Search
Search results
Joel Schumacher recommended War and Peace (Voyna i mir) (1965) in Movies (curated)
Vince Clarke recommended Trick Of The Trial by Genesis in Music (curated)
TR
The Regulars
6.0
Rate It
Book
A fierce and feisty debut with a magical twist about three ordinary, regular girls who suddenly have...
Parallel Life (2010)
Movie
KIM Suk-hyun is Korea's youngest appointed criminal court head judge, very famous for his rational...
Sam (74 KP) rated Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel in Books
Mar 27, 2019
I had really mixed feelings for this. I was really excited to start it because of how much I enjoyed listening to the podcast, and I hoped it would be exactly the same as the podcast. And it was, which turned out to be my first problem with it. The format and themes of Welcome to Night Vale are perfect for a podcast, but not so much for a book. I just felt that it didn’t quite work right.
You have to keep an open mind when you’re reading this. Similarly to the podcast, you have to keep an open mind and you can’t take anything literally. To me, that wasn’t so much of a problem and I quite liked the metaphors throughout the book, but I know that for others it makes the storytelling more confusing than it needs to be.
I loved that it had all of the usual characters from the podcast in it. I was half worried with this that it would follow new people and that would have spoilt it for me. The fact that the podcast and the book flow together works nicely and really helped me get into the book.
I felt like the plot needed more though. I think this goes back to what I said about the format of a podcast being wrong for a book. In the Night Vale podcast, you have all of the different characters and forms of entertainment meaning that a major plot isn’t needed so desperately. However, the lack of action in the plot in the book really held it back.
I could see myself enjoying the audiobook of this, but I feel like that would defeat the point. I got it because I liked the idea of a change in format from the podcast, but I found myself wishing I’d gotten the audiobook because it would have flowed better.
I suppose if you usually read more in this sort of genre, you may like this a lot more than I did. I think the major jump in genre also didn’t aid my enjoyment of the book. I’ll let you make your mind up for yourself.
You have to keep an open mind when you’re reading this. Similarly to the podcast, you have to keep an open mind and you can’t take anything literally. To me, that wasn’t so much of a problem and I quite liked the metaphors throughout the book, but I know that for others it makes the storytelling more confusing than it needs to be.
I loved that it had all of the usual characters from the podcast in it. I was half worried with this that it would follow new people and that would have spoilt it for me. The fact that the podcast and the book flow together works nicely and really helped me get into the book.
I felt like the plot needed more though. I think this goes back to what I said about the format of a podcast being wrong for a book. In the Night Vale podcast, you have all of the different characters and forms of entertainment meaning that a major plot isn’t needed so desperately. However, the lack of action in the plot in the book really held it back.
I could see myself enjoying the audiobook of this, but I feel like that would defeat the point. I got it because I liked the idea of a change in format from the podcast, but I found myself wishing I’d gotten the audiobook because it would have flowed better.
I suppose if you usually read more in this sort of genre, you may like this a lot more than I did. I think the major jump in genre also didn’t aid my enjoyment of the book. I’ll let you make your mind up for yourself.
Jordan Binkerd (567 KP) rated The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) in Movies
Aug 15, 2019 (Updated Aug 15, 2019)
The script is excellent and a clever take on the classic mythology, with some good allusions to previous incarnations. (2 more)
The cast is amazing all around
The effects are stellar, with the undead warriors hitting the right balance between too scary and not threatening enough
Merlin's hand magic pulled me right out of the story and made me think "That's the stupidest thing I've seen in quite a while...." (1 more)
Pacing was a bit off; the runtime was a bit long and there was a false climax with about half an hour to go in the film.
