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Awix (3310 KP) rated Memories of Murder (Salinui chueok) (2003) in Movies
Oct 8, 2020
Korean crime drama; an early film from Bong Joon-ho. When a serial killer appears to be at work in a small South Korean town, a rough local cop and a cerebral detective from the big city are forced to work together to catch the murderer.
Some people apparently think this is one of the greatest movies ever made; I can't agree, but it is an extremely solid and thoughtful crime drama. Very dark and gritty (possibly more than some viewers will be comfortable with), but two very strong lead performances and a streak of black humour keep it watchable. After a relatively conventional first few acts, the end of the film takes a sharp turn in an unexpected direction, which may frustrate and disappoint some viewers, but the shift away from genre movie to drama is well handled. Entertaining, gripping and thought-provoking.
Some people apparently think this is one of the greatest movies ever made; I can't agree, but it is an extremely solid and thoughtful crime drama. Very dark and gritty (possibly more than some viewers will be comfortable with), but two very strong lead performances and a streak of black humour keep it watchable. After a relatively conventional first few acts, the end of the film takes a sharp turn in an unexpected direction, which may frustrate and disappoint some viewers, but the shift away from genre movie to drama is well handled. Entertaining, gripping and thought-provoking.
Secrets for the Mad: Obsessions, Confessions and Life Lessons
6.0
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Find hope in dark times When I feel like I'm going mad, I write. A lot of my worst fears have...
biography music humour mental health lifestyle
A Bit Of A Stretch
9.0
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Where can a tin of tuna buy you clean clothes? Where is it easier to get 'spice' than paracetamol?...
Non Fiction Wandsworth Prison Prison Reform UK Prisons
Finding Audrey
6.5
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From the bestselling author of the Shopaholic series comes a story of humour, heart and...
Lying and Dying (Josef Slonsky Investigations #1)
8.0
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What do you do when the poison comes from within…? The body of a young woman is found...
Prague Police procedural Thriller
ClareR (5721 KP) rated One Year of Ugly in Books
Apr 3, 2020
A different look at refugees.
I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, and I really didn’t expect to laugh as much. It’s not a particularly funny subject, when you consider that it’s about Venezuelan refugees in Trinidad. Honestly, I didn’t know that there WERE Venezuelan refugees in Trinidad. The whole Palacio family have fled Venezuela and it’s corrupt regime, and have started a new life in Trinidad as refugees. The work they do is under the radar of the authorities. When their matriarch, Aunt Celia, suddenly dies, a rather flamboyant character, Ugly, turns up and demands his money. This is the point where they find out that they’re actually illegal refugees, and that Aunt Celia hadn’t actually secured them any legitimate, legal rights to be there. So they’re now at the mercy of Ugly. He demands that they work off the debts that Celia incurred, by taking in fellow refugees as they pass through to nw lives in Trinidad. He leaves them under no misapprehension that if they don’t comply to his wishes, violence will follow.
There is a real dark humour throughout this book. Parts are genuinely funny, but there are other parts, mainly those involving Ugly, which are really menacing. This isn’t a fluffy ‘everything works out for the best’ type of story, and I think it’s really good that Mackenzie is highlighting something that a lot of us know nothing about. It seems universal that no matter where a refugee comes from, that their lives are constantly in danger and that they are preyed upon by the unscrupulous. I’ve read a couple of books about refugees that broke my heart, and while I did feel sympathy for the characters in this book, I appreciated the humour - after all, some people do deal with trauma with humour.
I was really pleasantly surprised by this book, and yes, I would recommend it. I’m looking forward to seeing what the author will write about next.
There is a real dark humour throughout this book. Parts are genuinely funny, but there are other parts, mainly those involving Ugly, which are really menacing. This isn’t a fluffy ‘everything works out for the best’ type of story, and I think it’s really good that Mackenzie is highlighting something that a lot of us know nothing about. It seems universal that no matter where a refugee comes from, that their lives are constantly in danger and that they are preyed upon by the unscrupulous. I’ve read a couple of books about refugees that broke my heart, and while I did feel sympathy for the characters in this book, I appreciated the humour - after all, some people do deal with trauma with humour.
