Permutation City Blog

Overall I enjoyed this book but it took some time to get going. During the first third only one piece of magic. It's only with the introduction of Jonathan Strange that things start to happen. There are some very nice ideas in here. Magic can be big. We're not talking paltry fireballs. I was impressed when they saved a town from invasion by moving the town, the entire town, to a different continent for a few days and then putting it back. The treatment of elves is different from anything I've seen before as well.

Discovering this film on one of my old tapes reminded me how powerful it was. We see dramatic world events filtered through newspaper and television. The elderly couple struggle to understand what is going on and cope with the aftermath. A serious look at the effects of a nuclear war is never going to produce a happy film. Threads is a more gruesome look at the same topic.

I really like films that play about with time, Groundhog Day is one of my favourite films and the obvious one to compare it to. In this film the explanation is part of the plot. It's less serious and definitely has some funny moments. Not as fulfilling but something you can still enjoy.

This is a technically impressive piece. For the most part the CG backgrounds blend seamlessly with the actors. The entire film has been given the slightly faded appearance you might associate with film from the 1930s. There are a lot of good ideas with flying machines, robots, and a multitude of ideas taken from old movies. Its downfall is that there are too many ideas. What could have waited for a second or third movie to appear gets shoved into the first.

Although this film can be billed as a zombie movie they actually only appear incidentally in the film as part of a song and dance number. Most of the film consists of an unreasonable number of accidental deaths and the measures the family must take to hide this. If you like strange Japanese films (with songs) then this is definitely one for you.

This film has an excellent beginning; the silence in a deserted London is overpowering. High speed zombies gives it a very different danger from most zombie movies. It's an interesting change. Found myself caring a lot more about these people than in most horror movies. On my first viewing I found the second half of this film, dealing with the surviving soldiers, far more disturbing than any of the horror.

I like Waterworld despite what some will say. It has a cool boat with great low-tech gadgets and the entire movie is worth it just for that.

This is a strange one. The "hero" is "fighting" to save the Earth from aliens from Andromeda. It quickly becomes apparent he's also mad so you aren't sure what's really happening. A disturbing amount of torture goes but if you can stomach the first session then you can cope with it all.

Given my great enjoyment of Akira I was hopeful of something special from Steamboy... and from there it is easy to be disappointed. It's got some wonderful steampunk imagery; my favourite is the steam monowheel that appears early on in the film. The detail in the backgrounds can be amazing, especially considering the backgrounds are not always static images. Steamboy felt good but, unfortunately, not great. However if you like mechanical madness then you should definitely have a look.

Labyrinth is a wonderful fantasy film. It balances a few human actors against a multitude of puppets in the great muppet tradition. Some good characterisation with Hoggle, Ludo, and Didymus amongst others. I love the labyrinth itself with its illusions, shifting passages, puzzles, traps, and Escher-esque centre. Great fun, definitely something to watch.