Search

Search only in certain items:

The Green Mile
The Green Mile
Stephen King | 1996 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
9.1 (34 Ratings)
Book Rating
Atmosphere (1 more)
Characters
Made me cry (I try to be hard - Gerrrr) (0 more)
A disturbing but beautiful book
I'd seen the film a long time ago so no surprises with the plot but wow was I surprised at how well written and captivating this book was.

Written as the memoir of former Prison Guard Paul Edgecombe we get a look into the life of Block E of the Cold Mountain Penitentiary which Paul is the head guard of in the 1930s. In what we would call death row today they call it the “Green Mile” due to the colour of the floor. We get a snapshot of the period on the block around the time of convicted child killer John Coffey coming onto the “Mile.”

Each part of the book has a bit from the present from as Paul is writing this memoir and these served as lovely little bridge to the next part of his story.

I've read quite a bit of King and enjoy a lot of his work with his well crafted stories, but I've never fallen head over heels for his writing....until now.

Very emotionally engaging King really pulls off a great atmosphere, characters and despite a supernatural element, a story that easily carries you along. Not often I cry reading a book but this one got me.
  
40x40

David McK (3547 KP) rated Wonder Woman (2017) in Movies

Jul 27, 2019 (Updated Jun 22, 2021)  
Wonder Woman (2017)
Wonder Woman (2017)
2017 | Action, Fantasy, War
The No Mans land scene (0 more)
Like, I'm sure, many others, if you'd mentioned the words 'Wonder Woman' to me prior to 2016 Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice I probably would have thought of the 1970s(?) Linda Carter starring TV series.

That was a role that Gal Gadot took in in the 2016 movie, portraying a different take on the character: one who has largely remained in the background throughout history, only revealing herself (and her powers) towards the end of that movie.

This film takes place at an earlier period in her life (albeit 'bookended' by a modern day setting, with Diana receiving a vintage photo of her in costume): during the First World War, to be precise, when Diana first leaves the Amazonian island paradise of Thermiscyra and enters the world, discovering her powers and heritage in the process.

While there may be an element of truth in the criticism that the plot of this movie is - largely - a role-reversed Captain America (World War setting? Sacrificial ending?) and that it probably could have done without the CGI battle at the end (which, IMO, lessened the impact the movie would have had without it) this is still a very enjoyable movie indeed!

As an aside: the stand-out scene where Diana crosses No-Mans land on her own? That was nearly cut from the movie.
  
    Time Out Bahrain Magazine

    Time Out Bahrain Magazine

    Travel and Magazines & Newspapers

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Time Out Bahrain is a monthly guide to life in Bahrain – featuring restaurant reviews, big party...

The Call Of The Wild (2020)
The Call Of The Wild (2020)
2020 | Drama
6
7.4 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
It Wears Its Heart in the Right Place
I love Jack London's writing. It is so nice to read a story with language that is so straightforward. Caught between the romantic period, when writers used flowery prose and were paid per word, and the stream-of-consciousness movement, where narrators spoke in a manner of events as they were happening right at that moment, London's naturalism was a change of pace for readers.

Buck is the housebroken dog of a San Francisco judge who was indulged as any child of wealth would be in the 1890s. Alaska was harsh environment for man and beast. When money was offered for dogs who could work in Alaska as sled dogs for supplies to mining outposts, Buck is kidnapped. Along the way, Buck begins to learn the lineage of his forebears, the wolves, as he adapts to his new life in the frozen tundra.

The movie itself as adapted in 2020 avoids a lot of the hardships that Buck faces in his new life, but he is given a kindly old sage who looks out for him throughout the movie. It also includes a Snidely Whiplash-like literal gold-digger who comes to Alaska with little knowledge of Alaska or gold prospecting. This character is two-dimensional and portrayed as "evil." Also, the character of Spitz, an Alaskan malamute who leads the sled team and serves as an antagonist for Buck, is given very little screentime.

Last observation, during the film, as Harrison Ford lay on the ground in one of the final scenes, I looked into his eyes and saw not the 77-year-old Harrison Ford who has become a mentor to the film community, but the 30-year-old carpenter who just wanted to drag race a teenager in American Graffiti. He still has within his eyes, the look of hunger that acting feeds. And, he didn't need de-aging SPX to look younger than he is.