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In a Lonely Place (1950)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
1950 | Classics, Drama, Mystery
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"“I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.” One of the great lines of this story, again based on a novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. I have recommended this movie to many a brooding actor, one of whom called me the next day only to admonish me, “Why did you think I needed to see this film?” I’m a dame, so don’t crawl all over me, but I think men like this film because they can watch it and be tormented, with a glass of scotch in hand, and think about all the dames who ruined them. In a Lonely Place asks: Can violence be romantic? Are all men violent by nature? Do women drive men to be violent toward them? Do women sometimes desire men to be violent? The film touches disturbingly on the psychology of physical abuse, so women, beware. It seems to say: I beat you because I love you, because I can’t live without you. And if I can’t have you, if you want to leave me, I may have to kill you. The fact that a love-hate relationship was going on during the making of the film between the people who made it—director Nicholas Ray and Ray’s then wife, star Gloria Grahame—only gives it an added dimension. It’s interesting to note that In a Lonely Place was made during a time when that sort of behavior toward women was more acceptable, was even considered love. Read up on Bogart’s third marriage, to actress Mayo Methot. They nearly killed each other but, while married, were affectionately referred to as “the battling Bogarts.” Humphrey Bogart always played a tough guy on-screen. He had an inner violence that escaped in a knowing snarl, or a slap or two for poor Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon. This Bogart is pretty ugly. Was he playing himself? He’s the producer here, so it seems obvious he wanted to expose himself within the confines of the story. Bogart plays Dixon Steele, a washed-up, once-famous screenwriter. He’s a loner, he’s an alcoholic, and he’s also quite the snappy dresser—which I thought was a great touch. It’s a signal that he sets himself apart. He’s better than everyone else. He doesn’t have to follow the rules. He has his own code of behavior, and if you don’t like it, he’ll smash your face in. He’s someone who seems so far removed from his own actions that it’s hard to even root for him. Although he is a violent drunk, he never sees it that way. He’s noble. There’s some kind of masculine honor in Dix that Bogart and Ray seem to say is lacking in every other man in Hollywood. Ah, when men were men, and you could booze and brawl all night. Every sadist needs a masochist, and no one plays sexy-doomed better than Gloria Grahame. Her suffering was usually some sort of retribution. Lee Marvin throws hot coffee in her face in The Big Heat. She becomes a prostitute in the nightmare vision of Bedford Falls, Pottersville, in It’s a Wonderful Life. She dies in a plane crash after cheating on Dick Powell in The Bad and the Beautiful. She shines here. And could someone explain to me the undercurrent of her relationship with her female masseuse? “She beats me black and blue.” Hmmm . . . In In a Lonely Place, she is the wrong girl who moved into the wrong place and got hooked up with the wrong guy while running away from another wrong guy. Laurel Gray. Wonder if they took the name from Laurel Canyon, a winding road in LA. She’s never going to find happiness, especially with a man like Dix, and you know that from the minute you see her. The original ending of In a Lonely Place has Laurel strangled by Dix in the heat of their last argument as she attempts to leave him. He then calmly finishes his screenplay as the police come to arrest him. That’s Hollywood. In spite of killing his girlfriend, he finishes his screenplay. I would have preferred that, because I think that’s a reflection of what Ray and Bogart really felt. Instead, Ray got cold feet, and the ending, though tragic, lets Dix off the hook, leaving us to believe he will forever be in that lonely place. He’s the victim. Is there nobility in that? Maybe Ray was looking for his own happy ending. He and Grahame divorced in 1952. In 1956, Ray made Bigger Than Life, another film I love that explores a man driven to almost killing his wife."

