Best take on Vampire legend since "Nosferatu"

Advantages: Brilliant reworking of mythos, strong acting, visuals and music
Disadvantages: Ending a little sudden

...Katherine Bigalow (Director - Point break) managed in 1987 to reinvent an entire legend. Before this film, Vampires had always been pointy-toothed baldies or suave Aristocrats, able to turn into wolves or bats or fog. Near Dark managed to make vampires more human, more realistic and in doing so, a damn sight more scary. Caleb (Adrian Padsar) lives on a sprawling farm in the American mid-west with his Father, Loy (Tim Thomerson) and his much younger sister Sarah (Marcy Leeds). Out cruising one night, he runs into Mae (Jenny Wright). A girl most certainly not from around there and by strict definition to the bored farmer, incredibly interesting. Back in his car upon a lonely stretch of highway, he works his charms upon her until they kiss. There is a moment of pain at the nape of his neck. Stunned, Caleb finds himself alone and bleeding...

dancomp 17.08.2006 (18.08.2006) · Read review
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Review of Near Dark (DVD)

The Dark Place

Advantages: PI character, Belfast setting, a cast of potentially interesting characters
Disadvantages: Characters not really developed enough

...mostly felt quite detached from the story. Millar makes an effort to establish his detective as a sympathetic character ? a dark past, a father, an ex-wife and teenage daughter, a current romantic interest, thwarted literary ambitions, a sense of humour and regular discomfort from his piles ? but he stays a fictional character. Millar uses a lot of quotations from other literary works, Irish, American and English, 16th and 20th century, but for me the references to Raymond Chandler only made me feel disappointed that Karl Kane isn't really Belfast's answer to Philip Marlowe. The most emotionally moving scenes in the book involved Karl and his father, and these are not central to the main story. I would probably try another book in this series if I came across one, but wouldn't actively seek one out. I am more tempted by the author...

elkiedee 06.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Dark Place - Sam Millar

The Dark Knight returns

Advantages: Still to the high standards of the first film
Disadvantages: 152 minutes in length!

...Gordon off to a tee. Gordon as a character has a destiny and I hope that in the following films that this plays out to entirety. Oldman's performance in The Dark Knight is spot on. The saddest part of the cast is the late Heath Ledger; we all know that Ledger passed way earlier this year. His input into this film is staggering. His take on The Joker is what the cinema just hasn't seen for years and I think that it is this film that Ledger will be remembered for as he effectively grounds the character and totally rebuilds him into a totally different type of villain that we haven't seen before in this genre of film. His Joker has all the trademarks of the comic character in appearance such as the green hair and build, but what Ledger has done is to take his attitude towards life and increase it by 200% so that the character in the film has...

Timbo3107 28.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Dark Knight (DVD)

Jess Klein certainly Draws You Near

Advantages: Soulful and very expressive vocals, several excellent tracks
Disadvantages: Not a household name so few will have heard of her or want to take a risk on her

...CD Review: Jess Klein ? ?Draw Them Near? (2000) Jess Klein ? not exactly a household name, is she? No, sadly she isn?t. For your delectation and amusement, I?ve trawled through my extensive CD trove to find Jess Klein?s third solo album, 2000?s ?Draw Them Near?, a little-known but very likeable piece of Americana. Whilst she?s labelled as a folk artist, her work veers more towards the alt-country and rock genres, her strong and forthright voice supported by plenty of bold and yet sympathetic electric guitars. Whilst this album doesn?t necessarily contain enough to make it one of my top 20 favourite CDs, there?s still quite a bit to enjoy ? and since Jess sounds uncannily like Suzanna Hoffs from The Bangles at times, she?s won me over straight away! Born in Brooklyn in 1974, Jess Klein started playing the acoustic guitar...

graeme10 28.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Draw Them Near - Jess Klein

Dark Lover

Advantages: Gripping storyline, intense atmosphere, amazing language.
Disadvantages: Fast paced

...* DARK LOVER - J.R Ward *- Spoilers included!! BOOK ONE - Dark Lover is the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. There are 6 books in total with all books following the same vampire family. These are romantic vampire novels. Each book is based on one of The Brotherhood Brothers. Even though each includes them all they are directed at one in particular and the major events that effects them. I had never heard of these books or the author before when I was given the first book. My mum actually won the first two books on a halloween raffle at our local pub but shes not really into that sort of thing and I love vampire stories she gave them to me. After the first two books I was hooked and I brought the other 4 because it was so gripping and addicitve to know what happens in the next book. * J.R Ward * J...

