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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2589 KP) rated Wined and Died in New Orleans in Books
Feb 8, 2023
Murder is Nothing to Wine Over
Ricki James-Diaz is on hand when a great discovery is made at Bon Vee - crates of a valuable and old wine. The hope is that they can sell it to raise much needed money. However, the discovery starts bringing long lost relatives to New Orleans. When one of them turns up dead, Ricki jumps in to figure out what is really going on. Can she solve the case?
It was great to be visiting these characters again. I enjoyed the growth that Ricki and several of the other characters, both new and old, got here. Yes, we do see more from the cliffhanger at the end of book one here, and I loved how it contributed to the story in this book. The plot took a bit of time to set up before the murder took place, but that time wasn’t wasted. We had lots going on to keep us engaged on the way to the great finale. The author’s love of New Orleans comes through on every page without slowing things down. There are five recipes at the end adapted from vintage cookbooks. This is a fun second book in a delightful series.
It was great to be visiting these characters again. I enjoyed the growth that Ricki and several of the other characters, both new and old, got here. Yes, we do see more from the cliffhanger at the end of book one here, and I loved how it contributed to the story in this book. The plot took a bit of time to set up before the murder took place, but that time wasn’t wasted. We had lots going on to keep us engaged on the way to the great finale. The author’s love of New Orleans comes through on every page without slowing things down. There are five recipes at the end adapted from vintage cookbooks. This is a fun second book in a delightful series.
Bearskin: A Novel
Book
“Bearskin is visceral, raw, and compelling—filled with sights, smells, and sounds truly...
Confessions of Faith in Early Modern England
Book
As seventeenth-century England wrestled with the aftereffects of the Reformation, the personal...
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated The Lawyer's Lawyer (Jack Tobin, #3) in Books
Apr 27, 2018
You know what makes certain books fantastic? Character development. That was the strongest point of The Lawyer’s Lawyer; the characters were wonderful.
Jack, the protagonist, was clever and intelligent and innovative and full of emotion (and hilarious when drunk). He was the kind of person I’d want to hang around… and for that matter, so were his friends. They left you with the feeling of belonging, of security. And by the end of the book, you’re thanking your lucky stars Jack had those friends, because they saved his rear end!
Danny was awesome. For the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free, I’ll just say this: The best people are the ones who do everything in love—whether those things are good or bad is up for you to decide.
And the bad guys! Sometimes the bad guys are the best! This was definitely the case in this book. One of the characters, Sam (the police chief), started off as this guy who was a little annoying. But as the story went on, I began to like him less and less, and finally at the end, I despised him. And the lawyer who represented the State in the case? Man that guy was a twit. I hated his guts. I wanted to slap him across the face.
The other exceptional attribute of this book was the narrator for the audiobook. He is incredibly talented, giving unique and identifiable voices to each character that totally described their person in a few sounds. I’m adding Rick Zieff to my list of narrators to look for in the future!
There were a few parts I would have liked to see improved: namely the beginning of the story, a chapter in the middle, and the very last scene. In the beginning, we are met with character development and background information, which is all fine… but there’s this one random case that Jack works that has nothing to do with the main plot. I kept waiting for it to come back into the main story, but it never did, and it felt out of place.
Then there was the scene in the middle, and the other part, the ending. These scenes were just borderline sappy. Danny and Jack are in love and they date and have hot sex and get all wishy-washy and twitterpated. And I’ll be the first to admit that I thoroughly enjoy being twitterpated, especially with sexy fictional characters. But I’m going to be brutally honest here… James Sheehan, you are a thriller writer… NOT a romance writer. And there’s a good reason for that: Because you suck at romance.
All in all, I absolutely loved The Lawyer’s Lawyer, and look forward to more from Sheehan.
Content/Recommendation: Some language, mild violence, mention of sex. Ages 17+
Jack, the protagonist, was clever and intelligent and innovative and full of emotion (and hilarious when drunk). He was the kind of person I’d want to hang around… and for that matter, so were his friends. They left you with the feeling of belonging, of security. And by the end of the book, you’re thanking your lucky stars Jack had those friends, because they saved his rear end!
