While shopping at my local supermarket I saw Pure by Julianna Baggott and decided to pick it up. I have to say, I’m glad I did. It’s a brilliant read with some really original ideas.
The storyline is epic with every event adding to the story’s development. It is an exceptional storyline, it just makes it complex to summarise the plot in this blog post. So instead of discussing the plot in detail, I’ll give you an introduction to the world and the three main characters:
Pure is set in a post-apocalyptic world; after the Detonations have caused destruction, ash filled air and fusing of people to animals, other people and inanimate objects. We are introduced to two distinct groups of people; the Pures who were safely inside the Dome when the detonations hit and the wretches who were outside of the Dome.
In the Prologue set a week or so after the detonations, a plane from the Dome drops little slips of paper saying:
“We know you are here, our brothers and sisters.
We will, one day, emerge from the Dome
to join you in peace.
For now, we watch from afar, benevolently.”
(From: Pure by Julianna Baggott, 17th September 2012.)
Then the story starts set years after the Prologue. We meet Pressia, a nearly 16 year old who lives in the remains of a barber’s shop with her granddad and has a fist fused with a doll head. Pressia and her granddad know that soon the OSR will come for her, as they do when everyone reaches the age of sixteen. OSR are Operation Sacred Revolution – a roughly banded military type group whose mission is to take down the Dome. But we later find out that OSR was originally stood for Operation Search and Rescue set up to save people following the Detonations.
Next inside the Dome we meet Partridge, he’s the son of the powerful Ellery Willux. Partridge doesn’t really like spending time with his father and his father is usually in the lab doing important work. But then one day Ellery asks to see him. Partridges mother was outside of the Dome when the Detonations struck and has been assumed dead. But when Partridge speaks to his father he gets the distinct impression she’s alive. Partridge is taken on a school trip to were the Dome keeps metal boxes of memorabilia from the dead. Partridge see’s a box with his mothers name and dates on, he opens it and finds things she left for him. Partridge makes plans to escape from the Dome and then escapes. Partridge is later called ‘Pure’ because he has no scares, burns or fusings like everyone else.
Bradwell is introduced to the reader through Pressia. He’s a man with two live birds fused to his back, the birds flutter their wings whenever Bradwell has adrenaline going through his body or is emotional, which throughout the course of the book is often. Bradwell is obsessed with conspiracy theories about the detonations, claiming that those in the Dome deliberately caused the Detonations.
Pure is excellently structured with each chapter having a character’s name and a title to indicate who and what the chapters about. Baggott’s use of description enables the reader to imagine the characters, world and events as clearly as watching a film. The book did have a few sentences that to me didn’t read right, but these didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the book.
Pure is a fantastic read and is a trilogy with Fuse (2013) the second book and Burn (2014) being the final in the series. Pure is available to buy on Amazon.
Immortals (2011) Immortals (2011) is a brilliant film with a good mix of action and storyline. It’s about Hyperian a King who wants the bow of epirus to release the Titans. The Gods (Zeus etc.) and the Titans thought a war, with the Gods winning and the Titans being imprisoned. The death of Hyperian’s wife and daughter through disease has made him turn away from the Gods and become determined to release the Titans to kill the Gods as they wouldn’t intervene in his time of need.
Theseus is the main character and will only fight for what he cares about which at the beginning of the film is his mother. When Hyperian’s army arrive Theseus fights but he’s unable to save his mother who they kill. The soldiers catch Theseus and decide that he’s to work as a slave with some others in salt mines. On route Theseus meets the Virgin Oracle and they escape Hyperian’s soliders. The Gods are watching and Ares wants to intervene but Zeus won’t allow it stating they must have faith in mankind. They travel back to Theseus’ village (with a little help from Poseidon) so that he can bury his mother in the religious chamber, which is where he discovers the bow of epirus. Theseus and the Virgin Oracle are intimate removing the Oracle’s ability to see the future which she sees as a curse.
Theseus is ambushed and Hyperian gets the bow of epirus. Ares saves Theseus and Athena provides them with horses to get to Mount Tartarus. Zeus appears and is angry at Ares and Athena for disobeying him. Zeus kills Ares for saving Theseus and tells him he’s on his own. Then Zeus and Athena return to Mount Olympus.
Theseus and the others arrive at Mount Tartarus and tries to warn his King about Hyperian’s intentions but he doesn’t listen. The war begins with Hyperian using the bow of epirus to destroy the wall surrounding the city. Hyperian needs to get in to Mount Tartarus as that’s where the Titan’s are imprisoned. Hyperian releases the Titans and Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Heracles and Apollo appear to fight them.
Theseus eventually kills Hyperian while Zeus destroys the bow of epirus. The battle between the Gods and the Titan’s goes well, the Gods are more than a match for the Titans but are overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. Theseus has been injured during the battle with Hyperian and is close to death. Only Zeus and Poseidon make it out alive before. Zeus takes Theseus and gives him a place in Mount Olympus as a reward before collapsing the mountain. The film ending is set several years later with the Virgin Oracle having Theseus’ child who is told he will one day have to fight evil.
