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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) in Movies
Jun 8, 2022
After having the film halted and its release delayed by the Pandemic, “Jurassic World: Dominion” has finally arrived and closes out the new trilogy in a spectacle of action and visual splendor.
Picking up a few years after the events of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, the dinosaurs have escaped into the wild and now mingle with and at times endanger society.
A multi-national company has been leading the way with a reserve to study the animals and their quirky leader Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), promises the goal is to discover medicines that will benefit all of society.
At the same time, various concerns have arisen such as gigantic Locust swarms that threaten the food supply and activist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) is convinced that Dodgson and his company are behind it. Desperate to find answers, she seeks the help of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), find their lives disrupted by the poaching of a unique dinosaur and a genetically unique young girl named Maisie (Isabella Sermon) and this puts them on a path to recover them both which takes them into the illegal world of dinosaur sales and on a collision course with Ellie and her team.
The old and new cast faces numerous dangers along the way before they unite for a rousing final act which effectively combines the original and new trilogy and cast very well.
Director Colin Trevorrow takes his time getting the story up to speed as the early part of the film is heavy on characters and set up before getting to the action but once it starts, there is an endless parade of dinosaurs old and new to endanger the cast and keep the tension moving.
While people may be able to find fault with elements of the plot, pacing, and dialogue, the cast is very effective and it is nice to see the cast from the original series being given a much larger role and how elements from the first film are addressed which have been a point of debate for fans.
The visuals are impressive and there is no end of snarling, biting, and deadly creatures mixed in with favorites old and new while people may want more depth or variation, the creatures are the focal point of the story and the film provides plenty of what fans have come to expect.
The formula of gathering the cast and endangering them with an array of dinosaurs does not change much aside from the locales and creatures involved but fans of the series know what they are getting and “Jurassic World: Dominion” gives fans what they expect and does it well.
DeWanda Wise and Mamoudou Athie are nice additions to the cast and Isabella Sermon appears to be a breakout star in the making. It will be interesting to see how long Universal waits before returning the franchise to cinemas as they have mentioned taking a break following this film, hopefully, it will not be as long as the break between “Jurassic Park 3”, and “Jurassic World” as it will be interesting to see what the next summer event film in the series will offer.
4 stars out of 5.
Picking up a few years after the events of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, the dinosaurs have escaped into the wild and now mingle with and at times endanger society.
A multi-national company has been leading the way with a reserve to study the animals and their quirky leader Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), promises the goal is to discover medicines that will benefit all of society.
At the same time, various concerns have arisen such as gigantic Locust swarms that threaten the food supply and activist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) is convinced that Dodgson and his company are behind it. Desperate to find answers, she seeks the help of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ian Malcom (Jeff Goldblum) to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), find their lives disrupted by the poaching of a unique dinosaur and a genetically unique young girl named Maisie (Isabella Sermon) and this puts them on a path to recover them both which takes them into the illegal world of dinosaur sales and on a collision course with Ellie and her team.
The old and new cast faces numerous dangers along the way before they unite for a rousing final act which effectively combines the original and new trilogy and cast very well.
Director Colin Trevorrow takes his time getting the story up to speed as the early part of the film is heavy on characters and set up before getting to the action but once it starts, there is an endless parade of dinosaurs old and new to endanger the cast and keep the tension moving.
While people may be able to find fault with elements of the plot, pacing, and dialogue, the cast is very effective and it is nice to see the cast from the original series being given a much larger role and how elements from the first film are addressed which have been a point of debate for fans.
The visuals are impressive and there is no end of snarling, biting, and deadly creatures mixed in with favorites old and new while people may want more depth or variation, the creatures are the focal point of the story and the film provides plenty of what fans have come to expect.
The formula of gathering the cast and endangering them with an array of dinosaurs does not change much aside from the locales and creatures involved but fans of the series know what they are getting and “Jurassic World: Dominion” gives fans what they expect and does it well.
DeWanda Wise and Mamoudou Athie are nice additions to the cast and Isabella Sermon appears to be a breakout star in the making. It will be interesting to see how long Universal waits before returning the franchise to cinemas as they have mentioned taking a break following this film, hopefully, it will not be as long as the break between “Jurassic Park 3”, and “Jurassic World” as it will be interesting to see what the next summer event film in the series will offer.
4 stars out of 5.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Scream (2022) in Movies
Jan 12, 2022
It is hard to believe it has been 25 years since “Scream” premiered and in doing so; brought new life into the slasher genre which had become stale due to an abundance of direct to DVD and cable releases combined with many uninspired and stale theatrical releases.
The movie was a massive success and launched a very successful trilogy and made the Ghostface killer and many moments from the series Pop Culture mainstays.
After a hiatus; “Scream 4” arrived and continued the series and in 2022; “Scream” has arrived which continues the story to the eager anticipation of fans.
When a young girl named Tara (Jenna Ortega); is brutally attacked in a fashion very similar to the Ghostface Killer; her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera); returns to Woodsboro to be by her side while Tara recuperates.
Sam is joined by her boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid), who has no idea about the history of Woodsboro nor the popular “Stab” film series that is based on the events of the murders that have plagued the town.
Sam’s past troubles makes her return difficult and when Ghostface strikes again; she and Richie seek the help of Dewey (David Arquette); who has fallen on hard times and has split from Gayle (Courtney Cox). Despite his reluctance; Dewey gets involved and tells Sam the “rules” which would indicate the killer might be someone she knows and soon everyone in her and Tara’s circle becomes suspect even as the deaths start to increase.
This allows for some of the best moments of the film as the characters make references to several other modern and past horror franchises and discuss things from online Trolls, rabid fans, and other Pop Culture references which provides some tongue in cheek humor about the series and also establishes the world of “Scream” as one where people are well-versed in horror films old and new and have modified the rules based on sequel, prequel, and “Requel” rules for films.
As tensions and body count mounts; Gayle, Dewey, and Sidney (Neve Campbell) must face their fears to stop Ghostface before it is too late.
While the final act of the film is very over the top and at times absurd; it does provide plenty of the elements that fans have come to expect from the series. I was able to accurately see and predict almost all of the twists very early in the film and did not have many surprises as the film unfolded; I think many will still find enough enjoyment watching the tale unfold as after four films I have a pretty good idea of the formula for the series and also have many years of this as I saw the twists in “The Sixth Sense” and “The Village” very early in the films so I just seem to have a knack for this sort of thing.
While it does not break much in the way of new ground; the film does deliver what fans have come to expect and I did find in more enjoyable than “Scream 3” and there was more than enough to keep me entertained. There have been rumors that a sixth film has already been planned and if so: I will be more than ready for more.
3.5 out of 5
The movie was a massive success and launched a very successful trilogy and made the Ghostface killer and many moments from the series Pop Culture mainstays.
After a hiatus; “Scream 4” arrived and continued the series and in 2022; “Scream” has arrived which continues the story to the eager anticipation of fans.
When a young girl named Tara (Jenna Ortega); is brutally attacked in a fashion very similar to the Ghostface Killer; her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera); returns to Woodsboro to be by her side while Tara recuperates.
Sam is joined by her boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid), who has no idea about the history of Woodsboro nor the popular “Stab” film series that is based on the events of the murders that have plagued the town.
Sam’s past troubles makes her return difficult and when Ghostface strikes again; she and Richie seek the help of Dewey (David Arquette); who has fallen on hard times and has split from Gayle (Courtney Cox). Despite his reluctance; Dewey gets involved and tells Sam the “rules” which would indicate the killer might be someone she knows and soon everyone in her and Tara’s circle becomes suspect even as the deaths start to increase.
