Bookworm

Harry Banner, 17 July 2012

This was a fun read. Harry Banner reminded me of the old TV show Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. I found myself picturing Harry Banner looking just like Stacy Keach. It dives straight into the action so I raced through this in next to no time while sitting on the train. I guess this is what you call detective noir fiction, the likes of which you don't find much on bookshelves these days. This book had all the classic feel including the way that the main character Harry Banner is far from perfect. He's basically a bit of a washed up drunk who appears on the surface to be a tad inept, but underneath the scruffy exterior hides a very experienced detective who is actually one step ahead of the… Read more

Stay, 17 May 2012

Stay is a very unusual but also very interesting film. As others have said before you probably need to watch it several times to fully understand what's going on. I can't say I'm entirely sure what it was all about, but trying to figure it out as the story unfolded made it a very engaging film. The performances of Ewan McGregor and Ryan Gosling make the film very engrossing and the script keeps you on your toes and guessing how it's all going to turn out. Unfortunately the ending doesn't blow you away with any great revelation but it does have an emotional impact. In short, I didn't fully understand the ending but I liked it. This is worth a go if you want something a little bit different,… Read more

Very entertaining, 6 Feb 2012

Moneyball is based on a true story about a guy who used stats to turn around his baseball teams fortunes. Consequently there isn't a lot of action. There is however, a very good script penned by Aaron Sorkin who wrote the Social Network and the West Wing. And of course, there's Brad Pitt who is always very watchable. It doesn't have the zip and energy of The Social Network and is much slower paced, but it does have great moments of inspired dialogue and it's always interesting. Definitely worth watching.