Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (1005)

Content

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated The Glass Bottom Hoax in Books

Sep 26, 2024

Undercover on the High Seas

Madison Night is going undercover on a cruise ship. She’s pretending to be a Doris Day impersonator, and her boyfriend, police captain Tex Allen, is going along as her manager. In reality, the two are supposed to be looking into some recent burglaries on board the ship. But they’ve hardly left on the trip before Madison finds a dead body. Have the stakes just been raised?

It was fun to go on this cruise with Madison and Tex. Naturally, we didn’t see as much of the regular characters, but the new characters did help fill in the gaps. Plus, we got to see some growth in Madison and Tex and their relationship. The plot starts strongly. I felt like part of it was a bit of a stretch, but it still mostly worked for me. Likewise, one of the Easter eggs for Doris Day fans was a stretch, but there are some other fun ones. Really, fun is the overall word for this entry in the series. If you are already a fan, you’ll want to book passage on this entry soon.

Kudos

A Celebration of Mothers in Rhyme (Mariana Books Rhyming #11)

Roger Carlson

6.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Mothers hold a special place in the world. When you think of many of your fondest memories, your...

Children Seasons Rhyming

Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books

Oct 21, 2017

Ready Player One

Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry

8.9

(161 Ratings)

Book Rating

Fun, a little too geeky, poor context development

This book is no doubt quite exciting at times, and has an underlying cautionary message of being obsessed with technology. The story, set in a dystopian 2044, follows Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a virtual simulation, the discovery of which will lead him to inherit a vast fortune in a world wrecked by an energy crisis.

Growing up in the 1980's means I can relate to much of the references in this book such as Blade Runner, Ferris Bueller's Day Out etc. but it seems to be laid on too thick as if it's trying to go along with this new revival of the era (Stranger Things, Ghostbusters).

Also as a non-gamer, this virtual world appears fatuous and vapid, hence the author seems to be gearing this book towards a new generation of players rather than those who were actually living during this time.

The character development and context of much of the book is poor, as Wade seems to have skills that materialise from nowhere, we just have to accept that he had indeed "read this and that". Overall, this book was clearly made to be a film, so it's unsurprising that Steven Spielberg has bought the rights.

Kudos

Justin Taylor (59 KP) rated Treasure Planet (2002) in Movies

Oct 31, 2018

Treasure Planet (2002)

2002 | Action, Animation, Family

7.8

(40 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Great characters (3 more)

An awesome soundtrack by John Rezenik lead singer of the goo goo dolls

Awesome action scenes

The subtle Easter eggs to it's source material

Basically if you read the story of treasure island you'll notice there's bound to be some changes or cuts and know that it's pretty much the same story (1 more)

It's a product of it's time. You'll definitely know that the film hasn't aged well which isn't the movies fault. Example A. The bad CG animation at the time was great but today's standards.... probably not so great

Treasure planet is good

An underrated Disney classic treasure planet deserves the praise it gets. The movie is swashbuckling fun and a pretty good movie as well. Now let's see just how good it is well...the movie for starters has a great cast of characters from our main character Jim to the awesome John silver. Also the soundtrack is awesome too with songs like I'm still here being the favorite out of the bunch. Also the movie has some pretty intense moments as well as some humor as well.

If I had to pick one bad about the movie is that it's a pretty generic plot and the story is pretty much more or less the same plot of treasure island

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies

Feb 9, 2020

Underwater (2020)

2020 | Horror, Sci-Fi

6.5

(26 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Solid (if slightly derivative) horror-SF movie with extra added treats for fans of classic weird fiction. Following a disaster at a deep-sea drilling site, the survivors must try to make their way to safety, contending with the collapsing installation and grotesque and hostile marine creatures. Who or what exactly have they woken up...? One of those movies where you can have fun spotting all the things it's ripping off (Alien, Gravity, The Abyss, numerous others) but none the worse for that: the movie plays with genre tropes intelligently even if some of the storytelling could have been tighter.

That said, I probably wouldn't have bothered to see this movie if a member of my RPG group hadn't spotted that it contains a fairly sizable easter egg of particular interest to us, so we trooped down en masse and mostly had a very enjoyable time. Fans of Providence's most famous writer of horror stories will probably also get a kick out of Underwater, although I would imagine this works equally well for the uninitiated. Solid production values, decent direction and performances from a good cast; I imagine this film will find a natural home in the 9pm slot on the Horror Channel and do very well for itself there.