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Into the Wilderness (The Wilderness Series Book 2)
8.0
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A magnificent timeless adventure that tugs at the heart, weighs the soul, and measures the human...
Western fiction series Pamela Ackerson time travel romance
Speak of the Devil (Broken Halos #2)
8.0
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She was his to protect, but they stole her away... Eric spent centuries trying to protect his...
New Adult Paranormal Romance
Charlotte (184 KP) rated The Lightning House in Books
Oct 26, 2021
Gripping read
The lightning house throws you straight into the action from the very first page. Being based on a true story helps to draw you in even further to this gripping story and makes it all the more shocking......it had me breathless a fair few times!
Full of danger and intrigue, you'll find it hard to put down this well written and thrilling read. You'll find yourself immersed in a whole new world from your daily life and perhaps have you wondering how people get by with so many secrets and lies in their lives.
Definitely an adult read that would go nicely with a cheeky drink and chocolate.
The lightning house throws you straight into the action from the very first page. Being based on a true story helps to draw you in even further to this gripping story and makes it all the more shocking......it had me breathless a fair few times!
Full of danger and intrigue, you'll find it hard to put down this well written and thrilling read. You'll find yourself immersed in a whole new world from your daily life and perhaps have you wondering how people get by with so many secrets and lies in their lives.
Definitely an adult read that would go nicely with a cheeky drink and chocolate.
The Reluctant Bride by Monica Murphy
Book
Everyone’s for sale, including me. One moment I’m the forgotten daughter of one of the most...
Adult Contemporary Romance
Haunted (Hollow City Coven #4)
8.0
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An undead city... An ill-fated love... A nightmare relived... Wiccan researcher Gillian Granger...
Adult Paranormal Romance Novella
Drumbeats (The Drumbeats Trilogy #1)
Book
It's 1965 and 18 year old Jess escapes her stifling English home for a gap year in Ghana, West...
Historical Mystery Romance
Flirting with Death (The Hunted #1.5)
8.0
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Being a reaper has its perks, but also its downsides. While on an assignment, Evander is caught...
Novella Urban Fantasy Romance Young Adult
Forever Mine
8.0
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Smart, sexy Roya has it all, including a fatal brain tumor. Sentenced to die, she turns to the only...
Adult Paranormal Romance
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated It: Chapter Two (2019) in Movies
Sep 7, 2019
Hader steals the film
The "secret sauce" of the first chapter of IT (based on the horror novel by Stephen King) was NOT the gore or scares that were thrown at the audience, it was the characters and the performances that made that first film work. The young members of the "Loser's Club" - and especially the young actors populating these characters - created people that you wanted to root and cheer for throughout their ordeal with Pennywise the Clown and the bullies of Derry.
So...it should have been a "no-brainer" for Director Andy Muschietti and the filmmakers to repeat that pattern - it worked very, very well. But, somewhere along the way they forgot what made the first film good and Muschietti and new screenwriter Gary Dauberman decided to focus on the horror, gore and frights and let their talented group of adult actors inhabit the characters with little (maybe no) help from the screenplay.
And...the result is a "fine" film that wraps up the first film just "fine", but ultimately falls short of that first film and definitely falls short of what "could have been".
IT: CHAPTER TWO picks up 27 years later when Pennywise the Dancing Clown comes back (per his cycle) to terrorize the children of Derry once again. The Loser's Club from the first film band back together (per their pact at the end of the first film) to battle - and finally destroy - this dark threat.
The filmmakers pull a strong group of actors together to play the adult versions of the Loser's Club - headlined by Jessica Chastain (ZERO DARK THIRTY) as the adult Beverly Marsh and James McAvoy (Professor X in the recent run of X-MEN films) as the adult Bill Denborough. I find McAvoy to be (for the most part) a solid, if unspectacular, actor and he is true to from here. Solid, but unspectacular in a role that was written that way. Chastain, perhaps, is the biggest disappointment for me in this film as the young Beverly Marsh (as portrayed by Sophia Lillis) was the highlight of the first film but here this character is...bland and somewhat boring. I don't fault Chastain (an actress that I usually enjoy very, very much), I blame the screenplay which saddles these two characters with an underwritten "love triangle" with the adult Ben Hascombe (Jay Ryan - somewhat of a newcomer, who has smoldering good looks, but not much else going for him). It was rumored that Chris Pratt was circling this character (I would imagine he walked away when he saw the screenplay). That's too bad, for he might have brought some life to all 3 of these characters.
Faring better is the usually reliable Isiah Mustafa (TV's SHADOWHUNTERS) as the adult Mike Hanlon, the only one of the Loser's Club who stayed in Derry to keep a vigilant watch against Pennywise' return. He has a haunted air about him - certainly in keeping with the the past that only he remembers. And Andy Bean (SWAMP THING) has a nice couple of moments as the adult Stanley Uris.
