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    Eats365 POS

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    Eats365 POS is a revolutionary iPad based POS that is simple to setup and use. When combined with...

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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Us (2019) in Movies

Sep 28, 2021  
Us (2019)
Us (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
4
7.4 (74 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
A film with dodgy voices.
Catching up here with a review of a film I saw a couple of weeks ago.

What a great film “Get Out” was. Jordan Peele’s classic which unpeeled (sic) race relations in a wholly novel and horrifying way. Yes, the story was a bit ‘out there’ and unbelievable, but he pulled it off with great chutzpah.

With his follow-up film – “Us”…. sorry but, for me, it just didn’t work.

From great beginnings
It all starts so promisingly. Young Adelaide Wilson (a fine debut performance by Madison Curry) is on a seaside holiday with her mother and careless father when she wanders onto the deserted Santa Cruz beach at night. There sits, like some gothic horror ghost train, the Hall of Mirrors. “Find Yourself” it taunts. She makes the mistake of entering and changes her life forever.

Spin forwards 30 years and Adelaide, now a married mother of two, is back in Santa Cruz with a terrifying feeling that things are about to go pear-shaped. And of course they do!

Why oh why oh why those voices?
This film had me gripped until a particular point. Having people stand still and silent at the end of your drive is an incredibly spooky thing to show. But then, for me, the wheels came off big time. The “reveal” of who these people were I could take. But the manner of their behaviour and – particularly – how they talked was horrifying; and not in a good way. When “Red” started speaking I couldn’t believe my ears: Joe Pasquale after swallowing Donald Duck.

From there, the film became farcical for me, descending in progressive stages to a tunnel-based apocalypse: a plot element that was just so paper thin it bore no scrutiny at all.

This was, no doubt, an attempt at a satirical dig at the class structure of America (“We are Americans” adding a double meaning to the name of the film). If it had been played as a deliberate comedy farce it might have worked. But otherwise no.

Flashes of Peele brilliance
This is not to say that there are not positives in the film. The excellent Lupita Nyong’o gives the whacky material her all, and the other adult female lead – Elisabeth Moss (from TV’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”) – is good value as Kitty Tyler: a diabolical incarnation in either form!

Peele also delivers flashes of directorial brilliance. The “hands across America”, disappearing into the sea, is a sight that stays with you. I also liked the twist at the end, although in retrospect it’s difficult to relate it to the rest of the story and strikes of desperation in the storytelling.

Overall, a big disappointment
I know there are some who really like this movie. Each to their own, but I was not one of them. After “Get Out” I was hoping for something much better. I hope that was just Jordan Peele’s “difficult second album”.
  
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Clare Parrott (294 KP) created a post

Jul 24, 2017  
Road To Ruin (New Orleans Nights #1)
by Callie Hart

Malicious Destruction of Property.
Two counts of breaking and entering.
Two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance.
Four counts of assault.
Three counts of illegal gambling.
Three years served in Orleans Parish Prison.

Tommy ‘Havoc’ Kendrick’s rap sheet reads like a recipe for disaster: one part mayhem to three parts chaos. There’s no arguing the matter; he’s a bad guy, or at least he used to be. For the past five years, Tommy’s been on the straight and narrow, keeping his head down and staying out of trouble. He left the French Quarter behind, along with the New Orleans crime syndicates and underground fights that used to pay his bills. Trading in the high-octane thrill of earning money with his fists to work in an auto mechanic’s was hard, and yet somehow, despite everything, he’s made it work.

Until now.

Tommy hadn’t planned on seeing his brother again. When David Kendrick turns up on his doorstep with a bag full of money and four broken ribs, Tommy finds himself heading back to the place he swore he’d never return. Back to the fights. Back to the drinking, the drugs, and the women.

Back to a life he thought he’d left behind for good.

Nikita Moreau has lived in New Orleans all her life. She learned to drive there, lost her virginity there, bought her first house there, and she’s damned if she isn’t going to die there, too. As a prison psychologist at one of the country’s most dangerous facilities, she runs the risk of dying in the state of Louisiana on a daily basis, and yet she wouldn’t give it up for the world. There’s nothing more satisfying than helping those everyone else has given up on. Nothing more rewarding than fixing something everyone said was broken.

The day she meets Tommy Kendrick, however, she learns a painful lesson: sometimes a person is too broken to be fixed. Sometimes a person is beyond reach and cannot be saved. The tall, dark and handsome, tattoo-covered devil is danger personified. She knows this. She knows he’s bad news. So then why can’t she stop thinking about him? Why can’t she stay away from him?

And, most importantly, why won’t she save herself?

*** Road To Ruin is part one in a two-part story. Part two will be coming out soon! Be advised: Road To Ruin is a dark romance novel that contains graphic scenes. As such, this book is only suitable for readers 17+ ***
      
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Jamie (131 KP) rated Shimmer and Burn in Books

Jul 30, 2017  
Shimmer and Burn
Shimmer and Burn
Mary Taranta | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Unique magic concept (2 more)
Fast paced and engaging story
Dreamy male lead
Bland main character (1 more)
Details about the world and magic is mildly confusing
Threading blood magic in a dying world
Shimmer and Burn was much much darker than I expected and I LOVED it. A locked away kingdom ruled by a ruthless king, forbidden blood magic that is both beautiful and deadly, a power hungry princess, a dying world infested with diseased cannibals–this book had it all. That is, except for the main character, Faris.

This book was almost perfect for me, but I just wish that Faris wasn’t so bland. The book is carried by an extremely strong plot and well developed side characters but.. well the story just sort of happens to Faris. She is constantly made out to be a fighter but she ends up running or needing to be saved almost every time. She has one central motivation, her sister, and some heartbreak over Thaelan, but that’s really all her character really has going for her.

Thankfully the other characters help drive the plot forward. I’ve never been one to fawn over book boyfriends but that changed with North. I really like North and Faris together, even though their romance sort of shows up out of thin air in a mild case of instalove. I would expect characters to talk and have more interaction before they go falling “in love.” It’s not the worst thing in the world, I still liked the characters and their romance so I was willing to look past that.

My favorite part of the book is the absolutely incredible magic system which is unlike any other I’ve ever read. Magic is described as being beautiful like threads that can just as easily fray and destroy the magic wielder if not handled with care. It is treated as something alien, even for the humans with a natural born ability to wield it. I can’t overstate enough how much I love this concept. The intricate political relationships in this novel is also extremely well done and I’m so excited to read the next book.

A fair warning though, this book is definitely not for the faint of heart. While the romance may be clean, the violence definitely isn’t. This book isn’t the goriest I’ve ever read but it does not shy away from the gruesome details. If you can stomach the gritty content then I highly recommend this book, it’s one of the best YA books I’ve read in a while.