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Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Good (enough) conclusion to the Franchise
After a few attempts at resurrecting this franchise, James Cameron has (wisely) decided to bury the franchise with one last TERMINATOR film starring the original Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is a direct sequel to T2: JUDGEMENT DAY (or so says Producer/Writer Cameron) as it ignores the 3rd and 4th movies in this series (as well as the television show THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES).

And that is a wise move as it simplifies things and just lets us get on to what a Terminator movie does best - fantastic action sequences, state of the art CGI, a killer robot that will stop at nothing to accomplish it's mission, and a plucky hero or 2 to battle said killer robot.

Oh...did I mention that they recruit a Terminator to help them stop the Terminator?

And it all works well...enough. Set in this year (2019), TERMINATOR: DARK FATE tells the tale of what happens next after Sarah and John Connor stopped Judgement Day in the 2nd Terminator film. A deadly - even more dangerous - Terminator (version 9!) returns to 2019 to kill a single woman (Natalie Reyes). This time she is helped by an augmented human from the future (Mackenzie Davis) and...Sarah Connor! Returning to this film, all buffed up and aging, is a craggy voiced Linda Hamilton as Sarah, who brings an adequate amount of world-weary, "been there, done that" attitude to the proceedings that pretty much carry the first half of the film.

And...just as the film was beginning to sag in the middle, along comes Arnold.

Playing an aging Terminator (which is explained, well enough, in the plot), Arnold plays the Terminator (who has been living with humans for over 20 years) with a wink in his eye and a sense of humor about him. Yep...this is a Terminator with a funny bone. And - I'll be darned - it works! Thanks to the performance of Mr. Schwarzenegger. He knows exactly what kind of film he is in and brings the right amount of energy, muscle and humor to the proceedings. He pretty much carries this film on his broad shoulders for the 2nd half - and he carries it with ease.

Credit Director Tim Miller (DEADPOOL) for keeping things light, simple and moving along crisply. He, too, understands the type of film he is making (and the audience that will go see this type of film) so he keeps the dialogue light and snappy, the plot at it's simplest and the action as high as he can go - blowing things up at a moment's notice. It's not sublte art by any stretch of the imagination, but it is art - in a way - and art that he does well.

If this is the last Terminator film (and I hope it is), then it is going out on a high (enough) note. I was surprisingly entertained (and not preached to) and, I think that is all I could have hoped for in a Terminator flick.

Letter Grade: B

7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
The Murder House
The Murder House
James Patterson, David Ellis | 2015 | Crime, Thriller
8
8.5 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Reading this book was a rollercoaster of emotions...

As far as the book itself, there were good things and bad things. Some of the good things included the rollercoaster mentioned above of feeling like patterson was just messing with my head, the fact that the characters were so clearly defined and constructed, and the plot itself.

Some of the not so good things included the violent descriptive murder scenes (which is one of the reasons I didn’t continue with the Alex Cross series. I quit after Kiss the Girls.). I understand those scenes were in there to make me hate the bad guy and desperately want him to get caught and go to jail, but I also wasn’t happy with how descriptive it was.

There was also a lot of overdramatic moments between some of the characters that made me want to roll my eyes, even in the heat of a very serious moment.

Lastly, Patterson is great at writing violence and murder, but not so great at writing subtley-blossoming romance between two unlikely characters. It felt awkward.

Overall I have mixed feelings about The Murder House. It was an excellent story, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who can’t handle a good murder scene. The writing isn’t phenomenal, but I also enjoyed 85% of my time spent listening to it. So make your judgement on how you tend to respond to violence and gore, and let me know what your face ends up looking like.
  
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Dutch (59 KP) rated The Burning Soul in Books

Feb 22, 2019  
The Burning Soul
The Burning Soul
John Connolly | 2011 | Crime
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
What's the worst thing you have ever done?
The worse thing Randall Haight has ever done was killing a 14-year-old girl when he was only a child himself. Now someone seems to have discovered his secret and is tormenting him anonymously, and, to further complicate things a 14-year-old girl has gone missing in the same town that Randall lives in.
Charlie Parker takes on the case against his better judgement as it brings back painful memories of the death of his own daughter and he also finds himself up against a mobster by the name of Tommy Morris, the FBI and a police chief who may have secrets of his own.
As a rule I generally navigate towards horror but in the Charlie Parker series John Connolly has crafted a multi-layered world that mixes in supernatural elements and a superb supporting cast (Louis, Angel, the Collector) as well as great writing, a flawed (but likeable) main character and most importantly stories that draw me in totally. In fact I would put John Connolly up there with Stephen King as one of my favourite authors and I absolutely cannot get enough of the Charlie Parker series. If you have a love for the crime or horror genres there is no excuse for not diving into this series.
The next book in the series is The Wrath of Angels and it marks the return of the Collecter and promises to bring back the more supernatural/horror elements of the series and that is certainly not a bad thing.