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All the Wrong Pages (Collier Creek)
All the Wrong Pages (Collier Creek)
Katherine McIntyre | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
loved this!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 4 of 6 in the Collier Creek multi author series; you don't need to read the other books first. But you NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED to read them, OK?? Cos all these books, and I have 2 more to read, have been awesome!

Logan and Cooper have been butting heads ever since high school when Logan stole Cooper's date for prom. Logan has crushed on Coop for as long, and it's become second nature. But then Cooper was made to see, really SEE why Logan is driving him nuts, and an overheard conversation crosses the T's and dots the I's. And then?? Logan is his, but will Logan let Coop in??

What I loved the most about this, was the dawning realisation that Coop had. It sort of crept up on him, till it hit him upside the head and then he ran with it. It was like a light bulb went off in his head and once he made the connection between Logan's behaviour and Logan's feelings?? Holy Moly!!

I loved the chemistry between these two. Hawt off the page, once they make the move. Loved that Coop never realised how perfect for him Logan was, before he got his hands and mouth on him. LOVED the smexy times!!

Again, super low angst. Most of the drama is before they get together, and that which comes after is not relationship based, but job based. But loved how both their work issues were solved in one fell swoop! It does lead nicely into a new series from McIntyre, too.

I can't fault this, really I can't. I just wish I could give them all more stars!

5 full and shiny stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere
  
Change of Heart (Change of Heart, #1)
Change of Heart (Change of Heart, #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hmm

This was so promising for so long but my interest started waning at about the 60% mark. It wasn't as exciting anymore and the sex scenes didn't do anything for me in regards to their relationship.

Logan seemed to be in permanent emotional pain, which annoyed me a bit, since Jin seemed to be coping so much easier with it all and he was the one who was most likely to die if something happened. Now the Logan of about the 90% mark? Now that is a character I would have loved to see throughout the book. He was fun, and seemed to love teasing Jin--which I loved.

I would be interested in continuing the series to see what else these two and the pack get up to.
  
Logan (2017)
Logan (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Hugh Jackman completes his journey as Wolverine (1 more)
An emotional journey
R.I.P Wolverine (0 more)
Mutant with Human emotion
There are so many superhero movies these days, that the genre becomes somewhat dull and repetitive, especially when it comes to Marvel (not saying Marvel is dull and boring, but some of the films are somewhat lacking due to how many films there are each year - Just my opinion), but Logan is one of the greatest comic book movies I have seen for a while, for the fact that it makes Logan more human and explores the feeling of trying to fit into society, despite being so different.

Logan has always had a part of him deep down that just wants to be normal. He never wanted his power and though he's thankful for it in some ways he feels like he wouldn't have been lost without it if he never had it to begin with. This film explores that notion even further than the previous films as shows us Logan in the role of a father figure to young Laura and a son figure to a now very old Charles Xavier. In this film Logan doesn't feel like he's a mutant in the company of other mutants, He feels like he's apart of a family.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!



Later in the film we see Logan's fatherly side after Charles passes away, and Logan risks everything to keep Laura safe and to teach her right and wrong, and give her a parenting love that she hasn't known before in her young life. This also shines through the portrayal of young Laura (portrayed by the talented Dafne Keen) as we see her become more and more attached to Old Man Logan (I had to!). This is what makes this film the most human feeling superhero movie that I've ever seen.

The R rating makes this film come to life by bringing death in the most brutal of ways because it allows Laura to see what Logan has become and makes his message to her and to the audience a lot clearer. "Don't become what they made you"

Through all of the bloody violence and anger Laura is able to understand those words more clearly than if it was a 15 rated film because we see Logan when he becomes savage and truly unleashes his full anger that's built up over his long lifetime of war and hatred.

When this film comes to an end (my lord that ending had me balling like a baby) and we see Laura say her final goodbyes to Logan, you don't want it to end because you know that this has finally been the one time that Logan felt human and felt a true connection to someone. (Also because we want Hugh Jackman to be Wolverine forever)

The cinematography and directing of this movie is beautiful to look at and witness as the scenes unfold. The cast perform to the highest of standards and really deliver a convincing story the makes you feel sympathetic to each of the main characters.

