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Nikki Pugh (2 KP) rated American Assassin (2017) in Movies
Nov 19, 2017
Not a patch on the book
Contains spoilers, click to show
Okay so if you have read the books you'll know a few things were seriously off about this film. Plot for a start.
The book's plot circles around the Lockabie bombing which most of today's young audience will not remember so a plot update was definitely needed and setting the first scene on a beach with terrorists shooting tourists was a good plot call. I settled down in my seat thinking this might just work....and then the rest of the film happened.
Everyone did a good job trying to inject some feeling and drama into the limp script - Michael keaton was excellent - but there is no disguising the fact that this was intended as a for-runner for a Mitch Rap franchise. The plot was ludicrous, the characters under developed and overacted.
Maybe the next one will have me routing for Mitch instead of wishing I had gone to see the My Little Pony Movie...that would have been a lot less painful.
The book's plot circles around the Lockabie bombing which most of today's young audience will not remember so a plot update was definitely needed and setting the first scene on a beach with terrorists shooting tourists was a good plot call. I settled down in my seat thinking this might just work....and then the rest of the film happened.
Everyone did a good job trying to inject some feeling and drama into the limp script - Michael keaton was excellent - but there is no disguising the fact that this was intended as a for-runner for a Mitch Rap franchise. The plot was ludicrous, the characters under developed and overacted.
Maybe the next one will have me routing for Mitch instead of wishing I had gone to see the My Little Pony Movie...that would have been a lot less painful.
Shaun Collins (3 KP) rated Fight Club 2 in Books
Jan 11, 2018
I am Jack's emerging sense of Nerd Rage...
Firstly, WHY? Why on earth would you even think about writing a sequel to one of the best books ever written that spawned one of the best cult classic movies ever made?
Secondly, WHAT? I mean, I read it and all, but...
Thirdly, OH WOW.
This book will be polarizing for fans. You will either love it or hate it. Period. I doubt there will be any middle ground here. Some fans will argue that Palahniuk is spent creatively, or that this was a giant FU to the Tyler Durden fan club, or that it was just ill conceived all they way around.
Others will think it's the most beautiful messed up thing they've ever read.
At the moment, I fall very much into the later category, but I just finished this set, and the resonance of the final pages have left me a little shell shocked. I need to discuss this with friends, like NOW.
More to come as it unravels for me...
Firstly, WHY? Why on earth would you even think about writing a sequel to one of the best books ever written that spawned one of the best cult classic movies ever made?
Secondly, WHAT? I mean, I read it and all, but...
Thirdly, OH WOW.
This book will be polarizing for fans. You will either love it or hate it. Period. I doubt there will be any middle ground here. Some fans will argue that Palahniuk is spent creatively, or that this was a giant FU to the Tyler Durden fan club, or that it was just ill conceived all they way around.
Others will think it's the most beautiful messed up thing they've ever read.
At the moment, I fall very much into the later category, but I just finished this set, and the resonance of the final pages have left me a little shell shocked. I need to discuss this with friends, like NOW.
More to come as it unravels for me...
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Going Postal in Books
Jul 25, 2017
Sheer brilliance
I tried reading the first Discworld book (The Colour of Magic) years ago & I couldn't get into it. Skip forward to this year & a conversation with some of my learned Pratchett reading colleagues who advised that starting at Book 1 wasn't advisable & instead offered a few alternative starting points - Going Postal being the favourite.
All I can say is that I will be forever thankful for this book. Not only was it a fantastic way of getting into the Discworld series, but it is now among my favourite ever books of all time.
It's beautifully written - full of humour and wit. It's also a great alternative take on industrialisation and the introduction of the postal service. Moist Von Lipwig is a brilliant character, flawed but still loveable, and the supporting characters too all have their charms. Mr Pump especially raised quite a few laughs.
This is Pratchett at his best and if youre ever thinking about tackling the mammoth Discworld series, this is the place to start.
All I can say is that I will be forever thankful for this book. Not only was it a fantastic way of getting into the Discworld series, but it is now among my favourite ever books of all time.
