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Dixieland (2015)
Dixieland (2015)
2015 | Mystery
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: One Last Score starts as young man Kermit (Zylka) is release from prison and returning to the preverbal wrong side of the tracks where the families struggle to make ends meet. He returns home to his mother Arletta (Hill) who wants him to stay out of trouble, his neighbour Rachel (Keough) who is working to help care for her sick mother, with her latest job being as a stripper.

Kermit and Rachel strike up a friendship for the bonding of their own struggles, supporting each other through this tough time. This brings Kermit back to the life of crime, the one he promised to star away from in an attempt to escape the dead-end town with Rachel.

 

Thoughts on One Last Score

 

Characters – Kermit is the former criminal that returns to his trailer park home to try and rebuild his life, he wants to be a barber, but is drawn back into his life of crime as he falls in love with Rachel and the two want to escape their dead-end town. Rachel is trying to help her mother paying for medical bills which leads her to a life of stripping, the two bond and plan to escape this life and start over.

Performances – Chris Zylka is good in the leading role, he works well with Riley as we see just how desperate his makes his character feel in what seems like a hopeless situation. Riley Keough shows her talent in this role as the woman that is left with her back against the wall.

Story – The story here shows the tough lives people can be living in America with little money, we see how two people that have turned to a life they didn’t want try to make ends meet in an attempt to escape this style of living. This shows us how another side of America lives which isn’t the side that gets shown enough, the side that are forced into lives they can’t handle, that are dangerous and at times illegal. The pace of the story is slow, but that does help the final pay off in the story which makes you think at times.

Crime – The crime world that Kermit is going into is only scratched on the surface, while we know he doesn’t want to be deeper in, this shows us how on the lines he wants to be to survive.

Settings – The film shows us with the settings the poorer parts of America, the ones living in the trailer parks trying just to get by each day, this helps us understand the characters struggles.


Scene of the Movie – The Lake.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The strange interviews through the movie, while I understand it reflects real life people, we lose something about the characters we are following.

Final Thoughts – This is a slow burning story that shows the tough times in America, it shows the desperation for two people to escape in a job they would never want to do, but must do.

 

Overall: Bleak view on America
  
WW
Wicked Witches (2019)
2019 |
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: One Last Score starts as young man Kermit (Zylka) is release from prison and returning to the preverbal wrong side of the tracks where the families struggle to make ends meet. He returns home to his mother Arletta (Hill) who wants him to stay out of trouble, his neighbour Rachel (Keough) who is working to help care for her sick mother, with her latest job being as a stripper.

Kermit and Rachel strike up a friendship for the bonding of their own struggles, supporting each other through this tough time. This brings Kermit back to the life of crime, the one he promised to star away from in an attempt to escape the dead-end town with Rachel.

 

Thoughts on One Last Score

 

Characters – Kermit is the former criminal that returns to his trailer park home to try and rebuild his life, he wants to be a barber, but is drawn back into his life of crime as he falls in love with Rachel and the two want to escape their dead-end town. Rachel is trying to help her mother paying for medical bills which leads her to a life of stripping, the two bond and plan to escape this life and start over.

Performances – Chris Zylka is good in the leading role, he works well with Riley as we see just how desperate his makes his character feel in what seems like a hopeless situation. Riley Keough shows her talent in this role as the woman that is left with her back against the wall.

Story – The story here shows the tough lives people can be living in America with little money, we see how two people that have turned to a life they didn’t want try to make ends meet in an attempt to escape this style of living. This shows us how another side of America lives which isn’t the side that gets shown enough, the side that are forced into lives they can’t handle, that are dangerous and at times illegal. The pace of the story is slow, but that does help the final pay off in the story which makes you think at times.

Crime – The crime world that Kermit is going into is only scratched on the surface, while we know he doesn’t want to be deeper in, this shows us how on the lines he wants to be to survive.

Settings – The film shows us with the settings the poorer parts of America, the ones living in the trailer parks trying just to get by each day, this helps us understand the characters struggles.


Scene of the Movie – The Lake.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The strange interviews through the movie, while I understand it reflects real life people, we lose something about the characters we are following.

Final Thoughts – This is a slow burning story that shows the tough times in America, it shows the desperation for two people to escape in a job they would never want to do, but must do.

 

Overall: Bleak view on America
  
Bride of Chucky (1998)
Bride of Chucky (1998)
1998 | Action, Horror
5
6.5 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating
One of those 'guilty pleasures' you here so much about
Bride of Chucky is a prime example of what Horror films were like in the aftermath of Scream.
Ditching the straight up horror path of the first couple of movies for a silly, self aware, and often humorous movie.

Quite simply, Bride of Chucky is trashy nonsense. It knows it too, and just about walks into 'so bad , it's good' territory.
Chucky has been promoted from villain to main character, and for the most part, it's pretty enjoyable. Brad Dourif works wonders with a cheesy script, dragging Chucky into a post Scream horror landscape, and creating more of an antihero that gained propularity pretty quickly.
Props to Jennifer Tilly as well for going along with the silliness with enthusiasm.