I was really pleasantly surprised by this book, and yes, I would recommend it. I’m looking forward to seeing what the author will write about next.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Coffinmaker's Garden (Ash Henderson #3) in Books
Jan 17, 2021
I realise that starting to read a series on book 3 is probably not the best idea but having previously read and enjoyed some of Stuart MacBride's Logan McRae series, I thought what the heck and I certainly wasn't disappointed in the slightest and would definitely say this works as a standalone.
What we have here are 2 investigations that are equally disturbing and upsetting - a serial killer who has gone undetected for decades and a child killer who is refining his modus operandi with each innocent life he takes. Ash, in his role as consultant, is involved in both.
The characters are great - Ash, Alice, Mother, Shifty, DS Franklin and even Henry - all of them in fact, some may be a tad OTT or stereotypical but all had their place and their own little quirks which made them believable. The various settings were really well written with the scenes being so well written that they invoked sounds and smells that put me right there.
The book is written mainly from Ash's point of view. He can be a cynical and grumpy so-and-so and definitely doesn't do things by the books and does have questionable decision-making skills at times, but he definitely grew on me; I think it was his dark sense of humour that did it but also his aversion to authority who have been so far removed from the job that they haven't got a clue helped a bit ... oh and the fact that he certainly gets put through the wringer by Mr MacBride during his investigation and from what has obviously gone on in the previous books in the series, which might have had something to do with it too!
With the story lines being as dark as they are, you might think this is a dark and depressing read but fear not, this is not the case at all. Yes, as you can imagine, it's not a laugh a minute and there is quite a lot of violence throughout but there are plenty of lighter moments that will have you laughing out loud. You do have to suspend reality for some parts of the book as there are bits that are a little unbelievable but if you can't do this in a work of fiction, when can you? and it certainly didn't spoil my reading experience.
All in all, a really great book and one I would highly recommend to those of you who love their crime thrillers dark both in the plot and the humour.
Thanks to HarperCollins / HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
What we have here are 2 investigations that are equally disturbing and upsetting - a serial killer who has gone undetected for decades and a child killer who is refining his modus operandi with each innocent life he takes. Ash, in his role as consultant, is involved in both.
The characters are great - Ash, Alice, Mother, Shifty, DS Franklin and even Henry - all of them in fact, some may be a tad OTT or stereotypical but all had their place and their own little quirks which made them believable. The various settings were really well written with the scenes being so well written that they invoked sounds and smells that put me right there.
The book is written mainly from Ash's point of view. He can be a cynical and grumpy so-and-so and definitely doesn't do things by the books and does have questionable decision-making skills at times, but he definitely grew on me; I think it was his dark sense of humour that did it but also his aversion to authority who have been so far removed from the job that they haven't got a clue helped a bit ... oh and the fact that he certainly gets put through the wringer by Mr MacBride during his investigation and from what has obviously gone on in the previous books in the series, which might have had something to do with it too!
With the story lines being as dark as they are, you might think this is a dark and depressing read but fear not, this is not the case at all. Yes, as you can imagine, it's not a laugh a minute and there is quite a lot of violence throughout but there are plenty of lighter moments that will have you laughing out loud. You do have to suspend reality for some parts of the book as there are bits that are a little unbelievable but if you can't do this in a work of fiction, when can you? and it certainly didn't spoil my reading experience.
All in all, a really great book and one I would highly recommend to those of you who love their crime thrillers dark both in the plot and the humour.
Thanks to HarperCollins / HarperFiction and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988) in Movies
Oct 27, 2019
Horror movie hostess Elvira dreams of hosting a show in Vegas. When she receives saying that her Great Aunt had died she thinks her dreams have come true. Once she arrives at Fallwell, Massachusetts for the reading of the will she finds that things won’t be as easy as she had hoped. As the town turns against her and family secrets are uncovered Elvira needs to find a way to stop her great Uncles plan.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark brings a backstory to Cassandra Pearson's character Elvira, gothic late night horror hostess. The film starts during one of Elvira’s shows when she receives a telegram telling her to go the reading of a will for a dead relative and, in the events that follow she finds out that she really is a witch.