The only truly interesting dynamic of the returning Loser's Club is the characters and love/hate relationship between the older Eddie Kaspbrak, the hypochondriac (played by James Ransome, TV's THE WIRE) and smart-mouth Richie Tolzier (inhabited by SNL vet Bill Hader). While Ransome's Eddie is quite a bit more interesting than he was as a youth (and that's no slight on Jack Dylan Grazer who played the younger Eddie, I just found Ransome's portrayal more nuanced and somewhat more interesting). But it is Hader who steals this film. His Richie is constantly using humor to cover his emotions building on the interesting characterization that Finn Wolfhard brought to the younger version and giving us more. Hader is a master comedian, so handles the comedy parts as deftly as you would think he would, but it is when the other emotions - fear, rage, love - come barreling out of him that Hader elevates this character (and the movie) to a higher level. I would be thrilled if Hader was nominated for an Oscar for this role - he is that good.
Also coming back are all of the "kids" from the first film to flesh out some scenes - and set up some other scenes/moments by the adults - they are a welcome addition and shine a spotlight at how weak - and underwritten - most of the adult characters are in this film.
Bill Skarsgard is seen quite a bit more as Pennywise - and that makes him less menacing and threatening (but still scary) and there are 2 fun cameos along the way by 2 prominent individuals, so that was fun.
There is a running gag throughout the film about author Bill Denborough (the surrogate for Stephen King) not being able to write a decent ending - a critique that King receives constantly - and they changed the ending of this film from the book. I am a big fan of the book, but would agree that the ending of the book was not that good, so was open to this trying a different way to end things...and...this new ending lands about as well as the original ending (oh well...).
But that's just a quibble, for by that time you've ridden with these characters for over 5 hours and while the first chapter is stronger than the first, the journey is good (enough) for an enjoyable (enough) time at the Cineplex.
Come for the Loser's Club and the scares - stay for Hader's Oscar worthy performance.
Letter Grade: B+
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
So...it should have been a "no-brainer" for Director Andy Muschietti and the filmmakers to repeat that pattern - it worked very, very well. But, somewhere along the way they forgot what made the first film good and Muschietti and new screenwriter Gary Dauberman decided to focus on the horror, gore and frights and let their talented group of adult actors inhabit the characters with little (maybe no) help from the screenplay.
And...the result is a "fine" film that wraps up the first film just "fine", but ultimately falls short of that first film and definitely falls short of what "could have been".
IT: CHAPTER TWO picks up 27 years later when Pennywise the Dancing Clown comes back (per his cycle) to terrorize the children of Derry once again. The Loser's Club from the first film band back together (per their pact at the end of the first film) to battle - and finally destroy - this dark threat.
The filmmakers pull a strong group of actors together to play the adult versions of the Loser's Club - headlined by Jessica Chastain (ZERO DARK THIRTY) as the adult Beverly Marsh and James McAvoy (Professor X in the recent run of X-MEN films) as the adult Bill Denborough. I find McAvoy to be (for the most part) a solid, if unspectacular, actor and he is true to from here. Solid, but unspectacular in a role that was written that way. Chastain, perhaps, is the biggest disappointment for me in this film as the young Beverly Marsh (as portrayed by Sophia Lillis) was the highlight of the first film but here this character is...bland and somewhat boring. I don't fault Chastain (an actress that I usually enjoy very, very much), I blame the screenplay which saddles these two characters with an underwritten "love triangle" with the adult Ben Hascombe (Jay Ryan - somewhat of a newcomer, who has smoldering good looks, but not much else going for him). It was rumored that Chris Pratt was circling this character (I would imagine he walked away when he saw the screenplay). That's too bad, for he might have brought some life to all 3 of these characters.
Faring better is the usually reliable Isiah Mustafa (TV's SHADOWHUNTERS) as the adult Mike Hanlon, the only one of the Loser's Club who stayed in Derry to keep a vigilant watch against Pennywise' return. He has a haunted air about him - certainly in keeping with the the past that only he remembers. And Andy Bean (SWAMP THING) has a nice couple of moments as the adult Stanley Uris.
The only truly interesting dynamic of the returning Loser's Club is the characters and love/hate relationship between the older Eddie Kaspbrak, the hypochondriac (played by James Ransome, TV's THE WIRE) and smart-mouth Richie Tolzier (inhabited by SNL vet Bill Hader). While Ransome's Eddie is quite a bit more interesting than he was as a youth (and that's no slight on Jack Dylan Grazer who played the younger Eddie, I just found Ransome's portrayal more nuanced and somewhat more interesting). But it is Hader who steals this film. His Richie is constantly using humor to cover his emotions building on the interesting characterization that Finn Wolfhard brought to the younger version and giving us more. Hader is a master comedian, so handles the comedy parts as deftly as you would think he would, but it is when the other emotions - fear, rage, love - come barreling out of him that Hader elevates this character (and the movie) to a higher level. I would be thrilled if Hader was nominated for an Oscar for this role - he is that good.