It was a fantastic film which had brilliantly choreographed action scenes; good use of CGI and an epic story that is well paced and keeps you captivated throughout. It was one of those films that I really wished I’d seen at the cinemas, well worth watching.
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)
I’ve previously watched Mission Impossible and Mission Impossible 2, but by the time the third film was released I was a bit like mission possible? Action films really aren’t my bag, but I thought I’d give the fourth in the series Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011) a chance.
It was the same sort of storyline as the other films, Ethan and his team must stop the Russian’s from declaring war on the US. The US administration denying all knowledge of Ethan and his team are caught. The two aspects that made me finish the film were the cool technology and the humour from Simon Pegg who played a minor member of Ethan’s team.
If you really enjoyed the previous films, then you’ll really like this film. I found it too simliar to the other films in the series.
Skyline (2010) Skyline (2010) is about a couple Jarrod and Elaine who go the visit Jarrod’s best friend Terry in L.A. when aliens attack. Terry’s made it big in L.A. with a swanky apartment and loads of money. Terry offers his oldest friend Jarrod a job in L.A, meaning Jarrod and Elaine would have to move. Terry hosts a party, Jarrod and Elaine get into a heated discussion about the move (Jarrod wanting to move and Elaine not). In the heat of the moment Elaine reveals that she’s pregnant. Later that night blue lights start to appear in the sky memorising anyone who looks at them and giving them the impulse to get as close to them as they can. Think moths to a flame.
Soon enough alien ships appear with the blue lights sucking up human beings all over L.A. Terry, Jarrod, Elaine and a few others are informed by the T.V that alien ships have appeared all over the world and are sucking up human beings with the blue lights. In L.A. alien ships are scanning buildings for humans they may have missed. The group realise they can’t stay indoors and wait it out. Jarrod notices that there are no alien ships over the seas. The group decide to head for open waters, but upon leaving the apartment block are attacked by aliens and end up back inside. The following day the remaining survivors of the group see the US Air Force fire a nuclear missile. At first they think they’ve won as the alien ship falls to the ground following the detonation. But it repairs in a matter of seconds and is back in the air.
After this the story got a bit far fetched. Jarrod and Elaine are sucked up by a blue light into an alien ship. Inside Jarrod’s brain is removed and put in an alien body, meanwhile Elaine is taken into another chamber where pregnant humans are kept. But Jarrod’s feelings for Elaine and his unborn child mean he fights other aliens and then carries Elaine to safety.
The CGI was incredible but the storyline could have been massively improved. Firstly, I had little care for the main characters. This could have been improved by seeing more of the relationship between Jarrod and Elaine prior to the alien attack. Secondly, it would have been good to give humans some advantage over the aliens. This would have enabled humans to have a fighting chance and mean’t the writers could have tapped into the emotional responses of the audience. Emotions such as hope, loss and love.
I’ve watched quite a few films recently. Some good, some bad and some amazing. So here’s some mini-reviews of the films:
Chronicle (2012) Chronicle (2012) is about three teenage boys who while at a party go into a wood and discover an underground cavern. In the cavern they discover a crystal-like object that gives them telekinetic powers. They work out that their powers are like a muscle the more you use it the stronger the powers get. The teen boys go from building lego to moving bigger objects and eventually flying. The main character Andrew has the strongest power, but he’s a troubled teen with a mother dieing of cancer and a father that physically and emotionally abuses him.
Andrew starts to feel powerful and angry (never a good combination). He takes out his anger on an impatient motorist flashing his lights at their car by forcing the car into a river, beats up his abusive father and then kills one of his teen friends all with his telekinetic power. But the three of them are linked on some metaphysical level, when he kills one of his friends the other friend (his cousin Matt) instantly knows what’s happened. By the time Matt gets to Andrew he’s in a state that can only be described as pure rage, he’s crushing and hurling cars, destroying building and essentially threatening lives. Matt tries to help him but all Andrew wants to do is fight. In the end Matt realises that he can’t help Andrew and that if he doesn’t kill Andrew, Andrew will kill him. So that’s what Matt does.
I enjoyed the film, I particularly liked the effects in the film when the teenage boys used their powers. It felt more realistic that their powers gradually developed rather than instantly appeared. It also gave you the time to get to know Andrew and understand why he was so angry. I do think that the writer could have developed the other two characters further so they felt more real, rather than completely focusing on Andrew and his eventual misuse of power.
Dark Shadows (2012) Dark Shadows (2012) has been directed by Tim Burton and is what you’d expect from a Tim Burton film. It’s about a Witch who wants Barnabas Collins (played by the remarkably pale Johnny Depp) all to herself. When his parents gets in the way she kills them, when he falls in love with another she kills his love and makes him a vampire so that he can live eternally. Her hope is that he will love her one day, and to give him a few decades to think it over she has him buried alive in a silver coffin complete with silver chains.