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A Vow So Bold and Deadly
A Vow So Bold and Deadly
Brigid Kemmerer | 2021 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Regular readers will know that I devoured the Cursebreaker series earlier in the year but Netgalley were generous enough to provide the opportunity to listen to this fantastic audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The final book in the Cursebreakers series is a hard thing to come to terms with. Brigid Kemmerer has been messing with our hearts for 2 books so far and she isn’t about to let us go without a fight! Rhen and Grey are on opposite sides of a war, Harper is (deservedly) super mad at Rhen and Lilith has returned, seemingly unharmed. Is there nothing that can stop the enchantress?
Similarly to the previous two books, A Vow so Bold and Deadly is written from multiple POVs but what I loved in comparison to A Heart so Fierce and Broken is that we got a lot more of Harper! I really felt that Lia Mara took a bit of Harper’s “airtime” in the last book.
I also specifically loved the audiobook version because any third party’s speech within a character’s POV is done in that character’s voice – Rhen voicing Lilith is particularly hilarious.
The characters themselves seem to fall in my favour as we progress through the series and AVSBAD was no exception.
I still loved Harper with her fierceness and her sarcasm. I think the physical journey in the book (this is me trying to not give any spoilers) really spoke to her as a character and her unwavering, loyal nature and the fact that her anger towards Rhen took a long time to dissipate felt very real. I also loved her friendship with Zo but I must admit that sometimes Harper did border on petty – I guess she is fairly young though.
Lia Mara was a great character in AHSFAB, she was a breath of fresh air and I really admired her fight for peace in a violent kingdom. However, shacking up with Grey has made this Queen a wet fish! For a woman who has been raised with the notion that you do not need a man to rule Lia Mara severely disappoints. I really didn’t understand her character in the final book, she was unable to stand up for herself and totally dependent on Grey, even pining after him at times. It was sickening.
Grey has been my favourite in both the previous books, even when he was scary Grey! Don’t get me wrong he hasn’t totally changed and it is nice to see his struggles in gaining the loyalty of people in Shyl Shallow BUT his coldness towards Harper and THAT ending….nah it didn’t sit well with me. The fact that Grey has a claim to Emberfall is bad enough (it seems to be the only Kingdom in the fictional universe which includes bastards in the laws of succession) but to completely disregard Rhen is not the Grey the readers know and love.
Speaking of Rhen, and I’m going to get a lot of hate for this, but Rhen has never been my favourite. He has gone from being a tortured prince to a torturing prince to a tortured prince again. He just doesn’t seem to develop. Yes, I felt sorry for him, particularly towards the end of the book but I didn’t love him. I nearly did in book 1 but then he ruined it in book 2 and has never redeemed himself. I particularly felt that the ending held no justice for Rhen – there was a clear path for a happily ever after for all and, while I love a good twist, I feel that Kemmerer’s choice of ending kind of kicked Rhen while he was down.
The ending of A Vow So Bold and Deadly definitely paves the way for a spin off book but that feels like it would centre more around Grey and Lia Mara and so I don’t know how much appetite I would have for it. I’d read it but it wouldn’t be top of my TBR.
Overall I liked this book, but I didn’t love it. I had such high expectations after ACSDAL and was willing to overlook AHSFAB as plot filler but this ending fell flat for me. As someone who has read both the book and listened to the audiobook I would recommend the audiobook as it seems to keep you interested in that first few hundred pages where very little happens.
  
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, Western
8
7.4 (33 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A Hornery Exit.
As a big fan of the original – a staple of many Bank Holiday afternoons in my youth – I was prepared to be sniffy about this remake and came to the film on my high-horse (I left that tied to the rail outside the cinema by the way). But I was surprised to have my expectations reset.
 
Possibly on the basis that Trump has been given the Mexican’s a good bashing lately, the villain of the piece in this film is updated from Mexican bandit Calvera to Sacremento based land-snatcher and all round bad-egg Bartholomew Bogue (an expressionless Peter Sarsgaard). After ripping through some of the inhabitants of Rose Creek in a brutal pre-title sequence, widowed sharp-shooter Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett, “The Equalizer”) heads into the West on a recruiting mission for hired guns. She first recruits the bounty hunter Chisholm (sing “Chisum, John Chisum…”… no, sorry different Western) played by Denzel Washington. Washington matches Yul Brynner’s famous black outfit, and unlike Brynner is obviously able to finish off the ensemble naturally!

They recruit another six (who’d have thought it?) including wise-guy gambler Faraday (Chris “Guardians of the Galaxy” Pratt); famed confederate sniper Goodnight Robicheaux (Ethan Hawke); his nifty knife throwing Asian sidekick (but good for the Far East box office) Billy Rocks (Bjung-hun Lee, from Terminator: Genisys); and religious bear-of-a-man Indian-hunter Jack Horne (Vincent D’Onofrio, “Jurassic World”). After trying to whip the incompetent townsfolk into shape, and setting some Home-Alone style surprises, the stage is set for a showdown as Bogue whips up an army to re-take “his” town.

