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Yvonne (12 KP) rated The House of Secrets (The Sarah Bennett Mysteries, #2) in Books
Jun 11, 2019
A good addition to the series
The House of Secret by Terry Lynn Thomas
Published by HQ Digital on 11th April 2019
252 pages
Following on from Sarah Bennett’s father’s murder trial, Sarah gets given a job working with psychiatrist Dr Matthew Geisler. With his fascination into the supernatural, Sarah sees it as a chance to escape the public eye.
Whilst I have read The Spirit of Grace, you don’t have to, to enjoy this story. Anything that was relevant from book 1 was explained in detail, without spoiling the flow. I liked that Sarah was still inquisitive and even having suffered a life-threatening accident, it didn’t stop her trying to help Minna, who was having a really bad time at the Geisler’s Institute. Although there were times that Sarah was put under a lot of pressure from Zeke, Dr Geisler and even Alysse, she was still determined to find out who was behind the threats.
Whilst Zeke being housed in the hospital for his injuries pleased Sarah, as he was so close to her, there were moments that she doubted the real reason he was there. At times it did get annoying as Sarah knew what Zeke did for a living and should have understood that there were occasions that she could not be his No1 priority. However, this did not detract from the mystery and they did work well together.
Whilst the story centred around the characters already mentioned, there were some other characters, that had their own story to tell. Mr Collins, an accomplished pianist, Cynthia Forrester whilst being Sarah’s friend was also a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle and Aunt Lillian, an eccentric older lady who was Cynthia’s aunt.
The supernatural element was stronger in this story as Sarah was adjusting to her gift and it helped that she had a fan in Dr Geisler. The mystery was well plotted and whilst I had my suspicions who was behind the threats, I could not work the reasons behind them. The story built up to a dramatic ending, with everything explained in detail.
This series can keep going and I hope there will be more to come. If you like historical fiction with an element of supernatural then this is a series for you.
Published by HQ Digital on 11th April 2019
252 pages
Following on from Sarah Bennett’s father’s murder trial, Sarah gets given a job working with psychiatrist Dr Matthew Geisler. With his fascination into the supernatural, Sarah sees it as a chance to escape the public eye.
Whilst I have read The Spirit of Grace, you don’t have to, to enjoy this story. Anything that was relevant from book 1 was explained in detail, without spoiling the flow. I liked that Sarah was still inquisitive and even having suffered a life-threatening accident, it didn’t stop her trying to help Minna, who was having a really bad time at the Geisler’s Institute. Although there were times that Sarah was put under a lot of pressure from Zeke, Dr Geisler and even Alysse, she was still determined to find out who was behind the threats.
Whilst Zeke being housed in the hospital for his injuries pleased Sarah, as he was so close to her, there were moments that she doubted the real reason he was there. At times it did get annoying as Sarah knew what Zeke did for a living and should have understood that there were occasions that she could not be his No1 priority. However, this did not detract from the mystery and they did work well together.
Whilst the story centred around the characters already mentioned, there were some other characters, that had their own story to tell. Mr Collins, an accomplished pianist, Cynthia Forrester whilst being Sarah’s friend was also a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle and Aunt Lillian, an eccentric older lady who was Cynthia’s aunt.
The supernatural element was stronger in this story as Sarah was adjusting to her gift and it helped that she had a fan in Dr Geisler. The mystery was well plotted and whilst I had my suspicions who was behind the threats, I could not work the reasons behind them. The story built up to a dramatic ending, with everything explained in detail.
This series can keep going and I hope there will be more to come. If you like historical fiction with an element of supernatural then this is a series for you.
Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated Venom (2018) in Movies
Jun 19, 2019
If you can manage to throw away what you know about the Marvel Comic book story of Venom, you’ll enjoy this movie immensely. After a successful re-launching of the Spiderman series, it’s no surprise Sony Pictures would capitalize and develop a Venom spin-off.
