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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Annabelle (2014) in Movies

Oct 14, 2020  
Annabelle (2014)
Annabelle (2014)
2014 | Horror
4
6.2 (25 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Shockingly not terrible. Don't get it twisted, the first 45 minutes still represent the worst of what horror movies can be (sewing machines are not fucking scary no matter how much royalty-free sounding, overloud music cues and ugly CGI blood you put around them) but after that it immediately wakes up and becomes something sort of half-serviceable. Its assets still have to work in service of another one of these shallow husks of horror franchise spin-offs complete with bottom-of-the-barrel acting from its two leads, sloppy editing, amateur-hour dialogue, and zero reason for existing. But that being said, this is actually a more interesting take on motherhood persevering through demonic possession than 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 - its characters are somewhat better and it introduces some intriguing threads about how religion presents itself in people's personal problems. Granted it doesn't do too much with them buy hey, they're there. Plus that entire elevator/staircase segment (barring the idiotic final jump) is effective as hell and Alfre Woodard is terrific. Kind of fun for a while, but not only am I still wondering why this needed to happen... but if it did, why was it pushed out in such a state? Though hey, at least it went with the R-rating which this easily could have skipped out on.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2480 KP) rated Kaleidoscope in Books

May 11, 2024 (Updated May 11, 2024)  
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope
Dorothy Gilman | 2002 | Mystery
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Once Again, a Kaleidoscope of Stories Lacking Focus
As with the first book featuring Madame Karitska, we get several stories that weave in and out of each other. Sometimes, they touch. Sometimes they only take up a chapter. Madame Karitska winds up in the possession of some diamonds when she runs into an old friend on a train. She helps a wife whose husband is interested in a nearby commune. A man who is deathly ill comes to her for help. She even helps a government official who is afraid some home grown terrorists might be at work.

Fans of the first book will be happy to hear that the format of the plot didn’t change much. Sadly, for me, that means it didn’t work as well as I would have liked. The way the stories wander around and in and out of each other without any clear beginning or climax frustrates me. One of them ends very anticlimactically. On the other hand, I do enjoy the charming characters and I liked spending time with them again. As with the author’s Mrs. Pollifax series, the characters haven’t really aged even thought it was roundly 25 years between books and both take place in their present. As a fan of the author, I’m not sorry I read this book, but I won’t be reading this series again any time soon.