Danny was awesome. For the sake of keeping this review spoiler-free, I’ll just say this: The best people are the ones who do everything in love—whether those things are good or bad is up for you to decide.
And the bad guys! Sometimes the bad guys are the best! This was definitely the case in this book. One of the characters, Sam (the police chief), started off as this guy who was a little annoying. But as the story went on, I began to like him less and less, and finally at the end, I despised him. And the lawyer who represented the State in the case? Man that guy was a twit. I hated his guts. I wanted to slap him across the face.
The other exceptional attribute of this book was the narrator for the audiobook. He is incredibly talented, giving unique and identifiable voices to each character that totally described their person in a few sounds. I’m adding Rick Zieff to my list of narrators to look for in the future!
There were a few parts I would have liked to see improved: namely the beginning of the story, a chapter in the middle, and the very last scene. In the beginning, we are met with character development and background information, which is all fine… but there’s this one random case that Jack works that has nothing to do with the main plot. I kept waiting for it to come back into the main story, but it never did, and it felt out of place.
Then there was the scene in the middle, and the other part, the ending. These scenes were just borderline sappy. Danny and Jack are in love and they date and have hot sex and get all wishy-washy and twitterpated. And I’ll be the first to admit that I thoroughly enjoy being twitterpated, especially with sexy fictional characters. But I’m going to be brutally honest here… James Sheehan, you are a thriller writer… NOT a romance writer. And there’s a good reason for that: Because you suck at romance.
All in all, I absolutely loved The Lawyer’s Lawyer, and look forward to more from Sheehan.
Content/Recommendation: Some language, mild violence, mention of sex. Ages 17+
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated The Mandore Rose in Books
Jan 9, 2020
The Mandore Rose by Cyril James Morris is set in the early 1950s yet, for the most part, it feels like it could be set in modern-day. It also has a prologue from the 1700s but it takes a while for the connection to be made. This book can easily be read in a day or two.
Just Riley is a young Romany girl who is ordered by her elder to take her caravan and run away. This is not because of anything she has done. She must run in order to protect herself from the man pretending to be her uncle after her mother died just so he can steal from her. Just Riley now has to survive on her own with her horse Pixe and her spirit guide, The Bangled Lady for companions. That is until an accident at the beach puts her in contact with Big Pierre and Rhys.
Rhys teaches her how to hunt for crabs and they quickly become friends. Big Pierre owns and works on a crabbing boat and gives Just Riley some work. When Pierre takes Riley with him one day she meets the Monks and Lady Caldey on their island. The Lady agrees to have an instrument repaired for Just Riley and the two feel a bond right away. After learning to trust one another Just Riley learns that they each have a ring identical to the other. It is with these rings and a little bit of luck that they start on an adventure that may lead them to the truth about who Just Riley really is.
What I liked most was how the main character is called Just Riley. At first, I found this to be annoying and awkward, but after the reason is explained I fund it to be cute, if not a little sad as well. What I did not like was that I wish the book would have explained the difference between Romany and Gypsey. This is because on multiple occasions people in the book confuse the two and Riley seems to be insulted by that. I feel like many people (myself included) do not know the difference and would benefit from the explanation.
People who enjoy historical mysteries would enjoy this book the most. This book is appropriate for just about all readers even those in middle school. It is not too heavily historical that it is not enjoyable. I give this book a 3 out of 4 ratings. While there is not anything wrong with this book I could not give it a perfect score. The book just was not compelling to read. While it is classified as a mystery it really doesn't have a quality that made me curious about what was happening.
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Just Riley is a young Romany girl who is ordered by her elder to take her caravan and run away. This is not because of anything she has done. She must run in order to protect herself from the man pretending to be her uncle after her mother died just so he can steal from her. Just Riley now has to survive on her own with her horse Pixe and her spirit guide, The Bangled Lady for companions. That is until an accident at the beach puts her in contact with Big Pierre and Rhys.
