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The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
2004 | Action, Drama, Mystery
The Day After Tomorrow is probably one of the better big-disaster-blockbusters out there. Roland Emmerich manages to show a sliver of artisctic restraint for once, by which I mean that this one doesn't have a scene where a small dog Crash Bandicoots its way to safety. There's still a fair chunk of unnecessary silliness here and there, the scene with the wolves for example, but for the most part TDAT is well paced and engaging. The big disaster moments are well crafted. Los Angeles getting torn apart by massive tornadoes is suitably horrifying to watch unfold, and the massive flash flooding of Manhattan Island is well built up. They forgo the more cooky elements of other Emmerich projects and are all the better for it.
As per usual, it's hard to give two shits about any of the human characters in these things, but Jake Gyllenhaal at least provides a sniff of acting chops.

The Day After Tomorrow isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's entertaining enough, and provides the weird catharsis that comes with watching Earth get destroyed to a satisfying degree.
  
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David McK (3557 KP) rated The Last of us in TV

Mar 14, 2023  
The Last of us
The Last of us
2023 | Drama, Horror
9
9.0 (5 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Stellar adaptation of a very good game
Some adaptations stick too closely to their source material for their own good.

Some are barely recognisable.

This is neither. Based in the video game of the same name by Naughty Dog (as an aside, I actually always preferred their Uncharted games over TLOU), this sticks incredibly closely to the source game, although there are some noticeable differences (particularly in the third episode, which Joel and Elly are barely in).

For this unfamiliar with the game, it is set in the USA after an apocalyptic event that sees those bit turn into zombie-like creatures (note: they're not technically zombies), with Joel (here, played by The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal) hired to accompany Elly on a dangerous cross-country trek, as she is immune to the disease.

Initially distant, along the way he grows closer and closer to Elly, leading to a finale where you're not sure he has done the right thing or not ..

Superbly cast and directed, this is definitely one of the better adaptations I have ever seen. Of course, it helps that the original is also held up as one of the best narrative games ever created ...
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2340 KP) rated The Marlow Murder Club in Books

Feb 22, 2025 (Updated Feb 22, 2025)  
The Marlow Murder Club
The Marlow Murder Club
Robert Thorogood | 2022 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder and New Friends
When Judith Potts is out for her evening swim, she hears a gun shot at her neighbor’s place. The police don’t find anything, so Judith goes over the next morning and find her neighbor shot to death. Not trusting the police to solve the crime, she starts to investigate, along the way meeting Becks, the vicar’s wife, and Suzie, a local dog walker. Can the three of them solve things when the police can’t?

I bought this book last year, and then found out a mini-series version was being made. I watched and enjoyed that, but I gave it a little bit of time so the story wouldn’t be fresh in my mind. While I did still remember many of the plot points, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was delightful seeing how everything was planted remembering how it ended. The characters are also delightful. Becks could be a little annoying at times, but her character growth was great. I loved watching the trio build their friendship. And some of the situations they got into made me laugh. I’m looking forward to spending more time with these ladies, hopefully soon.
  
WT
Wolf Tales (Wolf Tales #1)
2
2.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the worst piece of trash I have ever read. I have read better smut on Literotica.

 It was like Douglas tried to take something that was taboo (bestiality) and make it okay. She failed. HARD. Not only did she manage to write about bestiality, but rape, too. Within the first ten page of the book, the lead female wakes up in the dark to have sex with some naked wolfman stranger she can't even see and then goes on to make him let her live with him where they continue to have more sex for about 2 week. Apparently that's enough to fall in love with someone and not care about life anymore. Not only that, but the reason sex is so fantastic with him is because he has the penis of a DOG, knot and all, which she begs him to keep. Meanwhile, our little wolfman is lusting after the sorcerer who exposed him all to this, actually wanting the man to pretty much rape the wolfman (which isn't really rape since he wants it). Upon meeting the sorcerer, the wolfman is then "raped" by the sorcerer while the sorcerer is a wolf.

I stopped reading there.

In all the 76 pages that I read, the bestiality wasn't actually what made me hate this book. There was such an utter lack of plot line that this book couldn't even be considered a guilty pleasure book. I felt as if Douglas was trying to create plot line to explain the random sex that seemed to happen every chapter. Douglas also manipulated the characters responses and inner dialogue to make it seem as if their own feelings and thoughts conflict with what they really desire. The characters know that what they are doing is taboo, yet they still want to be raped by a wolf or have sex with a man with a dog penis.


Unfortunately for Douglas, the fact that she took something so socially taboo and tried to pass it off as an erotic novel without creating a realistic reason why any of it was happening made this book not only painful to read, but also near impossible to finish.

And before you bash me for not even finishing the book, I will tell you that I did read more than just the 76 pages. I know all about the Chanku and how the novel ends. I just couldn't force myself to read this piece of utter garbage in whole.