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Blood Father (2016)
Blood Father (2016)
2016 | Action, Mystery
7
7.3 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Blood Father starts as John Link (Gibson) who has recovered from his own substance abuse problems to be a tattooist while being parole. He has been searching for his daughter for years but when Lydia (Moriarty) calls him in need of help he races to her aid.

Link finds out that Lydia is in over her head which leads him into going on the run breaking his parole to protect her and locate the people who are trying to kill his daughter, using old connections along the way.

 

Thoughts on Blood Father

 

Characters – John Link is a former alcoholic convict, he has cleaned himself up but when his daughter finds herself in trouble he must go back into the routes that left him in prison, he must go after the men trying to kill his daughter, while stopping himself going off the bandwagon. Lydia is the teenager daughter runaway, she finds herself in too deep with the drug cartels but now she needs to trust her father to keep her safe. Jonah is the boyfriend of Lydia that she believes she killed cause the effects of the film. Preacher is one of the people Link turns to for help while Kirby is his support while trying to stay off the drinks.

Performances – Mel Gibson might have had troubled times recently but he shows us here the talent he holds to lead a movie in the action genre. Erin Moriarty is good in this film too because she shows us a street wise character beyond her years. Diego Luna is solid as the villain but we just don’t get enough from his character. This is a problem through the film, we don’t give the support characters enough time.

Story – The story is good, as it follows a distant father daughter relationship needing to rebuild after she finds herself in trouble with the law. This works for the story because we know how the aging hero is the new thing now, as an actor that can easily be the new one that saves his child and this gives us everything we want, we have moments of comedy as the two come from difference backgrounds but overall this is everything you would expect it to be

Action/Crime – The action is fire fights between Link and anyone that gets in his way, this does work well as the crime side of the story takes us into.

Settings – The settings show us the underworld that works for the hiding from potential trouble using no iconic landmarks which makes this fully believable.


Scene of the Movie – Showdown

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t learn enough about the villains.

Final Thoughts – This is a good action film that is enjoyable, short sweet and gives you everything you want.

 

Overall: Action film 101.
  
I Like Me (2018)
I Like Me (2018)
2018 |
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – Maggie is a free spirit that has spent most of her life being carefree, she returns home for her father’s funeral where she invites herself to stay with her half-sister, Maggie will drink too much and cause constant stress in her sister’s life, while not even getting a conversation out of her son. She writes a self-help book that makes her a big star, which offers her a chance to help people, but she struggles to deal with her own problems in life. Hannah is the younger half-sister of Maggie, she is married and looking for a promotion at work, she has her life pretty much together, until Maggie arrives in her life and things start to go wrong. Luke is Hannah’s husband that is still feeling young heart being a fan of disco bowling. Michael is the son of Maggie’s, the person she most wants back in her life, but he keeps his distance from her.

Performances – Sue Schaffel and Anna Fagan take the leading roles, they show us great chemistry through the film as they both have to show the ups and downs of their lives. Chris Kozlowski will get most of the laughs in the film.

Story – The story here follows a free spirit that returns to her home town, where she tries to put her life back together with her self-help book making her an internet sensation, but can she fix her own life before it is too late. This is a story that does focus on the idea that people will need help in everybody life, people might turn to books, but in reality it will always be yourself that helps the most. We do see how people can go off the rails and will try to find their own directions, while we will also people that seem to be grounded, but lack direction. We do get the important messages here and by the end of the film you will understand the meaning behind everything in the story.

Comedy – The comedy in the film comes from Maggie’s action and a lot comes from Luke just trying to be a good husband without ever siding with anybody.

Settings – The film keeps the settings simple enough being everyday home locations, until we go to the disco bowling which adds the colour and fun to the life of the characters.


Scene of the Movie – Disco bowling.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – There could have been more on Maggie’s childhood, like was she raised with Hannah, who was her mother.

Final Thoughts – This is a fun comedy that does have a life message involved, it will get the laughs and has strong performances throughout.

