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Henry Miller was nobody. Not any longer. He used to be an up and coming chef in New York City,...
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Little White Lies (Debutantes Book 1)
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“I’m not saying this is Sawyer’s fault,” the prim and proper one said delicately. “But.”...
Not His Dragon (Not This Series Book 1)
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Eoin Grant hasn’t encountered a female of his race in decades, and this crazy person’s scent...
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A Quiet Life
10.0
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From the author of the critically acclaimed debut, A Little Hope comes an enormously powerful and...
The Omega Merger: A Reverse Harem Omegaverse
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Betas are made for business, not pleasure. We’re intelligent, hard-working, and unlike alphas...
Paranormal Romance Omegaverse Why Choose Romance Reverse Harem
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Sophie and the Odd Ones ( Sophie Feegle book 1) in Books
Dec 15, 2022
Kindle
Sophie and the Odd Ones ( Sophie Feegle book 1)
By Gwen DeMarco
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sophie Feegle needs a break. Rent is due on her crappy apartment and she's halfway through her last loaf of bread.
Sophie doesn't have big ambitions. She only wants a job that will keep her landlord off her back, enough extra cash for whiskey at the neighborhood bar and a bit of free time to hang out with the naughty old lady next door.
When a chance encounter with a quiet stranger leads to a job offer at the San Francisco City Morgue, Sophie jumps at the opportunity. She never expected to find her calling on the graveyard shift surrounded by dead bodies and the strange characters that make up the morgue's staff. Finding out that your friends and co-workers are shifters, ogres and other non-human creatures is a shock, but Sophie quickly realizes that these are her people, and she has finally found her perfect gig.
And then things get odd. Well… odder.
Unusual murders keep ending up on Sophie’s autopsy table, hinting at strange powers working within the city. Something nefarious is building in San Francisco, and it is up to Sophie and her friends to thwart the evil powers on the rise.
I absolutely loved this! It was funny and a refreshing enjoyable read. It was really good to see an author using the non apex predator shifters as the crime fighting team. If you’re looking for a supernatural fun read this is definitely recommended.
When the Skies Rained Freedom
10.0
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Captivating, gripping and relentlessly authentic...inspired by eyewitness accounts. To this day,...
Historical Fiction World War II Germany
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Lucky Grandma (2019) in Movies
Nov 7, 2019
Grandma Wong doesn't have a lot to live on, her son wants her to move in with his family but she likes her independence. When her doctor/fortune teller says she's got a change in fortunes coming she decides to throw caution to the wind and test this new luck out. The experiment goes well until she crosses paths with Mr Lin, a member of the Red Dragon gang.
Tsai Chin is a delight, a grumpy delight as Grandma. She's a face I recognised but of course I couldn't remember from what... to IMDb... Two Bond films! I'm a terrible movie viewer right now. As well as those there are lods of other films and shows to her name, lots that you'd recognise. Her portrayal of Grandma is wonderful, she's hardened but funny, her reaction to everything was hilarious to me. This is exactly how I see myself being as an old lady, without the life threatening situations... probably. Chin brought just the right feeling to this role and captured all her ups and downs with just the right amount of stubborn.
The reltionship forged with Big Pong, plays by Hsiao-Yuan Ha, is lovely. The strange little friendship is a sweet inclusion and even when it take a turn they manage to make it through. Big Pong is her bodyguard, it was never a conventional employer/employee relationship and their interactions are very protective towards each other. Big Pong has a real moment of sheer joy when eating Grandma's food and that expression along with a lot of Ha's performance brought me a really happy feeling.
Michael Tow as Little Handsome deserves a special mention, the pure nutball rage is really quite insane and I don't know how someone would manage to do that.
There are some great montages that sum up Grandma's life. The one at the beginning is amusing but the next proves to be a brilliant contrast after her luck has changed. I like its consistency and how it managed to accomodate the story without affecting her day to day life too much.
On a whole the film felt just the right length, it moved along fairly quickly and the quirky relationships keep you interested. It potentially could have focused on some more of the peripheral characters a little, but I actually enjoyed the main focus. The shots are quite traditional but there's one shot of Grandma's apartment as she hears intruders, it captures the whole apartment and we see her edge into shot hiding. It created a really tense moment and if gave the instinctive desire to try and look round the corner.
I'm sure this won't be to everyone's taste as there are a fair amount of subtitled bits but it really doesn't distract that much from the film.
What you should do
It's a fun little film and if it makes it into a release somewhere then it would be something fun to watch.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
A big bag of money wouldn't go amiss.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Gnaw (2017) in Movies
Dec 3, 2019
Story: Gnaw starts when Jennifer Conrad (Mitchell) escapes from her abusive husband, to start a new life in a small apartment complex, where the handyman Terry (Gass) takes her under his wing, trying to make her feel welcome. When one of the neighbours spends hours crying at night before killing herself.
Jennifer must deal with her ex-husband Boyd (Johnson) finding her, just as she gets a pet turtle and more painfully an uncomfortable bite, which just seems to keep getting worse.
Thoughts on Gnaw
Characters – Jennifer has been struck in an abusive relationship which she has gotten the courage to leave behind her, this does leave her in a small apartment complex where she must try to start a new life. Things seem positive, when she bumps into an old friend who wants to help her get a job, only things start going badly after her neighbour’s suicide and bites which appear on her skin, with no explanation behind them. She must face her own past, deal with a problem before moving on with her own life. Terry Lumley is the friendly handyman that offers Jennifer all the support while staying the apartments. Boyd is the abusive ex-husband and police officers, making it harder for Jennifer to escape him, he has always put her down and wants to keep his control over her. Claudette runs the apartments she doesn’t get on with anybody, just wants to see money coming in.
Performances – Penelope Mitchell in the leading role is the star of the show here, being able to show the pain she is running from and the hope she is fighting for. Kyle Gass is the next best thing in the film, where he does bring moments of laughter in his kind natured character. The rest of the cast do a solid job without being tested with what they have to do.
Story – The story here follows an abuse victim that is trying to escape her own life’s pain only to find herself dealing with the latest problem which has come her way in the form of a bite. This story does manage to show us how difficult getting out of an abusive relationship can be for the victim, where starting a new life can take more time than people believe, this side of the story is the strongest part because it shows the real horrors of Jennifer’s life. When we get into the mystery about the bites, it does go on the routine way, until we learn the truth, which makes both sides of the story get connected nicely.
Horror – The horror side of the film mixes the reality of being abused by a partner with the unknown of mysterious bites being found on the body and why they are there.
Settings – Most of the film remains in the hotel complex which is a place where people go to start life again.
Special Effects – When it comes to the effects we see what happens with the bites getting worse and the revel of what is behind it.
Scene of the Movie – The showdown in the room.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The job interview.
Final Thoughts – This is a nice slow build horror that tries to reflect the ideas of the horror being in real life rather than needing supernatural elements.
Overall: Horror that tests the reality of life.