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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Photo Traveler in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Originally posted on <a title="'The Photo Traveler by Arthur J. Gonzalez"' href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2013/05/blog-tour-the-photo-traveler-by-arthur-j-gonzalez-review-and-giveaway.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Note: Formatting is lost due to copy and paste (includes picture lost as well)
<i><b>Disclaimer:</b> I received this book from the author for free to review for the blog tour. My review is not influenced in any way.</i>
Seventeen-year-old Gavin Hillstone has been in foster care with an abusive father since his parents died in a fire at a young age. The only thing that lets him escape the torturous life is taking photos. Just when he thinks that he's going to be miserable for the rest of his life, he finds out that his dad's parents are still alive and enters the dangerous world of a small group of people called Photo Travelers.
I honest to goodness hate his adoptive family, except for maybe Dina and Leyla. What a nasty temper his adoptive father has. I'm so glad Gavin found his grandparents, because if I could, I would probably say good riddance to Jet (of course, if I actually said it... it would probably get pretty... ugly). Then there's Gavin's adoptive sister. Mel. I was thinking she at least changed a bit when she went after him after he left. I mean, I can see why she would act like that, but still... I'm sad to say I'm disappointed in her. :(
I guess that shows manipulative the villain is. 2 simple words with very simple (and good, if you look in the dictionary...) meanings... yet totally against what the other Photo Travelers are thinking of. It's kind of ironic what they mean to do for the good of mankind in the future, yet they can still break rules of all kinds.
Gavin is a pretty likable character in broad terms. He's loyal and protective when his family and friends are threatened by others. Though when it comes to some of his actions, I sometimes just want to give him a facepalm and ask, Why, Gavin, whyyy?
I love how The Photo Traveler started. My very first thought after reading the prologue was, Oh boy, this is going to a great 'ride!' I also love how Gonzalez was very accurate (at least in historical facts) when it came to Gavin's trips to places such as the Salem Witch Trials and the Great Depression. What's a bit aggravating about the book, however, is the dialogue. The characters, including Gavin himself, just seem so... happy, excited or yelling all the time. There just seems to be a bit of overuse in exclamation marks. :/
Then there's the ending. There's always that dreadful last few sentences at the end of the book where you hit the end and it seems to say right back, The End. With a lovely little cliffhanger. Somehow, you just want to say, But... but... it was just beginning to get really interesting! Despite the little mini protests, no one's going to hear me, so I'll hide in a cozy little corner, sip something nice and cold, and read on (after all, it's summer and time to... chillax). *unhappy face* I'm so glad cliffhangers don't have the ability to laugh at me... otherwise I'll be laughed at often. >_<
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Note: Formatting is lost due to copy and paste (includes picture lost as well)
<i><b>Disclaimer:</b> I received this book from the author for free to review for the blog tour. My review is not influenced in any way.</i>
Seventeen-year-old Gavin Hillstone has been in foster care with an abusive father since his parents died in a fire at a young age. The only thing that lets him escape the torturous life is taking photos. Just when he thinks that he's going to be miserable for the rest of his life, he finds out that his dad's parents are still alive and enters the dangerous world of a small group of people called Photo Travelers.
I honest to goodness hate his adoptive family, except for maybe Dina and Leyla. What a nasty temper his adoptive father has. I'm so glad Gavin found his grandparents, because if I could, I would probably say good riddance to Jet (of course, if I actually said it... it would probably get pretty... ugly). Then there's Gavin's adoptive sister. Mel. I was thinking she at least changed a bit when she went after him after he left. I mean, I can see why she would act like that, but still... I'm sad to say I'm disappointed in her. :(
I guess that shows manipulative the villain is. 2 simple words with very simple (and good, if you look in the dictionary...) meanings... yet totally against what the other Photo Travelers are thinking of. It's kind of ironic what they mean to do for the good of mankind in the future, yet they can still break rules of all kinds.
Gavin is a pretty likable character in broad terms. He's loyal and protective when his family and friends are threatened by others. Though when it comes to some of his actions, I sometimes just want to give him a facepalm and ask, Why, Gavin, whyyy?
I love how The Photo Traveler started. My very first thought after reading the prologue was, Oh boy, this is going to a great 'ride!' I also love how Gonzalez was very accurate (at least in historical facts) when it came to Gavin's trips to places such as the Salem Witch Trials and the Great Depression. What's a bit aggravating about the book, however, is the dialogue. The characters, including Gavin himself, just seem so... happy, excited or yelling all the time. There just seems to be a bit of overuse in exclamation marks. :/
Then there's the ending. There's always that dreadful last few sentences at the end of the book where you hit the end and it seems to say right back, The End. With a lovely little cliffhanger. Somehow, you just want to say, But... but... it was just beginning to get really interesting! Despite the little mini protests, no one's going to hear me, so I'll hide in a cozy little corner, sip something nice and cold, and read on (after all, it's summer and time to... chillax). *unhappy face* I'm so glad cliffhangers don't have the ability to laugh at me... otherwise I'll be laughed at often. >_<
Die große Wörterfabrik
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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Morbius (2022) in Movies
Jul 7, 2022
It's Not Bad...It's Stupid
“It’s not as bad as you heard”, is certainly the very definition of damning something with faint praise, but that is exactly the right thing to say about the 2022 Sony Comic Book Film Adaptation of MORBIUS.