Also coming back are all of the "kids" from the first film to flesh out some scenes - and set up some other scenes/moments by the adults - they are a welcome addition and shine a spotlight at how weak - and underwritten - most of the adult characters are in this film.
Bill Skarsgard is seen quite a bit more as Pennywise - and that makes him less menacing and threatening (but still scary) and there are 2 fun cameos along the way by 2 prominent individuals, so that was fun.
There is a running gag throughout the film about author Bill Denborough (the surrogate for Stephen King) not being able to write a decent ending - a critique that King receives constantly - and they changed the ending of this film from the book. I am a big fan of the book, but would agree that the ending of the book was not that good, so was open to this trying a different way to end things...and...this new ending lands about as well as the original ending (oh well...).
But that's just a quibble, for by that time you've ridden with these characters for over 5 hours and while the first chapter is stronger than the first, the journey is good (enough) for an enjoyable (enough) time at the Cineplex.
Come for the Loser's Club and the scares - stay for Hader's Oscar worthy performance.
Letter Grade: B+
7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Trolls (2016) in Movies
Jul 15, 2019
The new film ‘Trolls’ by Dreamworks opens nationwide November 4.
Trolls is an animated kids movie starring the voices of Anna Kendrick as Poppy, heir to the Trolls, and her pessimistic best friend Branch, voiced by Justin Timberlake.
Trolls opens with a quick summary of the Trolls personality– they are always happy, love to hug, party and dance. This is immediately followed up by revealing the trolls biggest predicament: the Bergens.
The Bergens don’t feel anything at all and don’t enjoy doing anything, the only amount of happiness they feel comes from eating the trolls on a holiday they deemed “Trollstis”.
I actually enjoyed this concept although it is a bit dark for children. The film however, manages to stay away from having a dark tone throughout. Instead, it’s filled with cheesy musical numbers and has a very basic plot, I.e. trolls get kidnapped and need to be rescued.
The character depth is pretty slim and the only character development we really see is with Branch (Timberlake) who goes from being pessimistic and a downer to positive and happy by the very end.
Multiple times during the movie I found myself asking “when is this going to end?”. There was maybe one moment throughout the entire movie that got a half chuckle out of me and that was absolutely it.
Despite such big names like Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Russell Brand, Zoey Deschanel and Gwen Stefani, the subtle adult jokes sprinkled throughout the movie were few and far between…. Rather than most recent films targeted at kids, that have an underlying thread aimed at drawing in adults and making it worthwhile for the adults to attend, Trolls adult aimed content seemed to be at an absolute bare minimum.
Therefore, my conclusions are this: If you’re looking for a kids movie that also has substance that reaches adults, this film doesn’t make the list. This film is simply a kids movie in every way.
However, if you want to take your kid to a movie that lights up his face and brightens his day this movie is worth sitting through.
I’d give this movie 2/5 stars as an adult, but the 8 year old boy gives it 5/5.
Trolls is an animated kids movie starring the voices of Anna Kendrick as Poppy, heir to the Trolls, and her pessimistic best friend Branch, voiced by Justin Timberlake.
Trolls opens with a quick summary of the Trolls personality– they are always happy, love to hug, party and dance. This is immediately followed up by revealing the trolls biggest predicament: the Bergens.
The Bergens don’t feel anything at all and don’t enjoy doing anything, the only amount of happiness they feel comes from eating the trolls on a holiday they deemed “Trollstis”.
I actually enjoyed this concept although it is a bit dark for children. The film however, manages to stay away from having a dark tone throughout. Instead, it’s filled with cheesy musical numbers and has a very basic plot, I.e. trolls get kidnapped and need to be rescued.
The character depth is pretty slim and the only character development we really see is with Branch (Timberlake) who goes from being pessimistic and a downer to positive and happy by the very end.
Multiple times during the movie I found myself asking “when is this going to end?”. There was maybe one moment throughout the entire movie that got a half chuckle out of me and that was absolutely it.
Despite such big names like Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Russell Brand, Zoey Deschanel and Gwen Stefani, the subtle adult jokes sprinkled throughout the movie were few and far between…. Rather than most recent films targeted at kids, that have an underlying thread aimed at drawing in adults and making it worthwhile for the adults to attend, Trolls adult aimed content seemed to be at an absolute bare minimum.
Therefore, my conclusions are this: If you’re looking for a kids movie that also has substance that reaches adults, this film doesn’t make the list. This film is simply a kids movie in every way.
However, if you want to take your kid to a movie that lights up his face and brightens his day this movie is worth sitting through.
I’d give this movie 2/5 stars as an adult, but the 8 year old boy gives it 5/5.