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Awix (3310 KP) rated Licence To Kill (1989) in Movies
May 24, 2019
Probably nobody's favourite Bond film, but it doesn't deserve the stick it gets for supposedly putting the franchise on hiatus for half a decade (behind the scenes issues at MGM/UA were responsible for the delay). A gritty tale of drug-dealing and vengeance, rather closer to the tone of Ian Fleming than any Bond film in twenty years; not that different in tone from some parts of the Daniel Craig era.
The complaint that it just doesn't feel like a Bond movie - too much crunch, not enough glitter - has some truth to it, and Dalton is arguably playing it all just a bit too straight, but the action sequences are well-mounted and it moves along pacily enough. Also has a scene where Benicio del Toro gets squelched by giant spiked wheels, so much to enjoy here on many levels (only joking, Benny).
The complaint that it just doesn't feel like a Bond movie - too much crunch, not enough glitter - has some truth to it, and Dalton is arguably playing it all just a bit too straight, but the action sequences are well-mounted and it moves along pacily enough. Also has a scene where Benicio del Toro gets squelched by giant spiked wheels, so much to enjoy here on many levels (only joking, Benny).
Asiza Tait (139 KP) rated Decaying Days Evolve in Books
Feb 3, 2020 (Updated Mar 11, 2020)
Character development (2 more)
Suspenseful story line
Compelling plot
Our survivors have fought off the dead, the wailers and there own kind to make it out to the Mallard Hill. It’s no oasis either...just more humans being beasts.
Prospect Heath virtually implodes, finding and retrieving Sadie becomes the major agenda as it doesn’t look like they are going to achieve a cure any other way.
Characters are developed at a lightening speed, their mutations are not these ‘now I’m a super hero’ but far more gritty, (gross) and so very real. Paul’s mutation makes my skin crawl!
The stakes just get higher as more people are picked off and the big TWIST, but I won’t say what that is. I will let you enjoy the ‘OMG’ moment when you find out who project Re-gen really is...and all that it implies!
Excuse me everyone, Book 3 awaits!!
Prospect Heath virtually implodes, finding and retrieving Sadie becomes the major agenda as it doesn’t look like they are going to achieve a cure any other way.
Characters are developed at a lightening speed, their mutations are not these ‘now I’m a super hero’ but far more gritty, (gross) and so very real. Paul’s mutation makes my skin crawl!
The stakes just get higher as more people are picked off and the big TWIST, but I won’t say what that is. I will let you enjoy the ‘OMG’ moment when you find out who project Re-gen really is...and all that it implies!
Excuse me everyone, Book 3 awaits!!
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Geek Girl (Geek Girl, #1) in Books
Jan 7, 2021
Hmmm...
I've been eyeing this book up for a few months now. Every time I go in my local Asda Living I hum and ahh over whether to buy it but I wasn't sure if I'd like it. But then I saw it as a Kindle deal and just decided to buy it.
This was a quick easy read but I never really fell into the story. I didn't gel with it that much. I don't know if it was Harriets total geekiness-slash-clumsiness-slash-doesnt know when to shut-up-ness but up until the last 15% or so I found her so awkward as a character.
That's why I wasn't really expecting anything romance wise but that end bit has me a little intrigued as to where things could go with her and Nick so I may just have to buy the next book at some point.
I've been eyeing this book up for a few months now. Every time I go in my local Asda Living I hum and ahh over whether to buy it but I wasn't sure if I'd like it. But then I saw it as a Kindle deal and just decided to buy it.
This was a quick easy read but I never really fell into the story. I didn't gel with it that much. I don't know if it was Harriets total geekiness-slash-clumsiness-slash-doesnt know when to shut-up-ness but up until the last 15% or so I found her so awkward as a character.
That's why I wasn't really expecting anything romance wise but that end bit has me a little intrigued as to where things could go with her and Nick so I may just have to buy the next book at some point.