This allows for some of the best moments of the film as the characters make references to several other modern and past horror franchises and discuss things from online Trolls, rabid fans, and other Pop Culture references which provides some tongue in cheek humor about the series and also establishes the world of “Scream” as one where people are well-versed in horror films old and new and have modified the rules based on sequel, prequel, and “Requel” rules for films.
As tensions and body count mounts; Gayle, Dewey, and Sidney (Neve Campbell) must face their fears to stop Ghostface before it is too late.
While the final act of the film is very over the top and at times absurd; it does provide plenty of the elements that fans have come to expect from the series. I was able to accurately see and predict almost all of the twists very early in the film and did not have many surprises as the film unfolded; I think many will still find enough enjoyment watching the tale unfold as after four films I have a pretty good idea of the formula for the series and also have many years of this as I saw the twists in “The Sixth Sense” and “The Village” very early in the films so I just seem to have a knack for this sort of thing.
While it does not break much in the way of new ground; the film does deliver what fans have come to expect and I did find in more enjoyable than “Scream 3” and there was more than enough to keep me entertained. There have been rumors that a sixth film has already been planned and if so: I will be more than ready for more.
3.5 out of 5
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in Video Games
Mar 1, 2020 (Updated Mar 1, 2020)
Wasted Potential
So I just finished Jedi: Fallen Order and it's left me feeling confused. Not because of some complex twist or story revelation, but because on paper I should have loved every minute of this game. You take the parkour movement and sense of adventure from a game like Uncharted and you give it to a Jedi, who we follow during some of the darkest days in the Star Wars lore and what do you get?
Apparently you get something that doesn't feel like Star Wars.
I have a fair number of problems with this game, so I'm going to go ahead and list them and explain why they bothered me so much during my experience playing through Fallen Order.
First of all, when this game dropped and did pretty well commercially and critically, EA were commended in the games media for having the guts to release a single-player, story based Star Wars game with no online play. When the reviews dropped just before the game's release, this news got me really hyped as I have never been much for online gaming and much prefer story based games over anything else. Now whilst EA did give us a single-player, offline Star Wars story, they did so in such a sloppy, janky, half-finished fashion.
I lost count of the amount of times that I had to restart my game because of loading errors or game breaking bugs. Almost every time I would enter a new area the characters would initially appear in a T-pose position and remain that way for a good few seconds until I approached them. Onscreen prompts would often fail to appear making the game's already confusing exploration methods even more unclear. I have not seen this much pop-in in a videogame since the first version of No Man's Sky. Almost every area was covered in murky textures upon initially entering them, with some entire structures and areas failing to render. During a few boss fights, the AI character would fail to attack me and just stand still and no matter how many blows I would land on them, their health bar would not budge until I fully reloaded the level. This sort of thing was present during every one of my play sessions and at a few points the game became almost unplayable due to it's glaring technical glitches. Also, I got this game as a Christmas gift, so it has been out for a decent amount of time. A game of this calibre, that has been out for months at this point, from a major studio like Respawn and a publisher like EA, not to mention being from a major franchise like Star Wars, - the fact that it is in the current broken state that it's in is frankly unacceptable.
The next issue I had was the story and characters in the game. The game's protagonist Cal, is an unsympathetic, whiny bitch of a character that got on my nerves every time he opened his mouth. The rest of the crew were also pretty bland, unendearing and lacking in much personality. I grew up loving the Star Wars universe, yet I found myself trying in vain to skip almost every cutscene and really not giving a crap what happens to any one of the characters. The villains were unengaging and the other side characters like Cal's master and the old dude that left holograms for Cal to find got increasingly annoying every time they appeared. The only character I found engaging throughout the whole game was Sister Merrin.
I always thought Jedi Knights were supposed to be extremely capable, powerful warriors, yet at no point in this game do you ever feel powerful in any significant way. The whole time, you feel on par with the non descript enemies that you are fighting. While I agree that the last major AAA single-player Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed was too easy, at least you felt powerful while playing as that character. The combat never feels as satisfying as it should due to the lack of dismemberment. The decision not to allow the player to chop off limbs makes it feels more like you are hitting enemy shaped piñatas with a big stick, rather than welding a laser sword of pure, raw energy. I also felt that there was a lack of variation in the combos and moves-set and found myself watching the same animations over and again no matter what combination of buttons I was mashing. Every fight in this game is hard and not in a fun,challenging way, but instead in a grinding, irritating way. The ridiculously long loading times also made dying even more frustrating. If you are going to design a game where the player is going to die frequently, you HAVE TO have a snappy respawn system in place à la Super Meat Boy or Hotline Miami. (Especially when your fucking studio is called RESPAWN, but I digress.) They were clearly going for a more defensive, methodical approach to the combat system, which is fine, but they should have given you a choice between that and a more aggressive, offensive skill tree, meaning that more play styles could be catered to. Another majorly annoying thing was the way that the game justified unlocking new skills for Cal, with him having out-of-the-blue flashbacks at seemingly random points in the story where he would suddenly remember that he could wall-run or double-jump. I hate when games do this, it feels extremely lazy and unjustified within the context of the story that is being presented. Another thing that bothered me gameplay-wise was the checkpoint system. The whole refilling your health = respawning the enemies thing felt really arcady and often broke immersion.
Something else that I hate in games is when the game tries to pretend that it is an open world game rather than a linear experience, which this game does. I don't understand why you would want to masquerade as an open world game when that mechanic has been so oversaturated for this entire generation. After you play through the game's intro and get access to the ship, you are given the impression that you can choose what order to visit each planet and progress though the game. However this is not the case. When I was first given the choice to pick a planet, I chose Dathomir as I am a big Darth Maul fan and thought it would be cool to explore his home turf. I got there and was making my way through the clear-as-mud holomap when I got to a section where I could not progress. There was a jump that I just could not make no matter how many times I tried. After eventually getting fed up I had to look up a walkthrough to find out how to progress whereupon I learned that you actually need to go to the other planet first and gain an ability to make this jump. Now even if I did design my game so poorly that I let the player go to the wrong planet on their first travel, I would have at least had the decency to put in a prompt at the un-passable jump to let the player know that they don't have the skills to progress here yet and to go to the other planet and return here later. It could have been a voiceover from a crew member or even an immersion-breaking piece of text, but something would have been nice to prevent me having to look up a walkthrough to learn this fact. Witnessing this ineptitude in game design from such a major studio was shocking. So yeah, from that point on, - lesson learned, - I just followed the checkpoints to decide what my next planet would be to travel to, but then why even give players the illusion of choice in this? Why not just usher the player automatically to the next planet they need to visit after they return to the ship?
My final and biggest issue with this game is despite it being a Star Wars game, it never really felt like Star Wars. I noticed this during the first third of the game in the some of the character designs. Some of the side characters looked more akin to something from Ratchet & Clank than from the Star Wars universe. Then as I was playing through Kashyyyk and fighting spiders and giant slugs, I'm thinking to myself, I don't ever remember Luke Skywalker doing this and that dude lived and trained in a swamp for like a year. Then the shark was well and truly jumped. Upon revisiting Dathomir and finally being able to make some progress, a character literally raises bodies from the ground for you to fight. That's right, they put zombies in a Star Wars game. I thought since Disney had taken control of Star Wars, that they were way stricter than Lucas ever was about what does and doesn't get into the Star Wars universe, so whoever greenlit this zombie shit over at Disney should really get the boot. I can't quite believe that I'm saying this, but if you want a more authentic and higher quality Star Wars videogame experience, go play Battlefront 2. Sure it may have had an extremely messy launch and been marred with controversy ever since, but at least it feels like Star Wars.