Wolverine will never be the same without Hugh Jackman, but we must not be too quick to dismiss the new casting choice when it comes around. You never know, they might surprise you.
  
DO
Death of Wolverine
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The DEATH of Wolverine?

As if.

The Temporary Absence of Wolverine? (from the Marvel Universe). perhaps.

Admittedly, that doesn't sound *quite* as catchy, but I think that we all know by now that the death of any major comic character rarely stays that way: Superman, Captain America and Spider-Man (for instance) have all previously 'died' and later been resurrected. In the comics, indeed, I can only think of a few characters - all with mainly supporting roles - who have died, and stayed dead. Characters such as Uncle Ben (Spider-Man), Jonathan Kent (Superman) or the Wayne's (Batman), for example.

With all that said, this story starts with Logan stripped of his healing powers by unspecified events and with a huge bounty placed on him, leading several of the worlds bounty hunters to try to collect.

How this all fits into 'Old Man Logan' (which I haven't read, but have heard of), I have no idea - in this, he does, indeed, 'die' by the end of the stories. Like the character, the (linked) stories are also pretty brutal, with the art not shying away form showing the injuries sustained by a healing-powers-less Logan, and with blood spilt on a fairly regular basis.

There's also a throw-away line in one of the X-Men movies (the first?), where Logan is asked - when referring to his claws popping out - if that hurts, and in which he answers "Every damn time". The reason I bring that up? Because that fact is woven into this story as well, with Logan trying to avoid using his claws until absolutely necessary and with close-ups of his hands (when he does) showing just how painful it can be.

Worth a read? Yes, but I very much doubt the character will stay dead for long!
  
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Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Logan (2017) in Movies

Jun 10, 2019 (Updated Jun 10, 2019)  
Logan (2017)
Logan (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Third time lucky?
The X-Men franchise is as convoluted as Spaghetti Junction. Littered with constantly changing timelines, it has become the epitome of tiring and fans are getting exasperated too. With every great film (X2, X-Men: Days of Future Past), the series has followed it with some truly awful movies (X-Men: Origins Wolverine, X-Men: Apocalypse).

To this end, Hugh Jackman has finally decided to hang up his Adamantium claws after Logan, his ninth and apparently final outing as the grizzly hero. Are we third time lucky for his solo films?

James Mangold, director of The Wolverine, returns to the director’s chair and helms an at times brutal and uncompromising film speckled with the sort of emotional heft you’d find in the saddest rom-com’s.

In the near future, a weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) cares for an ailing Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) in a hide out on the Mexican border accompanied by long-time acquaintance Caliban (Stephen Merchant). But Logan’s attempts to hide from the world and his legacy are upended when a young mutant, Laura, (Dafne Keen) arrives, being pursued by unspeakable dark forces.

In parts, Logan feels very much like a Western. The bleak, unforgiving Mexican landscape is a beautiful change from the dreary concrete jungles that blight the majority of superhero films these days and this is where Logan will either succeed or fail. It doesn’t feel like a superhero film, despite its faithfulness to the Old Man Logan comics.

Much like a metaphor for the genre itself, Logan has grown weary of the world and it is a testament to Hugh Jackman’s acting capabilities that he is able to add yet another dimension to a character that has been a cinema staple since the Millennium. Patrick Stewart is also on top form showing a vulnerable side to the world’s smartest mutant. Newcomer, Dafne Keen is also exceptional despite her limited dialogue.

Heartfelt scenes in which the oddball family share dinner with kind strangers are strikingly juxtaposed with sequences of sheer brutality. If you thought Deadpool was bloody, you haven’t seen anything yet. And for all the violence, Logan is the most poignant film in the entire X-Men canon, wearing its 15 certification proudly when it needs to, but not shying away from sections of quiet contemplation.

Negatives? Well, in spite of its gargantuan length, the ending feels a little tacked on and rushed – something a lot of modern blockbusters seem to feel is necessary at the moment and the final 30 minutes are a slight anti-climax in comparison to what preceded it, but on the whole, this final outing for Hugh Jackman proves a fitting one. Third time’s a charm!


https://moviemetropolis.net/2017/03/03/third-time-lucky-logan-review/
  
Cold Granite (Logan McRae #1)
Cold Granite (Logan McRae #1)
Stuart MacBride | 2005 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
8
8.2 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Gritty Police procedural.
If you are not going to manage with descriptions of horrendous crimes committed against young children though I would step away from this one.

