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Ross (3284 KP) rated Bumblebee (2018) in Movies

Jan 4, 2019

Bumblebee (2018)

2018 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

7.8

(80 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

It really is the Transformers film we all wanted

I had heard this called "the Transformers film we all wanted" and wasn't quite sure what that meant - I knew the recent few films had been slated but didn't think I was that big a fan as a child in the 80s. How wrong I was, I was almost instantly transported back to being a child again! Not only a true Transformers film, but an authentic 80s buddy movie as well!
The film opens with a battle scene between the Autobots and the ... bad ones. At this point I thought "oh not more of this CGI head-ache inducing nonsense". But within a few minutes we are back on Earth and there is a real Goonies/ET vibe about the film. Bumblebee has escaped ... the Transformers planet (meh) and made it to Earth, where he was pursued and badly damaged. After a few years he is taken from a salvage yard and meets his new owner. The next hour or so was good, honest family action film fun - gone was the overly complex, pseudo-science nonsense that most films have now, just simply disbelief-suspending funny action.
The plot was kept simple and it is to the film's credit - Bumblebee is tracked down and hunted by both the US Army and the ... bad robots
Simply and honestly, good family fun. It has been years since I have enjoyed taking the kids to see a film like this.

DECEPTICONS, THAT'S IT!!!

Kudos

David McK (3883 KP) rated Britannia in Books

Jan 28, 2019

Britannia

Simon Scarrow | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

14th entry in [a: Simon Scarrow|60636|Simon Scarrow|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240832197p2/60636.jpg]'s Roman Army series of novels (that began with [b: Under the Eagle|578428|Under the Eagle (Eagle, #1)|Simon Scarrow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1315349321s/578428.jpg|565359] and which, initially all had that word (Eagle) somewhere in their title), this concerns yet another attempt by the Romans to wipe out the Druidic cult that is responsible for most of the opposition to their conquest after the defeat of Caratacus.

With Macro injured early on and left behind to hold the fort (literally) while Cato marches off, under orders from his legate, to capture the Druid stronghold of the Isle of Mona, the novel is perhaps unusual in that the two main characters are apart for a large part of the read. Things, of course, do not go to plan, with the tail end of the novel (for some reason) reminding me quite strongly of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow ...

it is, of course, always the curse(?) of the literary hero to be in the thick of the action; to act (perhaps) out of character in relation to certain situations and threats - let's face it, it would be a pretty boring read otherwise! With that in mind, I can quite easily forgive the, perhaps, more flagrant examples of throwing the hero in the midst of things simply for the sake of doing so - the prime example being the rescue of the sailors from the shipwreck.