I like classic Westerns, with John Ford’s Rio Bravo being a particular favourite. In my view the problem with many modern Westerns is that they try too hard to shock (Tarentino’s recent “Hateful 8” was a case in point: a promising start ruined by gratuitous over-the-top violence). “The Magnificent Seven” doesn’t make that mistake, and while the squib-master and blood-bag boy are heavily employed throughout, nothing is too excessive: in fact, my view – and I don’t often tend in this direction – is that the censors rather over-egged the UK 12A rating on this one and could have gone with a 12. Director Antoine Fuqua has produced a film that is highly respectful of its heritage: perhaps to the point where many scenes might be deemed to be clichéd. But I personally warmed to that.

Denzel Washington was born to be in a Western like this and the emerging Chris Pratt does his star potential no harm by turning in a stellar performance adding both levity – with some whip-sharp lines – and screen presence in the role made famous by Steve McQueen. (Although no one comes close to the screen presence of McQueen…. Look up “real man” in the dictionary and his picture is there!) Also effective is Ethan Hawke in the nearest thing to the Robert Vaughan character in this film.

Where the adapted script by Richard Wenk and Nik Pizzolatto falters somewhat is in the motivations of the characters, which come across as superficial and unconvincing. (Perhaps “selling” was a whole lot easier in the Old West?) It is even unclear at the end of the film whether the survivors (and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the seven don’t all make it!) actually take their payment, or even a “share of the gold” that the town is sitting on. It makes for an unsatisfactory closure. The degree of racial harmony present in the film is also difficult to buy into, and the script could have made something more of this.

The film soundtrack marks the swan-song of the late James Horner, so tragically killed in a plane crash last year at the age of just 61. As the natural successor to the great John Williams and the late Jerry Goldsmith, Horner’s loss was a terrible one. The film is dedicated to him. Although the soundtrack was completed by Simon Franglen, there are flourishes of classic Horner, most notably in the first Rose Creek showdown scene. There is also a treat to the ears over the closing credits which is very welcome.

Although the film draws natural comparison with its 5* classic predecessor, this is a good film in its own right – a genuinely pleasant surprise. Perhaps its done well enough that we might get to now see a remake of “The Return of the Seven”. I hope so… “the Western is dead… long live the Western”!
  
An Unlocked Mind (Secrets #2)
An Unlocked Mind (Secrets #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
awesome follow up!
Independent reviewer for Divine Magazine, I was gifted the audio file of this book.

Rob is TRYING to be better person than the one who nearly ruined his brother’s life, he really is. But it’s hard when no one will help you. A visit to the opening night of Secrets is just what he needs. Til a demonstration has him running. But he returns the next week, and runs straight into Vic, along with giving Vic attitude. Rescuing the obnoxious little git wasn’t in Vic’s game plan for the evening, but he can’t leave Rob walking in the pouring rain. After depositing Rob at the train station, he never expects to see him again. Although, something about Rob calls to him, it really does. When Rob starts turning up every weekend, Vic begins to look forward to his visits. Then Life throws Rob under a bus and Vic knows this is his chance to get into Rob’s head, and for Rob to get out of it.

This is book 2 in the Secrets series, but you don’t NEED to have read/listened to book one first, but I think you should. It’s bloody good!

As is this one!

Vic isn’t what I would call a Dom Dom, his speciality is getting a sub out of his head, rather than floggers and whips. And he KNOWS something is eating away at Rob’s mind, he just needs to unlock it. But to do THAT, Vic needs to get to know Rob, on his weekly visits to London. When Rob loses his job in Manchester, Vic offers him a lifeline, under strict terms that Vic lays down. And Rob, desperate for help and starved of any real human interaction, jumps at the chance.

