Advantages: Nice guest rappers like Ghostface and Raekwon turn up at AFTERPARTY and THE TURN respectively.
Disadvantages: The lyrics from Method man are disgusting and the musical production is revolting! SAY WHAT?

...*************************************************************************** * THE WU TANG CLAN ALBUMS: TICAL 0: THE PREQUEL The Method Man Album Collection - Part I Author: DJprimo Published by drkdjprimo for DIJEH inc. / Works of Art *********************************************************************** ***** INTRODUCTION Two years ago on Ciao.co.uk, I informed that Cappadonna is a Hip Hop artist who is native to Staten Island, a New York City suburb in the USA. I also mentioned in my music review of The Yin And The Yang album that Cappadonna had numerous collaborations with Wu-Tang Clan lyricists on various classic records. Now meet Method Man ( real name: Clifford Smith ), another USA rapper who hails from Staten Island like Cappadonna. He is one of the original... Read review

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Advantages: Powerful retelling of world-shaking events by a distinguished author
Disadvantages: Unsympathetic, self-conscious, self-absorbed

...What do you do when you come away from reading a book convinced that it is of literary importance, and having been absorbed by it throughout, but without having liked it? Write a review on Ciao, of course, to explore and explain your ambivalence. Which is why I am here reviewing Gao Xingjian’s autobiographical novel One Man’s Bible. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * “It was not that he didn’t remember that he once had another sort of life….” This is the opening line of One Man’s Bible, and it sets the agenda in more than one respect. This is a novel of remembrance, of the past relived and reinterpreted in the present, of the present overshadowed and transmuted by the past. But this opening line is already set in the past, harking back to a more distant past again, thus hinting both at the ongoing power of what has... Read review

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Advantages: cast / acting / special fx
Disadvantages: few that I can think of

...Spider-Man 2 Review The best superhero film yet? You’re going to hear a lot of critics telling you that Spider-Man 2 is so much better than Spider-Man. This I think is a little unfair as it, at least in part, diminishes the original. And let’s not forget that was a very good film indeed. It was especially notable when so many other films that year were below par. The original X-Men film for instance, (which was of course thankfully followed up by a far superior sequel) the rather confused Daredevil and a tedious first (and hopefully only) big screen outing for the Hulk. Direction and Cinematography Sam Raimi’s direction is assured and often stylish but did anyone else notice that the framing of almost the entire film seems to be really up close? 75% of the time the tops of people’s heads were cut off. It looked like the projector... Read review

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Advantages: Good characters
Disadvantages: Some bad plot decisions

...Some of Marvel Comics’ longest running series are surprisingly unsophisticated. When Iron Man’s creators designed the character thirty nine years ago, I doubt for one moment that they ever considered he would remain as popular as he has. A founding member of The Avengers, Iron Man has been a core member of the Marvel Universe for longer than Spiderman. THE COMIC Iron Man’s first appearance was in the Silver Age title Tales of Suspense #39 in 1963. Such was his popularity that not long after this, the core title Iron Man was published, and has continued to run ever since, clocking up over 400 issues in three different volumes. THE ORIGIN OF IRON MAN Billionaire industrialist Anthony Stark, chairman of the world’s largest weapons and munitions manufacturer was a victim of his own product. Struck... Read review

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Advantages: Best entry from Marvel for some time
Disadvantages: Maybe too long timewise

...Hello and welcome to my review of Iron Man. Iron Man is probably one of Marvel's strongest and up until recently one of the least complicated characters. Originally created by Stan Lee and first seen in March 1963 in Marvels Tales Of Suspense #89, Lee wanted a create a character that emulated the recluse billionaire Howard Hughes. Lee collaborated with scriptwriter Larry Leiber, artist Don Heck and the legendary Jack Kirby and from this the hero of Iron Man was born in his famous yellow and red armour, and now for the first the character now appears in his very own movie. This is the first time ever that a live action film has been made of Iron Man as previous mediums have been animation or comics and graphic novels. I was lucky enough to see this recently and to be honest was quite surprised at how much detail and research had... Read review

