Nothing magic about this place!

Advantages: Nicely located.
Disadvantages: Poor service, poor food and old fashioned rooms.

...I know when writing a review one should try to be balanced and give mention of both the good and the bad and therefore this review may seem like a bit of a rant but there really was nothing or at least very, very little good to say about this hotel. The hotel in question is the Magic Monika Holidays Aparthotel in Benidorm, Benidorm is one of my favourite holiday destinations and this hotel was so bad it went a long way to ruining my two weeks holiday. The setting of the hotel is about the only good thing about it, set in the quiet area of Cala de Finestrat and only 500metres from the white sandy beaches it gets off to a good start but it quickly goes downhill. One of the most annoying things by far about this hotel is the fact that it is a playground to elderly Spanish couples who have no idea how to be courteous to others or how...

weebill 20.09.2008 · Read review
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Review of Apartamentos Magic Monika Holidays, Benidorm

Breaking The Waves - Film Only

Advantages: Far better performances than the film deserves.
Disadvantages: Let's see - sadistic, inhumane, dishonest, cowardly...

...community - heaping indignity and torment upon indignity and torment until the eventual, predictable Von Trier finale. It is a wretched picture which, like any number of similar works, lacks the courage to admit its intent, and so cloaks most everything in veils of kitsch, irony and embarrassing, juvenile Brecht-For-Beginners distancing tactics. The two films it most obviously aspires to - Dreyer's masterpiece The Passion Of Joan Of Arc (Bess is clearly a Joan in all but name) and Godard's Vivre Sa Vie (from the "chapter" breaks to the particulars of the narrative arc to the continual glances to the camera - the latter invoking also Bergman's Summer With Monika and Felini's Nights Of Cabiria amongst innumerable others) - are arguably just as keen on revelling in suffering, but to ends far removed from Von Trier's. Breaking The Waves...

DavidJay 02.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Breaking The Waves (DVD)

Brilliant Place, Brilliant People, some annoying points.

Advantages: Loads to do, great weather, lovely people, cheap
Disadvantages: hard to get around, constantly bothered by shop/bar owners.

...I went to Corfu 13th-21st July of this year (2009) with my girlfriend. We stayed at hotel Monika. Sidari is the second largest resort on the island of Corfu after Kavos. The transfer from the airport takes roughly 1.5-2 hours. It is a very beautiful place with places to just look out at the ocean or watch the sunset in the evenings but without all the trouble that comes with an 18-30 holiday destination. There are ample things to do in the day, with gorgeous weather you can just lay on one of the beaches or by the pool at your hotel and catch the sun. If you want more to do with your day, there are water sports, boats to rent, loads of shops, bars, restaurants and trips out. In the evenings you are spoilt for choice with where to eat and we only had one bad experience with our evening meals. Generally I have to say...

OllieBridges 02.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sidari, Corfu

Ruled by shame

Advantages: Psychological thriller
Disadvantages: The story just doesn't gel

...Having just read and thoroughly enjoyed another book by this author, I was delighted to get my hands on another of her books so quickly. Karin Alvtegen is a Swedish author who concentrates on psychological thrillers something along the lines of Nicci French. Now that the nights are drawing in and Halloween is almost upon us, this is the perfect type of book to keep me company in the evening. Or so I thought. Compared to Betrayal, the author's second book, this one just doesn't quite cut the mustard. Overly complicated, I came to the end of the book confused and a little annoyed that some of my questions weren't answered. The story Two women, unknown to each other, are living their lives ruled by shame. Monika, a doctor, could have prevented the death of her brother if she hadn't been so tired. Unable to forgive herself, she throws...

sunmeilan 01.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of Shame - Karin Alvtegen

The Know where knowledge is deadly

Advantages: A compelling well written novel
Disadvantages: May offend some readers

...Paulie's downfall. 'Little' Tommy Thompson, another main character, is a morbidly obese neighbour, who lives with his bullying father, becomes Kira's childminder when it becomes obvious that Jeanette cannot be trusted to keep an eye on the child. Tommy is shy and reserved but under the friendship of the Brewer family he comes out of his shell and blossoms until events overtake the whole estate and rock his new found confidence and his world. Kira is friendly with Bethany the daughter of another prostitute and Joanie's sometime friend, Monika. Bethany is a much bolder child altogether and leads Kira into all kinds of scrapes such as pinching a bottle of booze and getting so drunk that she is hospitalised with alcoholic poisoning, however Bethany is also into something far more sinister and shady than mere drinking. When Kira...

brittle1906 04.04.2008 (09.04.2008) · Read review
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Review of The Know - Martina Cole

Exit - A classic!