It's beautifully written - full of humour and wit. It's also a great alternative take on industrialisation and the introduction of the postal service. Moist Von Lipwig is a brilliant character, flawed but still loveable, and the supporting characters too all have their charms. Mr Pump especially raised quite a few laughs.
This is Pratchett at his best and if youre ever thinking about tackling the mammoth Discworld series, this is the place to start.
Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Switched (Trylle, #1) in Books
Jan 15, 2018
This was a great book! Ihad previously seen it on Barnes and Noble's website. I had it on my list to purchase for my Nook, but before I got the chance to, I won a copy from First Reads. This book was a quick interesting read.
It was a bit of a Twilight wanna-be as I'd heard & read in some reviews. However I don't believe anything can live up to Twilight so I went into this book with a clear head. It is about a girl who discovers that she is actually a Trylle princess...in other words, she is a troll. Yup, I said troll!!! I don't want to give too much away, but my outlook on trolls has changed after reading this book! I really look forward to the next 2 books in the trilogy. I may even have to get the ebooks. I don't know if I can wait for the print versions to hit the shelves!
I am very curious to see what happens.
It was a bit of a Twilight wanna-be as I'd heard & read in some reviews. However I don't believe anything can live up to Twilight so I went into this book with a clear head. It is about a girl who discovers that she is actually a Trylle princess...in other words, she is a troll. Yup, I said troll!!! I don't want to give too much away, but my outlook on trolls has changed after reading this book! I really look forward to the next 2 books in the trilogy. I may even have to get the ebooks. I don't know if I can wait for the print versions to hit the shelves!
I am very curious to see what happens.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) in Movies
Sep 2, 2017
Villains (2 more)
Johnny Depp
Weak plot
Average and Unnecessary
For me this film is just a new way for JK Rowling to cash in on the Harry Potter franchise (similar to the Cursed Child) and it's totally unnecessary. Yes these characters have been touched upon in the HP books and films, but do we really need this and numerous sequels to tell us all about them? There is such a thing as too much, and I think Fantastic Beasts and it's future sequels are a perfect example.
Eddie Redmayne is the only real saving grace, Colin Farrell is alright, but the rest of the cast and characters are either boring or cliched and irritating. And Johnny Depp? There was a time when he would make a film, but now his casting just makes me groan. The effects are patchy at times and the plot as a whole feels a little weak and lacklustre. And the word "nomaj" is possibly the most irritating and cringeworthy word in the entire Harry Potter universe.
Eddie Redmayne is the only real saving grace, Colin Farrell is alright, but the rest of the cast and characters are either boring or cliched and irritating. And Johnny Depp? There was a time when he would make a film, but now his casting just makes me groan. The effects are patchy at times and the plot as a whole feels a little weak and lacklustre. And the word "nomaj" is possibly the most irritating and cringeworthy word in the entire Harry Potter universe.
I am not generally a Patterson fan, but I have got to disagree with the many poor reviews I hear about this book because they are completely unfair. The story was plot driven, exciting, scary, and imaginative. I liked it.
It does NOT deserve to be called the "worst novel ever written." I know of PLENTY of books I liked A LOT less than this one. No, this book is not the next literary masterpiece, but that isn't the point. Sure the characters aren't deep, and Oz himself is kind of an idiot despite having figured out what happened, but truthfully, most of the characters acted pretty realistically and served their purpose. Maybe the science wasn't 100%, but I don't think it was impossibly wrong either.
Could it have been better? Yes. Was it awful? No. I happily read this book in three days, and I even watched a little of the series, even though it's completely different. I was actually torn between 6 and 7 stars, but I did kinda wish it ended differently.
It does NOT deserve to be called the "worst novel ever written." I know of PLENTY of books I liked A LOT less than this one. No, this book is not the next literary masterpiece, but that isn't the point. Sure the characters aren't deep, and Oz himself is kind of an idiot despite having figured out what happened, but truthfully, most of the characters acted pretty realistically and served their purpose. Maybe the science wasn't 100%, but I don't think it was impossibly wrong either.
Could it have been better? Yes. Was it awful? No. I happily read this book in three days, and I even watched a little of the series, even though it's completely different. I was actually torn between 6 and 7 stars, but I did kinda wish it ended differently.
