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Minority Report (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
2002 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
I Knew I Would Love it Before I Watched it...See What I Did There?
In the future, “precogs” help predict a murder before it happens. When they predict that John Anderton, head of the precrime divison, will be the next killer, Anderton has to go on the run to prove his innocence.

Acting: 10
We give Tom Cruise shit for being crazy in real life. Say what you want about him on a personal level, the energy that he brings to the big screen is excellent. The way he taps into the emotions of a father that just lost his son hits you with a strong emotional tie to the movie.

Outside of a strong performance from Cruise as John Anderton, it’s also the lesser roles that drive this movie into classic status. Actors/actresses like Lois Smith as the matter-of-fact Dr. Hinneman and Colin Farrell sticking his nose into every single scene as Detective Danny Witwer bring fresh life to this movie throughout its duration. The female performances were particularly strong. This movie just doesn’t function the same without wonderful actresses Samantha Morton and Kathryn Morris helping to drive the story.

Beginning: 10
The first ten minutes really set the stage for the insanity to come. We see the precrime unit led by Anderton moving on their next target: A man who catches his wife in bed cheating, or at least he will. The act has yet to happen, but the unit is there to stop it before it does.

Characters: 10
Anderton is a troubled cop stuck between a terrible past and a troubling future. You can relate to his pain and why he has ended up the way he has. Like Anderton, each character has enough depth and backstory to make you care about them one way or the other. I was particularly drawn to Agatha, head of the precogs, and her story.

Cinematography/Visuals: 10

Conflict: 10

Entertainment Value: 10

Memorability: 10
There is a scene in this movie I consider one of the greatest in any film ever done. Anderton has captured the precog Agatha to try and get into her brain to unearth his innocence. With the police in hot pursuit, he has to escape through a mall using Agatha as a cognitive guide to help him escape danger. It is truly a brilliant layout of a scene and it really enhances this movie. This is a movie packed with a number of those same type of scenes that leave an impact in your brain.

Pace: 10

Plot: 10
A brilliant story from cover to cover. Steven Spielberg pulls out the heart and glitz of this movie with true wonder that only he can achieve. There is a reason I consider him the GOAT, because his stories wow you while making you think and feel at the same time. This story couldn’t have been put together more perfectly.

Resolution: 10
The ending couldn’t have been more perfect. It’s all about redemption and starting over. I won’t spoil it by going into further detail.

Overall: 100
Every now and then a movie comes along that manages to sit with me for a long time. It’s the primary reason I consider Minority Report to be the greatest sci-fi movie ever made and #3 on my all-time list. Quite frankly, it’s just plain dope.
  
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After the Fall
After the Fall
Julie Cohen | 2017 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
There are all sorts of falls.

For Honor, it is an actual fall. An intelligent, proud woman, Honor raised her son, Stephen, alone. But Stephen married and then unexpectedly passed away, and Honor lives by herself. A fall down the stairs of her stately home lands her in the hospital with a broken hip and her pride deeply wounded. Suddenly, Honor is at the mercy of her former daughter-in-law, Jo, who was Stephen's wife, to help care for her.

For Jo, her fall may not be physical, but she feels as if she's always trying to catch up. Perpetually optimistic, Jo is constantly cheerful for those around her, but she cannot always hide her own doubts about where her life is headed, or if she's doing right by her three children. She's a busy mom to Lydia, Oscar, and Iris, and recently divorced from Oscar and Iris' father. She also fears she may be falling... for another man.

And for Lydia, she too has fallen in love. But she's also a teenager, who lost her father young, and she's dealing with the trials of school and exams. Lydia has a secret, as well: one that threatens her ability to blend in at school and home.

This book, oh this book. <i>I adored this book so much.</i> I fell for these characters (so sorry for that awful pun) hard. From the moment I started reading about feisty Honor, cheery Jo, and teenage Lydia, I loved them. I loved their problems, their sense of humor, and their family. This novel is beautifully written, achingly touching, and often laugh out loud funny.

