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I Confess (1952)
I Confess (1952)
1952 | Classics, Drama
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
An interesting movie. I really love Alfred Hitchcock and so it was really cool to see another of his movies on the screen. It has been a long while since I saw this film and it felt like I was viewing it for the first time. This is a really interesting Drama, well crafted, but I felt like it lacked a lot of what Hitchcock's other films had. Definitely a solid film, but I like a lot of Hitchcock's other films better.
  
Alfred: And The Underworld
Alfred: And The Underworld
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
“Yes Alfred, that is it. I love you. I love you so much. And I am worried. I, we, your father and I, and even Tirnalth – we chose this life for you. We fled for you. A great magic was unleashed to help us, for you Alfred. It helped us escape a world fallen to darkness”

Alfred and the Underworld is the second volume of Alfred: The Boy King series by author Ron Smorynski. Published on November 2017, this book continues Alfred’s journey as the King of Westfold. After spending some time back with his mother in the human world researching and preparing, he goes back to his people. Things are not going well, and Alfred has a lot of work to do to help his people get back on their feet and defend themselves from the darkness that surrounds them.

In this book, Smorynski continues not only with this adventure-filled story but has continued to build up his fantasy world. Alfred encounters several new magical creatures, both good and bad around his kingdom. We also get a further building of the magical system and who has access to magic, which adds to the world and what is possible within it. Another interesting aspect was the history and politics that took a forefront position in this book. We are given a better grasp of the world outside of Alfred’s little kingdom. There are more players in the game now some that could be allies and some that have allied themselves with the evil in the land.

I really enjoyed that in this book we get to see different perspectives. While mostly told from Alfred’s point of view, we also get sneak peaks into both his mother’s mind and the enemies Alfred, and his people are fighting. This was interesting because these other characters are privy to information Alfred does not have access to and helps build the intrigue of the story. I particularly liked the chapters focused on Alfred’s mother. Through the excitement of Alfred building up his kingdom and the thrill of preparing for battle and defeating enemies, the mother is a reminder of a big picture and a deeper mystery. Throughout the first book we were given pieces of the life that she left behind when she brought Alfred to our world, and slowly those pieces are coming together.

I greatly enjoyed this book and am excited about the third book in the series Alfred and the Quest of the Knights. Alfred and the Underworld was an exciting, fun, and interesting story on its own, but it also set up nicely for the next installment. Between the big bad that is Gorbogal the witch and the truth bomb that was dropped on Alfred in the last sentence as a cliffhanger, this book as left me desperately waiting for more.
  
I love this series. It features former child star Jupiter Jones and his friends, Bob and Pete.
Jupiter decides to form a detective agency and puts Kristin Amanda Thomas to business shame by tricking his way into a meeting with Alfred Hitchcock, who is looking for a haunted house to shoot a movie in.

There are some nice creepy moments here and the friendship between the boys is a lot of fun.
  
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Amy Adams recommended Vertigo (1958) in Movies (curated)

 
Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
1958 | Drama, Mystery

"I love Alfred Hitchcock, but that was the first one that I saw. I saw it in humanities class in high school. We broke it down and had to write all these articles about it, and it stayed with me for a lot of reasons? in exploring all of the imagery that Alfred Hitchcock uses, and just the tone of the film. I always was a Jimmy Stewart fan — my fiancé is kind of very Jimmy Stewart. [laughs] He’s like the every man. I really loved him. And then of course the Hitchcock blonde; a lot of it had to do with the females in the films, so it’s no surprise that I became an actress. I was obsessed with Kim Novak; I would pull my hair back and try to tweeze my eyebrows so I could be a Hitchcock blonde. I loved it. And that was the first time I’d ever explored film intellectually, in that class, because before then I was, you know, I just went to the movies — things would move me and I wasn’t sure why. To get to sit down with my teacher and break a film down intellectually was a discovery for me. It’s still one of my favorites. It speaks to me very strongly."

Source
  
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M. Night Shyamalan recommended Rebecca (1940) in Movies (curated)

 
Rebecca (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
1940 | Classics, Drama, Mystery

"Also based on a book. Coming from a super, super anal place as a filmmaker, the idea that the greatest hands-on auteur [Alfred Hitchcock] in cinema history made a movie with his hand buried in there perfectly–a lot of his movies, his hand is on top, and in this one, his hand was buried perfectly in there. Again, I’m not sure what genre it is and I love it because of that. Is it scary? I’m not sure it is. Is it a drama? For sure. Is it a romance? Yeah. And I love it, so elegantly done, I so fell in love with those characters, the performances were amazing. It was epic and haunting, and it was just its own perfect little gem that will never be re-created."

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Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
2004 | Action, Sci-Fi
The second of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films is a shining example of a comic book sequel outshining it's predecessor. Everything is better, the set pieces, the characters, the effects, and the stakes are higher.

Spider-Man 2 owes a lot to Alfred Molina. His performance as Otto Octavius, and later, Doctor Octopus is pure villainous perfection, whilst lending the character a sympathetic undertone. Spider-Man has a fantastic rogues gallery to chooses from, and Doc Ock is one of the more complicated ones. This movie does the character justice.
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, J.K. Simmons and Rosemary Harris all return from the first film and all cement their positions in movie history as these beloved comic characters.

The effects look a little dated by today's standards, but they're still more than passable, and another great score by Danny Elfman is the cherry on top.
Spider-Man 2 is both a strong sequel, and a strong comic book adaption.
  
The Belles: The Belles Book 1
The Belles: The Belles Book 1
Dhonielle Clayton | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
4
8.0 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well it sounds like there are some others who felt the same way as I did about this book.

It was hard to rate it and chose 3 because of the mixed feelings. It was very slow going - I made it halfway through and then stopped for a day or two and debated whether I wanted to or could finish it or not.

There’s a lot of heavy subject matter in here underneath the pretty stuff and in between the fun and interesting things. I don’t usually like or read this dark of a book much and it was a bit of a challenge for me in parts because I don’t handle reading about deaths or harming animals that well all the time - it can be hard to stomach depending on the details and who dies etc. There were also a lot of other things that bothered me or like some others mentioned maybe should have had a bit more warning before reading it. I also was not happy with the part where Alfred tried to attack and get some action during his beauty treatment.

As some others mentioned in their reviews, some of us readers perhaps more than others need to tread lightly when considering and/or reading this. I don’t know that I’ll be reading the next in this series. This book wasn’t really a good fit for me.