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So. Much. Anxiety. If I had kids, I would totally be Kate. Lost in between two worlds and failing miserable at balancing them both. I just cannot seem to grasp the high demand job + motherhood balance, and it gives me heart palpitations just thinking about it. EVERYTHING in this book just confirmed that motherhood is not for me! Don't get me wrong - I admire the people who can do it! I just have ZERO faith in myself that I'd ever be able to balance the two without buckets of Xanax and a therapist on speed dial.

Kate Reddy is having a hard time. She's got a high power job and some littles at home and she is struggling making it all work. She refuses to become a Pinterest mom, and doesn't really have the time anyway, plus, her job doesn't take her as serious as they should - because she's a ROCKSTAR, but she's a women, so... well, 'nuff said. Trying to find the time to be a good mom to her kids, wife to Richard, and give her job the attention it deserves - is not working out, and Kate needs to figure out her priorities - and fast!

I love Allison Pearson's writing - its quick, descriptive, and so witty. I get a bit lost in some of the British slang, but it's still fun pretending I understand it. Kate trying to figure out how to be a mother in a man's world, is equally sad and hilarious and I had fun reading this. Next up is How Hard Can it Be! I'm excited to read the follow up to this book and see where Kate has landed at 50!
  
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Musical
An entirely unnecessary sequel
I can't for the life of me fathom why they decided to make this film. It is one of the most depressing musicals I've ever seen (and yes I have seen Les Mis). Whilst the first film wasn't great, at least it was happy feel good sing along. This however is for the most part plain old depressing and miserable. If it wasn't for Julie Walters and the young & old Harry, this would also be entirely devoid of any form of humour.

The problem with this sequel is that it ruins the ending of the original and also tells a story that we didn't need to know. The whole flashbacks about how Donna met the guys isn't massively interesting and doesn't turn out as exciting as the first film made it sound. There's also an issue with the music. I'm not the biggest Abba fan, but I know quite a lot of their well known music, however I must have known less than half of the songs in this. I had thought they must have to use different songs, but in all honesty I wished they hadn't and just kept the more popular ones again.

This has a great cast but I think they're ruined by such a poor plot and overall film. Cher has a great voice still, but her acting skills are marred by the inability to move her face because of all the work she's had done. The whole thing is just a bit of a mess, lacks any form of spark or heart and is really just a bit pointless.
  
The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds
2019 | Drama, Sci-Fi
Wasted talent & story
I really can't understand what the BBC were thinking with this one. A great story and a really good cast, completely squandered.

The first episode started off slowly but well with quite a decent build up. Even when the martians appeared it was rather tense and exciting, with a great sense of foreboding. The problem with this is the main George & Amy storyline. Despite it being set in the Edwardian period, slightly earlier than the book (but still a lot closer than that Tom Cruise abomination) they seem to have decided to ignore the majority of the book's storyline and instead include a rather convoluted and modern storyline about George and his mistress. It's entirely unnecessary and is the main focus of the series, despite it being a complete bore. This is the main issue with the 2nd and third parts of the series, they're so dull and there's no interest or excitement because it concentrates solely on George and Amy. The martians are almost an after thought. It doesnt help either that they try and explain the subtleties and intricacies of the book with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Even the cast can't save this, as they seem to have given up on trying to put in believable performances. And what was with the flitting between different time periods? Trying to include a bit of intrigue with a storytelling mechanism that has worked so well with other films but fails miserable in this, as it spoils the entire ending and resolution of the story.

A classic case of looks good, starts off well but falls completely flat. Such a disappointment.
  
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Erika (17788 KP) Dec 6, 2019

This hasn't premiered in the US yet, but I'm def going to hard pass on it after reading your review. Why squander the amazing story??

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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jul 2, 2020  
Love, love, love this great excerpt from the science fiction novel GATES OF MARS by Kathleen McFall and Clark Hays. Come read it on my blog (https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/07/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-gates-of.html) and enter the #GIVEAWAY to #win a first edition copy of A Very Unusual Romance or all four books in the Cowboy and the Vampire Collection by McFall and Hays. (Seriously, they are super talented writers, so whomever wins will be in for a treat!)

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
IN THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE, HOW CAN A PERSON GO MISSING?

The year is 2187. Crucial Larsen, a veteran of the brutal Consolidation Wars, is working as a labor cop on Earth. The planet is a toxic dump and billions of people are miserable, but so what? It’s none of his business. He’s finally living a good life, or good enough. But then Essential, his beloved kid sister, disappears on Mars. When Halo—the all-powerful artificial-intelligence overseeing Earth and Mars on behalf of the ruling Five Families—can’t (or won’t) locate his sister, Crucial races up-universe to find her.

In the Choke, the frigid, airless expanse outside the luxury domes, Crucial uncovers a deadly secret from Essential’s past that threatens to shatter his apathetic existence … and both planets. Blending science fiction with the classic, hard-boiled detective story, Gates of Mars is a page-turning, futuristic thrill-ride featuring a gritty, irreverent anti-hero, Crucial Larsen. The first book of the Halo Trilogy, Gates of Mars is the eighth novel by award-winning authors, Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall.
     
Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)
Hobo With a Shotgun (2011)
2011 | Action
One Shell at a Time...
Somewhere between Peter Jackson's Dead Alive (Braindead) and maybe a Troma or Roger Corman classic B movies lies Hobo With A Shotgun.

You have to be in the right mood to watch a movie like this. Watching cool practical effects means everything was performed on the set without the use of separate visual or CGI effects. These were obviously used exclusively back in the day before ILM and the many CGI effect groups which exist today. I still feel generally speaking they are more realistic and don't take you out of a scene like bad CGI does.

Your friendly neighborhood hobo gets fed up with the local town's hoodlum brothers and their father owning the police and generally making life miserable for everyone so he decides to take the law into his own hands and dispense his own quick justice. while he is at it, he also removes other scum from the Earth including pedophile Santas and convenience store bandits.

He befriends the girl toy of one of the hoodlums and she becomes his sort of partner in crime when she is not getting sawed into and generally degraded in every way.

When I was looking through IMDb at the career of now the late Rutger Hauer, I was amazed on how many truly bad movies or most I had never heard of he had done in his career. Not saying he was the best actor, but he did have screen presence (especially in Blade Runner) which not every actor has.

He will be missed.