There were a sparse few things that I did enjoy. As I mentioned above, Merrin was a fairly engaging and well acted character. The Lightsaber customisation was also pretty neat. I also enjoyed the music and (SPOILERS,) the brief appearance that Darth Vader makes. However the music is only great because it's the Star Wars score and whilst Vader's appearance as an unstoppable force was cool here, I personally feel like it was done better in Rogue One.
So yeah, I kind of feel like I played a different game to everyone else. I really wanted to fall in love with this game and I kept waiting for it to win me over, but unfortunately it never did. I think that there is potential here for something better, mostly owed to the interesting time period the game is set in on the Star Wars timeline, so I really hope that they take the few good elements that were present in Fallen Order and improve upon everything else for the sequel.
Apparently you get something that doesn't feel like Star Wars.
I have a fair number of problems with this game, so I'm going to go ahead and list them and explain why they bothered me so much during my experience playing through Fallen Order.
First of all, when this game dropped and did pretty well commercially and critically, EA were commended in the games media for having the guts to release a single-player, story based Star Wars game with no online play. When the reviews dropped just before the game's release, this news got me really hyped as I have never been much for online gaming and much prefer story based games over anything else. Now whilst EA did give us a single-player, offline Star Wars story, they did so in such a sloppy, janky, half-finished fashion.
I lost count of the amount of times that I had to restart my game because of loading errors or game breaking bugs. Almost every time I would enter a new area the characters would initially appear in a T-pose position and remain that way for a good few seconds until I approached them. Onscreen prompts would often fail to appear making the game's already confusing exploration methods even more unclear. I have not seen this much pop-in in a videogame since the first version of No Man's Sky. Almost every area was covered in murky textures upon initially entering them, with some entire structures and areas failing to render. During a few boss fights, the AI character would fail to attack me and just stand still and no matter how many blows I would land on them, their health bar would not budge until I fully reloaded the level. This sort of thing was present during every one of my play sessions and at a few points the game became almost unplayable due to it's glaring technical glitches. Also, I got this game as a Christmas gift, so it has been out for a decent amount of time. A game of this calibre, that has been out for months at this point, from a major studio like Respawn and a publisher like EA, not to mention being from a major franchise like Star Wars, - the fact that it is in the current broken state that it's in is frankly unacceptable.
The next issue I had was the story and characters in the game. The game's protagonist Cal, is an unsympathetic, whiny bitch of a character that got on my nerves every time he opened his mouth. The rest of the crew were also pretty bland, unendearing and lacking in much personality. I grew up loving the Star Wars universe, yet I found myself trying in vain to skip almost every cutscene and really not giving a crap what happens to any one of the characters. The villains were unengaging and the other side characters like Cal's master and the old dude that left holograms for Cal to find got increasingly annoying every time they appeared. The only character I found engaging throughout the whole game was Sister Merrin.
I always thought Jedi Knights were supposed to be extremely capable, powerful warriors, yet at no point in this game do you ever feel powerful in any significant way. The whole time, you feel on par with the non descript enemies that you are fighting. While I agree that the last major AAA single-player Star Wars game, The Force Unleashed was too easy, at least you felt powerful while playing as that character. The combat never feels as satisfying as it should due to the lack of dismemberment. The decision not to allow the player to chop off limbs makes it feels more like you are hitting enemy shaped piñatas with a big stick, rather than welding a laser sword of pure, raw energy. I also felt that there was a lack of variation in the combos and moves-set and found myself watching the same animations over and again no matter what combination of buttons I was mashing. Every fight in this game is hard and not in a fun,challenging way, but instead in a grinding, irritating way. The ridiculously long loading times also made dying even more frustrating. If you are going to design a game where the player is going to die frequently, you HAVE TO have a snappy respawn system in place à la Super Meat Boy or Hotline Miami. (Especially when your fucking studio is called RESPAWN, but I digress.) They were clearly going for a more defensive, methodical approach to the combat system, which is fine, but they should have given you a choice between that and a more aggressive, offensive skill tree, meaning that more play styles could be catered to. Another majorly annoying thing was the way that the game justified unlocking new skills for Cal, with him having out-of-the-blue flashbacks at seemingly random points in the story where he would suddenly remember that he could wall-run or double-jump. I hate when games do this, it feels extremely lazy and unjustified within the context of the story that is being presented. Another thing that bothered me gameplay-wise was the checkpoint system. The whole refilling your health = respawning the enemies thing felt really arcady and often broke immersion.
Something else that I hate in games is when the game tries to pretend that it is an open world game rather than a linear experience, which this game does. I don't understand why you would want to masquerade as an open world game when that mechanic has been so oversaturated for this entire generation. After you play through the game's intro and get access to the ship, you are given the impression that you can choose what order to visit each planet and progress though the game. However this is not the case. When I was first given the choice to pick a planet, I chose Dathomir as I am a big Darth Maul fan and thought it would be cool to explore his home turf. I got there and was making my way through the clear-as-mud holomap when I got to a section where I could not progress. There was a jump that I just could not make no matter how many times I tried. After eventually getting fed up I had to look up a walkthrough to find out how to progress whereupon I learned that you actually need to go to the other planet first and gain an ability to make this jump. Now even if I did design my game so poorly that I let the player go to the wrong planet on their first travel, I would have at least had the decency to put in a prompt at the un-passable jump to let the player know that they don't have the skills to progress here yet and to go to the other planet and return here later. It could have been a voiceover from a crew member or even an immersion-breaking piece of text, but something would have been nice to prevent me having to look up a walkthrough to learn this fact. Witnessing this ineptitude in game design from such a major studio was shocking. So yeah, from that point on, - lesson learned, - I just followed the checkpoints to decide what my next planet would be to travel to, but then why even give players the illusion of choice in this? Why not just usher the player automatically to the next planet they need to visit after they return to the ship?
My final and biggest issue with this game is despite it being a Star Wars game, it never really felt like Star Wars. I noticed this during the first third of the game in the some of the character designs. Some of the side characters looked more akin to something from Ratchet & Clank than from the Star Wars universe. Then as I was playing through Kashyyyk and fighting spiders and giant slugs, I'm thinking to myself, I don't ever remember Luke Skywalker doing this and that dude lived and trained in a swamp for like a year. Then the shark was well and truly jumped. Upon revisiting Dathomir and finally being able to make some progress, a character literally raises bodies from the ground for you to fight. That's right, they put zombies in a Star Wars game. I thought since Disney had taken control of Star Wars, that they were way stricter than Lucas ever was about what does and doesn't get into the Star Wars universe, so whoever greenlit this zombie shit over at Disney should really get the boot. I can't quite believe that I'm saying this, but if you want a more authentic and higher quality Star Wars videogame experience, go play Battlefront 2. Sure it may have had an extremely messy launch and been marred with controversy ever since, but at least it feels like Star Wars.
There were a sparse few things that I did enjoy. As I mentioned above, Merrin was a fairly engaging and well acted character. The Lightsaber customisation was also pretty neat. I also enjoyed the music and (SPOILERS,) the brief appearance that Darth Vader makes. However the music is only great because it's the Star Wars score and whilst Vader's appearance as an unstoppable force was cool here, I personally feel like it was done better in Rogue One.
