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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Salem's Lot in Books

Sep 14, 2018

Salem's Lot

Stephen King | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror

8.1

(50 Ratings)

Book Rating

King's fantastic take on vampires

Despite being a massive King fan, I've never read Salem's Lot. Its just one of his books that it never occurred to me to read, until i started to collect his entire works and read everything I hadn't read before.

I never knew that this book was about vampires, and whilst this becomes fairly obvious quite early into the book, it was a pleasant surprise. As with most of King's books, this is extremely well written, and has his usual mix of varied and interesting characters, with the writing style split between all of them. There are some good and obvious references to Dracula in this, but its a fantastic modern(ish - 1970s) take on a classic vampire story. And unusually for King, this story isn't an epic novel like some of his others. It doesn't seem to go into as much detail either storywise and characterwise as some of his other bigger novels (The Stand, Needful Things etc), and this is really my only criticism. The story is still detailed and a very good, it just isn't what I'd come to expect from a King novel especially with a plot like this.

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Andy K (10823 KP) rated Roma (2018) in Movies

Jan 8, 2019

Roma (2018)

2018 | Drama

7.4

(10 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Beautiful but pointless

I guess I expect a little more from Alfonso Cuarón, director of Gravity and Children of Men, than a slightly boring film about a year in the life of a Mexican family in the 1970s. The film focuses on the lives of an upper middle class couple, their kids and their maid as they go through the events of their daily lives and have a few unexpected things happen to them.

I guess it's kind of interesting as events unfold; however, I was kind of waiting for some meaning or point of which there was none. I would say normally I am not a huge fan of the "slice of life" sort of movie as they usually are devoid of point and this one was no exception.

The beautiful black and white cinematography and long takes make the film a technical marvel, but I wish there was more substance here.

Not sure why it is getting all the hype and attention other than because of its famous director. In a year, no one will remember this film.