Listening to the audio of this book narrated by Steve Worsley felt a lot like curling up in front of the TV to watch a post-watershed BBC police procedural series set in Scotland. If you like a good dark down to earth police procedural then this may well be up your alley.

Logan McRae is just returning to work following sustaining horrific injuries in the line of duty and is thrown straight back into the thick of it when the mutilated body of a young boy is discovered. Numerous threads, involving various cases and a smattering of personal life then intertwine to give a very solid down to earth police procedural. OK, I could of done with Logan being a bit less obsessed with every bit of leg he saw but for the time and place set probably fairly accurate…

First in a long-running series and as there's not much on the TV at the minute I'm on board for more of these
  
X-Force, Volume 1: Angels And Demons
X-Force, Volume 1: Angels And Demons
Craig Kyle | 2008 | Comics & Graphic Novels
8
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
When X-FORCE relaunched in 2009, I was on board for the first couple issues. Clayton Crain's sombre-hued, v art was perfectly suited to the new incarnation of the team: essentially, they were being re-crafted as a mutant Black Ops team. This was the book that got me into the character of Laura Kinney/X-23, and since that time, I have gobbled everything related to her backstory (both the well-written stuff and the not-so-well-written stuff).

Unfortunately, I was trying to read X-FORCE at a darker point (no pun intended) in my life. Long story short, I dropped the series after the third issue.

Fast forward to now.. I am at a better place mentally/emotionally (for the most part. Some days are better/worse than others). In I went, gobbling it up at a brisker pace than I could have imagined, bearing witness to a hitherto unheard of trail of carnage in an X-related book!

Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost were responsible for the creation of the character of X-23, where she first appeared in the animated series X-MEN: EVOLUTION back in the early 2000's, so I had an inkling of what to expect. However, the animated series was tame as heck compared what went down. If you have had the opportunity to see the movie LOGAN, it was that kind of intensity that was going on in these pages!

From the start, it was a team that Logan did not believe in, and he told Cyclops that in so many words (and a punch to the jaw!). However, as Cyclops told him, these are dark times, and to combat what is about to come, a "no rules" team, one that would be off-the-books is necessary! Logan does not agree with the team as whole, but he goes along with their first mission, as he feels the need to keep an eye on them, as well as watching out for Laura (Cyclops' assigning her to the team earns him the sock on the jaw!).

A lot of blood, a boatload of hurt, and a whole lot of things you mostly likely will not be able to unseen. All in the name of making it safe to be a mutant!

Kyle and Yost's characterizations are spot on, never wavering or disappointing. The characterization for Logan is particularly good, as are that of the Purifiers, the series', and mutantkind's, Big Bad. From the art to the writing, everything about this book, and clearly the series as a whole, is one hundred percent!

I won't lie, this is probably one of the darkest X-books you will ever read! The only one darker that I can think of is OLD MAN LOGAN. However, if you can handle angst-heavy, zero happy endings, then this is definitely for you! I can't recommend it enough!
  
Getting Hot with the Scot
Getting Hot with the Scot
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
From their freshman year in college, Cassie and her friends may a promise to each other that they would take a European vacation five years after graduation. So that's is where they are. Finishing up their trip in Scotland and then London. All Cassie wants out of this trip is to end her dry spell in the bedroom, but as the trip comes to a close, it doesn't look as though that is going to happen. And then she sees the man she's be waiting for. A long-haired redhead in a kilt named Logan Reid. Could it be more perfect? Cassie throws all her inhibitions to the side and goes for what she wants. Will the be just a vacation fling or something much more.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this book. I'm participating in a blog tour for this title next week on my blog, so be sure to check it out. There will be an author interview as well as an audiobook excerpt for the book.

