Elstree Studios: A Celebration of Film and Television
Book
Elstree Studios is a lavish tribute to ninety years of film and television production. These...
Half Life (Helheim Wolf Pack Tale #3)
Book
"Sabel knew two things in that one crystalline moment. Firstly, the bastard sitting in front of him...
Paranormal Romance
Proof to Product
Podcast
Proof to Product takes you behind the scenes of growing a product-based business. Join us each week...
JCB MkIII Backhoe Loader (1977 Onwards): An Insight into the Design, Engineering, Maintenance and Operation of JCB's Iconic Backhoe Loader (Owners' Workshop Manual): 2016
Book
The JCB Backhoe Loader is the iconic 'yellow digger', variants of which have now been in production...
Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America
Book
In the winter of 1913, Grand Central Station was officially opened and immediately became one of the...
Significant Zero: Heroes, Villains, and the Fight for Art and Soul in Video Games
Book
From the award-winning videogame writer behind Spec Ops: The Line comes an exclusive...
Location Indie: Raw And Honest Location Independent Lifestyle Talk: Inspired By Tim Ferriss, Tropical MBA and Pat Flynn
Podcast
Ready for an unfiltered, behind the scenes look at what the location independent and digital nomad...
Gareth von Kallenbach (974 KP) rated Kick-Ass (2010) in Movies
Aug 8, 2019
Viewing this movie as a mindless action flick, it is impressive and at times humorous, albeit that humor, in the immersive first half, is deadened by the much darker scenes toward the end of the film. But if you’re trying to find a deeper message hidden behind the motivations and actions of the characters on screen, you perhaps would be better served by reading the comic first. The violence was surprisingly graphic for what started out as a clever and somewhat endearing highschool drama about not fitting in and trying to change the world for the better.
As the director of Layer Cake and Stardust, Matthew Vaughn has shown before that he knows how to do action and fantasy, and in this movie, the action scenes are tight and gripping and slightly surreal. You may even recognize a few cameos if you’re familiar with Guy Ritchie films.
Aaron Johnson, as the title character, brings a smart vulnerability to his part. As an overly ambitious, but well meaning comic book fan, his stabs at super-heroics were quite believable.
This movie may be titled Kick-Ass, but the most interesting character is Hit-Girl, played by Chloë Grace Moretz. Quite a few child actors come across as precocious, and Moretz is a welcome change. She shares some great scenes with Nicolas Cage, a vengeful father who has turned his 11 year-old daughter into a killing machine. Cage’s deadpan humor as Big Daddy matches surprisingly well with the giddy, foul-mouthed, black humor of Hit-Girl.
In a way, I may be doing the movie a disservice if I were to dwell on the plot holes, morality, and thematic elements of this movie which are clearly not the focused intent of the director. Not every movie is intended to be a deep and meaningful reflection on life, so in that regard, this movie is simply a blood-drenched charmer.
Frecklesxoxo (6 KP) rated Silent Weapon (Street Soldier #2) in Books
Feb 27, 2019
I was surprised to find that I really liked this book, more than I expected too. It was well written and interesting. The plot was current and hits home as to just how much work goes on behind the scenes to thwart terrorism and I love how 2 different departments worked together. Its scary and real about radicalisation and I was plesed to see there were no type casts in this story.
There were a few things that made this a 4 star rating- in some areas I felt the story was perhaps a little rushed (near the beginning) and some parts could have been more polished. As I was reading this I felt I had missed something (I didn't know there was a prequel to this) I didn't know the whole background story which threw me off.
But the storyline was greatc and kept me hooked :)
Setting the Stage: Attention to What We Do, How We Do it, and Why
Book
David Hays, elected to the Theater Hall of Fame in 2014, created an exciting and successful career...