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Awix (3310 KP) rated Le Dernier Combat (The Final Battle) (1983) in Movies

Apr 16, 2019 (Updated Apr 16, 2019)  
Le Dernier Combat (The Final Battle) (1983)
Le Dernier Combat (The Final Battle) (1983)
1983 | Drama, Sci-Fi
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Luc Besson's debut shows his interest in (fairly) high-concept SF and fantasy, ability to tell a story visually, and tendency towards startling excess (although not as much as in some later films). Civilisation has collapsed, the world has run out of colours (everything is in black and white), and some strange phenomenon has destroyed everyone's powers of speech. A wanderer (Jolivet) attempts to defend a hospital from the depredations of a brute (Reno) - given the premise of the film, it's hard to have a plot much more detailed than that.

Filmed on location in disused bits of Paris on a very low budget, the film clearly owes a debt to the likes of the Mad Max films, though it can't replicate their kinetic action. More of a curiosity than anything else, its message - we have to find a way to really communicate if we want to survive - may be a bit glib and simplistic, but this is Besson we're talking about, after all. Definitely stylish, and with enough unexpected touches to keep it quite watchable.
  
Gentleman's Guide To Vice And Virtue
Gentleman's Guide To Vice And Virtue
Mackenzi Lee | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.9 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
Amusing historical romance
This was a fun read in lots of ways. I would say the book had a storyline of a ‘farce’ in the old meaning of the word. It very much reminded me of a black and white comedy without sound, some laurel and hardy-ness.

The characters in this historical are very much out of the box. Henry being the ultimate in immaturity but hey, he was only 18 years old. This man-boy-lad-about-town was his own worst enemy getting into constant scrapes that usually included inappropriateness and less clothes than one would expect. His forever friend Percy kind of stole the show for me, I adored him and his character, his difficulties made me feel all the feelings.

As said already, the story was farcical but in a way that didn’t irritate. I felt the need to suspend reality and that was fine by me. I enjoyed the writing, the wit and the dialogue. I’m glad I finally got around to reading this book after so many friends have enjoyed it.
  
    Cubiques 2

    Cubiques 2

    Games, Education and Stickers

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    Cubiques 2 is the sequel of our acclaimed indie game "Cubiques". In this new sequel multiple cubes...

Enter the Dragon (1973)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
1973 | Action
Irresistible slice of 70s schlock. Bruce Lee goes off to the island of the drug dealing white slaver who's a renegade from his temple and whose men killed his sister (he's certainly not short of motivation) to take part in a martial arts tournament and bring the bad guy to justice. The plot is as rudimentary as that: there's a good guy, a bad guy, and a hell of a lot of fighting.

You do sense the American producers didn't quite understand what they were dealing with in Lee, for it's obvious he had a range and charisma far beyond what's required here. He's also partnered with John Saxon, who's an able leading man but really supernumerary (Saxon may have been a black belt in real life but his fight scenes have a whiff of dressage about them). Sleazy to the point of tackiness in places, and not much more than a live-action comic book, but tremendous action and some iconic sequences (the fight in the mirror-maze, for instance). Terrific entertainment if you're in the right mood.
  
Your House Will Pay
Your House Will Pay
Steph Cha | 2019 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Your House Will Pay is about racial tensions in LA, and it follows two families - one Korean-American, the other African-American - and the shooting of a black girl in the 1990’s. Shaun Matthews sister, Ava, was that teenaged girl, and the killing of another black teenager and the subsequent rallies and demonstrations bring back bad memories of that time. His family is trying hard to keep on the straight and narrow, especially after his cousin Ray is released from prison.

Grace Parks is a pharmacist in a Korean pharmacy and lives with her parents. She has a strained relationship with her sister who left home and refused to speak to her mother thereafter. She won’t, however, tell Grace why she won’t talk to their mother.

When a terrible crime happens, Grace is confronted with another crime that happened 30 years before, and the Parks family are forced to face the Matthews family.

I really loved this book - the build up and the slow reveal was really well done, I thought. It looked at a part of American life that I, as a white British female, would have little personal knowledge of - other than what I’ve read. It was so thought provoking. This isn’t an escapist read, and I could feel the tension coming off the page, but it was a page turner that I didn’t want to put down. I read this on The Pigeonhole, so due to the fact that they released a stave a day for 10 days, I HAD to wait 24 hours for each instalment!

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for choosing such a great book for us to read!