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ClareR (5854 KP) rated Idaho in Books

Apr 29, 2018  
Idaho
Idaho
Emily Ruskovich | 2017 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is such a gentle, beautifully written book, about a harrowing, terrible subject. I had seen other reviews saying how much they'd enjoyed this, however based on the synopsis, I was hesitant at first: a mother kills her six year old daughter with a hatchet. What can be poetic or lyrical about that?
The story jumps back and forth in time as it follows the lives of the mother, father, the daughters and Ann, the 'new' wife. It isn't confusing though, surprisingly. The murder isn't one of those protracted descriptions, it's more of an aside. I don't even think that it comes across as something that was done on purpose.
This book is about the repercussions of this single act and how it affects all those involved, even those who weren't there.
I was captivated. I know that seems like a big thing to say about a book, but once I got going (real life and it's distractions, eh!) the end seemed to come around all too quickly.
I would highly recommend this - but make sure you have a box of Kleenex to hand. It's achingly sad in places.
  
    Reader's Digest UK

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Halloween (1978) in Movies

Oct 30, 2020  
Halloween (1978)
Halloween (1978)
1978 | Horror
9
8.4 (83 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
John Carpenter's landmark horror movie; not the first slasher movie, but pretty much the textbook example of the genre. A homicidal maniac (and, just possibly, vessel of pure evil) breaks out of an institution and returns to his home town, where he murdered his sister at the age of six. Obsessive doctor Donald Pleasence is in hot pursuit, but Jamie Lee Curtis (in her debut) is about to find that babysitting really deserves danger money...

Always interesting to watch these classic horror films back on the big screen: as usual, there was a lot of nervous sniggering at some of the technical shortcomings of a low-budget production (plus Halloween has been so extensively ripped off and parodied it's the kind of film you feel you've seen before, even if you haven't). However, there were yelps and screams in the appropriate places as the film got going: Carpenter handles the jump scares with consummate technical skill, but it works as well as it does because of the atmosphere he creates, helped mainly by Pleasance. A film that really sets out to do only one thing, and for the most part achieves that brilliantly.
  
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John Krasinski recommended Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) in Movies (curated)

 
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
1979 | Drama
7.6 (7 Ratings)
Movie Favorite Watch

"I was one of those kids who had never seen an indie film before I got to college. If it wasn’t a big, huge tentpole movie, or if it wasn’t on the radio, I hadn’t experienced it. Then in college I started getting into independent movies, which led me to classic movies, which led me to all this different stuff. The 1970s movies, for me, were only discovered, unfortunately, as little as six or seven years ago. So Kramer vs. Kramer. Some of the greatest writing I’ve ever seen, some of the gutsiest performances. It’s just so quintessential of what the 1970s were for me. There’s just this unfiltered, raw energy, and despite how beautiful that movie is — and obviously, it’s a well done movie — the fact [is] that they’re not making movies like that anymore. [Kramer vs. Kramer is about] a horrible relationship. It’s a really tough situation for the father to be in, and yet [for] everyone who went and saw the movie, there was this weird understanding or commiseration with anger. I think people might have been angrier, or willing to see angry movies."

Source
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Edge of Darkness in TV

May 5, 2020  
Edge of Darkness
Edge of Darkness
1985 | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Age shall not dim its brilliance, nor dodgy big-screen remakes with Mel Gibson: Edge of Darkness remains a landmark piece of TV drama, of enormous scope and ambition. The pitch - grieving detective hunts his daughter's murderer - sounds straightforward enough, even if the plot rapidly becomes ferociously convoluted. The key thing is that the conspiracy-detective storyline is in many ways the least important thing about the series.

Lengthy theses could and probably have been written about all the things that Edge of Darkness touches upon in the course of its six episodes: Anglo-American relations, the military-industrial complex, nuclear power, secret societies, ecology, the future of the human race, and much more (the original script ended with the main character mystically transforming into a tree). Strong performances and great direction keep it engrossing even when it's not entirely clear what's going on (you can generally get a sense of the direction of travel, though, and episode five works as a terrific mini-action movie even in isolation). Martin Campbell went on to successfully relaunch the Bond franchise twice, but this remains his magnum opus.