuse either. This book is a ripoff of every fantasy book ever written. So go ahead and flame me for hating this garbage, but be warned, it's not like I'll care.
	Goal: The Dream Begins (Blu-ray)
	"I'm not gonna lie- this is one of my favorite movies"	2009-08-29
So yeah, a story simple as simple can get- a man dreams of being a soccer player, and is one day offered a chance by a major to go to England to join a major soccer team. No kidding that's basically the plot of the whole thing. So yeah, it's gonna be a crappy soccer movie, right? That's basically my thoughts before watching this movie. Boy, am I ever pissed at myself to this day for thinking that. This movie was a PROFOUNDLY amazing movie on every level. I wasn't expecting The Godfather, and normally I'm not a fan of sports movies. But watching this movie, I was so surprised at how much I liked it. It take a plot that would normally be considered simple and turns it into something complex and surprisingly really great. One would not expect a good movie at all watching it, but they would be surprised as hell at how well done it is. Ever since his childhood days in Mexico, Santiago Munez has had one dream- playing soccer. One night, his family sneaks across the border into California, where he has two jobs- one as a chef in a Chinese restaurant and one as a gardener for his dad. In his time off in the hot California sun, he plays soccer with his mates. That's his passion. His dream is to be a major league soccer player for a soccer team. Putting aside his status as an illegal immigrant, he saves his earnings so he can try out for a major soccer team. Then one day, a man from England sees him playing Soccer. He is impressed at how well Munez plays. After the game, he offers him the chance to go to England and try out for the team. His grandmother encourages thim to ignore his non-believing father and just go, offering him the money. While in the UK, Munez learns that it's not easy being a big-name soccer player. And he learns it the hard way- he has trouble playing in the rain, he has trouble with his severe asthma, and a death in the family causes some drama. This film is of course cliched and predictable- LA is depicted with an orange tint, England is depicted with a rainy, cold washed-out blue tint, the stereotypical characters all come into effect at one point, and the finale is predictable as hell. But the way the movie is done, it's done in a way that you wouldn't care about that- you;d just really be blown away by how amazingly well done it is. And I must say, if this movie doesn't make you wanna go to England, who knows what will. Do not miss this movie, even if you don't like soccer. It is a great movie.
	Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance [Bonus Tracks]
	"The last good Priest album... at least before Painkiller..."	2009-08-24
Let's face it, SFV is the band's last good album before Painkiller arrived. Defenders of the Faith sucked, Turbo was worse, and Ram it Down was the nail in the coffin. Thank god Robby waited at least one more album before leaving... songs like "Electric Eye", "Take These Chains", "Bloodstone" and "You Got Another Thing Comin'" are some of Priest's best songs yet. The bonus tracks are a good addition and in total, this album is a must for any metal fan. I know this review is short, but words are not enough to describe how awesome this album is.
	Darkly Dreaming Dexter
	"Extremely flawed, but good for a rainy day crime read"	2009-08-18
In 2008 I had only recently gotten into the Dexter craze; my cousin-in-law was CRAZY obsessed with the show and lots of my friends were telling me "Dude, you HAVE to see this awesome show called Dexter". So taking their advice, I went and watched the show... I rented the first season from the video store and watched it in a week. After seeing it, I was addicted. Then I went online and watched the entire second season online, and loved it even more. I caught season 3 in it's probably the best yet. This year I decided to go back and buy all three books and read them. I started with this one. If you've seen the show you basically know what to expect: Dexter is a charming young man who works as a blood splatter expert in the Forensics Department of the Miami Police Department. He has a beautiful (but whiny and bitchy as hell) girlfriend named Rita, who was abused in the past by her ex -husband. He was adopted into a family after his parents died, and has a foster sister named Deborah, who is a tough as nails cop. However there's a dark side to Dexy. He's really not who you think he is. He HATES serial killers. And I mean REALLY hates them. As contradictory as it may sound, he IS one. That is... a serial killer who kills only serial killers. He believes in getting rid of bad people. There's this one killer out there, and his name is the Ice Cream Truck killer. He has a vastly unique way of killing people, AND dismembering. He leaves no blood on and/or around the body. It's all cleaned out. He leaves his status cleared so he can't be found or traced by the police. Overall it's an interesting read. Though definitely not as good as the show. While the story is entertaining it's deeply flawed- there a re a few plot holes that could use a bit of filling. Also, the writing is piss poor. Lindsay repeats himself a LOT. Every chapter we get 3 paragraphs where Dexter says that he's emotionally dead inside. Even further, he always spends paragraphs describing things. This could have been 220 pages if it wasn't so slow. But no, Lindsay had to flesh it out with detailed descriptions of things and repeats. In short it's not a bad book, but be warned of the flaws.
