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Adam Colclough (3 KP) rated Harry's Game in Books

Mar 6, 2018  
HG
Harry's Game
Gerald Seymour | 2015 | Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A chillingly believable thriller about the 'troubles'. (0 more)
Dangerous Games
London at the height of the IRA’s campaign on the British mainland and a government minister is assassinated, orders are send down from the highest level that retaliatory action must be taken. Gerald Seymour’s ground breaking 1975 novel tells the story of the resulting operation, in which a British agent is sent undercover in Republican Belfast.

For the most part thrillers are the literary equivalent of Danish pastry, enjoyable but not made to last. A few, and ‘Harry’s Game’ is one, are more substantial fare, food for the mind that may give you indigestion.

On one level it is a book in the tradition established by Frederick Forsythe, fiction played out as fact allowing the author to draw on his journalistic background. Seymour goes beyond this by creating characters who aren’t simply stock heroes and villains. Instead they are human beings engaged in a struggle that is squalid and futile rather than heroic and purposeful.

This combines to give a grimly believable picture of daily life in Northern Ireland at a time when a single word or action out of place could have deadly consequences. He also writes well about the machinations behind the scenes on both sides, with the British political and military establishment struggling to fight an undeclared war they don’t understand; and the IRA high command masking the brutality of their actions behind misty eyed romanticism.

Brutal, believable and still relevant more than forty years after it was first published this is a novel that is very much worth reading, even if doing so can be unsettling.
  
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Lenard (726 KP) rated Fantasy Island (2020) in Movies

Feb 24, 2020  
Fantasy Island (2020)
Fantasy Island (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
4
5.7 (19 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Much like the recent adaptation of the Banana Splits Hour, Blumhouse's Fantasy Island took a show from my childhood and added horror elements to the premise. Five strangers land on an island where their fantasy is granted. The island is overseen by a mysterious Latino named Mr. Roarke, played by master monologuist Michael Pena. As you may have seen in the trailer, two are given everything that they want (money, sex, a mansion), one plays soldier, one is given a fresh start, and one gets revenge on a middle-school bully. However, a fantasy can easily become a nightmare and the island does not distinguish. As the five strangers are slowly brought back together, they learn that the island did not randomly select them. Someone else has their own nightmarish fantasy to live. I will not spoil the secret, but the mysterious person behind it all makes precious little sense unless he or she had a traumatic brain injury before and during the plot of the movie. Some scenes were very good and it could have been a good horror movie if it had just left the storylines separate like the tv show managed to do.
  
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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Friends: The Reunion (2021) in Movies

Jun 19, 2021  
Friends: The Reunion (2021)
Friends: The Reunion (2021)
2021 | Comedy, Documentary
6
6.9 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I'm not the biggest fan of Friends to walk the earth, but I watched it enough growing up in the 90s for it to mean something to me in some capacity. This reunion is a mixed bag - on the one hand, it has a whole load of legitimately touching moments. I genuinely think the main cast enjoyed being in each others company again, and it does a good job at diving behind the scenes in its 100 minute runtime.
However, it doesn't go far enough. It threatens to really get into the nitty gritty on several occasions, but pulls back. It feels cut up to the point where I think that, considering just how beloved Friends is, the reunion would have been better suited to a limited series, where it could have been the ultimate celebration with all the main players involved.
If nothing more, The Reunion is a fun throwback to arguably the most popular comedy show to ever air, and is undoubtedly a nostalgic treat for fans of Friends, and they're the people who this is for. Matt Le Blanc is a treasure.
  
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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Going Under in Books

Jan 11, 2021  
Going Under
Going Under
S. Walden | 2013
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
3.25 stars.

I liked a lot of this book and there were some bits that I just didn't quite get.

I liked that she was so hell bent on getting justice for her friends and all the other girls. I liked the banter she had going with Terry. I kinda liked the relationship with Ryan, though it seemed to appear out of nowhere after the funeral scene (or maybe I just missed a bit). And though it's wrong of me to like it, the scene with the swim team practise--I thought the author portrayed that really well.

I wasn't so keen on the way she acted with the FSL, I know there was a reasoning behind her behaviour but it did seem to get their attention for the right reasons in the end. Her crazy talking to Beth scenes...I know she's super torn up over her friends death but it's a little too much for me.

I'm just kinda torn over this book because it wasn't entirely comfortable reading at times, knowing what the guys were up to and what she was planning to let happen. But in the end justice prevailed and she got the guy.
  
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Robert Pattinson recommended Corky Romano (2001) in Movies (curated)

 
Corky Romano (2001)
Corky Romano (2001)
2001 | Comedy
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Corky Romano. I love that film. Literally, that’s one of the only films I’ve pissed my pants at. Like, I actually pissed my pants. The first time I was in L.A. I was watching it on TV. The scene where he’s on coke…was literally the only thing that they advertised, it was like the only point of the whole movie! I love that character. I love how Chris Kattan just stripped his whole career in one movie. The only guy off Saturday Night Live who just messed it up! It’s like, what happened? The only guy. That’s why I think it’s so great. I also love the behind-the-scenes stuff on the DVD where none of the crew are laughing; the director’s [hiding] and he’s telling Chris Kattan, “Just do something funny, just make Chris Penn laugh,” and none of the crew think it’s funny at all. And you can tell Chris Kattan is just freaking out. Also, he had that vein, which I have [Pattinson points to his forehead] which pops out of his head. I can really relate to him."

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