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Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital, 1939-45
Book
Berlin was the nerve-centre of Hitler's Germany - the backdrop for the most lavish ceremonies, it...
Awix (3310 KP) rated Bell-Bottom George (1943) in Movies
May 17, 2020
George Formby vehicle in need of a tune-up. George, who as ever is playing a good-hearted Lancastrian simpleton ukulele master, joins the navy by accident, stumbles across a nest of Nazi spies, and saves a new submarine from being sunk, while getting the girl and doing a few comic songs along the way.
These days I suspect most people only watch George Formby films for the one-liners and the musical numbers - but the script here is thin, and Formby doesn't play the uke in half the songs (which mostly aren't that good either). All the usual elements turn up - chases, slapstick, unlikely romance, etc - but the movie feels padded even at only 97 minutes long and it's just not consistently funny enough. Still, the second world war saw some terrible disasters, and this is far from the worst of them.
These days I suspect most people only watch George Formby films for the one-liners and the musical numbers - but the script here is thin, and Formby doesn't play the uke in half the songs (which mostly aren't that good either). All the usual elements turn up - chases, slapstick, unlikely romance, etc - but the movie feels padded even at only 97 minutes long and it's just not consistently funny enough. Still, the second world war saw some terrible disasters, and this is far from the worst of them.
A Country Road, A Tree
Book
From the best-selling author of Longbourn, a remarkable imagining of Samuel Beckett’s wartime...
historical fiction
Mystery Man
Book
A superbly gripping and blackly funny mystery by the king of the comic crime caper. He's the Man...
Hedy's Journey: The True Story of a Hungarian Girl Fleeing the Holocaust
10.0
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Book
It is 1941. Hedy and her family are Jewish, and the Nazi party is rising. Hedy's family is no longer...
children childrens nonfiction holocaust war history nonfiction
Force of Hate (DS Jo Howe #2)
9.0
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Book
When a night-time firebomb attack at a Brighton travellers' site kills women and children, Chief...
Lee (2222 KP) rated Overlord (2018) in Movies
Nov 5, 2018 (Updated Nov 6, 2018)
Brutal and intensely enjoyable
Overlord follows a group of WWII soldiers on a mission to bring down a radio tower in a remote French town. It opens with our team of soldiers traveling by plane, one of a large number of aircraft and warships all heading towards enemy territory during the dead of night. As they near their destination, things heat up. Bullet fire begins raining up from the enemy on the ground and things become very intense, with our soldiers having to evacuate the plane quickly. We are then treated to a stunning one shot sequence following the soldiers as they parachute to the ground, surrounded by explosions, bullets and complete chaos.
Down on the ground, the team (what's left of them) regroup and begin making their way towards the radio tower in order to carry out their mission. They have Nazi soldiers and landmines to contend with though, eventually coming across a local woman from the town they're headed to, and she leads them back to the home she shares with her younger brother and poorly aunt. It turns out that the town is being terrorised by Nazi officers who are randomly killing the towns residents and then doing shocking things with them beneath the radio tower that our soldiers are seeking to destroy.
The thing about Ovelord, for me, is that it never goes full on crazy with all the zombie experiment stuff that they show you in the trailers. Up until this moment in the town, and throughout the rest of the movie to a certain degree, Overlord is basically just a really solid war story in a similar vein to something like Saving Private Ryan. An intense opening, a journey across enemy territory by a team of soldiers, some scenes within a war-torn village. Time is dedicated to introducing and developing the characters and, even if the odd one is a little bit stereotypical, the whole thing feels very well done and hugely enjoyable. It's a fair while before you get any hint of anything more than that and when you do, it's not a complete From Dusk Till Dawn style flip either. It's not over the top and is in a similar tone and style to what's come up until that point. I felt that made it all the more believable, and even more terrifying.
The practical effects relating to the creatures the Nazi soldiers are creating are extremely effective and disturbing at times. They had the desired effect of either making me squirm in my seat, jump out of my skin or grin from ear to ear at how cool it all was! I absolutely loved this movie. Brutal, intensely enjoyable and with a satisfying ending. Loved it.
Down on the ground, the team (what's left of them) regroup and begin making their way towards the radio tower in order to carry out their mission. They have Nazi soldiers and landmines to contend with though, eventually coming across a local woman from the town they're headed to, and she leads them back to the home she shares with her younger brother and poorly aunt. It turns out that the town is being terrorised by Nazi officers who are randomly killing the towns residents and then doing shocking things with them beneath the radio tower that our soldiers are seeking to destroy.
The thing about Ovelord, for me, is that it never goes full on crazy with all the zombie experiment stuff that they show you in the trailers. Up until this moment in the town, and throughout the rest of the movie to a certain degree, Overlord is basically just a really solid war story in a similar vein to something like Saving Private Ryan. An intense opening, a journey across enemy territory by a team of soldiers, some scenes within a war-torn village. Time is dedicated to introducing and developing the characters and, even if the odd one is a little bit stereotypical, the whole thing feels very well done and hugely enjoyable. It's a fair while before you get any hint of anything more than that and when you do, it's not a complete From Dusk Till Dawn style flip either. It's not over the top and is in a similar tone and style to what's come up until that point. I felt that made it all the more believable, and even more terrifying.