The Names They Gave Us
9.5
Rate It
Book
When it all falls apart, who can you believe in? Everything is going right for Lucy Hansson,...
religion summer camp cancer
ClareR (6256 KP) rated Another Life in Books
Dec 11, 2022
Well, I think this book pretty much broke my heart, and I was quite happy for it to do just that. Beautifully written, it tells the story of Anna and Nick. They meet at their summer job at the local cinema and fall fast and hard for one another. But Anna is a Jehovahs Witness and her life is mapped out: marriage, babies and wait for the judgement.
But Anna can’t seem to give Nick up, and they have a summer of poetry, music and love, before Anna realises that she will have to give up this life in order to live the life expected of her. She can’t imagine losing her family.
Nick never forgets her, and everything feels like second best. Then something awful happens and Anna and Nick meet again years later.
I loved this book and would most definitely recommend it. It’s just wonderful!
But Anna can’t seem to give Nick up, and they have a summer of poetry, music and love, before Anna realises that she will have to give up this life in order to live the life expected of her. She can’t imagine losing her family.
Nick never forgets her, and everything feels like second best. Then something awful happens and Anna and Nick meet again years later.
I loved this book and would most definitely recommend it. It’s just wonderful!
Ross (3284 KP) rated Cold Iron (Masters & Mages #1) in Books
Jan 22, 2019
Elaborate prose and an unsettling amount of "wait and see" damaged my enjoyment
This book feels like your standard coming-of-age fantasy - young man from a simple village finds himself in the big city destined for greatness and surrounds himself with strong watchers while he grows into his potential. It is that and it is so much more.
The story that is told is how Aranthur, this young man (selected from his village to attend the big city university) finds himself in the midst of conflict and significant events in the empire's changing status. The idea of fate dictating that this one man would be at the centre of things (see Wheel of Time) is not one that is explored here. While it is hinted at (he is frequently told off for ending up in unusual circumstances), it isn't overly laboured. Nobody tells him he was chosen or anything like that. Instead he gradually learns that he has found himself at the centre of political intrigue, plotting, counter-plotting, conspiracies and war.
This book is not about Aranthur. He is just the focal point of the book, the story is so much bigger than him. This meant it did at times become a little hard to take that he always just happened to meet the right person, go to the right place at the right time in order to witness or participate in a number of significant plot events. In hindsight, this is largely all explained as some hidden agenda and him being put in those places to make those decisions but at the time it was a little jarring.
The narrative is more akin to Robert Jordan than many contemporary writers - so much overly elaborate description of people, places, clothes, horses, weapons etc. At times this adds to the reading experience but I found it over-used and made the book feel like a much longer read (I was shocked when I found out it was just under 450 pages - it reads like around 700). Also, so much of the narrative is in either italics (to show it is a magic/majick/magik delete as appropriate) or is in some odd variation of French ("gonne" for gun, "quaveh" for coffee etc) to become irritating. At times the book is more like a decent fantasy tale or conspiracy and intrigue which has been edited by a historical re-enactment nut. Given this is fictional and the world is the author's to do with as he wishes, forcing some historical accuracy at the expense of reader enjoyment seemed an odd decision to make.
The magical system seems fairly standard fantasy fayre, albeit it is not described or explored in any detail, people just suddenly do things which haven't previously been mentioned. A large aspect of the book is Aranthur's being chosen to translate an ancient text to decode the magical secrets hidden there. I think in all he decodes three of these, and uses them, but there is no mention of them until he has to use them in a fight. It could just be that I have been reading a lot of LitRPG recently, where every spell is described in intimate detail and its uses are discussed way in advance of being needed in combat, but I felt like it was something of an afterthought or rescue from a plot dead-end ("oh sod it, say he done a magic").
While I did enjoy this book on the whole, the narrative style and the focus being on clothes rather than describing the interesting aspects of the world were to its detriment. Also, the book is written as two "books" (chapters), the first "book" covers around 80% and all in one long chapter without breaks. To my mind, ending there would have sufficed. The final 20% in "book 2" felt like part epilogue, part sequel and should maybe have been split as such.
