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David McK (3562 KP) rated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) in Movies

Dec 18, 2019 (Updated Jun 16, 2020)  
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
"It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Enpire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home abord her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy ..."

So reads the opening crawl to the first Star Wars film (otherwise known as "Episode IV: A New Hope"), with this opening crawl becoming a feature of all the Star Wars films to date.

That is, until this one - the first to NOT have an opening crawl, and the first to NOT focus on any of the Skywalkers. Instead, this film deals with what was originally only just described in that crawl; by the mission to steal those Death Star plans and, as such, is the first completely self-contained and stand-alone Star Wars film.

I'd heard this described as a war movie, and that's probably a pretty fair comparison - this is more serious than the other six (especially the prequel Trilogy), maybe a bit darker in places, with the Rebel Alliance not afraid of getting their hands dirty and not quite the idealists they were originally portrayed as.

As this is back in galactic Civil War territory, we also have the return of some of the original villains of the saga - it's no secret that Darth Vader casts a shadow over the film (while not being the main villain of it), with an extended sequence towards the end showing just why he was so feared, and probably destined to become - like the 3-way Qui-Gonn Jinn/Kenobi/Maul fight in 'The Phantom Menace', or Vader vs Luke in 'The Empire Strikes back' - one of the most talked about scenes in the entire saga.

(As an aside, and talking of scenes: yes, there are scenes shown in the trailers that don't make it to the final cut, but since I managed to avoid (most of) those trailers, I can't really comment on that.)

Maybe a tad slow in getting started, but the bombastic final act more than makes up for it!
  
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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The Witcher - Season 1 in TV

Jan 9, 2020 (Updated Jan 22, 2020)  
The Witcher - Season 1
The Witcher - Season 1
2019 | Action, Drama, Fantasy
An exceptional start to the show
The Witcher is a show I've been excited about for some time.
I've never read the books, and to be honest, only slightly dabbled in the video games, but the idea of seeing the exploits of Geralt of Rivea on screen was a prospect I was ready for.

Henry Cavill is great as the titular Witcher, I've heard people complain that he's a bit too brooding, doesn't say a whole lot etc, but it's to my understanding that this is his character, and it works well when put alongside the other two leads.
Anya Chalotra as Yennefer is the star of this season for sure. Her story is one of pain, and triumph, and the constant longing for something more. It's frequently emotional, and at times difficult to watch, and the series pulls no punches when it comes to what it wants to show.
Her character transformation both physically and mentally is superb, and well realised.
And then we have Freya Allen playing Ciri, a princess on the run when her home and city is sacked and burned by the main villains Nilfgaard.
Her role is a little more straightforward, as she spends the season hiding and fleeing, all whilst looking for Geralt.
The three separate storylines work very well alongside each other, as they slowly start to come together over the course of the eight episode season.
The stories timeline seems all over the place at first, and for some may be quite jarring, but it does begin to make sense the further in it gets. If you've been put off by this aspect initially, then please stick with it!

The cinematography is frequently gorgeous, and the CGI is mostly passable (there are some dodgy moments here and there, but surely that's to be expected from a first season), and it's nice to see creatures bought to life that even I recognise from my short time spent with the games.

The music score is beautiful - Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli have created a score that sticks with you after watching (a highlight is the music attached to Aretuza and the mages).

Overall, it's an exceptionally strong start to a new ambitious series. I can't wait to see where it goes from here!
  
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Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) Jan 10, 2020

Watching this show one thing never left my mind....superman was doing his batman voice 😂.

B is for Beg (The Alphabet of Desire #2)
B is for Beg (The Alphabet of Desire #2)
Colette Davison | 2021 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
best of the three, loved this one!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 2 in the Alphabet of Desire series. Its not necessary to read book 1, A is for Aftercare, before this one. All three books run concurrently. I didn't know this going in! I'm also writing my review for this book after I've read C is for Comfort.

I think this is my favourite of the three!

Why?? Mostly, not because of Blake, but because of Gabe and Calvin and how THEIR relationship develops! Because until Blake, they did not think that way about each other. I mean, why would they? 2 Doms could never have any sort of meaningful relationship, could they? What surprised them both, and me, I think, was how quickly they settled into their new roles. Gabe as Blake's Daddy, and Calvin as his Dom.

Because Gabe and Calvin are SO different, they offer Blake a different touch, a differnt type of care, and Blake needs that. When some things are revealed, the dynamic changes slightly, but for the better.

