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FilmIntuition (33 KP) rated Virgil Wander in Books

Nov 21, 2018

Virgil Wander

Leif Enger | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Like a warm quilt on a cold day, in "Virgil Wander," Leif Enger wraps up his reader in evocative language that makes them want to pull the book closer and hold tight for this imaginative tale.

Narrated by the well-liked eponymous film projectionist who finds himself still getting his bearings and memory back after his car soars into Lake Superior during a snowfall, as Virgil navigates his small town with new perspective, we get acquainted with the equally affable, unique characters who inhabit the “cursed” town of Greenstone, Minnesota.

A seemingly straightforward journey made all the more enchanting by the author's magnetic prose, “Virgil Wander” is stunning not only in its simplicity but by how masterfully Enger builds a strong foundation of characters you can relate to before seasoning his story with elements of Norwegian myth and fisherman's tall tales, which in his hands become Minnesota magic.

A highly recommended chronicle of small town life with much more on its mind, this gorgeously penned sleeper is one of my favorite novels of 2018.

Kudos

The Craggus (360 KP) rated Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018) in Movies

Nov 26, 2018 (Updated Nov 26, 2018)

Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

2018 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery

7.2

(201 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

To fall victim to one dark lord may be considered a misfortune. For it to happen on a cyclical basis suggests a fundamental structural flaw in your society. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald (2018) #Review

There’s a touch of vanity to the new Wizarding World logo which follows the Warner Bros shield at the start of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Gindelwald”, equal in hubris if not in ironic overconfidence to the unveiling (and shuttering) of Universal’s Dark Universe at the star of “The Mummy”. The mission is clear: expand the brand, diminish ‘Harry Potter’. The trouble is, the charm of Harry Potter was in its lead characters and their coming of age journey against the backdrop of a secret wizarding world falling back into a war which had not yet been won. You take those appealing characters away and all you’re left with is a wizarding world which doesn’t hold up to even the most cursory scrutiny in a movie that, for a family-friendly blockbuster, sure has a lot of baby murders in it....
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusGrindelwald

Kudos

David McK (3425 KP) rated Nightlife (Cal Leandros #1) in Books

Jan 28, 2019

Originally picked up on a whim (as a Christmas present from my Amazon wishlist back in the early 2010s), and I'm glad I did. Be looking for more of this series, methinks.

<edit in 2018>
I've just re-read this again, and can fill in a bit more now than my previous 'review' (above).

This falls firmly into the Urban Fantasy genre, mainly told in the first person, with Cal(iban) Leandros the main narrator of the story, and with the Grendels (or Auphe, or Elf!) the main antagonists: the main, but not the only. In this world (or New York), there's also a Boggle in the park, Trolls (at least one) in the underground, Werewolves, Vampires and other associated mythological creatures, including one who takes a prominent role: that of Darkling (whose sisters are the Banshees of Irish myth). Caliban definitely undergoes quite a bit throughout this story with a major transformation in his character taking place roughly about halfway through: read it, and you'll see what I mean!

Kudos

David McK (3425 KP) rated Infinity: Volume 1 in Books

Jan 30, 2019

Spring 2018.

Perhaps the best Marvel movie to date was released, a culmination of circa a decade of Marvel movies consisiting of numerous single-character led films and even a couple of previous 'team-ups'. That movie was, of course, 'Infinity War, part 1'.

At around the same time, Comixology ran one of their frequent sales. With a picture of Thanos on the cover, a title called 'Infinity' and being on sale at around the saem time as the movie, I made the mistake of thinking this would share similarities with the plot of the movie.

(No) spoilers: it doesn't.

As others on this site have mentioned, however, it is perhaps well named in that the story seems to go on ... and on ... and on ...

Honestly? I struggled to get through this, finding it hard to 'tie together' the various disparate story-lines; to even really care about all that much about what was happening or who it was happening to.

In short, and for me, this was a massive disappointment.