	Star Trek (Three-Disc +Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]
	"Who said they don't make 'em like they used to anymore?"	2009-08-01
Now firstly, I was not a Trekkie before seeing this opening weekend at the cinema in Digital projection. However though, the trailer looked amazing, and I remember watching the show on TV on the Space Network every morning before going to school. I also remember dressing up as Data from The Next Generation on TV. Anyways, last night I saw this in a packed cinema with every single seat taken. We had gotten tickets in advance, and got to the theater early. Good thing we did- the lineup was longer than the great wall of China! We were lucky to get good seats too. And boy, we LOVED this movie! Anybody would like this movie, even people who don't like Star Trek. Hell, Even my sister who didn't like the show loved the movie. There were even a lot of non-Trekkies in our theatre, if I had to guess. This movie is a reboot of the franchise, taking us back to the very beginning. We learn the origins of the characters Spock and James Tiberius Kirk, Kirk's bumbling misadventures at the Starfleet Academy, Spock and Kirk's rivalry, the Klingon, and much more. The movie is flat out perfection in every sense of the word. The special effects are excellent, the visuals are breathtaking. Sometimes there are Camera flares (meaning light relecting off the camera), adding to the "beautifully shot" feel of the movie. The action is top notch- The handheld camera adds to the intensity of the scenes (don't worry, the camera doesn't shake all over the place, you can actually see what's going on). There's tons of humor too- Kirk is HILARIOUS, as well as there are tons of hilarious moments in this movie, including Kirk getting all the injections- now that was hilarious! The best thing about the film is the casting- Chris Pine is awesome as Kirk, and is really funny here. I was surprised to find out he played Darwin Tremor in Smokin' Aces too- he was hilarious in that one as well. Karl Urban as McCoy, John Cho as Hikaru Sulu, and the sexy Zoe Saldanha as Uhura is awesome too. Anton Yelchin as Chekov and Simon Pegg as Scotty were hilarious too, Pegg was the PERFECT Scotty. Truly fit the quirkiness of the character. But the real high point of the performances is Zachary Quinto as Spock. He plays Spock perfectly. The look, the tone of voice... he really IS Spock. He makes a lot of Spockish facial expressions throughout too, he's really Nimoy-esque. Speaking of Leonard Nimoy, he's in the movie too! It was a great surprise to see the original Spock. So in short, do NOT miss this while it's in the cinema. Abrams has really nailed it here. Well, I'm now a fan of Star Trek thanks to this movie! People applauded at the cinema when the movie was over. I was one of those people, in fact I even yelled "YEAH!".
