Search
Search results
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated A Wedding in December in Books
Apr 20, 2020
A Wedding in December is a book that was long overdue. I was supposed to read it for Christmas, but yet, here we are in February. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience and I am so glad I finally read it.
Sarah Morgan has an extremely good talent in human relations and relationships. She puts these relationships on paper so easily… Do you know that feeling where you can sense people’s mood by just walking into a room? She managed to capture this moment in most of her scenes - and it was a true joy to read that.
The Synopsis
Maggie has two daughters: Katie and Rosie. While Katie has always planned everything in her life and never failed (becoming doctor is her biggest achievement), Rosie is the complete opposite. She changes her mind all the time and never knows what she truly wants.
And one evening, Rosie calls her mum to tell her she is getting married. All of a sudden. Not in her hometown in the UK, but in some snowy mountains in the USA. For Christmas. THIS Christmas. In just a few months.
Everything is happening so fast, and Maggie is afraid for her daughter. But most importantly, Maggie is afraid that she will finally reveal to her girls that she is getting divorced from their dad.
My Thoughts
In a lovely snowy atmosphere, we get to see this family, and their different personalities coming together, in a book where love wins in the end. Reading this book under a warm blanket and with a hot chocolate definitely gave me the true feelings of Christmas again.
I encountered some interesting scenes, a couple of plot twists, a bit of a mystery behind one of the sisters. The importance of mental health as well, and how important is to share our troubles with someone. Anyone.
Some of the relationships, new or current, happened at a very fast pace, which wasn't too my great pleasure. There was some sense of unnecessary urgency which didn't feel believable nor relatable to me. But in hindsight, a wonderful book to spend your evenings with.
If you love romance novels and you also love Christmas, A Wedding in December will probably end up being your favourite book. I highly recommend it!
Sarah Morgan has an extremely good talent in human relations and relationships. She puts these relationships on paper so easily… Do you know that feeling where you can sense people’s mood by just walking into a room? She managed to capture this moment in most of her scenes - and it was a true joy to read that.
The Synopsis
Maggie has two daughters: Katie and Rosie. While Katie has always planned everything in her life and never failed (becoming doctor is her biggest achievement), Rosie is the complete opposite. She changes her mind all the time and never knows what she truly wants.
And one evening, Rosie calls her mum to tell her she is getting married. All of a sudden. Not in her hometown in the UK, but in some snowy mountains in the USA. For Christmas. THIS Christmas. In just a few months.
Everything is happening so fast, and Maggie is afraid for her daughter. But most importantly, Maggie is afraid that she will finally reveal to her girls that she is getting divorced from their dad.
My Thoughts
In a lovely snowy atmosphere, we get to see this family, and their different personalities coming together, in a book where love wins in the end. Reading this book under a warm blanket and with a hot chocolate definitely gave me the true feelings of Christmas again.
I encountered some interesting scenes, a couple of plot twists, a bit of a mystery behind one of the sisters. The importance of mental health as well, and how important is to share our troubles with someone. Anyone.
Some of the relationships, new or current, happened at a very fast pace, which wasn't too my great pleasure. There was some sense of unnecessary urgency which didn't feel believable nor relatable to me. But in hindsight, a wonderful book to spend your evenings with.
If you love romance novels and you also love Christmas, A Wedding in December will probably end up being your favourite book. I highly recommend it!
Life of Prophet Muhammad Free Ramadan App : islam Sirat -un- nabi Quran The Prophet for whole Mankind , Mohammad last Messenger & iQuran
Book and Lifestyle
App
60% off *Ramadan Special offer only for Today! Lets not shatter but Know the life of Prophet...
Fasting the Mind: Spiritual Exercises for Psychic Detox
Book
Stop planning, stop comparing, stop competing, stop thinking, and just breathe deeply for a minute...
The Software Craftsman: Professionalism, Pragmatism, Pride
Book
Be a Better Developer and Deliver Better Code Despite advanced tools and methodologies, software...
Katherine of Aragon, the True Queen
8.0
Rate It
Book
*A Sunday Times Top Ten Bestseller* Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen by bestselling historian...
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated A Star Is Born (1976) in Movies
Jun 30, 2020
Decent, But Hoped For More
When a local singer is discovered by a big time star, she finds that her time in the spotlight isn’t all she expected it to be.