So yeah, I kind of feel like I played a different game to everyone else. I really wanted to fall in love with this game and I kept waiting for it to win me over, but unfortunately it never did. I think that there is potential here for something better, mostly owed to the interesting time period the game is set in on the Star Wars timeline, so I really hope that they take the few good elements that were present in Fallen Order and improve upon everything else for the sequel.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Purple Hearts in Books
Oct 24, 2017
Reimagined History
This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
An epic tale of a reimagined World War II comes to an explosive end in this third and final book Purple Hearts. Michael Grant created an alternative history in which women were allowed to enter the army and fight alongside the men on the front lines in Europe. Having earned accolades, promotions and the right to go home to America at the conclusion of the previous book, Rio, Frangie and Rainy decide to stay for the remains of the war. It is 6th June 1944, and the battle on the sands of Omaha Beach is about to begin – D-Day.
The story rushes into the horrors of the D-Day landings where Rio, now a Sergeant, is leading her platoon through the treacherous battleground, whilst Frangie, the medic, tries to patch up fallen comrades. The author teases the reader with the introduction of new characters who promptly get killed during this fateful day and battles further along the line. There is no sugar coating the horrific experience of soldiers and civilians, regardless of whether the scenes are fictionalized or not.
The difficulty with writing a work of fiction about the final years of World War II is that the majority of readers will already know the facts. Therefore, it was impossible for Grant to compose a drastic alternative history. Despite the inclusion of women soldiers, the main events occur exactly as they did in reality, beginning with D-Day before moving on to Liberated France, the Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and, eventually, VE Day.
The three main characters have undergone complete transformations since the beginning of book one. No longer are they the innocent girls mocked for the belief they could be as strong as male soldiers. As horror after horror unfolds, readers are left with only the hope that these three survive.
Throughout book one and two, the narrative was interspersed with a commentary from an anonymous female soldier in a bed at the 107th evacuee hospital in Würzburg, Germany. As promised at the beginning of the series, readers finally find out which character this nameless voice belongs to, although it is dragged out until the final pages of the book.
The title, Purple Hearts, refers to the medal earned by soldiers injured in battle. Rio, Frangie and Rainy have each received one, along with a few other characters. Unfortunately, many are killed in the battles, some who have been in the story from the start, making this an extremely shocking book. It goes to show how dangerous war is and the brutality WWII soldiers experienced. It is a surprise that as many survived as they did.
Although at this point the main focus of the story is the war, there is still the underlying theme of equality, both for women and for black people. Frangie provides the insight into the segregation of blacks, being assigned to black-only patrols and having white patients refuse to be treated by her. However, as the war gets more violent, these lines get blurred until it is (mostly) no longer important the colour of a soldier or medic’s skin.
Purple Hearts is a brilliant end to a challenging series. Readers become invested in the characters and are drawn into a story that is so true to form that it is easy to forget that women did not actually take part in the fighting. Evidently well researched, Michael Grant has penned a series that educates whilst it entertains, opening readers’ eyes to the truth about war. This is nothing like a textbook full of facts and figures, it is a moving, personal (forget the fictional bit) account of what WWII was really like. Written with young adults in mind, this is a great series for both teens and older readers.
An epic tale of a reimagined World War II comes to an explosive end in this third and final book Purple Hearts. Michael Grant created an alternative history in which women were allowed to enter the army and fight alongside the men on the front lines in Europe. Having earned accolades, promotions and the right to go home to America at the conclusion of the previous book, Rio, Frangie and Rainy decide to stay for the remains of the war. It is 6th June 1944, and the battle on the sands of Omaha Beach is about to begin – D-Day.
The story rushes into the horrors of the D-Day landings where Rio, now a Sergeant, is leading her platoon through the treacherous battleground, whilst Frangie, the medic, tries to patch up fallen comrades. The author teases the reader with the introduction of new characters who promptly get killed during this fateful day and battles further along the line. There is no sugar coating the horrific experience of soldiers and civilians, regardless of whether the scenes are fictionalized or not.
The difficulty with writing a work of fiction about the final years of World War II is that the majority of readers will already know the facts. Therefore, it was impossible for Grant to compose a drastic alternative history. Despite the inclusion of women soldiers, the main events occur exactly as they did in reality, beginning with D-Day before moving on to Liberated France, the Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and, eventually, VE Day.
The three main characters have undergone complete transformations since the beginning of book one. No longer are they the innocent girls mocked for the belief they could be as strong as male soldiers. As horror after horror unfolds, readers are left with only the hope that these three survive.
Throughout book one and two, the narrative was interspersed with a commentary from an anonymous female soldier in a bed at the 107th evacuee hospital in Würzburg, Germany. As promised at the beginning of the series, readers finally find out which character this nameless voice belongs to, although it is dragged out until the final pages of the book.
The title, Purple Hearts, refers to the medal earned by soldiers injured in battle. Rio, Frangie and Rainy have each received one, along with a few other characters. Unfortunately, many are killed in the battles, some who have been in the story from the start, making this an extremely shocking book. It goes to show how dangerous war is and the brutality WWII soldiers experienced. It is a surprise that as many survived as they did.
Although at this point the main focus of the story is the war, there is still the underlying theme of equality, both for women and for black people. Frangie provides the insight into the segregation of blacks, being assigned to black-only patrols and having white patients refuse to be treated by her. However, as the war gets more violent, these lines get blurred until it is (mostly) no longer important the colour of a soldier or medic’s skin.
Purple Hearts is a brilliant end to a challenging series. Readers become invested in the characters and are drawn into a story that is so true to form that it is easy to forget that women did not actually take part in the fighting. Evidently well researched, Michael Grant has penned a series that educates whilst it entertains, opening readers’ eyes to the truth about war. This is nothing like a textbook full of facts and figures, it is a moving, personal (forget the fictional bit) account of what WWII was really like. Written with young adults in mind, this is a great series for both teens and older readers.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Between Me and You in Books
Dec 23, 2017
confusing (1 more)
repetitive
Repetitive but oddly compelling romance
When Ben Livingston and Tatum Connelly meet, they are both dreaming of success in Hollywood--Ben as a scriptwriter and Tatum as an actress. It's Ben who hits it big first, becoming Hollywood's It Guy and a Sundance favorite. But over time, his star slowly fades while Tatum rises to a stardom neither could have ever fully imagined. Along the way, the two wed, have a son, and experience a variety of ups and downs in their marriage. This includes several losses in their personal lives and slowly drifting apart. They once were incredibly close and deeply in love; can their love sustain everything that life throws at them?
This was a really interesting book, starting with the format. The story is told from both Tatum and Ben's perspectives. No big deal, you think, right? Except Tatum's portions start at the beginning of their journey and go in chronological order, while Ben tells his part of the story backward, starting with how they've fallen apart and going back in time. It's an odd device and definitely takes some getting used to. It was hard to keep some of the dates and timelines straight; it was one of the times where I wished I had a hardcopy of the book so I could flip back and forth more easily.
It also seemed to make the story more repetitive--when you have two people telling the same stories, you're bound to get some repetition. But what was really strange was that it sometimes felt like each chapter was a mini story that needed to reintroduce everything all over again. I don't know why the author felt this was necessary, because it's an oddly compelling book on its own even when neither main character is really that likeable. But we heard over and over about Tatum and Ben's daddy issues, career issues, that he never wrote anything for her. And oh yeah, did we mention that Tatum's an actress and doesn't eat, etc.?