Rob did some things as a younger man, that come back to haunt him, that STILL haunt him. A conversation with his mother turns his brother against him, and Rob is suffering that guilt so bad, it’s a dead weight on his shoulders. Meeting Vic, though, lets something free in his soul, something he had been so afraid to admit before. Something his mother would not approve of. Something he so badly needs, it brings him to the brink of his limits and budgets and his money runs out faster than it should. But Vic? Vic gives him a chance, so long as he sticks with the rules, and those RULES are what Rob needs, He needs to find himself again, deep within himself, before he can forgive himself and to make amends with his brother, should his brother want to.

What I particularly loved about this one, was the lack of the physical BDSM stuff that usually comes with these books, I mean I LOVED the lack of it. Oh don’t get me wrong, this is a sexy book, and it has a crazy amount of heat but there is a distinct lack of floggers and paddles. This was very much a MENTAL book, as in Rob needed to get out of his head so bad, and Vic knew just how to do that.
Rob is, quite simply, a wreck at the start of this book, and it’s a long while before Vic can get him to admit what’s eating him the most. That is: what he did to his brother. But when the FULL picture comes clear, I cried for Rob, I really did. He felt so bad for something he did not do, it messed his head.

Vic, being the most laid back Dom I have quite possibly EVER come across, is just the man for Rob, just the Dom to get to the bottom of his pain and release it. Rob calls to his soul, he really does. But not immediately. It takes a little time for Rob to worm his way in, but once he does, Vic is all in.
I NEED to listen Rob’s story now though! I need to know what a little shit Rob was, and how Rob was affected by what happened, I really do. So, books one and two of Collars and Cuffs are nicely lined up for when I’ve got time.

Joel Leslie narrates this one, as he does book one. I cannot, CANNOT fault the narration of these books, this one especially. Leslie pours so MUCH into Rob, and to Vic to, but to a lesser extent. The emotion pouring out of Rob when he finally breaks down and tells Vic all made me cry, great wrecking sobs that I have no doubt might NOT have come had I been reading.

 Leslie is, quite simply a Master at his craft, and coupled with the work of Wells and Williams, I can only give this book. . . .

5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration
5 stars overall.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
  
Dumbo (2019)
Dumbo (2019)
2019 | Animation, Family, Fantasy
Tim Burton and the flying elephant
If you had told me 15 years ago that Tim Burton would be directing a live-action adaptation of Disney’s classic, Dumbo I would’ve been overwhelmed with excitement. The director, famed for his unique sense of gothic style and visual flair has directed some of the best films ever made.

Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice are just a few classics on a resume populated by cracking movies. However, over the last decade Burton has become a director that has focused on style over substance. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory was a pale imitation of the original and his live-action remake of Alice in Wonderland was successful but hollow.

Therefore, we arrive in 2019 with a slight sense of apprehension. Dumbo is a classic Disney cartoon and there’s a risk of a little too much Burton for the little elephant’s good. But is that fear unfounded?

Struggling circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) enlists a former star (Colin Farrell) and his two children to care for Dumbo, a baby elephant born with oversized ears. When the family discovers that the animal can fly, it soon becomes the main attraction – bringing in huge audiences and revitalising the run-down circus. The elephant’s magical ability also draws the attention of V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), an entrepreneur who wants to showcase Dumbo in his latest, larger-than-life entertainment venture.

Updating Dumbo for the modern age was always going to be a difficult task. At just over an hour long and with some shall we say, less than PC story elements, the original needed some serious padding and editing to turn it into a fully-fledged feature film and while there are moments of brilliance here, Dumbo suffers from a disjointed and overthought script, flat characters and you guessed it, too much Burton.

We’ll start with the good. Dumbo is a beautiful film, filled to the brim with striking imagery that harks back to some of Burton’s previous work. The cinematography is absolutely astounding with stunning sunsets and vivid colours populating the screen at all points during the 112-minute running time. The opening in particular, a hark back to the original in which a train crosses a map of the US is inspired and nicely filmed.

For the most part though, Dumbo pushes the limits of visual effects to the point where everything feels far too artificial. The baby elephant himself is on the whole very good, and as adorable as you would expect, but there are moments dotted throughout the film that suffer from the limitations of CGI. A scene in which Dumbo gets a bath is terrifying. In fact, there are multiple sequences towards the finale in which the CGI is so poor that it looks like something out of a second generation video game.