The main issue with Bride of Chucky is the protagonists were supposed to be rooting for. Nick Stabile and a young Katherine Heigl play a young couple taken hostage by Chucky, and I think they are definitely in the running for the most brain dead characters I've ever seen in a horror.
Most importantly, there is not a single atom within my being that gives the slightest shit about them, or their completely uninteresting eloping side story.
It very nearly stops the movie dead in it's tracks, but thankfully, any scenes that involve Chucky and Tiffany (which is often) is entertaining enough to make the film watchable.
The story is nonsense though, make no mistake.

The animatronic work on Chucky and Tiffany is genuinely impressive, and an obvious step up from the first trilogy. Chucky's design is also genuinely horrific.

Overall, Bride of Chucky is an un-scary, silly and cheesy experience, but it has some fun moments and is one of those horror films that I will probably watch until the end every time I see it on TV 😂
  
Surprise, surprise, surprise. I actually ended up enjoying this. Sorta.

The Good:
* The dialogue was a <b>big</b> improvement over the last few installments and some of it actually made me laugh, which hasn't happened with this season lately.
* While the artwork still isn't terrific, I could differentiate between the characters better than the last volume.
* The villain, Twilight, is finally revealed. <u>Finally</u>.
* The dig at the Twilight series. I got a chuckle out of it. [Buffy: <i>"You listen to me, Twilight -- My God, is that really the name you picked? <b>Twilight?</b> Y'know I lived that idea first, right? (And my vampire was so much better.)</i> - pg. 69]
* As seen by the cover for this volume, Angel's back. Always a good thing.

The Bad:
* There's still ridiculousness, although it was a little tamer here therefore easier to deal with.
* Some relationship developments I'm iffy about, one of which I'm not sure I buy and definitely don't like, but I'll attempt an open mind.

The Ugly:
* Amy and Warren aren't dead yet. Boo, hiss.

The Verdict:
The stories were mostly interesting, though also could be quite weird, and I am curious to how it will develop in the future. Just when I thought this series wouldn't get better, this happened and now I genuinely want to know what happens next instead of the can't-turn-away-from-the-trainwreck state of mind I've been employing for the last several issues.
  
Murder from Scratch
Murder from Scratch
Leslie Karst | 2019 | Mystery, Thriller
9
8.8 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder From Scratch
By: Leslie Karst
Crooked Lane Books
Mystery/Thriller
320 Pages
Pub Date 9 April 2019
#MurderFromScratch #NetGalley
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I enjoyed this book. I love me a good cozy mystery story. This book also has the recipes in the back of the book. This is a mystery so I will not go into too much detail.
The story is a about a woman who is found dead by her blind daughter. Evelyn is her name. She insists that her mom wouldn't take her life and there are clues to support her. Her cousin, Sally owns a restaurant that left to her by her deceased Aunt but before that she was an attorney. She helps her cousin but researching the clues and doing a little bit of investigating on her own. She actually helped the police with her Aunts murder in a previous book. This is the same aunt whom left her the restaurant. There is some interesting turns in this story and like I said I enjoyed myself. I was able to figure out who did it but it wasn't until 2/3's into the story. I would recommend this book for you to read if you like cozy mysteries.
  
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
1959 | Classics, Comedy, Drama
The dilemma of an obsessed movie-goer is choosing what films to watch when things clash. It really wasn't a tough choice when an Unlimited Screening was announced for the same evening as Some Like It Hot. The screening was only two days before release, I could wait. It wasn't big enough to miss the chance to see this classic on the big screen.

It's been a long time since I've seen this and I'm always a little cautious about revisiting old favourites as my taste in films gradually changes. But luckily this one hadn't lost any of it's magic. It's a simple idea that's taken to the next level by a talented cast and wonderful script.

One of the reasons I think I love old movies so much is that they had a love of musical elements. I was always a fan of The Andrews Sisters, the Road movies, and of course musicals. A jazzy little number kept you buzzing and always knocked the entertainment value up a notch. This is no exception. Everyone loves some sultry Monroe be-dooping on screen.

There are lots of snippets online about the production and it give you a fantastic background. Monroe was terrible at remembering even that basic lines and they ended up writing lots of them down to hide on set, but some how that still didn't help to reduce the number of takes they needed to do. Curtis' prim and proper Josephine actually came about from him being uncomfortable dressed as a woman. Lemmon gave up being taught how to walk in heels because he wanted to look like a man wearing heels for the part. Despite it being in Monroe's contract that all her films had to be in colour they agreed to film in black and white because the make-up Curtis and Lemmon were wearing made them looking slightly green on camera... that's just some of it. It's well worth having a look around for other tidbits.

It's amazing to think that the flawless looking make-up in black and white looks completely different in colour. Let's face it, they both turn out looking pretty good dressed as women.

As a double act Curtis and Lemmon are wonderful together, both and Joe & Jerry and Josephine and Daphne. The dialogue, timing and the way they interact physically is all brilliant. One of my favourite bits is very early on when they realise the "funeral" is about to get raided. It's cool, calm and coordinated, not a beat is missed and the whole sequence puts a smile on my face.

