Another tidier version will be used for thumbnails and small profile pictures:
Friday, 29 March 2013
The OJ Reviews NEW LOGO!
For those of you who have read The OJ Reviews' Google+ post you will know we are having a logo change. The old one was bit messy and didn't look to good but now after some viewpoints and votes we finally have the OJ Reviews logo 2.0. I hope you like it and you will be seeing it on other sites we're on soon!
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
OJ's Book Review - Why the Whales Came
Yes; a bit random but I've just read it and have only posted one thing this month. So here we go!
Why the Whales Came is a Morpurgo book that came out in 1985. It was lent to me by a friend so I read it. While reading I came to the conclusion that this book should not be called Why the Whales Came because the entire story has nothing to do with whales until the very end; so the title is almost like a spoiler for a twist ending. A better title would be The Birdman because that is what the book centres on really - this apparently crazy old man who is maybe related to a witch. Two children start talking too him through shell messages and that begins the story. As I've probably mentioned before Michael Morpurgo is very good at describing things, some scenes you can see in your mind like a photo. The story too was well executed. Very good mystery and it kept leaving you asking questions in your mind. It also built a little bit of fear at the beginning to the children's safety when they got near this Birdman guy and then as nearly all Morpurgo books do it ties in with the war and that becomes a main plot line. So Why the Whales Came was a very good book and do recommend it to all ages; just don't expect everything to be about whales.
Why the Whales Came is a Morpurgo book that came out in 1985. It was lent to me by a friend so I read it. While reading I came to the conclusion that this book should not be called Why the Whales Came because the entire story has nothing to do with whales until the very end; so the title is almost like a spoiler for a twist ending. A better title would be The Birdman because that is what the book centres on really - this apparently crazy old man who is maybe related to a witch. Two children start talking too him through shell messages and that begins the story. As I've probably mentioned before Michael Morpurgo is very good at describing things, some scenes you can see in your mind like a photo. The story too was well executed. Very good mystery and it kept leaving you asking questions in your mind. It also built a little bit of fear at the beginning to the children's safety when they got near this Birdman guy and then as nearly all Morpurgo books do it ties in with the war and that becomes a main plot line. So Why the Whales Came was a very good book and do recommend it to all ages; just don't expect everything to be about whales.
Monday, 11 March 2013
ORIGINAL VS REMAKE - King Kong
The first Original VS Remake is 1933's King Kong going up against the 2005 remake.Original
1933 brought us a crazy film maker called Carl Denham who liked filming wild animals and strange things for his movies. And he has a new film to shoot but his lead actress has quit so he accidentally finds a girl while she's stealing an apple and they go off aboard the ship to Skull Mountain - an unknown island of mystery. This movie was pretty good for its time, it had a good plot, characters and good effects in the case of stop-motion which was all the rage back then. The acting was a bit shabby but all in all in was enjoyable and an old monster classic.
Remake
In 2005 they upgraded King Kong with CGI, a popular cast and more storyline. Obviously the effects where better, and it was in colour but King Kong in 2005 definitely kept true to the original. There were almost exact scenes, same lines, and same time period. There were of course new things as creatures, characters and plot points and they changed a few things like the beginning the natives being a bit more savage but they were for the good and really improved it.
Comparison
1933's was good but 2005's was just that bit better, maybe for the effects but more for the story line - there was a lot more to it. But I'm happy they kept very close to the original so the remake wins the first Original VS Remake but that's just my opinions. What do you think?
Thursday, 28 February 2013
OJ's Book Review - Code
SNUP! So, the whole idea of the second book was so they could have tech in their base?
Lol, I'm just joking, but I am glad they used the plot points from Seizure to tie in. In trilogies, the best one is usually the first or the last and in this case it is defiantly the last. Code is most unlike the first two and more darker as well; the whole plot is like something you'd see in a movie and is really fun to follow; every character from the series is in this book as I wasn't expecting to see one or two of them but they all do something with the plot and as you know I like references and this book defiantly referred to a few points from Virals every now and again. Code also referenced things were might see in the future; yes the end of this book certainly sets up a 4th even though I understood it to be a trilogy, so, we'll have to see. In the end I really liked Code and towards the end is a really gripping sequence of events that leave you wanting more - but that's just it, with Kathy Reichs' Virals series it's only really the end that makes it good, the bits before and the beginning I'm not that interested in picking up as soon as I can, I can say I have read others where I've spent every spare minute reading but with these - even though they are good and have a sense of realism using the technical terms - I'm not always drawn straight from the beginning. But if you have read the first two you should defiantly get a hold of Code as it is very good and unearths some interesting secrets.
