Hello! My name is Chie. I am likely to be the girl you'll see whose eyes would bulge out of their sockets at the sight of a book store and be seized by waves of epileptic shock whenever there is a book bargain. I'll probably be the one pushing you out of my way to get through the book bargain bins and tediously combing through the pile. (I forget my manners when it comes to books). I am tone deaf and have two left feet. But I would endure the embarrassment of a performance in exchange for books (terms and conditions apply). I have created this blog in order to find kindred souls. Those who would gladly share the same passion for books and reading because although reading is solitary task most of the time, it's no fun having no one to ramble to after..
Synopsis: In the Republic of Greater East Asia, a frightening event called the "Program"takes place once a year in order to keep the citizens compliant and distrustful of one another. Third-year junior high classes are randomly selected throughout the nation, relocated to an isolated area, and forced to kill one another just one survivor - the victor remains.
This year, it's 15-year-old Shuya Nanahara's class that gets chosen and relocated to a small island. Shuya is forced to watched his friends die and his classmates go crazy. But what if there were some way to beat the fascist government's supposedly infallible system?
Review: Battle Royale is brutal, both physically and mentally. It tosses you into the middle of a corrupt world and forces you to be witness to an event that's deadly and well established. Innocent and not-so innocent teenagers die every few pages in unapologetic prose. No sooner do we come to know a student's personality and the past when he or she is killed, the abruptness of losing someone interesting you've just begun to know a definite stomach-turner, a definite shake up.
If this kind of dystopian literature is your kind of thin, there's plenty of it to be had. Even if you've got a weak stomach for violence, however, Battle Royale still gives you alot to think about. Koushun Takami's writing is nothing striking, and yet there's something about the plainness of it, the bluntness of the translated version that gets inside your veins and messes up your organs. It's the way he gives us a brief character of each of the 42 students - and then takes them away in horrifying manners. It's the way that this book's world takes the existence of the "Program" as expected, unchangeable. And it's the way that this book makes you doubt yourself and the characters, not sure whom you should trust, just as the government intends for you to react.
This book has inevitably been compared to The Hunger Games, so why not say what I think about the two? The Hunger Games is clearly YA, readers are spared the too-gruesome details and through the eyes of Katniss, are spared the intensity of the horror that arises when a character whose history you know dies. Battle Royale is a stand-alone novel, which makes its shocker of an ending all the more satisfying; whilst I have yet to read the next two books in Suzanne Collins' series, I can only hope that she will deliver an equally believable and satisfying answer for Katniss and her world.
If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd go with The Hunger Games, for its less stomach-churning material and the successful development of memorable characters. However, Battle Royale provides more questions to think over, more disturbing ideas and images that will keep you up later in the night. If you do not have a weak stomach and have the time to read an intense 600-page work, I suggest picking up Battle Royal in order to completely annihalate everything you've previously thought about the dark side of human nature and our curiosity in violence and death.
Cast: Nicholas Hoult (R), Teresa Palmer (Julie), Dave Franco (Perry), Analeigh Tipton (Nora), John Malkovich (General Grigio), Rob Corddry (M) Directed by: Jonathan Levine Release Date: February 1, 2013 Genre: Comedy, Horror, Drama Based on: Warm Bodies (Isaac Marion) Distributed by: Summit Entertainment; Lionsgate Ratings: 4/5
Plot: With much of the world's population now, an undead horde, R is a young and oddly introspective zombie. Whilst fighting with and feeding on a human scavenger party, R meets Julie and feels an urge to protect her. What happens next is the beginning of a strangely warm relationship that allows R to begin regaining his humanity. As this change spreads through the local undead population like a virus, Julie and R eventually have to face a larger issue when the very nature of their friendship is challenged. Caught between the paranoid human forces and the ferocious "Bonies", zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way to bridge the differences of each side to fight for a better world no one thought possible.
Review: Warm Bodies is a zombie film uniquely different. It's not of those typical movies of terrifying zombies running around craving for flesh, which is something quite of a horror for audiences. Warm Bodies had a different approach; it focuses on the development of the relationship between Julie, a young woman, and R, a zombie, and how their eventual romance develops throughout which also leads to the group of zombies to change and return to human life form. Overall, this movie can be categorised as a paranormal romantic zombie comedy film, which is based on a novel of the same title.
This film certainly offers a sweet and interesting spin to a genre that all too often been really lifeless. The film is noted and positively received for displaying human characteristics in zombie characters, and also for being told from a zombie's perspective. This allows the audiences to get connected and engaged not only to the overall plot but also to R, the zombie. It is still grounded to zombie setting but overturned with a twist. The story went well paced and nicely directed with a bit of sense of humour added into this post apocalyptic love story that made it certainly enjoyable to watch. This film is not violent or bloody and hence quite relevant to children too.
I first get to know Nicholas Hoult from his performance in X-Men: First Class and he delivered an amazing performance on that one. For this zombie film, that requires a totally different acting approach, Nicholas done a great job too. As a zombie, he had to express himself tough through facial gestures and speak only one or two words out whilst maintaining his rigid crooked movement. His convincing performance here certainly cemented his position as one of the rising young talented stars. For female fans of him, he is dead sexy in this one. Teresa Palmer also pour in amazing performance, and the two of them had quite a spark or good chemistry in this film.
Teresa and R facing the "Bonies"
The movie also did offers heart-racing moments mostly on the encounter between the humans joining forces with the "cured" zombies up against the Bonies, heartless skeleton corpses. However, all that exciting part are mostly reserved til the end part of the film and the lack of details put to the protagonists; Bonies' creation (obviously computer-generated and looks too fake) made things not that impacting. However, the strong interesting love story of Julie and R saved the day. Out of 5 points, I rate Warm Bodies a total of 4. Like what Palmer said "The core of the story is that love breathes life back into people. That human connection saves us. People who have had those lights dimmed inside them, when they fall in-love they get brighter ". I certainly agreed with her statement. A good message from this film.
