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The Playing with Fire Podcast
Podcast
Please join us each week to learn about the secrets of world class performance and how to improve...
Thomas & Friends: Go Go Thomas
Games and Entertainment
App
Budge Studios™ presents Thomas & Friends: Go Go Thomas! - a fun speed game for kids. Race against...
Munchkin Match
Games
App
Unique gameplay around every corner with many different strategies to win. Start your fantastic...
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Passengers (2016) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
Titanic in the Sky
Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence are two of the world’s most bankable stars. What with Pratt helping to resurrect prehistoric franchises like Jurassic Park and Lawrence turning The Hunger Games series into one of the biggest ever, it seems they are the people Hollywood wants to work with, right here, right now.
It was inevitable they’d team up together at some point, though director Mortem Tyldum’s (The Imitation Game) sci-fi flick Passengers perhaps isn’t what their fan-bases had in mind. But do the pair sizzle together as much as they do apart?
On a routine journey through space to a new home, two passengers, sleeping in suspended animation, are awakened 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions. As Jim (Pratt) and Aurora (Lawrence) face living the rest of their lives on board, with every luxury they could ever ask for, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction until they discover the ship is in grave danger. With the lives of 5,000 sleeping passengers at stake, only Jim and Aurora can save them all.
Adding to the ever expanding sci-fi universe, Passengers is a slickly directed and engrossing film with a coat of varnish like no other movie this year. It certainly looks the part, though it’s probably best not to scratch beneath the surface of this Titanic in the sky, as much like the Starship Avalon on which our unlucky duo are stranded on, there’s not much going on underneath.
Pratt and Lawrence thankfully have an intense chemistry together, and that’s a good thing considering they are, by and large, the only two characters throughout. Propping up a 2 hour film is no easy feat and its testament to their talents that they are able to do so. Sure, their dialogue is a little cheesy, but they’re likeable enough to warrant a pardon this time around.
Elsewhere, Michael Sheen comes close to stealing the show as an enthusiastic android bartender, providing yet another great droid to add to the genre’s roster. Alan Tudyk from last week’s Rogue One also showed how deep these mechanical characters can be.
The special effects are on the whole very good, though there are a few instances of CGI that don’t quite hit the spot. The Avalon itself however is fantastically realised and scenes like the much-marketed swimming pool gravity loss are stunning to watch, all the while helped by Pratt and Lawrence’s brilliant acting skills.
There is one big problem however. The story. There are numerous elements to the plot that aren’t mentioned in the trailer, so I won’t spoil them for you here, but Passengers has seriously miscalculated a couple of elements to Pratt and Lawrence’s relationship – with a sudden third act tonal shift leaving a sour taste in the mouth.
Luckily, these flaws don’t detract from what is a thrilling rollercoaster from start to finish. Whilst it may not be as deep and meaningful as Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Passengers has an immersive quality – it’s like being on-board the Avalon, and with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence keeping us company, who can blame us for going along for the ride.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2016/12/22/titanic-in-the-sky-passengers-review/
It was inevitable they’d team up together at some point, though director Mortem Tyldum’s (The Imitation Game) sci-fi flick Passengers perhaps isn’t what their fan-bases had in mind. But do the pair sizzle together as much as they do apart?
On a routine journey through space to a new home, two passengers, sleeping in suspended animation, are awakened 90 years too early when their ship malfunctions. As Jim (Pratt) and Aurora (Lawrence) face living the rest of their lives on board, with every luxury they could ever ask for, they begin to fall for each other, unable to deny their intense attraction until they discover the ship is in grave danger. With the lives of 5,000 sleeping passengers at stake, only Jim and Aurora can save them all.
Adding to the ever expanding sci-fi universe, Passengers is a slickly directed and engrossing film with a coat of varnish like no other movie this year. It certainly looks the part, though it’s probably best not to scratch beneath the surface of this Titanic in the sky, as much like the Starship Avalon on which our unlucky duo are stranded on, there’s not much going on underneath.
Pratt and Lawrence thankfully have an intense chemistry together, and that’s a good thing considering they are, by and large, the only two characters throughout. Propping up a 2 hour film is no easy feat and its testament to their talents that they are able to do so. Sure, their dialogue is a little cheesy, but they’re likeable enough to warrant a pardon this time around.
Elsewhere, Michael Sheen comes close to stealing the show as an enthusiastic android bartender, providing yet another great droid to add to the genre’s roster. Alan Tudyk from last week’s Rogue One also showed how deep these mechanical characters can be.
The special effects are on the whole very good, though there are a few instances of CGI that don’t quite hit the spot. The Avalon itself however is fantastically realised and scenes like the much-marketed swimming pool gravity loss are stunning to watch, all the while helped by Pratt and Lawrence’s brilliant acting skills.
There is one big problem however. The story. There are numerous elements to the plot that aren’t mentioned in the trailer, so I won’t spoil them for you here, but Passengers has seriously miscalculated a couple of elements to Pratt and Lawrence’s relationship – with a sudden third act tonal shift leaving a sour taste in the mouth.
Luckily, these flaws don’t detract from what is a thrilling rollercoaster from start to finish. Whilst it may not be as deep and meaningful as Ridley Scott’s The Martian, Passengers has an immersive quality – it’s like being on-board the Avalon, and with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence keeping us company, who can blame us for going along for the ride.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2016/12/22/titanic-in-the-sky-passengers-review/
KatieLouCreate (162 KP) rated Memrise: learn languages in Apps
Feb 27, 2018
This app started of really good when I first downloaded it. I used it to aid me while learning Japanese. It has cool short games and activities to help you learn and remember old and new things every day. It was so good that in fact I bought a subscription for it so I could do more things. When you become a pro member you get listening activities from native speakers, listening games as well as pronunciation exercises.
