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Cat Goddess Freyja (16 KP) rated The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018) in Movies
Dec 5, 2018
Cool Movie
Contains spoilers, click to show
I enjoyed this movie. The actors were all good choices, and the effects were great- for the most part. The movie was definitely influenced by the book, but did not stick close to the book. The choice to not stick close to the book could be seen as a wise one, as the director/ producer probably wanted it to be relatable for the viewers. The problems I had with the movie, was the time period, that they took strong women characters and made them weak, and that the Uncle was hiding his powers. The time period was a few decades earlier in the book, which helped explain the main characters quirks a bit better than the movie did. The women in the movie got the "Women in the Refrigerator" treatment. Meaning the two big women roles, who in the book were highly powerful, were lowered in their abilities in the movie. The neighbor witch to the main character, was elderly and was more powerful than the Uncle was and never had a curse put on her in the book and didn't have a romantic relationship with the Uncle. Also, Selena was the one who was summoned in the book and was the main baddie, while in the movie they teamed her up with her husband effectively making her character useless. Another point, the magicians and witches in the books didn't hide their powers, magic was meant for anyone to learn or study. In the movie, magic is hidden and only for a select few. I did love the part were the demon showed up, it was very freaky and made what was meant to be a kids movie into a "uh...well that was disturbing," kind of dark tone to the show. I love Eli Roth's films, but he could have done a little bit more with this than he did.
Iron Blade
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... To all Action-RPG fans: The ancient prophecies were true. The Demon Lord Baal is set to return...
Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: The Autobiography
6.5
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The long-awaited, never-before-told, no-holds-barred memoir from the legendary Aerosmith frontman....
Lovecraft's Monsters
8.5
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This deliciously creepy and loving tribute to the master of modern horror features riveting...
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DRAGON QUEST II
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The second instalment in the celebrated Dragon Quest series finally comes to mobile! Explore fair...
Andrew Kennedy (199 KP) rated The Conjuring 2 (2016) in Movies
Jun 6, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Conjuring 2 is based on the events of The Enfield poltergeist from 1977 the film however starts with the Warren's involvement with The Amityville incident it is during this that Lorraine has a vision of Ed dying.
In England a single mother of four is struggling to make ends meets for her family and then one of the daughters,Janet, starts to experience waking downstairs. It isn't long till it is established its a haunting. Various experts and skeptics alike decend on to the family home till during a TV interview Janet speaks as that of former home resident Bill Watkins.
This eventually brings in the church who contact the Warren's for them to assess whether its a hoax or not.
It is definitely presented as real. Lorraine is still troubled by her premonition of Eds demise but they seem to bond with the family.
Plenty of twists and scares and huge amount of atmosphere make this, dare I say it, a more enjoyable watch then the first Conjuring.
Of course this is based on a real life situation and all the players who were involved are represented in the film. However, the Warren's involvement was nowhere near as much as portrayed here (claims that no one even knew who Ed Warren was). In the end some believe its Britain's Amityville or a clever hoax by some teen girls, the film doesn't try to get into though there is a scene which eludes to the fact it could have been a hoax.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as the Warren's and are both very good in there roles. It is however young Madison Wolfe as Janet who steals the show from confused, scared little girl to snarling demon. The TV interview scene she portrays the point where Janet is possessed superbly.
Special mention to Simon Mcburney for his portrayal of Maurice Grossae.
James Wan is a man who knows how to
In the end I give The Conjuring 2 top marks. A film I enjoyed immensely and actually preferred this to the original.
In England a single mother of four is struggling to make ends meets for her family and then one of the daughters,Janet, starts to experience waking downstairs. It isn't long till it is established its a haunting. Various experts and skeptics alike decend on to the family home till during a TV interview Janet speaks as that of former home resident Bill Watkins.
This eventually brings in the church who contact the Warren's for them to assess whether its a hoax or not.
It is definitely presented as real. Lorraine is still troubled by her premonition of Eds demise but they seem to bond with the family.
Plenty of twists and scares and huge amount of atmosphere make this, dare I say it, a more enjoyable watch then the first Conjuring.
Of course this is based on a real life situation and all the players who were involved are represented in the film. However, the Warren's involvement was nowhere near as much as portrayed here (claims that no one even knew who Ed Warren was). In the end some believe its Britain's Amityville or a clever hoax by some teen girls, the film doesn't try to get into though there is a scene which eludes to the fact it could have been a hoax.
Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga are back as the Warren's and are both very good in there roles. It is however young Madison Wolfe as Janet who steals the show from confused, scared little girl to snarling demon. The TV interview scene she portrays the point where Janet is possessed superbly.
Special mention to Simon Mcburney for his portrayal of Maurice Grossae.
James Wan is a man who knows how to
In the end I give The Conjuring 2 top marks. A film I enjoyed immensely and actually preferred this to the original.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Legacy of Ash in Books
Dec 21, 2020
Epic but too lengthy
A very ambitious debut novel, epic in scope, cast of characters and plot. However, I found myself struggling to pick it up too often.
The book takes place in an empire with far-from-happy constituent parts and angry neighbours. The heirs of the traitorous Southweald "phoenix" are held captive as figureheads warning off any thoughts of rebellion. Meanwhile, a cliched corrupt council tries to keep the empire safe from impending invasion.
The book is filled with interesting magical creatures and abilities, with a demon, witches, crow-themed goth assassins and ancient spirits. These were at the fore nowhere near often enough, treated as curses and cast aside in favour of political plotting and old fashioned battle.
