Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex Review

This one looks ok

So does this one

Released on the 20th of July 2010, the 7th book of the Artemis Fowl series follows Artemis as he suffers from a magical illness known as "Atlantis Complex" causing him to be distrustful of anyone, count everything in fives (sentences, steps, etc.), believe four as unlucky and eventually split personality
Artemis is in Iceland, demonstrating his latest experiment to Holly, Foaly and Wing Commander Vinyaya. A new technology that will save melting glaciers by snow crystals that reflect heat.
A unidentified fairy space probe suddenly crashes into their shuttle, killing Vinyaya and her team of LEP. Artemis starts to go crazy, believing that Foaly is here to steal his invention the "Ice Cube". Amorphobots roll out of the probe and start to attack them. Escaping, they eventually discover that the "evil guy" is Turnball Root, deceased Julius Root's brother who is locked away in an Atlantian Prison.

While the start is a bit confusing, the rest is good reading and locks you on like a little magnet bent on global domination.  The book is the first to feature Atlantis, the underwater metropolis complete with water elves and giant domes. While a children's book, a surprisingly large amount of people die. And the ending is bittersweet. I won't ruin it for you but Turnbull isn't trying to take over the world. Not a good deal better then the last but refreshing after dwelling with all those times with trying to stop someone stealing stuff.
There's a nice dose of action in this one aswell.
Story: 8
Writing style:7
Genre: Sci-fi fantasy

Artemis Fowl Review

An ok version of the cover

Cool version front cover

Original cover

Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old criminal master mind. He lives in Fowl Manor (a really big house for rich cats) with is mentally ill mother, his bodyguard Butler and Butler's sister, Juliet. After his father disappeared a few years ago (along with most of the family's money) genius Artemis (yes, he is terribly arrogant) has a plan to recover the Fowl fortune. With gold stolen from Faries. Young Artemis and his bodyguard Butler search far and wide for a fairy, looking for a key to the secret civilization deep underground. Eventually, they capture a fairy (an elf in fact), Captain Holly Short of the LEP (Lower Elements Police). They plan to use her as ransom to receive one tonne of gold from the People (fairy civilization).

Written by Eoin Colfer (who is a comedian), this book is smart, witty and fast. Not to mention funny with numerous puns and jokes. The writing style is superb. Easy to understand for the younger and a nice relaxing read for the mature. The book is like a comic that has been filtered through a complex converter (there is a comic version, but I don't recommend it). As the whole book (and it's series) is based around master plans by Artemis, it is enthralling to see a plan being executed and explained (these are the parts where you go "Ahhhh! That's how he did it!"). I enjoyed reading this novel enough for me to motivate myself to be smart as well (yes, my grades are getting better).
Overall, a great read with humour and action. Positively awesomenessly.
Story:7
Writing style: 8 (for youngsters) 6 (because older people become very serious and want nothing to do with silly childrens books)
Genre: Sci-fi fantasy

Flip Mino HD Review

I personally own one of these, and thought to make a review on it.
The new Flip Mino HD comes in a fancy box with necessary instructions. I was explained to about all the details and gadgets about the Mino, and grew more and more satisfied without even picking it up.
Main:
The main thing that sets the Mino apart from other Video Cameras is its size. It is less than 10cm long, less than 5cm wide, and weighs 90grams.
The Mino comes with an amazing program called FlipShare. This program enables you to save your videos to your computer, make movies, send postcards, add music to your videos, share your videos, upload to You Tube, Facebook, Myspace. This program is amazing and totally user-friendly. I have used it countless times to make movies and publish them to You Tube.
The USB port is located on the top of the Mino with a cool, tricky gadget to flip it up. Installation of FlipShare is very easy.
Quality:
The HD title says it all about quality. It contains 720p with a frame rate of 30ps. Amazingly impressive for this little midget.
Zoom:
Not very impressive, only 3x optical zoom, but it does the job.
Memory:
1hour memory space. If you want to, you can upgrade to the Flip Mino HD Ultra; this has a larger screen- (still 720p), but increased memory to 2 hours.
Battery:
Around 1 hour which is all you need. The Mino will automatically turn off after around 30 seconds of no use, which is quite handy.
This is one of the best video cameras around these days, and I really recommend getting one of these babies. They are handy, easy to use, and come with amazing software for all kinds of purposes.
By K

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

Just watched this.
Sequel to the 2008 Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen follows the story of Sam Witwicky, a kid trapped in the middle(ish) of a Cybertronian civil war. As he goes to college as a freshman, Decepticons wreck havoc through Shanghai, barely stopped by NEST, a force of the combined forces of humans and Autobots (good Transformers). The President of America is convinced that the Decepticons only remain on Earth to do battle with the Autobots. The real reason the Decepticons remain is to extract valuable information that has been embedded into Sam's mind by a piece of the All Spark to discover the location of the key to an energy amassing, sun destroying machine. The treasure hunt leads to Egypt, where the final battle takes place.

