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How to Cook Everything Vegetarian®, the ultimate one-stop vegetarian cookbook—from New York Times...
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OVER 600,000 DOWNLOADS! JOIN THE FUN! YOUR KIDS ARE GOING TO LOVE IT! Trumpets, Harmonicas, Trains,...
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Design, build, and decorate ten different kinds of toys to sell in Grandpa's Toy Shop! After you use...
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This War of Mine: The Board Game
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This War Of Mine: The Board Game is the tabletop adaptation of the award-winning video game that...
Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA
Mar 26, 2019 (Updated Mar 26, 2019)
Lee (2222 KP) rated Men in Black International (2019) in Movies
Jun 16, 2019
A complete waste of time
Aside from Avengers Endgame, 2019 is shaping up to be pretty disappointing when it comes to blockbuster movies. Godzilla received a bit of a panning from the critics (although I personally quite liked it), then Dark Phoenix took an even bigger hit in the reviews, which I completely agree with. And now we have a sequel that nobody asked for, to a movie which has already had a couple of fairly average sequels, which has also received a wave of early bad reviews this week. To be honest, the trailer for Men In Black International certainly looked a bit....meh. A bunch of random stuff happening, no real indication of any plot, some annoying looking CGI aliens and an attempt to just coast off the back of having Thor and Valkyrie reunited on screen. I still remember how memorable the original trailer for the 1997 MIB movie was when it featured in cinemas - the shades, the guns, the aliens, the massive flying saucer crash landing in front of a cool looking Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. This trailer had none of that wow factor, but I went in, hopeful as always that the reviews were wrong.
The movie begins in 2016, with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and High T (Liam Neeson) as they ascend the Eiffel Tower, interrupting a man who is about to propose to his partner, before saving the world from an incoming alien race called The Hive. Then we jump back 20 years into the past to a family who are disturbed one night by a cute little alien in their back garden. As the young daughter, Molly, hides the alien in her bedroom, she looks out of her window to see her parents as they are neuralysed by a couple of Men in Black.
Back in present day, Molly (Tessa Thompson) is now all grown up, but hasn't forgotten that eventful night. While working in a call centre, she uses her computer to connect to satellite equipment in order to track alien landings and therefore try and gain access to the Men in Black, and hopefully get a job with them. Eventually finding her way into their headquarters, she is recruited by Agent O (Emma Thompson) and sent on her first mission, where she partners up with Agent H. The pair get caught up in a mission involving an assassinated alien VIP and some kind of super weapon. And, as the title of the movie suggests, plenty of international travel, as we switch between New York, London, Paris and Marrakesh.
The problem is, whereas the original Men in Black boasted a lot of humour, along with some great visual gags and action and a great double act, in the form of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, this movie does nothing to successfully recapture any of that. As much as I love Chris Hemsworth, I felt that he was the worst thing about this movie. Somebody simply thought they'd take the character of Thor and try to have that for the entire movie, but without making him funny, heroic or even that likeable in the process. As with Dark Phoenix recently, a great cast is let down by an awful script, with any attempts at humour or entertainment falling completely flat.
Elsewhere, the fun and wacky inventiveness behind the different alien species in the original movie is completely absent here. Apart from some interesting and formidable twin villains, there's a fairly wasted role for Rebecca Ferguson as a three armed ex lover of Agent H. Otherwise, the main alien throughout the movie is just an annoying little CGI character.
To be fair, there are a couple of fun action sequences and some nice visuals, but overall this is just a completely forgettable and unnecessary movie. Here's hoping that Toy Story 4 will finally bring us a worthy blockbuster when it opens later this week.
The movie begins in 2016, with Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) and High T (Liam Neeson) as they ascend the Eiffel Tower, interrupting a man who is about to propose to his partner, before saving the world from an incoming alien race called The Hive. Then we jump back 20 years into the past to a family who are disturbed one night by a cute little alien in their back garden. As the young daughter, Molly, hides the alien in her bedroom, she looks out of her window to see her parents as they are neuralysed by a couple of Men in Black.
