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Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
This movie.... Was.... *sigh* such a letdown. I wanted to like this movie so much. Iron Ma-- I mean, Spider-man was pretty good in this film. But it felt like a teenage romcom/road-trip movie and a superhero movie thrown together. It was like eating my favorite appetizer dipped in ice-cream.... Yuck. I thought that Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was probably the best. And as a villain he was one that we had seen at least four times before. Also, this is the second Spider-Man movie in a row where we didn't get a Spider-Man villain, we got an Iron Man villain who takes it out on Peter. Boo.
  
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Midge (525 KP) rated Pink Ice Creams in Books

May 21, 2019  
Pink Ice Creams
Pink Ice Creams
Jo Woolaston | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
An Outstanding Début!
I was so thrilled to be one of the first to read Pink Ice Creams, the début novel by Jo Woolaston. What a fabulous and exciting read it was!

One of the reasons it was so appealing was its setting. I loved the author’s descriptions of the shabby sea-side town and the fun-fair as I grew up in a place with a very similar environment.

Pink Ice Creams had an enthralling plot and Jo Woolaston displayed some amazing writing skill with her perfect pacing of the story and my goodness, there was never a dull moment! I didn’t want to stop reading this novel. The characters that the author created were so masterfully drawn and I often felt that I was in the ramshackle, jaded town eating chips, marshmallow toffee or an ice cream cornet with them, or drinking a pint of cider!

I didn’t really have a favourite character, but I grew rather fond of Kay as the story progressed. With the heavy burden she was carrying all of the time, it was difficult not to have a great deal of empathy for her, although some of the choices she made really frustrated me. I think this added to the story.

Pink Ice Creams was an intense, highly absorbing story full of angst, alcohol-induced catastrophes and unfortunate situations, but it was also rich in friendship and the importance of looking out for one another. I really enjoyed reading every page of the wonderful début, from the very first pages right through to its fulfilling ending.

I absolutely adored this book and I strongly recommend that you get yourself a copy of Pink Ice Creams right away!

I will be looking out for more by Jo Woolaston in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my own request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.
  
Evolution (2001)
Evolution (2001)
2001 | Comedy, Sci-Fi
This: "Can I get you anything?" "Ice Cream." "What flavour?" "It don't matter. It's for my ass." (2 more)
And This: "Ira, are you sure you can handle this on your lonesome?"
And This: "Ca-Caw! Ca-Caw! Ca-Caw! Ah Ah Ee Ee Tookie Tookie! Tookie Tookie! Ca-Caw Ca-ca-caw-ca-caw-caw-caw! Ca-ca-caw!" "Wayne, I think we've established that "Ca-Caw Ca-Caw" and "Tookie Tookie" don't work."
A Perfect Mix of Hilarity and Sci-Fi
This is a movie I watch time and time again. It is the perfect mix of sci-fi and comedy. The cast is hilarious, and the story is original. If you haven't seen it, please, please, try it, you won't be disappointed ;)
  
Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones
Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones
1969 | Rock

"Delia Smith baked the cake for the front cover of this album. I guess I could have got Yotam Ottolenghi to make me a meringue for the front cover of The High Flying Birds or got Heston Blumenthal to make me some barbed wire ice cream for it. I could have gone for Their Satanic Majesties Request, it’s got ‘2,000 Light Years From Home’ and ‘She’s A Rainbow’ on it. And again for years I just had the Rolled Gold best of but this was the first album I heard by them when I really thought, 'Oh yeah… this is what it’s about… they’re not just ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Let’s Spend The Night Together’.' ‘Gimme Shelter’ and ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, that’s more like it."

Source
  
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CHILLFILTR (46 KP) rated Dancing by Slow Skies in Music

Jul 11, 2019  
Dancing by Slow Skies
Dancing by Slow Skies
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Rating
It works as an invitation, to both understand and let go of the need for understanding. We leave our bodies be the moment, our feelings to be the logic. We move in perfect consciousness. But perhaps we are not all of us looking at the sky.

“You will see people
Who don’t even think of
The way their bodies shape themselves”
— Slow Skies

Karen Sheridan, known in Dublin and increasingly around the world as Slow Skies, invites us all to take a minute and breathe. With her single Dancing, in a voice that for a moment reimagines Nora Jones, Sheridan asks the listener to 'to think about whatever it is that makes them feel good'. We like the lazy guitar strumming, the ice-cream-soft voice, and the variated Hey Mickey drum beat.
  
Scoop to Kill
Scoop to Kill
Wendy Lyn Watson | 2018 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Here’s the Scoop – This is a Tasty Mystery
A reception to honor outstanding achievement at the local college turns tragic when Tally Jones’s niece, Alice, finds the body of grad student Bryan. Bryan was another local attending the college, although he had clearly been making some enemies along the way. With Alice in the thick of things, Tally starts spending a little less time at her ice cream shop, Remember the A-La-Mode, and more time at the college looking for clues. Will she find the killer?

While the mystery starts strongly with the discovery of Bryan’s body just a few pages in, the book still seems to wander a bit. We are gathering clues and information on the suspects, but it isn’t until the second half that it feels like Tally is truly investigating and we are beginning to find clues and disregard the red herrings. Once this happens, the book gets very good, and I was fully hooked. Tally and her immediate circle are a fun group, and I enjoyed spending time with them. I also enjoyed the cameos by some of the supporting cast from the first book. The suspects were strong enough to help us tell them apart, but they could have spent a little more time on the page to be fully developed. I had forgotten that there is a love triangle in this series, although it looks like that is coming to a head, which I appreciated. There is more language scattered throughout this book than is typical for a cozy, but this is still a light, fun cozy sure to keep you cool on a warm summer day. You might want to make sure you have some ice cream on hand first, however, to satisfy any cravings.
  
