Search
Search results
Andrew Koltuniuk (750 KP) rated The Fountain (2006) in Movies
Aug 15, 2022
Kevin Phillipson (9955 KP) rated The hunger games ballard of songbirds and snakes (2023) in Movies
Nov 24, 2023
Rachel zeiger (1 more)
Tom byth
Watched today rather long movie this movie is is the origns of president snow and how he become the a hole he eventually would become the best part of the movie is the Hungergames itself a rather primative version it has to be being set before the orignal movies there are some good acting from the likes of Peter dinklage and Rachel zeiger but hats off to Tom byth who plays the younger snow this is movie and he pulls it off anyway go see the film but be warned it's long
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Black Magic Sanction (The Hollows, #8) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
This book was like one long game of fight-or-flight, mixed in with multiple escape plans when Rachel could not avoid getting caught. Being Rachel Morgan must be quite exhausting. Being eight books in now, I have been able to come up with many reasons why I enjoy reading this series so much. For starters, I love how Kim Harrison plays off of Clint Eastwood films for her book titles. I also love how each race of supernatural beings are so creatively developed to be both unique and intriguing, right down to the intimate biological makeup. I especially love how Rachel operates "by the seat of her pants" so to speak. Her instincts are nearly always spot on, and she's got reflexes that put a cat's to shame. Even though her deceased father inadvertedly put her in this position of power, able to change the course of history on her version of Earth, she still strives to be "normal" and refuses to be anyone's puppet.
This book was all about crossing moral lines for the right reasons and how far Rachel is willing to cross them to protect those she loves and be free herself. The plot was exciting and fast-paced almost from cover to cover, except for a sad note that had me shedding a few tears - even though the series has given the reader fair warning of what would eventually happen - as well as a hot-and-heavy interlude - because it wouldn't be a Rachel Morgan book without it. I love the mental, unvoiced quips that Rachel dreams up to convey her thoughts, which are so much more entertaining than just base cussing. Case in point: "Are frogs coming from the sun in shapeships, too?" How can a person not laugh at that? Jenks' frequent quips about Tinkerbell can be quite hilarious, too. The ending to the book holds quite a bit of promise for the next one, Pale Demon, especially in regards to Rachel's relationship with the elf, Trent. Speaking of relationships, I am rather intrigued by Al's obsession with Rachel, especially after he changed his appearance with his gargoyle Treble. While I admit my interest may be heavy on the icky, one must admit the potential for certain interludes is strong and highly possible, given what Rachel is becoming. Plus, Al makes no secret of his interest in Rachel, trying three times to convince her to move in the ever-after, though I have my suspicions that his interest is more than just physical. The close look that the reader got of the Coven of Moral and Ethical Standards shows some interesting possibilities given that Pierce is a past member of it. Oh the havoc that Rachel can cause will keep me interested in this series for as long as Kim Harrison keeps writing it!
This book was all about crossing moral lines for the right reasons and how far Rachel is willing to cross them to protect those she loves and be free herself. The plot was exciting and fast-paced almost from cover to cover, except for a sad note that had me shedding a few tears - even though the series has given the reader fair warning of what would eventually happen - as well as a hot-and-heavy interlude - because it wouldn't be a Rachel Morgan book without it. I love the mental, unvoiced quips that Rachel dreams up to convey her thoughts, which are so much more entertaining than just base cussing. Case in point: "Are frogs coming from the sun in shapeships, too?" How can a person not laugh at that? Jenks' frequent quips about Tinkerbell can be quite hilarious, too. The ending to the book holds quite a bit of promise for the next one, Pale Demon, especially in regards to Rachel's relationship with the elf, Trent. Speaking of relationships, I am rather intrigued by Al's obsession with Rachel, especially after he changed his appearance with his gargoyle Treble. While I admit my interest may be heavy on the icky, one must admit the potential for certain interludes is strong and highly possible, given what Rachel is becoming. Plus, Al makes no secret of his interest in Rachel, trying three times to convince her to move in the ever-after, though I have my suspicions that his interest is more than just physical. The close look that the reader got of the Coven of Moral and Ethical Standards shows some interesting possibilities given that Pierce is a past member of it. Oh the havoc that Rachel can cause will keep me interested in this series for as long as Kim Harrison keeps writing it!
