Search
Search results
Veronica Pena (690 KP) rated Fifty Shades Freed (2018) in Movies
Jan 15, 2020
I think this may be a first for me - I think I liked the movie more than I liked the book. *GASP* I know. I am usually the last person to say that. There are several movie adaptations of books that I hate because they just miss the mark. This isn't one. If you've read my review of the book, then you know that there's a whole section of the book that I think is useless involving Ana's stepdad, Ray. (No spoilers, but it's useless. Literally adds nothing to the story.) I'm so happy that they didn't end up putting that in the film. It would've added probably 30 minutes of dead footage that wouldn't have advanced the plot in any way.
In terms of the acting and the dialogue, as well as the plot, I think this is the best of all three of them. Not only is it the climax of the plot between the three films, but I also think that it showcases Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan far better than any of the other films. Jamie has even said that Christian is hard to like in the first film and he is, I think Ana is too. But to see the story unfold, round out, and finish, it's incredibly satisfying. Of course, there are things that they had in the book that they didn't have in the movie - I would've loved the full epilogue to be shot - but overall, I think that this movie is the one that comes out on top, along with the novel. Definitely a guilty pleasure and I'm sure I'll find myself watching it every couple of months just for a good time.
In terms of the acting and the dialogue, as well as the plot, I think this is the best of all three of them. Not only is it the climax of the plot between the three films, but I also think that it showcases Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan far better than any of the other films. Jamie has even said that Christian is hard to like in the first film and he is, I think Ana is too. But to see the story unfold, round out, and finish, it's incredibly satisfying. Of course, there are things that they had in the book that they didn't have in the movie - I would've loved the full epilogue to be shot - but overall, I think that this movie is the one that comes out on top, along with the novel. Definitely a guilty pleasure and I'm sure I'll find myself watching it every couple of months just for a good time.
Merissa (13619 KP) rated The Mage King (The Ice Queen #2) in Books
Jul 21, 2017
The Mage King (The Ice Queen #2) by Rebecca Bauer
The Mage King is the second book in The Ice Queen series, and we return to see what Aria and Cas are up to, two years after we last saw them. They are now proud parents of Elena, although Cas seems to have taken to it a bit easier than Aria has done. They have worked hard for peace, but it seems like the mages are up to their tricks again. Not only that, but the magic of the mages seems to be failing. It becomes apparent that those who are not having problems (like Cas) may have a different blood line than others. Not only that, but King Liam from the west is making his way eastwards, and no one is quite sure why.
So much happens in this book, and yet it is easy to follow and is not unnecessarily complicated. Aria and Cas continue to go from strength to strength, no matter what is thrown at them. Their love and trust in each other is a strength that others just don't understand, and yet I adore it! They are not saccharine sweet, one of the things I love about Aria is her razor-sharp tongue, but are unfailing honest and loyal although they both play the deception/political game with style and finesse.
I refuse to give out any spoilers about this book. Trust me, you will want to immerse yourself in the Ice Realm, along with the other places, just like you did with The Ice Queen. I will say that there were no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow. Once again, this is an exceptional adult fantasy that I highly recommend.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
So much happens in this book, and yet it is easy to follow and is not unnecessarily complicated. Aria and Cas continue to go from strength to strength, no matter what is thrown at them. Their love and trust in each other is a strength that others just don't understand, and yet I adore it! They are not saccharine sweet, one of the things I love about Aria is her razor-sharp tongue, but are unfailing honest and loyal although they both play the deception/political game with style and finesse.
I refuse to give out any spoilers about this book. Trust me, you will want to immerse yourself in the Ice Realm, along with the other places, just like you did with The Ice Queen. I will say that there were no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow. Once again, this is an exceptional adult fantasy that I highly recommend.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Gene Simmons recommended Electric Ladyland by Jimi Hendrix / Jimi Experience Hendrix in Music (curated)
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Cursed Films - Season 1 in TV
Oct 7, 2020
Cursed Films is a 5 part series focusing on the ins and outs of film productions that were deemed cursed for one reason or another - the 5 parts concentrate on The Exorcist, The Omen, Poltergeist, The Crow, and The Twilight Zone movie respectively.
When this series is focused on the films themselves, it's a real treat. Some of the interviews are moving as hell - in particular the conversations with Richard Sawyer, Lance Anderson, Jeff Most, and Gary Sherman. These guys are to this day still affected by some of the things that happened during their film productions.
The Twilight Zone episode includes footage of the infamous on set accident which is genuinely haunting, and is honestly a really powerful part of the documentary having Sawyer's interview running alongside it.
The Crow episode is great as well, and the look we get at Anderson's relationship with Brandon Lee is so human and raw.
These moments really shine a light on how ridiculous the curse theories are, when in fact, they are just tragic events that effected real people, people who then had to deal with a following media circus.
The big thing I really didn't like about this series is only really relevant to The Omen and Exorcist episodes. It's almost like they didn't have enough material to fill the runtime of these segments, and so opt to pad it out with interviews with real exorcists, or magicians that practice black magic. I'm sure that there are interesting stories to be told by these people, but it feels really out of place and forced here. It's even cringe inducing at times and feels like very obvious filler. It detracts somewhat from what is otherwise a pretty solid documentary series.