At the core, this isn't really a happy book, despite it being romantic at times. Both Tatum and Ben have a lot of petty issues, but also really serious issues relating to their parents. This is fine, except we hear about it (a lot) due to the repetitive way the story is told. There's a lot of mourning and grieving and there's a dark side that deals with addiction, too. The focus on that fact that Ben has never written a script for Tatum--while this does have a point in the end--this gets to be a little much, too. The problem with all the focus on these things is that I felt like I never really learn a lot about Tatum and Ben in this format. I was always yearning for more. Is the story of two people growing apart interesting? Am I invested in them? (I was.)
It's sad, because despite everything I have said, I found this book weirdly compelling. Maybe it's because Tatum is a famous actress and there's a Hollywood setting, even if it's not really fleshed out. I wanted to know more about Tatum and Ben. I wanted them to work out. I wanted to read the book, even with the odd format and rehashing of things. It's a little hard to describe. It's like watching a romantic comedy where you desperately want the two leads to get together, despite all the odds.
So, I'm still glad I read this one. It was engaging and different. I do wish I knew more about Ben and Tatum and their motivations and what led them together (and apart).
This was a really interesting book, starting with the format. The story is told from both Tatum and Ben's perspectives. No big deal, you think, right? Except Tatum's portions start at the beginning of their journey and go in chronological order, while Ben tells his part of the story backward, starting with how they've fallen apart and going back in time. It's an odd device and definitely takes some getting used to. It was hard to keep some of the dates and timelines straight; it was one of the times where I wished I had a hardcopy of the book so I could flip back and forth more easily.
It also seemed to make the story more repetitive--when you have two people telling the same stories, you're bound to get some repetition. But what was really strange was that it sometimes felt like each chapter was a mini story that needed to reintroduce everything all over again. I don't know why the author felt this was necessary, because it's an oddly compelling book on its own even when neither main character is really that likeable. But we heard over and over about Tatum and Ben's daddy issues, career issues, that he never wrote anything for her. And oh yeah, did we mention that Tatum's an actress and doesn't eat, etc.?
At the core, this isn't really a happy book, despite it being romantic at times. Both Tatum and Ben have a lot of petty issues, but also really serious issues relating to their parents. This is fine, except we hear about it (a lot) due to the repetitive way the story is told. There's a lot of mourning and grieving and there's a dark side that deals with addiction, too. The focus on that fact that Ben has never written a script for Tatum--while this does have a point in the end--this gets to be a little much, too. The problem with all the focus on these things is that I felt like I never really learn a lot about Tatum and Ben in this format. I was always yearning for more. Is the story of two people growing apart interesting? Am I invested in them? (I was.)
It's sad, because despite everything I have said, I found this book weirdly compelling. Maybe it's because Tatum is a famous actress and there's a Hollywood setting, even if it's not really fleshed out. I wanted to know more about Tatum and Ben. I wanted them to work out. I wanted to read the book, even with the odd format and rehashing of things. It's a little hard to describe. It's like watching a romantic comedy where you desperately want the two leads to get together, despite all the odds.
So, I'm still glad I read this one. It was engaging and different. I do wish I knew more about Ben and Tatum and their motivations and what led them together (and apart).
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated After the Fall in Books
Dec 24, 2017
lovely (1 more)
poignant
There are all sorts of falls.
For Honor, it is an actual fall. An intelligent, proud woman, Honor raised her son, Stephen, alone. But Stephen married and then unexpectedly passed away, and Honor lives by herself. A fall down the stairs of her stately home lands her in the hospital with a broken hip and her pride deeply wounded. Suddenly, Honor is at the mercy of her former daughter-in-law, Jo, who was Stephen's wife, to help care for her.
For Jo, her fall may not be physical, but she feels as if she's always trying to catch up. Perpetually optimistic, Jo is constantly cheerful for those around her, but she cannot always hide her own doubts about where her life is headed, or if she's doing right by her three children. She's a busy mom to Lydia, Oscar, and Iris, and recently divorced from Oscar and Iris' father. She also fears she may be falling... for another man.
And for Lydia, she too has fallen in love. But she's also a teenager, who lost her father young, and she's dealing with the trials of school and exams. Lydia has a secret, as well: one that threatens her ability to blend in at school and home.
This book, oh this book. I adored this book so much. I fell for these characters (so sorry for that awful pun) hard. From the moment I started reading about feisty Honor, cheery Jo, and teenage Lydia, I loved them. I loved their problems, their sense of humor, and their family. This novel is beautifully written, achingly touching, and often laugh out loud funny.
It alternates between the points of view of our three main women: Honor, Jo, and Lydia. Honor and Jo have never been close, as Honor resented Jo marrying her son, and Jo felt intimidated by the intelligent and strong Honor. But after Honor's fall, she's forced to move in with Jo, her granddaughter Lydia, and Jo's young children with her second husband. The book slowly unfolds the details of how Stephen (Honor's son) passed away and the effect it had on all three women. The entire novel, really, is about little life details and how each they've impacted the three in various ways. In fact, you learn that while we are hearing these stories from three connected people, they really don't know each very well at all. Cohen captures so well how much they need each other, but can't admit it.
As such, there is a poignancy to the novel, as we watch the women navigate life and keep a variety of secrets and hidden sadness from each other. But unlike so many novels, where I want to just scream at the characters to communicate, or where it seems like the entire plot could have been avoided by someone simply talking to another character, this novel is real and true. For instance, Lydia's teen angst and the trials of her adolescence are also so beautifully (although heartbreakingly) portrayed.
It also captures the trials of having children so perfectly. There are some hilarious scenes as Jo navigates caring for her two younger children. Even better are the moments of prickly Honor interacting with young Iris and Oscar. You cannot help but laugh. There is a moment with Oscar and Honor that made me laugh and nearly cry; it was just so funny and touching. The novel is filled with many of these wonderful and witty moments.
I loved how these characters never failed to surprise me. Yes, there were some plot points you could see coming, but they didn't diminish my joy for the book or the depth of the characters. Nothing felt too cliche, and I remained captivated and intrigued. I felt a part of their story and lives. The novel really makes you think; its plot is not just "fluff."
By the end, I still loved all three so much, and my only disappointment was that the book ended.
For Honor, it is an actual fall. An intelligent, proud woman, Honor raised her son, Stephen, alone. But Stephen married and then unexpectedly passed away, and Honor lives by herself. A fall down the stairs of her stately home lands her in the hospital with a broken hip and her pride deeply wounded. Suddenly, Honor is at the mercy of her former daughter-in-law, Jo, who was Stephen's wife, to help care for her.
For Jo, her fall may not be physical, but she feels as if she's always trying to catch up. Perpetually optimistic, Jo is constantly cheerful for those around her, but she cannot always hide her own doubts about where her life is headed, or if she's doing right by her three children. She's a busy mom to Lydia, Oscar, and Iris, and recently divorced from Oscar and Iris' father. She also fears she may be falling... for another man.
And for Lydia, she too has fallen in love. But she's also a teenager, who lost her father young, and she's dealing with the trials of school and exams. Lydia has a secret, as well: one that threatens her ability to blend in at school and home.
This book, oh this book. I adored this book so much. I fell for these characters (so sorry for that awful pun) hard. From the moment I started reading about feisty Honor, cheery Jo, and teenage Lydia, I loved them. I loved their problems, their sense of humor, and their family. This novel is beautifully written, achingly touching, and often laugh out loud funny.