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Initiation (The Warrior #1) in Books
Jun 2, 2020
96 of 200
Kindle
Initiation ( The Warriors book 1)
By Rebecca Royce
Keep your friends close...and your enemies closer.
Rachel Clancy has had to learn the hard way that you can't always trust who you know.
Born with a specific set of genes that lets her fight monsters, Rachel has trained her entire life to kill vampires and werewolves. Unprepared for the level of deception and betrayal she faces as she journeys Upwards to battle her enemies, it's not long before Rachel finds herself on a quest that will alter the lives of everyone she knows.
Including Rachel's...
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! I found it a bit rushed in places but overall a really good concept! YA are hot and miss lately but I do like Rebecca Royces writing style! This is just another good book from her!
Kindle
Initiation ( The Warriors book 1)
By Rebecca Royce
Keep your friends close...and your enemies closer.
Rachel Clancy has had to learn the hard way that you can't always trust who you know.
Born with a specific set of genes that lets her fight monsters, Rachel has trained her entire life to kill vampires and werewolves. Unprepared for the level of deception and betrayal she faces as she journeys Upwards to battle her enemies, it's not long before Rachel finds herself on a quest that will alter the lives of everyone she knows.
Including Rachel's...
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! I found it a bit rushed in places but overall a really good concept! YA are hot and miss lately but I do like Rebecca Royces writing style! This is just another good book from her!
Miles Teller recommended Wedding Crashers (2005) in Movies (curated)
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Driven (The Warrior, #2) in Books
May 22, 2021
68 of 250
Kindle
Driven ( The Warrior series book 2)
By Rebecca Royce
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
My name is Rachel Clancy. Forty-six years ago, life as humanity understood it ended. Armageddon. Well, that's what we call it, anyway. What other term works as well to describe the day the Vampires and Werewolves slaughtered nearly all of humanity?
When Rachel Clancy turned sixteen, she inadvertently changed the lives of everyone around her. Now, six months later she has to figure out how to live with what has happened.
Sent back into the wilderness - this time with a new love - she will find herself face-to-face with two people she never thought to see again: the boy she thought she loved and the man who wanted to destroy her since birth. If Rachel can learn what drives her forward, there may be a chance for everyone to start again. If she fails, all is lost.
I really enjoyed the fist book but this once was just so predictable and a bit annoying! Rachel has gone from kickass to whinging about her latest boyfriend drama although Chad didn’t last long and the love was instant. I just really struggled! Buy hey I’m not one to give up just yet.
Kindle
Driven ( The Warrior series book 2)
By Rebecca Royce
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
My name is Rachel Clancy. Forty-six years ago, life as humanity understood it ended. Armageddon. Well, that's what we call it, anyway. What other term works as well to describe the day the Vampires and Werewolves slaughtered nearly all of humanity?
When Rachel Clancy turned sixteen, she inadvertently changed the lives of everyone around her. Now, six months later she has to figure out how to live with what has happened.
Sent back into the wilderness - this time with a new love - she will find herself face-to-face with two people she never thought to see again: the boy she thought she loved and the man who wanted to destroy her since birth. If Rachel can learn what drives her forward, there may be a chance for everyone to start again. If she fails, all is lost.
I really enjoyed the fist book but this once was just so predictable and a bit annoying! Rachel has gone from kickass to whinging about her latest boyfriend drama although Chad didn’t last long and the love was instant. I just really struggled! Buy hey I’m not one to give up just yet.
Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated The Girl on the Train in Books
Mar 15, 2018
2015 has only just begun, and already we may have one of the year's best suspense novels on our hands. This book follows Rachel, an alcoholic who has developed a fantasy life in her head for an attractive couple she sees in their home from her commuter train every day. When the wife of said couple goes missing, she can't help but involve herself in the mystery, which rather unsurprisingly winds up further complicating her life. The story moves back and forth in time, and is told from the perspectives of Rachel, her ex-husband's new wife Anna, and the missing woman Megan (who Rachel initially refers to as Jess in her fantasy). No one in the story seems to be trustworthy, as they all hide information and/or outright lie to each other in order to achieve their goals, which makes getting to the bottom of things that much more challenging for everyone, including the reader. Despite all the characters being heavily flawed, most of them come across sympathetically, which helps one actually care about their fates. Rachel in particular is well fleshed out, and comes the closest to being outright likable, which is quite a feat considering how unbalanced she is. The plot moves along at a very brisk pace and builds up to such a suspenseful conclusion that it is a hard book to put down. It may be a little dark for some people's tastes, but I found it to be one of the most entertaining books I've read in a long time.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated The Girl on the Train in Books
Apr 9, 2019
Rachel Watson rides the train every day to a job she was fired from months ago. She spend the day in the city until it is time to go home again. As she passes the town of Witney, she always looks at two houses on Blenheim Road. Number 15 and number 23. Rachel used to live at 23 Blenheim Road with her husband Tom. But that was 2 years ago. Now she lives in a flat with her friend Cathy in Ashbury. Number 15 is occupied by Scott and Megan Hipwell who Rachel likes to refer to as Jess and John. Rachel enjoys watching Megan and Scott and their happy life together, so much unlike her own. Until one day, she sees something she knows she shouldn't have and then the next day Megan is reported missing. Could the information she have be the key to the investigation? Will the investigators believe her, or will they think she is just a lonely, drunkard who will try anything to get closer to her ex and his new wife.
I have been waiting to read this book for a very long time. It has been on my hold list at the library for about 4 months. I couldn't put it down. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I had to know what was going to happen next. There were a lot of shocking things about this book that makes you want to know who the culprit was. Who has Megan and what have they done with her? There were times where I was a bit confused about the different dates. The book goes from present to past from chapter to chapter and from person to person. I found myself flipping back to see where I was in the story to keep myself straight.
Overall, this is a good book. One that I will recommend over and over. It's a great thriller that you will not want to put down.
I have been waiting to read this book for a very long time. It has been on my hold list at the library for about 4 months. I couldn't put it down. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I had to know what was going to happen next. There were a lot of shocking things about this book that makes you want to know who the culprit was. Who has Megan and what have they done with her? There were times where I was a bit confused about the different dates. The book goes from present to past from chapter to chapter and from person to person. I found myself flipping back to see where I was in the story to keep myself straight.
Overall, this is a good book. One that I will recommend over and over. It's a great thriller that you will not want to put down.
Lee (2222 KP) rated Unhinged (2020) in Movies
Sep 2, 2020
The opening credits for Unhinged paint a pretty bleak and horrific snapshot of human life, just to get us in the mood for what’s to come. Footage of actual road rage incidents, supermarket disagreements and brawls, cars crashing into each other, all while recordings of news readers talk about how stressed and angry we all are these days. I think that in the current climate, we can all appreciate just how angry the world seems to have become these last few months, and some of these scenes really hit home.
We’d already seen just how angry Russell Crowe’s character is (billed as ‘The Man’, although he later introduces himself as Tom Cooper), courtesy of a shocking little pre-credits scene. Sitting in his car at night, rain beating down on the car as he breathes heavily and pops some pills into his mouth. Slowly turning a wedding ring on his finger, he removes it, tossing it behind him onto the backseat. Taking a hammer, he gets out of the car and walks to the front door of the house he’d parked outside, before smashing it down and proceeding to use the hammer on the occupants. He’s clearly not the kind of person you want to get on the wrong side of.
The person that does manage to get on his wrong side is Rachel (Caren Pistorius), who’s also having a pretty bad day of her own. Waking up late on the sofa, we learn that she’s currently going through a divorce, with her ex-husband wanting her house. She’s also late in taking her son to school, so when they hit heavy traffic along the way, it’s the last thing she needs.
At some traffic lights, the large SUV she’s sitting behind doesn’t budge when the lights turn green, so Rachel lets out a series of long beeps on the horn, before eventually pulling around the SUV to continue on her way. Unfortunately for her though, when they hit more traffic further down the road, the SUV pulls up alongside her, and when the window rolls down, we see that it’s ‘The Man’ behind the wheel. He’s calm at first, if a little on edge, but after apologising for his mistake, demands the same from Rachel before they go their separate ways. Unfortunately though, Rachel isn’t prepared to offer an apology. “I need you to learn what a bad day is and I need you to learn how to say sorry” he growls, before Rachel pulls away, believing that to be the end of it.
