Review

William Gibson’s name first crops up attached to Neuromancer, which is held by many to be the genesis of the cyberpunk genre. Back in 1984, Gibson imagined a VR-Internet, coining the term ‘cyberspace’, extending contempary technologies to create a view of the future that was entirely possible. Neuromancer was set well into the future, imagining a world somewhat like Blade Runner, space stations and all, and one of its key premises of humans interfacing with computers directly, along with AI, served as inspiration for The Matrix. While Neuromancer’s sequels Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive (yep, Matrix again) were set along the same timeline inevitably, Gibson’s next major work moved backwards, coming closer to the present, with the Bridge series. Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow’s Parties were set in a future just around the corner, a post-modern world where earthquakes had struck Tokyo and San Francisco. There was still an element of Gibson’s defining science-fiction in these, but other than stylistically, they may as well have been written by a completely different author to those of the cyberpunk stories. Post-2001, post-9/11, it would appear that Gibson left the science fiction genre entirely, his novels now set in a contempary world that is entirely recognisable. Pattern Recognition dealt with the story of a “cool hunter” chasing an unusual film being released peicemeal over the net - apart from one or two details, there was little in Pattern Recognition that was science fiction. Cayce Pollard, protagonist, uses a G4 Cube, catches entirely normal flights, and does yoga in a yoga studio in north London - no Boston-Atlanta conurbation here. Spook Country takes this one step further. Gibson removes any element of the unknown, and refers to real-world events with an attached timeline, where Neuromancer had nary a reference to a year or date in it. 9/11 figures again, though not as prominently as in Pattern Recognition, and it’s clear Gibson has taken that date as a turning point. The story starts with three seperate threads, each interleaving their way to a finish that feels almost anti-climatic. ...

I first read Dracula in year 8, for English, and I remember then that I had found it a little tedious, and yet simultaneously slightly terrifying. So what did I think when looking at a wall of ultra-cheap classics than “why not pick up this one again?” I’ll freely admit I don’t have the head for horror stories, be it in movies or books. Indeed, books are worse because my overactive imagination which sees phantoms in every shadow is required throughout the book, while movies are far more passive and creating the horrors has been outsourced. When it’s from your own head, it’s somehow more attuned to the things which get to you, and much more freely called up… ...

A visual review for a very visual movie: Norah Jones debuts, with blueberry pie. Wong Kar-wai plays with camera angles and positioning. Rachel Weisz plays distinctly against type, and looks gorgeous, particularly with the soft-lighting treatment she gets all throughout. The visual technique of looking through the windows is quite strong, and plays out the theme underlying the movie. You may be beginning to guess that this movie is mostly at night… ...

Superbad: Teen comedy in the vein of American Pie, but with far better plot and acting. Actors almost look too young (they really supposed to be 18? Is that what 18 year olds act like, really?) Unfortunately doesn’t rise far above the genre, which doesn’t exactly help. ★★★

The Kingdom: “Syriana for dummies” is how the New York Times describes this, and it’s not far wrong. Syriana required you to pay attention in order to really patch all the plot points together, but moved glacially. The Kingdom has a straightforward trajectory, and while it gets lost in the middle a little, ticks the action-and-explosions box solidly. Passes the time of an afternoon. ★★☆