Dumbo is a beautiful film, filled to the brim with striking imagery that harks back to some of Burton’s previous work
Elsewhere, the cast is by far the film’s weakest element. Colin Farrell is a disappointingly forgettable and miscast lead. Arriving home after losing his arm in the war, Farrell’s Holt is completely flat, not helped by some poor acting from the usually dependable star. Michael Keaton doesn’t get to do much apart from smile menacingly and Danny DeVito hams it up to 11 as struggling circus-owner Max Medici; oh dear.

There are some positives cast-wise however: Nico Parker as Milly Farrier, Holt’s curious science-minded daughter, is very good, even if the script beats you around the head with the fact that she’s an intelligent girl who wants more out of her life, but this is brought right back down to earth by Eva Green’s horrific French accent.

Then there’s Burton himself. While the shots of Dumbo circling the circus tent in the air are breath-taking, and scenes of the pachyderm covered in clown make-up as he’s abused for profit are as heart-breaking as they are in the original, they’re ruined by unusual story-telling choices. As the film steamrolls to its climax set in a theme-park that’s a third Scooby Doo, a third Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and a third Jurassic Park, Burton piles on his usual tropes far too thick – it just doesn’t fit with the tale of the magical flying elephant.

Some of the more touching elements are handled well however. Dumbo’s separation from his mother is devastating and he feels like a real personality throughout the entire film, but for a film titled Dumbo, it needs more Dumbo!

Overall, Dumbo is a perfectly enjoyable adventure ride that’s spoilt by Burton’s once trademark filming style and a roster of flat and forgettable characters. With the boundaries of CGI being pushed to the max here, some of the film feels a little unfinished and as such, this live-action adaptation is a touch disappointing. One can only wonder what this film would have been like with a different director at the helm.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2019/03/30/dumbo-review-tim-burton-and-the-flying-elephant/
  
Witches Gone Wicked
Witches Gone Wicked
Sabrina Doyle | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
All Clarissa wants to do is become a powerful witch, learn about her mother, and find her high school sweetheart, Derrick.

But it’s not that simple when she’s all but banned from using her volatile magic, her mother was apparently an evil dictator, and her high school sweetheart was swept away in a tornado. Oh, and she caused the tornado.

But, now that she’s a teacher at Womby’s School for Wayward Witches, she might have a chance to actually become part of the Witchkin community and achieve her goals.

Despite everyone despising her because of her mother, she’s making new friends like Josie, a video-gaming witch who loves all life, and Khaba, a Djinn with a kilt fetish. She’s also getting attention from the very sexy Julien Thistledown.

If only that jerk Felix Thatch would stop patronizing her and let her learn about her mother.

Witches Gone Wicked is essentially Harry Potter fanfiction,which had me skeptical at first, but it was really entertaining at the same time.

Womby’s is the Title I version of Hogwarts. It’s for witchkin too poor to afford other schools as well as ones who were kicked out of other schools. Clarissa, being an art teacher, feels the strain of this with an annual budget of $20. The previous art teacher apparently had the students make mud pie art because of lack of supplies. I really liked the idea of a Title I Hogwarts and found the entire school and the staff really interesting.

Josie and Khaba are really funny and entertaining. Khaba is a bit of a stereotype, but I didn’t mind it that much. Josie was fantastic. Gotta love someone who loves all life and has the guts to treat spiders like puppies.

My favorite character is perhaps Felix Thatch. He’s very sexy and funny and I love almost every scene including him. He’s definitely not a people person by any stretch, but he has a lot of integrity as a teacher and a person that Clarissa just refuses to see.

Clarissa is actually one of my least favorite characters. Her dislike and suspicion of Thatch is near identical to Harry Potter’s dislike of Snape. The only problem is she’s a full-grown woman!

Clarissa has a tendency to blindly trust everyone nice to her, not thinking for a second that anyone has ulterior motives. And she despises Thatch for being brutally honest with her despite proving time and time again that he has integrity as a person and a teacher.

Felix Thatch does the following:

Trains Clarissa to use her magic (granted, the principal ordered him to)
Emphasizes the importance of people wanting to take advantage of her
Makes students write apology letters to her
Lets one of his students read in his classroom during lunchtime
Expresses concern over said student’s habit of hugging male teachers because someone might try to take advantage of her friendly nature.

