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    Whether on holiday, taking a weekend trip or heading off somewhere as yet unfamiliar – with...

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    The advanced Google Maps app with unique customisation features! *Please note* This release fixes...

Baby Driver (2017)
Baby Driver (2017)
2017 | Action, Comedy
Ansel Elgort's Baby is Compelling and Well Acted (3 more)
The Criminals Each Have Interesting & Distinct Personalities
The Movie Drives to the Infectious Soundtrack
Punchy & Skillfuly Edited Cinematography
So-so Love Interest (1 more)
Ends With a Stereotypical Action Movie Climax
Edgar Wright Goes Fast & Furious (In a Good Way)
Edgar Wright has yet to direct a bad movie. Baby Driver doesn't ruin his streak, but it doesn't quite raise the bar. It does do something new, for Wright at least, in transposing his humor and musicality on top of more mature and serious subject matter. The issue is that the story isn't as original or creative as his previous works. Instead, the creativity and originality exists in the way the movie is executed. Bank heists, a getaway driver, and the shadowy mastermind are all well-worn tropes; but Wright sets it all to an eclectic and rhythmic soundtrack that drives the movie forward. Baby Driver is masterfully edited to sync up with the rhythm of the music, for the first two-thirds at least, until it devolved into a bit of a frantic mess. I almost wonder if that was intentional, however, as it perfectly mirrors Baby's situation. In the first two acts he is calm, in control, and driving to the music on his many iPods. In the third act, his predicament devolves into a disaster beyond his control, and he is knocked out of the rhythm he normally operates in. In the end, none of Baby Driver is bad or poorly done, it just isn't quite as memorable as the Cornetto Trilogy or Scott Pilgrim.
  
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Sarah (7798 KP) rated Line of Duty - Season 2 in TV

May 5, 2019 (Updated May 5, 2019)  
Line of Duty  - Season 2
Line of Duty - Season 2
2013 | Drama
Better than the first
I didn't believe it possible, but this second series has really surpassed the first. I think it's partly down to having main characters that are now well established and likeable at that, and their personal lives are shown briefly and all we ever get is an insight into the private lives rather than them being drawn out and over exaggerated. Not matter shows can pull this off without becoming dull or just cheesy.

This show is all about corrupt police, so theres always going to be an element of surprise and ambiguity. However for me this second series really excels. It takes ambiguity and grey areas to a completely new level and I spent the entire 6 episodes unsure of which way things were going to go until the final reveal. This series may not be quite as gory and violent as the first series, but it makes up for it in tension and intrigue, brought in part by the wonderful Keeley Hawes and the rest of the cast.

I should also add that I'm highly impressed with how accurate the portrayal of policing is on this. Yes there is some artistic license in place to make it look more exciting (and even get me started on their lax attitude to drink driving), but aside from this they've obviously done their research. It makes me feel like I'm at work, although obviously a more exciting version).

Although I have to admit the thing that surprised me the most today wasn't the ending to this series, but finding out that Martin Compston is actually Scottish! Arnott is a Scot, mind blown.
  
Where The Dead Fall (DI Ridpath #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
One chance encounter, one street side murder, will change everything. The extraordinary new Ridpath crime thriller
DI Ridpath is in the process of getting his life back together when everything goes wrong.
Driving to meet his daughter, he is caught in a gruesome motorway accident, in which a near-naked man is rundown by a lorry, while fleeing from a lone gunman. As Ridpath closes Manchester’s road network in search of the assailant, one question remains: why did nobody else see him?
Ridpath’s investigations soon unearth a number of inconsistencies, which pulls the police force itself into question, and hint at something sinister to come.
For Manchester is on the brink of a fresh surge of violence unlike anything it has seen in decades, and Ridpath must battle this unprecedented conflict along with his own demons. One thing is for sure. There will be blood on the streets…

This is the second book in the DI Tom Ridpath series. This is a really well written book that is full of action and suspense. I thought this was a great follow-up to the first book. The pacing is excellent, the main character is engaging, and I couldn't stop reading til finished.
Excellent plot and great characters,
A roller-coaster of a read, well written with a cast of well rounded characters, good and bad.
Great plot line and an ending I didn’t see coming.
This book has so many twists and turns that will leave your head spinning.
Well done, roll on the next.
Would definitely recommend this this novel.

My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.
  
The Birds (1963)
The Birds (1963)
1963 | Classics, Horror, Mystery
Amazing Film
Before disaster strikes, The Birds lures you into a false sense of comfort with beautiful scenic shots from a drop-top driving up the side of a mountain pass to a small boat pacing its way through the vast Pacific. If you're smart or pay any attention to movie history at all, you know what's coming next. I can only help but imagine how original audiences must have felt seeing all this serenity before being hit with a rude awakening. The word "jarred" comes to mind.

When Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) shows up in a sleepy, California coastal town, her visit turns sour when the town's birds start to randomly attack the population. The film is a thrill ride from beginning to end, relying on the tension of the unsettling and unusual to rattle your mind. Seagulls are attacking randomly. The chickens aren't eating. The next thing you know, a man is found in his bedroom with his eyes pecked out (very memorable shot) and it's off to the races.

Because of the tension from one moment to the next, every scene then becomes memorable. I'll never forget the scene where Melanie and Mitch (Rod Taylor) are walking past watching crows on their way to pick up Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). You know those birds can strike at anytime which had me waiting on the edge of my seat.

And this is where the genius of Hitchcock comes in. To be able to take something that sounds so minor on paper and make it a major deal in your mind is not an easy thing to do. He makes it look effortless. I give the film a 98.
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) Mar 6, 2018

Love this movie too!

Saint Anything
Saint Anything
Sarah Dessen | 2015 | Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sydney is a high school kid with a seemingly average life - navigating homework and a new school and typical teen problems. Except that Sydney is at a new school because she's trying to escape the shadow of her older brother, Peyton, who has recently gone to jail for injuring a local kid while driving drunk. For her whole life, Sydney has felt like her parents have focused on Peyton and his antics - and even with him in jail, it seems like nothing has changed. At her new school, Sydney meets Layla Chatham, a member of the Chatham family. They run the local pizza parlor near her new school and soon Sydney feels comfortable and nearly adopted by her Layla and her parents, her older sister, Rosie, and her brother, Mac. They are everything her family is not.

This was a good book, with a typical Dessen teenage drama and love story plot, but it wasn't anything earth-shattering. Sydney is a good kid and I liked her character, and I very much liked Layla and Mac, as well. Sydney's back-story with her brother is a good one, but seems a little unbelievable at times, and her rigid mother is almost too uptight and clueless. Her father is totally spineless and frustrating. For much of the story, you're waiting for something to happen and then when it finally does, it all seems a bit anti-climatic and it all gets fixed up rather quickly to seem truly plausible.

Still, a fun little read, but I do prefer "Lock and Key" or "Someone Like You." (However, I feel like a sequel featuring the Chathams would somehow be awesome.)