Advantages: Pullman's creative style / Detailed World / Reliving some of the HDM Magic
Disadvantages: Short and Insignificant Story / Lack of real interraction between the two main characters

...Philip Pullman is a man of great talent. A man so focused on giving his readers something that little bit extra than your average author. His worlds are rich in detail and his characters, greatly developed and life like. Often compared to CS Lewis, he is a man with countless works to his name, which sadly are underrated. His latest book, Once Upon a Time in the North, revisits the world best known from His Dark Materials Trilogy. It is in fact a sort of prequel to Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), but with only 104 pages, does it have enough substance to capture the attention of his loyal fan base? This short fantasy story tells the tale of how the widely popular and arguably important characters of Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison meet. Texan Aeronaut Lee Scoresby and his Hare Daemon Hester are running out of provisions and so... Read review

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Advantages: Amazing music, brilliant songs and good vocals.
Disadvantages: Some of the songs could be a bit longer, but other than that the whole things amazing.

...Once upon a time, in a land far, far away...a teenage boy sat down with his family to watch Once Upon A Time In Mexico on DVD. The dashing, young chappy had never seen or heard of this film before, although his parents said they enjoyed it very much. He sat down with some pringles and a glass of orange squash and enjoyed the whole film. The next following days he couldn't help but talk about it to all his friends, many who hadn't seen it were persuaded to do so by the boy. One of the main things he liked about the film, besides the story and acting, was the music that accompanied the film. So, he set out to buy the soundtrack for just £6.99 from HMV. As soon as he got home he played the CD and was amazed by how brilliant each song was. From that day on he constantly listened to the album at least once a day, playing it as background... Read review

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Advantages: Johnny Depp
Disadvantages: everything else

...Once upon a time is a phrase that conjures up images of magic and mayhem. There's certainly plenty of mayhem in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, but not much of anything else. Drugs lord Barillo (Willem Dafoe) is masterminding a plot to assassinate the Mexican president, mostly as a distraction from his planned clean getaway. He is aided in this by the corrupt and lunatic CIA agent Sands (played superbly by Johnny Depp). The idea is that he will use General Marquez (Gerardo Vigil) to kill the President, but then he's afraid that Marquez will assume power, the last thing anyone wants. Sands hires the Mariachi (Antonio Banderas) to take Marquez out after the assassination, knowing that the Mariachi and Marquez have old scores to settle. The scene is set for a succession of shoot-outs and double-crossings which result in a few surprises... Read review

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Advantages: Memorable poem!
Disadvantages: N/A

...suspect, have been an unwelcome visitor to Blake as a person who held strong anti-establishment views, and Wordsworth as he was not a proponent of the industrial revolution but a Romantic. The titles in themselves state vague opinions of the respective poets about the city, Wordsworth's title: "composed upon Westminster Bridge" is in a way romantic and euphoric when compared with Blake's "London" - he is dismissing it as London and giving it no other credit for the huge industrialised machine that it has become. One should note that Blake's poem was written at the end of a centaury where as Wordsworth's was written at the beginning of the next, suggesting that the latter would be more imaginative and appreciative, as with the turn of any centuary comes new beginnings, modernisation and general new-found appreciation for the new. Wordsworth... Read review

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