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Wonder Woman (2017)
Wonder Woman (2017)
2017 | Action, Fantasy, War
Wonder Woman is visually beautiful, fairly well paced, and delivers great action. If you like superhero movies, it's definitely one to go see. Gal Gadot plays the bright-eyed and slightly alien Diana with aplomb. The plot is definitely weak in places. This movie has one or two moments where things would be solved much more swiftly if the characters weren't keeping secrets for very flimsy reasons, and also fails to give answers to some things, such as Diana's wrist guards. All in all, though, this movie had heart and I appreciated it for refusing to fall into grit and darkness. It's hard to craft a character who is brave and honest and quintessentially good and also make them not incredibly boring. This movie did that very well.
  
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Dean (6926 KP) rated The Thing (2011) in Movies

Feb 10, 2018  
The Thing (2011)
The Thing (2011)
2011 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A really good prequel to a horror classic. It's been a while since I saw the '82 version, so I watched the DVD feature that shows some of the lengths they went to to keep the set design in keeping with the '82 film. This one answers the questions to just what on earth happened at that base! There are plenty of scenes that refer to what they discover in the old film. The effects are great and needed to be. Thankfully it isn't all CGI and they made some good animatronic creature designs to start with.
It's very similar otherwise to the original in how it pans out and takes you right up to the start of the '82 classic. If anything it will make you want to see the original again as well.
  
When International Pine wants to expand their furniture factory in Sleepyside, the town and the Bob-Whites become divided. But it’s Mr. Maypenny who may be effected the most. What is happening on his property?

Sadly, this is a weak entry in the series. The mystery is shoehorned in with Trixie getting most of her answers in a few data dumps late in the book. The factory plot takes center stage most of the time and gives a good view of the pro-jobs side of things but leaves the environmental side of things weak. On the other hand, the characters are strong and we get to see more of Dan than normal.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/08/book-review-mystery-at-maypennys-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Randall Munroe, ex-NASA employee and current webcomic writer, has a feature on his website in which readers ask him hypothetical questions and he goes about answering them as scientifically as possible. In this book, he has compiled the best of those, along with a few new ones, and the end result is perhaps the most entertaining educational book possible. The questions vary from the sort you may have found yourself wondering to the completely absurd, but he always answers them with a mix of enthusiastic curiosity, scientific fact, and a sense of humor, which makes it hard not to keep reading, question after question. If you are at all a curious person and have at least a passing interest in science, you should really pick this one up.
  
On Our Street: Our First Talk About Poverty by Jillian Roberts; Jaime Casap is a book that talks about poverty, homeless, refugee, and all the difference between people in they basic way of loving. The story is easy to use with kids to show them how they are lucky to live the way of live they have, to make them aware of social issues and to explain to them how we can all play a part to make others lives better.

A direct and clear way to talk about the issues of poverty, I like how it's framed as questions with the answers, nice photographs from around the world illustate the points well.

I received this ARC from Orca Book Publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
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Leah (: (569 KP) rated Dangerous Boys in Books

Jul 19, 2018  
Dangerous Boys
Dangerous Boys
Abigail Haas | 2014 | Mystery, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I read this book shortly after reading Dangerous Girls, the two books are in no way connected, they follow different people in different stories however they are similar.

The book uses a split perspective between then and now to explain the two main mysteries of the book. 1) how did we come to the situation at the start of the story. 2) which brother survived and how’s it going to play out now.

I found it hard to put the book down as I just wanted answers and it kept me guessing trying to work out what had happened and why.


I have got to say I did prefer Dangerous Girls I think it was because it had more of the legal side of the investigation.

I would definitely recommend this book.