Meanwhile, Clarissa thinks Thatch:

is secretly trying to kill her
might be trying to enslave her using sex magic
condones student and teacher relationships
It’s completely insane! Hey, who’s the most likely to take advantage of you? Maybe not the guy who keeps warning you about people taking advantage of you.

Clarissa is sometimes funny and relatable. I like how much she cares about her students and her patience with the troublemakers in her class. That’s actually really admirable.

But half the time she’s juvenile and irrational and I just want to shake some sense into her.

She’s the daughter of a powerful witch who apparently terrorized the Witchkin community with evil and forbidden magic. Clarissa never knew her birth mother personally, but she’s treated with suspicion and fear because her mother killed and ruined the lives of basically everyone.

Because of her lineage and her volatile magic, Clarissa is under constant threat of being fired from Womby’s, drained of her magic, and turned into a Morty (Muggle).

So you think she would be really careful, right?

Lol no.

Clarissa goes around saying she wants to be the most powerful witch ever, uses magic when she’s not supposed to, and makes plans to break into the library’s restricted section. It’s a freaking miracle that she didn’t get drained and turned into a Morty.

Here’s another thing: why doesn’t she want to be drained? I really don’t get it. Because of her magic and her mother:

everyone hates her
her sister died
her high school sweetheart blew away in a tornado
Womby’s almost burned down
anyone can turn her into a sex slave
As far as I can tell, there are very few benefits to her having magic and a staggering amount of drawbacks. Call me a defeatist, but if I was Clarissa I would be begging to be drained. Her conviction that magic is her true identity isn’t good enough for me.

All in all, this book is definitely three out of five stars. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and really like Thatch. Some of the magic concepts are surprisingly sexy, which I definitely enjoyed. I just don’t like Clarissa.
  
Baby Doll
Baby Doll
Hollie Overton | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
4
7.2 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Firstly I’d like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the opportunity to read this book.

<b><i>”BABY DOLL is the most tense thriller you will read this year.”</b></i> … no it isn’t.

<b>1.5 stars</b>

I was looking forward to giving this a read, it sounded like an exciting thriller; woman escapes from her captor and now she’s trying to rebuild her life and future. But it doesn’t really start out that way… everything kind of falls into place for Lily in the first few pages and so you think, is this going to be as exciting as I first hoped? Well the answer to that is no, it’s not.

It’s all very over the top. <i>Every single thing</i> Abby & Lily do is grossly OTT. I mean I don’t personally know how I, or my family would react if something like this happened but it all seems very overplayed, cliche and cheesy.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/MGmnFOZRFRo4w/giphy.gif"; width="370" height="220" alt="yaaaawn"/>

It’s also a bit ridiculous, not the kidnapping and abuse, of course <b>that’s</b> not, but everything else is. The town seems raving mad, no wonder no one noticed a psychopath in their midst! I mean for one, this town needs to sort out it’s police force, they’re <b>so</b> unprofessional! <spoiler>Sleeping around and beating people to a pulp. Stupid. <b>PLUS</b> Why were they unable to get Abby off of Rick when she was stabbing him? It felt like they were all just standing around and watching her until they thought, OK that’ll do now.</spoiler>

I don’t think Overton did a particularly good job at portraying the characters. They all seemed very wooden and lifeless. I found them all to be extremely childish, shallow and very selfish and so couldn’t connect with any of them. They also felt completely fake, like the things they did and said were not something you could imagine a real person doing or saying. We were supposed to empathise with Lily but it just wasn’t possible for me, she was cold and boring and I think the multiple POV’s was a bad call on Overton’s part because it means we can’t spend that time getting to know the character and instead have to put up with everyone else's junk <i>(cough cough the mother's affair cough cough)</i> that we don’t care about, which disconnects us entirely from the story. I would go so far as to say I felt this story was more about idiotic Abby than it was about boring ol’ Lily. We also couldn’t attach to Lily because this book moved so ridiculously fast! I couldn’t keep up, what’s the rush?

