Star Wars Legends Epic Collection: The Original Marvel Years, Vol. 2
Chris Claremont, Archie Goodwin, Mary Jo Duffy and Michael Golden
7.5
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Marvel's original exploration of the Star Wars galaxy continues - and all your favorites are along...
TheDefunctDiva (304 KP) rated Alice in Wonderland (2010) in Movies
Sep 26, 2017
Alice is introduced to the audience as a child who has strange dreams. In the subsequent scenes, an older Alice is seen in a carriage with her mother. She is unwittingly on her way to her engagement party, and she is fully expected to accept the offer of marriage from someone who seems quite ill-suited for her. “Your life will be perfect. It’s already been decided,” says her sister Margaret.
Elements of the engagement party offer foreshadowing for the alternate reality Alice soon finds herself in. Instead of accepting her suitor’s proposal, Alice runs away and follows a rabbit wearing a waistcoat into an exceptionally large rabbit hole. There, she is found falling with a variety of household objects, including one particularly friendly piano.
Once in Wonderland, Alice’s world has literally turned upside-down. She falls from her perch on the ceiling to the floor. Alice solves a puzzle of many locked doors, using the expected growing and shrinking mechanisms, and then she emerges into a strange topiary. There she is greeted by the rabbit and other residents of Wonderland, who argue whether this Alice is “the right Alice.”
Many of the traditional characters are found in this Wonderland, but most of the ominous poetry associated with those characters has been omitted. Tweedledum and Tweedledee are introduced, but they don’t seem to serve much purpose. I missed the recitation of “the Walrus and the Carpenter” very much.
Alice insists that the world around her must be a dream, as she is led through oversized mushrooms to a blue caterpillar, voiced by the talented Alan Rickman. Once again, Alice’s destiny is written: the caterpillar reveals a scroll which shows an image of Alice slaying the dreaded Jabberwocky. Indeed, it is her role to become the champion of Wonderland, to rise up and defeat the Red Queen who keeps this horrible beast as a weapon.
Later, we come across a dysfunctional tea party held under the shadow of a dilapidated windmill. Johnny Depp appears as the wild and wide-eyed Mad Hatter. Alice, it seems, is late to her tea just as she was to her engagement party. We learn that there is a whole network of characters, including the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), who wish to bring down the tyrannical Red Queen.
The struggle between the Red and White Queens eventually comes to a head, and Alice bravely accepts her fate to fight the Jabberwocky. And the Jabberwocky is indeed a terrifying entity, as it seems to be part dinosaur and part dragon.
The visual effects in this film were striking. Burton paints a beautiful landscape full of dark, rich colors. Several moments in the film are surreal and disturbing, such as when Alice crosses a moat full of dismembered heads to gain access to the Red Queen’s castle. However, some of the characters, such as the Cheshire cat, had a more cartoonish quality about them that I found off-putting.
The acting and voice-overs in the film were also impressive. Actress Mia Wasikowska was enchanting as Alice. She reflected the vulnerability and the more intrepid characteristics of the young girl quite well. Depp was delightfully creepy as the Mad Hatter. Crispin Glover was effective as the Knave of Hearts, the Red Queen’s lead henchman. And Stephen Fry was a marvelous voice choice for the strange and eerie Cheshire Cat.
The Red Queen is quite the character in this film. Helena Bonham Carter perfectly captures the Queen’s cruelty and absurdity. She delivers the “off with his head” line repeatedly and with gusto. The Queen’s cranium was so large that I was surprised she didn’t fall forward from the weight of it. And I haven’t seen that much blue eyeshadow since the 80s.
The Blu-ray version of this film enhanced the quality of the computer graphic imagery quite well. The special features consisted of interviews of the cast regarding the characters. These interviews contained behind-the-scenes looks at some of the makeup and green screen work done on this film. Though these interviews were enlightening, I would have loved to see more about the production process, since the sets and some characters were entirely computer-generated.
All things considered, Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is a delightful departure from reality. Fans of Burton’s other films are sure to love it.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Alice in Zombieland - White Rabbit Chronicles in Books
Sep 5, 2019
She was just a girl who lost her family in an accident and saw zombies for the first time.
To say it was nothing like I expected I have to admit that after those first 50 pages or so that I fell into the story quite easily. Cole had my attention from that first connections with Alice and some of the other guys grew on me too.
I have the second book in the series and I'm sure I'll get around to reading it eventuallybut not yet.
Black Butler, Vol. 2 (Black Butler, #2)
8.4
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As high society's social calendar opens up and the Season draws to a close, London is gripped by...
AJaneClark (3975 KP) rated One of us is Lying in Books
Dec 9, 2019
Bronwyn, the overachieving nerd, hoping to head to Yale, Cooper the star baseball jock, Addy the prom queen and Nate the bad boy, are all now looking at facing murder charges when the investigation uncovers Simon's last gossip column, pointing the finger in their direction.
Follow the Bayview 4 as they try to uncover the other secrets, prove their innocence and try to keep up with being teens in a normal high school.
McManus keeps the suspense building in this well written novel. Expect some twists and the odd red herring as you follow the journey of these four very likeable characters, thrown together in an unlikely friendship.
Caressed by Shadows (Rulers of Darkness #4)
6.0
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Black Knight, Falcon Kenwrec is powerful, relentless, and fiercely loyal, his only allegiance – to...
Paranormal Romance
Scarlett Says
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The Sunday Times Number 1 Bestseller from the Queen of the Jungle, Scarlett Moffatt "I don't go on...
Pelagia and the Red Rooster: The Third Sister Pelagia Mystery
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The next caper in the Sister Pelagia mystery from the bestselling author of THE WINTER QUEEN....
Dangerous Days in Elizabethan England: Thieves, Tricksters, Bards and Bawds
6.0
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The reign of Elizabeth I - a Golden Age? Try asking her subjects...Elizabethans did all they could...
Shades of Magic Vol. 1: The Steel Prince (Shades of Magic Graphic Novels #1-4)
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Written by #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab and torn from the universe of the Shades...