	Bruce Dickinson - Tyranny of Souls
	"Good album, but rushed and repetitive"	2009-07-31
Bruce hadn't made a solo album for 7 years before this album got released. 2005, this album got released, and that was also the year Sharon Osbourne showed her true colors as a complete jerk and called Bruce a "Pr-ck" when Maiden were touring with OzzFest. How she could do this to my hero I dunno... DAMN YOU SHARON! YOU SHALL LIVE UNDER THE CURSE OF EDDIE!!!!! I only recently picked this up and listened to it. Personally, I think it's a good album, but that's where it stops. Compared to Accident and Wedding, it's kind of disappointing, really. Shame since this album had so much potential. Also, Maybe I was deceived by the 5 star reviews. Don`t get me wrong, it's good, Bruce is still my hero and my considered to be the best singer ever. But where it falls short is that this album, like another user said, just feels like an album of songs thrown together. Not to mention most of them feel like outtakes from Wedding, minus H. I even read somewhere that Bruce was pretty disappointed with this album too. MARS WITHIN: 10/10: Not much to say, but a creepy and atmospheric intro which leads perfectly into the next track. ABDUCTION: 10/10: Best song the CD, hands down. May be one of Bruce's best, period. SOUL INTRUDERS: 4/10: Has a good intro, then falls flat on its face. Also, the chorus was kinda boring. KILL DEVIL HILL: 7/10: Not a bad song, better than given credit for. Has a sort of epic WW2 feel. NAVIGATE THE SEAS OF THE SUN: 10/10: Beautiful track, and one of the best. If anything, it reminds of being on the beach in Mexico. Would work great in a Pirates movie too. RIVER OF NO RETURN: 5/10: Pretty forgettable, and pretty boring, just trudges along without much feeling. POWER OF THE SUN: 7/10: Amazing chorus, and although I love Bruce and consider him to be the best singer ever and my hero, that intro is just... awkward. DEVIL ON A HOG: 3/10: Would work good on a Foo Fighters album, but maybe not on this. BELIEVIL: 2/10: Every bit as cringe worthy as its title- Dull, boring, hardly gets anywhere. Bruce sounds especially amazing on it though, which saves it from being 0/10. A TYRANNY OF SOULS: 8/10: Pretty good closer. Overall I liked this album, but really, it was pretty disappointing. I know Bruce can do better, as it sounds like he drew songs out of a hat. Bruce, you're still God and you still rock!!!!! UP THE IRONS!!!!
	Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
	"You guys thought Pippin had bad camera work?"	2009-07-19
Well you obviously haven't seen this production of Sweeney Todd! In comparison to this version of Sweeney, Pippin has amazing cinematography. Now yes this is a good musical, yes this is the version with Lansbury and the first version with Hearn. But cinematography wise, this version is a complete train wreck. For one there's too many closeups during the drama scenes, not allowing us to see the rest of the set. As for the far shots and shots from above, they become more of a distraction than anything else. The editing is quite bad too- constant jump cutting, which makes ruins the "filmed at one show" thing. I wish my hair could randomly fix itself without me touching it like Hearn's in "A Little Priest"! Actors' poses change positions, not to mention some songs looked lip synched due to bad production. In short, steer clear of this horrid video, look for a bootleg of the same tour, or get the concert version with Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone.
	Judas Priest - Ram It Down [Bonus Tracks]
	"Ewwww."	2009-07-09
OK, I love Priest, but this album is horrible. I am willing to forgive Rocka Rolla because it was their starting point, and the Ripper era if you can listen to cheesy lyrics. But this is simply Priest's worst album ever. The first song is AWESOME! Cheesy, but a good and fast paced starter. Then Heavy Metal comes along with an awesome intro... and the the song falls on its butt soon afterword. The other good track is Blood Red Skies, despite being a tad too "techno" for my tastes. Other than that this album sucks. I'm a Rocker? Ewww. Love You To Death? No Thanks. Hard as Iron? Uh, I was planning to KEEP DOWN the meal I just ate, not vomit it back up. Love Zone? Nope. Monsters of Rock? Monstorously bad. Lovezone? WAY EWWWWWW. Johnny B Goode? Way to rape a good song. This is the worst excuse for a Priest album than this. In the mid 80s they went downhill and released 3 bad albums, each worse than the other (Defenders of the Faith, Turbo, and now this). Thank God for painkiller. Just avioid this.
