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Morgan Sheppard (998 KP) created a post
Dec 23, 2025
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Shape of Water (2017) in Movies
Feb 19, 2018 (Updated Feb 19, 2018)
Guillermo del Toro's stunning fantasy film is either a radical reimagining of Creature from the Black Lagoon, or a grand amour as written by H.P. Lovecraft (or maybe both). Lonely cleaner discovers fish-man creature being mistreated in the installation where she works, bond develops between them.
Manages to work both as a 60s-set genre movie and more topical comment on issues of tolerance and diversity (just for a change). Quite charming and beautiful on the whole, though the strength of the sex and violence might be an issue for some people. The downtrodden-minorities-stick-it-to-The-Man subtext is a bit on the nose, perhaps, and I'm not sure the third act musical number really works, but on the whole this is a brilliant movie.
Manages to work both as a 60s-set genre movie and more topical comment on issues of tolerance and diversity (just for a change). Quite charming and beautiful on the whole, though the strength of the sex and violence might be an issue for some people. The downtrodden-minorities-stick-it-to-The-Man subtext is a bit on the nose, perhaps, and I'm not sure the third act musical number really works, but on the whole this is a brilliant movie.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Flash Gordon (1980) in Movies
Feb 12, 2018
Post-Star Wars high-camp reimagining of the famous Alex Raymond sci-fi comic strip. Ming the Merciless, Emperor of the planet Mongo, terrorises the Earth; a mad scientist, a football player and a travel agent rocket themselves into space in an attempt to make him knock it off.
One of those movies where the ostensible leads are the least well-known people in it - everyone else has a great time overacting: the gold medal goes to Brian Blessed, who steals the entire movie as Vultan, Prince of the Hawk People. Visually lavish, with a strong script, lots of well-staged action for younger viewers, and tongue-in-cheek jokes aplenty for older people who ought to know better. Point knocked off for some inappropriately nasty violence; put straight back on again for Queen's soundtrack.
One of those movies where the ostensible leads are the least well-known people in it - everyone else has a great time overacting: the gold medal goes to Brian Blessed, who steals the entire movie as Vultan, Prince of the Hawk People. Visually lavish, with a strong script, lots of well-staged action for younger viewers, and tongue-in-cheek jokes aplenty for older people who ought to know better. Point knocked off for some inappropriately nasty violence; put straight back on again for Queen's soundtrack.
Coleman Balogh (21 KP) rated Magic Maze in Tabletop Games
Dec 17, 2018 (Updated Dec 17, 2018)
Team co-op (1 more)
No "turns" play
Innovative reimagining of a timed co-op
So this game is very very different and is a bit chaotic. Everyone must work together to move 4 pawns through the game and out the exits. The mish mash of themes I'm not a huge fan of (dungeon characters playing in a mall so where is the maze?), but the mechanics are cool. Everyone gains at least one movement ability (N, S, E, W, portals, stairs etc.) and everyone needs to work to get the "characters" through the "mall." I wonder why they didn't just make it a dungeon and keep to that theme. The scenarios get increasingly difficult and we found this game to be a good interlude game between other long format games.
David McK (3676 KP) rated Clash of the Titans (2010) in Movies
Dec 18, 2019
Remake/reimagining of the 1981 original, I remember the big thing about this at the time as the special effects. Or, rather, the post-production 3D effects added released, as this was, only a few short years after James Cameras na exceptional 'Avatar'. Whereas 'Avatar', however, was filmed specifically in and for 3D, this film owes more of a debt to the older 1980s 3D films: watching this in 2D it's quite obvious to see what scenes were added specifically for the effects (I'm thinking mainly of the attack of the giant scorpions, or the Kraken at the end),
Starring Sam Worthingon - whatever happened to him? - as Perseus, the plot of this obviously takes inspiration from Greek myths, even down to having Liam Neeson playing the part of Zeus himself, and of the Pegasus.
Starring Sam Worthingon - whatever happened to him? - as Perseus, the plot of this obviously takes inspiration from Greek myths, even down to having Liam Neeson playing the part of Zeus himself, and of the Pegasus.
The Craggus (360 KP) rated Dumbo (2019) in Movies
Apr 4, 2019
Dumbo (2019) has a surprisingly metatextual moral for the House of Mouse
In seeking to carve out something new for this reimagining, Director Tim Burton – and screenwriter Ehren Kruger – find themselves leaning too heavily on the original version early on, racing through its main plot points in a brisk half-hour blighted by too many things which happen because they happened in the original story. It’s all a little bit inorganic, feeling rushed and forced in order to get us to the point where we’re telling a new story. A plethora of supporting characters are introduced but then barely used and while this version broadly switches the focus of the story away from the animals and on to the humans, those humans remain as crudely drawn and superficial as the forgettable background characters of the 1941 animation...
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusDumbo19
FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusDumbo19
Evolution and the Fall
William T. Cavanaugh and James K. A. Smith
Book
Tackles thorny questions and tensions at the intersection of Scripture and science What does it mean...
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Illustrated Edition
Jim Kay and J.K. Rowling
9.2
Rate It
Book
Prepare to be spellbound by Jim Kay's dazzling full-colour illustrations in this stunning new...
fiction fantasy childrens j k rowling harry potter magic
Darth Vader and Son
7.3
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Book
What if Darth Vader took an active role in raising his son? What if 'Luke, I am your father' was...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Mummy (2017) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
Before my week off I managed to squeeze in a screening of The Mummy before whizzing home. I was a little bit on the come down from stress, but I don't think it massively changed my mind that I was confused by this movie. I really wish everyone had left off with the "it's a reboot" thing. Say it's a reimagining of the mummy monster movie, but saying it's a reboot really makes you want to compare to the original, and quite frankly, every mummy movie is a bad knock off of the original. I liked some of it... That's as enthusiastic as I can get about it. The ending for me was too bizarre. And afterwards when I looked into it leading in to the Dark Universe... well, I wept a little for classic monster movies.