Some reviews

The Green Mile
I have seen this film previously and rewatched it again on the newly free Film4. I love the way Stephen King crafts his stories. It has his hallmark all over it. The characters are so good; I love the way we see the skills of these men who work so well together in keeping men on death row. Percy makes an excellent foil to this team; petulant, fascinated by the macabre and peevish. And then there's John Coffey ("like the drink only spelt different") a huge man who has committed a dreadful crime. As the story unfolds, the viewer is kept gripped. I'm guessing that the story and acting are all that are need to keep this film entertaining. I thoroughly recommend this...
The Hole
In contrast, The Hole is an above average teen flick that didn't inspire me. Four teenagers get out of the school field trip by partying down an unused bunker. The trouble comes when they realise that they are locked in and there's no way out. The skill in this film is the way in which the information is drip fed to the viewer in order to change our perception of what is happening. The trouble is you don't really care enough about any of the people involved to really invest any emotional energy into it. Of it's type, it's good but I don't much like teen flicks so it was never going to enthrall. I can see though that it is in a different class to the normal crud that gets churned out so it may be worth a watch if you like psychological thriller type films.
The Wasp Factory
Iain Banks is a favourite author of mine and I felt it was time to revisit his first novel. The author is good at setting up bizarre alternative universes for his characters to live in. In this novel, the characters are in a family on an island in Scotland. The main character, Frank has had the run of this island, being home tutored, all of his 17 years. He's an intelligent but obsessively compulsive boy who uses his Wasp Facory to determine the safety of his island and his way of life. When Frank hears that his brother Eric has broken out of the mental hospital and the Factory predicts fire, the story of the family's ill fated past starts to unravel.
I must warn you that there is a lot to disgust in this story. Frank feels no compunction in killing animals: their skulls are placed on posts in order to "protect" the island. Eric is reknown in the village for setting fire to dogs. If you can get beyond that, then you are in for a mighty fine read.
Lost
I am really hooked and I mean really hooked on Lost! Season two has been interesting: we seem to have a slower week where the plot is set up and then an action week where everything happens. The episode that explained what happened to Claire when she was abducted by "the others" was especially good. That in itself raised allsorts of questions that haven't been answered like what is this infection? how did the others set up the bunker as an operating theatre and medical centre? why do the others want children? and JUST WHO ARE THE OTHERS ANYWAY???!!!
And now we have the man in the armoury. Is he one of them? All is not what it seems. But then, that's just annother week on Lost...