	The Giver
	"Disturbing, powerful, brilliant: Kids should be reading THIS and not their crappy vampire romance novels"	2009-06-13
*WARNING: CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!* The year is unknown. The community is small, unusually placed. There is no music, snow or color in the community. People see in black and white. Kids are given occupations at 12. Young Jonas is given one: to be a "Receiver of memory", from a man called "The Giver". The man has scruffy long hair and a long beard, and has memories of the past. However, this community is not what it seems. Jonas' family has a baby boy they adopted named Gabriel. Gabe can not sleep at night. and because of this, he is determined to be "released", which is death by lethal injection. Jonas does not know what release is until he sees a video of it happening. Now it's up to Jonas to flee the community. This is an epic and disturbing book. Lowry tells the tale in a third person POV, and intricately does it the way it should be done. It creates a movie in your head... the whole time you're seeing the story happen as you read. Now this book is NOT for the faint of heart. There`s no gore, but it does deal with some very disturbing subjects. People may find its dystopian depiction of society disturbing, but this is a brilliant social commentary of today's society. Think "Brazil", but on a more serious and darker tone! Teens, ditch your Twilight books, because THIS is what you should be reading.
	The Giver
	"Disturbing, powerful, brilliant: Kids should be reading THIS and not their crappy vampire romance novels"	2009-06-13
*WARNING: CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!* The year is unknown. The community is small, unusually placed. There is no music, snow or color in the community. People see in black and white. Kids are given occupations at 12. Young Jonas is given one: to be a "Receiver of memory", from a man called "The Giver". The man has scruffy long hair and a long beard, and has memories of the past. However, this community is not what it seems. Jonas' family has a baby boy they adopted named Gabriel. Gabe can not sleep at night. and because of this, he is determined to be "released", which is death by lethal injection. Jonas does not know what release is until he sees a video of it happening. Now it's up to Jonas to flee the community. This is an epic and disturbing book. Lowry tells the tale in a third person POV, and intricately does it the way it should be done. It creates a movie in your head... the whole time you're seeing the story happen as you read. Now this book is NOT for the faint of heart. There`s no gore, but it does deal with some very disturbing subjects. People may find its dystopian depiction of society disturbing, but this is a brilliant social commentary of today's society. Think "Brazil", but on a more serious and darker tone! Teens, ditch your Twilight books, because THIS is what you should be reading.
	The Giver
	"Disturbing, powerful, brilliant: Kids should be reading THIS and not their crappy vampire romance novels"	2009-06-13
*WARNING: CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS!* The year is unknown. The community is small, unusually placed. There is no music, snow or color in the community. People see in black and white. Kids are given occupations at 12. Young Jonas is given one: to be a "Receiver of memory", from a man called "The Giver". The man has scruffy long hair and a long beard, and has memories of the past. However, this community is not what it seems. Jonas' family has a baby boy they adopted named Gabriel. Gabe can not sleep at night. and because of this, he is determined to be "released", which is death by lethal injection. Jonas does not know what release is until he sees a video of it happening. Now it's up to Jonas to flee the community. This is an epic and disturbing book. Lowry tells the tale in a third person POV, and intricately does it the way it should be done. It creates a movie in your head... the whole time you're seeing the story happen as you read. Now this book is NOT for the faint of heart. There`s no gore, but it does deal with some very disturbing subjects. People may find its dystopian depiction of society disturbing, but this is a brilliant social commentary of today's society. Think "Brazil", but on a more serious and darker tone! Teens, ditch your Twilight books, because THIS is what you should be reading.
	Touching Spirit Bear
	"Good book, but sort of... misses the point, really"	2009-05-21
I must admit I enjoyed reading this book. We read it in English class and it was a good read. However, I must admit I dunno why it got the YRCA nod. The book centers around an angry teen named Cole Matthews. He has robbed an electronics store and after boasting about it, a kid has told people about it. He bashes his head in on the sidewalk, and that leads to the dicison between his parents and his parole officer whether he should sit in a jail cell or go to CIrcle Justice, which is banishment on an Alaskan Tlingit island. Anyways, Cole is alone there. After trying to escape he has multiple encounters with this "spirit bear", one that turns out pretty nasty. He ends up getting injured in the attack. Now the book was well written. There were some cool bits, some good dialogue, the characters were strong. So why is it only three stars? Because despite being well written, there were some flaws in the logic. Some of the descriptions were a tad too repetitive. Did the violent storm bit need to be THAT long with THAT many descriptions? Some parts were not very believable, either. Like the Cole and Peter scene towards the end. Can Peter forgive Cole THAT easily? Anyways this is an OK book, but just be aware of the flaws.
