Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (3325)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
    Muse

    Muse

    Jonathan Galassi

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    Paul Dukach is heir apparent at Purcell & Stern, one of the last independent publishing houses in...

40x40

Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Star Trek - Nemesis (2002) in Movies

Sep 28, 2021  
Star Trek - Nemesis (2002)
Star Trek - Nemesis (2002)
2002 | Action, Sci-Fi
6
6.0 (21 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
This film should have worked. They had four years to work up the film: the biggest gap between movies in the series to date. The sets and special effects deployed are a notable improvement on “Insurrection” and are, at times, very impressive. It’s a movie that has personal angst for Picard; an epic space battle; and the death of a major character. And a young Tom Hardy turns in a memorable performance, belying what was to come: it’s interesting that this is only Hardy’s third feature (following his debut in “Black Hawk Down” just the year before!). It’s also a full NINE years before he won the BAFTA Rising Star award!

And yet it’s just not very engaging: I find myself fiddling with my phone while its on, which is never a good sign. Gone are any of the comic asides that have tended to lighten the mood of these films: this is dark and plot-heavy throughout. It’s even got a ‘mind-rape’ scene that is quite disturbing.

Naturally, the Enterprise insurance premium has taken another hammering by the end of the film. You can just imagine the discussion back in space dock… “no mate…” – sucking air in through his front teeth “…that whole front bumper’s gonna have to be replaced, and that’ll cost you a pretty packet”!

Combined with poor marketing and fierce competition (the film opening in the same month as “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”), this ended up with the worse financial performance of any of the Trek movies (in terms of budget to return ratio). And it killed the franchise. The only option was to be a full reboot: something that was to take another seven years to happen.
  
40x40

Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Dinner Lady Detectives in Books

Oct 24, 2021  
The Dinner Lady Detectives
The Dinner Lady Detectives
Hannah Hendy | 2021 | Crime, Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is, in my humble opinion, a very successful debut and definitely a series that I am looking forward to keeping up with. It is described as "a delightful, quintessentially British cosy mystery" and that's exactly what you get.

Margery and Clementine are dinner ladies, or to give them their official title 'Education Centre Nourishment Consultants' (really? is that what they're called now?!?!?!), and they are an absolute blast. Their relationship absolutely shines through from start to finish, it's beautiful and very authentic feeling.

Margery and Clementine smell a rat when one of their colleagues is found dead in the walk-in freezer of the school kitchen and so begins their unorthodox investigation into her death which results in all manner of escapades. There are some very funny moments (the suspended school ceiling being a particular highlight for me 🤣🤣) amongst a great and engaging plot with excellent characters throughout.

I raced through this book desperate to find out what happened and how it was all going to come together and I wasn't disappointed in the slightest and I am pleased to read on the publisher website that they have acquired the rights to a three-book deal. I think someone needs to snap this up and make a television series - I can so see Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders as Margery and Clem, in fact, that's who I was seeing in my head as I was reading it!

Highly recommended for those of you who want a break from all the doom, gloom and violence in many crime fiction books and who don't mind a bit of dark humour.

Thank you so much Canelo and NetGalley for my advance copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
  
40x40

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2656 KP) rated Molten Death in Books

Apr 3, 2024 (Updated Apr 3, 2024)  
Molten Death
Molten Death
Leslie Karst | 2024 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Valerie Face a Hot Problem on Vacation in Hawaii
Valerie Corbin and her wife, Kristen, are spending a couple of weeks in Hilo, staying with Kristen’s friend Isaac. They have arrived just as a lava flow is really gaining steam, so they decide to go out and see it early their first Saturday morning on the island. When Valerie wanders away from the other two, she sees part of a body being buried in the molten lava. She can’t get anyone to take her seriously, even Kristen and Isaac. Certainly, the police aren’t taking it seriously without any proof. Can Valerie figure out what really happened?

Author Leslie Karst lives part time in Hilo, so I wasn’t surprised that she chose this as the setting for her new series. Her knowledge showed in how she brought the setting to life. And who doesn’t want a Hawaiian vacation? The plot was very inventive, and I appreciated Valerie’s good motive for getting involved. We had some nice twists before a great climax. I did struggle with Valerie’s relationship with Kristen because they were so at odds for much of the book. I think if this hadn’t been my introduction to them, I would have been okay with this sub-plot. Overall, I liked the series regulars by the end, and Valerie’s darker baggage made her an interesting character. We do get some Pigeon and Hawai’ian mixed into the dialogue. A couple times it was a bit overwhelming, but for the most part, I could figure it out from the context. We get six Hawaiian recipes at the end. The inventive plot will make this series debut a winner for mystery fans.