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Justin Long recommended Annie Hall (1977) in Movies (curated)

 
Annie Hall (1977)
Annie Hall (1977)
1977 | Comedy, Romance

"If I had to do my top 100 movies I think 15 to 20 of them would be Woody Allen movies. This is the toughest one for me to do because the instinct is to say Annie Hall, because it’s undeniably, I think, perfect — in terms of comedy, romantic comedy specifically. It’s one that, the older I get, I feel like I continue to grow with, and I check in with it every once in a while. Depending on where I am in my life and the relationships I’ve had, I can always glean something different from it or recognize some truth in it that I’ve experienced or yet to experience. It changes every time. If I were like an evangelical, crazy born-again it would be my Bible. It’s like having an old sage friend who you don’t see very often, who’s tremendously neurotic. I also relate to him so much just as a neurotic and an over-analyzer. I fell in love with him in junior high school when, you know, you’re going through your formative years and you’re realizing certain qualities about yourself. So when I was introduced to Woody Allen it was such a relief. He made me feel like it was okay; not only could I function with neuroses but I could thrive. And certainly with women you go through so many relationship questions and struggles and it’s just nice to know someone can take all of that and create entertainment and mine those life transitions for such comedy. There’s a lot of solace in that. But I also love him on a simple comedy level — I almost love his physical comedy and his slapstick as much. So if I had to pick just one, I would say “Every movie he made in the ’70s.” [laughs]"

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I got this as a freebie a few months ago as I hunted for books to finish my Paranormal Roman & Urban Fantasy A-Z challenge on Goodreads.

This starts with Avaline doing her job as a lifeguard at the lake when she is attacked with magic by two assailants who know her name. She wakes up a month later to learn she, too, has magic. A dangerous magic. She has two choices and decides to stay at the school to learn how to control her vox magic.

I can't decide whether I liked this or not.

Everything was happening so quickly in it. She meets the guys, she lusts after them, she sleeps with one of them very quickly. She gets to lessons and on her second try ever she manages to make fire. I just expected things to take time...for her to initially struggle considering she didn't even know she had magic until a day or two ago.

I struggled to connect with the characters and wasn't really convinced by their relationships. I didn't feel any real sort of chemistry going on between any of them. Once again, I feel like this bit was rushed. I get lust but... I wasn't a fan of how the author wrote the romance parts.

This story had a lot of promise but we don't really learn much of anything. Ava learns about magic in lessons but we don't get to hear it. To me it feels like a bit of paper that's been scrunched into a ball and then flattened causing creases and ripples that means some details in the story have been glossed over. It could do with expanding a little with more details on certain aspects.

At this point I don't believe I'll be reading more of this series.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2336 KP) rated Prodigal Son in Books

Mar 17, 2021 (Updated Mar 17, 2021)  
Prodigal Son
Prodigal Son
Gregg Hurwitz | 2021 | Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Will Orphan X’s Retirement Last?
In the few weeks since Evan Smoak retired, he’s found that adjusting to normal life is more of a struggle than he anticipated, especially since he has nothing to fill his time. The phone calls from Veronica, the woman claiming to be his mother, aren’t helping. He finally decides to meet her, and she asks for his help protecting Andrew Duran from the people trying to kill him. Evan begins tracking down Andrew just to see what his situation is. Will he help Andrew? What might having Veronica in his life mean for him?

If you are new to these books, I don’t recommend you start here. Yes, the background you need is given as events unfold, but to fully appreciate the growth in Evan and his relationships with others, you need the full background the earlier books give you. As a fan, I loved those growth moments in this book. Unfortunately, they did come at the expense of the pacing. Normally, author Gregg Hurwitz is a master at keeping the thrills going while developing the characters for us. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great action scenes, and the book always held my interest. It’s just not quite on par with his others. The scenes spent giving us technical information didn’t help with the pacing. Having said that, it’s going to be a long wait until the next book comes out so I can find out what happens next. Being a thriller, this does have more language and violence than my normal selections, so be prepared before you pick it up. Fans will definitely enjoy this book, and if you haven’t started the series yet, I recommend you do so today.