Elvira is odd in the fact that it is almost in the style of an 80’s teen movie but it isn’t quite one. There are a few teens in the cast but the film does focus on Elvira and other people in the town.
Elvira, Mistress of the dark is rated 15 and is a comedy with a couple of scenes of peril and one jump scare. A lot of the humour focuses on Elvira’s rather ample bosom but in a quite tasteful way, it’s not a ‘Sex comedy’.
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark brings a backstory to Cassandra Pearson's character Elvira, gothic late night horror hostess. The film starts during one of Elvira’s shows when she receives a telegram telling her to go the reading of a will for a dead relative and, in the events that follow she finds out that she really is a witch.
Elvira is odd in the fact that it is almost in the style of an 80’s teen movie but it isn’t quite one. There are a few teens in the cast but the film does focus on Elvira and other people in the town.
Elvira, Mistress of the dark is rated 15 and is a comedy with a couple of scenes of peril and one jump scare. A lot of the humour focuses on Elvira’s rather ample bosom but in a quite tasteful way, it’s not a ‘Sex comedy’.
Paul Smedley (141 KP) rated Colossal (2016) in Movies
Jun 5, 2018
Humour (3 more)
Special effects
Unique
Acting
Very different
Contains spoilers, click to show
Well I finally got round to watching this on Amazon Prime last night and really enjoyed it.
What starts as a very funny film, turns into something more dark and deep to which I was not expecting.
Overall I thought it was great and the only thing I had an issue with was that Oscar (played by the great Jason Sudeikis) changed his character literally overnight with no explanation. We can only presume it was known that Gloria did the deed with Joel or that we are to later find out that Oscar is actually a bad person (stemming back to a childhood incident involving his inferior diorama compared to that of Gloria’s and he still holds a grudge) but either way, it was all very sudden with no build up and made this part of the movie seem a little rushed.
Either way, would love to hear other people’s views on this!
What starts as a very funny film, turns into something more dark and deep to which I was not expecting.
Overall I thought it was great and the only thing I had an issue with was that Oscar (played by the great Jason Sudeikis) changed his character literally overnight with no explanation. We can only presume it was known that Gloria did the deed with Joel or that we are to later find out that Oscar is actually a bad person (stemming back to a childhood incident involving his inferior diorama compared to that of Gloria’s and he still holds a grudge) but either way, it was all very sudden with no build up and made this part of the movie seem a little rushed.
Either way, would love to hear other people’s views on this!
Ross (3284 KP) rated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) in Movies
Jan 14, 2019
Outstanding cast and dialogue
I won't belabour this review, I have nothing new to say that isn't already in these reviews.
The dialogue in this film from start to finish is top notch. The jokes, the put-downs, the nastiness, the crass-ness is all on-point and perfect.
While I hate a film not having an ending, it seemed to fit this film. It really was some people trying to get by and work out how they deal with the hand life deals them and not really moving on. The film tells of the journey of those people, and not where they end up.
The subject matter is very grim, as are some of the events in the film, but it is told with enough realism and so wonderfully acted as to give it all the gravitas it needs, but also to cut through that at times with dark humour.
A brilliant film.
The dialogue in this film from start to finish is top notch. The jokes, the put-downs, the nastiness, the crass-ness is all on-point and perfect.
While I hate a film not having an ending, it seemed to fit this film. It really was some people trying to get by and work out how they deal with the hand life deals them and not really moving on. The film tells of the journey of those people, and not where they end up.
The subject matter is very grim, as are some of the events in the film, but it is told with enough realism and so wonderfully acted as to give it all the gravitas it needs, but also to cut through that at times with dark humour.
A brilliant film.