A heavily anticipate film (by me and crazy fans), Transformers 2 failed to achieve it's expectation. Though it has epic EPIC battle scenes, SUPER high CGI detail on robots and REALLY COOL special effects, it still disappointed many. This, however, didn't stop guys (and gals) from making the movie a money making success (they probably came back for the action scenes). Being directed by Micheal Bay, you could almost already expect the movie to be all action. The film had very little time for character development. Transformers 2 featured no introduction for new characters. Even then, you didn't see some of them for half the movie. You'd forget about them and be totally surprised when they reappeared. There was a lacking of complex story, so much that I reckon it would be possible to publish it into a picture book, leaving the actors with nothing important to say. Nothing was really explained and it all just "happened". There was also some unneeded crude humour, like when Wheelie humps Mikaela's leg, I was like, "sigh...please no." But aside from the lack of story, character development and the fact that it wasn't better then first Transformers, the great amount of action and special effects makes up for it.
Storyline: 5
Acting: 7
Cinematography: 8.5
Action: 9
Music: 7
Overall Rating: 7.5
Blue

Eclipse Movie Review

Eclipse came out a couple of months ago and I have seen it a few times and I think that it was worth it.
The movie begins with a young man in Seattle, being attacked by a strange creature. And then once again with a preface recital with Bella talking about fire and ice.
Bella’s decision to become a vampire has been scheduled for graduation, which comes up fast. But in her contract for Edward to be the one to make her a vampire, he has asked her to marry him. Even though she loves Edward, she thinks she is too young, and that other people would see it as if she was rushing into it and as if she’d just been “knocked up”.
Bella is also nervous about never seeing her family again after becoming a vampire, and a visit to her mother strengthens these feelings. Even so, the only thing she ever wants is Edward.
Jacob isn’t talking to her because of the decision she has made. Though they get talking again, and Bella discovers the Quileute Tribe’s stories- some good action and cinematography there.
The infamous Victoria is on the run- there are some good chase scenes involved there.
Newborn vampires are happening in Seattle, and the Cullens plan to stop it.
The movie lacks once again in the middle with a lot of conversational talking and less action. This is because in Eclipse many stories are explained, such as Rosalie’s and Jasper’s.
Training takes place for the battle- good cinematography and action there.
The climax is at the end, where the newborn vampires travel to Forks. The vampires and werewolves team up and a large battle takes place.
One main character dies- I will not reveal the name.
The storyline is good.
An improvement with the music- still slightly original though.
Acting is almost excellent now, an 8.5 is quite well suited.
Cinematography is still at a high level, but lacks a bit, with a bit less effects.
Action is improving.
Overall, a slight improvement to New Moon and the best of the Twilight Saga so far. (Do remember these are my thoughts on the movie)
Storyline: 7
Acting: 8.5
Cinematography: 8
Action: 7
Music: 7
Overall Rating: 8
By K

New Moon Movie Review

Here is the 2nd movie of the Twilight Saga, and the review:
The movie begins once again with a preface recital, and shows Bella running through a large crowd of people dressed in red.
Bella is faced with a fact that while she grows older and gets closer to dying, her Edward stays the same, perfect immortal self. This is sparked by a dream of her looking like her Grandma, mirroring herself, and the fact that she turns 18 during the movie. So the option of becoming an immortal vampire like Edward comes into her mind.
Bella comes very close to death at her birthday party, when blood is spilt.
A quarter way through the movie, Edward and his family leaves Forks; Edward hoping to give her a better life.
She goes into a deep depression, and the movie lacks a bit at this part. Her old friend, Jacob Black, (Taylor Lautner) comes in handy and a lot of the movie is based around how much Bella gets to like Jacob, and how he masks the “deep hole in her heart”.
Even so, she sees pictures of Edward, whenever she is in danger. This causes her to become an “adrenalin junky”, hoping to hear his voice and see him.
Her depression goes on for months, and just as she seems to get the hold of herself, Jacob turns into a werewolf. The cinematography involved with the shape-shifting is absolutely fantastic.
The climax comes up near the end, where, Alice, (Ashley Greene), returns to Forks and explains how Edward thinks Bella is dead.
They race off to Italy to the Volturi. And a small battle takes place.
There is an improvement in acting from Twilight-the nerves have eased off. The music is a bit too original, the movie lacks a bit of action through the beginning and middle but the great cinematography and storyline make up for it.
Overall, an improvement to Twilight. (Do remember these are my thoughts on the movie)
Storyline: 8
Acting: 7.5
Cinematography: 9
Action: 7.5
Music: 6
Overall Rating: 7.5
By K

Twilight Movie Review

Here is the Twilight Review,
I just saw Twilight and it is the 1st of the 4 movies of the Twilight Saga. If you haven’t seen it, I suggest reading this:
The movie begins with a preface recital, of Bella, (Kristen Stewart) talking about dying in the place of someone she loves. (I thoroughly suggest reading the novel before viewing, so as to understand the movie). Bella moves away from sunny Phoenix, away from her enthusiastic mother, (who re-married) to Forks, Washington to her father-Charlie.
At Forks, she encounters a strange family, of “beautiful” people. One of them, Edward, (Robert Pattinson) obtains an interest in her. Through the movie, they get closer together and get to know each other more. It’s a bit slow at these parts but is still ok. Though, soon Bella notices some strange things about Edward. Immense strength, super speed, good looks, and language from the previous century. The effects here are good.
Edward finally breaks it to her, that he is a vampire after a close encounter with some dangerous men.
The family is introduced and it comes down to a baseball game where the climax starts. There are fantastic effects here. After an encounter with other vampires, a chase starts across America and ends in a ballet room, where a battle takes place. A bit gruesome at parts but all good.
Storyline could be better in the facts of more action throughout the early of the movie, but still pretty good. Acting is slightly dodgy-(it is the 1st movie), but well suited. (Do remember these are my thoughts on the movie)
Storyline: 7
Acting: 6.5 – bit cheesy at times
Cinematography: 9
Action:6.5
Music: 7
Overall Rating: 7
By K