First of all, I would just like to say that I wish I had a good group of girlfriends I could travel around Europe with, or even just explore things here in my own hometown. When Cassie embarked on this journey with her friends, in the back of her mind, she was hoping for a romantic fling in a foreign country. She has never been the relationship type and so, a fling is all she needs to get her over this dry spell.

Logan Reid is Scotland's jokster, his show Shenanigans is gaining quite a bit of attention in Europe as well as across the pond. When Cassie throws herself at him, he is shocked to say the very least, but from that moment forward, she has a hold on him, that he can't seem to shake. Logan is not the relationship type either, but what this woman is doing to him, could change all of that.

From Europe to Chicago, will these two find love they so desperately are trying to avoid, or will they enjoy their fling and go on about their lives?
  
Logan Lucky (2017)
Logan Lucky (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Jimmy Logan is down on his lucky, his busted knee from college football has just lost him another job. His brother wants you to believe it's the Logan's curse plaguing their family again. That nonsense isn't going to stop Jimmy, getting something out of his life. He's got a plan.

There's going to be a robbery.



It doesn't matter how often I see the title, my brain always recalls it as Lucky Logan, it sounds so much better that way round.

I enjoyed this one, I'm glad I saw it, but I don't think I'll need to see it again. At 119 minutes long it was a little painful to watch, not because it was bad, but because it felt like every minute of that time. I actually checked the clock because I thought it must have been ending soon and it had only been on for an hour.

Despite that, all the stars worked really well on screen together. It was a little off to see Craig in that role, but he played it with a nice amusing spin. I just went on a fun little Kevin Bacon loop as well, as I didn't realise there was a Gleeson in it... "wait, he's not the one I know" after a few click I realised that this one's brother was in American Made... small world!

It's a fun story line, and you do get a bit of an Ocean's feel about the whole thing. It is pretty much Ocean's Eleven with hillbillies. The ending did amuse me. I'm not sure why they left it like that, but it does leave you wondering...
  
Logan Lucky (2017)
Logan Lucky (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) just got fired from his job and found out that his ex-wife is moving his daughter to another state. He lives for his daughter and needs to get money fast to pay for a lawyer to fight the move. He decides that the best way to get this fast cash is to rob his previous employer, the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He enlist the help of his brother Clyde Logan (Adam Driver), his fast driving sister Millie Logan (Riley Keough), and explosives expert Joe Bang (Daniel Craig). Together they hatch a plan to rob the cash vault under the NASCAR track during the biggest race of the year. It won’t be easy for the crew as they must overcome many obstacles along the way. For one they only one of them who can blow the massive safe, Bang, is currently in prison. Bang also insists that his two inept brothers be included in the heist. There is also the matter of a large private police force patrolling the track. But the biggest hurdle may be the Logan family curse. Something bad is seemingly always happening to the family. Jimmy was destine to go to the NFL before a freak accident ruined his knee and ended his football career. Clyde was on his way back home from deployment in the Army and was hit by a roadside bomb and lost his arm. If they can overcome all of this they can walk away with a fortune.

This Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s 11, Ocean’s 12, Ocean’s 13) directed film is a fun and fast paced heist film. It definitely fits into the Ocean’s film model, with a large cast, twists that keep the audience guessing and well thought out ending. This films stands apart from those by being more hillbilly than the sleek well put together Ocean’s crew. The film dialog is well done and written expertly by Rebecca Blunt, this is the first screen writing credit for Rebecca. There are plenty of cameos by West Virginia Natives, NASCAR drivers and commentators, and others. I had heard beforehand that there were several cameos and made for a fun exercise in spotting the NASCAR drivers in various roles. The ensemble cast is stellar led by Tatum, Driver and Craig. The cast includes fun performances by a barely recognizable Seth MacFarlane along with Dwight Yoakam, Katie Holmes, and Hilary Swank. There were times thought that the various accents that the cast were attempting to use felt forced and/or missing from particular scenes. The pace of the film is good but does get a little slow during the heist set up and the two hour run time was a tad too long for me.

Overall this is a fun film that fits the heist movie genre perfectly. One news report in the film characterized the robbery as Ocean’s 7/11 and that pretty well sums up the film. The characters are original and if you are a fan of these types of movies you will not be disappointed.