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You Don't Own Me: The Life and Times of Lesley Gore

Trevor Tolliver

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Book

1963-tail fins were in, sock hops were hot, and a fairytale white knight was president. That summer,...

Plants: From Roots to Riches

Kathy Willis and Carolyn Fry

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Book

Tie-in to the landmark 25-part BBC Radio 4 series with Kew Gardens. Our peculiarly British obsession...

Obama: An Intimate Portrait

Pete Souza

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Book

This is the definitive visual biography of Barack Obama's historic Presidency, captured in...

Photography Politics

Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated King of Thieves (2018) in Movies

Sep 25, 2019

King of Thieves (2018)

2018 | Action, Crime, Drama

6.6

(13 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

I'd been on the fence about this one. The trailer King Of Thieves looked both good and bad in equal measures. Some of the clips they used weren't even particularly good when you saw them in the context of the whole films so I have no idea how they made it into such an important cut. Since seeing the Unlimited Screening I've seen the second trailer that is actually much better than the first. It's probably a god send that I didn't see it before the film otherwise I think I'd have been even more disappointed.

The film runs at a surprisingly short 1 hour 48 minutes, but don't worry, it feels like a lot longer than that. At one point I checked my phone for the time and nearly audibly swore (which probably would have been drowned out by the swearing of the film) about there being 20 minutes to go.

The idea is a great one, and the true life story behind it gives some opportunities for hilariously comedic moments, and yet somehow nothing was really fulfilled. I laughed a little, but I really didn't find it as amusing as some of the other cinema goers. The were a couple of voices in the darkness who were laughing hard that then set of a tiny ripple of tittering. I'm glad they enjoyed it so much, but I didn't once feel the need to laugh so hard.

Looking back on it I was left wondering something... did any of the police characters actually speak? The only things I remember were screamed words while arrests were made and lots of knowing looks and satisfied grins. Honestly can't remember any lines at all. I'm thinking they hired the main line-up and went "well that blew the acting budget, better cut all the other speaking parts."

Something that bugged me slightly was the use of spliced footage from the actor's younger days. It's a nice idea, but ultimately, when it was used undermined the message at the end of the film. Brian doesn't want them to be seen as old boys who are past their prime, so the film should have let them walk off to their sunset retirement not jumble it up with their younger selves and losing that moment between them all. It would have made perfect sense having the footage mixed into the scenes where the police were uncovering their identities and piecing the case together.

That line up was indeed fantastic, and that's why this film was so disappointing to me. All of them have done much better work than this. The script, or real lack thereof is what contributed the most to this let down. I'm not really sure that it should have two stars at all. In fact, no... *I'm revoking one of them, I've just been reading my criteria and I can't let it have two. ★☆☆☆☆ The story behind it and the cast potential don't make up for this lacklustre film.

What should you do?

There are some good scenes and a truly star studded cast, but even those don't really make up for the potential that this film squandered. If you like heist movies then it might be worth a watch but I feel like there are better ones out there to see.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

All that loot, obviously!

Kudos

Sheffield School of Aeronautics - FAA ADX Exam Pre

Education and Reference

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App

Sheffield School’s ADX Prep app uses an extremely clean, easy-to-navigate interface, and includes...

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated The Care and Feeding of Stray Vampires (Half-Moon Hollow, #1) in Books

Jan 11, 2021

I've always been drawn to this book - series, really - so when I saw it at 99p a while back I couldn't resist buying it.

This starts with Iris in the supermarket buying items for her vampire clients to make their lives easier, sorting out their wants and needs while they sleep during the day so she never actually comes face to face with them. She heads over to leave a welcome basket for her newest client, Cal, when she ends up falling over his body in his kitchen. He's been poisoned and they negotiate for him to come stay with her while he recovers and tries to find out who's behind his poisoning

This was equal parts fun and quirky, intriguing and romantic. Fun and quirky because it's full of snark and some strangely funny vampire related conversations. Intriguing with trying to figure out who's behind Cal's poisoning. And romantic because Iris and Cal have some really cute and some really hot scenes together. There was a really sort of cute bit with Cal and Gigi - Iris's younger sister - where he gets really protective of her seeing guys and buys her a bubble-gum pink taser so she can protect herself.

I was not expecting the bad guy to be who it was. That took me by surprise, so well done for that. I was convinced it was someone else for most of the book.

I did like the romance between our main characters. As I mentioned above it was really cute at times and that end bit where he pretty much re-staged their initial meeting with him laid out on the floor so she can fall over him. What else can I say but CUTE.

This was just a fun all round read and I cannot wait to read more of this series.