Search

Search only in certain items:

At Eternity's Gate (2018)
At Eternity's Gate (2018)
2018 | Biography, Drama
Willem Dafoe (4 more)
Oscar Isaac
Rupert Friend
Mads Mikkelsen
Interesting, if controversial, take on his death
Pacing (1 more)
Cinematography
Beautifully performed, but meandering
Vincent VanGogh is my wife's favorite artist, and so I know a bit more about him than I do most of his contemporaries. The story here is an interesting one, but the film manages to get bogged down with shaky cam shots of Vincent's feet running through fields. The pacing was odd but tolerable, but the cinematography and camera work....I wasn't a fan. The performances, though? Not a bad one in the lot, and Willem Dafoe deserved to win the Oscar for this. I'm not sure what he lost to, but I don't think it was more powerful. Sure, he's too old for the part, but honestly? He was born to play the role. Bottom line: loved the performances, but not the movie itself.
  
40x40

Graham Massey recommended Selflessness by John Coltrane in Music (curated)

 
Selflessness by John Coltrane
Selflessness by John Coltrane
1969 | Jazz
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I originally just dipped my toe in the water with John Coltrane. The first one I got was one of his 50s albums. My friend worked in Virgin Records in Manchester when they were a small independent mail order-type shop – it wasn't the Mega Store at that point – and they had a bit of a jazz section and occasionally they lost the covers to records, and he gave me one of his records. It was quite straight jazz, but I wasn't ready for straight jazz and so it lurked around in my record collection. Then I went for A Love Supreme, but that was too over my head at that point; it took me a while to get into that. But then I got Selflessness second-hand, and it has 'My Favourite Things' on it; it's a real out-there version of it, not the version that was the radio hit. It was recorded live and it's a record that squeezes emotion out of you and leaves you rinsed. It makes you breathe differently! It's the most engaging journey as a piece of music; it's really profound to me. It's still a record that I return to whenever I need a good head clean. It really will wash my brain out."

Source
  
Command Authority (Jack Ryan Universe, #16)
Command Authority (Jack Ryan Universe, #16)
Tom Clancy | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It is a shame the world lost such a great story teller as Tom Clancy. I have loved the Jack Ryan series and the latest installment [Command Authority] did not disappoint.

The characters are so good they are like meeting old friends and I love how Jack Jr. has grown into his own. Also the plot of this one with the Russians returning as the antagonists, especially attacking the Ukraine, was timely.

As with all Clancy's books a must read!
  
Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover
Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover
Ally Carter | 2009 | Children, Mystery, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
3.5 stars.

It's taken me about three week to read this, mainly because I was reading more exciting kindle books but when I lost interest in my current eBook I picked this back up and finished it within a day.

I do love our gang of girls and a certain boy, though he wasn't in it as much as i'd like. But this didn't grab me as much as the last one.

I'll get round to reading book 4 soon.
  
The Keeper Of Lost Things
The Keeper Of Lost Things
Ruth Hogan | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.8 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
So to begin with I struggled with this one. Even though it only had 300 pages, it seemed to be taking a while for anything to happen with the plot. But I’m glad I didn’t give in. It did take until around page 150 for me to get into it, but after that point it was brilliant.

Laura is a brilliant protagonist. She’s got all of her own problems and is then left with the complicated mystery of Anthony’s life. But she never dwells on the past too much. She moves on from everything that has happened and lives in the moment.

I loved Sunshine. She’s such an enthusiastic character and she seemed to be the only one who could see the truth in everything that was going off. Sunshine had Down’s Syndrome and she saw a friend in Laura. She made the perfect friend and was such a lovely person with some of the best ideas. It was so refreshing to find a character like her.

I would happily just read a book of all the short stories that came with every lost item. I found most of them gripping, and quite a lot of them dealt with quite serious subjects. They were like little windows into people’s lives and I found them really compelling.

The Keeper of Lost Things is a brilliant little book and worth picking up.
  
The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events #7)
The Vile Village (A Series of Unfortunate Events #7)
Lemony Snicket | 2001 | Children
6
8.2 (20 Ratings)
Book Rating
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really enjoy this one. It’s more of a plot filler to make the whole series 13 books long and it just seems a bit forced.

The Baudelaire’s travel to VFD, where the whole village plans to look after them. The town has recently lost its chief of police and a new one is brought in, who, quite shockingly, isn’t Count Olaf. He comes in later.

I don’t really know what to say about this one. It’s definitely not the most entertaining, and I only read it to get to the next book in the series. It was definitely more of a filler than an actual movement in the plot.

I didn’t give up on it though, even though I was close. I think the fact that I didn’t even enjoy it made me read it faster just to get it over with.