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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Havana Storm in Books
Nov 14, 2019
I've been reading some pretty demanding books recently and needed something a bit more lightweight and the Cussler template usually fits the bill. You always know what you are going to get and sometimes that's just what you need. I didn't expect this book to blow me away and it didn't - but it was better than my expectations.
This is another collaboration with Dirk Cussler and as usual it's hard to know how much of the book is down to Clive and how much to Dirk. But that's not the point. In this book you get lots of underwater action, 'bad guys' intent on making money and creating environmental disaster in the process and Cuban political intrigue.
In previous installments the children of Dirk Pitt (called Dirk and Summer) have sometimes appeared to have written in just to make sure they appear in the series leaving the actual meat of the story progression to the familiar team of Pitt and Giordino. But this is quite notable for the ensemble cast that get their hands dirty in the course of the story, especially when the usual pairings are split up and Pitt works with his daughter and Dirk is with Giordino.
There are the usual scrapes and death-defying escapes but again the reader is kept guessing as sometime the escapes leave the heroes free to continue their task of thwarting the bad guys but other times ingenious and risky plans work but end up with their almost immediate recapture.
Overall the book is indeed a little more realistic that previous ones (although still pretty far fetched). The threat is localised rather than global and the motivation of political power and greed seems plausible, as does the way the NUMA team pull the threads together to work out what is going on.
This is never going to be a must read book or on any kind of literary shortlist for me but for pure escapist adventure, it's really hard to beat.
Possibly one for Dirk Pitt fans only as the first few books are far superior, but a lot better than some installments in the series.
Rating: Some violence but not excessive
This is another collaboration with Dirk Cussler and as usual it's hard to know how much of the book is down to Clive and how much to Dirk. But that's not the point. In this book you get lots of underwater action, 'bad guys' intent on making money and creating environmental disaster in the process and Cuban political intrigue.
In previous installments the children of Dirk Pitt (called Dirk and Summer) have sometimes appeared to have written in just to make sure they appear in the series leaving the actual meat of the story progression to the familiar team of Pitt and Giordino. But this is quite notable for the ensemble cast that get their hands dirty in the course of the story, especially when the usual pairings are split up and Pitt works with his daughter and Dirk is with Giordino.
There are the usual scrapes and death-defying escapes but again the reader is kept guessing as sometime the escapes leave the heroes free to continue their task of thwarting the bad guys but other times ingenious and risky plans work but end up with their almost immediate recapture.
Overall the book is indeed a little more realistic that previous ones (although still pretty far fetched). The threat is localised rather than global and the motivation of political power and greed seems plausible, as does the way the NUMA team pull the threads together to work out what is going on.
This is never going to be a must read book or on any kind of literary shortlist for me but for pure escapist adventure, it's really hard to beat.
Possibly one for Dirk Pitt fans only as the first few books are far superior, but a lot better than some installments in the series.
Rating: Some violence but not excessive
MelanieTheresa (997 KP) rated Horror Stories: A Memoir by Liz Phair in Books
Feb 27, 2020
I wanted so badly to like this book, I really did. I've loved Liz Phair's music since the 90s, and I was pretty excited when I heard she'd written a memoir. But this.....this is not great.
It's a memoir, I KNOW it's a memoir, but there's no cohesive narrative and it kind of drives me nuts. It reads more like a collection of essays detailing specific pieces of her life, and it jumps all over the place. More disappointing, however, is that she comes across as kind of an asshole. I could forgive that, because hey, listen, we were all kind of assholes in our youth, no? But she seems so completely self-centered, self-involved, and spoiled that it rendered some of this very hard to get through, especially as I'd been fangirling about this book for a long time. I wanted to read about a bad ass indie rock queen, not a jerk who cheats on her husband for no discernible reason, thinks that throwing money at a cultural misunderstanding (that she caused) will make it go away, and whines about how the cute stock boy she's flirting with at Trader Joe's is actually engaged.
That being said, one of the final stories in the book very much got to me: she's at a lecture with her aging parents, and she's noticing how many of the attendees have trouble getting around due to their age and mobility issues. One of the older gentlemen attempts to get up to go outside, and he ends up falling in front of everyone, repeating over and over (with tears in his eyes) how embarrassed he is. She sees this, and once the gentlemen is seated next to her, she goes out of her way to bolster him (tells him he "fell like an athlete," then asks if he ever was an athlete), and holds a conversation with him throughout the remainder of the lecture to get his mind off of the entire incident. This act struck me as so kind that it almost redeems her for everything else in the book. And that is how Liz Phair was nearly able to bring me to tears at the tail end of a fairly lackluster memoir.
