Please contain me, let me stay...

Advantages: If you like a challenge, only 70 minutes long!!
Disadvantages: A little too experimental for me

...When considering whether to watch a film, I alter from wanting to know how it is generally perceived by others, alternatively I avoid finding out anything. I can get bothered by the preconception. Lukas Moodysson, the swedish director of the film Container, is someone I only became aware of after watching one of his earlier films, "Lilja 4-ever", recommended to me by a friend. A tragic, hard-hitting story that affected me in a way that only a select few films truly have done. I began to look at other films directed by the same man in the hope that I'd find some other cinematic gems. I now realise that it was at this point that my expectations had been raised too high. I find Container difficult to describe. There is no apparent plot, no real structure or sense of direction to the film. It is experimental in its approach...

tumblewheel 10.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of Container (DVD)

Death Ship, it's no Ghost Ship

Advantages: Good idea
Disadvantages: Badly executed

...The Film Death Ship is a 1980 horror film that opens on the sea with an old ship storming across the waves. It?s seemingly controlled by ghosts and a German voice is heard over the intercom. At the same time on an apparently near by cruise liner a party is going on. The captain of the ship (George Kennedy) is just about to retire and hand over control to Marshall his second in command played by Richard Crenna. The two ships are apparently on a collision course but this is really badly created in the film as whenever you see the old haunted ship its daylight but whenever you see the cruise liner is in pitch darkness. The two ships have clearly been filmed at two different times of day and it?s such an obvious mistake that the audience can?t miss. Anyway, the ships crash and the cruise liner is seen to suffer a lot of damage...

Phelthew 04.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Death Ship (DVD)

The Green Ship - A Real Gem

Advantages: Heart warming story, great illustrations, one to read and re-read
Disadvantages: None

...My 4 year old son received this book for Christmas and I have so enjoyed reading it to him that I'm sharing the experience with you all. The Green Ship is written and illustrated by Quentin Blake, who you will probably know from his illustrations for Roald Dahl. As well as providing illustrations for many other children's authors, he has also written his own books, some of the most well known are Mister Magnolia and Clown. He was Children's Laureate in 1999 and generally considered a national institution. The Green Ship takes you into the world of fantasy - two children, whilst staying with their aunt one summer, climb over a wall into the neighbouring garden of a large house. Here they discover a 'ship' made out of hedges trimmed to be a bow and stern, two trees clipped to look like funnels and two tall trees with a few branches...

sonic0209 01.01.2009 (03.01.2009) · Read review
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Review of The Green Ship - Quentin Blake

Ship Of Pools - OF BLOOD!

Advantages: Some interesting gore
Disadvantages: Not interesting enough!

...Titanic has a lot to answer for. Celine Dion?s heartless warbling. That much-aped ?flying? scene. Cameron?s Simpsons-rip-off Oscar speech. Most of all, it has assisted in the creation of many a water-based movie, thanks to the construction of its huge watery set. I?m unsure if Ghost Ship used this wet-o-rama, but if they did, I?m resting part of the blame firmly on the hairy shoulders of the aforementioned bearded one. Well, I can?t make a lot of unfair blame-stabs, so let me aim my dagger at the true culprits ? Dark Castle Entertainment. Yes folks, the people what brung you The House On Haunted Hill and Thirteen Ghosts just don?t learn. Or maybe it?s chumps like me who don?t learn ? seeing as I always think, ?well?it can?t be as bad as the last one?? Before you go any further, gentle reader, I must disclaim myself by stating that...

peppersinclaire 21.05.2004 · Read review
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Review of Ghost Ship (DVD)

Abandon Ship.

Advantages: The beginning.
Disadvantages: The rest.

...Hmm, well, the first five minutes are fairly interesting I suppose, but after that Ghost Ship just goes downhill. No, on second thought, going downhill doesn't quite do it justice. Sinks like a stone is better. On paper at least this 'haunted-house-at-sea' shocker could have been, should have been quite good. The basic premise - a haunted passenger liner - is reasonably intriguing (think Titanic meets The Shining) and it's produced by none other than Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver under the banner of their 'Dark Castle' production company. It's also directed by Steve Beck who's last effort, 'Th13teen Ghosts' (also for Dark Castle) was actually pretty good and finally it's got Gabriel Byrne in it who usually turns in a respectable and very watchable performance. To be fair, everything starts out quite well. As is the norm...

