Search

Search only in certain items:

The Haunted Palace (1963)
The Haunted Palace (1963)
1963 | Horror
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Vincent Price (0 more)
Something Wicked
The Haunted Palace- is anethor Poe, Price and Corrman film. But Although marketed as "Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace", the film actually derives its plot from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. The title The Haunted Palace is borrowed from the 6-stanza poem by Poe, published in 1839 (which was later incorporated into Poe's horror short story "The Fall of the House of Usher"), and the film uses eight lines from the poem within the framing of the story. So in reality its a H.P. Lovecraft story and a Poe title.

The plot: Condemned warlock Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) curses a New England village just before being burned alive. More than a century later, Curwen's kindly great-great grandson Charles Ward (also Price) arrives in town and moves into Curwen's old mansion. Caretaker Simon Orne (Lon Chaney Jr.) helps Charles and his wife Ann (Debra Paget) adjust to their new home. The ancient curse, however, takes hold of Joseph, awakening inside him a long-dormant evil passed on through blood.

Its a decent film.
  
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
1994 | Drama

"Shawshank, I guess, because of the quiet nature of the movie, the development of it. I’ve heard that it’s a movie that didn’t really catch the multitude of fanfare for a while. People didn’t catch on immediately. I got it immediately. I got the story, the narrative, and who can’t listen to Morgan Freeman narrate a movie all day long? Also, Tim Robbins killed it. Our very own William Sadler, of course, who has brought to us Tony Teresi, in terms of [Joseph Sikora’s] Tommy’s father in Power. Sadler was great in it. Clancy Brown, who was in The Guardian with me and Kevin Costner, one of my first castmates. The Guardian was probably my second big movie. So, I love Shawshank."

Source
  
The Break
The Break
Marian Keyes | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
MoMo’s Book Diary highly recommends this author’s latest release “The Break”

Marian Keyes has given us many brilliant novels – some of which I have ‘laughed out loud’ embarrassing my mother while on holiday in strange places. I have many happy memories reading Marian Keyes while on holiday.

I haven’t read anything by this author in some time and was excited to be given the chance to read and review for NetGalley and Penguin UK – Michael Joseph. It is a well paced book that is difficult to put down but I found that unlike some other books I have read recently I was able to put it down and take a break for normal life stuff… maybe it is due to this being a longer book that most that I read these days? Or maybe I have been reading too many crime based books that this just didn’t hold my attention as much as Marian Keyes did in the past. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed it and do recommend it as a novel.

It is a long read – enjoyable – and funny.

If you have read Marian Keyes in the past then you really don’t want to miss this one!

Thanks NetGalley and Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review this fantastic novel.
  
    Leaving Earth

    Leaving Earth

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    The year is 1956. Mankind stands at the dawn of a new age, the Space Age, when the flying bombs of...

40x40

Louise (64 KP) rated Moonrise in Books

Jul 2, 2018  
Moonrise
Moonrise
Sarah Crossan | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Young Adult (YA)
6
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion*

I have read the majority of Sarah Crossan’s work so picking this up was a ‘no brainer’.

Edward Moon was forced to sign a confession to a crime he never committed. Moonrise is told from Joseph Moon’s perspective some 10 years later as his brother has had his date set for his execution.

Edward, Angela and Joseph didn’t have the best upbringing when they were kids, their mother was an alcoholic and neglected them. It was down to their aunt Karen to take the up the role of the parent but as a christian had very strict rules. When Edward was seventeen he left home, unable to tolerate the his aunts strict demands. His moment of freedom was short-lived as he gets incarcerated for the murder of a local policeman. 10 years on and Joseph is to make the journey to Texas to find out what really happened and to say his goodbyes as Edwards execution has been scheduled. Joseph moves in to a decrepit motel room and gets by doing chores for the local diner. His month-long stay in Texas is to get to know his brother again only to say goodbye.

This book was just OK, it deals with a topic that is not widely written about in YA books but I did prefer ‘One’ and ‘The weight of water’. In true Sarah Crossan fashion this book is written entirely in verse, it can be read as individual poems or as a story whatever your preference. This book was not as thought-provoking as her other books and whilst the topic is something that intrigues me, I felt it could have been more emotional and had more character development, the emotional side of things just wasn’t captured well in the writing and I think that’s what let it down for me. It’s probably my own fault, as I tend to go into these book with high expectations. I feel like capital punishment could have been addressed more and given the audience more awareness of executions.

Even though I thought this was only OK, I would still recommend trying it for several reasons, 1. the topic, 2. it’s written in verse. 3. Everyone else seemed to love it.

I rated this 3 out of 5 stars.