Lessons
10.0
Rate It
Book
While the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has...
WW2 Post war Germany Post War UK Relationships Literary Fiction Historical Fiction
Fireworks at Midnight (A Witch’s Night Out #3)
8.0
Rate It
Book
Recent college graduate and part-time cat familiar Dulcina “Sweets” Gato is having the worst New...
Paranormal Romance Novella
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Frost Bite in Books
Oct 6, 2023
Kindle
Book siren arc
Frost Bite
By Angela Sylvaine
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Remember the '90s? Well...the town of Demise, North Dakota doesn't, and they're living in the year 1997. That's because an alien worm hitched a ride on a comet, crash-landed in the town's trailer park, and is now infecting animals with a memory-loss-inducing bite-and right before Christmas! Now it's up to nineteen-year-old Realene and her best friend Nate to stop the spread and defeat the worms before the entire town loses its mind. The only things standing in the way are their troubled pasts, a doomsday cult, and an army of infected prairie dogs.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This was so much fun. Alien worms turning animals and humans into zombies set in the 90s what’s not to love? I mean really! It was fast paced and so retro especially to someone who grew up in the 90s. Loved the characters and the story was so touching and sad in places. I was so glad I got chosen for this arc.
True Story
8.0
Rate It
Book
After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours...
David McK (3801 KP) rated Infinite (2021) in Movies
Mar 11, 2023
I have to say that - while the bigger screen of the cinema may have helped somewhat - I don't really feel that I missed all that much.
The plot revolves around Mark Wahlberg's character of Evan McCauley, who learns that the hallucinations he has been having throughout his lifetime are actually glimpses of past lives he has lived (and of which he retains the muscle memory) and that there are actually others like him throughout the world: the Nihilists (who want to bring about Armageddon so they can finally die) and the Faithful (out to stop them).
Despite the somewhat intriguing premise, It's not the best of movies, I'm afraid, with some of the action scenes looking somewhat ludicrous even on the small screen and with plot holes big enough to drive a truck through (if the bad guy has a gun that can trap those being reincarnated in limbo and just wants to die, why not just use it on himself?).
Small Eden
Book
A boy with his head in the clouds. A man with a head full of dreams. 1884. The symptoms of...
Historical Fiction 1864-1910
Best of Friends
9.0
Rate It
Book
A dazzling new novel of friendship, identity and the unknowability of other people - from the...
Literary fiction Pakistan London Historical fiction
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Roma (2018) in Movies
Jan 16, 2019
I would highly recommend checking this film out at your local movie theater house and, if you are lucky enough to have a theater that is showing the 70mm print, I would tell you to run...don't walk...to check this out.
For ROMA is a beautifully filmed Black and White film, in Spanish (with English subtitles) that tells a very personal story of a family in Mexico City in the early 1970's - as seen through the eyes of their house maid. This story is based (according to what I have read) on Cuaron's own childhood and he has lovingly, beautifully recreated this world and populated it with some interesting characters/experiences.
It is also languidly paced (read: slow) and - if I am honest about it - not much happens. So if you add languid pace with black and white photography with Spanish language (and English subtitles) with not much in the way of plot or action, your attention span will be stretched and, I'm afraid, if you're home, you will be tempted to be distracted by your phone, the dog, the dishes, a magazine, etc...
And that would be a shame, for I fell in love with this film, the beauty of the cinematography and the slow pace of it all and I think you will too if you give it a chance.
Cuaron, most certainly, will be nominated for an Oscar for his writing and directing of this piece - and I am sure that this film will be nominated for Best Picture (and deservedly so), but it is in two other places that I was entranced by ROMA. I have mentioned the first - the Cinematography. This film is a shoo-in for a Best Cinematography Oscar, the black and white is lush and rich throughout the film and adds to the memory-style idealized world that Cuaron has put on screen. So, the Best Cinematography Oscar should go to...Alfonso Cuaron.
The other area that I am surprised to say worked very well for me is the performances of the cast, all Mexican actors, unknown to U.S. audiences. Standing out most notably are Marina de Tavira as the matriarch of the family, Senora Sofia and, most surprisingly, Yalitza Aparicio as the focal point of this film, Cleo. Her part is mostly mute (or at least mute for me, for I don't speak Spanish) so the emotions I felt coming from her were brought forth through her facial features, looks and reactions, much more than what she says. I would be fine with either of these two getting an Oscar nomination.
Despite a slow start - and a slow pace throughout this film - and not much going on, I was entranced and enthralled by the world that Cuaron put on screen. A world that exists, mostly, in Cuaron's memory and that, now, exists for us to see in this wonderful film.
Letter Grade: A
9 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)