I LOVED that Gabe calls Blake baby boy and Calvin calls him princess. It shows the difference in the way their dominance displays itself. Loved that both Doms loved that Blake liked pretty things!

The books are billed as low angst, but I found, mostly due to Blake's parents, and how they treat him compared to his brothers, this was the most angsty of the three.

But oh so steamy! Obviously, the steamiest since there are 3 of them, but there are scenes with just 2 of the three, in all combinations, and I really liked that those scenes were there. They were NEEDED I think, to cement the relationship between the pairings as well as the trio.

One thing I will say. There are some repeated conversations across all three books. When I realised that first, I was worried that there would be a lot of them but there aren't. Maybe one or two for each main character in each book. But after reading them, it's important to get the other half/third of these conversations. VERY important. So don't pass these books over because of that!

As I said, my favourite of the three, so . . .

5 full and pretty stars

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
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Emily (2 KP) rated the Nintendo Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in Video Games

Oct 7, 2019 (Updated Oct 7, 2019)  
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2017 | Action/Adventure
Visuals, soundtrack, characters, plot, & sense of progression. (0 more)
Bringing Zelda Back
I have been a Zelda fan for pretty much my whole life. I wasn't born when the "classic" games were coming out, but I grew up with fabulous titles like The Phantom Hourglass & The Twilight Princess.

At first, I was skeptical when I realised that the Zelda franchise was going to have an open world game. To me, Zelda whas always been somewhat of a corridor game (yes, this was probably mainly the result of playing a lot of Zelda DS games). Nevertheless, I wasn't sure what to expect from Breath of the Wild.

I needn't have worried. Breath of the Wild is the perfect mix of old and new. There are throwbacks to old games, and despite the open world nature, there are still different biomes with distinctive (and familiar) characters. You will still get a huge sense of satisfaction from smashing up pots and cuckoos can still be pretty deadly.

Yet Breath of the Wild also adds a lot to the franchise. It opens the wonderful world of Link up to players who may have never experienced a Zelda game before. With bright, gorgeous graphics, a stunning soundtrack, and a whole cast of great characters to meet, this game is perfect for both players who are already familiar with the franchise, and those who are experiencing it for the first time.

The other thing to say about Breath of the Wild is the huge sense of progression that it provides. The world is fully climbable, which means you can scale huge mountains, but these mountains can also be deadly. It is not until you have put a good few hours into the game that you have the stamina required to survive such ambitious climbs. This means that when you DO master that mountain that you attempted to climb twenty or so times, you feel extremely powerful. The same can be said for the new weapons you receive, although not, in my opinion, to the same extent.

In short, I absolutely love Breath of the Wild. It is a HUGE game; I have completed the main storyline and a good deal of the side quests two times, and there is still so much to discover! I would recommend this game to pretty much anyone. It's an incredible game, and it is definitely something worth experiencing.
  
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
1980 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi
May The Force Be With You: The Middle
Empire Strikes Back- i heard that this movie is peoples, all time greatest/best sequel and the best movie out of the oringal trilogy. To me, no. Episode 4 and 6 are better. Their are excellent sences like.. the battle at Hoth, when Han gets Frozen and the battle between Dark Vader and Luke. The rest of the movie is slow and boring.

The plot: The adventure continues in this "Star Wars" sequel. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) face attack by the Imperial forces and its AT-AT walkers on the ice planet Hoth. While Han and Leia escape in the Millennium Falcon, Luke travels to Dagobah in search of Yoda. Only with the Jedi master's help will Luke survive when the dark side of the Force beckons him into the ultimate duel with Darth Vader (David Prowse).

To me their are better movie sequels than this one like.. "Back To The Future Part II", "Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers", "The Dark Knight", "Captain America: The Winter Soilder", "Toy Story 2", "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" and "Aliens". All of these sequels are 10x better than Empire Strikes Back.

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – Nominated

AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated

AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
Darth Vader – No. 3 Villain

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
"I am your father." – Nominated
"Do, or do not. There is no try." – Nominated

AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th
Anniversary Edition) – Nominated.

Darth Vader was ranked as the third-greatest film villain of all time in the American Film Institute's 2003 list of the 100 greatest heroes and villains, and Wizard magazine selected the ending of The Empire Strikes Back as the greatest cliffhanger of all time.

The line "No, I am your father" is often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father." The line was selected as one of the 400 nominees for the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of the greatest American film quotes.

I think Empire Strikes Back, even though its good. Its overrated and hyped up, to the point were its not just not as good as people say it is.

Like i said its good, but not excellent.