Acting: 10
While I wasn’t in love with Barbara Streisand’s lead role of Esther Hoffman, she did alright for the most part. I’ll just say it was a little bit better than bearable. I’m never one to say an actor has to knock it out of the park, but they can’t be so bad as to take me out of the movie. For any of her shortcomings Kris Kristofferson made up for it playing the alcoholic musician John Norman Howard. He definitely carries the chemistry between the two.
Beginning: 10
Solid kickoff as you are immediately engaged with John’s character and his shortcomings as a man. You can see this guy is a trainwreck and anyone that gets close to him will probably be brought down too. While I have seen the previous two versions before this one, it made me interested to see how they would tackle his struggles.
Characters: 8
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
For what it’s worth, I did like what director Frank R. Pierson did in showing Esther’s life at home versus what the glamorous life looked like. Before she makes it big, and even in some of the quieter moments, there is peace, shots of calm and quiet. The road life is an entirely different animal, however, as heaps of fans cheer her on at every turn and you can feel just how overwhelming it is. I appreciated that stark contrast.
Conflict: 7
Entertainment Value: 7
Throughout its 141-minute duration, A Star is Born definitely has its shining spots. Who doesn’t love a good rags to riches story? In a twist you can see coming for some time, this is a rags to riches to mortal endings story. I enjoyed watching her rise to stardom although some parts were truly unbearable with John’s character being such a total anus. It was over-the-top at times and took some of the enjoyment away.
Memorability: 2
Pace: 6
Plot: 8
Resolution: 4
Overall: 72
Of the four versions, this is hands-down the weakest A Star is Born. It’s not a horrible movie and I definitely wouldn’t steer someone away from checking it out at least once. For me, it just doesn’t stand the test of time.
Acting: 10
While I wasn’t in love with Barbara Streisand’s lead role of Esther Hoffman, she did alright for the most part. I’ll just say it was a little bit better than bearable. I’m never one to say an actor has to knock it out of the park, but they can’t be so bad as to take me out of the movie. For any of her shortcomings Kris Kristofferson made up for it playing the alcoholic musician John Norman Howard. He definitely carries the chemistry between the two.
Beginning: 10
Solid kickoff as you are immediately engaged with John’s character and his shortcomings as a man. You can see this guy is a trainwreck and anyone that gets close to him will probably be brought down too. While I have seen the previous two versions before this one, it made me interested to see how they would tackle his struggles.
Characters: 8
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
For what it’s worth, I did like what director Frank R. Pierson did in showing Esther’s life at home versus what the glamorous life looked like. Before she makes it big, and even in some of the quieter moments, there is peace, shots of calm and quiet. The road life is an entirely different animal, however, as heaps of fans cheer her on at every turn and you can feel just how overwhelming it is. I appreciated that stark contrast.
Conflict: 7
Entertainment Value: 7
Throughout its 141-minute duration, A Star is Born definitely has its shining spots. Who doesn’t love a good rags to riches story? In a twist you can see coming for some time, this is a rags to riches to mortal endings story. I enjoyed watching her rise to stardom although some parts were truly unbearable with John’s character being such a total anus. It was over-the-top at times and took some of the enjoyment away.
Memorability: 2
Pace: 6
Plot: 8
Resolution: 4
Overall: 72
Of the four versions, this is hands-down the weakest A Star is Born. It’s not a horrible movie and I definitely wouldn’t steer someone away from checking it out at least once. For me, it just doesn’t stand the test of time.
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Saw IV (2007) in Movies
Apr 13, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
Continuing on from the events of the previous film a new game is started as the last of the police officers from the other films are tested by jigsaw.
Like the previous films we have more traps and more people being tested and, of course things are not always what they seem.
With 'Saw 4' we get more of a feel of where the series is going, we see more of how Jigsaw recruits his assistants and how he intends to continue his work even when he no longer can.
We also get more on Jigsaws past, although, at times it does seem like it's contradicting what we already know everything comers together by the end of the film.
Saw 4 does a better job with the remaining characters from the previous films, keeping then through the film instead of killing them off in the first few minuets like they did in saw 3 and this film really does do a good job of tying up the loose ends from saw 3 and setting up things to come which is something which could have gone really wrong after the events of saw 3, other franchises have had problems bringing back their main killers and most of the way they used would not work with Saw as the franchise is more grounded in reality than a lot of other slasher type films.