Back in present day, Molly (Tessa Thompson) is now all grown up, but hasn't forgotten that eventful night. While working in a call centre, she uses her computer to connect to satellite equipment in order to track alien landings and therefore try and gain access to the Men in Black, and hopefully get a job with them. Eventually finding her way into their headquarters, she is recruited by Agent O (Emma Thompson) and sent on her first mission, where she partners up with Agent H. The pair get caught up in a mission involving an assassinated alien VIP and some kind of super weapon. And, as the title of the movie suggests, plenty of international travel, as we switch between New York, London, Paris and Marrakesh.
The problem is, whereas the original Men in Black boasted a lot of humour, along with some great visual gags and action and a great double act, in the form of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, this movie does nothing to successfully recapture any of that. As much as I love Chris Hemsworth, I felt that he was the worst thing about this movie. Somebody simply thought they'd take the character of Thor and try to have that for the entire movie, but without making him funny, heroic or even that likeable in the process. As with Dark Phoenix recently, a great cast is let down by an awful script, with any attempts at humour or entertainment falling completely flat.
Elsewhere, the fun and wacky inventiveness behind the different alien species in the original movie is completely absent here. Apart from some interesting and formidable twin villains, there's a fairly wasted role for Rebecca Ferguson as a three armed ex lover of Agent H. Otherwise, the main alien throughout the movie is just an annoying little CGI character.
To be fair, there are a couple of fun action sequences and some nice visuals, but overall this is just a completely forgettable and unnecessary movie. Here's hoping that Toy Story 4 will finally bring us a worthy blockbuster when it opens later this week.
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated The Girl Before in Books
Mar 15, 2018
Read my first ever author Q&A, with Rena Olsen! http://bookbum.weebly.com/author-qas/qa-with-rena-olsen-author-of-the-girl-before
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-girl-before-by-rena-olsen
<b><i>I am nothing if not obedient.</b></i>
I was anticipating this novel for a goddamn long time and so when it finally showed up at work (Id preordered it months in advance) I was so excited to finally get my hands on it and start reading it and from page 1 it did not disappoint! This novel got more and more gripping with each page, I didnt want to put it down!
I have voiced my opinion on books that flit about between the past and the present and in case you missed my last rant, I <i>usually</i> hate it because it confuses me a lot of the time (simple mind, I know). But it worked excellently in this novel because, for one, it made it <b>very</b> clear when we were in the past and when we were back to the present, and secondly the two flowed really well together. I loved how Olsen made the stories of the past connect so perfectly with the present - this whole book was written beautifully.
Claras refusal to cooperate got a little irritating after a while, but you cant really expect anything different from such a brainwashed woman, and just hold out a little longer and things might just start going your way! The plot for this wasnt exactly unique, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1640564203?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">The Butterfly Garden</a> <i>kind of</i> has the same storyline, to name something recent, but there were no faults in this book. Olsen worked out exactly how to progress with this book, it was flawless. Granted, there were a couple of predictable parts, <spoiler>the fact she was pregnant, the real use of the morning sickness tea</spoiler>, but they didnt make the story less exciting in anyway.
I was so close to giving this 4 stars for the reason of me not liking Glen but then I realised, no. We werent suppose to like Glen. He was a manipulative, evil, disgusting human being and I <i>hated</i> him. The fact that Olsen could make me hate him so much just shows how amazing her writing was. She brought out a really strong emotion in me that often times made me feel anxious and sick. Hating a character as much as I did isnt at all a bad thing when the character is there to be hated.
This is a really emotional read. I'm sure if it wasn't for the fact I mainly only read this on the train, I definitely would have bawled over this, hence the reason I'm classing this as a book that made me cry. I cant even imagine the feelings Clara goes through as this book progresses and she begins to find out things shes believed her entire life are not all that they seem. Its so horrible to think this kind of thing isnt just a figment of someones creative mind, my heart goes out to all those men and women that have been subject to this kind of twisted abuse - this is one of many reasons I give so much to human right charities every month.