I don’t think this was very well written either, it all seemed very rushed. Also, why was Eve called “Eve” one minute and “Mom” the next? And why couldn’t Abby call “Mr Hanson” by his actual name? We get it, he was your teacher, but you’re an adult now, with a kid and this man ruined your sister's life, would you really be calling him “Mr Hanson” all the time. It was like I was reading the POV of a 6 year old.

I admit the twist was quite a shock and I hadn’t seen <i>that</i> particular ending coming about, but I still thought it was a bit silly, hence the extra half a star I gave the book. <spoiler>Can we please note that this (the murder) is like the 5th time in the book when Abby does something “for Lily” but really she’s just being selfish and doing it for herself because she can’t get a fucking grip.</spoiler>

Too "family drama" for me. I wanted a fast paced thriller not some sappy, emotional love story. This book was supposed to focus on the broken Lily rebuilding her life with her loving family surrounding her, but instead turned into a ridiculous love triangle story that I couldn’t care less about. Give me more of Rick’s POV if you must, <b>anything to get me away from twin sisters fighting over one stupid man.</b> Abby was so fucking annoying when it came to Wes, she was so desperately needy for him all the while putting on a stupid I-don’t-need-you front. Deal with it Abby, you love him and he loves you, <b>just fucking deal with it.</b>

In the end I skipped the last 10 pages or so, I was done with this book when I was 20% the way through… Maybe this would be a good book for people who are into “chick-lit/women's fiction” - whatever that means, but it’s not my cup of tea.
  
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Thoughts on Terminator: Dark Fate

Characters – Dani is the sweet Mexican girl that keeps her family organized with everyday events, making sure her father gets to appointments and her brother joins her for work, her family means everything to her. When Grace turns up, she finds her perfect life ruined, when she needs to go on the run with her from a Terminator, not knowing why a normal young woman has been targeted, she will learn her importance to the future and learn skills alone the way. The only negative side for Dani, is that we don’t learn enough about her before the events happen, it is hard to figure out just how old she is too. Sarah Connor hasn’t stopped hunting Terminators, she is prepared for them all and saves the day, she knows how to stay off the radar, well for the most part one giant plot hole with her talk here, but is a bitter hard as nails woman. The Terminator has many surprises this time, he helps, gets plenty of laughs and as always will fight the superior model. The bad Terminator can fuse with anything it touches, being able to break into more than one threat and isn’t going to stop for anything, he is relentless and on a similar mission focused level as the first two villainous Terminators. Grace is the enhanced soldier sent back to protect Dani, she does need to be kept alive with medicine, proving to be a different level of protection then we have seen before, she has all the human traits, she has lived, fought and battled through the future and knows why she is here and how important this mission is.
Performances – First we will go through the returning cast, Linda Hamilton is wonderful to watch, not only is she perfect here, she lets the new cast members shine, which was one of the weakness of a film that did the same trick, Halloween. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives his best action performance since his return to acting, not only does he still have the fighting down, he has got perfect dead pan comedy down too. Mackenzie Davis might well have just made her an action star for years to come here, giving a performance that could be a star making one. Natalia Reyes does everything right for her character, it isn’t her performance that lets her down, it is certain developments in her character that hold her back. Gabriel Luna as the new Terminator is great too, it is nice they picked a lesser known actor, because a big name would have shifted focus on them instead of a faceless killer.
Story – The story here follows a young Mexican woman that has been targeted by a Terminator, for a reason she doesn’t know, she has a super soldier and Sarah Connor to protect her, as she learns about a future, where like Sarah Connor, she will have a big part to play in the war against the machines. This is a sequel that feels like it has re-imagined the original, mixed with the second one, this is all good because having a new face that needs to learn their part in the future is what makes Terminator different in story, the idea that technology has moved on, also helps this story unfold nicely showing us just how much we are going to see. For a story that is 2 hours long, this barely feels that long if we are being honest and by the end you will be wanting to see more, because even though we have returning characters, they don’t feel thrown in like Arnie’s in the last film.
Action/Sci-Fi – The action here is massive, this shows some great teamwork from the stunt teams too, the fights are people bashing the hell out of an indestructible robot, which means we can hit harder and it not look stupid, while we might have a couple too many cuts during them though. The sci-fi idea has moved on from previous films, which shows us just how much could change in the future, the war will always be coming.
Settings – The film does use the settings are a plot point, where it is, we need to get here, then here, via here, all but the final battle seems simple enough locations.
Special Effects – The effects for the most part are wonderful, there are a few questionable moments, but when you see the Terminator get hit, the metal exposing, doesn’t look out of place.