Surprisingly good family-friendly fantasy
I'm not sure why this bombed, aside from the fact that I barely remember seeing it advertised. It's a good film, well-executed on nearly every level. It was a bit long, perhaps, dragged a bit in the middle, but otherwise the only thing I have to complain about is the hand-waving tomfoolery they gave Merlin to execute his magic - that crap looked dumb as @#$&. I've seen lots of complaining about young Merlin, but for me it was just that his magic looked dumb - he was weird, but Merlin's supposed to be like that. The acting was top-notch across the board, though Patrick Stewart and Rebecca Ferguson were under-utilized. What set it apart for me, though, was that it refused to dumb itself down for its audience as so many kids' movies do. This film references obscure versions of the legend and makes them integral to the story without feeling they have to over-explain everything. For example, Merlin ages backwards. It's not that he looks like Patrick Stewart and is in disguise as a sixteen-year-old, but that he looks like a sixteen-year-old and occasionally puts on the guise of Patrick Stewart to prove a point or gain credibility. (I think in the original take it's less that he ages backwards and more that he lives backwards, but close enough.) I'd have loved this as a kid, and one day I'm sure my kids will love it as well.
ClareR (5869 KP) rated The Searcher in Books
Nov 15, 2020
The Searcher is, much like the Wych Elm, a slow burner. This is always a positive where I’m concerned. It gave me the opportunity to look around the Irish village of Ardnekalty, get to know the inhabitants, what the countryside and the landscape looked like (beautiful, by the way)and above all, to build a full picture of Cal Hooper and Trey.
As in most small villages, word of a new, exotic inhabitant spreads fast, and this is why Trey turns up on Cal’s doorstep. He wants Cal to help him find his older brother, Brendan, who has disappeared. The local police seem to be completely disinterested - mainly due to the family’s reputation. It seems to be no surprise to people that Trey’s 19 year old brother would want to leave the small village. With the family’s reputation being that of ‘wasters’ who live on the poverty line (or probably below it), it strikes people as unremarkable that he would leave to try and make his life better elsewhere. But Trey doesn’t believe this. He believes that he has been kidnapped, and he wants Cal to find him. The problem is that Cal just doesn’t want to get involved. He has left the Chicago police force because of the frustration he feels at not making a difference. And this decency is what ends up drawing him in to helping Trey.
It did surprise me that Cal becomes involved with Trey, and he clearly realises that such a relationship could be seen as problematic. He makes the effort to keep Trey’s presence a secret from his nosy neighbour, Mart. The fact that everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business did create a claustrophobic atmosphere, almost a touch of horror especially as the book progresses.
This also touches on some of the current issues in the USA surrounding policing and BLM protests, so it does make this a very current novel. I have to say though, that the end of the book came as a complete surprise to me, and left me feeling ultimately disappointed in the characters. It didn’t make me like the book any less though!
Many thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for my copy of this book to read and review.
As in most small villages, word of a new, exotic inhabitant spreads fast, and this is why Trey turns up on Cal’s doorstep. He wants Cal to help him find his older brother, Brendan, who has disappeared. The local police seem to be completely disinterested - mainly due to the family’s reputation. It seems to be no surprise to people that Trey’s 19 year old brother would want to leave the small village. With the family’s reputation being that of ‘wasters’ who live on the poverty line (or probably below it), it strikes people as unremarkable that he would leave to try and make his life better elsewhere. But Trey doesn’t believe this. He believes that he has been kidnapped, and he wants Cal to find him. The problem is that Cal just doesn’t want to get involved. He has left the Chicago police force because of the frustration he feels at not making a difference. And this decency is what ends up drawing him in to helping Trey.
It did surprise me that Cal becomes involved with Trey, and he clearly realises that such a relationship could be seen as problematic. He makes the effort to keep Trey’s presence a secret from his nosy neighbour, Mart. The fact that everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business did create a claustrophobic atmosphere, almost a touch of horror especially as the book progresses.
This also touches on some of the current issues in the USA surrounding policing and BLM protests, so it does make this a very current novel. I have to say though, that the end of the book came as a complete surprise to me, and left me feeling ultimately disappointed in the characters. It didn’t make me like the book any less though!
Many thanks to Penguin UK and NetGalley for my copy of this book to read and review.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
May 29, 2019
Oh my God...
#godzillakingofthemonsters is overlong, overstuffed, bland & lacks the one thing that at bare minimum I expected from a movie about big #monsters #fighting, EXCITEMENT. Now I quite liked the first #godzilla movie & yes it was to focused on the human element but visually it was really sticking & I found its slow build up to the reveal of Godzilla intense & exciting so that when he's finally introduced fully his presence became that more intimidating & thrilling. Sadly although in this sequel the monsters are given way more screen time at around 2hours the human element is still far to overpowering. That would be fine but its all so #boring & only serves as exposition to move the plot along. Dialog is sloppy/bellow basic & repetitive, acting is average at best & no one is likeable. Story wise its incredibly weak/bare bones which makes me wonder why it takes so long to play out considering we are only all here really to see monsters #fight. Cgi is really dodgy in places & I'm not sure if this is a throwback to past films but it feels odd & disjointed because at times its also impressive like it suddenly found its budget again. For an hour & a half I found this movie terrible with nothing setting it apart from stuff like #sanandreas or #geostorm. There are big set pieces upping the pace but like those movies they are a hollow mess of washed out cgi/badly framed fights that just weren't exciting at all. Why a 3? something changes in the last half hour & things do get a little cool for a bit, the score becomes epic, cgi looks great, theres some nice visual touches, #animation has weight & #action invokes some thrill but by then its all a just a bit to late. Theres also some #beautiful artsy establishing shots at times too throughout the movie & the subtle metaphors about the effects of #nuclear #weapons/war & looking after our #planet are well implemented too but thats about it. Im still #excited for #GodzillavsKong but just hoping this is a case of middle film itis but for now there are way better monster movies out there as i cant recomend seeing this one at all to be honest which is such a shame. #shingodzilla #godzillamovie #kong #japan #anime #gojira #kaiju
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Rumpelstiltskin in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
You know the story: the imp (gnome?) that tricked that one lady into promising him her firstborn child in return for spinning hair into gold? You remember? And then she can get her child back if she can guess his true name? Well this game has nothing to do with most of the story. But, it does center around the name guessing part, so there IS a tie back to the original fable. Guessing names is what it’s all about. But do we like it?
During a game of Rumpelstiltskin the players will be attempting to guess the true name of their opponent. The first one to guess correctly will receive a victory cube. The first player to win three of the five victory cubes is the winner! Each player begins the game with the exact same deck of cards to be shuffled. Place the deck face down in front of you, secretly peek at the card on the bottom of the deck and that is your true name to be guessed. On your turn you will play a card and hopefully be able to guess your opponent’s name. Some cards let you guess when played and some cards let you switch up the cards in your deck or your opponent’s. That’s the game.
Components. So it’s like 20 cards and 5 wooden cubes in a small box. The components are all great, as AEG usually has great components. Nothing super amazing (but that art is pretty pretty pretty good).
Ok so here’s the rub. It’s a game that’s just more of an activity than a game. I see what it’s trying to do, but it’s just not much fun. You can win the game with one card. Or it can drag on for like 3 or even 7 cards… It’s just not any fun for me. I only gave it a 2 rating because the art is great and I chuckle when I hear some people try to pronounce the names on the cards. Other than that I don’t think I will want to play this any more. Let me know if you want to take it off my hands.
Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a woeful 5 / 12.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/05/02/rumpelstiltskin-review/
During a game of Rumpelstiltskin the players will be attempting to guess the true name of their opponent. The first one to guess correctly will receive a victory cube. The first player to win three of the five victory cubes is the winner! Each player begins the game with the exact same deck of cards to be shuffled. Place the deck face down in front of you, secretly peek at the card on the bottom of the deck and that is your true name to be guessed. On your turn you will play a card and hopefully be able to guess your opponent’s name. Some cards let you guess when played and some cards let you switch up the cards in your deck or your opponent’s. That’s the game.
Components. So it’s like 20 cards and 5 wooden cubes in a small box. The components are all great, as AEG usually has great components. Nothing super amazing (but that art is pretty pretty pretty good).
Ok so here’s the rub. It’s a game that’s just more of an activity than a game. I see what it’s trying to do, but it’s just not much fun. You can win the game with one card. Or it can drag on for like 3 or even 7 cards… It’s just not any fun for me. I only gave it a 2 rating because the art is great and I chuckle when I hear some people try to pronounce the names on the cards. Other than that I don’t think I will want to play this any more. Let me know if you want to take it off my hands.
Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a woeful 5 / 12.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/05/02/rumpelstiltskin-review/