It alternates between the points of view of our three main women: Honor, Jo, and Lydia. Honor and Jo have never been close, as Honor resented Jo marrying her son, and Jo felt intimidated by the intelligent and strong Honor. But after Honor's fall, she's forced to move in with Jo, her granddaughter Lydia, and Jo's young children with her second husband. The book slowly unfolds the details of how Stephen (Honor's son) passed away and the effect it had on all three women. The entire novel, really, is about little life details and how each they've impacted the three in various ways. In fact, you learn that while we are hearing these stories from three connected people, they really don't know each very well at all. Cohen captures so well how much they need each other, but can't admit it.

As such, there is a poignancy to the novel, as we watch the women navigate life and keep a variety of secrets and hidden sadness from each other. But unlike so many novels, where I want to just scream at the characters to communicate, or where it seems like the entire plot could have been avoided by someone simply talking to another character, this novel is real and true. For instance, Lydia's teen angst and the trials of her adolescence are also so beautifully (although heartbreakingly) portrayed.

It also captures the trials of having children so perfectly. There are some hilarious scenes as Jo navigates caring for her two younger children. Even better are the moments of prickly Honor interacting with young Iris and Oscar. You cannot help but laugh. There is a moment with Oscar and Honor that made me laugh and nearly cry; it was just so funny and touching. The novel is filled with many of these wonderful and witty moments.

I loved how these characters never failed to surprise me. Yes, there were some plot points you could see coming, but they didn't diminish my joy for the book or the depth of the characters. Nothing felt too cliche, and I remained captivated and intrigued. I felt a part of their story and lives. The novel really makes you think; its plot is not just "fluff."

By the end, I still loved all three so much, and my only disappointment was that the book ended. A beautiful 4.5+ stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review.

<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a></center>;
  
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Ghost in the Shell (2017)
2017 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A robot you could take home to meet mother.
I was intrigued to watch the other day (purely for the interest in the technology employed of course!) a short Guardian video on the development of the world’s first fully functioning sex robot: a disturbing watch, requiring a fairly broad mind. Watching it on the same day as going to see Scarlett Johansson’s new film “Ghost in the Shell” though was a mistake, since the similarities between Johansson’s character (‘Major’) and the animatronic sex doll (‘Harmony’) were… erm… distracting.
Johansson is a stunning actress, with unquestionably a stunning figure that she loves to show off, but you would have to start questioning her film choices: since there is hardly a hair’s breadth between the emotionally reserved superhero depiction here and her recent roles in “Lucy” and “Under the Skin“. With her other ongoing “Avengers” superhero work as Natasha Romanoff, and nothing much else beyond that other than brief cameos (“Hail Caesar“, “Hitchcock“) and voice work, its all getting a bit ‘samey’: I’d like to see her get back to her more dramatic roles like “Lost in Translation” that really launched her career.


Anyhoo, back to this flick. Set in the dazzling fictional Japanese city of Niihama, Johansson plays a terrorist victim saved only by having her brain transplanted into an android by the Hanka corporation. In this time (40 years in the future) human ‘upgrades’ with cybernetic technology are commonplace, but Major is a ‘first of a kind’ experiment. Hanka are not pure humanitarians though, since they have turned Major into a lethal fighting weapon with powers of invisibility and lightning reactions. She works for a shadowy anti-terrorism unit called Section 9, led by the Japanese speaking Aramaki (Takeshi Kitano, “Battle Royale”).

The upside of having no human form is that if you get burned or blown up, the team of cyber-surgeons back at Hanka, led by Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche), can rebuild her – – they “have the technology” to quote another bionic hero.
But all is not necessarily well in the idyll of anti-terrorist slashing and burning. Major suffers from recurring ‘glitches’ of memories from her past life: a life that she has no clear memories of. Her latest mission against a deformed and vindictive terrorist called Kuze (Michael Pitt) progressively resurfaces more of these memories, since Kuze clearly knows more about Major than she does.

“Ghost in the Shell” looks glorious, with the Hong Kong-like city being in the style of Blade Runner but with more holograms. (What exactly the holograms are supposed to be doing or advertising is rather unclear!). The cinematography and special effects deserve an Oscar nomination.
Given the film is based on an original Manga series, written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow and well known for its complexity, this Hollywood version has a surprisingly simple and linear story. As such it may disappoint the hoard of fans who adore the original materials.