Overall: Fun comedy.
  
    LEGO® DUPLO® Town

    LEGO® DUPLO® Town

    Games and Entertainment

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    BUILD – EXPLORE – PLAY! Let your young child build creative, virtual play houses with fun,...

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    mi Flight Radar Pro

    Travel and Navigation

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    mi Flight Radar app turns your iPhone or iPad in to your own personal air traffic radar or flight...

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
2015 | Action, Sci-Fi
BB-8 (2 more)
Old Cast
Better Than The Prequels
Copy & Paste of A New Hope (0 more)
A New Hope Shortly Lived
Contains spoilers, click to show
The Force Awakens- is a excellent, phenomenal movie, no doubt about that. Its the return of old charcters coming back and a whole new cast of new charcters. My favorite is BB-8, he reminds me of R2-D2. The problem if you really think about it is.. Its a copy & paste of A New Hope. Lets look deeper into that.

Case 1- Introducing A Core Trio, you have Rey, Finn and Poe. In ANH, you have Luke, Leia and Han.

Case 2- Rey's beginning. Some one who is lonely, raised in the desert and finds a droid that has important infomation and that sets off the beginning of the adventure. Sounds like Luke to me, cause it is.

Case 3- The Droid Holds The Secret Clue To Everything Important. In this case, BB-8 is holding important infomation on the whereabouts on to find Luke.

Hmm R2-D2, secret message from Leia to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke, the farmboy whose future as a Jedi would save the Rebellion and the galaxy, is led to his Jedi. Intresting right.

Case 4- Jakku And Tatooine. Jakku is basically Tattooine. Its where the main charcter is from, where the story begins, where the main charcter finds the droid and where the adventure begins.

Case 5- Starkiller Base And The Death Star. Basically Starkiller Base is the Death Star. The First Order's Starkiller Base is just a complete rip off of Darth Vader's Death Star. While the Starkiller Base can inflict much more damage than the Death Star, it's basically the same weapon. A has basically the same weak point.

So basically what Im saying is that The Force Awakens is a copy & paste of A New Hope.

The plot: Set 30 years after Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens follows Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, and Han Solo's search for Luke Skywalker and their fight in the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa and veterans of the Rebel Alliance, against Kylo Ren and the First Order, a successor to the Galactic Empire.

I remember seeing this film opening day at 9:15am on Friday. With a packed theater, every seat was full and that was a excellent experience. Seeing it with a crowd full of star wars fans was epic and would do it again.

Its fun, entertaining and overall a excellent, phenomenal movie. Bringing us a new star wars movie after the awful prequels. The Force Awakens brought us fans a new hope after the disappointed and awful prequels. A new hope that didnt last long, but i will get to those soon. But for now this review.
  
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    Eli Explorer

    Education and Games

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    ***** Winner of ‘Best App Award’ - 2014 European Game Based Learning Competition ***** *****...

Port in a Storm (Sinners #8)
Port in a Storm (Sinners #8)
Rhys Ford | 2024 | Contemporary, Crime, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Connor wanted to give Forest the family he never had.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 8 in the Sinners Gin series. I would STRONGLY recommend you at least read Tequila Mockingbird (book 3 in the series) before this one. That book is how Connor and Forest came to be. The whole darn series is amazing, though, and staring at the beginning wouldn't be a bad thing :-)

Connor is a SWAT team leader and comes across Tate in a raid. The kid has had a hard life, and the name on his birth certificate is gonna cause problems. But Tate needs a home, and Connor and Forest want to give him that. Connor wants to give Forest the family he never had. They just gotta battle the courts first.

I didn't see this book coming at me in the way it did, but it absolutely came at the way it should have, you know? Nothing will ever be easy for Forest and Connor, and adding Tate to their family was no exception. But they have a huge support system in Connor's family and Forest's ever growing band family, even if some of Miki's advice is a little sketchy!

It's deeply emotional, with the feeling raging through both Connor and Forest about what to do, will they be enough, will they be allowed to bring this little boy into their family. Made me cry a time or two. I loved it.