It alternates between the points of view of our three main women: Honor, Jo, and Lydia. Honor and Jo have never been close, as Honor resented Jo marrying her son, and Jo felt intimidated by the intelligent and strong Honor. But after Honor's fall, she's forced to move in with Jo, her granddaughter Lydia, and Jo's young children with her second husband. The book slowly unfolds the details of how Stephen (Honor's son) passed away and the effect it had on all three women. The entire novel, really, is about little life details and how each they've impacted the three in various ways. In fact, you learn that while we are hearing these stories from three connected people, they really don't know each very well at all. Cohen captures so well how much they need each other, but can't admit it.
As such, there is a poignancy to the novel, as we watch the women navigate life and keep a variety of secrets and hidden sadness from each other. But unlike so many novels, where I want to just scream at the characters to communicate, or where it seems like the entire plot could have been avoided by someone simply talking to another character, this novel is real and true. For instance, Lydia's teen angst and the trials of her adolescence are also so beautifully (although heartbreakingly) portrayed.
It also captures the trials of having children so perfectly. There are some hilarious scenes as Jo navigates caring for her two younger children. Even better are the moments of prickly Honor interacting with young Iris and Oscar. You cannot help but laugh. There is a moment with Oscar and Honor that made me laugh and nearly cry; it was just so funny and touching. The novel is filled with many of these wonderful and witty moments.
I loved how these characters never failed to surprise me. Yes, there were some plot points you could see coming, but they didn't diminish my joy for the book or the depth of the characters. Nothing felt too cliche, and I remained captivated and intrigued. I felt a part of their story and lives. The novel really makes you think; its plot is not just "fluff."
By the end, I still loved all three so much, and my only disappointment was that the book ended.
Sensitivemuse (246 KP) rated Siege and Storm in Books
Sep 11, 2017
First half is good, slows down in the second with the last 50 pages exploding
Contains spoilers, click to show
***Spoilers ahead, you have been warned***
You’d have to read Shadow and Bone to read and understand Siege and Storm. Otherwise you’d be pretty lost as events follow up right after the first book.
The first half of the book was at a great pace and filled with lots of action, bombs, explosions, fighting, magic, all sorts of goodness you would expect for the second book to follow up for an excellent start in the first. It slows down in the second half of the book where preparations for encountering The Darkling are made and you have this whole drama with Alina and Mal going on;
Okay I was wrong about The Darkling. I was torn apart when he ended up being jackalope of the year and I was holding a banner of love for Alina and Mal.
Then Nikolai steps in.
Handsome, charismatic, swashbuckling, people sway to his beat Nikolai. I loved reading about him whenever he came into the picture. It’s like when your school crush comes into the classroom and you realize you’re going to share a table with him. That kind of giddiness is what Nikolai brings to the book.
I saw the chemistry with Alina and Mal in the first one, and it just falls apart here in Siege and Storm - understandably so as the dynamics have changed a lot and Alina has climbed up in the ladder of importance and Mal has suddenly fallen off the grid and is just considered a lowly guard of Alina the Sun Summoner. Which is pretty good right? You’re near the person you love and care about, you’re standing guard and you’re close by.
No. Can’t be that easy right? First Nikolai steps into the picture and is suddenly looking like a much better prospect and the drama with Alina looking for the Firebird to amplify her powers even more - the point where she becomes obsessed with it changes her personality and makes her more darker, assertive, and she’s not the girl we all once knew in the first book. I really love this personality change in her. There’s a slight whiny voice to it but she really steps up and grows exponentially as a character.
So I can see the romance aspect of the book falling apart, but at the same time you ask yourself is it really necessary? I can see the attempt at a love triangle with Mal and Nikolai with Alina in the middle but from what I see, she gets along fine with both of them, but does she really need one or the other as a love interest? I don’t see the chemistry there with either of them.
Sure, Alina still cares a lot for Mal but everything’s changed and it just seems like she doesn’t need romance..not yet anyway. Instead, the attempt at the romance is seen as two whiny people who can’t get their own way and they take it out on each other by indulging themselves on the road to self destruction. Again, that’s a very human trait and good on portraying that. The whininess though, I could do without. It caused unnecessary drama in the book, and endless of pages in the second half where the plot doesn’t seem to be moving forward or anywhere. It feels like an unnecessary filler.
The last third of the novel though did pick up the pace (did not make up for the whiny drama though) and provided a lot of the explosions and action you had in the first half. Not really featuring a cliffhanger ending, but it’s making me look forward to what I have to see in the third and final book of this series.
PS: My heart bled for Genya.
You’d have to read Shadow and Bone to read and understand Siege and Storm. Otherwise you’d be pretty lost as events follow up right after the first book.
The first half of the book was at a great pace and filled with lots of action, bombs, explosions, fighting, magic, all sorts of goodness you would expect for the second book to follow up for an excellent start in the first. It slows down in the second half of the book where preparations for encountering The Darkling are made and you have this whole drama with Alina and Mal going on;
Okay I was wrong about The Darkling. I was torn apart when he ended up being jackalope of the year and I was holding a banner of love for Alina and Mal.
Then Nikolai steps in.
Handsome, charismatic, swashbuckling, people sway to his beat Nikolai. I loved reading about him whenever he came into the picture. It’s like when your school crush comes into the classroom and you realize you’re going to share a table with him. That kind of giddiness is what Nikolai brings to the book.
I saw the chemistry with Alina and Mal in the first one, and it just falls apart here in Siege and Storm - understandably so as the dynamics have changed a lot and Alina has climbed up in the ladder of importance and Mal has suddenly fallen off the grid and is just considered a lowly guard of Alina the Sun Summoner. Which is pretty good right? You’re near the person you love and care about, you’re standing guard and you’re close by.
No. Can’t be that easy right? First Nikolai steps into the picture and is suddenly looking like a much better prospect and the drama with Alina looking for the Firebird to amplify her powers even more - the point where she becomes obsessed with it changes her personality and makes her more darker, assertive, and she’s not the girl we all once knew in the first book. I really love this personality change in her. There’s a slight whiny voice to it but she really steps up and grows exponentially as a character.
So I can see the romance aspect of the book falling apart, but at the same time you ask yourself is it really necessary? I can see the attempt at a love triangle with Mal and Nikolai with Alina in the middle but from what I see, she gets along fine with both of them, but does she really need one or the other as a love interest? I don’t see the chemistry there with either of them.
Sure, Alina still cares a lot for Mal but everything’s changed and it just seems like she doesn’t need romance..not yet anyway. Instead, the attempt at the romance is seen as two whiny people who can’t get their own way and they take it out on each other by indulging themselves on the road to self destruction. Again, that’s a very human trait and good on portraying that. The whininess though, I could do without. It caused unnecessary drama in the book, and endless of pages in the second half where the plot doesn’t seem to be moving forward or anywhere. It feels like an unnecessary filler.
The last third of the novel though did pick up the pace (did not make up for the whiny drama though) and provided a lot of the explosions and action you had in the first half. Not really featuring a cliffhanger ending, but it’s making me look forward to what I have to see in the third and final book of this series.
PS: My heart bled for Genya.
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Ink Exchange (Wicked Lovely, #2) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
The second book in the Wicked Lovely series is decidely darker than the first book, especially as it focuses on the Dark Court. A major plot point is Leslie's struggles to deal with how her brother and father have fallen off the "deep end" and the rape that her brother allowed to happen to her. She believes a tattoo will allow her to reclaim her body as her own and stop being afraid, but the tattoo she chooses has unimaginable consequences as she becomes entangled into the drama of the faery courts that her best friend Aislinn belongs to.