Spike_ 05.07.2003 (06.07.2003) · Read review
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Review of Ghost Ship (DVD)

THE SHIPPING BLUES

Advantages: The scenery, the potential
Disadvantages: The pace and content

...home. Although initially captivated by the beauty of the landscape, Quoyle and his daughter find their new home cold and harsh. Their house is in a terrible state of disrepair and amidst the howling storms, they wonder whether they have done the right thing. In order to fund the necessary home repairs, Quoyle gets a job in the local newspaper office, where he writes articles about local sea craft. As he forges a new life for himself and his daughter, Quoyle must cope with not just his own inner demons, but those of a beautiful young woman (Wavey) and he must also uncover the terrible secrets of his own family’s past. The Shipping News is based on a novel of the same name, written by E. Annie Proulx, and although I haven’t read it myself, I suspect that the story worked rather better as a book than it does as a film. One...

LostWitness 01.10.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Shipping News (DVD)

Ship Sim 2006

Advantages: Easy to play and pick up with lots to do
Disadvantages: Doesn't feature enough unique play areas and poor AI and damage models

...of been more thought to adding some more well known places to pilot your ship. Places such as London and the Thames estuary don't feature nor the amazing harbour or New York. However this negativity doesn't compare the the engrossing level of play the game provides. On the best quality graphics the game is immense and looks crisp. Even for lower power systems the game will look impressive. Wakes appear beside the ship even when you use bow thrusters. The ships "bob" in the water and the sound effects sound real. Move away from the ship and the sound of the ship moves to the distance stand at the helm and the ship warbles to the sound of the engine. The variety of missions are as varied as the ships from ferrying cargo from one part of the port to another. To controlling more than one ship in the same mission at the same time...

Astec123 11.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of Ship Simulator 2006 (PC)

How High Are You in the League Table? (May Contain Nuts)

Advantages: entertaining, funny, relevant to current culture
Disadvantages: disappointing sweet ending, social diagnosis replaced by psychobably one, second part weaker

...Just to get the obvious out of the way, 'May Contain Nuts' is a very funny, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny book. It starts out very promisingly: as a farce, really, an almost (but not quite, as not to alienate the potential readership) vicious satire on ridiculously competitive urban upper middle class parents hot-housing their children into Prokofiev appreciation and contract bridge; children scheduled, tutored and stimulated; never left alone to do 'whatever', never let go. Satire on paranoid parenting with mothers checking every label of every foodstuff and not allowing an 11 year old to walk down the road to a newsagent, never mind travel on a bus to school. Satire on public (private) education system of preparatory schools and secondary colleges thriving on pretence, snobbery and unshakeable belief that children who don't get...

magdadh 16.04.2009 · Read review
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Review of May Contain Nuts - John O'Farrell

Produce from Containers

Advantages: Fresh food from your home, in your home.
Disadvantages: None.

...were happy bunnies. You will be forgiven for thinking that growing an edible garden, even in the centre of London, is an impossibility. Not true. For there are a wide range of vegetables that will thrive in containers, and I guess I don’t even need to mention that almost all herbs are happy pot-dwellers. This doesn’t even need to cost you much more than the price of some good compost in some cases, as dried seeds from your own kitchen can be planted, as well as cadging herb cuttings from your friends and neighbours will be adequate. Also, long planters are a dime a dozen, and if you can’t find them abandoned about the neighbourhood, buying a few will not break the bank. Water can be had from anywhere, and it will not make much of a difference to your utility bill if it is indeed you who pays the bill. But if...

Spacecat 22.08.2001 · Read review
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Review of Container vegetables

It definitely contains some nuts!

Advantages: It will make you chuckle out loud
Disadvantages: It will make you question your own parenting!

...I was browsing the book sale list of Politico's Books website a few weeks back, and spotted this novel by John O'Farrell. The blurb seemed quite encouraging, and so I ordered it to have a read. The hardback cost me £9.99 as there was £3 off during their autumn sale. May Contain Nuts is a comedy, and follows the fortunes of a family with three children (elder daughter and two younger boys). Already the clue is there, as she has had more than two children. Unbeknown to her, she is already diversifying from the norm. I think the title is great, as along with all the other things that a parent has to worry about these days (and I mean these days, as I am sure I must have been a very neglectful mother as I was totally unaware of the dangers that I put my four spawn into when I was bringing them up!!) that it is of utmost...

orlando 29.12.2005 (30.12.2005) · Read review
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Review of May Contain Nuts - John O'Farrell