blackmagicstar4 15.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Dark Lover - J.R. Ward

Darkly Delicious

Advantages: Well drawn and gripping characters
Disadvantages: A couple of touches of over used magic

...After reading "Path of Revenge", the first in Russell Kirkpatrick's "Broken Man" trilogy, I worried that his idea may not be strong enough to survive a story arc that looked set to last through three nearly 700-page novels. By the time I got to the end of "Dark Heart", the second in this trilogy, I knew I had no need to be concerned. Husk is still in his tower, using his magic and the strength he can draw from others around him to take revenge on the immortal who has enslaved him. However, as his strength and power grow, so events out in the world affect those people who he is tracking and assisting on their way towards him. These people are being guided so that they can aid his revenge and whilst he talks to and assists them, they don't realise that they are being moved like pieces on a chessboard. What Husk doesn't realise is that...

Soho_Black 18.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of Dark Heart (Broken Man 2) - Russell Kirkpatrick

The dark knight

Advantages: Great Graphics and entertainment
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

...'s rival in love. His acting is strong here. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a great replacement for Katie Holmes as Wayne's love interest Rachel Dawes, as she shows more sensitive and caring side towards Bruce, other than Holmes' nearly flat performance. Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne's loyal butler Alfred delivers, as well as Morgan Freeman as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Gary Oldman does an excellent portrayal of Lt. James Gordon, who aids Batman in his quest for justice. And a special mention goes to Eric Roberts as a crime lord, who surprisingly does a great acting job. The rest of the cast can take a bow, they can be proud of their being in this film. The cinematography is possibly the most sublime scenes ever chosen. Gotham and Hong Kong are wide, and yet, there is this dark aura of crime and corruption all around them. It really blends in well...

davidabraham 20.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Dark Knight (DVD)

A Scanner Darkly

Advantages: Good Special Effects
Disadvantages: Not many

..."A Scanner Darkly" is based on the novel by Philip K Dick. Richard Linklater's film stars Keanu Reeves as undercover narcotics policeman; Bob Arctor. This is an interesting film but it didn't really move me deeply. There was some good acting but the story line was simply not exceptional. On deep reflection it is not a film that I would recommend. But if you want to watch it do so at your own risk. 1 hour forty mins Rating (15) The Product details The Actors: Rory Cochrane, Robert Downey Jr., Mitch Baker, Keanu Reeves, Sean Allen (II) Directors: Richard Linklater Format: PAL, Widescreen Language English Region: Region 2 ( DVD formats.) Aspect Ratio: Wide Screen:1 Number of discs: 1 Classification: 15 Studio: Warner Home Video DVD Release Date: 22 Jan 2007 Run Time: 120 minutes...

Nazuku 13.12.2007 (21.12.2007) · Read review
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Review of A Scanner Darkly (DVD)

Dear Dark Dexter...

Advantages: Interesting concept, unusual writing style
Disadvantages: Perhaps a bit slow at first

...This is a review originally written for dooyoo. Intro Having decided that I needed some more books to read I consulted the charity book list at work (books for the bargain price of 25p) and came across "Darkly Dreaming Dexter". I was aware that there is a TV series called "Dexter", so consulted Amazon to see if this was the same thing, and found that it was! I haven't ever seen the TV programme but have heard good things about it and decided to give the book a go, as I'd found that "Darkly Dreaming Dexter" was the first in the series (I didn't want to come in having missed something) which is what the first series of the TV programme was based upon. Jeff Lindsay The author Jeff Lindsay (pen name) is American - more can be found about him here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JeffLindsay(writer) He has written...

marymoose99 10.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay

Dark temptations

Advantages: Nice smell.,long lasting
Disadvantages: Not to everyone's taste

...**Introduction** Lynx are one of the biggest body care brands in the United Kingdom and are the British branch of the French Axe brand. In the past few years a number of well known Lynx fragrances have been released, these include Vice, Click, Unlimited, Touch, Pulse, Voodoo, Apollo, Africa and Phoenix among others. All these fragrances have been well received by men in the United Kingdom and the latest fragrance from Lynx is another big hit. The new fragrance being called Dark Temptation and being led by a unique and interesting advertising campaign involving chocolate men being eaten by women. **Dark Temptation** I have been using Lynx fragrances for a few years now and I have to say that Dark Temptation is without a doubt their most unique fragrance yet. The bottle keeps the new Lynx shape with a cap that you pull down...

jcneil 21.06.2008 · Read review
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Review of Lynx Dark Temptation