I cannot believe this is a debut novel. I am stunned at the quality of Olsens writing and story-telling, I cant wait to read more from her. This tackles many difficult subjects but if youre a lover of all things suspense and thriller, then you definitely <b>need</b> to pick this up in the future. <b>Its 2016 must read!</b>
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/the-girl-before-by-rena-olsen
<b><i>I am nothing if not obedient.</b></i>
I was anticipating this novel for a goddamn long time and so when it finally showed up at work (Id preordered it months in advance) I was so excited to finally get my hands on it and start reading it and from page 1 it did not disappoint! This novel got more and more gripping with each page, I didnt want to put it down!
I have voiced my opinion on books that flit about between the past and the present and in case you missed my last rant, I <i>usually</i> hate it because it confuses me a lot of the time (simple mind, I know). But it worked excellently in this novel because, for one, it made it <b>very</b> clear when we were in the past and when we were back to the present, and secondly the two flowed really well together. I loved how Olsen made the stories of the past connect so perfectly with the present - this whole book was written beautifully.
Claras refusal to cooperate got a little irritating after a while, but you cant really expect anything different from such a brainwashed woman, and just hold out a little longer and things might just start going your way! The plot for this wasnt exactly unique, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1640564203?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1">The Butterfly Garden</a> <i>kind of</i> has the same storyline, to name something recent, but there were no faults in this book. Olsen worked out exactly how to progress with this book, it was flawless. Granted, there were a couple of predictable parts, <spoiler>the fact she was pregnant, the real use of the morning sickness tea</spoiler>, but they didnt make the story less exciting in anyway.
I was so close to giving this 4 stars for the reason of me not liking Glen but then I realised, no. We werent suppose to like Glen. He was a manipulative, evil, disgusting human being and I <i>hated</i> him. The fact that Olsen could make me hate him so much just shows how amazing her writing was. She brought out a really strong emotion in me that often times made me feel anxious and sick. Hating a character as much as I did isnt at all a bad thing when the character is there to be hated.
This is a really emotional read. I'm sure if it wasn't for the fact I mainly only read this on the train, I definitely would have bawled over this, hence the reason I'm classing this as a book that made me cry. I cant even imagine the feelings Clara goes through as this book progresses and she begins to find out things shes believed her entire life are not all that they seem. Its so horrible to think this kind of thing isnt just a figment of someones creative mind, my heart goes out to all those men and women that have been subject to this kind of twisted abuse - this is one of many reasons I give so much to human right charities every month.
I cannot believe this is a debut novel. I am stunned at the quality of Olsens writing and story-telling, I cant wait to read more from her. This tackles many difficult subjects but if youre a lover of all things suspense and thriller, then you definitely <b>need</b> to pick this up in the future. <b>Its 2016 must read!</b>
Alice (12 KP) rated The Temptation of Dragons (Penny White #1) in Books
Jul 3, 2018
<i>Many thanks to the author Chrys Cymri for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review</i>
Original review can be found on my blog Raptureinbooks <a href="http://wp.me/p5y0lX-1Js">here</a href>
I was kindly offered this book by the author in exchange for an honest review and my initial impressions were "yeah this sounds like my kinda thing. Here there be dragons" ya know? Only to get more fully immersed in the book and find that I was a touch disappointed.
<i>The Temptation of Dragons</i> follows Reverend Penny White as she becomes the Vicar General of an alternate world called Lloegyr - please note that there is a heavy Welsh influence in this book coupled with an enormous religious influence - where dragons, unicorns, gryphons and more reside and coexist in relative peace.
The book starts with Penny White coming home slightly intoxicated and thinking she's going mad when she comes across a dying dragon. In true priestly form Penny gets out of her car and performs the last rites of absolution to what turns out to be a real dragon!
From that moment on Penny's life changes in so many ways - dragons exist, unicorns are real, snail sharks get drunk and gryphons are eating her garden birds. Penny is soon tasked to become the Vicar General to the citizens of Lloegyr and that includes all manner of supernatural beasties. Though expected as the main character is a priest, I didn't expect there to be such a heavy religious influence all throughout with literal verses from the Bible quoted on a regular.
