Search

Search only in certain items:

The Early Life of Walt Disney
The Early Life of Walt Disney
Andrew Kiste | 2021 | Biography
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
'The Early Life of Walt Disney' is an extremely detailed account of Walter Elias Disney and his ancestors.

Kiste begins with the origins of the name Disney but quickly moves to the life of Walt's grandfather and father, exploring the social and economic factors of the time as well as how these directly affected the Disneys. For example, how a combination of Elias Disney's Christian faith and the corruption within a fast-growing Chicago led to Walt's father's authoritative nature, as well as direct examples of discipline towards Roy, Walt and the other Disney children.
Andrew Kiste has written a number of books on Walt Disney's life and has clearly researched the icon extensively. This book is very much rooted in the history of early America and can be very detailed: Elias Disney's involvement in building a church in his neighbourhood takes up a significant chunk of one chapter and Kiste even recounts the speech from the reverend on the day!
Nevertheless, 'The Early Life of Walt Disney' is an interesting insight for any hardcore Disney fan. I'm excited to see the next installment.
  
Deacon King Kong
Deacon King Kong
James McBride | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry, Humor & Comedy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Deacon King Kong is a wonderful book, revolving around the alcoholic Deacon Cuffy Lambkin, aka Sportcoat, and how in an alcohol fuelled haze, he shoots the ear of the local drug dealer. His community pulls together and tries to protect him from the inevitable retribution. And so we are introduced to and learn about the different people who, in some way, touch Sportcoats life: from his blind son and dead wife (who, thanks to the alcohol he drinks, he speaks to regularly), to the women who run the church, to the police officers connected to the case, the drug ring, the local Italian crime boss and his elderly mother, and Sportcoats best friend, Hot Sausage.

They’re all such well-rounded, well-written, real characters, and it all played out in my head like a film (has this been optioned yet?!). I love it when a book does that.
They all seemed to be genuinely nice characters who are getting by as best they can in a culture where drugs are King and poor boys and men of colour are rarely given a chance in life.

Honestly, you should read it. Highly recommended.
  
The Clovehitch Killer (2018)
The Clovehitch Killer (2018)
2018 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Story: The Clovehitch Killer starts as we head to a small town that has been living in the shadow of a serial killer branded Clovehitch because of his style of knot. We meet the picture-perfect family with Don (McDermott), Tyler (Plummer), Susie (Sherman) and Cindy (Mathis) who go to church every week.

When Tyler discovers a photo in his father’s car, he starts to think the killer could be closer to home than he first thought, he turns to the local Kassi (Beaty) who has been studying the killer for years to see if his father could be the town’s serial killer.

 

Thoughts on The Clovehitch Killer

 

Characters – Don is the father of the family, he has always helped his son with his boy scout assignments including knot tying, he helps around the neighbourhood too with his time in the church. He is hiding a secret that his son starts to figure out and does what he can to keep this from the rest of the world, Don is created in the same light as what we saw The Trinity Killer in Dexter. Tyler is the son that starts to think his father is the serial killer that scared the town, he tries to investigate which only makes things more difficult to one believe the truth and two keep a secret from his father. Cindy is the wife of Don, she is involved in the church believing they are living a happy life. Kassi is the estranged teenager in the town, she is considered an outsider because if her search for the Clovehitch killer, she is the one that Tyler turns to for help.

Performances – Dylan McDermott does give us a very disturbing performance which shows us just how easily a serial killer could operate in this world. Charlie Plummer gives us a strong performance as 2018 year was a fantastic year for him. Samantha Mathis is here and doesn’t get that much to do in the film, while Madisen Beaty brings the investigation figure to life well through the film.

Story – The story here follows a teenager that starts to believe his father is the town’s serial killer and starts investigating whether this is true or not. This is an interesting spin on the serial killer film, we do go down the line that Dexter had with the character which is all good because we see how one operates and manages to keep things secret from their family. The idea that the son is trying to learn the truth keeps us on edge, but seeing the action unfolding we get an intense story that manages to keep nearly everything calm through the events of the film.

Horror/Mystery – The horror follows the idea of a serial killer being in the family, it gets to show us how they can seem like they are everyday people which only makes the serial killer coming off worse. The mystery of the film follows whether he is the killer or not, well it is meant to, only for it to give away everything way to early.

Settings – The film uses the small town settings to make us believe just how the town has been in fear since the serial killer, it shows how one could operate without being looked at differently.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are very simple, we get to see just how he does the kills, only we don’t need to see anything graphic.


Scene of the Movie – The newest victim.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It could have been slightly more mysterious or just given us that he is a killer early on, it just doesn’t commit either side.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror film that does take things in new direction which keeps us on edge even if it does miss a chance to commit to one side of the film.

 

Overall: Serial killer film with a twist.