The practical effects relating to the creatures the Nazi soldiers are creating are extremely effective and disturbing at times. They had the desired effect of either making me squirm in my seat, jump out of my skin or grin from ear to ear at how cool it all was! I absolutely loved this movie. Brutal, intensely enjoyable and with a satisfying ending. Loved it.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Sky Sharks (2020) in Movies
Aug 29, 2020
Fright Fest kicked off with a film that I absolutely had to see... Nazi zombies and flying sharks? No brainer.
A team of arctic explorers uncover an old Nazi lab that was developing ways to help them conquer the world. The team unwittingly let loose their two most powerful experiments that unleashes a swarm of flying sharks flown by unstoppable pilots.
Despite this having the word "sharks" in the title (and my love of shark films) I do have to be a buzzkill and say that this is not a shark film. I'd happily categorise it in zombie film territory, but the quality is way too good for this to be classified as a shark film. I don't want to take away from these fantastic flying finned devils though, they're brilliant and super happy looking.
It has the ridiculous ideas that make for an entertaining watch. but I can't help but think that a good budget actually had a negative effect. Once you get to a certain level of production value it goes against the nature of the story and "traditions".
With sky based villains you would obviously get something involving airplanes, but from the early action sequence I got heavy Sharknado 2 vibes. I don't want to ruin this bit for you so I'll just say that it's got the requisite amount of scientific impossibilities and graphic violence.
The CGI is a little hit and miss, the sharks are pretty good and I'm convinced have sneaky smiles on their faces, but the zombie aspects are a little ropey whenever they pop up.
When it comes to acting the cast deliver exactly what you'd expect from this sort of film, over the top when needed, dramatic in both serious and ridiculous ways, and I really hope that some of the female cast were appropriately compensated from some of their truly over the top scenes. You expect nudity because that's what these things do, but my goodness did they go to town with it.
Nazi scientists with extraordinary plans is a great storyline, you can take it in so many directions. I can't help but feel that Sky Sharks suffers from over complications. Discovery, accidental release followed by solution... that simple formula is cluttered with a lot of back story that could easily be cut back and made easier to follow, a fair amount seemed to have no purpose.
Even with all of this it's still something daft to enjoy, probably when drunk. I'm not sure if it's for zombie fans or shark fans, it doesn't quite fit in either classification properly but for those who want to free their brains from thinking then it's probably going to work for that.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/sky-sharks-movie-review.html
A team of arctic explorers uncover an old Nazi lab that was developing ways to help them conquer the world. The team unwittingly let loose their two most powerful experiments that unleashes a swarm of flying sharks flown by unstoppable pilots.
Despite this having the word "sharks" in the title (and my love of shark films) I do have to be a buzzkill and say that this is not a shark film. I'd happily categorise it in zombie film territory, but the quality is way too good for this to be classified as a shark film. I don't want to take away from these fantastic flying finned devils though, they're brilliant and super happy looking.
It has the ridiculous ideas that make for an entertaining watch. but I can't help but think that a good budget actually had a negative effect. Once you get to a certain level of production value it goes against the nature of the story and "traditions".
With sky based villains you would obviously get something involving airplanes, but from the early action sequence I got heavy Sharknado 2 vibes. I don't want to ruin this bit for you so I'll just say that it's got the requisite amount of scientific impossibilities and graphic violence.
The CGI is a little hit and miss, the sharks are pretty good and I'm convinced have sneaky smiles on their faces, but the zombie aspects are a little ropey whenever they pop up.
When it comes to acting the cast deliver exactly what you'd expect from this sort of film, over the top when needed, dramatic in both serious and ridiculous ways, and I really hope that some of the female cast were appropriately compensated from some of their truly over the top scenes. You expect nudity because that's what these things do, but my goodness did they go to town with it.
Nazi scientists with extraordinary plans is a great storyline, you can take it in so many directions. I can't help but feel that Sky Sharks suffers from over complications. Discovery, accidental release followed by solution... that simple formula is cluttered with a lot of back story that could easily be cut back and made easier to follow, a fair amount seemed to have no purpose.
Even with all of this it's still something daft to enjoy, probably when drunk. I'm not sure if it's for zombie fans or shark fans, it doesn't quite fit in either classification properly but for those who want to free their brains from thinking then it's probably going to work for that.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/sky-sharks-movie-review.html
Jessica Erdas (463 KP) rated The Book Thief in Books
May 16, 2018
It's rare to find a book that grips you by the heart and takes you on a ride. There's so much to love about this book. Zusak definitely has a way with words that draw you in and make it hard to put down. The story is about a young girl torn apart from the life she's known during the holocaust. It details the pain of nazi Germany and the trials that went with it. This is a story about death, love, friendship, books, a love of words, and a young brave girl trying to do the right thing in a world gone bad. It's told in the viewpoint of death and his encounters with the book thief. Finished this in 5 days and I'm sitting here pining for more, even though the story was brought to an acceptable conclusion. Find the time to read this, it's well worth it.