Rhys teaches her how to hunt for crabs and they quickly become friends. Big Pierre owns and works on a crabbing boat and gives Just Riley some work. When Pierre takes Riley with him one day she meets the Monks and Lady Caldey on their island. The Lady agrees to have an instrument repaired for Just Riley and the two feel a bond right away. After learning to trust one another Just Riley learns that they each have a ring identical to the other. It is with these rings and a little bit of luck that they start on an adventure that may lead them to the truth about who Just Riley really is.
What I liked most was how the main character is called Just Riley. At first, I found this to be annoying and awkward, but after the reason is explained I fund it to be cute, if not a little sad as well. What I did not like was that I wish the book would have explained the difference between Romany and Gypsey. This is because on multiple occasions people in the book confuse the two and Riley seems to be insulted by that. I feel like many people (myself included) do not know the difference and would benefit from the explanation.
People who enjoy historical mysteries would enjoy this book the most. This book is appropriate for just about all readers even those in middle school. It is not too heavily historical that it is not enjoyable. I give this book a 3 out of 4 ratings. While there is not anything wrong with this book I could not give it a perfect score. The book just was not compelling to read. While it is classified as a mystery it really doesn't have a quality that made me curious about what was happening.
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https://www.austinmacauley.com/book/mandore-rose
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Your Highness (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
For all you minotaur lovers out there, the movie Your Highness is the film for you. Not that the movie is about them but it has the most unique minotaur I have ever seen in a movie. Your Highness takes place long ago in a land far away in a kingdom that has two princes. The oldest and heir-to-the-throne is Prince Fabious (the fabulous James Franco). He is a prince’s prince, a knight’s knight, he enjoys protecting the innocent, he slays evil cyclops and other evil things that should be slayed.
The youngest is Prince Thadeous (film co-writer Danny McBride), he is a slacker’s slacker, a player’s player, he enjoys booze and other mind-altering stuff, he lays with easy maidens and…well, you get the point. Even though the two brothers are so very different they still love each other, even if Thadeous won’t admit it. So when Prince Fabious was to be married to the beautiful yet naive Belladonna (the enchanting Zooey Deschanel) he wanted none other than his younger brother to be his best man.
But fate had other plans and what should have been the happiest of wedding days was ruined when the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux) kidnaps Belladonna so he can produce an evil dragon offspring that he would use to rule the world. The two brothers vow to save her and kill Leezar. Ok, technically Thadeous is told by their father the King (Charles Dance) that either he goes with his older brother or he will be kicked out of the kingdom and it is Fabious who does the vowing. So they ride out with their most trusted knights and along the way they meet the Great Wize (not a typo) Wizard (voiced by Mario Torres. Jr.), the highly skilled fighter Isabel (played by a pretty intimidating Natalie Portman), the Minotaur (Brian Steele, a surprisingly fitting name), forest people (I loved the forest people!). Epic adventure and treachery ensue – dun dun dunn! Will they save Belladonna and the world? Will Thadeous become a respectable prince? Will the minotaur live happily ever after?
The movie is funny but the humor is on par with middle-school-aged male humor so approximately 80% of all adult males will probably find the movie funny and a lot of wives will be wondering why they married them. It also had some decent fight scenes sprinkled throughout the movie. I’ll be honest, there were a couple of scenes in the film that I wish I could un-see… the kind of stuff that never happened in any dice role-playing game that I have ever played.
Now I am sure we have all seen movies where one person’s performance was so well done that it made the other people’s performances seem lacking (whether they truly were or not). To me this movie fell victim to that problem. After all with people like Charles Dance, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Zooey Deschanel and Damian Lewis, who plays Boremont, one of the trusted Knights, it was bound to happen. Overall, a very entertaining and funny movie.