Please understand that this is <b>not</b> anything against the book or against the writer and is merely my thoughts on what I considered an overly religious-toned story set in the wrong time period and the wrong world. I honestly found that the hardest part of reading this book but there were parts that I enjoyed for example: Penny White has what amounts to an obsession with sci-fi/fantasy and occult TV and movies, a lot of which were quite obscure for me (not really a TV and movie person *gasp*) I didn't get several of the references - particularly the Doctor Who ones.
Out of all of the characters my favourite had to be Moriarty - shortened to Morey for some reason - a 47-year-old gryphon with no filter. My favourite quote was from Penny about Morey:
<blockquote>"You've sent me a blue tit murdering creationist with sarcasm management issues."
"Correction. Today he's killing a starling."</blockquote>
The sarcasm and humour was rife throughout this book which was brilliant and gave it a nice light undertone to the ultimate seriousness of the book as a whole.
There was one character I didn't like and that was her brother James- I'm not 100% sure why but something about him rubbed me the wrong way. He's a free loading, insensitive toss pot and possibly a pod person.
However, despite my dislike of the heavy religious overtone and of James, I really, really liked <i>how</i> Chrys wrote the dragons and unicorns and all the other supernatural creatures and they had enough of a description without giving away too much important information; but also, on the flip side, there were away lot of unanswered questions such as how <i>exactly</i> does a unicorn use a telephone?
In all, it was a well written book with an interesting concept and some good characters and prose, dialogue was perfectly modern for Penny and a touch Olde World for a lot of the Lloegyr residents.
Original review can be found on my blog Raptureinbooks <a href="http://wp.me/p5y0lX-1Js">here</a href>
I was kindly offered this book by the author in exchange for an honest review and my initial impressions were "yeah this sounds like my kinda thing. Here there be dragons" ya know? Only to get more fully immersed in the book and find that I was a touch disappointed.
<i>The Temptation of Dragons</i> follows Reverend Penny White as she becomes the Vicar General of an alternate world called Lloegyr - please note that there is a heavy Welsh influence in this book coupled with an enormous religious influence - where dragons, unicorns, gryphons and more reside and coexist in relative peace.
The book starts with Penny White coming home slightly intoxicated and thinking she's going mad when she comes across a dying dragon. In true priestly form Penny gets out of her car and performs the last rites of absolution to what turns out to be a real dragon!
From that moment on Penny's life changes in so many ways - dragons exist, unicorns are real, snail sharks get drunk and gryphons are eating her garden birds. Penny is soon tasked to become the Vicar General to the citizens of Lloegyr and that includes all manner of supernatural beasties. Though expected as the main character is a priest, I didn't expect there to be such a heavy religious influence all throughout with literal verses from the Bible quoted on a regular.
Please understand that this is <b>not</b> anything against the book or against the writer and is merely my thoughts on what I considered an overly religious-toned story set in the wrong time period and the wrong world. I honestly found that the hardest part of reading this book but there were parts that I enjoyed for example: Penny White has what amounts to an obsession with sci-fi/fantasy and occult TV and movies, a lot of which were quite obscure for me (not really a TV and movie person *gasp*) I didn't get several of the references - particularly the Doctor Who ones.
Out of all of the characters my favourite had to be Moriarty - shortened to Morey for some reason - a 47-year-old gryphon with no filter. My favourite quote was from Penny about Morey:
<blockquote>"You've sent me a blue tit murdering creationist with sarcasm management issues."
"Correction. Today he's killing a starling."</blockquote>
The sarcasm and humour was rife throughout this book which was brilliant and gave it a nice light undertone to the ultimate seriousness of the book as a whole.
There was one character I didn't like and that was her brother James- I'm not 100% sure why but something about him rubbed me the wrong way. He's a free loading, insensitive toss pot and possibly a pod person.
However, despite my dislike of the heavy religious overtone and of James, I really, really liked <i>how</i> Chrys wrote the dragons and unicorns and all the other supernatural creatures and they had enough of a description without giving away too much important information; but also, on the flip side, there were away lot of unanswered questions such as how <i>exactly</i> does a unicorn use a telephone?
In all, it was a well written book with an interesting concept and some good characters and prose, dialogue was perfectly modern for Penny and a touch Olde World for a lot of the Lloegyr residents.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) Mar 26, 2019