I went to log this film on Letterboxd and noticed that I'd rated it as a four star film. Accurate, I thought to myself. But as I started to write notes for this review I realised I was sorely under appreciating it. How could I not give this five stars? Everything it does, it nails.

Being really picky, I'm not a big fan of Marilyn Monroe as an actress. I never feel that she stood up on her own, it tends to be the effort of everyone else that makes her shine better. That being said, she still has that massive impact on the screen and a naivety that needs to be there for some of the humour to work. Curtis dropping the dead pan line about water polo wouldn't have worked with any other type of character.

If I were to list the best bits of the film here I might as well just narrate you the whole movie. There are so many fun bits but one of my top ones is the engagement. That childlike glee is just so much fun that you're rooting for it to work too.

What you should do

There's no way that you should go through life without seeing Some Like It Hot. While there are a couple of moments that feel dated the humour is so good it would be a travesty to miss it.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

Tough choice... Curtis' agility when climbing the front of the hotel, Lemmon's dance moves, or the ability to make a cocktail in a hot water bottle... decisions decisions!
  
The Golem (2019)
The Golem (2019)
2019 | Horror
Had Potential But Came Up Short
The more movies I watch, the more I want to find those hidden gems. You know, that movie you know no one else has seen that actually turns out to be really good. I was hoping The Golem would be one of those movies. Nope.

The Plot: Set in a Jewish community in the 1600’s, a woman invokes a powerful entity to help save her village from invaders.

Acting: 10
Despite other glaring issues with the film, performances was not one of them. I was impressed with Hani Furstenberg in her lead role as Hanna. Hani breathes pain and frustration into her character and really makes the audience sympathize with the character. She plays a character that’s seemingly dead inside because of the monotonous life she lives. I also enjoyed young Konstantin Anikienko as The Golem. Talk about creepy. I’m sure he spent a lot of time practicing his slow, deliberate movements and calculating gaze. Definitely gave me a shiver a time or two.

Beginning: 5

Characters: 6
Outside of Hanna and The Golem, there are not really any other characters to care about. There were even times where I found it hard to even care for Hanna. Some of the things that happened were out of her control, but some of it was totally her fault and I’m thinking, “Yeah, you kinda did this to yourself.” While her character was solid, it seemed like they dumped the full emotional load on her and I feel like more time could have been taken to develop other characters as well.

Cinematography/Visuals: 7

Conflict: 4

Genre: 5

Memorability: 3

Pace: 4

Plot: 6
Not the worst story but it definitely left me with a few questions. Unfortunately the plot didn’t leave room for much character development which left me unsatisfied. Sometimes linear can be good. Other times, that line is just a little bit too long…

Resolution: 5

Overall: 55
While some of the cinematic work is cool especially as it relates to the action sequences with the Golem, this movie left me entirely too underwhelmed. Guess I’ll have to look elsewhere for my sneaky good movie.
  
TT
The Tycoon's Make-Believe Fiancée
6
5.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oh yeah. I forgot that this book follows [b:The Prince's Resistant Lover|19004327|The Prince's Resistant Lover|Elizabeth Lennox|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387898260s/19004327.jpg|27026471].

Hello again, Tamar.

I'd ask if you'd kidnapped any other naked women, but this book takes place directly after your story, so you wouldn't have had any time.

Wyndi finally gets to meet up with her long-lost brother, Royston, who had been told by the foster care system that Wyndi was dead, because he wouldn't stop running away to try to find her to take care of her. He doesn't believe her at first, until she tells him things that only she would know.

Royston is overjoyed to have her back, but Wyndi is worried that he isn't happy, because in the few pictures of him that Tamar managed to find, he was never smiling. To convince her that he's fine, he makes up a story about being engaged, and is stuck having to find someone to pretend to be his fiancee until Wyndi leaves.

I'm still not sure how he was expecting that plan to work. Wyndi would expect there to be a wedding at some point, because they're going to stay in touch. I mean, it all works out in the end, but still. I thought you were supposed to be this master planner, Royston!

After Royston decides to implement his ridiculous plan, we cut to Miranda, who works for Royston's company. She is offered up as a sacrifice to turn in some reports late, which Royston is notorious for despising. Her boss needs a scapegoat, because the reports were all of FIVE MINUTES LATE.

Anyway, rather than killing Miranda on sight, Royston asks her to lunch, and pitches his plan to her, because he likes the way she looks. Miranda refuses on principal, laughing at his offers to pay her to lie to his sister. Royston is even more impressed by the fact that Miranda won't let him tell her what to do, or take money from him.

He manages to sway her by playing on her emotions, telling her how he lost Wyndi through the foster care system, and she agrees to pretend to be his fiancee for a weekend, but only on the condition that if she thinks Wyndi will be hurt, she can shut the operation down.

He even respects her wishes to not act like they're in a relationship around the office, in case someone thinks that she's trying to sleep her way to a promotion.

Of course, pretend love gives way to real love, and the two end up actually engaged, after a passion-filled weekend and several whacky misunderstandings.

I liked this story better than The Prince's Resistant Lover. Mostly because Royston actually bothered to get consent from Miranda at every stage of their relationship. And while he was a demanding man, he wasn't overbearing or creepy, the way Tamar came across as.