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Unknown Soldiers
Vaino Linna and Liesl Yamaguchi
Book
'There they stood, bumbling into lines with a bit of difficulty: Mother Finland's chosen sacrifice...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) in Movies
Jul 14, 2021
Assault on Precinct 13 is great for many reasons, but chiefly it's all down to the characters. Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, and Laurie Zimmer head up a diverse cast, and off the top of my head, I struggle to think of a trio of leads that are so well realised and put together. Their struggle through an evening of violence is one you want them to live through.
The narrative is straightforward and engaging, the villains are pretty faceless but intimidating, the action is decent, the cinematography is visually pleasing, and director John Carpenter provides yet another banging soundtrack to one of his own films.
It's a gritty and hard hitting thriller that serves as further evidence for why Carpenter is one of the greatest.
The narrative is straightforward and engaging, the villains are pretty faceless but intimidating, the action is decent, the cinematography is visually pleasing, and director John Carpenter provides yet another banging soundtrack to one of his own films.
It's a gritty and hard hitting thriller that serves as further evidence for why Carpenter is one of the greatest.
Before Watchmen: Rorschach
7.0
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Book
•A New York Times Best Seller! The controversial, long-awaited prequels to the best-selling...
Gritty, engrossing and thoroughly entertaining
Kimberley Chambers isn't known as the "Queen of Gangland Crime Fiction" for nothing and here we have yet another masterpiece of story-telling ... the saga that is "Queenie".
This book tells the story of Queenie from her life as a young girl during World War II right up to the early 60's and what a life she leads! She is one heck of a character; one minute you absolutely adore her, the next she disappoints you, then she'll surprise you and then shock ... I felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish and I still don't know how I feel about her even now!
Queenie is not the only character however, this book is absolutely brimmed to the rim with fantastic personalities from the bit players to the main stars; some you'll love and some ... not so much. The setting in the east end of London felt perfect but it could equally have worked in any inner-city borough. For those of us who weren't around during the time span of this book, I felt it captured them well and it felt authentic and believable to me.
"Queenie" is a gritty, engrossing and thoroughly entertaining read and one I would definitely recommend even if you haven't read any of the other books in the "Butler" series; this can easily be read as a standalone as it is the prequel to the first book in the series "The Trap."
Thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
This book tells the story of Queenie from her life as a young girl during World War II right up to the early 60's and what a life she leads! She is one heck of a character; one minute you absolutely adore her, the next she disappoints you, then she'll surprise you and then shock ... I felt like I was on a rollercoaster of emotions from start to finish and I still don't know how I feel about her even now!
Queenie is not the only character however, this book is absolutely brimmed to the rim with fantastic personalities from the bit players to the main stars; some you'll love and some ... not so much. The setting in the east end of London felt perfect but it could equally have worked in any inner-city borough. For those of us who weren't around during the time span of this book, I felt it captured them well and it felt authentic and believable to me.
"Queenie" is a gritty, engrossing and thoroughly entertaining read and one I would definitely recommend even if you haven't read any of the other books in the "Butler" series; this can easily be read as a standalone as it is the prequel to the first book in the series "The Trap."
Thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction via NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Awix (3310 KP) rated A Hill in Korea (Hell in Korea) (1956) in Movies
Feb 8, 2019
Gritty, old-school British war film, where keeping a stiff upper lip is at least as important as seeing off the enemy. During the Korean War, a patrol runs into trouble and must take shelter on a hill-top with no way down; the enemy close in. Sort of a bit like Zulu, I suppose, it certainly has the same sort of cast (many well-known faces on the way up) and feeling of sweaty heroism in extremis.
Good performances and well-staged, authentic-feeling action; Portugal stands in for Korea, not especially convincingly. Most likely a bit problematic by modern standards: cast consists entirely of white dudes, one of whom is unconvincingly made up to be the patrol's Korean guide. But it was the 1950s, after all.
Good performances and well-staged, authentic-feeling action; Portugal stands in for Korea, not especially convincingly. Most likely a bit problematic by modern standards: cast consists entirely of white dudes, one of whom is unconvincingly made up to be the patrol's Korean guide. But it was the 1950s, after all.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Terminator (1984) in Movies
Feb 18, 2018 (Updated Feb 18, 2018)
Undoubted leader of the pack when it comes to post-punk low-budget SF movies is, let's be honest, highly derivative, but makes up for this with sheer inventiveness and economical storytelling; unusually grim tone helps, too.
Future warriors from post-apocalyptic future arrive in 1984 Los Angeles; one is intent on killing hapless young waitress, the other seeks to protect her. Time travel plot is cleverly retooled as the basis of gritty action thriller; performances are much better than you might expect, too - you can't imagine anyone being more perfectly suited to their role than Arnold Schwarzenegger is here (and I don't say that very often). Every other film and TV series in this particular franchise ultimately does nothing but diffuse the impact of this brilliant movie.
Future warriors from post-apocalyptic future arrive in 1984 Los Angeles; one is intent on killing hapless young waitress, the other seeks to protect her. Time travel plot is cleverly retooled as the basis of gritty action thriller; performances are much better than you might expect, too - you can't imagine anyone being more perfectly suited to their role than Arnold Schwarzenegger is here (and I don't say that very often). Every other film and TV series in this particular franchise ultimately does nothing but diffuse the impact of this brilliant movie.
Deborah (162 KP) rated In Dublin's Fair City (Molly Murphy #6) in Books
Dec 21, 2018
Fourth book I've now read in this series and I'd say I liked this one the least and probably won't read any more. In this one particularly there was much less focus on the 'mystery' part and more on other goings on. There are also things at the end that don't seem quite tied up - ~I've had that before where some bits are picked up at the beginning of the new book, but it means that these don't stand alone very well. Yes, it's good to read a series, but if someone picks up in the middle this makes it more tricky.
The Royal Spyness books by the same author I've read some of, but I think those are a bit more humorous and these are a bit more gritty and violent.
The Royal Spyness books by the same author I've read some of, but I think those are a bit more humorous and these are a bit more gritty and violent.
An Idiot and a Broad
Book
Stephanie and Tony Hansell had always promised themselves they would see the world one day, but they...
Railroad Vision: Steam Era Images from the Trains Magazine Archives
Jeff Brouws, Wendy Burton and Kevin P. Keefe
Book
Drawing on the Trains magazine archive of more than 120,000 images, Jeff Brouws and Wendy Burton...
The New Street Photographer's Manifesto: Any Camera, Anywh
Book
Hit the streets with your camera and capture life in all its excitement Whether you shoot with a...