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    1Wallet

    1Wallet

    Shopping and Utilities

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    1Wallet allows you to free space from your wallet by converting your paper loyalty cards and tickets...

    Shonen Jump Manga Reader

    Shonen Jump Manga Reader

    Book and Magazines & Newspapers

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    The official English source to read Weekly Shonen Jump, the world's most popular manga magazine! You...

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ClareR (5950 KP) rated Pod in Books

Feb 12, 2023  
Pod
Pod
Laline Paull | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Having read, loved and recommended The Bees many times (and The Ice, too!), I thought I knew what to expect from Laline Paull. Well, I was right and wrong!

Firstly, I loved Pod.
Secondly, it gave me a lot to think about.
Thirdly, how does Laline Paull put herself in a dolphins shoes (flippers? Sorry…) and not make it sound like a children’s book? And I should stress: this is NOT a children’s book.

Paull may have anthropomorphised dolphins, various fish, all and any sea life, but she has stayed pretty close to what I’ve learnt is their true nature (thank you David Attenborough!). Dolphins are very intelligent, playful and seem to know what humans want (maybe that’s just me reading more into these things). But they’re also hunters, they have a pecking order, and I don’t think you’d want to be at the bottom of it if you were a dolphin!

This novel shows the joyful side of being a dolphin, the way that they must work together for the greater good of the pod. It also shows how violent they are - there’s even a dolphin rape scene that was every bit as upsetting as if it had been a human.

In amongst all the dolphin drama is a message for us humans. We see the damage the human race is doing to the oceans: pollution, over-fishing, capturing dolphins for food, entertainment, or warfare.

Pod is graphic in places. It most definitely doesn’t pull its punches - and why should it?

This novel is not sentimental, jam packed with happy, child-friendly dolphins. Pod looks at the real struggles of sea life (and there’s not just dolphins involved). These dolphins are fighters, authoritarian, protective of one another, followers of tradition as well as migration routes, they deal with the results of humanity’s selfishness and cost-cutting.

The imagination and empathy that must have gone in to writing this: I’ve seen how a dolphin, a whale, a wrasse, a clam, a remora and a sea anemone feel and behave (I like to think so, anyway!).
How could I NOT love this book? 🤷🏼‍♀️
  
DC League of Super Pets (2022)
DC League of Super Pets (2022)
2022 | Action, Adventure, Animation
10
6.8 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I had hoped for something lighthearted and amusing, I definitely didn't expect what I got.

When the safety of Superman, and the world, is threatened by a bald supervillain, Krypto must step in to save the day. Ordinarily, that would be easy, but not today, today he's going to need some help.

You've got to love the classic tail tale of man's best friend. Add in some superpowers and you're really on to something, the whole family well covered. Friendship, loss, insecurity, lots of lessons for the kids, and a surprising amount of bleeped dialogue and jokes for the adults.

Each Super-Pet goes through their own little journey, and though most of the interactions are between the pets, or between the humans, when the two crossover it's handled really well. The simple transition from Kate McKinnon waxing lyrical about villainy, to guinea pig squeaks is surprisingly hilarious.

You can't really find fault with the voice cast. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are always wonderful together, and I can honestly visualise them doing some of the recording together with the physical acting. McKinnon's villainy is second to none, and her reactions to scenes... *chef's kiss*.

But can we talk about Keanu? Who has started the petition for him to play IRL Batman? We need it.

The animation is simple, that's not meant in a negative way. It feels very much in line with graphic novels, there's great attention to detail, but it doesn't distract from what's in the foreground. The expressions, the human/pet interactions, every reaction is captured perfectly. Just watch for the ear bouncing and tail twitching if you don't believe me!

I went in hoping for something amusing, I came out having seen one of the best superhero movies I've ever seen. If it had songs I may have bumped it up above Teen Titans GO! To The Movies... but also, they play no crystals. So it's a very close second place.

Oh, and, just saying... if they wanted to scrap everything live action in the DCEU, animate it, and add Super-Pets... I wouldn't be mad.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2022/07/dc-league-of-super-pets-movie-review.html
  
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TacoDave (3886 KP) rated Funhouse (2019) in Movies

Feb 15, 2022 (Updated Feb 15, 2022)  
Funhouse (2019)
Funhouse (2019)
2019 | Crime, Drama, Horror
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Editing (2 more)
Writing
Acting (mostly)
It is better than most bad horror movies, but it is still cheesy and bad (0 more)
This movie is better than it has any right to be...
Contains spoilers, click to show
I like to watch bad horror movies. I'm not sure why. I'm not a big fan of many modern horror movies (often referred to as "torture porn") like Hostel and Saw, but rather I like small, independent horror movies that focus on a single central conceit.

I go into these movies with rock-bottom expectations, hoping against hope that they will be slightly better than expected. "Funhouse" was suprisingly entertaining, when compared to similar genre films.

The premise is simple: eight wannabe famous people (think: influencers, normal people who married celebrities, low-level MMA fighters, etc.) sign up for a reality TV show in the vein of Big Brother where they will be locked in a house together and voted out by the public.

There's one catch, of course: the guy running the show - who uses a digital avatar of a panda to speak to the "contestants" - is a nutjob and the loser of the public vote gets killed in a gruesome way.

Is it real? Is it fake entertainment for the online era? Will reacters on Youtube believe it is real? How does society treat the death of someone who really, really wants to be famous, but is only barely-known?

These questions are good ones and the movie doesn't shy away from them. In fact, after each "kill" there is a cut to people in the real world reacting to it that gives the movie a lot more nuance than a typical horror film.

The kills are very graphic and gruesome and I actually looked away for a couple of them because (as I said before) I'm not a fan of torture porn. And there is some female nudity in the movie, specifically when one character decides to strip to earn viewer votes to stay alive.

Still, all in all I was entertained. And that's all I wanted for those 90 minutes - to shut off my logical brain and just watch something different. This movie fit the bill.