I like the change in main characters, as we get to see this world through other characters' eyes as well as learn about different aspects that Keenan or Aislinn may not be familiar with. I had a difficult time finding a character to really love, as all three of the main characters, Leslie, Irial, and Niall, all seemed to have major faults that I had a hard time getting around. The theme for this book seemed to be the darker side of humanity and how deeply entrenched people can get into the "gray" area of life, while still believing that they are not doing anything wrong. Irial wants to only use Leslie, just as he has for every other mortal, but then he falls for her. Leslie wants to be her own person and hates her brother for his druggie lifestyle, but then becomes an addict just like Ren. Niall has shunned the Dark Court for all it stands for, even denying his own nature, but then wants Leslie so bad that he unknowingly uses what he is and what the Dark Court is about to try and lure her to him. In a word, they all behave like hypocrites, but Marr is such a good writer, that I find myself feeling sorry for all of them at some point. While in many fantasy genre works, the female lead often has to choose between two guys, Marr takes a completely unpredictable approach, and I think that I like this ending the best of all possibilities. Plus, since this is only the second book in a series, there is potential for Leslie to change her mind in the long run as she becomes more comfortable in her own skin.
The way that Marr approaches the horrific trauma that Leslie endured prior to this book's beginning is handled very delicately, as it should be. It is never really described in detail what exactly happens to her, and it is mostly left up to the reader's imagination, which I think is a smart move in that girls who have been in a situation similar to Leslie's can relate to her and feel like they have a voice in her words and thoughts. This alone is what makes this book both poignant and powerful. The fact that both males vying for her affection try to rescue her from this trauma in his own way is what redeems both of them for me.
Politics run heavy in this series, and while I am not really a fan of politics in real life, fantasy books often make it much more interesting, Marr's writing being no exception. The dynamics between the faery courts are quite intriguing and I think they seem to balance one another out well, even though at first glance it might seem like some should be kept over others. I find myself constantly wondering about the High Court and its Queen, Sorcha, which I can look forward to in the third installment in the series, Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely).
I like the change in main characters, as we get to see this world through other characters' eyes as well as learn about different aspects that Keenan or Aislinn may not be familiar with. I had a difficult time finding a character to really love, as all three of the main characters, Leslie, Irial, and Niall, all seemed to have major faults that I had a hard time getting around. The theme for this book seemed to be the darker side of humanity and how deeply entrenched people can get into the "gray" area of life, while still believing that they are not doing anything wrong. Irial wants to only use Leslie, just as he has for every other mortal, but then he falls for her. Leslie wants to be her own person and hates her brother for his druggie lifestyle, but then becomes an addict just like Ren. Niall has shunned the Dark Court for all it stands for, even denying his own nature, but then wants Leslie so bad that he unknowingly uses what he is and what the Dark Court is about to try and lure her to him. In a word, they all behave like hypocrites, but Marr is such a good writer, that I find myself feeling sorry for all of them at some point. While in many fantasy genre works, the female lead often has to choose between two guys, Marr takes a completely unpredictable approach, and I think that I like this ending the best of all possibilities. Plus, since this is only the second book in a series, there is potential for Leslie to change her mind in the long run as she becomes more comfortable in her own skin.
The way that Marr approaches the horrific trauma that Leslie endured prior to this book's beginning is handled very delicately, as it should be. It is never really described in detail what exactly happens to her, and it is mostly left up to the reader's imagination, which I think is a smart move in that girls who have been in a situation similar to Leslie's can relate to her and feel like they have a voice in her words and thoughts. This alone is what makes this book both poignant and powerful. The fact that both males vying for her affection try to rescue her from this trauma in his own way is what redeems both of them for me.
Politics run heavy in this series, and while I am not really a fan of politics in real life, fantasy books often make it much more interesting, Marr's writing being no exception. The dynamics between the faery courts are quite intriguing and I think they seem to balance one another out well, even though at first glance it might seem like some should be kept over others. I find myself constantly wondering about the High Court and its Queen, Sorcha, which I can look forward to in the third installment in the series, Fragile Eternity (Wicked Lovely).
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Ashton's Bride in Books
Feb 15, 2019
I have mixed feelings about this book. It was well-written, Margaret and Ashton were sympathetic, but I hated the way she time-traveled. It started off well enough until that point and I had a hard time getting past it. (I'll talk more about that in a hidden spoiler) Other than the time-travel, which is a big part of the book obviously, I enjoyed it. The relationship between Margaret and Ashton was pretty realistic and loving. So as far as time-travel romances, it's not one of my favorites, but it is still a good love story. In some ways, I think it might have been better strictly as historical romance.
Be warned! Massive ranting ahead!
<spoiler>
1. Like I said before, I hated her time-travel method. I don't quite get even how she time-traveled and the part I hate the absolute most is that she's in someone else's body. I just recently read a short story that had the same time-travel method, except that it was explained. I just find it disturbing and creepy, not to mention the amount of times it is said in the book how beautiful and perfect her looks are. Pretty nauseating. I just don't know how you could get used to looking in the mirror and not seeing yourself. That'd just be weird to me, even if I did happen to enter into a drop-dead gorgeous body. And Margaret acted like she was some freak of nature when she was in 1993. Boo hoo. Be happy with yourself for goodness sake! It seemed somewhat like the author was saying that you're not good enough if you're not beautiful. At least, that's the impression it gave to me.
2. It seemed to me that Ashton was infatuated with Mag. He couldn't have possibly actually loved her the way she was before Margaret entered her body, but he said he had. He really had to have fallen in love with Margaret, not Mag, and the blurriness there bothered me.
3. They're cousins. Okay so Margaret actually isn't, but the body she's in is. So what about children? Not a major point since cousins marrying isn't all that odd back then, but because of my other problems, it creeped me out more here.
4. Margaret's whole "revelation." She says now her parents and siblings never went to Cape Cod and are alive after all since they only went because of her and now she's back in time, and her parents only had two kids and not three. Umm no. If her parents never had her, then it would be impossible (yes, so is time-travel, but that's beside the point) for her to have gone back in time at all! She would have disappeared; she couldn't just be there now! Am I the only one who can see that?! Remember the photo featuring disappearing McFly's in Back to the Future? What comes around goes around. There's a few instances of that, but this is the one that bothers me most.
5. How did the papers show up? Seemed really unnecessary just to have Ashton believe her.
Had the back cover described how exactly Margaret time-traveled (like a mention of waking up in a strange body, perhaps?), maybe I wouldn't have had such a hard time with the concept and the other stuff wouldn't have bothered me as much. Who's to know?</spoiler> I promise, I'm really not crazy, even if my rants point to the contrary. I really think it could have been a great story, and I'm sure others will enjoy it, I just was left very disappointed.
Be warned! Massive ranting ahead!
<spoiler>
1. Like I said before, I hated her time-travel method. I don't quite get even how she time-traveled and the part I hate the absolute most is that she's in someone else's body. I just recently read a short story that had the same time-travel method, except that it was explained. I just find it disturbing and creepy, not to mention the amount of times it is said in the book how beautiful and perfect her looks are. Pretty nauseating. I just don't know how you could get used to looking in the mirror and not seeing yourself. That'd just be weird to me, even if I did happen to enter into a drop-dead gorgeous body. And Margaret acted like she was some freak of nature when she was in 1993. Boo hoo. Be happy with yourself for goodness sake! It seemed somewhat like the author was saying that you're not good enough if you're not beautiful. At least, that's the impression it gave to me.