Synopsis: In the Republic of Greater East Asia, a frightening event called the "Program"takes place once a year in order to keep the citizens compliant and distrustful of one another. Third-year junior high classes are randomly selected throughout the nation, relocated to an isolated area, and forced to kill one another just one survivor - the victor remains.
This year, it's 15-year-old Shuya Nanahara's class that gets chosen and relocated to a small island. Shuya is forced to watched his friends die and his classmates go crazy. But what if there were some way to beat the fascist government's supposedly infallible system?
Review: Battle Royale is brutal, both physically and mentally. It tosses you into the middle of a corrupt world and forces you to be witness to an event that's deadly and well established. Innocent and not-so innocent teenagers die every few pages in unapologetic prose. No sooner do we come to know a student's personality and the past when he or she is killed, the abruptness of losing someone interesting you've just begun to know a definite stomach-turner, a definite shake up.
If this kind of dystopian literature is your kind of thin, there's plenty of it to be had. Even if you've got a weak stomach for violence, however, Battle Royale still gives you alot to think about. Koushun Takami's writing is nothing striking, and yet there's something about the plainness of it, the bluntness of the translated version that gets inside your veins and messes up your organs. It's the way he gives us a brief character of each of the 42 students - and then takes them away in horrifying manners. It's the way that this book's world takes the existence of the "Program" as expected, unchangeable. And it's the way that this book makes you doubt yourself and the characters, not sure whom you should trust, just as the government intends for you to react.
This book has inevitably been compared to The Hunger Games, so why not say what I think about the two? The Hunger Games is clearly YA, readers are spared the too-gruesome details and through the eyes of Katniss, are spared the intensity of the horror that arises when a character whose history you know dies. Battle Royale is a stand-alone novel, which makes its shocker of an ending all the more satisfying; whilst I have yet to read the next two books in Suzanne Collins' series, I can only hope that she will deliver an equally believable and satisfying answer for Katniss and her world.
If I had to make a choice between the two, I'd go with The Hunger Games, for its less stomach-churning material and the successful development of memorable characters. However, Battle Royale provides more questions to think over, more disturbing ideas and images that will keep you up later in the night. If you do not have a weak stomach and have the time to read an intense 600-page work, I suggest picking up Battle Royal in order to completely annihalate everything you've previously thought about the dark side of human nature and our curiosity in violence and death.
Cast: Nicholas Hoult (R), Teresa Palmer (Julie), Dave Franco (Perry), Analeigh Tipton (Nora), John Malkovich (General Grigio), Rob Corddry (M) Directed by: Jonathan Levine Release Date: February 1, 2013 Genre: Comedy, Horror, Drama Based on: Warm Bodies (Isaac Marion) Distributed by: Summit Entertainment; Lionsgate Ratings: 4/5
Plot: With much of the world's population now, an undead horde, R is a young and oddly introspective zombie. Whilst fighting with and feeding on a human scavenger party, R meets Julie and feels an urge to protect her. What happens next is the beginning of a strangely warm relationship that allows R to begin regaining his humanity. As this change spreads through the local undead population like a virus, Julie and R eventually have to face a larger issue when the very nature of their friendship is challenged. Caught between the paranoid human forces and the ferocious "Bonies", zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way to bridge the differences of each side to fight for a better world no one thought possible.
Review: Warm Bodies is a zombie film uniquely different. It's not of those typical movies of terrifying zombies running around craving for flesh, which is something quite of a horror for audiences. Warm Bodies had a different approach; it focuses on the development of the relationship between Julie, a young woman, and R, a zombie, and how their eventual romance develops throughout which also leads to the group of zombies to change and return to human life form. Overall, this movie can be categorised as a paranormal romantic zombie comedy film, which is based on a novel of the same title.
This film certainly offers a sweet and interesting spin to a genre that all too often been really lifeless. The film is noted and positively received for displaying human characteristics in zombie characters, and also for being told from a zombie's perspective. This allows the audiences to get connected and engaged not only to the overall plot but also to R, the zombie. It is still grounded to zombie setting but overturned with a twist. The story went well paced and nicely directed with a bit of sense of humour added into this post apocalyptic love story that made it certainly enjoyable to watch. This film is not violent or bloody and hence quite relevant to children too.
I first get to know Nicholas Hoult from his performance in X-Men: First Class and he delivered an amazing performance on that one. For this zombie film, that requires a totally different acting approach, Nicholas done a great job too. As a zombie, he had to express himself tough through facial gestures and speak only one or two words out whilst maintaining his rigid crooked movement. His convincing performance here certainly cemented his position as one of the rising young talented stars. For female fans of him, he is dead sexy in this one. Teresa Palmer also pour in amazing performance, and the two of them had quite a spark or good chemistry in this film.
Teresa and R facing the "Bonies"
The movie also did offers heart-racing moments mostly on the encounter between the humans joining forces with the "cured" zombies up against the Bonies, heartless skeleton corpses. However, all that exciting part are mostly reserved til the end part of the film and the lack of details put to the protagonists; Bonies' creation (obviously computer-generated and looks too fake) made things not that impacting. However, the strong interesting love story of Julie and R saved the day. Out of 5 points, I rate Warm Bodies a total of 4. Like what Palmer said "The core of the story is that love breathes life back into people. That human connection saves us. People who have had those lights dimmed inside them, when they fall in-love they get brighter ". I certainly agreed with her statement. A good message from this film.