	The Godfather Collection - The Coppola Restoration Gift Set (The Godfather / The Godfather Part II / The Godfather Part III) [Blu-Ray]
	"Did the people who wrote the above 3-star reviews actually buy this set and watch it?"	2009-05-21
I am with mixed feelings about this set, but right now I'm leaning towards an all-out PAN of this Blu-Ray release of these movies. I've been noticing that a lot of the reviews say "THIS IS A FAITHFUL RESTORATION OF THE ORIGINALS!!!!". Well that wasn't what I got in this set. I wanna know what the 4 and 5 star reviewers were smoking when watching this set. Now yeah it's true that this set contains less grain than the 2001 DVD release. But I want to know what Coppola was doing in the year it took him to restore the films. As soon as I opened the set, I put in the disc for the first one and watched it. The wedding scene at the beginning is where I noticed how over-saturated the picture is. The whites look more blue than white. THe rest of the film wasn't more different. At times there was a noticeable and annoying red tint over some certain scenes that made the picture look bad. Part 2 was not much different either. The opening scene with the kissing of the hand had an annoying orange tint over it. Upon seeing this, I asked myself "Who restored this? Heidi Montag???". There was notable print damage in some scenes too. One reviewer stated that there were some parts that looked like they had adjusted the F-Stop, and it was distracting. I couldn't agree more. That happened a LOT throughout Part 3, especially the ending. Sad thing is, the worst in the series (Part 3) looked the best. I can't say the same for Part 1 and 2 though. The extras were fine, no complaints. People are bitching about the TV versions not being on here- I beg to differ. I don't care a single bit about the TV versions. The audio is not bad, bough you have to have the right sound system for it. In short, just keep the original set. If you need so desperately to buy this set, buy it for the extras only.
	Touching Spirit Bear (Rack
	"Good book, but sort of... misses the point, really"	2009-05-21
I must admit I enjoyed reading this book. We read it in English class and it was a good read. However, I must admit I dunno why it got the YRCA nod. The book centers around an angry teen named Cole Matthews. He has robbed an electronics store and after boasting about it, a kid has told people about it. He bashes his head in on the sidewalk, and that leads to the dicison between his parents and his parole officer whether he should sit in a jail cell or go to CIrcle Justice, which is banishment on an Alaskan Tlingit island. Anyways, Cole is alone there. After trying to escape he has multiple encounters with this "spirit bear", one that turns out pretty nasty. He ends up getting injured in the attack. Now the book was well written. There were some cool bits, some good dialogue, the characters were strong. So why is it only three stars? Because despite being well written, there were some flaws in the logic. Some of the descriptions were a tad too repetitive. Did the violent storm bit need to be THAT long with THAT many descriptions? Some parts were not very believable, either. Like the Cole and Peter scene towards the end. Can Peter forgive Cole THAT easily? Anyways this is an OK book, but just be aware of the flaws.
