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Awix (3310 KP) rated Cold Pursuit (2019) in Movies
Feb 28, 2019
Latest Hollywood remake of a film with the gall not to be in English (the horror!) is a better-not-call-it-black comedy thriller about a snowplough driver whose rampage of vengeance gets out of control. Liam Neeson drives a plough, murders a bunch of drug dealers, and doesn't think enough about what he says on the publicity tour; the quality of the film kind of vanishes into the backdrop as a result.
After a horribly choppy opening - is it a serious drama about grieving parents or another thickheaded Neeson revenge melodrama? - the film settles down to feel like a pastiche of the sort of thing the McDonagh brothers make, with genre elements drolly deconstructed with offbeat humour and a knowing provocativeness. It's just not quite quirky, funny, or intelligent enough; Neeson underplays it too much and film doesn't seem to have any real point to make. Some good jokes and it passes the time, but it would have slipped into obscurity fairly quickly if only Liam had kept his mouth shut on the junket.
After a horribly choppy opening - is it a serious drama about grieving parents or another thickheaded Neeson revenge melodrama? - the film settles down to feel like a pastiche of the sort of thing the McDonagh brothers make, with genre elements drolly deconstructed with offbeat humour and a knowing provocativeness. It's just not quite quirky, funny, or intelligent enough; Neeson underplays it too much and film doesn't seem to have any real point to make. Some good jokes and it passes the time, but it would have slipped into obscurity fairly quickly if only Liam had kept his mouth shut on the junket.
Awix (3310 KP) rated High Life (2019) in Movies
May 13, 2019 (Updated May 13, 2019)
Art-house sci-fi movie takes the genre to a place it has never been before, but not necessarily somewhere you'd actually want to follow it. A ship-load of death-row inmates are launched into space to go and perform experiments on black holes; along the way nearly everyone's sex drive gets the better of them and there are tears (along with most other bodily fluids) before bedtime. And at bedtime. And after bedtime. Yes, this really is the plot.
High Life presumably is an attempt at a grand statement on the human condition, but ends up looking more like what would happen if the Big Brother house was sent into orbit - this is a film with a bleak, squalid, misanthropic outlook, not helped by its total lack of humour and increasingly odd and confounding plotting as it continues. It betrays a certain familiarity with the history of the genre, has reasonable production designs, and Pattinson's performance is not bad. But it's a strange, repugnant, impenetrable film with little actual entertainment value.
High Life presumably is an attempt at a grand statement on the human condition, but ends up looking more like what would happen if the Big Brother house was sent into orbit - this is a film with a bleak, squalid, misanthropic outlook, not helped by its total lack of humour and increasingly odd and confounding plotting as it continues. It betrays a certain familiarity with the history of the genre, has reasonable production designs, and Pattinson's performance is not bad. But it's a strange, repugnant, impenetrable film with little actual entertainment value.
Eleanor (1463 KP) rated The Homecoming in Books
May 30, 2019
Dark family thriller - not for the faint hearted
There’s not a lot I want to say about this book plot wise, going into it blind is a real thrill, but the opening hook is:
Following the death of their father siblings Aaron, Franny and Bridge, along with their mother are brought to the Belfountain estate for the reading of his will. It turns out he had a lot more money than they thought but also an odd sense of humour. To get there share of the inheritance they have to stay at Belfountain with no contact with the outside world for 30 days. Sounds crazy but who wouldn’t when there are millions up for grab?
What follows is the ever increasing occurrence of creepy stuff and the realisation that none of them know who their father really was. It’s a very dark suspense tale once it gets going, with some strong horror elements.
By the end I felt I’d just read a great Black Mirror episode, so recommended for fans of that.
Following the death of their father siblings Aaron, Franny and Bridge, along with their mother are brought to the Belfountain estate for the reading of his will. It turns out he had a lot more money than they thought but also an odd sense of humour. To get there share of the inheritance they have to stay at Belfountain with no contact with the outside world for 30 days. Sounds crazy but who wouldn’t when there are millions up for grab?
What follows is the ever increasing occurrence of creepy stuff and the realisation that none of them know who their father really was. It’s a very dark suspense tale once it gets going, with some strong horror elements.
By the end I felt I’d just read a great Black Mirror episode, so recommended for fans of that.
Eilidh G Clark (177 KP) rated The Boy in the Dress in Books
Jul 2, 2019
This is a good well rounded book for young folks
I really enjoyed this book. I was sceptical due to the author already being established and thought perhaps his celebrity status helped him sell book but I'll take my hat of to Walliams. This is an enjoyable little read. The language is simple and I enjoyed how current the book is. The book really demonstrates the difference between black and white and colour (colour being different and standing out from the norm).
Uniform is also a main theme in the book and very obviously gender and social acceptance. Walliams does a good job at showing that sexual preference is not linked to dress and that discrimination is wrong. In this book the child is able to experience how ludicrous gender representation by dress is by dressing the full football team up in ladies clothing, this normalises it.
The intrusive narrator who may be Walliams himself, also gives hints throughout the book about his own desire to cross dress.
Good book.
Uniform is also a main theme in the book and very obviously gender and social acceptance. Walliams does a good job at showing that sexual preference is not linked to dress and that discrimination is wrong. In this book the child is able to experience how ludicrous gender representation by dress is by dressing the full football team up in ladies clothing, this normalises it.
The intrusive narrator who may be Walliams himself, also gives hints throughout the book about his own desire to cross dress.
Good book.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Cold Pursuit (2019) in Movies
Nov 8, 2019
Confused
Let's face it, any film released nowadays with Liam Neeson as the main character is likely to be very similar to everything else he's done recently and also pretty poor. And sadly Cold Pursuit is no different.
The plot isn't anything new. It's Liam Neeson getting revenge on people again. Admittedly the setting and scenery are beautiful, it's just a shame the rest of the film can't live up to it I found the entire film very confused and wasn't entirely sure if it was meant to be a thriller, an action or a black comedy - it had aspects of all three and sadly not all of them worked, especially the humour. It was all a bit weird. And I adore Tom Bateman but his American accent in this is far too odd and I cringed every time he was on screen. And then there's the wasted Laura Dern and the pointless cops.
This is vaguely entertaining, but it dips in the middle and sadly suffers from a few acting faults and confusion on what genre it seems to lie in.
The plot isn't anything new. It's Liam Neeson getting revenge on people again. Admittedly the setting and scenery are beautiful, it's just a shame the rest of the film can't live up to it I found the entire film very confused and wasn't entirely sure if it was meant to be a thriller, an action or a black comedy - it had aspects of all three and sadly not all of them worked, especially the humour. It was all a bit weird. And I adore Tom Bateman but his American accent in this is far too odd and I cringed every time he was on screen. And then there's the wasted Laura Dern and the pointless cops.
This is vaguely entertaining, but it dips in the middle and sadly suffers from a few acting faults and confusion on what genre it seems to lie in.
RA
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