I loved that everyone pops up, or is mentioned. It was great to catch up with the Morgan clan and all their add-ins. Especially as I thought that book 7 was going to be the last one! Are there more planned, I don't know, nor do I care, but I will read them as and when they appear.

It's been a long while since I read a Rhys Ford book, and by golly I missed her work. It took me a hot minute to get into her way with words and then I lost myself in the madness that is the Morgan clan and the Crossroads Gin guys.
 
OH! And the epilogue! Any chance of a cheeky short about Dude and Gaige?? That'll be fun!

But I'm left with a question that played on my mind the whole way through. As I was READING this, I heard Tristan James in my ear. The voices weren't quite right, but James' reading voice was there. Will he be narrating it, at some point?? I need him to!

So, thank you, Ms Ford, for bringing us back to these wonderful people one more time. I really do appreciate the time it took!

5 stunningly beautifully written stars

*same worded review will appear elsehwere
  
UM
Uncertain Magic
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Uncertain Magic by Laura Kinsale
Genre: Adult Historical romance
ISBN: 9781402237027
Published: May 4th 2010 by Sourcebooks Casablanca (first published March 2nd 1987)
Rating: 5
Roddy has a "gift"—or as she thinks of it, a curse—that allows her to hear the mind and feel the emotions of every human and animal on earth. Because of this, and her family history, she knows she will never be married, never have her own family… because what man wants every single thought and emotion on display for his wife? Past failed marriages in the family have shown her that her happiness is a hopeless cause… until she meets one man whom she does not have access to his thoughts and feelings. So Roddy takes things into her own hands. She realizes a little too late what kind of man she's gotten interested in her: Lord Iveragh. The Devil Earl of Ireland.
She carries out her plan, however, and he seems to like her enough to marry her. But The Devil Earl is hiding things from her… and possibly himself. Roddy finds that she can help him… but it will require more than she may be willing to give. If she doesn't, though, she will loose him forever… and maybe loose herself, too.
I loved Uncertain Magic. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading it. It was certainly a romance, and a very good one at that. But it was so much more than a romance novel: It was a clever blend of romance, adventure, historical events, family secrets, and Gaelic magic. The plot incorporated a rebellion in Ireland, smuggling, murder, and magic. There were horse races, escaping soldiers, and midnight balls with the dead.
The relationship between Roddy and Faelan (Lord Iveragh) started off a little random: a chance meeting, Roddy saving his horse from a heart attack, her pretending to be a stable boy and bragging on his employer (herself, of course) and Faelan seeing through it and embarrassing her. As it continued, I was a little surprised at the speed it progressed: They were married by chapter five. But them being married though the book was such an important aspect, that I understood it later. Of course, no marriage is perfect, and many romances are victims of happyland syndrome, where their relationship is so perfect that it's almost Holy.
Not this one.
There were misunderstandings, tears, heartbreak, scandals, possible affairs, redemption, and healing. And plenty of love-making.
With that said: the characters were great. Roddy was sweet and soft, but she had her spunk and I liked her immediately (especially when she took out a rude stableboy with a single kick). Faelan was, as his nickname describes him, a devil—but he was good that way. He was a little obnoxious, he had his sarcastic moments, and he certainly had his pride. He's the kind of dark secretive hero that everyone looks for… but with a touch of madness—or maybe magic—to make him even more mysterious. I love Roddy, I adore Faelan, and his mother (let's just say she never. shuts. up.) makes me laugh… the characters in this story are gems.
Just as I didn't expect the twisting exciting plot, I didn't expect the writing to be so good. It felt great to read, and the dialogue was easy to speak and felt natural. It flowed well, and was descriptive and lyrical. I liked the way Kinsale described Roddy experiencing everyone else's thoughts and emotions, and I liked the way she didn't over-describe everything—every little facial expression, every little movement—leaving out some for your imagination, but added enough description to allow you to see everything.
There were disappearing faeries and blind men who could see (try figuring that one out!) and missing chunks of time… all tied up beautifully at the end. Although it was, at first, a little confusing to figure out what had just happened on the last few pages, I loved the ending. There wasn't quite enough closure, but it didn't need to be closed: it was more like an opening for their new life together. After reading it, you know what will happen… so it doesn't need to be said.
This is probably one of my favorite books I've read this year, and it demands a re-read in the future.
Content/Recommendation: Some sex, mild language. Ages 18+
Review copyright Haley Mathiot 2010. Review copy supplied by publisher.
  