The youngest is Prince Thadeous (film co-writer Danny McBride), he is a slacker’s slacker, a player’s player, he enjoys booze and other mind-altering stuff, he lays with easy maidens and…well, you get the point. Even though the two brothers are so very different they still love each other, even if Thadeous won’t admit it. So when Prince Fabious was to be married to the beautiful yet naive Belladonna (the enchanting Zooey Deschanel) he wanted none other than his younger brother to be his best man.
But fate had other plans and what should have been the happiest of wedding days was ruined when the evil wizard Leezar (Justin Theroux) kidnaps Belladonna so he can produce an evil dragon offspring that he would use to rule the world. The two brothers vow to save her and kill Leezar. Ok, technically Thadeous is told by their father the King (Charles Dance) that either he goes with his older brother or he will be kicked out of the kingdom and it is Fabious who does the vowing. So they ride out with their most trusted knights and along the way they meet the Great Wize (not a typo) Wizard (voiced by Mario Torres. Jr.), the highly skilled fighter Isabel (played by a pretty intimidating Natalie Portman), the Minotaur (Brian Steele, a surprisingly fitting name), forest people (I loved the forest people!). Epic adventure and treachery ensue – dun dun dunn! Will they save Belladonna and the world? Will Thadeous become a respectable prince? Will the minotaur live happily ever after?
The movie is funny but the humor is on par with middle-school-aged male humor so approximately 80% of all adult males will probably find the movie funny and a lot of wives will be wondering why they married them. It also had some decent fight scenes sprinkled throughout the movie. I’ll be honest, there were a couple of scenes in the film that I wish I could un-see… the kind of stuff that never happened in any dice role-playing game that I have ever played.
Now I am sure we have all seen movies where one person’s performance was so well done that it made the other people’s performances seem lacking (whether they truly were or not). To me this movie fell victim to that problem. After all with people like Charles Dance, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Zooey Deschanel and Damian Lewis, who plays Boremont, one of the trusted Knights, it was bound to happen. Overall, a very entertaining and funny movie.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Suicide Squad (2021) in Movies
Aug 10, 2021
Anarchic and very funny script, with some great visual gags (1 more)
Elba, Davis and Robbie all great. As is new name Daniela Melchior.
What a difference a "The" makes! The original "Suicide Squad" from 2016 was a botched and lacklustre affair, getting just 5/10 from me. James Gunn's semi-reboot is hyper-violent, overlong, totally ludicrous but a whole bunch of fun.
Positives:
- "From the horribly beautiful mind of James Gunn" gushes the trailer. But in this case, they ain't kidding. The film is (at times) hugely inventive in its visual gags as well as its dialogue. On the DC/Marvel superhero spectrum, this is right up at the "Ragnarok" end in terms of comedy value. It made me guffaw a good dozen times.
- To match that, the action scenes are suitably ludicrous and over-the-top. They feature the most "out there" big-boss since Mr Stay Puft terrorised New York in the original "Ghostbusters"!
- All the cast seem to be having a blast, which carries you, as the audience, along with the fun. Both Viola Davis and Idris Elba add real gravitas at the middle of it all, but Robbie's reprise of Harley Quinn tends to get all the best lines and the most memorable sequences. Her petal-strewn decimation of a platoon of security guards is something to behold.
- But of the lesser-known names, it's Daniela Melchior who really stood out for me as Cleo Cazo - Ratcatcher 2. This appears to be the first non-Portuguese feature she's done, and a great future beckons I think. Such extraordinary screen presence! Loved her character too: a "millennial" who sleeps in and questions what an OHP is!
- Great music choices, as you would expect from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" guy.
Negatives:
- Like Polka-Dot's mum, the comedy style is all over the place! (You have to have watched the movie to understand that gag!). I guess that's true of any comedy, but a number of the jokes feel contrived and didn't fully land.
- There is just so much gratuitous violence in this one that I am frankly amazed that the BBFC awarded it only a UK "15" certificate (this is my second query in a row to the BBFC - they need to employ me!). I reckon this will prove to have the highest body count of any movie in 2021. It's all done in a comic-book style, but when "Army of the Dead" (review still to follow) gets an "18", I'm not quite sure why this is much different.