My advice to anyone reading this, is to suspend disbelief that little bit further and trust that things do largely get explained satisfactorily before the end.
The story that is told is how Aranthur, this young man (selected from his village to attend the big city university) finds himself in the midst of conflict and significant events in the empire's changing status. The idea of fate dictating that this one man would be at the centre of things (see Wheel of Time) is not one that is explored here. While it is hinted at (he is frequently told off for ending up in unusual circumstances), it isn't overly laboured. Nobody tells him he was chosen or anything like that. Instead he gradually learns that he has found himself at the centre of political intrigue, plotting, counter-plotting, conspiracies and war.
This book is not about Aranthur. He is just the focal point of the book, the story is so much bigger than him. This meant it did at times become a little hard to take that he always just happened to meet the right person, go to the right place at the right time in order to witness or participate in a number of significant plot events. In hindsight, this is largely all explained as some hidden agenda and him being put in those places to make those decisions but at the time it was a little jarring.
The narrative is more akin to Robert Jordan than many contemporary writers - so much overly elaborate description of people, places, clothes, horses, weapons etc. At times this adds to the reading experience but I found it over-used and made the book feel like a much longer read (I was shocked when I found out it was just under 450 pages - it reads like around 700). Also, so much of the narrative is in either italics (to show it is a magic/majick/magik delete as appropriate) or is in some odd variation of French ("gonne" for gun, "quaveh" for coffee etc) to become irritating. At times the book is more like a decent fantasy tale or conspiracy and intrigue which has been edited by a historical re-enactment nut. Given this is fictional and the world is the author's to do with as he wishes, forcing some historical accuracy at the expense of reader enjoyment seemed an odd decision to make.
The magical system seems fairly standard fantasy fayre, albeit it is not described or explored in any detail, people just suddenly do things which haven't previously been mentioned. A large aspect of the book is Aranthur's being chosen to translate an ancient text to decode the magical secrets hidden there. I think in all he decodes three of these, and uses them, but there is no mention of them until he has to use them in a fight. It could just be that I have been reading a lot of LitRPG recently, where every spell is described in intimate detail and its uses are discussed way in advance of being needed in combat, but I felt like it was something of an afterthought or rescue from a plot dead-end ("oh sod it, say he done a magic").
While I did enjoy this book on the whole, the narrative style and the focus being on clothes rather than describing the interesting aspects of the world were to its detriment. Also, the book is written as two "books" (chapters), the first "book" covers around 80% and all in one long chapter without breaks. To my mind, ending there would have sufficed. The final 20% in "book 2" felt like part epilogue, part sequel and should maybe have been split as such.
My advice to anyone reading this, is to suspend disbelief that little bit further and trust that things do largely get explained satisfactorily before the end.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) in Movies
Apr 5, 2020
A little too out there
The first Cube film for me was always an underrated low budget cult classic, and definitely a precursor for the likes of Saw etc. The original was a great idea with just enough maths and science to make it believable and not completely ridiculous. Sadly the same can’t be said about this sequel.
They’ve gone far too over the top on the science that whilst it does make some sense, it makes the whole idea of the cube a completely silly and ridiculous idea. And the ending itself as far as the cube goes is just laughably bizarre. There’s also the general plot and story, which seems to have left out all of the bits from the original that made it interesting - like the scary traps and numbered doors. Some of the characters are interesting, others are just carbon copies from the original or completely pointless and forgettable. You can tell they’ve got a bigger budget with the amount of CGI in this, it’s just a shame it’s rather poor and lacks the punch of the physical traps used in the original.
This is a rather sorry excuse for a sequel, and not one I’d recommend watching. The third film and prequel Cube Zero is a much better watch.
They’ve gone far too over the top on the science that whilst it does make some sense, it makes the whole idea of the cube a completely silly and ridiculous idea. And the ending itself as far as the cube goes is just laughably bizarre. There’s also the general plot and story, which seems to have left out all of the bits from the original that made it interesting - like the scary traps and numbered doors. Some of the characters are interesting, others are just carbon copies from the original or completely pointless and forgettable. You can tell they’ve got a bigger budget with the amount of CGI in this, it’s just a shame it’s rather poor and lacks the punch of the physical traps used in the original.