Six of Crows
Six of Crows
Leigh Bardugo | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
9.2 (45 Ratings)
Book Rating
I know. I KNOW. I SLACK A LOT LATELY. 😳
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I’ve finally read <em>Six of Crows,</em> the book that everyone keeps talking about and won’t stop talking about (now everyone keeps talking about <i>Crooked Kingdom</i>, among other books), and <i>hellooo </i>this is better than the <i>Grisha </i>trilogy. I didn’t even like Alina or Mal from the first series - if anything, I liked the Darkling (bless his dark heart) and Stormhound (I keep wondering if he’ll appear and he doesn’t seem to have despite the fact there might be mentions of him &#x1f914;).

Yet with <i>Six of Crows</i>… I like maybe 85% of the main characters. I say maybe because my math might actually be off and I’m too lazy to actually pull out a calculator and punch in some numbers to get what might be 0.84999. And it’s 85% because I might hate them later. That’s more than who I liked from the <i>Grisha </i>trilogy. &#x1f631;

<i>Six of Crows</i> technically has six main characters: Kaz, Inej, Nina, Matthias, Jesper, and Wylan (the odd little bean with no spotlight and therefore no prowling in his mind). All of whom are outcasts sent on a suicidal mission to rescue the creator of a drug that increases a Grisha’s power exponentially yet kills them in the end.

Five of which all have POVs switching around every chapter. I’m not a <i>huge </i>fan of multiple POVs because it can easily get confusing, but Bardugo wrote all five in a way that I’m not confused and running around like a little hamster who lost hold of how to stop its wheel.

The group of six are <i>fantastic </i>as a group - despite their differences, they get along pretty well and have a great dynamic together. They’re even better as pairs: Kaz and Inej, Nina and Matthias, Jesper and Wylan. I am all for witty and snark and just great dialogue. &#x1f60d;
<blockquote class="tr_bq">Jesper knocked his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. “Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I’m going to get Wylan’s ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost.”

Brekker’s lips quirked. “I’ll just hire Matthias’ ghost to kick your ghost’s ass.”

“My ghost won’t associate with your ghost,” Matthias said primly.</blockquote>
In case anyone wonders…. I ship Kaz and Inej. They are, simply out, badass and go well together perfectly (apparently my ship doesn’t sail in the sequel, which I’m extremely disappointed about). Kaz is a brilliant leader leading the Dregs with all kinds of tricks and plans up his cane and never backs down from a mission no matter how impossible it may be. Inej is a highly skilled assassin who has a knack for sneaking up on people without them ever knowing. Have I mentioned under their tough exteriors, they’re occasionally softies and it’s cute?

Onto ze world… <i>Six of Crows</i> brings us back to the world of Grisha, onto a small little island off the coast of Ravka and Shu Han, and into a little area called Ketterdam where criminals and misfits of society lurk together. I really loved the drastic change from palaces to a complete polar opposite where one has to constantly watch their back. Throughout the duration of the book, I really liked Bardugo’s descriptions of each place the six travel on their way, especially with how Fjerda has this ice court with a palace virtually impossible to break into with all the top notch security that they have.

<i>Six of Crows</i> can be read regardless of whether or not the <i>Grisha </i>trilogy has been read - there’s excellent character dynamics, great dialogue that might cause a laugh or two, and a cast that come from all kinds of backgrounds.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/six-of-crows-by-leigh-bardugo-review/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>