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ClareR (5561 KP) rated Becoming Ted in Books

Jan 19, 2023  
Becoming Ted
Becoming Ted
Matt Cain | 2023 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I absolutely loved reading Matt Cain’s latest book “Becoming Ted” on The Pigeonhole.
After Ted’s marriage to his husband Giles breaks down, he decides that it’s time to do what makes him happy - rather than what makes everyone else happy.
Ted’s parents expect him to take over the running of the family business : an ice cream parlour in the quiet Lancashire seaside town of St. Luke’s-on-Sea. But Ted doesn’t want to do that. What he wants to do is very different.
I loved the characters in this book, but special mentions for me must go to Ted’s best friend Denise and his new friend Stanley. Both are fully supportive of his new venture.
Ted’s new boyfriend, Oskar, is on his own voyage of discovery, too.
This is a thoroughly lovely book about following your dreams and living your truth. I loved it, and would recommend it!
  
Legion (2010)
Legion (2010)
2010 | Action, Horror, Mystery
9
6.9 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Filled with cheese, but the cheese just makes the other parts stick together so well.
Contains spoilers, click to show
This review does contain MILD spoilers.

Legion is one of my favorite movies. I’ve seen it countless times and it has never lost it’s appeal. It’s ridiculous, filled with cliches, and definitely tries too hard for the reflective drama. It’s charmingly flawed and I love it.

Legion is filled with cheese, but the cheese just makes the other parts stick together so well. Like the Old Lady and the Ice Cream Man. My favorite scene in Legion involves the old lady. They made an excellent choice in casting there. You know from the moment that she says “But it’s gonna burn… your f*cking baby is gonna burn” that the evil is there, and it’s ON. What immediately always leaves me in stitches. (Yes, always. I’ve seen this movie like 5 times now.) And the Ice Cream man? Well, he defined the role for me. Freaking creepy.

And the cast members do their best to pull off the most ridiculous lines with a straight face. Willa Holland, whom you might be familiar with from The O.C., Gossip Girl, and Arrow, brings the sarcasm full bore. Dennis Quaid does disgruntled do-gooder father pretty well. (Although, I liked him better in this type of role in Day After Tomorrow.) Jeep – played by Lucas Black – is a very bland character, but that’s to be expected for the saintly protector type role he’s destined to play. Charles S. Dutton doesn’t have a lot of screen time, but when he’s there, you pay attention to him.

Legion is well-acted, nicely directed, and gives its horror a thin coating of humor. There’s plenty of action in the later half to keep almost anyone happy. There is really nothing new as this type of movie gets pretty endlessly recycled. However, put up against the others of its type, it stands out for me.
  
Murder with a Cherry on Top
Murder with a Cherry on Top
Cynthia Baxter | 2018 | Mystery
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rival’s Murder Cools Off Opening Week
Kate McKay has returned to her hometown of Wolfet’s Roost in the Hudson River Valley of New York, and she has opened her own ice cream shop. Her only possibly concern is that it is across the street from the bakery owned by Ashley Winthrop. The two have known each other all their lives, and they have never gotten along. Sadly, Kate hasn’t even been opened a week before she gets proof that Ashley intends to continue their feud. But when Ashley is murdered the day after the two have a very public fight, Kate finds herself questioned by the police. Can she figure out what really happened before she is arrested for a crime she didn’t commit?
 
First books in series walk a fine line between introducing us to characters and giving us a good mystery. This one errs on the side of character backstory, which makes the first quarter very slow plot wise. Things do pick up as we go along, and by the second half the mystery is in full swing. Once it got going, I found the mystery good with an ending I didn’t suspect yet one that made sense. Kate, her Gran, and her niece are all solid characters and I enjoyed spending time with them. I am curious where Kate’s love life will go after what we learned and the characters we met here. The suspects don’t get much page time, but they seem real from the little bit of time we did get to spend with them. And there is plenty of talk about ice cream, which made me crave one of my favorite desserts. There are four delicious sounding recipes at the end, so you can bring a bit of Kate’s shop home with you. If you are looking for a new series to help you cool off as the summer heats up, this debut is for you.
  
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
1976 | Action, Crime, Thriller
'Why would someone shoot at a police station?' John Carpenter's exemplary action exploitation movie is set in mid-70s Los Angeles but is basically a mash-up of a western and a zombie movie. Two convicts, a secretary and a highway patrol officer find themselves besieged in a soon-to-be-derelict police precinct by hordes of psychopathic street gang members.

One of those examples of a virtually perfect movie: an incredibly economical script with immaculate storytelling is brought to the screen with immensely charismatic performances by the three leads (you watch it now and it's genuinely baffling that none of them had more substantial movie careers). Also a fascinating mixture of old-style and new Hollywood - scenes pastiching the style of Howard Hawks movies sit alongside genuinely provocative moments like the ice cream scene. Overall, though, just a tremendously enjoyable action film, and exhibit A for the case that John Carpenter did his career backwards.