Bitesize Reviews

Been meaning to write a whole host of reviews of things I've seen or read and not got very far at all. So I'll try a shorter approach. Mostly spoiler-free thoughts on The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson, Locke & Key, Despicable Me, The Event, The 4400 and Misfits follow.



The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second in the Millennium trilogy featuring the journalist Mikael Blomkvist and his unlikely acquaintance Lisbeth Salander. It's possibly even better than the first. Pacey, long but gripping, detailed and believable (just about) and a labyrinthian plot that fits together perfectly by the end. Like the last novel, there's a ramping up of action and tension in the last third of the book and it just keeps getting higher and higher and....an absolutely jaw-dropping moment in the penultimate chapter that made me wonder if Larsson had really done what it looked like he'd done. In several ways it felt more like the final part of a trilogy, wrapping up plot threads left from the first book and people moving on. Which makes me wonder what on earth the third book will be like.

Locke & Key: Keys to the Kingdom is still being brilliant. The montage of adventures in the latest issue makes me really wish for a list even just of names of the discovered ones so far, and goes another step towards convincing me that there is a lot of depth in this concept that might never be fully explored. Even with upcoming TV series. Just need to convince Messers Hill and Rodriguez to sell the RPG rights to someone who'd do it justice....

Went to see Despicable Me (2D version) at Vue's Kids AM this morning and wasn't disappointed. While there's nothing especially original about it, it was still fun and engaging enough for all of us with some great moments, perfectly delivered dialogue, and the children, minions and "hey, this is a 3D movie!" moments weren't at all annoying. The soundtrack was quite good too. All in all, one to buy on DVD as much for us as for the Terror.

I seem to be the only person in Britain who continued watching The Event to the end, judging by the amount of chatter on forums etc. I found it quite fun - a lot faster moving and less frustrating than FlashForward was, although again slightly hampered by the (presumed) main characters being a bit...bland. And the villains a bit two-dimensional (obligatory humanisation of the female hit-person not withstanding). And the plot moved along mostly obvious lines with just the occasional tweak that I didn't seem coming, and some startling revelations non-the-less. But I've been enjoying it, and hope it does make it back after the hiatus, but I'm hardly holding out hope for a second season. Zeljko Ivanek is by far and away the best thing about it, by the way, and come to think of it, I seem to recall thinking the same thing when watching 24 (way back in its first season, wow).

Another thing I've been catching up on on 4oD is Misfits. I have some catching up to do, as I completely missed the first series and now the second is finished too. Trying to avoid spoilers is....problematic, and therefore I know what happens to Nathan at the end of series one, but so far I've only actually watched the first three episodes. Blimey, it's a bit good. I don't know why I avoided it so long. Possibly the "youth" styling putting me off - I really should have paid more attention to everyone saying, "no, actually, it's really good".

And after having the DVDs for,well, ages, I finally finished watching season one of The 4400. Another one where I knew the end-of-season twist in advance, but still fairly enjoyable. The characters are (gasp) actually likeable, and although the investigation-of-the-week mostly drags a little and there's the usual "moody shots with sad background music" bit in every episode, it overall kept my interest and I probably won't wait another few years before opening the second season boxset.