The first third of the book was awesome: learning about the richness of the world, its history, politics and magic. It really was set up to be an epic story of political intrigue, deception, plotting and underhand nastiness.
Sadly, this all lead to a battle sequence that lasted far too long. It was really like Joe Abercrombie had taken one of the First Law books and shoved The Heroes into the middle of it. I really struggled to get past this long, fairly boring conflict.
The second half of the book then calms down and focuses once again before taking a massive left-turn and changing to something very different.
As with many books of this size, the cast was massive and a number of characters not distinct enough to remember by name. And so many had such promising abilities to offer but were largely absent when they would have been so useful. It was like having a superstar in an amateur dramatic society and leaving them out of most of the script. Having said that, I once saw a pantomime with David Van Day in the cast and it was in everyone's best interests that he was largely absent.
The book finished well, but it was an 800-page book that read like a 1200-page one, taking me 5 weeks to read.
The book takes place in an empire with far-from-happy constituent parts and angry neighbours. The heirs of the traitorous Southweald "phoenix" are held captive as figureheads warning off any thoughts of rebellion. Meanwhile, a cliched corrupt council tries to keep the empire safe from impending invasion.
The book is filled with interesting magical creatures and abilities, with a demon, witches, crow-themed goth assassins and ancient spirits. These were at the fore nowhere near often enough, treated as curses and cast aside in favour of political plotting and old fashioned battle.
The first third of the book was awesome: learning about the richness of the world, its history, politics and magic. It really was set up to be an epic story of political intrigue, deception, plotting and underhand nastiness.
Sadly, this all lead to a battle sequence that lasted far too long. It was really like Joe Abercrombie had taken one of the First Law books and shoved The Heroes into the middle of it. I really struggled to get past this long, fairly boring conflict.
The second half of the book then calms down and focuses once again before taking a massive left-turn and changing to something very different.
As with many books of this size, the cast was massive and a number of characters not distinct enough to remember by name. And so many had such promising abilities to offer but were largely absent when they would have been so useful. It was like having a superstar in an amateur dramatic society and leaving them out of most of the script. Having said that, I once saw a pantomime with David Van Day in the cast and it was in everyone's best interests that he was largely absent.
The book finished well, but it was an 800-page book that read like a 1200-page one, taking me 5 weeks to read.
Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated The Girl of Ink & Stars in Books
Jun 24, 2019
This is quite a short YA novel, a standalone book that I just picked up on impulse. I immediately got the impression that this was aimed at slightly younger teens - the protagonist was only thirteen, so I didn't really connect that much. It's that awkward age where you think you're old, but you're not. I could imagine thirteen-year-old me would enjoy this quite a bit.
Isabella lives alone with her father, a skilled cartographer. Her mother and twin brother had passed away, leaving the two alone. The Governor had taken control of the land, and his daughter, Lupe, attended the same school as Isabella. The two were very close, and Isabella's angered outburst causes Lupe to run off into the Hidden Territories to prove she wasn't "rotten". A classmate of theirs had recently been found dead, and Lupe was going to find the killer.
Isabella, disguised as her deceased brother, shows Lupe's note to her father and a small group begin going after her, Isabella included. They follow a map passed down to Isabella's mother, through blackened forests scattered with bones. They do find Lupe, along with the Banished and, worst of all, the hell dogs from Isabella's favourite myth.
This myth turns out to play an important role in their journey, and Lupe discovers something about her father when he sacrifices himself to fend off the wolves. They face Yote himself - the mythical fire demon - and Isabella finds herself returning home without Lupe.
It is quite a young teen book, as I said, and the plot develops all because of Isabella calling Lupe's family "rotten". This drama and exaggeration is pretty typical of a children's/teen book, I find, and seemed a little immature to me. The writing was great, I just couldn't get over the simplicity and immaturity of the plot at times.
For a teen book, it was quite dark at times - a lot of death was included. The ending was both happy and sad, which is nice. I get quite fed up of too many happy endings. 3 stars.
Isabella lives alone with her father, a skilled cartographer. Her mother and twin brother had passed away, leaving the two alone. The Governor had taken control of the land, and his daughter, Lupe, attended the same school as Isabella. The two were very close, and Isabella's angered outburst causes Lupe to run off into the Hidden Territories to prove she wasn't "rotten". A classmate of theirs had recently been found dead, and Lupe was going to find the killer.
Isabella, disguised as her deceased brother, shows Lupe's note to her father and a small group begin going after her, Isabella included. They follow a map passed down to Isabella's mother, through blackened forests scattered with bones. They do find Lupe, along with the Banished and, worst of all, the hell dogs from Isabella's favourite myth.
This myth turns out to play an important role in their journey, and Lupe discovers something about her father when he sacrifices himself to fend off the wolves. They face Yote himself - the mythical fire demon - and Isabella finds herself returning home without Lupe.
It is quite a young teen book, as I said, and the plot develops all because of Isabella calling Lupe's family "rotten". This drama and exaggeration is pretty typical of a children's/teen book, I find, and seemed a little immature to me. The writing was great, I just couldn't get over the simplicity and immaturity of the plot at times.
For a teen book, it was quite dark at times - a lot of death was included. The ending was both happy and sad, which is nice. I get quite fed up of too many happy endings. 3 stars.
Horrid Henry’s Big Box of Pranks
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TIME TO GET HORRID AND PLAY SOME PRANKS! Big Box of Pranks is a fast and funny, action-packed...
Meddling Kids: A Novel
8.1
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With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Meddling Kids subverts teen detective...
Fiction Horror Humor Dark Fiction Mystery Paranormal