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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Old Guard (2020) in Movies

Jul 22, 2020  
The Old Guard (2020)
The Old Guard (2020)
2020 | Action, Fantasy
7
7.4 (34 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Theron makes this film watchable
In this time, where new cinematic experiences are limited to home viewing, it is fun to take a break from watching (or re-watching) classic films to check out a new movie.

And this one, THE OLD GUARD, is a fun enough and well worth checking out.

Starring Charlize Theron and based on a limited-run comics series from 2017, THE OLD GUARD tells the tale of a group if immortals (beings who cannot die) who bond together to serve the greater good of humanity.

While the plot is rather "by-the-book": young, hip, ego-maniacal mega-industrialist uses nefarious methods to capture the immortals to use for his own (money making) purposes, the star power of Theron holds this piece together in interesting ways.

Make no mistake - this is Theron's film (as the oldest of the immortals) and she is terrific. She demands attention anytime she is on the screen and when she shares the scene with strong actors like Chewitel Ejiofor(12 YEARS A SLAVE) and young Kiki Lane (IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK), it makes for an interesting film, indeed. Unfortunately, the rest of the Immortals (Luca Marinelli, Marwan Kenzari and - especially - Matthias Schoenaerts) are rather bland and the "big bad" (played by Dudley Dursley himself, Harry Melling) and his generic henchmen just aren't interesting enough.

The Direction, by Gina-Prince Bythewood, and the fight choreography is professional, but nothing special, which adds to the "meh" I was feeling whenever Theron was not on the screen.

But there is enough going right in this film that in this day where there is a dearth of new entertainment available, THE OLD GUARD fills the void quite well.

Letter Grade: B

7 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
  
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ClareR (5945 KP) rated When the Lights Go Out in Books

Nov 17, 2020  
When the Lights Go Out
When the Lights Go Out
Carys Bray | 2020 | Dystopia, Fiction & Poetry
10
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
When the Lights Go Out is not just about climate change and the disaster that we seem to be hurtling towards. It’s also about a marriage: Emma and Chris’ marriage. I seem to be having a really good run with books lately. This is a book where not overly much happens on the surface, but it’s packed full of action if you look at the way that it’s scrutinising Emma and Chris’ marriage. These are two people who have a lot going on. They have both been pushed to their limits, and whilst Emma seems to be dealing with the changes in her life, Chris is really struggling. He is constantly plagued by thoughts of ‘worst case scenarios’. He stockpiles food and fuel in the garage, he buys fish antibiotics just in case the human version is unobtainable. And he tests his family’s resourcefulness by turning off the electricity in their home to make sure they can cope - and leads them to believe it’s a power cut. Chris is unhappy. Work is very slow - no one needs a gardener if it rains non-stop and the garden is submerged, or if it gets so hot that nothing survives to tend to. Money is tight since Emma lost her job when the library where she worked closed, and she works part time in a school, supplementing her income with her craft work.

Everything comes to a dramatic head on Christmas Eve - and I don’t think I was capable of breathing properly for the last couple of chapters.

This sounds like a morose, depressing read, but it really wasn’t. There are some really quite funny bits interspersed with the more serious aspects - I thought it was really well balanced, and I loved reading it.