Cursed Films is certainly an interesting watch, and is easy to digest in the 30 minute episodes that are presented. Also, that theme music is wild (found out it's by an Italian space-prog band from the 70s called I Signori Della Galassia!)
Worth a watch for sure, just ignore the silly filler parts.
When this series is focused on the films themselves, it's a real treat. Some of the interviews are moving as hell - in particular the conversations with Richard Sawyer, Lance Anderson, Jeff Most, and Gary Sherman. These guys are to this day still affected by some of the things that happened during their film productions.
The Twilight Zone episode includes footage of the infamous on set accident which is genuinely haunting, and is honestly a really powerful part of the documentary having Sawyer's interview running alongside it.
The Crow episode is great as well, and the look we get at Anderson's relationship with Brandon Lee is so human and raw.
These moments really shine a light on how ridiculous the curse theories are, when in fact, they are just tragic events that effected real people, people who then had to deal with a following media circus.
The big thing I really didn't like about this series is only really relevant to The Omen and Exorcist episodes. It's almost like they didn't have enough material to fill the runtime of these segments, and so opt to pad it out with interviews with real exorcists, or magicians that practice black magic. I'm sure that there are interesting stories to be told by these people, but it feels really out of place and forced here. It's even cringe inducing at times and feels like very obvious filler. It detracts somewhat from what is otherwise a pretty solid documentary series.
Cursed Films is certainly an interesting watch, and is easy to digest in the 30 minute episodes that are presented. Also, that theme music is wild (found out it's by an Italian space-prog band from the 70s called I Signori Della Galassia!)
Worth a watch for sure, just ignore the silly filler parts.
Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated Dark Nights: Metal in Books
Nov 30, 2020
So, here's how I am gonna open this review.. With a kinda-sorta-but-not-reeeaaallly Spoiler: it's got a scene with <i>frikkin' Batman</i> riding a <b>DINOSAUR</b> (a T-Rex or Allosaurus)! Look, even you are one of those self-proclaimed haters of all things METAL-related, it's <u>the @#$% BATMAN on a #$@ing DINOSAUR</u>! If that ain't enough to get you excited, well, then, go watch an episode of SAVED BY THE BELL! instead, because that's more your speed!
DARK NIGHTS: METAL (as well as the prequel pieces, THE FORGE and THE CASTING) was one hell of an entertaining ride! It was clear that Scott Snyder had a great appreciation for the events of old, offering us a leaner event than Marvel has in the last five years! Sure, there was some hiccups along the way, and that is nearly truly for anything piece of literature. However, the hiccups were not enough to take away from the love and care that Snyder and Capullo put into this decidely scary (in an EVENT HORIZON or HELLRAISER-kinda way) yet highly interesting!
This was a tale spun out of FINAL CRISIS and 52, with ties as far back as CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH! Yet, it also showed some of the intricacies at play since Dr. Manhattan's "tinkering" (Man, I hope DOOMSDAY CLOCK gets finished before I die)! Yes, sometimes as the adventure unfolds, there may be a moment here or there where you'll be like, "Um, that's just not something that'd happen!". Well, duh, it's a comic book, silly! If you can hit [PAUSE] on the UberCriticalComicFan sub-routine in your brain, you might find that this is actually pretty damned good stuff! You can clearly see the love and attention put into this by both the writer and the artist alike!
Speaking of which..
Greg Capullo was a great choice to partner up with Snyder for this! His art is tight, yet creepy and foreboding! There were several moments throughout where I was just like, "Holy cow!". It honestly felt like a good DC movie (not like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN)!
Look, at the end of the day, here's what you've got: one hell of a good hero story, something any non-Trump supporters could use right about now! It's just Good vs. Evil, plain and simple! If that ain't the basis for a good story, then, heck, I don't know what is!
DARK NIGHTS: METAL (as well as the prequel pieces, THE FORGE and THE CASTING) was one hell of an entertaining ride! It was clear that Scott Snyder had a great appreciation for the events of old, offering us a leaner event than Marvel has in the last five years! Sure, there was some hiccups along the way, and that is nearly truly for anything piece of literature. However, the hiccups were not enough to take away from the love and care that Snyder and Capullo put into this decidely scary (in an EVENT HORIZON or HELLRAISER-kinda way) yet highly interesting!
This was a tale spun out of FINAL CRISIS and 52, with ties as far back as CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTH! Yet, it also showed some of the intricacies at play since Dr. Manhattan's "tinkering" (Man, I hope DOOMSDAY CLOCK gets finished before I die)! Yes, sometimes as the adventure unfolds, there may be a moment here or there where you'll be like, "Um, that's just not something that'd happen!". Well, duh, it's a comic book, silly! If you can hit [PAUSE] on the UberCriticalComicFan sub-routine in your brain, you might find that this is actually pretty damned good stuff! You can clearly see the love and attention put into this by both the writer and the artist alike!
