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Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
In the final days of the Vietnam War, secretive organisation Monarch secures government funding to lead an expedition to a recently discovered island in search of new species. And they find them. Boy, do they find them.
Critic Review By Jonathan Pile - Empire
Original Score: 3 out of 5

Excerpt:
Two films in to the MonsterVerse and it’s been a mixed start — both Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island fumbling the human characters, but nailing the kaiju. There’s potential, it’s just yet to be fully realised.



Full review: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/kong-skull-island/review/
  
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
2011 | Drama, Mystery
6
8.3 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great cast (0 more)
A classy film with a wide array of fine English actors on show. A compelling story set during the days of the cold war. However the very slow pace will put a lot of people off and it's running time is a fair bit longer than needed. One you really need to pay close attention to, and work out the code words and what they refer to. It just didn't have any real action for me, which let it down. A fine performance from talented cast nevertheless.
  
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Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated 1917 (2020) in Movies

Nov 1, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)  
1917 (2020)
1917 (2020)
2020 | Drama, War
These days we have got so used to the fast-paced movies with all-out action that a film like 1917 can be a bit of a “Marmite Movie” for lots of people, but putting aside that the film does run in a slower pace than most movies that are currently running in cinemas at the moment, I have to say that I found myself glued to the film right from the start, it’s a powerful and emotional film that brings home the horror of war!
  
I Am Cuba (1964)
I Am Cuba (1964)
1964 | Drama, History, War
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Set in Cuba in the early '60s when there are student uprisings. Cruelly, an act of sympathy has disastrous consequences. There are two of the greatest dolly shots I've ever seen, and this in the days before Steadicam or anything similar. One starts on the roof of a building where party goers party then goes down the side of the building to a poolside and then into the pool and under water. The other starts in a sweatshop and… See for yourself. A really beautiful movie where optimism and repression are at war, as they always are."

Source
  
I have been given an opportunity to review the book “Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice” by Adam Makos. I read this 420 book in two days, day one was while I was receiving my infusion of Rituximab. “Devotion” inspired me. It melted my heart. It gave me an adventure to be a part of. I deeply enjoyed reading about the friendship of Tom Hudner and Jesse Brown during the Korean War as pilots. I enjoyed reading the other stories of friendship between the soldiers of the war. What captivating me the most is the friendship between Brown and Hudner. One was a share croppers son and African American and the other was a rich kid from New England. How did these two become such great friends? Friendship and devotion like this was uncommon back in the 50’s, but it happened. This book is just as wonderful as “Unbroken” and just as powerful. So worth the time to read.
  
I, Eliza Hamilton
I, Eliza Hamilton
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Alexander Hamilton was an integral part of the early history of the United States, both in its war of independence and later in the early days of its government. However, to look at his relatively short life and ignore his wife who survived him by 50 years, is as much a disservice to the man he was as it is to the woman who stood by his side, both in life and long after his death. Author, Susan Holloway Scott saw this lack of focus and answered this need in her latest novel "I, Eliza Hamilton." Read what I thought of this book in my review here.
https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2017/09/03/a-founding-mothers-story/
  
The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King #1-4)
The Once and Future King (The Once and Future King #1-4)
T.H. White | 1987 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.7 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
One of the classics of English literature, and so can be (at times) a heavy read. That's not to say that it isn't enjoyable: it is.

The novel follows the life of King Arthur and is split into four distinct 'books', from his early upbringing through to his ascension to the throne in "The Sword in the Stone" (the Disney version of which is surprisingly accurate), to the early days of his reign and his unknowingly incestuous relationship with half-sister in "The Queen of Air and Darkness", through the Arthur/Lancelot/Guinivere love triangle and the Quest for the Holy Grail in "The Ill Made Knight" and finally ending with the latter days of his reign and the war against Mordred in "The Candle in the Wind".

I have to say as well that as the stroy progresses, the novel also gets steadily more and more serious, actually starting out quite amusing before becoming darker and darker: as such, it's no surprise Disney only adopted the first part of the book for the silver screen!
  
HS
Hospital Sketches
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It was a good thing to have read but it strongly underscored a painfully ignorant romanticized view of war that Americans are so fond of. She did not see children shot on the road in cold blood, she did not see officers give their men permission to rape any woman who disrespected them. She did not see the pow camps, did not see grandmothers and babies dead of exposure in the snow. She did not see the factory worker women (largely woc) kidnapped, raped over many days, and then abandoned hundreds of miles from home with nothing. There were no “white saviors” here or anywhere. War is not Romantic. Even the “Just Cause” lies on a bed of sending boys with little (if any) stake in the disagreement to maim and kill and torture other boys like themselves because old men can’t be bothered to work out their disputes at a table and instead delight in laying waste to their Nation’s youth.
  
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Guillermo Del Toro recommended Spartacus (1960) in Movies (curated)

 
Spartacus (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
1960 | Adventure, History, War

"Kubrick was a fearsome intellect. His approach to filmmaking and storytelling remains as mysterious at it is compelling. The illusion of control over the medium is total. Both films speak eloquently about the scale of a man against the tide of history, and both raise the bar for every “historical” film to follow. Paths of Glory is a searing indictment of the war machine, as pertinent now as it was in its day. I suspect, however, that Kubrick was also a highly instinctive director, and that he grasped incessantly for his films. An anecdote tells us of him begging Kirk Douglas to stay in bed a few more days after an accident, because Kubrick was using the “downtime” to understand the film they were making."

Source
  
Paths of Glory (1957)
Paths of Glory (1957)
1957 | Classics, Drama, War

"Kubrick was a fearsome intellect. His approach to filmmaking and storytelling remains as mysterious at it is compelling. The illusion of control over the medium is total. Both films speak eloquently about the scale of a man against the tide of history, and both raise the bar for every “historical” film to follow. Paths of Glory is a searing indictment of the war machine, as pertinent now as it was in its day. I suspect, however, that Kubrick was also a highly instinctive director, and that he grasped incessantly for his films. An anecdote tells us of him begging Kirk Douglas to stay in bed a few more days after an accident, because Kubrick was using the “downtime” to understand the film they were making."

Source