2. It seemed to me that Ashton was infatuated with Mag. He couldn't have possibly actually loved her the way she was before Margaret entered her body, but he said he had. He really had to have fallen in love with Margaret, not Mag, and the blurriness there bothered me.
3. They're cousins. Okay so Margaret actually isn't, but the body she's in is. So what about children? Not a major point since cousins marrying isn't all that odd back then, but because of my other problems, it creeped me out more here.
4. Margaret's whole "revelation." She says now her parents and siblings never went to Cape Cod and are alive after all since they only went because of her and now she's back in time, and her parents only had two kids and not three. Umm no. If her parents never had her, then it would be impossible (yes, so is time-travel, but that's beside the point) for her to have gone back in time at all! She would have disappeared; she couldn't just be there now! Am I the only one who can see that?! Remember the photo featuring disappearing McFly's in Back to the Future? What comes around goes around. There's a few instances of that, but this is the one that bothers me most.
5. How did the papers show up? Seemed really unnecessary just to have Ashton believe her.
Had the back cover described how exactly Margaret time-traveled (like a mention of waking up in a strange body, perhaps?), maybe I wouldn't have had such a hard time with the concept and the other stuff wouldn't have bothered me as much. Who's to know?</spoiler> I promise, I'm really not crazy, even if my rants point to the contrary. I really think it could have been a great story, and I'm sure others will enjoy it, I just was left very disappointed.
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Pompeii (2014) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
The disaster movie has always been a genre guaranteed to create incredible box-office returns. If you look at Roland Emmerich’s impressive blockbuster hit 2012, which grossed over $750million, it is clear that destroying well-known landmarks = bums on seats.
However since 2012‘s 2009 release the genre has fallen into a dormant state. Nevertheless, four years later Paul W.S. Anderson attempts to reawaken this box-office behemoth with his take on the tragic true events at Pompeii, but does the film succeed in its task?
Partially is the short answer. Anderson’s first film since 2012’s disaster Resident Evil: Retribution is as cheesy as a Dairylea triangle, but it also has some stunning special effects to give it some life.
Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington stars as Milo, a slave captured by the Romans after they wiped out his entire family. He is taken to a gloriously recreated Pompeii and immediately sets his sights on the very beautiful Lady Cassia, played by a rather dull Emily Browning, who just so happens to be the daughter of the city ruler, Severus. I’m sure you can guess the plot…
What ensues is a cheesy mess of terrible acting and stilted dialogue that jars with the period nature of the film. Only the knowing of what is to come from Mt Vesuvius, which is beautifully rendered in CGI, stops the film from grinding to a halt.
Kiefer Sutherland dons a downright ridiculous English accent for the role of Senator Corvus, the chief antagonist in the film. He is on business in Pompeii to see if trade can be established and investment can be agreed with the great city of Rome – though this plot point gets lost along the way.
Another issue is the true story which Pompeii is based on. The great tale of tragedy and mother nature showing her ruthless side is one we all know – but all we really want to see is the mountain going boom. Unfortunately we must wait whilst Anderson tries his best to make us care about the characters with their sickly back-stories, for which he fails in breathtaking fashion.
Finally after nearly an hour of what feels like a poor-mans Gladiator we are treat to a stunning spectacle, as Mt Vesuvius explodes in rip-roaring style. As the mountain blows and the fireballs rage Anderson once again tries to get us interested in the paper-thin story, thankfully not pushing too hard this time, and he lets the special effects take over.
Historical accuracy is, surprisingly, very good. According to the director, Pompeii was faithfully recreated for the film with aerial shots of the city as it stands today topped up with CGI to show the thriving metropolis we see in the film.
Unfortunately, scientific accuracy takes a back-seat for the sake of high drama, which is the case with many films of this nature. The iconic pyroclastic flow, attributed to killing the majority of Pompeii’s inhabitants due to its huge speed and massive temperatures is slowed right down to ensure the film can last another ten minutes or so – though this is perhaps to be expected.
Overall, Paul W.S. Anderson has created a film which certainly looks the part, but is lacking in so many other areas. Kiefer Sutherland’s villain is completely upstaged by the constant shots of the volcano, which are almost pantomime like in their ‘it’s behind you’ staging, and the rest of the cast are wooden and not particularly likeable.
However, what it lacks in story and acting finesse it makes up in the beautiful special effects and engaging cinematography. It’s worth a watch just to see Pompeii get obliterated – which is probably not a very nice thing to say at all.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2014/05/03/pompeii-3d-review/
However since 2012‘s 2009 release the genre has fallen into a dormant state. Nevertheless, four years later Paul W.S. Anderson attempts to reawaken this box-office behemoth with his take on the tragic true events at Pompeii, but does the film succeed in its task?
Partially is the short answer. Anderson’s first film since 2012’s disaster Resident Evil: Retribution is as cheesy as a Dairylea triangle, but it also has some stunning special effects to give it some life.
Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington stars as Milo, a slave captured by the Romans after they wiped out his entire family. He is taken to a gloriously recreated Pompeii and immediately sets his sights on the very beautiful Lady Cassia, played by a rather dull Emily Browning, who just so happens to be the daughter of the city ruler, Severus. I’m sure you can guess the plot…
What ensues is a cheesy mess of terrible acting and stilted dialogue that jars with the period nature of the film. Only the knowing of what is to come from Mt Vesuvius, which is beautifully rendered in CGI, stops the film from grinding to a halt.
Kiefer Sutherland dons a downright ridiculous English accent for the role of Senator Corvus, the chief antagonist in the film. He is on business in Pompeii to see if trade can be established and investment can be agreed with the great city of Rome – though this plot point gets lost along the way.
Another issue is the true story which Pompeii is based on. The great tale of tragedy and mother nature showing her ruthless side is one we all know – but all we really want to see is the mountain going boom. Unfortunately we must wait whilst Anderson tries his best to make us care about the characters with their sickly back-stories, for which he fails in breathtaking fashion.
Finally after nearly an hour of what feels like a poor-mans Gladiator we are treat to a stunning spectacle, as Mt Vesuvius explodes in rip-roaring style. As the mountain blows and the fireballs rage Anderson once again tries to get us interested in the paper-thin story, thankfully not pushing too hard this time, and he lets the special effects take over.
Historical accuracy is, surprisingly, very good. According to the director, Pompeii was faithfully recreated for the film with aerial shots of the city as it stands today topped up with CGI to show the thriving metropolis we see in the film.
Unfortunately, scientific accuracy takes a back-seat for the sake of high drama, which is the case with many films of this nature. The iconic pyroclastic flow, attributed to killing the majority of Pompeii’s inhabitants due to its huge speed and massive temperatures is slowed right down to ensure the film can last another ten minutes or so – though this is perhaps to be expected.
Overall, Paul W.S. Anderson has created a film which certainly looks the part, but is lacking in so many other areas. Kiefer Sutherland’s villain is completely upstaged by the constant shots of the volcano, which are almost pantomime like in their ‘it’s behind you’ staging, and the rest of the cast are wooden and not particularly likeable.
However, what it lacks in story and acting finesse it makes up in the beautiful special effects and engaging cinematography. It’s worth a watch just to see Pompeii get obliterated – which is probably not a very nice thing to say at all.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2014/05/03/pompeii-3d-review/