This is a rather sorry excuse for a sequel, and not one I’d recommend watching. The third film and prequel Cube Zero is a much better watch.
Natacha (374 KP) rated Half a War (Shattered Sea, Book 3) in Books
Jan 13, 2020
My poor little heart! I think this is my favourite book in the trilogy. It's going to be hard to do a spoiler-free review so just in case: Might contain LIGHT SPOILERS
Things I liked:
-In book two on of my complaints was that the base of the story plot resembled a lot the story plot of the first one. Well, this one was completely different. This one is about different kingdoms coming together to defeat the enemy.
-I loved how the characters evolve in this book, more than the previous two. I love seeing Skara turned into a powerful Queen, I love seeing other character falling from hight. And Yarvi. Although it's not one of our main POV we see a lot of him and how much he has changed since book one.
-What I like in Abercrombie writing is that he right the relationship between characters in a way that they feel true to life. If two characters are not meant to be together for X or Y reason he will not come up with a plot or excuse to pair those characters just because this is what our heart wants. And I always appreciate that no matter how much it hurts.
-Raith! I loved this character so much. I have a sweet spot for bad boys that deep down are good. Especially when we get to see this side of them come out naturally.
-I rarely cry when reading books or watching movies, and I still didn't while reading this book but it did manage to make my heart feel sad. Well done!
-Raith and Skara. Oh, my little heart. I loved those two together.
-We got to see even more magic than book two!
-They where a couple of big twists that I didn't see coming. Especially the one with the traitor. Kept me guessing throughout the book and when we learn how it was I wasn't expecting it.
Things I didn't like
It was very hard to find things that I didn't like but here some nitpicking
-So you know how I said that I loved the plot twist with the traitor. I did I'm not taking it back but... If you look closely I feel like maybe there are some tiny plothole that I can't really discuss without spoiling everything.
-The elves. Although we see way more elf-magic we still don't really get a lot of information about them. At the end of this trilogy, a still feel that I wanted to know more about them.
Things I liked:
-In book two on of my complaints was that the base of the story plot resembled a lot the story plot of the first one. Well, this one was completely different. This one is about different kingdoms coming together to defeat the enemy.
-I loved how the characters evolve in this book, more than the previous two. I love seeing Skara turned into a powerful Queen, I love seeing other character falling from hight. And Yarvi. Although it's not one of our main POV we see a lot of him and how much he has changed since book one.
-What I like in Abercrombie writing is that he right the relationship between characters in a way that they feel true to life. If two characters are not meant to be together for X or Y reason he will not come up with a plot or excuse to pair those characters just because this is what our heart wants. And I always appreciate that no matter how much it hurts.
-Raith! I loved this character so much. I have a sweet spot for bad boys that deep down are good. Especially when we get to see this side of them come out naturally.
-I rarely cry when reading books or watching movies, and I still didn't while reading this book but it did manage to make my heart feel sad. Well done!
-Raith and Skara. Oh, my little heart. I loved those two together.
-We got to see even more magic than book two!
-They where a couple of big twists that I didn't see coming. Especially the one with the traitor. Kept me guessing throughout the book and when we learn how it was I wasn't expecting it.
Things I didn't like
It was very hard to find things that I didn't like but here some nitpicking
-So you know how I said that I loved the plot twist with the traitor. I did I'm not taking it back but... If you look closely I feel like maybe there are some tiny plothole that I can't really discuss without spoiling everything.
-The elves. Although we see way more elf-magic we still don't really get a lot of information about them. At the end of this trilogy, a still feel that I wanted to know more about them.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Superbad (2007) in Movies
Feb 7, 2021
Hilarious From Start to Finish
Two best friends go on an adventure to get alcohol for the last big party of high school.