I'm not sure how much of the story is planned ahead and how much is the writers checking the previous films for plot holes and then filling them in but Saw 4 does answer some questions, like how was Amanda able to lift some of her victims. The film also show us things like why Amanda uses a Pig mask.
The Gore level isn't as much as in Saw 3 and a lot of the 'game' is more psychological than the previous films but this fits the overall tone of the series and allows the film to give us more information via flashbacks, which are also used to throw the viewer off what is happening.
Saw 4 is more of the same, traps, games, blood and tests whilst also building on the law and setting up for more movies and ends leaving the viewer wanting more.
Like the previous films we have more traps and more people being tested and, of course things are not always what they seem.
With 'Saw 4' we get more of a feel of where the series is going, we see more of how Jigsaw recruits his assistants and how he intends to continue his work even when he no longer can.
We also get more on Jigsaws past, although, at times it does seem like it's contradicting what we already know everything comers together by the end of the film.
Saw 4 does a better job with the remaining characters from the previous films, keeping then through the film instead of killing them off in the first few minuets like they did in saw 3 and this film really does do a good job of tying up the loose ends from saw 3 and setting up things to come which is something which could have gone really wrong after the events of saw 3, other franchises have had problems bringing back their main killers and most of the way they used would not work with Saw as the franchise is more grounded in reality than a lot of other slasher type films.
I'm not sure how much of the story is planned ahead and how much is the writers checking the previous films for plot holes and then filling them in but Saw 4 does answer some questions, like how was Amanda able to lift some of her victims. The film also show us things like why Amanda uses a Pig mask.
The Gore level isn't as much as in Saw 3 and a lot of the 'game' is more psychological than the previous films but this fits the overall tone of the series and allows the film to give us more information via flashbacks, which are also used to throw the viewer off what is happening.
Saw 4 is more of the same, traps, games, blood and tests whilst also building on the law and setting up for more movies and ends leaving the viewer wanting more.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Suicide Squad (2021) in Movies
Aug 5, 2021
James Gunn returns with the sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad. This time, the nefarious company woman Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), returns to Belle Reve to recruit the next iteration of Task Force X. Initially, we are introduced to the new recruits: Savant (Michael Rooker), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Javelin (Flula Borg), Mongal (Mayling Ng), T.D.K. (Nathan Fillion) and The Weasel (Sean Gunn). We meet our favorites from the first film: Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney). They have signed on to be dropped into a small island nation, Corto Maltese.
This country, just taken over by a military coup has a lab with a 30-year secret weapon. Ms. Waller offers them years off each team member’s sentence to “Save the World”. Or, in this case, infiltrate Corto Maltese to find and destroy the project. Our hapless but highly skilled group lands and takes on heavy fire.
Meanwhile, we have Team B led by Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), King Shark (The physical, John Economos with the voice of Sylvester Stallone). As the separate teams go forth and bond in violence, we find out more about their personal childhood traumas that made them the criminals they have become.
This sequel has James Gunn’s DNA all over the film. He raised the bar from the first film by providing bright, visual treats. The action is violent in a cartoonish manner that buffers the impact when one looks at the many ways one can dispatch a human. The story goes from sarcasm, dry wit, demented clown to the stooges’ physical hilarity. As we watch the Squad fight their way across the island, there are points where these characters are skilled killers despite the humor in their murderous madness.
I was laughing throughout the film, it certainly felt like a panacea for these challenging times. Pay attention, there are little moments of snappy comebacks that feel like they’re from old-school Mad Magazine. The pace runs steadily which helps the dissonance become more impactful. The Suicide Squad was not boring, it was very entertaining and such a campy ride. FYI: there are TWO after-credit scenes.
The Soundtrack is so very good from the first shot, to the after credit, shotsThis Summer Blockbuster certainly delivers the entertainment.
4.75 out of 5 Stars
This country, just taken over by a military coup has a lab with a 30-year secret weapon. Ms. Waller offers them years off each team member’s sentence to “Save the World”. Or, in this case, infiltrate Corto Maltese to find and destroy the project. Our hapless but highly skilled group lands and takes on heavy fire.
Meanwhile, we have Team B led by Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), King Shark (The physical, John Economos with the voice of Sylvester Stallone). As the separate teams go forth and bond in violence, we find out more about their personal childhood traumas that made them the criminals they have become.