Treating it as a standalone film, it should have an emotional depth beyond the superficial action, dealing as it does with loyalty and family ties. However, the scripting and editing is rather pedestrian making the whole thing a bit dull. Johansson and Pilou Asbæk, as her co-worker Batou, breathe what life they can into the material; but Binoche is less convincing as the Dr Frankenstein-style doctor. The best act in the piece though is Takeshi Kitano as the kick-ass OAP with attitude.

Where I had particular issues was in some of the detail of the action. ‘Invisibility’ is an attribute that needs to be metered out very carefully in the movies: Harry Potter just about got away with it; in “Die Another Day” it nearly killed the Bond franchise for good. Here, exactly how the androids can achieve invisibility is never explained and I disliked that intently. Similarly, the androids can clearly be physically damaged, yet Major seems to start each mission by throwing herself headfirst off the tallest skyscraper. Again, never explained.
Even though the premise, and the opening titles, brought back bad memories of that truly terrible Star Trek episode “Spock’s Brain”, this is a dark and thoughtful adaptation with great CGI effects but unfortunately its pedestrian pace means it is one that never truly breaks through into the upper echelons of Sci Fi greatness. Worth a watch though.
  
Whispers and Wings (Brodyr Alarch #6)
Whispers and Wings (Brodyr Alarch #6)
Morgan Sheppard | 2026 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
OUTSTANDING!
I was gifted my copy of this book.

Gimme a few, ok? Cos it's taken me two days to get to this point after finishing and for me to come down, so if this review runs away with itself, I'm-a sorry, ok??

THis is book 6, the FINAL book in the Brodyr Alarch series. Now, I will say all the other 5 books can be read as stand alone books, within the series, and reading the prequel novel, Sealed with A Curse would be helpful, but not strictly necessary. HOWEVER, for THIS book, I think it's necessary to read Sealed first. It will give you the full scope of Gerallt's cruelty to Selene, and how his wing came to be. Because you don't get a full recap here, just hints as to what he did.

And you need that, because this book is heavy!

You can feel Gerallt's guilt about what he did, right from the start and you can feel the pressure he puts himself under. You can feel that pain he feels, every time he looks at Selene and remembers what he did to her. She has long since forgiven him and all the brothers, but Gerallt was the eldest, the instigator, and he knows that he can never atone for his sins, even after he paid his dues via the curse and it was lifted.

What this book is, my dear peeps, is a masterclass in keeping your writing head on, while everything else goes to pot, and actually being able to do Gerallt justice, because Lord knows the man needs his happy ever after!

I found myself crying for Gerallt in places, and Aderyn too, but not as much as Gerallt. When you find out how he judges himself, and what he did, it's painful reading. Aderyn lost a lot when her friend betrayed her, and you feel her pain too, but not as keenly as Gerallt.

I think, I've been waiting for Gerallt for so very long, so very VERY long, now I've finished his story, I want to cry from him all over again. It's taken him 24 years to get to this point, and now he has to make a decision.

I'm not going to tell you his decision, but I will tell you this: when he says those words, you feel the weight lifting off him, almost seeing it coming off the page, it's THAT powerful a scene. Honestly? I had to keep putting this down and coming back to it, because Gerallt pain for nearly all of the book is palapable, you can taste it.

There's no smex in this book, I don't think Aderyn and Gerallt even kiss, but there is so much emotion! So very much emotion, I'm getting emotional writing this review!

This book is full of Ms Sheppard's skill at describing things: people, places, things. She manages to enable you to see, so very clearly, what she is talking about. Example: when talking about the glamour on the castle, you can see it shifting the light slightly, shifting what people see. It's quite a skill!

I don't add books lightly to my Masterpiece shelf, and this is the third book I have added to that shelf in 3 weeks! But I must. I cannot NOT add it, because I think, given the wait for this book, it had the opportunity to be a diappointment and it really is quite the opposite.

This book is OUTSTANDING!!

But Lord now I'm sad. Sad because all the brothers have their happy ever after, Selene and Conway are happy with their family, and the Gods are happy, that Their subjects are happy, but it breaks my heart because this is the last time I'll be reading about these people!

Anyway, I told you this might run away with itself, and it did, so I'm wrapping this up, before I go and spoiler alert you!

The other books in the series have all been 4 or 5 stars, but this one?? Far surpasses any of those books and by a long mile.

5 full and shiny, but very VERY sad stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere