Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Movie Watch
Based on a true story about a Brooklyn bank robbery gone haywire, as a desperate, crazed man and his...
The Boys in the Bank P. F. Kluge John Wojtowicz Sal Naturale
An Improbable Friendship: The Story of Yasser Arafat's Mother-in-Law, the Wife of Israel's Top General and Their 40-Year Mission of Peace
Book
An Improbable Friendshipis the dual biography of Israeli Ruth Dayan, now ninety-seven, who was Moshe...
Out of Africa (1985)
Movie Watch
The most acclaimed motion picture of 1985 stars Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in one of the...
The Zookeeper's Wife
Book
Now a major motion picture, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Bruhl, based on a remarkable true...
ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Sealwoman's Gift in Books
Apr 29, 2019
We follow a Pastors family, Olafur and his wife Asta, as they and their family are kidnapped by corsairs and pirates, and sold off separately to their owners. Olafur is sent back to Denmark to seek a ransom, but he fails. So we follow the life of Asta, how she lives and adapts in the house of Cilleby, and how she copes with the loss of her children and husband.
The Icelandic Sagas are Asta’s Means of escape and comfort, and in telling them she gets Cilleby onside and makes her own life more comfortable. She refuses to give up her Lutheran belief, and believes that she will be reunited with her family - at least in death - because of this.
This was such a touching novel, and the narrator (I listened on Audible) really did the story justice.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated A United Kingdom (2017) in Movies
Oct 1, 2017
As an African chieftain of Bechuanaland, now Botswana, Khama was studying law in the UK before meeting Ruth, a secretary and daughter to a British Army captain. Even after the Second World War interracial couples faced much prejudice, but none so much as a king of a British protectorate and an ordinary white woman.
Facing many trials and tribulations, even exile from his own country thanks to the British relationship with the then apartheid nation of South Africa, the couple attempt to endure endless hardships to be the rightful rulers of Botswana.
It's always magnificent when you hear these stories are based on real life events. The Notebook has nothing on this.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Fisherman's Friends (2019) in Movies
Mar 20, 2019 (Updated Mar 20, 2019)
Utterly predictable and not very funny (well, we did laugh a lot during the bit with the funeral, but we're not very proud of that), the script overdoses on feelgood platitudes while not bothering all that much about things like characterisation or internal logic. The music is not that bad (if you like that sort of thing), but sheesh, you can go and buy a CD for that. In the end this is a sort of lobotomised version of Local Hero with added folk music.
A False Report
T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong
Book
Two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists uncover the true story of Marie. She said she was raped;...
biography crime true crime
Landscape of a Marriage
Book
A marriage of convenience leads to a life of passion and purpose. A shared vision transforms the...
Historical Fiction
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Zodiac (2007) in Movies
Sep 7, 2020
I'd completely forgotten this was a David Fincher film, and it is very well done. The style and overall cinematography are very good. It also has a fantastic cast too, although i wish there had been a little more RDJ. As thrillers go it's very understated, maybe a little too understated in parts but it at least doesn't go OTT on action or kills and there are some very suspenseful and tense scenes dotted throughout. My main problem is this is a very long film and often feels rather drawn out. I feel like it could've been cut done a little to up the pace a bit. But despite this it's still an enjoyable film and fascinating that it's based on a true story I knew little about.