This sequel has James Gunn’s DNA all over the film. He raised the bar from the first film by providing bright, visual treats. The action is violent in a cartoonish manner that buffers the impact when one looks at the many ways one can dispatch a human. The story goes from sarcasm, dry wit, demented clown to the stooges’ physical hilarity. As we watch the Squad fight their way across the island, there are points where these characters are skilled killers despite the humor in their murderous madness.
I was laughing throughout the film, it certainly felt like a panacea for these challenging times. Pay attention, there are little moments of snappy comebacks that feel like they’re from old-school Mad Magazine. The pace runs steadily which helps the dissonance become more impactful. The Suicide Squad was not boring, it was very entertaining and such a campy ride. FYI: there are TWO after-credit scenes.
The Soundtrack is so very good from the first shot, to the after credit, shotsThis Summer Blockbuster certainly delivers the entertainment.
4.75 out of 5 Stars
Kurt Vile recommended Tusk by The Dead C in Music (curated)
Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Fast & Furious 9 (2021) in Movies
Jul 10, 2021
Contains spoilers, click to show
Spoilers
In the 9th instalment of the the 'Fast and Furious' franchise we have; backstory, fun with magnets, brothers who have never been mentioned before, the return of dead characters, plenty of set up for spin offs, doggy English accents and cars in space.
Fast and Furious 9 is a big film, with a lot going on, it acts as Dom's back story, continuation of the franchise and (possibly) a set up for some spinoffs. The latter is not a surprise as Vin Diesel has already said that, including F9 there are only 3 more films left, but that there will be more spin offs, like Hobbs and Shaw (There is a rumoured 'Cipher ' spin off in the works as well as Hobbs and Shaw 2).
A large part of Fast 9 is Dom's back story. We get to see the incident where Dom kills a man, as mentioned in Fast 1 and the impact this has on his biological family. We also get flash backs/more story to 'Tokyo Drift' which they tie into the main franchise a bit more.
Fast 9 seems to bring the cars back to the franchise, although the 7 & 8 did have cars they seemed to be loosing there way in favour of the action but 9 has both cars and action.
There are a lot of call backs to the other films with almost every past family member returning in a original scene, we even almost get to see the return of Brian, however this does make Hobbs' absents more obvious.
There were a couple of points that niggled at me a bit, the being that, in the flashbacks, young Dom and young Jakob were played by different actors (because it would be hard for Vin Diesel and John Cena to play their younger selves) but the actors (especially young Dom) didn't feel right. This isn't a criticism of the actors but there was just something that didn't quite Jell between the present and past characters.
Over all Fast and furious 9 is a good addition to an increasingly over blown film franchise although you do have to suspend reality a few times and you can see why the main franchise is coming to an end soon otherwise the 'Family' would probably end up colonising Mars or slipping into another reality.
In the 9th instalment of the the 'Fast and Furious' franchise we have; backstory, fun with magnets, brothers who have never been mentioned before, the return of dead characters, plenty of set up for spin offs, doggy English accents and cars in space.
Fast and Furious 9 is a big film, with a lot going on, it acts as Dom's back story, continuation of the franchise and (possibly) a set up for some spinoffs. The latter is not a surprise as Vin Diesel has already said that, including F9 there are only 3 more films left, but that there will be more spin offs, like Hobbs and Shaw (There is a rumoured 'Cipher ' spin off in the works as well as Hobbs and Shaw 2).
A large part of Fast 9 is Dom's back story. We get to see the incident where Dom kills a man, as mentioned in Fast 1 and the impact this has on his biological family. We also get flash backs/more story to 'Tokyo Drift' which they tie into the main franchise a bit more.
Fast 9 seems to bring the cars back to the franchise, although the 7 & 8 did have cars they seemed to be loosing there way in favour of the action but 9 has both cars and action.
There are a lot of call backs to the other films with almost every past family member returning in a original scene, we even almost get to see the return of Brian, however this does make Hobbs' absents more obvious.
There were a couple of points that niggled at me a bit, the being that, in the flashbacks, young Dom and young Jakob were played by different actors (because it would be hard for Vin Diesel and John Cena to play their younger selves) but the actors (especially young Dom) didn't feel right. This isn't a criticism of the actors but there was just something that didn't quite Jell between the present and past characters.
Over all Fast and furious 9 is a good addition to an increasingly over blown film franchise although you do have to suspend reality a few times and you can see why the main franchise is coming to an end soon otherwise the 'Family' would probably end up colonising Mars or slipping into another reality.