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Polar Team Pro

Health & Fitness and Sports

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App

Upgrade your game with Polar Team Pro – the perfect full performance training solution to benefit...

!iM: Run For Life: GPS run tracker for Jogging.

Lifestyle and Health & Fitness

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App

Run For Life is a GPS run tracker that features a simple, clean interface as well as powerful...

Screen Memories by John Maus

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Album Watch

It has been six years since We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves appeared like a...

dance

The Patriot's Churchill: An Inspiring Collection of Churchill's Finest Words

Richard M. Langworth

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Book

Churchill's wise words about the love of country have rallied nations and made Churchill our...

Chino Moreno recommended Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby by Girls Against Boys in Music (curated)

Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby by Girls Against Boys

1993 | Rock

(0 Ratings)

Album Favorite

"This was the record that sold me on that band. When I lived in Sacramento California I lived right next door to this little club called the Press Club, and they were playing there. I was sitting on my porch and their van pulled up and I started talking to them. That was when they were touring that record, and it was my favourite record at that time. It's heavy, but it has a lot of groove to it - I don't know if there were too many groups who were doing that kind of riff rock, but it had all these discord sounds to it, and then two bass players, one of them using distortion the whole time and the other guy holding down the low end, the keyboard player playing vibes. It didn't sound like anything else at the time. They were from DC, where a lot of my favourite bands are from, like Fugazi, Minor Threat, these bands who started a lot of scenes in music. I never got too into political rock and roll, obviously great lyrics are great lyrics, but what grabs me is the cadence of the singer, how they choose to deliver the words. And that dude, he had this raspy voice, this distinct voice, to me it was more sex, he has this loungy kind of vibe. Lyrically he seemed to talk about partying, drugs, and girls."

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Kudos

Natalie (23 KP) rated We Were Liars in Books

Nov 13, 2017

We Were Liars

Emily Jenkins, Emily Lockhart | 2014 | Children, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)

7.6

(12 Ratings)

Book Rating

Page-turning suspense (2 more)

Some original narrative techniques

A decent twist

The slowest pacing/build-up I've ever experienced (1 more)

Passive/incomplete characters

A family mystery with a twist

Cadence Sinclair (Cady) comes from a rich, well-to-do family. So well-to-do, in fact, that they have the luxury of vacationing on their own private island every summer. It is this island, Beechwood, that is the heart of Cady’s narrative; the summers she spent there with her childhood companions. The inseparable foursome; Cady, Johnny, Mirren and Gat – affectionately termed ‘the Liars’ – treasure their Beechwood idyll, but when Cady has a mysterious accident during ‘summer fifteen’, the four become divided as Cady searches for the truth.

Though I enjoyed Lockart's technique and style overall and really enjoyed the twist, there were a few hang-ups that I couldn't get over. The suspense is there, but accounts for about 80% of the book, before we get to the substance. I have no problem with a book that is slow-paced in general, but this felt like much of the first two thirds of the book was inconsequential, then we quickly dealt with the nitty-gritty. Furthermore, Cady is so passive that it's frustrating and makes it no wonder that the narrative crawls along - we might get somewhere faster if Cady had any spark about her and could face a confrontation or two. By making Cady herself a writer, Lockhart has opened up a few other interesting techniques to get to know our protagonist better, though they unfortunately fall just short.

Kudos

Leah (3 KP) rated Murder on the Orient Express (2017) in Movies

Dec 31, 2017 (Updated Dec 31, 2017)

Humor (2 more)

Very beautiful

Loveably quirky lead character

Very monotonous and slow-moving (0 more)

More like "Murder on the BORE-ient Express" am I right?

I'm about to be THAT girl and tell you that the book is better. I mean, no contest there. But for those of you who don't give a ? about that, the movie does have some redeeming qualities.

Not a total snooze-fest. More like a yawn-fest. While it is beautifully shot, it had a very monotonous, dragging-on sort of cadence to it. Nothing happened, besides all the things that happened... But just nothing to pique your interest throughout the whole thing.

The lead character's personality and charm is to die for in this adaptation, compared to the book. He's just so wonderful and I love the play-up of his quirks. Some of the other characters shine as well. Daisy Ridley is brilliant. Surprisingly, Willem Dafoe does an awesome job and a very convincing German accent, despite his small part. Michelle Pfeiffer on the other hand, her "ok, THIS is why everyone loves her" moment never happened... until the end. Oh, that ending! So much more dramatic and enticing than what the book delivers. The "whodunit" part of the book was so nonchalant and not the climatic ending I had wanted. So be happy the movie pulled through in that department.

Overall, still entertaining, just don't expect a ton of action or fast-paced dialogue to keep your attention. Maybe skip the late-night showing and go to a matinee after getting some coffee ?