Scene of the Movie – Opening Chase.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – There is one on the nose reference to gun control in America.
Final Thoughts – This is an enjoyable action movie that brings the Terminator back to life for everybody to enjoy, this is bar far the best Terminator movie since Judgement Day.

Overall: Excellent Movie.
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Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Second Half (0 more)
First Half (0 more)
I have very mixed feelings following The Rise of Skywalker, the concluding chapter of not just another trilogy of Star Wars movies but also the conclusion of the Skywalker saga. Starting this trilogy, I was comforted by the familiarity presented in The Force Awakens and I felt that movie got the balance right between it's handling of the past and the introduction of new characters, scenarios and threats. But, I’m one of those people that was ultimately disappointed by The Last Jedi. Not the kind that fanboy rages about Star Wars and my entire childhood being ruined, as there are actually a lot of things I liked about it, but I do feel it deviated too much from some of the direction introduced in the previous movie and the movies prior to that. So I went into The Rise of Skywalker not quite as excited as I've been previously, but still cautiously optimistic following a trailer which managed to give me goosebumps pretty much every time I saw it.

As a final chapter, The Rise of Skywalker has a lot resting on it's shoulders. Concluding, and wrapping things up, while not completely ignoring the ideas put forth in The Last Jedi, JJ Abrams is however clearly more interested in revisiting some of his own ideas from The Force Awakens. But I felt that maybe he was relying a little too much on that familiarity aspect at times, as he tries to please everyone.

In The Rise of Skywalker, the resistance are still outnumbered by the First Order and Kylo Ren is now Supreme Leader. Meanwhile, Rey is training with Leia, becoming more confident and powerful, while Finn, Poe and Chewie are out in the Millennium Falcon gathering intel from spies. But an old threat from the past has returned, as a message goes out across the galaxy from an unknown region - Emperor Palpatine is warning of revenge, supported by a powerful fleet of ships.

To go into much more detail would involve spoilers, but lets just say that the first half of the movie involves a search to find something which is going to help them find something else, which is going to lead to the location of the emperor. The quest takes us from location to location, with the odd rescue along the way and the occasional new character popping up. Rey and Ren still have a bond which means that they can manipulate and battle each other from anywhere in the galaxy as Ren and his knights seek out Rey and her team in order to destroy them. There's a lot going on in that first half, and it all felt a bit messy. It's fair to say, I was very bored by this first half.

Around that half way mark though, the journey takes us to a world in the Endor system, where the remains of the second Death Star lies out at sea, among towering waves. It's there that an epic battle between Rey and Ren takes place, which you no doubt will have seen snippets of in the trailers or marketing material. Waves crash around them and the visuals, the choreography, the score, it all came together and really kick started the second half off for me. I still can't quite put my finger on it, but from that point on I felt a real shift (in the force?) and I began to really enjoy the rest of the movie, right up until the huge, inevitable and breathtaking final battle.

As mentioned earlier, there are certainly a lot of characters to take care of in this movie, including plenty of newcomers, all fighting for attention and screen-time. Some of the seemingly important characters introduced to us previously in this trilogy feel a bit lost at times, while we do still manage to find time for a very welcome return by Landon Calrissian. Rey and Ren are both outstanding once again and a special mention goes out to Richard E Grant, who I thought was brilliant as head of the First Order fleet, Allegiant General Pride. Scenes involving Carrie Fisher are beautifully handled, but I felt that the fan service went a little bit too far with some of the scenes involving Luke Skywalker.

The level of craftsmanship and design that goes into a Star Wars movie is always incredible and The Rise of Skywalker is no exception, elevated by a powerful John Williams score and some amazing visuals. I'm really not sure what I was expecting from this final chapter but, despite it all coming good for me in the end, I do feel slightly disappointed overall by the wildly differing halves of the movie. Still, there's nothing quite like seeing a new Star Wars movie on the big screen at Christmas time!