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Advantages: Stylish visuals, brilliant AI, and thoroughly addictive gameplay
Disadvantages: Borrows from other shooters a lot

...Feeling suitably incensed over the late European release of the fabled PS3, I embarked on my Christmas visit to Washington DC with a certain sense of satisfaction. It was upon arriving at my brother's residence and seeing his newly acquired Playstation 3 that I finally discovered a use for him. With just under a week in the capital, my time was unfortunately limited, but my game of choice was Resistance: Fall of Man, Insomniac's truly thrilling, if a little predictable, launch title. Reminiscent of other shooters in this first-person action sci-fi genre, particularly Quake 4, Half Life 2, and, inevitably, the Halo franchise, this futuristic blaster delves into counterfactualism with its alternative take on the events of the mid-twentieth century. Just as Europe is about to plunge into WW2, an unfriendly alien invasion alters... Read review

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Advantages: quite fun webslinging
Disadvantages: no long time playability

...Spider man genre of games comes onto next gen, however not with as big as of a bang as we at first thought. I must admit I have been a big fan of the spider man games however this one simply isnt as good as the others of their time. When games come onto nex gen consoles it is expected that the games will be amazing and truly breathtaking. I must admit its an improvement, however it isnt the improvement which we were all hoping for. The storyline follows the films storyline and adds aditional storylines in order to keep the user hooked. Too be totally honest I havent seen the film yet. Simply havent had the time. This means that I am not totally sure of the storyline and how well the game follows the film. However from what I have being able to gather the game doesnt follow the storyline entirely. This is a disapointment indeed. You... Read review

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Advantages: Great special effects, really thorough DVD package, if you like the movie then you'll love the DVD...simple as that.
Disadvantages: The movie itself is a bit lacking in many departments...particularly in the cranial cavity. *sigh* Oh and Kevin Bacon's arse gets its seemingly obligatory, almost Hitchcockian walk-on part once more :P

...[Region 2 DVD review. The contents of other formats may vary] Hollow Man is a movie which I reeeeeally wanted to see after catching a minor TV spot around the time of its release. I loved the 30's film version of The Invisible Man starring Claude Rains and was looking forward to seeing more of the same ideas explored with all the additional benefits modern day special effects technology might add in the eye-candy department. James Whale's 1933 classic tracks the slow decent into madness of a man trapped in a world of shadows, saying much about the human condition along the way and leaving much to ponder upon and it's fair to say I was looking forward to more of the same but without the naivity of 30's cinema from Hollow Man. Unfortunately, despite some of the claims to the contrary on the DVD commentary, Hollow Man appears absolutely... Read review

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Advantages: Great special effects, villainous acting
Disadvantages: the overall story, is too long

...Spider-Man, the web-crawling wonder, your friendly neighbourhood hero, first appeared way back in 1962. He was a new kind of hero, different from al those that had gone before not only because he was a teenager himself, like most comic readers, but that he also was beset by the everyday trials and tribulations that most normal people struggled with to. He was an immediate success and sealed the fortunes of the Marvel Comics company and the future of superhero comics in general, leading to the collapse of pretty much every other genre of comics until very recently. Spider-man became the only hero that comes close to matching the iconic stature of DC’s Batman and Superman and is as much a recognised figure to comic readers and non-readers alike. Ever since 1967 Spider-Man has been regularly on TV, mainly in animated series... Read review

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Advantages: Great Film! Very close to the play itself.
Disadvantages: Little Publicity...

...A Man for All Seasons is a play by Robert Bolt showing the rise and fall of its main character, Sir Thomas More. Set in 16th century England, the play exposes many similarities between its era and ours. There are of course differences, with its strong theme of social hierarchy and the immense power harnessed by the reigning monarch, King Henry VIII. While there are still elements of these in Britain they are certainly far from apparent today. The social hierarchy is shown mainly through garments; the colour of the garment shows their position. Henry always wears gold and Wolsey always wears red etc. There are many strong themes in A Man for All Seasons one of the strongest being corruption. A Man for All Seasons focuses as much on the fall of Sir Thomas More as it does on the rising of Richard Rich. In the first act, scene eight... Read review

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