	Touching Spirit Bear
	"Good book, but sort of... misses the point, really"	2009-05-21
I must admit I enjoyed reading this book. We read it in English class and it was a good read. However, I must admit I dunno why it got the YRCA nod. The book centers around an angry teen named Cole Matthews. He has robbed an electronics store and after boasting about it, a kid has told people about it. He bashes his head in on the sidewalk, and that leads to the dicison between his parents and his parole officer whether he should sit in a jail cell or go to CIrcle Justice, which is banishment on an Alaskan Tlingit island. Anyways, Cole is alone there. After trying to escape he has multiple encounters with this "spirit bear", one that turns out pretty nasty. He ends up getting injured in the attack. Now the book was well written. There were some cool bits, some good dialogue, the characters were strong. So why is it only three stars? Because despite being well written, there were some flaws in the logic. Some of the descriptions were a tad too repetitive. Did the violent storm bit need to be THAT long with THAT many descriptions? Some parts were not very believable, either. Like the Cole and Peter scene towards the end. Can Peter forgive Cole THAT easily? Anyways this is an OK book, but just be aware of the flaws.
	LG BD300 Network Blu-ray Player
	"I really don't understand the naysayers..."	2009-05-15
This is an excellent Blu-Ray player. While at the store I was debating on whether I should get the Sony BD350 or the LG BD300. I was seriously considering buying the Sony due to the higher AMAZON reviews, but the store owner, who's the biggest expert at this stuff, spoke higher of this model. So anyways we went for this model. And boy, am I ever glad I bought this Blu-ray player. The loading time for discs is EXTREMELY FAST!!!! I was expecting a slow plodder and this was the exact opposite. Usually Blu-ray players are slow and take up to a minute to load. And the quality of playing discs is excellent. One hook of the HDMI cable and bam, we're up and running. This allows you to change resolution too, in fact it even supports 1080p. And the 1080p looks beautiful. So if you're hoping to get an awesome Blu-Ray player, GET THIS MODEL. You WON'T regret it.
	Judas Priest - Point of Entry [Bonus Tracks]
	"3.5 Stars- actually very underrated."	2009-05-11
Upon hearing the first listen to the album I thought the album was rather... meh. But with multiple listens, the album has grown on me. I really like "Heading Out to the Highway", "Solar Angels" and "Desert Plains". In fact, I also sort of like the hard rock feel this album has. This album will make you feel like you're riding a motorcycle through the Arizona desert. The reason this gets only 3.5 is because of The last 3 songs kinda suck. But anyways, to make things short, this is a damn fine album, one worth adding to your collection. PS. Another thing. Why the hell did they use printer paper for the road on the cover? As well as the cardboard on the back of the image? What's with that?
	Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith [Bonus Tracks]
	"Some eyes are gonna roll"	2009-05-11
This may be the second worst Priest album after Ram it Down. Rocka Rolla can be excused because the band hadn't found its sound yet, Turbo and Point of Entry are excuseable because the band (and the fans) looked at both albums as experients. There's no such redemption here, this album is every bit as bad as Ram it Down. Granted, then first two tracks (Freewheel Burning and Jawbreaker) are awesome songs, the rest are all completely forgettable. Even look at the stupid song titles (Love Bites, Heavy Duty, Turn On Your Light). Love Bites is a mind-numbingly awful track with stupid lyrics about Vampires (Vampires are awesome but not here). Heavy Duty and the title track both stink, in fact both are the two worst priest songs ever. Some Heads are Gonna Roll has a good solo but that's it. Eat Me Alive has a good intro, and then goes downhill from there. And another thing, the lyrics are TERRIBLE. Yeah Painkiller had stupid lyrics too but it could get away with it because the music was so damned awesome. There's no such redemption for that too, the lyrucs are stupid. With dumb lyrics like "We're gonna rock you till your metal hunger's fed", "Let's all join forces- rule with an iron hand- and prove to all the world- Metal rules the land" as well as "With animal lust they'll devour your life- and slice your word to bits like a knife". This is especially shocking since Halford wrote the lyrics. Wasn't Halford supposed to be the "Metal God" or something? As for the production is terrible too- the guitars sound like keyboards, the drums sound like Holland is banging on a plastic cup, and the bass is too loud. THere are noticeable volume drops on the album too. How this trash got the reputation of "Best Priest Album" is beyond me. Cut your teeth on "Killing Machine" or "Sad Wings of Destiny" or even "Painkiller" instead, if you must.