Advantages: Good solid Tangerine Dream music
Disadvantages: Quite quite their best

...– I could never tire from hearing this over and over – It’s absolutely brilliant! Track number 5 is ‘Network 23’ - a fierce synth-pop sound with an aggressive beat after 90 seconds. The production is perfect, and ends with the coolest, almost stadium rocking chord progression, the band has done to this date. The final track, “Remote Viewing”, has a familiar X-Files theme to it, though I feel it a little empty and quite anonymous track. * Conclusion * There have been so many releases of this album, the last being in 1995 (Virgin re-released the album on CD in the so-called "Definitive Edition" series, using the Super Bit Mapping technology), but all contains some errors, mostly spelling mistakes, but the quality of the music make up for the small ‘technical’ issues. Note. All the photos and covers were designed by Monika Froese...

orrin31 04.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Exit [Remastered] - Tangerine Dream

Give us a kiss

Advantages: Good portrayol of a serial killer
Disadvantages: tacky dialogue and can be too influential

...happened, but was just something that Bateman imagined, thought about and fantasized about. ** Bare naked ladies!** There is some saucy and horny sex scenes with bateman filming himself with prostitutes making this definitely one scene for the lads and an embarrassment watching it with your parents! ** Meet the cast ** Christian Bale .... Patrick Bateman Justin Theroux .... Timothy Bryce Josh Lucas .... Craig McDermott Bill Sage .... David Van Patten Chloë Sevigny .... Jean Reese Witherspoon .... Evelyn Williams Samantha Mathis .... Courtney Rawlinson Matt Ross .... Luis Carruthers Jared Leto .... Paul Allen Willem Dafoe .... Donald Kimball Cara Seymour .... Christie Guinevere Turner .... Elizabeth Stephen Bogaert .... Harold Carnes Monika Meier .... Daisy Reg E. Cathey .... Homeless Man I think that...

super_stevo 13.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of American Psycho (DVD)

The Witch Maker

Advantages: Good story with interesting support characters
Disadvantages: Lack of firm evidence

...Hallerton. It is a small and extremely close knit community who dislike and distrust all outsiders. It is a place controlled by the head of the community 'the Witch Maker'. But one morning he is found dead at the stake where the witch was burnt. DCI Woodend and his glamorous assistant Monika Paniatowski must unravel 350 years of history to discover the truth. They must do this within the next three days as that is when the next witch burning is due to happen. He has already been told by his boss that this event cannot be cancelled at any cost. As the villagers every 20 years celebrate the burning of the supposed witch Meg Ramsden at the stake in front of them. What DCI Woodend soon discovers is that several of the wives in Hallerton in the past 20 years have committed suicide. Is this related to the other murder? And is it just...

CPTDANIELS 29.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Witch Maker - Sally Spencer

Benidorm for the Young and Young at Heart

Advantages: climate, distance from uk, relatively cheap, friendly
Disadvantages: busy, can be noisy, 'nightlife'

...Last June, my husband and I and our three children, aged 7, 5 and 2 years decided to go on holiday to Benidorm for the first time. This was not our first holiday abroad and drawing on previous experience decided to opt for somewhere with a short flight time, bearing in mind the ages of our children. The flight lasted approximately two hours which passed thankfully uneventful and the whole family emerged happy and looking forward to the next two weeks. It was the beginning of June so we weren't sure what the weather would be like and we were delighted that the weather was considerably warmer than England even though it was about 8.00pm. Benidorm is about an hour's drive away from Alicante airport. The coach driver took the main route, which is like a motorway, so we didn't see a lot of scenery. We were staying at the Monika...

angela.muscat 01.04.2001 (07.08.2001) · Read review
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Review of Benidorm (Spain)

Find the missing child now please!!

Advantages: Well crafted facinating story
Disadvantages: A bit off Old Fashioned Policing

...with success and failure both in their work and their personal lives. The story was so good for me because it was quite different from what I was used to. It was sensitively handled and it was the shift in direction from the expected result that made it so interesting for me. It was always well written and I found I had read it in less than two days. The lead character in the series is DCI Woodend and like his name suggests his Policing skills in my view are a bit wooden and outdated. He is not a particularly scintillating character but he makes up for that with his attitude to finding the truth and the way he will do anything including breaking the rules to achieve this end. For me he is never to star of the novels or the one I am interested in it is his support team of Sergeant Monika Paniatowski and Bob Rutter. These characters are well...

CPTDANIELS 21.05.2009 · Read review
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Review of Death Watch - Sally Spencer