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Hunter Killer (2018)
Hunter Killer (2018)
2018 | Action, Thriller
Now let's be honest, we all know that Hunter Killer isn't going to be sweeping the Oscar noms. As action fans, do we care? Noooooope!

This is a film that does exactly what you expect, and want it to do. It's Olympus Has Fallen. It's White House Down. It's Geostorm. It's modern action that you don't have to think about. It's that perfect diversion.

I think they tried to capitalise on the big names in this one for the posters. It doesn't really seem like Gary Oldman is in it enough to warrant second billing, but what do I know? The supporting actors were very good. The more I see Common pop up in films the more I'm enjoying him. There are also great performances from Toby Stephens, Michael Nyqvist and Linda Cardellini, which was a nice surprise.

Thanks to half term and my holiday I was traumatised to realise that I was potentially going to miss this one at the cinema. It was on for just one week at my Cineworld which coincided with my first week away, I got back to find most places weren't showing it any more and as expected, I was annoyed. Stupid half term. Vue ended up coming to my rescue with one slight drawback... it was only showing at a time where I'd have norally been in bed for about two hours.

There was a reason for the last bit of waffle. Having to see it in the middle of the night, I was fully aware that the film starts out relatively slowly. I found myself drifting off a little bit, but when the action started I was drawn in and some of the pieces were very effective.

I ended up doing a bit of an IMDb surf from this film while looking at some of the actors. It was a surprising learning curve. Hunter Killer was one of the last films made by Michael Nyqvist before his death, I also discovered that Toby Stephens is Maggie Smith's son. Two very different things that I'm surprised I didn't know.

What you should do

Hunter Killer is definitely worth watching if you catch it on the TV or streaming. It's an entertaining action film that will pass a couple of hours.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

I could do with some handy radar that would help me work out if spaces were big enough for me to parallel park in.
  
Assassination Nation (2018)
Assassination Nation (2018)
2018 | Thriller
Well... this film really had its ups and downs. I can't say I was entirely a fan of this cinematic offspring of Mean Girls and The First Purge though.

Almost everything in this felt like is was just being brash and outrageous for the sake of it. As part of the opening sequence we're treated to a handy list of all the upcoming offenseive things we'll get to see in the movie. What was the point? Is it daring us to be offended in advance? Or is it just playing offensive bingo with us? "Oh yeah, homophobia! Bingo!"

The beginning of Assassination Nation introduces us to our quartet of girls in a horrible awkward teen drama kind of a way. Even taking into account the type of film this was it wasn't a believeable exchange and I was glad when everything finally moved along.

Luckily the middle of this film is quite good. Not all of the characters get as much of a story as they might deserve, in fact Lily and Bex are the only ones of the four that I could really tell you about after coming out of the screening, but it all flows well and you can see how the events are filtering through the community.

Then there's the bit after the middle (but not including the ending). As we get into the action side of Assassination Nation... honestly I think I just like typing out the title, it's a bit like when you're spelling Mississippi, lots of places you could muck it up... it's like we're on a rollercoaster, it goes downhill pretty fast.

I like mindless violence in movies, it generally has that over the top amusement factor as you see the characters devolve and have a little overacted rampage. This however is pure mob mentality at its worst with no real voice of reason apart from our main "heroine", Lily. Even far fetched things I can sort of see as "realistic", but no real resistence against what was happening? Yet another reason to think they were just going for shock factor.

I could almost have forgiven this film it's faux pas had it not been for the predictable and are-you-kidding-me ending.

What you should do

It's an amusing watch if you can dissect it and shout at the TV at te same time. I personally think it would be better for watching with a group of friends at home rather than the cinema.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

I would like Lily's excellent skills with a shovel.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) Sep 25, 2019

This has the honour of being the worst film I saw in 2018 😊

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The Seer (The Secret Tales #3)
The Seer (The Secret Tales #3)
Vicki Stiefel, Sanna Brand | 2025 | Romance
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Theo was very much attracted first to Claire's mind but he soon became besotted with her!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 3 in the Secret Tales series, but it can be read as a stand alone. The couple from the first two books do take part here, but you don't need to have read their stories to follow this one. I did, however, LOVE those first two books, so as a personal recommendation, read them.

But this one?? I don't know what it is about this one, but I couldn/t love it, and it did take some reading. I might be able to wiggle it out my book brain as I type, but we shall see.

Claire has a theory about the white on the Greek marbles and statues: they are not meant to be white. But as a woman, no one will listen. Theseus finds Claire's mind attractive but he is well aware of the constraints on women of his time. A trip to Greece is just what they both need: Claire to prove her theory and Theseus to return some Greek marbles to their rightful home. But someone is out to stop him, and it might just get them both killed.

I liked that this faded to black and it was a very slow burn. Theo was very much attracted first to Claire's mind but he soon became besotted with her. Especially after she befriended his sister and managed to shoot some bandits! But apart from some kissing, he waits until they are married to do anything else, and I did like that.

I did like the twist with the bad guy! I did not see that one coming at me.

Theo's sister, Penny plays a part here. She does get a say too, but I think I would have liked Spyros as well as Penny, given as to what happens to them.

There are many descriptions about the Greek statues and the history of them. I found these a bit too much, to be honest and I struggled to follow them all. I think *THIS* might be why I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first two.

I did like that we caught up with Lottie and Patrick, and Rosie and Rhys. They are all blissfully happy and their families are growing.

What I did LOVE though, was the epilogue!

4 very VERY good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere