The Town Herald

Book Reviews:

x/1999 manga : Classic manga style, with beautiful composition and illustration, it is definately a pleasure to look at, if nothing else. The story line itself though can be called a bit cliche - especially for manga/anime. A classic tale of a personal struggle between choosing the path of good or evil - Kamui, who is apparently the "chosen one" has the power to save the world - or destroy it. It follows him on his personal struggle with long lost friends to find himself and his destiny, and his struggle with his own demons to make his decision.  It is exciting, beautiful and intriguing......but it loses brownie points for the entirely over-done plotline in the anime community in general. I give it a 3/5. Not bad, but definately not the greatest.

The Unicorn Triology : There are a lot of stories out there that can be called "the unicorn triology" just because they happen to be about unicorns and happen to be a trio. - This one is actually known as the unicorn trilogy though. It consists of the three novels - The Black Unicorn, The Golden Unicorn and the Red Unicorn by author Tanith Lee. Which, on a side note, our very own ET artist [Vestaka] has done several book covers and illustrations for other of Lee's works - just a neato bit of information. ;P Anyhoo, back to the point. This follows the story of a young-adult girl, with a misfit Sorcerress as a mother who smothers her to try to follow in her footsteps with magic, but instead she accidentally stumbles upon her nack at mending things. When she accidentally brings the skeleton of a Unicorn back to life by putting together with gears and clockworks, it opens up a seperate demension that she accidentally gets drawn into - an alternate world that is similar, yet backwards to the world she has known. Let's call it the Bizarro-world for this reviews sake. So, in this bizarro world of mystics and magic, the trio winds you through a story of self-discovery and triumph as she finds out the inner workings, and emotions of her own life, her long-lost sister, and a true love. It is a very original, uplifting story that is beautiful, intriguing and, to be blunt - pretty damn cute. It also holds your attention greatly - and, it's for all ages - it is a "yong adult" novel series, but is simple enough for young adolescence to read and enjoy - and the story line as a classic appeal to it that adults will love too. For originality, entertainment, and versatility of audience - I give it a 5/5.

Movie Reviews:

Curse of the Jade Scorpion: Woody Allen & Helen Hunt. First things first.......it's a Woody Allen movie. Do you like Woody Allen? It takes a certain type of person to enjoy his movies, and respect his talents. People generally either love him, or hate him - no middle ground. So if you don't like Woody Allen flicks -- you'll hate it. Look away, move along, have a nice day. Now that we've gotten that cleared up, for being a sub-culture flick that really made it under the radar save for the cult-classic genre, it has a pretty A-list cast, with such stars as Dan Aykroyd, Elizabeth Berkley & Charlize Theron. It a cute and quorky commedy about 2 co-workers who hate each other, and accidentally fall in love after they go to a dinner theatre and get hypnotized, and throw in the mix that Allen is hypnotized to be a theif, and unbeknownce to him, he's the detective who is trying to catch......himself. It's cute, and fun - but if you don't pay attention, it can get a bit confusing. And lemme tell you, the typical Allen vulgar bathroom humour gets real old, real fast -- especially since he's getting up-there in the age department, it can get just downright creepy and awkward. I give it a 3/5 - I highly recommend it for some, but would totally NOT recommend it for others.

The Village: An intense thirller that has a deep moral, and a big twist.....as is classic for Director M. Night Shamalan. It is a quiet, emotional story line, that really reals you in and make you care about the characters.....and leaves you totally confused to. They have the tension of monsters stalking them thrown into the mix, that makes it tense and exciting to watch between the breaks of the deep story line, but you can't ever really figure out what the hell is going on - but you're not suppose to. All the puzzle pieces will come together in the end, and that's exactly what Shamalan wanted. It's original, the end it something that totally makes your brain spazz because it was something that would have been the LAST thought in your mind, and the storyline is deep, significant with a good wholesome underlying moral to it - it something we can all resignate with, as it's a love story...just a very unconventional love story, but it also makes a bold political statement as well, and has some incredibly memorable comic relief thrown into the mix, with an absolutely perfect casting job, it all in all just a great movie to watch. I give it a 5/5.

The X Files : The new installment to the X files got all of us hot n bothered. And of course, what is the first thing that crosses our minds? "Will Mulder and Scully finally EVER hook up?" Being an X files fan, I couldn't wait, and I loved it, but to be perfectly honest - it was nothing we haven't seen before from the original series, or the first movie. It was the typical X Files shit, over and over again, we just all had a joygasm over it because we never got our closuer. Though, I would recommend it over and over again because if your an X files fan - you'll love it, because, well shit - it's the X Files! And both Mulder and Scully are looking hotter than ever, so It;ll be good fun....and if you're not an X Files fan, then you wont really catch the fact that it's just the same ol' song and dance all over again, so to those folks, it'll just be a good thriller/mystery alien movie and can enjoy it unspoiled. So, all in all I would recommend it - definately, but just for the sake that it wasn't anything so new or fantastic of concept, i gotta deduct some points. I give it a 4/5.