Search

Search only in certain items:

Tombstone (1993)
Tombstone (1993)
1993 | Action, Western
Fun Western
Renowned gunslingers Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer) come to Tombstone, Arizona to settle down, but are forced to pick up their guns again when a gang called the Cowboys start to wreak havoc.

Acting: 8

Beginning: 10
Great start as you're quickly introduced to the bad guys of the film. You can't quite figure out if they're a sloppy group of thugs or a well-oiled machine, but you know they have the worst intentions. The first scene is very reminiscent of the bridal massacre in Kill Bill.

Characters: 9

Cinematography/Visuals: 7
Beautiful shots of the town of Tombstone create the proper western vibes from grassy plains to old-timey saloons. The film isn't as gory as one you would see in our current decade so when you see characters actually bleeding out, the effect is powerful. While I thought the scene in the rain was a bit over the top, the film definitely made up for it in its closing shots of the final face off.

Conflict: 9
The action is both consistent and fun in Tombstone. A lot of it is built up in the familiar traditional western style of long-paused shots. One second, you're watching a staredown and the next, guns are drawn. Wyatt Earp seemed to have this down to a science. His intense staredown right before he open-hand slapped Johnny Tyler (Billy Bob Thornton) was probably one of the most memorable moments for me. Seriously, what man open-hand slaps another man with zero hesitation?

The gunfight montages more than gave me my fill of action. You know it's just a film, but you feel like you're watching the best of the best show off their skills on screen as the bullets fly. I appreciated the original moments that later films have duplicated.

Genre: 8

Memorability: 7

Pace: 7

Plot: 7

Resolution: 7

Overall: 79
Not the best western I've seen, but still a very fun film. If you can get over the hump of the forced love story, this should be an enjoyable watch.
  
40x40

AyL (16 KP) rated Evil Genius in TV

Jan 7, 2019  
Evil Genius
Evil Genius
2018 | Documentary
9
7.5 (24 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
An explosive documentary and must-watch for true crime lovers
Content:
A man casually walks into a bank, with a bomb strapped to his neck and demands money. He gets caught on the parking lot after leaving the bank but he never makes it into a police car. 44 minutes after the first 911 call about the robbery and the bomb, the device around the mans neck detonates and kills him, all documented by CCTV and the Police. The man is Brian Wells, a pizza delivery man from this area. The documentary investigates the events around the murder of Brian Wells in Pennsylvania in 2003, which also became known as the „Pizza-Bomber“ Case.

Review:
If you are looking for a casual show to watch while playing candy crush on your phone, this is not the documentary for you, because things become complicated quick, with loads of suspects, different crime scenes and a lot of different stories that are told.
To really enjoy this documentary, you have to give it your full focus so you catch all the minute details. It’s like working the crime scene yourself. The documentary is not for the faint hearted. It shows the original CCTV footage of Brian Wells death!

The documentary includes interviews with people that worked on the cases, suspects and the family and friend of Brian Wells, which gives it a personal touch and makes it very attractive and fascinating to watch. It creates new questions in the viewers mind: Was Brian victim or perpetrator? Was the detonation an accident, murder or even suicide? And who is Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and what does this woman have to do with all of this?

Trey Borzillieri, director and narrator of the documentary, shows his quite intense research for this documentary which ended in a deeper relationship with one of the suspects.

Evil genius is fascinating to watch, it grabs you and takes you through all Episodes, leaving you wanting more. A must watch for true crime lovers!
  
The Line That Held Us
The Line That Held Us
David Joy | 2018 | Contemporary
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dark and moody. Definitely recommend
I was very surprised to like this book immensely. This easily has to be one of my favorites for 2018. I read this in almost one sitting and the plot grabbed me from the very first page. It’s dark and moody, somber and serious, but it’s worth to read from cover to cover in one sitting.

You can take a guess things weren’t to go very well once things hit the fan, what you probably didn’t expect is the snowball to get big enough that it affects a larger group of people. Yet once you get to know what kind of a person Dwayne is, he’s quite the man of extremes. On the other hand, can you really blame him though? After what he’s gone through and his childhood, he truly has no one else but his brother. Now it doesn’t excuse him for what he did, but it goes to show at what extremes people would get to because of people or things being taken away from them.

I just loved the overall mood and tone of the book. It’s quaint because it’s set in a small town. Everyone knows each other since childhood, certain family names stand out and are prominent due to reputation or how long they’ve been in town. It’s a great setting and the characters are realistic. Although each had their own ghosts and secrets, it provided more realism to them and they’re not so perfect and they’re all pretty much flawed. This is what made the book so good.

The plot was good and provided easy reading. You’d want to know what happens and the ending wasn’t what I expected, it was a great ending however it would have been nice to hear about the outcomes of some of the characters featured. Definitely recommend this book. I enjoyed it absolutely from start to finish.
  
40x40

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated American Horror Story - Season 8 in TV

Apr 29, 2020 (Updated Sep 10, 2020)  
American Horror Story - Season 8
American Horror Story - Season 8
2018 | Horror
Season 8 of AHS is one that I honestly struggled with.
Subtitled "Apocalypse", the show deals with the end of the world and endeavours to bring the antichrist, a now grown Michael Langdon (born at the end of season 1) face to face with the coven of witches from season 3.
I can't fault the ambition on display. I really like when different seasons reference each other so this first fully fledged crossover is enticing.
The execution is just a bit boring unfortunately.

I didn't really like any of the new characters. I like both Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson very much, but the characters written for them are so over the top. AHS had always had a hammy side, but this was just a little too much. The comedy aspect just didn't stick this time around. Even Kathy Bates get a pretty uninspired story arc, really nothing too different from her "right hand man" relegation in Freak Show and Hotel.
As I've said before, I'm also not a huge fan of Coven, so when they eventually turn up, I surprisingly felt relieved.
Michael Langdon is an exception. Cody Fern plays him with a genuine sense of evil, and was the highlight for me.
It's not all bad however, the return to Murder House was a great touch and it was great to see Jessica Lange and other season 1 characters return, even if it was all too brief.

It's hard to hate on it too much, as AHS always has it's tongue firmly in cheek, but Apocalypse just felt like a misfire - a great idea, but fumbled in practice.