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Geostorm (2017)
Geostorm (2017)
2017 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
I have written many times in the past how the Disaster movie has long been a staple of Hollywood. We had the Irwin Allen classics of the 70s that were loaded with stars and in recent years, we had Volcano and Asteroids to contend with along with a new wave of monsters and alien invasions.

In the new movie “Geostorm” we are given a threat lifted directly from the headlines, the weather. It is revealed that a series of natural disasters ranging from flooding, heat waves, and climate change have left humanity in serious peril. As such the leaders of the world agree on a costly and ambitious plan to save humanity.

The resulting program is called “Dutch Boy” and it is the brainchild of Jake Lawson (Gerard Butler), and his team of international scientists and technicians.

The project is a global satellite system that controls the weather, and when a threat is detected, it is able to stop it in its tracks.

All has gone well for years under the program and humanity is now safe from weather related threats and continues on as usual. Jake has run afoul of the politicians overseeing the project and is removed from it by his brother Max (Jim Sturgess), who is tasked as his replacement.

Years later as the U.S. prepares to hand over control of Duty Boy to the international community, a series of odd things happen from unexplained weather incidents to an accident on the space station overseeing the system.

With the clock ticking before the handoff and Election Year politics playing a factor, Jake is tasked with going to the space station and getting to the bottom of the system issues.

The film cleverly switches gears at this point as it soon becomes clear there is a conspiracy at work that wants the system to fail and when it is learned that this may result in a mega-storm called a Geostorm, Jake and Max must put aside their differences and find out who is turning the salvation of humanity into a weapon of ultimate destruction.

The film has some really good effects and the weather disasters bring out some impressive visuals as do the scenes set in space.

The film does take some serious leaps of logic and science that requires the audience to simply follow along for the good of the story, but the strong cast and winning effects make the film more enjoyable than I expected it to be and I was entertained from start to finish.

http://sknr.net/2017/10/20/geostorm/
  
The Complete Persepolis
The Complete Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi | 2003 | Biography, Comics & Graphic Novels
6
8.8 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
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<b><i>The Complete Persepolis is a graphic novel written by Marjane Satrapi that covers her life. This is a memoir of growing up as a girl in revolutionary Iran.</i></b>

This is a story of Satrap's childhood; growing up in a loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. We also follow Marjane in her high school years in Vienna. It is an interesting journey of a young girl becoming an independent woman. 

<b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b>

I enjoyed the graphic novel style. It is an interesting concept of telling a story and I really liked it. It was easy to read and quick to engage with.

Even though I liked Marjane’s story, I didn’t like Marjane as a character. She seems a bit too arrogant. She seemed to always need to prove to the world who she is and what she is about. I have met a few people like that in my life and found them annoying. 

It was really interesting to read about the culture and history of Iran and I loved the places in the book where they showed us the major differences in culture and beliefs. Growing up in Macedonia, I am no stranger to this culture, nor the beliefs, as Macedonia is a country with many different nationalities and religions living together. I have seen things, and I have heard things. 

The writing was very humorous and the story plot was quite interesting. I didn't really feel any emotions during the book, but the sad ending really got me. What a way to finish a book.

<b><i>In conclusion, I have mixed feelings about The Complete Persepolis, only due to the way the character was set up and her attributes. However, I loved the representation of Iran, the way we are thrown into the culture and mindset, and how this book made me think twice.</i></b>

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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Pet Sematary (2019) in Movies

Jul 7, 2020 (Updated Nov 1, 2020)  
Pet Sematary (2019)
Pet Sematary (2019)
2019 | Horror
A Really Good Remake
Pet Semetary is a 2019 supernatural horror movie directed by Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer. The movie was written by Jeff Buhler with screen story by Matt Greenberg. It is a remake/reboot of the original 1989 film adaptation of the 1983 Stephen King novel. Starring Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow.


Moving to the small town of Ludlow, Maine with his family: wife, Rachel (Amy Seimetz), children, Ellie (Jete Laurence) and Gage (Hugo & Lucas Lavoie), and Church, Ellie's cat, Louis Creed takes a job at the university's hospital. Ellie stumbles upon a procession of children, while exploring the nearby woods of their new home, who are taking a dead dog to a pet cemetery. Their neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), finds Ellie climbing a large stack of branches forming a wall and warns Rachel and Ellie not to venture out alone as the woods can be dangerous.. The following day, Louis fails to save a student Victor Pascow (Obssa Ahmed) fatally injured from a car accident, and is left shaken. That night Louis meets Pascow in a vivid dream, where he is lead to the pet cemetery and warned not to "venture beyond". When Louis awakens he is disturbed to find his bed sheets and feet, muddy and dirty suggesting his "vision" could be more than just a bad dream.


As far as remakes go this one was really good. Especially for the horror genre. I mean I can't tell you how many remakes/reboots I've seen that just bomb and don't do the original justice. This one however seemed to keep the original in mind, while still making changes to keep it fresh and relatively different. That being said I do feel it was a bit over-hyped and didn't live up to certain expectations. To me it was a very creepy movie and had me wanting to cover my eyes in one part as memories from the original played back in my head. The sounds of the character Rachel's sister calling out to her got goosebumps on my forearms. Those parts were very unsettling to me but I didn't feel enough was "scary". I really enjoyed the twists and changes or differences from the original. They were welcome and kept it from being an exact replica and a copy of the original. As another critic stated, Jeffrey M. Anderson-Common Sense Media, the film was "...effectively unsettling, focusing on the characters and their understandable emotions rather than on overt gore and FX." I give it a 7/10.