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Adam Colclough (3 KP) rated Harry's Game in Books
Mar 6, 2018
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.
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.
Lenard (726 KP) rated Fantasy Island (2020) in Movies
Feb 24, 2020
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.
India Hicks: Island Style
6.0
Rate It
Book
From India Hicks, a beautifully illustrated guide to achieving her famously undone, gloriously...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Friends: The Reunion (2021) in Movies
Jun 19, 2021
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.
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.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Going Under in Books
Jan 11, 2021
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.
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.
Robert Pattinson recommended Corky Romano (2001) in Movies (curated)
America: Nation of the Goddess: The Venus Families and the Founding of the United States
Alan Butler, Janet Wolter and Scott F. Wolter
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In America: Nation of the Goddess, Alan Butler and Janet Wolter reveal how a secret cabal of...
New York's New Edge: Contemporary Art, the High Line, and Urban Megaprojects on the Far West Side
David Halle and Elisabeth Tiso
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The story of New York's west side no longer stars the Sharks and the Jets. Instead it's a story of...
Mystery of the Ancients: Deadly Cold HD - A Hidden Object Adventure
Games and Entertainment
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Play the trial for FREE! Pay once & complete the adventure! You jump at the chance to visit your...
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Redshirts in Books
Dec 23, 2018
Some books are surreal suspensions of disbelief. Some books just make you go "WHAT the FUCK" every couple of chapters when a new twist is revealed, and this is one of the latter. Just - what the FUCK.
Imagine your average sci-fi space opera TV show on cable television with hand-wavey science and half-assed special effects - take those characters and make them realize they're IN A TV SHOW. Let them realize all of their woes are due to shitty writing, and see what they do with that knowledge. THAT is this book, and it is crazy and hilarious and weird and eye-roll-inducing.
Between the time travel, the Box that does magic science behind the scenes so things work out on-screen, the Narrative taking control and making people say and do things they wouldn't otherwise do - this book is wacky and just full of what-the-fuckery. It's fun, though, and if you can keep yourself from groaning out loud every few pages, it's a pretty good read.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Imagine your average sci-fi space opera TV show on cable television with hand-wavey science and half-assed special effects - take those characters and make them realize they're IN A TV SHOW. Let them realize all of their woes are due to shitty writing, and see what they do with that knowledge. THAT is this book, and it is crazy and hilarious and weird and eye-roll-inducing.
Between the time travel, the Box that does magic science behind the scenes so things work out on-screen, the Narrative taking control and making people say and do things they wouldn't otherwise do - this book is wacky and just full of what-the-fuckery. It's fun, though, and if you can keep yourself from groaning out loud every few pages, it's a pretty good read.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com