Acting: 10
Michael Cera and Jonah Hill couldn’t have played their roles any better as best friends Evan and Seth. Cera is nerdy and lovable while Hill is a big ball of energy that plays macho but is really insecure. Their chemistry is perfect together and sets up perfect assists for awesome side characters like McLovin’ to shine.
Beginning: 10
Right from the first line of the movie, I got sucked in. The comedy hits you and doesn’t stop in the first ten minutes as Evan and Seth discuss what porn sites to subscribe to. It’s a perfect setup for what is to come.
Characters: 10
Evan and Seth are perfect together. You almost wonder if they aren’t best friends in real life. If there weren’t any other characters in the movie but the two of them, I still would have given this category a perfect score. Hilarious characters like Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Officers Slater and Michaels (Bill Hader and Seth Rogen) just add to the film’s overall enjoyment.
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Conflict: 10
Entertainment Value: 10
In one scene, we find Seth making sex impresssions in home economics behind his cooking partner’s back while Evan looks on. This is just one of a number of scenes that make this movie ridiculously entertaining. It’s amazing how many crazy antics they get into in so few settings.
Memorability: 10
Evan and Seth are in such a rush to grow up, but towards the end of the movie, there is a scene where they are laying in sleeping bags like two little kids. It’s unique little touches like this that really make this movie strong and impactful. More than just a mere comedy, but also amazing at comedy, Superbad soars to great heights with scenes that stand the test of time.
Pace: 10
Plot: 10
Such a simple story made strong with great twists and turns. It never tries to be anything more than what it is, but it also manages to have layers nonetheless. It’s a great ride overall, and the epitomy of a “less is more” concept.
Resolution: 10
Loved how they tied everything together. Beautiful final ten minutes, just as quality as the start. Definitely leaves you with a feeling of fulfillment.
Overall: 100
As a screenwriter, a movie like Superbad is what I aspire to write. Not a comedy, but a movie that fires on all cylinders and maintains consistent, perfect timing. This is a movie I can watch repeatedly and it will never get old.
Acting: 10
Michael Cera and Jonah Hill couldn’t have played their roles any better as best friends Evan and Seth. Cera is nerdy and lovable while Hill is a big ball of energy that plays macho but is really insecure. Their chemistry is perfect together and sets up perfect assists for awesome side characters like McLovin’ to shine.
Beginning: 10
Right from the first line of the movie, I got sucked in. The comedy hits you and doesn’t stop in the first ten minutes as Evan and Seth discuss what porn sites to subscribe to. It’s a perfect setup for what is to come.
Characters: 10
Evan and Seth are perfect together. You almost wonder if they aren’t best friends in real life. If there weren’t any other characters in the movie but the two of them, I still would have given this category a perfect score. Hilarious characters like Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Officers Slater and Michaels (Bill Hader and Seth Rogen) just add to the film’s overall enjoyment.
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Conflict: 10
Entertainment Value: 10
In one scene, we find Seth making sex impresssions in home economics behind his cooking partner’s back while Evan looks on. This is just one of a number of scenes that make this movie ridiculously entertaining. It’s amazing how many crazy antics they get into in so few settings.
Memorability: 10
Evan and Seth are in such a rush to grow up, but towards the end of the movie, there is a scene where they are laying in sleeping bags like two little kids. It’s unique little touches like this that really make this movie strong and impactful. More than just a mere comedy, but also amazing at comedy, Superbad soars to great heights with scenes that stand the test of time.
Pace: 10
Plot: 10
Such a simple story made strong with great twists and turns. It never tries to be anything more than what it is, but it also manages to have layers nonetheless. It’s a great ride overall, and the epitomy of a “less is more” concept.
Resolution: 10
Loved how they tied everything together. Beautiful final ten minutes, just as quality as the start. Definitely leaves you with a feeling of fulfillment.
Overall: 100
As a screenwriter, a movie like Superbad is what I aspire to write. Not a comedy, but a movie that fires on all cylinders and maintains consistent, perfect timing. This is a movie I can watch repeatedly and it will never get old.