However, after using it for a while, I noticed it was harder for me to learn how to construct larger sentences. It was just a case of remembering what kanji was used instead of actually learning how to say/write the sentences. So the app is only great for learning words and short phrases.
Then my card details were updated and I lost my pro-member benefits. I found out that they now want to to pay for things that were previously free such as the difficult words which saved words you were struggling with and help you learn them separately. So now the only thing you can really do on the app is learn new words and recap old ones. 4 out of the 7 games now need subscriptions which seems unfair.
It is also hard to add new people who actually play on the app as well. (You need to pay to use this as well now, I believe) but it allowed you to compete with other players on a weekly score board. Only problem with that is you couldn't search for anyone. You had to know someone who played the game as well and add their user name. The alternative was to type in a random name in the search bar and see who came up and hope they were still active.
This app is good for learning basics words, and phrases, and kanji if you study Chinese or Japanese. But it will not help you with fluency. And you basically have to buy it to seek all the other features which make the app what it is.
However, after using it for a while, I noticed it was harder for me to learn how to construct larger sentences. It was just a case of remembering what kanji was used instead of actually learning how to say/write the sentences. So the app is only great for learning words and short phrases.
Then my card details were updated and I lost my pro-member benefits. I found out that they now want to to pay for things that were previously free such as the difficult words which saved words you were struggling with and help you learn them separately. So now the only thing you can really do on the app is learn new words and recap old ones. 4 out of the 7 games now need subscriptions which seems unfair.
It is also hard to add new people who actually play on the app as well. (You need to pay to use this as well now, I believe) but it allowed you to compete with other players on a weekly score board. Only problem with that is you couldn't search for anyone. You had to know someone who played the game as well and add their user name. The alternative was to type in a random name in the search bar and see who came up and hope they were still active.
This app is good for learning basics words, and phrases, and kanji if you study Chinese or Japanese. But it will not help you with fluency. And you basically have to buy it to seek all the other features which make the app what it is.
Montessori MatheMAGICs: Dynamic Division - Educational Math Game for Kids - 2nd grade
Education
App
The genius and simplicity of Montessori division in a fun, intuitive and play again form. What is...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Primal (2019) in Movies
Aug 22, 2020
When will I learn? Do not watch big star films you've never heard of before I see them on DVD.
A big game hunter ends up transporting his catch on a ship with a team of military personnel that are transporting an assassin back to the US under the radar. All it takes is one wrong step for the ship to be filled with danger as everyone is being stalked by killers, both animal and human.
I nearly lobbed this DVD out my window after the first scene with the CGI kitty cat, it was truly abysmal. Thankfully at some point I stopped noticing fairly quickly.
Kevin Durand plays our assassin-in-transit and he's always a pretty good bet for a bad guy. Even in this he has a great presence. Next we have Famke Janssen, I couldn't honestly tell you how long it's been since I saw her in something. This wasn't a great character though, and apart from one or two scenes I had forgotten she was even in this film when I scrolled through the cast list. It's not entirely to do with the acting, which did feel a little lacklustre, the character didn't have a lot of punch and wasn't what you know she's capable of.
There's no denying that this is below my usual Cage favourites. It's pretty low on the Cage Rage ranking, but it's still a Nicolas Cage film and as with shark films that means there's an automatic pass. It would have to do something horrendous for me to outright hate it.
There's logic of some description in Primal but it's still a distinctly average film. I can forgive the bad CGI, but a poor script and average production quality across the board mean I'm regretting paying actual money for it. The idea for the story feels like someone used a story generator to get different plot points, even so, there was potential in it but I was rather sad it wasn't a better experience.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/primal-movie-review.html
A big game hunter ends up transporting his catch on a ship with a team of military personnel that are transporting an assassin back to the US under the radar. All it takes is one wrong step for the ship to be filled with danger as everyone is being stalked by killers, both animal and human.
I nearly lobbed this DVD out my window after the first scene with the CGI kitty cat, it was truly abysmal. Thankfully at some point I stopped noticing fairly quickly.
Kevin Durand plays our assassin-in-transit and he's always a pretty good bet for a bad guy. Even in this he has a great presence. Next we have Famke Janssen, I couldn't honestly tell you how long it's been since I saw her in something. This wasn't a great character though, and apart from one or two scenes I had forgotten she was even in this film when I scrolled through the cast list. It's not entirely to do with the acting, which did feel a little lacklustre, the character didn't have a lot of punch and wasn't what you know she's capable of.
There's no denying that this is below my usual Cage favourites. It's pretty low on the Cage Rage ranking, but it's still a Nicolas Cage film and as with shark films that means there's an automatic pass. It would have to do something horrendous for me to outright hate it.
There's logic of some description in Primal but it's still a distinctly average film. I can forgive the bad CGI, but a poor script and average production quality across the board mean I'm regretting paying actual money for it. The idea for the story feels like someone used a story generator to get different plot points, even so, there was potential in it but I was rather sad it wasn't a better experience.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/primal-movie-review.html
Candy Blast Mania
Games and Entertainment
App
Candy Blast Mania is a match 3 puzzle game where you can match and collect candies in this...