Search

Search only in certain items:

Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)
Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)
Sylvain Neuvel | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.6 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sleeping Giants was one of my favorite books of 2016 so I was super excited to read Waking Gods. As with Giants, I was hooked from page one and found myself delaying bedtime in order to finish it. The format and structure of this duology, along with the author's writing style, is great. Telling the story through interviews, case files, log transcripts, and character pov's is unique and interesting and works quite well, in my opinion.

I have to say I was surprised by a lot of the events in Waking Gods. I'm not sure exactly where I expected the story to go after the first book but this wasn't it lol. The sheer number of deaths, especially the deaths of certain main characters, was definitely a shock.

The ending, including the reason for and solution to the impending apocalyptic doom, felt somewhat underwhelming after so much build up. The subplot involving Eva could have used a little more development as well.

Overall, I truly enjoyed Waking Gods and The Themis Files as a whole and I still think it would make a great movie! Sylvain Neuvel is a talented author and I'm looking forward to reading whatever he comes out with in the future. *Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!*
  
40x40

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) in Movies

Nov 11, 2019 (Updated Nov 11, 2019)  
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A Family Picture
Contains spoilers, click to show
Maleficent: Mistress of evil- is a good sequel to the oringal movie. Its a better story, a better tale, better acting, a better villian and a more darker movie. Especially the third act which i will go into. So lets begin the review with the plot:


Maleficent travels to a grand old castle to celebrate young Aurora's upcoming wedding to Prince Phillip. While there, she meets Aurora's future mother-in-law -- a conniving queen who hatches a devious plot to destroy the land's fairies. Hoping to stop her, Maleficent joins forces with a seasoned warrior and a group of outcasts to battle the queen and her powerful army.

This movie like i said adds more to the oringal source, its more twisted and dark and for a PG disney film that is true. The third act has so many deaths, so many. You lose count on how many deaths their are. Michele Preiffer is soo great as the villian and her plot is so dark and twisted. Angelina Jolie is good again as Maleficent and Elle Fanning is good again as Aurora.

If you have liked and seen the first one, than you will like this one.
  
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
1981 | Horror
6
7.0 (27 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Overrated
Out of all of the old school horror films, Friday the 13th is probably the one I like the least. Whilst it’s a great concept being set in a camp by a lake, I think it’s rather poorly and cheesily executed. I’ve seen the original many times, but this is the first time I’ve seen any of the ‘original’ sequels and I’m afraid I didn’t think much of this either.

The main problem with this is that i found Jason to be rather disappointing. Admittedly I’ve grown up with the later version of Jason (hockey mask and machete), and whilst the machete makes an appearance, I don’t find this version of Jason very scary at all. He isn’t helped by the cheesy scenes, poor script and rather bizarre fade to white scenes. It’s a shame, as the deaths are actually rather inventive but as with all 80s horrors, they’re not nearly as gruesome as they could be. Either that or I’ve become numb to the deaths after the extreme and gory modern horrors that have been out since.

Despite all of the negatives, it is still a rather silly yet enjoyable film. Just not quite the classic it’s made out to be.
  
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
2019 | Biography, Crime, Thriller
I thought this film really did something I wasn't expecting. Instead of focusing on the physical crime that created Ted Bundy into the infamous killer everyone knows him as today; it was refreshing to see a more emotional take on the whole events. I loved the performance of Liz. Wholly, I think this film will be disliked because it didn't divulge into the gruesome and gory deaths that we all know about, but I think the director did an amazing job of holding the perspective.

This film reminds me of the Steve Jobs film with Michael Fassbender, and also Legend with Tom Hardy.
  
Not a classic, but certainly an enjoyable mystery novel. First in a rather large series (up to 12 books now, I think) featuring Deborah Knott. Deborah, the so-called bootlegger's daughter, is an attorney in a small North Carolina town. As often happens in such series, crime seems to follow her wherever she goes. In this book, she looks to solve a cold case murder that occurred when she was very young... and her investigation leads to several more deaths.

Margaret Maron's books are quite engaging and fun-to-read... I blew through this book in a few days.
  
Lady Georgie is looking to escape her family castle and lands herself a position helping with a Christmas house party. But amidst the old fashioned Christmas, she finds the members of the village dying off one by one. Is there a pattern to the deaths, or are they the tragic accidents they appear to be? I made a connection early on that Georgie missed, but once she made it the book took off and never quite let go. I really enjoyed this one.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/07/book-review-twelve-clues-of-christmas.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
Crawl (2019)
Crawl (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
Intense
Nothing quite like mother nature to give you a good scare. This movie had good acting, really good cinematography and a great storyline. This survival horror movie starts off a little slow with a long hurricane and a daughter trying to find gett father in it. Then they threw alligators in the mix(and BIG ones at that) and things got intense real quick. A few deaths and some jump scares later and this farthest/ daughter duo proves that they don't give up. One of the better horror movies I've seen in a while. This one is DEFINITELY with a watch!