Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (3839)

Content

David McK (3728 KP) rated Mort in Books

Jan 28, 2019 (Updated May 23, 2021)

Mort

Terry Pratchett | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry

8.7

(19 Ratings)

Book Rating

'Death comes to us all. When he came to Mort, he offered him a job'

An extremely early entry (#4) in [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]'s now-complete Discworld series (which spans 41 full length-novels), and the first in which the character of DEATH - HE WHO TALKS LIKE THIS - takes centre stage.

As this is an early novel, this is even before the introduction of DEATH's grand-daughter Susan Sto-Helit, even before the City Watch and (possibly) even before the introduction of The Witches - I say possibly as, although Granny Weatherwax has already put in an appearance in [b:Equal Rites|34507|Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches #1)|Terry Pratchett|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407706800s/34507.jpg|583611] there's a strong argument to be made that she is not the 'real' Granny Weatherwax.

This one does, however, introduce us to DEATHs flesh-and-blood horse Binky ('He'd tried skeletal steeds, but had got tired of constantly having to stop to wire bits back together'), as well as to some of the more memorable ancillary characters who continue to appear in his later novels, such as Albert, with a large part of that character's back-story filled in here.

It may not yet be up to the standard of the mid-series Discworld novels, but you can definitely see Pratchett's style continuing to evolve, with this an improvement on those that had come before.

Kudos

Leigh J (71 KP) rated Cruising (1980) in Movies

Nov 25, 2019

Cruising (1980)

1980 | Drama, Mystery

7.0

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Bondage with a side of Murder

Contains spoilers, click to show

Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is a rookie Cop who is being sent undercover to investigate a series of sexually aggravated murders in the area. However, the victims of these grizzly murders are all men who are involved in the S&M/Bondage Gay scene... and Steve is straight and in a relationship. To infiltrate the scene in hopes of finally finding the killer before more deaths happen, Steve has to frequent the local Clubs in the area and see if any of the men are the murderer. Will Steve be able to find him? Will he be able to keep up the undercover work and come out unscathed? And what shocking twist is in store... for you!

I recently got Cruising (finally! Thanks Arrow Video for your amazing release of it!) and it's a Movie that caused so much controversy in it's time; I just HAD to see what all the fuss was about! I think the story of Cruising is, as well as being fantastic, an essential cautionary tale. It has you on the edge of your seat all the way through and the shock ending left me absolutely speechless. The only downside is I think it becomes quite stagnant and slow going just as you get to the halfway point. However, it's worth getting through just for that ending... I'm still lost for words. A must see, for sure.

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) rated 6 Underground (2019) in Movies

Dec 14, 2019

6 Underground (2019)

2019 | Action, Thriller

6.9

(35 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Dumb fun

It seems like if you put Ryan Reynolds in a film lately, throw in a bit of humour and voiceovers, it’s a decent recipe for a pretty good film and this is exactly what 6 Underground pulls off.

This is an action film that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s full of over the top action and lots of off the cuff quips and humour, I’ll readily admit to chuckling quite a lot watching this and this is mainly due to Ryan Reynolds. The rest of the cast are alright, but if it wasn’t Reynolds then this probably wouldn’t have worked very well. The film itself looks good, right from the opening scenes in Florence - I’m a little shocked they managed to get away with filming those scenes in such a historical and old school city, but it was definitely the real place as they couldn’t fake sets that look that identical to the real place! And yes this is a Michael Bay film and you can tell from some of the action and hilariously over the top deaths, but I actually thought that in comparison with some of his earlier films, this is fairly understated for Michael Bay. I do think this drags a little in places (in between the action scenes) and gets a little convoluted at the beginning with the differing time frames, but overall this is a fairly decent action film from Netflix for a change.