What follows is an intense game of cat and mouse, as ‘The Man’ relentlessly stalks Rachel through the roads and highways. Just to make things worse, ‘The Man’ manages to get hold of Rachel’s phone and starts to threaten and target her close friends and family. We’ve already seen just how Unhinged he can be, and there’s more of that as the movie progresses and he gets a chance to carry out some of those threats. He’s not just out to kill Rachel, but to give her the worst possible day he can before that moment arrives.
Crowe is suitably menacing – overweight and sweaty, taking out anyone who gets in his way and methodical in his determination to catch Rachel. The movie does try to humanise him a little at times though, as we discover that he’s been through a relationship breakdown, and was laid off work just a few weeks short of retiring, as if trying to provide some justification for his behaviour.
Unhinged comes in at just over 90 minutes and proved to be a real intense, gut wrenching roller-coaster ride. I don’t know if I was just a bit giddy at being back in the cinema for the first time since March, but I found it to be a lot of fun.
We’d already seen just how angry Russell Crowe’s character is (billed as ‘The Man’, although he later introduces himself as Tom Cooper), courtesy of a shocking little pre-credits scene. Sitting in his car at night, rain beating down on the car as he breathes heavily and pops some pills into his mouth. Slowly turning a wedding ring on his finger, he removes it, tossing it behind him onto the backseat. Taking a hammer, he gets out of the car and walks to the front door of the house he’d parked outside, before smashing it down and proceeding to use the hammer on the occupants. He’s clearly not the kind of person you want to get on the wrong side of.
The person that does manage to get on his wrong side is Rachel (Caren Pistorius), who’s also having a pretty bad day of her own. Waking up late on the sofa, we learn that she’s currently going through a divorce, with her ex-husband wanting her house. She’s also late in taking her son to school, so when they hit heavy traffic along the way, it’s the last thing she needs.
At some traffic lights, the large SUV she’s sitting behind doesn’t budge when the lights turn green, so Rachel lets out a series of long beeps on the horn, before eventually pulling around the SUV to continue on her way. Unfortunately for her though, when they hit more traffic further down the road, the SUV pulls up alongside her, and when the window rolls down, we see that it’s ‘The Man’ behind the wheel. He’s calm at first, if a little on edge, but after apologising for his mistake, demands the same from Rachel before they go their separate ways. Unfortunately though, Rachel isn’t prepared to offer an apology. “I need you to learn what a bad day is and I need you to learn how to say sorry” he growls, before Rachel pulls away, believing that to be the end of it.
What follows is an intense game of cat and mouse, as ‘The Man’ relentlessly stalks Rachel through the roads and highways. Just to make things worse, ‘The Man’ manages to get hold of Rachel’s phone and starts to threaten and target her close friends and family. We’ve already seen just how Unhinged he can be, and there’s more of that as the movie progresses and he gets a chance to carry out some of those threats. He’s not just out to kill Rachel, but to give her the worst possible day he can before that moment arrives.
Crowe is suitably menacing – overweight and sweaty, taking out anyone who gets in his way and methodical in his determination to catch Rachel. The movie does try to humanise him a little at times though, as we discover that he’s been through a relationship breakdown, and was laid off work just a few weeks short of retiring, as if trying to provide some justification for his behaviour.
Unhinged comes in at just over 90 minutes and proved to be a real intense, gut wrenching roller-coaster ride. I don’t know if I was just a bit giddy at being back in the cinema for the first time since March, but I found it to be a lot of fun.
Kaylin (39 KP) rated The Girl on the Train in Books
May 26, 2017
Does a great job of creating a creepy atmosphere (1 more)
Gives us someone to root for without making them perfect
The ending felt really rushed (2 more)
Once again, I called the twist halfway through
None of the characters are really likeable
An Interesting Read
The Girl on the Train was a book I was really looking forward to reading. I, unfortunately, hadn't heard much about it until I saw the previews for the movie. It seemed like a solid thriller and picking up the book I can tell you that the first half is. Rachel is an unreliable narrator due to her "drunken blackouts." She's got an ex-husband who has a new, younger wife and a baby, a long suffering roommate, and the people she watches on the train every morning. I felt for Rachel when the wife of the young couple she watched every morning, in a not really creepy way, disappeared. Then every character plunged into completely unlikable territory. Even characters we're supposed to root for have such horrible attitudes and are downright jerks that it's hard to be on anyone's side. Don't get me wrong, I would definitely recommend this book for people to read, I would just warn them that they'll hate everyone by the time they're done.