It's a memoir, I KNOW it's a memoir, but there's no cohesive narrative and it kind of drives me nuts. It reads more like a collection of essays detailing specific pieces of her life, and it jumps all over the place. More disappointing, however, is that she comes across as kind of an asshole. I could forgive that, because hey, listen, we were all kind of assholes in our youth, no? But she seems so completely self-centered, self-involved, and spoiled that it rendered some of this very hard to get through, especially as I'd been fangirling about this book for a long time. I wanted to read about a bad ass indie rock queen, not a jerk who cheats on her husband for no discernible reason, thinks that throwing money at a cultural misunderstanding (that she caused) will make it go away, and whines about how the cute stock boy she's flirting with at Trader Joe's is actually engaged.
That being said, one of the final stories in the book very much got to me: she's at a lecture with her aging parents, and she's noticing how many of the attendees have trouble getting around due to their age and mobility issues. One of the older gentlemen attempts to get up to go outside, and he ends up falling in front of everyone, repeating over and over (with tears in his eyes) how embarrassed he is. She sees this, and once the gentlemen is seated next to her, she goes out of her way to bolster him (tells him he "fell like an athlete," then asks if he ever was an athlete), and holds a conversation with him throughout the remainder of the lecture to get his mind off of the entire incident. This act struck me as so kind that it almost redeems her for everything else in the book. And that is how Liz Phair was nearly able to bring me to tears at the tail end of a fairly lackluster memoir.
JT (287 KP) rated Takers (2010) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
The bank heist, it’s been done to death in Hollywood over the years but it still seems to be a film favourite. You’d be hard pressed to find a really bad one out there and most of the ones that I have seen have been exceptional films.
Of course they all follow a very similar pattern. Group steals money, plan one last job which will inevitable go wrong where someone will get double crossed and not everyone walks off into the sunset with the money.Its a no brainer really and only an idiot could really mess up that style of plot.
Takers is no different from any other before it, the cast here seem to be a bit mismatched in places. There are real life rappers Chris Brown and T.I. aka Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., eye candy favourites Matt Dillon and Paul Walker with Brit Idris Elba making it the most unconventional mix of cops and robbers ever.
The film’s highlights are the well choreographed set pieces including a decent hotel gun fight, a hiest that goes wrong leading to more gun play, and an impressive chase through the city. Even the opening does well to set the story and character back grounds.
Where the film let’s itself down, through no fault of its own, is the way in which we are always one step ahead of the plot. This is just down to all the hiest films we have seen before and we’re pretty much going to make our own assumptions as to what is going to happen and who is going to get away with what at the climax.
There are a couple of wasted back stories which do little to the film such as Matt Dillon’s corrupt partner or Idris Elba’s crackhead sister. Zoe Saldana is a virtual unknown in this and pops up from time to time doing nothing but enlighten the screen with her clear beauty.
It’s never going to compete against the big boys such as Heat, Point Break or The Town, but it does well enough to hold the attention for 90 minutes or so.
Of course they all follow a very similar pattern. Group steals money, plan one last job which will inevitable go wrong where someone will get double crossed and not everyone walks off into the sunset with the money.Its a no brainer really and only an idiot could really mess up that style of plot.
Takers is no different from any other before it, the cast here seem to be a bit mismatched in places. There are real life rappers Chris Brown and T.I. aka Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., eye candy favourites Matt Dillon and Paul Walker with Brit Idris Elba making it the most unconventional mix of cops and robbers ever.
The film’s highlights are the well choreographed set pieces including a decent hotel gun fight, a hiest that goes wrong leading to more gun play, and an impressive chase through the city. Even the opening does well to set the story and character back grounds.
Where the film let’s itself down, through no fault of its own, is the way in which we are always one step ahead of the plot. This is just down to all the hiest films we have seen before and we’re pretty much going to make our own assumptions as to what is going to happen and who is going to get away with what at the climax.
There are a couple of wasted back stories which do little to the film such as Matt Dillon’s corrupt partner or Idris Elba’s crackhead sister. Zoe Saldana is a virtual unknown in this and pops up from time to time doing nothing but enlighten the screen with her clear beauty.
It’s never going to compete against the big boys such as Heat, Point Break or The Town, but it does well enough to hold the attention for 90 minutes or so.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Wrath of the Titans (2012) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
Sequels often struggle to live up to the expectations set by their predecessors. Wrath of the Titans delivers. Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, and Ralph Fiennes reprise their roles as Perseus, Zeus, and Hades in this continuation of the Clash of the Titans remake from 2010. They’re joined this time by Rosamund Pike, who portrays the strong, female love interest as the beautiful Queen Andromeda.
Perseus has settled down to become a fisherman with his son. His wife has been written out of the story — either by design or because the actress was not available. She seems to be dead for no particular reason. Perseus has chosen to live life as a mortal, despite his father, Zeus (Neeson), offering him a seat of power on Olympus. Early in the movie, Zeus comes to his son and asks for help, telling him something big is coming. Only Perseus, a demi-god, would have the strength to ensure humanity’s survival.