A few decades later a young woman travels to the Collins estate to become the Governess to Barnabas’ distant relatives. Around the same time construction workers dig up Barnabas and he returns to restore his family fortunes. But the Witch is still around and has took over the fishing port which was how the Collins family made and maintained their money. As Barnabas rebuilds his families fortunes, he has to adapt to the 1970’s world, woo the Governess and deal with the up coming conflict with the Witch. Eventually things come to a head and Barnabas and the family take on the Witch. They manage to stop ancient history repeating it’s self with Barnabas stopping the Governess (his love) from being compelled by the Witch to jump off a cliff. The Witch ends up cracking to pieces on the floor like a dropped vase.
I really wanted to enjoy this film, but the editing made it difficult. It felt like someone had presented me with a jigsaw were the wrong pieces had been forced together and where there were pieces missing. A good example is the relationship between Barnabas and the Governess, the film shows hardly any development of the relationship so it feels wrong for them to suddenly be in love with one another at the end.
The use of the set, costume, make up and shooting does lend it’s self to the vampire genre of film. But the comedy that starts early on in the film indicates that it’s only styled in the vampire genre, which is disappointing as the comedy isn’t all that funny. Overall it makes you feel very confused about what Tim Burton had set out to achieve and by the end of the film you can’t even feel that at least you got a good story out of it.
Despicable Me (2011) Despicable Me (2011) is a animated comedy about an evil genius Gru who suddenly has competition when someone steals the Egyptian Pyramids. Gru decides he’s going to steal the moon by shrinking it using a shrink ray. But his competition, Victor, a younger ‘groovy’ evil genius steals the shrink ray from him and takes it to his super-security-protected mansion.
Gru watches Victor’s house and sees three orphans selling cookies door to door to make money for the orphanage. They get in to Victor’s house (as he has a weakness for cookies) and then Gru thinks of a plan. He adopts the three sisters to get into Victor’s house. The story is hilarious – particularly Gru’s minions (so cute, I want one!). But it’s also a touching as Gru adjusts to no longer just being an evil genius, but a father as well. It’s an excellent film for the whole family.
Oh and if you’ve seen it and loved it, here’s the trailer for Despicable Me 2, staring the minions:
How To Train Your Dragon (2010) How To Train Your Dragon (2010) is an animated adventure staring Hiccup, the son of a mighty Viking Warrior who regularly battles the fire-breathing dragons that steal livestock and burn their homes. However unlike the other stocky Viking kids, Hiccup is slim and scrawny. Hiccup invents a cannon that he hits a Night Fury with (the Night Fury being the most deadly type dragon). The Night Fury flies off into the forest, looking injured.
Hiccup finds the Night Fury in the forest and begins to develops a relationship with it, naming it Toothless. About the same sort of time Hiccup and the other Viking kids start their dragon fighting training in an arena. Hiccup starts to learn all about Toothless and applies this learning to the dragons in the arena to tame them and get them to do what he wants. The other Viking kids are amazed at Hiccup’s ability and he soon becomes a hero among them.
Hiccup realises that Toothless can’t fly away from the forest because Hiccup damaged his tail wing with the cannon. Hiccup creates a new tail wing and learns to fly Toothless. Soon Hiccup reaches his final challenge in the arena to kill a dragon. Hiccup can’t do it and tries to tell the villagers about the true nature of the dragons. The villagers capture Toothless and use him to find Dragon Island. When the Vikings get there they discover a giant dragon and realise that the other dragons have been stealing livestock to feed to the giant dragon because they are scared of this beast. Hiccup riding Toothless and the Viking kids riding their own dragons take on the giant dragon and kill the beast. As a result the villagers change their relationships with the dragons and Hiccup and Toothless become heroes.
There was nothing to dislike with this film. The characters were good albeit superficial, the storyline moved on at a reasonable pace – allowing time for Hiccup and Toothless to develop their relationship, but my one gripe was the late introduction to the giant evil dragon. It’s a good family film but certainly not one of the classics that I’d watch over and over again.
Coming soon Part 2 & 3 of the Mini-reviews of films I’ve watched Recently.
Brand starts with an author’s note stating that this book is more a collection of memoirs rather than a chronological writing of significant events in her life like Look Back in Hunger. The book is split into three distinct sections: Trying To Be Funny, Being Jo Brand and The Box.
Trying To Be Funny is about her comedy career but it felt really vague. I remembered how Brand wrote quite detailed accounts of her time as a Psychiatric Nurse in Look Back in Hunger, yet when writing about her more recent comedy career it lacked details.
Being Jo Brand is about her personal life. In this section Brand gives her opinions about what she likes; as well as writing about her labour political values, her family and friends and what it’s like “being clocked” – recognised by members of the public.
The Box is mainly about TV, Radio and Celebrities. Brand includes a chapter entitled “Writing This Effing Book” were she writes about the volume of words needed to complete this book. Reading this chapter made it click in my head, the word I wanted to describe how this book felt to me: strained. It felt as though Brand stretched out her autobiography to fit into a second book. I had high expectations for this book and unfortunately it didn’t quite meet them.
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