Lol, I'm just joking, but I am glad they used the plot points from Seizure to tie in. In trilogies, the best one is usually the first or the last and in this case it is defiantly the last. Code is most unlike the first two and more darker as well; the whole plot is like something you'd see in a movie and is really fun to follow; every character from the series is in this book as I wasn't expecting to see one or two of them but they all do something with the plot and as you know I like references and this book defiantly referred to a few points from Virals every now and again. Code also referenced things were might see in the future; yes the end of this book certainly sets up a 4th even though I understood it to be a trilogy, so, we'll have to see. In the end I really liked Code and towards the end is a really gripping sequence of events that leave you wanting more - but that's just it, with Kathy Reichs' Virals series it's only really the end that makes it good, the bits before and the beginning I'm not that interested in picking up as soon as I can, I can say I have read others where I've spent every spare minute reading but with these - even though they are good and have a sense of realism using the technical terms - I'm not always drawn straight from the beginning. But if you have read the first two you should defiantly get a hold of Code as it is very good and unearths some interesting secrets.
Monday, 25 February 2013
OJ's TV Review - Primeval: New World season 1
Wow. After 5 years of Primeval we get a spin-off. How well does it fair?
Primeval: New World is now set in Canada and very much like the UK series you have a main male character and something happens to his wife. This urges him to research about the anomalies and hunt dinosaurs with a few friends. Now in the first few episodes they established and created everything that first 4 series of the UK Primeval did. I mean it took until series 3 to point out that anomalies effect mythology whereas in New World they stated it in episode two. And also some episodes did feel like remakes - a lot; honestly, on some episodes it's like someone got the original screenplay and then just changed names and locations. But apart from all that it was very enjoyable; they kept making references to Primeval every now and again and the ARC plays an role in there too. So I think it is a pretty good spin-off to one of my favorite shows and it even brought new story-lines and events what were quite new but also a lot of plots that we'd seen before back in the UK. It did end on a cliff-hanger like pretty much every Primeval series did and unfortunately it has now been cancelled so we will never see season 2; but like I said, this spin-off was a good run and pays homage to its roots so that was good.
I suppose that's the end of the Primeval franchise all together now then but I hope people remember this great piece of entertainment.
Primeval: New World is now set in Canada and very much like the UK series you have a main male character and something happens to his wife. This urges him to research about the anomalies and hunt dinosaurs with a few friends. Now in the first few episodes they established and created everything that first 4 series of the UK Primeval did. I mean it took until series 3 to point out that anomalies effect mythology whereas in New World they stated it in episode two. And also some episodes did feel like remakes - a lot; honestly, on some episodes it's like someone got the original screenplay and then just changed names and locations. But apart from all that it was very enjoyable; they kept making references to Primeval every now and again and the ARC plays an role in there too. So I think it is a pretty good spin-off to one of my favorite shows and it even brought new story-lines and events what were quite new but also a lot of plots that we'd seen before back in the UK. It did end on a cliff-hanger like pretty much every Primeval series did and unfortunately it has now been cancelled so we will never see season 2; but like I said, this spin-off was a good run and pays homage to its roots so that was good.
I suppose that's the end of the Primeval franchise all together now then but I hope people remember this great piece of entertainment.
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
OJ's Game Review - New Super Mario Bros. Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii, I enjoy Mario games a lot and have loved playing Mario Kart so when I saw this advertised I thought I must have it. And so as the months went on I finally bought it; I'd played it before at a friends house but not extensively and eventually when I inserted that disc into my Wii console I played every single day, that was January 14th (2013) and now all the way into February 19th I still have two Star Coins to get! So it is defiantly a challenge for me and probably for most others. I can't really review the plot because it's not about the plot, its about playing the game. All the plot really is is that Princess Peach is kidnapped and Mario has to save her from Bowser, there is a sort of plot twist towards the end but nothing major. The game play though is super fun; I played a bit of the Mario on the computer every now and again so I knew the mechanics of how to do things but on the TV it was a blast. I liked that you got to go to different worlds and then there were secret exits and other cool stuff. The enemies were harder than I imagined (you know what I mean for those of you on 9-5 without a penguin suit!) and some of the over-all levels where pretty tricky and I admit I had to call in a friend to help on one or two, but multi-player is lots of fun too. I liked the whole landscape and look of each world as well, my least favourite though, is World 3, I don't know what It was, I just didn't enjoy it. But I've had loads of fun playing the game and hopefully will do in the future.
Monday, 21 January 2013
OJ's TV Review - Person of Interest season 1
Eagle Eye!
I sat down the other day and watched the first season of the new show Person of Interest (not all in one day though). It stars this ex-military man, John Reese, who has lots of skills but has nothing better to do so he joins Harold Finch and becomes a vigilante to people who are going to be in danger. The reason they know people will be part of a crime is that Harold built a top secret machine many years ago that looks at everything and everyone (an Eagle Eye spin-off) and it sends him Social Security Numbers of the people. A very good premise that if gone the wrong way could be very bad, we don't want another Alcatraz. But thankfully this show is really good, but there is a problem; the first episode is probably the worst ever, it went really quick and boring and I don't know why I bothered with the next one because it actually starts getting good around episode 5 and then from episode 8 its brilliant, but you do have to watch the whole series to know the details and things. This season also has a few story arcs, actually 3 by the end and they are really fun to follow. The mystery of Harold's past and the Machine is the primary one but then you also get some more which is enjoyable. So, apart from the beginning this show is very enjoyable with loads of action, more humour towards the end of the season and defiantly some thrills so I recommend it to cop show fans, sci-fi fans and thrill lovers.
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