Movie Reviews by Evelyn Gough.

Valentine (M)

Directed by Jamie Blanks

Revenge of the Nerds meets Halloween!

That pretty much sums up Valentine, the latest horror flick from Urban Legend director Jamie Blanks.

Definitely going for the throat of the teen market (or is that "easily amused") Valentine doesn't exactly go where no horror movie has ever gone before.

David Boreanaz is horrifying (in more ways than one) as Adam in Valentine.

In other words don't expect anything new, and, unfortunately, don't expect anything really terrifying either. The only thing really scary about the movie is the acting. Think porn film without the sex...

Okay, so that's a bit harsh - it's not as dodgy as all that (and there are worse things than faking horror!).

My 17-year-old companion thought it was great, and I for one am always happy to spend endless hours watching the talents of David Boreanez (TV's Angel). He plays Adam, the boyfriend of one of the bitchy beauties who, 13 years earlier, had publicly humiliated a fellow classmate at the school's Valentine dance.

Now all grown up, this bevy of bimbos find themselves the target of a psychopath who is picking them off one by one. The only warning they have of their impending fate comes via a gruesome Valentine's day card.

It's kind of like a No Frills Carrie. Even Stephen King has nothing to be afraid of.

Duh? Who could the killer possibly be? Although not one to strain the grey matter or have you quivering with fear there are, on the up side, several decent laughs to be had.

My advice? Take a date and snuggle up. It's going to be a long evening.

Word On Books by Jeremy Fenton.
The Occupation of Japan
By George Davies, Published by USQ

It was Winston Churchill who said that truth is the first casualty of war (not innocence as the marketing generation spin would have it!).

As George Davies, the author of this new study of the occupation of Japan, makes clear from the outset, his intention is to rescue from the depths of censorship and mis-information the Australian and New Zealand presence in the former imperial nation of Japan at the end of World War II.

With special attention placed upon the often-strained relations between Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States, this well-written account examines such under represented aspects of the occupation as health issues, women in the force and non-fraternisation - as well as the more widely recorded matters like demilitarisation, disarmament and the new constitution.

The author certainly knows his topic having served in the first contingent of New Zealanders to join the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan (and in later life making numerous trips to Japan in a professional capacity).

Quite apart from his own personal experiences, it would be hard to imagine a more exhaustively researched book on the period that lasted from 1939 to 1952, with newly-released military and political documents adding to the already enormous existing archival material on the war used in the book's preparation.

Ultimately this is a specialist book for specialised interests, and given that the author's intention was never to appeal to a wide readership but rather to rescue from footnote status an "ignoble episode" in Australia and New Zealand's history, it is comprehensive and successful in its aim.