Venom follows investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who’s living life in San Francisco with his fiancé Annie (Michelle Williams) after being blacklisted by all media outlets in New York for his outlandish attempts at digging for the truth to his stories. Eddie, with his inability to follow protocol and keep boundaries, he steals confidential information from his fiancé’s computer, loses the only job willing to hire him, and tries to bring down the
powerful Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), famed bio-tech entrepreneur. Behind the façade of Drake’s disease curing company, Life Foundation, Drake’s major motive is to bond with alien creatures called symbiotes in hopes of recreating the human by providing them with the ability to survive in space. He managed to send a rocket into space and return 4 symbiotes which he tests on human’s killing 2 of the symbiotes and leaving one to escape and the last one to test on himself. Realizing the amount of power he gets from the merging of the two species, Drake decides he wants to head back into space and bring back more symbiotes
With nothing left to lose, Brock breaks into the Life Foundation and ends up becoming infected by one of the last 2 symbiotes which eventually introduces itself to Brock as Venom. With Venom inhabiting Eddie’s body, they become an unlikely human killing machine each trying to keep to their species capabilities. This unusual pairing consists of quick witted banter, with each trying to upstage the other.
As the two begin to spend some quality time “together,” they realize they aren’t much different. They figure out a way to co-exist all for the sake of saving the human race.
A fast-paced superhero movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, laughing out loud, and completely entertained. The character development is a bit lacking, however the action sequences, and the comradery between our morphed superhero makes up for some of the holes in the story line.
http://sknr.net/2018/10/05/venom/
Venom follows investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), who’s living life in San Francisco with his fiancé Annie (Michelle Williams) after being blacklisted by all media outlets in New York for his outlandish attempts at digging for the truth to his stories. Eddie, with his inability to follow protocol and keep boundaries, he steals confidential information from his fiancé’s computer, loses the only job willing to hire him, and tries to bring down the
powerful Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), famed bio-tech entrepreneur. Behind the façade of Drake’s disease curing company, Life Foundation, Drake’s major motive is to bond with alien creatures called symbiotes in hopes of recreating the human by providing them with the ability to survive in space. He managed to send a rocket into space and return 4 symbiotes which he tests on human’s killing 2 of the symbiotes and leaving one to escape and the last one to test on himself. Realizing the amount of power he gets from the merging of the two species, Drake decides he wants to head back into space and bring back more symbiotes
With nothing left to lose, Brock breaks into the Life Foundation and ends up becoming infected by one of the last 2 symbiotes which eventually introduces itself to Brock as Venom. With Venom inhabiting Eddie’s body, they become an unlikely human killing machine each trying to keep to their species capabilities. This unusual pairing consists of quick witted banter, with each trying to upstage the other.
As the two begin to spend some quality time “together,” they realize they aren’t much different. They figure out a way to co-exist all for the sake of saving the human race.
A fast-paced superhero movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat, laughing out loud, and completely entertained. The character development is a bit lacking, however the action sequences, and the comradery between our morphed superhero makes up for some of the holes in the story line.
http://sknr.net/2018/10/05/venom/
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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Venom (2018) in Movies
Oct 4, 2018 (Updated Oct 4, 2018)
Unexpectedly fun and comical (1 more)
Tom Hardy
This Is The Movie That Everyone Hates?
Contains spoilers, click to show
I have to be honest, I was not on-board with this film going in at all. I wasn't interested in a Spiderman-less Spiderman universe and the trailers didn't exactly sell me on it either. It looked like they were messing with the origin of Venom too much and the action set pieces didn't look too impressive. Then there was the fact that the review embargo was only lifted a day before the movie's release, then there were the terrible reviews. Suffice to say I went into this with a morbid curiosity expecting a total mess.
However, I am happy to report that this movie actually really pleasantly surprised me and I had a ton of fun watching Venom.
When I heard that Tom Hardy was playing Eddie Brock, I was really gutted because I think that he would have been the perfect choice for the MCU's Wolverine. I also thought that this was going to be a mistake in terms of Hardy's career; out of all of the superhero movies he could have been a part of, he chose Venom? I was happy to be proven wrong, Hardy was great in both his role as Eddie Brock and as Venom. He was funny, scary and heartfelt at all the right moments and looked like he was having a good time playing the character.
