Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (476)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
40x40

Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated 12 Years a Slave (2013) in Movies

Sep 6, 2017  
12 Years a Slave (2013)
12 Years a Slave (2013)
2013 | Biography, Drama, History
10
8.3 (25 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Cast and acting is spectacular (1 more)
Fantastic direction by Steve McQueen
Harrowing, disturbing beyond belief
It's taken me four years to watch this film out of fear I'd be seriously disturbed by the end of it. And no doubt it is disturbing.

The story of Solomon Northrup entails a free black man in America being kidnapped and then sold into slavery. He is gifted and educated, on top of having led a free life with his wife and children, hence in many ways it can be seen as even more traumatic knowing what is already out there.

What's interesting is the complicity of others involved, including other African Americans who have had to turn the other cheek in order to survive. The white men are despicable in this film, the brutality is truly horrifying.

It goes without saying Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic as Solomon, he's understated which makes his acting all the more moving. Michael Fassbender is particularly gratuitous in his role as a slave owner. Lupita Nyong'o is absolutely outstanding, playing a woman brutalized by the master for his own disgusting needs. The women go through a particular hell in this horrid period of history. You'll need a strong countenance to watch this.
  
Show all 5 comments.
40x40

Suswatibasu (1703 KP) Sep 7, 2017

This is quite different as one it's based on a true story and two, slavery is a horrific time in history. So it's brutal.
40x40

Lindsay (1774 KP) Sep 7, 2017

I believe that.
40x40

Merissa (13154 KP) rated The Witch's Dream (Knights of Black Swan #2) in Books

Aug 11, 2017  
The Witch's Dream (Knights of Black Swan #2)
The Witch's Dream (Knights of Black Swan #2)
Victoria Danann | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Witch's Dream (Knights of Black Swan #2) by Victoria Danann
My word this is a dream of a book! It continues straight after My Familiar Stranger and takes you straight back into the lives of B Company. The whole book is a joy to read and I am so glad that Elora now has company in the "women with spirit" category. Litha and Song look like they are going to keep the baton going :o)

If you are expecting a vampire romance, you can forget it. They don't even really get a mention in this book, apart from ex-vampire Baka (who's story I can't wait to read!) but what you do get is demons, a look at Kay's berserker side, and magic of the practical kind.

I love the way these books are written and often find myself laughing out loud as I read. The characters continue to grow and as an added little extra you get an interview with Ram at the end of this book.

5 out of 5, 10 out of 10 - whichever way you want to look at it, these books are fantastic.

* Verified Purchase ~ February 2013
Reviewed on Goodreads ~ February 2013 *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
40x40

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated S1m0ne (2002) in Movies

Sep 21, 2020  
S1m0ne (2002)
S1m0ne (2002)
2002 | Drama, Sci-Fi
3
5.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
The trifecta of flatness: a comedy with next to no laughs, a satire with no bite, and a drama without sufficient emotion. Yet another technophobic dud that fires on zero cylinders and has nothing to say - try to picture if 𝘏𝘦𝘳 was one of the (many) shittier "Black Mirror" episodes. Besides Rachel Roberts' perfectly realized, fittingly mysterious performance (which, of course, is underused) nothing else shines through here - has zero depth beyond a few performative quips and has that rush-through-everything-of-any-importance pacing + structure that I detest. Here we have what could have been a poignantly interesting film about a disenchanted director whose only authentic relationship is with a synthetic A.I. as well as a boiling satire about the state of celebrity, the objectification of women in entertainment, technology, etc. But instead we're left with such a rote, surface-level, come-and-go boilerplate narrative about this thinly-written 'failed director' trope having to hide an obviously fake woman from every idiot on the planet. Skimps out on where it counts, the brief spoof arthouse movies in these are more intelligent and watchable than the actual movie - which ironically feels as insincere and fakey as its central character. Also I miss Jay Mohr.