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Broken Monsters in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Broken Monsters was what I call “High Concept, Poor Execution.” There were two major things that caused me to decide not to finish it.
The first reason: The story was written from several different characters perspectives, and it switched almost every chapter. Some books can get away with this (generally there are two or three PoV) but this one had like 5 different voices, and it was just too much to keep track of.
The second and most important reason: The relationship between the police officer and her daughter. Seriously, no police officer is going to pick up her high school daughter and start telling her all about the secret case they haven’t yet allowed the press to get wind of, or tell her details or hunches, or—what really set me off—have her daughter help her use a search engine to find photos from nasty crime scenes. You just don’t do that.
The premise was cool and the bad-guy was amazing (his PoV was my favorite) but I just couldn’t keep going with those two factors.
The first reason: The story was written from several different characters perspectives, and it switched almost every chapter. Some books can get away with this (generally there are two or three PoV) but this one had like 5 different voices, and it was just too much to keep track of.
The second and most important reason: The relationship between the police officer and her daughter. Seriously, no police officer is going to pick up her high school daughter and start telling her all about the secret case they haven’t yet allowed the press to get wind of, or tell her details or hunches, or—what really set me off—have her daughter help her use a search engine to find photos from nasty crime scenes. You just don’t do that.
The premise was cool and the bad-guy was amazing (his PoV was my favorite) but I just couldn’t keep going with those two factors.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Hit (Will Robie #2) in Books
May 10, 2018
David Baldacci has done it again. Another heart pounding thriller with Will Robie.
Reading these books, always makes me wonder if there really are people defending our country like Will Robie. I read the book on America's best sniper, but he didn't do anything like this. Does art really imitate life?
In the installment of the Will Robie series, Robie is hired to take out someone he knows. But something doesn't seem right about this hit. Why didn't she follow out her mission as previously instructed? What would make her do something like that. Jessica Reel is as good if not better at this job than Will Robie. So something in his gut is telling him that the story he was given is not the whole truth. There has been a lot of that going on as of late.
So what happens if these two work together to get to the bottom of what is really going on? Will they be able to work together, or will one be out of the agency, the only way to go out?
Reading these books, always makes me wonder if there really are people defending our country like Will Robie. I read the book on America's best sniper, but he didn't do anything like this. Does art really imitate life?
In the installment of the Will Robie series, Robie is hired to take out someone he knows. But something doesn't seem right about this hit. Why didn't she follow out her mission as previously instructed? What would make her do something like that. Jessica Reel is as good if not better at this job than Will Robie. So something in his gut is telling him that the story he was given is not the whole truth. There has been a lot of that going on as of late.
So what happens if these two work together to get to the bottom of what is really going on? Will they be able to work together, or will one be out of the agency, the only way to go out?
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated NYPD Red (NYPD Red, #1) in Books
May 10, 2018
Detective Zach Jordan works for NYPD Red. A distinct branch of the NYPD that is in charge of cases involving the rich and famous He's about to het a new partner and a new case all in the same day. The new partner, Detective Kylie MacDonald is an old lover The new case comes at the start of Hollywood on the Hudson, where the L.A. elite come to examine movie making in New York City. So people in the T.V./movie business will be everywhere.
The Good News: NYPD Red will be busy.
The Bad News: They have a serial killer on their hands.
The first murder is at the Regency Hotel. A movie producer takes a nose dive into his breakfast plate. Not long after arriving on the scene, do they get a call for a murder at Silvercup Studios....and the day begins.
Will they find the killer before half of Hollywood is dead in NYC?
I'm a big James Patterson fan, and this book didn't have as much Umph to it that the Cross or Women's Murder Club books do.
The Good News: NYPD Red will be busy.
The Bad News: They have a serial killer on their hands.
The first murder is at the Regency Hotel. A movie producer takes a nose dive into his breakfast plate. Not long after arriving on the scene, do they get a call for a murder at Silvercup Studios....and the day begins.
Will they find the killer before half of Hollywood is dead in NYC?
I'm a big James Patterson fan, and this book didn't have as much Umph to it that the Cross or Women's Murder Club books do.