The rest of the story involves Perseus’s journey to save the world from the reawakening of Chronos. Mythology geeks and fantasy buffs will appreciate the severity of this situation.
While the makers of this film certainly didn’t reinvent the wheel, or even attempt to one-up their previous film, they surely succeeded in making an entertaining screenplay. In short: if you liked the first, you will like this one. It has all the action, sword-swinging, flying-horse-riding, and titan-killing you would expect from the series. The CGI is impressive, and the 3D effects were not too objectionable.
One scene in particular stuck out as ill-conceived. The kiss at the end of the film felt forced. There was very little romantic build-up throughout the movie, so it felt as if the filmmakers included the kiss because moviegoers expect to see romantic resolution. Perhaps this is one of the several endings they filmed, at which point they let focus groups make the call. Either way, it felt awkward.
As I said before, if you enjoyed the first, seeing the second is worth your time and money.
Perseus has settled down to become a fisherman with his son. His wife has been written out of the story — either by design or because the actress was not available. She seems to be dead for no particular reason. Perseus has chosen to live life as a mortal, despite his father, Zeus (Neeson), offering him a seat of power on Olympus. Early in the movie, Zeus comes to his son and asks for help, telling him something big is coming. Only Perseus, a demi-god, would have the strength to ensure humanity’s survival.
The rest of the story involves Perseus’s journey to save the world from the reawakening of Chronos. Mythology geeks and fantasy buffs will appreciate the severity of this situation.
While the makers of this film certainly didn’t reinvent the wheel, or even attempt to one-up their previous film, they surely succeeded in making an entertaining screenplay. In short: if you liked the first, you will like this one. It has all the action, sword-swinging, flying-horse-riding, and titan-killing you would expect from the series. The CGI is impressive, and the 3D effects were not too objectionable.
One scene in particular stuck out as ill-conceived. The kiss at the end of the film felt forced. There was very little romantic build-up throughout the movie, so it felt as if the filmmakers included the kiss because moviegoers expect to see romantic resolution. Perhaps this is one of the several endings they filmed, at which point they let focus groups make the call. Either way, it felt awkward.
As I said before, if you enjoyed the first, seeing the second is worth your time and money.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) is a criminal defense attorney who works out of his Lincoln Town Car in Los Angeles, hence the title of the movie and book “The Lincoln Lawyer” by Michael Connelly. Mickey defends all kinds of criminals and all he expects from his clients is that they pay him. While he may be a rather shifty lawyer, he is a loving father to his daughter Hayley (Mackenzie Aladjem) and he obviously still cares for her mother Maggie McPherson (Marisa Tomei).
Now although he has many clients, none are really big money clients. That changes one day when Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a rich Beverly Hills playboy, is arrested for assault & attempted rape and he wants Mick to defend him. At first Mick believes that he will be able to easily get his client acquitted, but as he and his investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy) dig deeper, they discovery disturbing information about the case and it’s possible link to another.
In his quest to win the all mighty “Not Guilty” verdict, Mick has many obstacles (both professional and personal) placed before him that he must successfully navigate around, and treachery hiding in the shadows that he must bring into the light or else he may lose more than just a case.
While the entire cast was incredible, Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe gave equally amazing performances (this is especially true for any scene that they were both in). The characters were well-developed, believable and for the most part likable, heck I even liked the biker Eddie (Trace Adkins). The storyline was intriguing with a twist or two that I did not see coming and it also had some very nice humor sprinkled in. I did find that in a few scenes the dialogue seemed to be a bit unnatural for what was going on but it didn’t really detract from the overall scenes in question. Personally I hope this film does well enough that they make a sequel (I believe the book’s sequel is The Reversal) because I would like to see more of these characters in action.
Now although he has many clients, none are really big money clients. That changes one day when Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe), a rich Beverly Hills playboy, is arrested for assault & attempted rape and he wants Mick to defend him. At first Mick believes that he will be able to easily get his client acquitted, but as he and his investigator Frank Levin (William H. Macy) dig deeper, they discovery disturbing information about the case and it’s possible link to another.
In his quest to win the all mighty “Not Guilty” verdict, Mick has many obstacles (both professional and personal) placed before him that he must successfully navigate around, and treachery hiding in the shadows that he must bring into the light or else he may lose more than just a case.
While the entire cast was incredible, Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe gave equally amazing performances (this is especially true for any scene that they were both in). The characters were well-developed, believable and for the most part likable, heck I even liked the biker Eddie (Trace Adkins). The storyline was intriguing with a twist or two that I did not see coming and it also had some very nice humor sprinkled in. I did find that in a few scenes the dialogue seemed to be a bit unnatural for what was going on but it didn’t really detract from the overall scenes in question. Personally I hope this film does well enough that they make a sequel (I believe the book’s sequel is The Reversal) because I would like to see more of these characters in action.
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