Starring Jared Leto, MORBIUS follows the origin story - and first adventure - of Spiderman villain Morbius who, inexplicably, becomes the hero in this story.
While, ultimately, not a good film, there are some good things happening here, so let’s begin there.
The lead performance by Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius is - very surprisingly - somewhat grounded in reality. Leto is not one to be subtle in his character choices (see HOUSE OF GUCCI) but in this one, he is (somewhat) reserved. It would have been easy for Leto to go over the top with this character, but he wisely chooses the opposite route…and it works. The always watchable Jared Harris (CHERNOBYL) is on-board in the “mentor” role while Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal bring some humor to the proceedings as “Agents” who are chasing after Morbius. The rest of the cast are benign - neither adding nor detracting from the proceedings - with the exception of Matt Smith (LAST NIGHT IN SOHO) who’s character is so badly written that he flounders under the weight of the absurdity of what his character is tasked with.
Trying to overcome the ridiculousness of the story is the Direction by Daniel Espinosa (the Denzel Washington action flick SAFE HOUSE). He moves the action along quickly, never really lingering on the absurdities of the events going on (and there are PLENTY of absurdities to avoid - more on that later) and Espinosa actually has an artistic vision of what he wanted to accomplish visually in this comic-book film, freezing many frames when the picture on the screen looked like a page from a graphic novel. It’s a smart choice for a film that can only be described as dumb.
And dumb this film is. I kept feeling any sense of common sense and reality slip away as this film - written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless - quickly devolved into the absurd and ridiculous. One does have to suspend belief when watching Comic Book films (how else are we going to believe that a man can turn into a human spider) but in this case, the suspension is mighty - it is one of the dumbest films ever made (in terms of plot and situations) and that is saying something. The makers of this film really stretch the term “go with me here” as Morbius is constantly chasing and evolving and being chased in the most absurd ways throughout this film with special effects that add to the absurdity of the proceedings. To be fair, this film never falls into the “so bad it’s good” range, it hovers just above that line.
The end credits scenes start to setup a “Sinister Six” Spiderman film, so there is some hope for this - it would be interesting to see Leto’s Morbius team up with some other Spiderman villains (who’s names would be a spoiler), provided the script is better. There’s no way that it can be worse.
MORBIUS is not a bad film - it just will insult your intelligence.
Letter Grade: C
4 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Starring Jared Leto, MORBIUS follows the origin story - and first adventure - of Spiderman villain Morbius who, inexplicably, becomes the hero in this story.
While, ultimately, not a good film, there are some good things happening here, so let’s begin there.
The lead performance by Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius is - very surprisingly - somewhat grounded in reality. Leto is not one to be subtle in his character choices (see HOUSE OF GUCCI) but in this one, he is (somewhat) reserved. It would have been easy for Leto to go over the top with this character, but he wisely chooses the opposite route…and it works. The always watchable Jared Harris (CHERNOBYL) is on-board in the “mentor” role while Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal bring some humor to the proceedings as “Agents” who are chasing after Morbius. The rest of the cast are benign - neither adding nor detracting from the proceedings - with the exception of Matt Smith (LAST NIGHT IN SOHO) who’s character is so badly written that he flounders under the weight of the absurdity of what his character is tasked with.
Trying to overcome the ridiculousness of the story is the Direction by Daniel Espinosa (the Denzel Washington action flick SAFE HOUSE). He moves the action along quickly, never really lingering on the absurdities of the events going on (and there are PLENTY of absurdities to avoid - more on that later) and Espinosa actually has an artistic vision of what he wanted to accomplish visually in this comic-book film, freezing many frames when the picture on the screen looked like a page from a graphic novel. It’s a smart choice for a film that can only be described as dumb.
And dumb this film is. I kept feeling any sense of common sense and reality slip away as this film - written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless - quickly devolved into the absurd and ridiculous. One does have to suspend belief when watching Comic Book films (how else are we going to believe that a man can turn into a human spider) but in this case, the suspension is mighty - it is one of the dumbest films ever made (in terms of plot and situations) and that is saying something. The makers of this film really stretch the term “go with me here” as Morbius is constantly chasing and evolving and being chased in the most absurd ways throughout this film with special effects that add to the absurdity of the proceedings. To be fair, this film never falls into the “so bad it’s good” range, it hovers just above that line.
The end credits scenes start to setup a “Sinister Six” Spiderman film, so there is some hope for this - it would be interesting to see Leto’s Morbius team up with some other Spiderman villains (who’s names would be a spoiler), provided the script is better. There’s no way that it can be worse.
MORBIUS is not a bad film - it just will insult your intelligence.
Letter Grade: C
4 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
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