This movie did remind me a lot of Upgrade, which was also a Sci-fi movie released this year with a protagonist who gains a voice in his head and extraordinary powers that he doesn't have any control over. Coincidentally Tom Hardy also looks strikingly similar to the actor in Upgrade, Logan-Marshall Green. If I had to compare the two movies, I personally preferred Upgrade, but I had a lot of fun with both of them.
And that's the best thing about this movie, it is fun. Sure, it's not a comic book accurate Venom origin and it's not connected to the MCU's Spiderman and it's not up to snuff compared to the recent entries in the MCU, but it is a ton of fun to watch this violent alien join forces with a witty, down on his luck reporter and wreak havoc.
I'm going to drop a few spoilers going forward, so if you have yet to see the movie, you should probably click away now.
The thing that was really bothering me during the opening of the movie was; why is this story taking place in San Francisco? Eddie Brock is a New Yorker, not a San Franciscan. Then they addressed that issue and explained that he had moved away from New York. It was only a brief, throwaway line, but they didn't have to bother including it and I appreciate that they did.
I also really enjoyed the brief appearance of She-Venom. Sure, the odds that this Symbiote that rejects almost every human host that it comes into contact with, just happens to bond perfectly with this couple, is a bit of a stretch. However, this is a comic book movie with aliens, so I'm willing to accept a few stretches in the movie's logic.
Lastly I like the fact that they teased Carnage in the post credits tease and I am glad that they got Woody Harrelson to play him, he is one of my favourite actors... but my God he looked really dumb in that red wig, like almost parody bad.
Overall, although I had extremely low expectations going into Venom, it exceeded them by a great deal. Sure, it's not Infinity War and it's not even Spiderman: Homecoming, but it is a lot of fun and there is definitely a good amount of enjoyment to be had in Venom.
However, I am happy to report that this movie actually really pleasantly surprised me and I had a ton of fun watching Venom.
When I heard that Tom Hardy was playing Eddie Brock, I was really gutted because I think that he would have been the perfect choice for the MCU's Wolverine. I also thought that this was going to be a mistake in terms of Hardy's career; out of all of the superhero movies he could have been a part of, he chose Venom? I was happy to be proven wrong, Hardy was great in both his role as Eddie Brock and as Venom. He was funny, scary and heartfelt at all the right moments and looked like he was having a good time playing the character.
This movie did remind me a lot of Upgrade, which was also a Sci-fi movie released this year with a protagonist who gains a voice in his head and extraordinary powers that he doesn't have any control over. Coincidentally Tom Hardy also looks strikingly similar to the actor in Upgrade, Logan-Marshall Green. If I had to compare the two movies, I personally preferred Upgrade, but I had a lot of fun with both of them.
And that's the best thing about this movie, it is fun. Sure, it's not a comic book accurate Venom origin and it's not connected to the MCU's Spiderman and it's not up to snuff compared to the recent entries in the MCU, but it is a ton of fun to watch this violent alien join forces with a witty, down on his luck reporter and wreak havoc.
I'm going to drop a few spoilers going forward, so if you have yet to see the movie, you should probably click away now.
The thing that was really bothering me during the opening of the movie was; why is this story taking place in San Francisco? Eddie Brock is a New Yorker, not a San Franciscan. Then they addressed that issue and explained that he had moved away from New York. It was only a brief, throwaway line, but they didn't have to bother including it and I appreciate that they did.
I also really enjoyed the brief appearance of She-Venom. Sure, the odds that this Symbiote that rejects almost every human host that it comes into contact with, just happens to bond perfectly with this couple, is a bit of a stretch. However, this is a comic book movie with aliens, so I'm willing to accept a few stretches in the movie's logic.
Lastly I like the fact that they teased Carnage in the post credits tease and I am glad that they got Woody Harrelson to play him, he is one of my favourite actors... but my God he looked really dumb in that red wig, like almost parody bad.
Overall, although I had extremely low expectations going into Venom, it exceeded them by a great deal. Sure, it's not Infinity War and it's not even Spiderman: Homecoming, but it is a lot of fun and there is definitely a good amount of enjoyment to be had in Venom.