Speaking of which..
Greg Capullo was a great choice to partner up with Snyder for this! His art is tight, yet creepy and foreboding! There were several moments throughout where I was just like, "Holy cow!". It honestly felt like a good DC movie (not like BATMAN V. SUPERMAN)!
Look, at the end of the day, here's what you've got: one hell of a good hero story, something any non-Trump supporters could use right about now! It's just Good vs. Evil, plain and simple! If that ain't the basis for a good story, then, heck, I don't know what is!
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated The Highwaymen (2019) in Movies
Apr 5, 2019 (Updated Apr 5, 2019)
Costner & Harrelson (1 more)
Well made
HighwayMeh
The Highwaymen is a recent Netflix movie about two ex Texas Rangers that were brought out of retirement to hunt and kill Bonnie & Clyde. With that premise and Kevin Costner & Woody Harrelson in the lead roles, this could have been incredible. Although the movie is very well made and the entire cast are all pretty great in it, it is just so damn slow.
Not only that but it is 2+ hours long and, my God do you feel it. Like me, you will most likely spend the whole time waiting for the film to pick up until it just sort of fizzles out. I get that they were going for realism over action here, but it is seriously slow. At what I thought was almost the end of the movie, I hit paused to go for a bathroom break, only to discover that I was just shy of halfway into the movie's runtime.
Don't get me wrong, Costner and Harrelson do a great job of carrying this movie and it really does rely on their performance. Also, the movie is technically proficient. The camera work, the lighting, the set design etc is all solid, this is by no means a poorly made movie.
Overall, if you are a huge fan of the Bonnie & Clyde story, or of either of the lead actors, then you should probably check this one out. If not, you can most certainly give it a skip. As I keep reiterating, this is a technically sound movie, it is just so slow and drawn out that it is detrimental to me recommending the film to anyone other than diehard fans of this story.
Not only that but it is 2+ hours long and, my God do you feel it. Like me, you will most likely spend the whole time waiting for the film to pick up until it just sort of fizzles out. I get that they were going for realism over action here, but it is seriously slow. At what I thought was almost the end of the movie, I hit paused to go for a bathroom break, only to discover that I was just shy of halfway into the movie's runtime.
Don't get me wrong, Costner and Harrelson do a great job of carrying this movie and it really does rely on their performance. Also, the movie is technically proficient. The camera work, the lighting, the set design etc is all solid, this is by no means a poorly made movie.
Overall, if you are a huge fan of the Bonnie & Clyde story, or of either of the lead actors, then you should probably check this one out. If not, you can most certainly give it a skip. As I keep reiterating, this is a technically sound movie, it is just so slow and drawn out that it is detrimental to me recommending the film to anyone other than diehard fans of this story.
Jason Williamson recommended From the Double Gone Chapel by Two Lone Swordsmen in Music (curated)
Neil Hannon recommended Dare by The Human League in Music (curated)
Lee Ronaldo recommended Dancing In Your Head by Ornette Coleman in Music (curated)
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Then She Was Gone in Books
May 23, 2018
I Loved This Book
Ten years ago, Ellie Mack went missing. The police think she is just another teenage runaway, but her mother, Laurel, doesn't believe that for a second. Ellie's disappearance destroyed the family and now that her remains have been found, Laurel will finally have some closure. When she meets Floyd, it's like she's getting a second chance at life. But when she meets his daughter, Poppy, life comes to an alarming halt. Poppy looks so much like Ellie, but why? Of course people look like other people all the time, but there is just something about this child that keeps Ellie at the forefront. When Laurel discovers a connection between Floyd and her family, she embarks on a journey to find out exactly what happened to her daughter and who did it.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.
After the first few chapters of this book, I figured out a few things about this story that I think most readers will discover as well. But the thing that made this book so hard to put down was how it was all going to come together, it's an incredible journey.
Losing a child is the most painful experience. When Laurel loses Ellis, her whole world is turned upside down and she can no longer function as she once did. She stops cooking for her family, her relationships become strained and eventually she and her husband divorce. Once they find the body of her daughter, the pain becomes a little less since she now has some closure. But why does this young girl look so much like her dead daughter. Did Floyd have something to do with Ellie's disappearance and death? Her family doesn't get a good vibe from this man, but Laurel feels as if she needs to stay with him until the whole truth is revealed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.
After the first few chapters of this book, I figured out a few things about this story that I think most readers will discover as well. But the thing that made this book so hard to put down was how it was all going to come together, it's an incredible journey.
Losing a child is the most painful experience. When Laurel loses Ellis, her whole world is turned upside down and she can no longer function as she once did. She stops cooking for her family, her relationships become strained and eventually she and her husband divorce. Once they find the body of her daughter, the pain becomes a little less since she now has some closure. But why does this young girl look so much like her dead daughter. Did Floyd have something to do with Ellie's disappearance and death? Her family doesn't get a good vibe from this man, but Laurel feels as if she needs to stay with him until the whole truth is revealed.