Summary Thoughts on "The Suicide Squad": I'd mentally set myself up to really hate this one. But the opposite turned out to be true. As a comedy it made me laugh like a drain at times, and although some of the violence went somewhat over the top for me, I thought it to be a fine summer popcorn blockbuster (but very much for adults).
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks).
Positives:
- "From the horribly beautiful mind of James Gunn" gushes the trailer. But in this case, they ain't kidding. The film is (at times) hugely inventive in its visual gags as well as its dialogue. On the DC/Marvel superhero spectrum, this is right up at the "Ragnarok" end in terms of comedy value. It made me guffaw a good dozen times.
- To match that, the action scenes are suitably ludicrous and over-the-top. They feature the most "out there" big-boss since Mr Stay Puft terrorised New York in the original "Ghostbusters"!
- All the cast seem to be having a blast, which carries you, as the audience, along with the fun. Both Viola Davis and Idris Elba add real gravitas at the middle of it all, but Robbie's reprise of Harley Quinn tends to get all the best lines and the most memorable sequences. Her petal-strewn decimation of a platoon of security guards is something to behold.
- But of the lesser-known names, it's Daniela Melchior who really stood out for me as Cleo Cazo - Ratcatcher 2. This appears to be the first non-Portuguese feature she's done, and a great future beckons I think. Such extraordinary screen presence! Loved her character too: a "millennial" who sleeps in and questions what an OHP is!
- Great music choices, as you would expect from the "Guardians of the Galaxy" guy.
Negatives:
- Like Polka-Dot's mum, the comedy style is all over the place! (You have to have watched the movie to understand that gag!). I guess that's true of any comedy, but a number of the jokes feel contrived and didn't fully land.
- There is just so much gratuitous violence in this one that I am frankly amazed that the BBFC awarded it only a UK "15" certificate (this is my second query in a row to the BBFC - they need to employ me!). I reckon this will prove to have the highest body count of any movie in 2021. It's all done in a comic-book style, but when "Army of the Dead" (review still to follow) gets an "18", I'm not quite sure why this is much different.
Summary Thoughts on "The Suicide Squad": I'd mentally set myself up to really hate this one. But the opposite turned out to be true. As a comedy it made me laugh like a drain at times, and although some of the violence went somewhat over the top for me, I thought it to be a fine summer popcorn blockbuster (but very much for adults).
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on the web, Facebook and Tiktok. Thanks).
The British Cinema Book: 2009
Book
The new edition of The British Cinema Book has been thoroughly revised and updated to provide a...
Tim McGuire (301 KP) rated Honey Boy (2019) in Movies
Mar 3, 2020
392. Honey Boy. A story about a boy, who's dad made a living off him, by pimping him out to Hollywood, ensuring he would grow up to be a weirdo, the Shia LeBeouf story. Ok, it's written by him, oh and it stars him as Tom Cruise's character from Born on the Fourth of July, only he's not in a wheel chair, he has a son. Dad, James and son, Otis live in a motel, close by the movie studios where Otis is a child actor, doing child actor things...insert Corey Feldman stories here... while his dad, lives off him, and doing other shady things and not being a good dad, and how the two deal with that. Movie also tells the tale of twenty-something Otis, and his adult acting life is... insert Shia LeBeouf stories here... where he relives the memories we are watching. Guy who plays older Otis, Lucas Hedges, has LeBeouf's super annoying way of aggressive, spit-talking and mannerisms down pact, even though it's not supposed to be him in the first place...ooops. I really did enjoy the movie I just felt there were several places where I felt the filmmakers were patting themselves on the back, saying to themselves 'yea man, this is deep. stretch this out a little longer, man, really show that this 12 year old boy's relationship with the prostitute across the way is beautiful, not creepy in any way at all.' Worth the watch, check it out! Filmbufftim on FB
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner and Michael Gorra
7.7
Rate It
Book
This Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1985 corrected text and is accompanied by detailed...