Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (5000)

Content

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) in Movies

Aug 6, 2019

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has a cast including Judi Dench (Evelyn), Maggie Smith (Muriel), Bill Nighy (Douglas), Dev Patel (Sonny), and Richard Gere (Guy Chambers).

It is a sequel to the 2011 film ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, which I never saw, nor even knew existed.

The idea is that a hotel in India becomes a permanent residence for elderly retirees at their last stopping point before their journey to ‘the great beyond’.

We follow their relationships and interactions, all wrapped up in the hotel proprietors (Sonny) desire to expand his hotel into another additional location, and his pitch to the (supposedly) undercover Hotel evaluator (Guy Chambers).

Sonny is willing to go to almost any length, up to and including sending his mother as an ‘offering’ to Chambers, in an attempt to secure the financing for the expansion.

In the meantime Sonny sacrifices a bit of his relationship with his fiancé,
Sunaina (played by Tena Desae), because she is wanting him to focus more on their upcoming wedding, than his business plans.

I thought the movie was ok, it had some funny parts. My husband almost fell asleep twice during it because it moved along pretty slowly.

It wouldn’t have been my pick to see ‘on the big screen’, to me, it just doesn’t need a movie screen to tell its story.

My guess is folks in the older generation will appreciate it and enjoy it much more than we did.
It certainly wasn’t ‘horrible’, it was just slow and rambling, without enough funny parts to hold our interest.

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Despicable Me 2 (2013) in Movies

Aug 7, 2019

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

2013 | Animation, Comedy, Family

7.7

(49 Ratings)

Movie Rating

The second installment of Dreamwork’s Despicable Me franchise had me laughing out loud repeatedly throughout the movie. Getting the biggest laughs, like in the first movie, were the antics of the Minions, the formerly felonious Gru’s eager assistants. While the first Despicable Me actually had me tearing up at some points, I think overall I laughed more during this one.

Although Gru (voiced by Steve Carrell), and his daughters Margo, Edith and Agnes are the main characters, the Minions steal many scenes. Watch for references to The Love Boat and the Village People when the Minions go on vacation.
The main story line introduces us to the Anti Villain League, an organization that that sends a resourceful agent named Lucy (voiced by Kristin Wiig) to contact (kidnap!) Gru in order to help them find the villain who is stealing a serum that turns things monstrous. Resistant at first, Gru acquiesces, and what follows is a quick-paced and laugh-out-loud funny tale of good vs. bad as Gru and Lucy work to solve the mystery of who the culprit is. During all this Gru also shows us how much of a doting and protective father he’s become to his girls.

In a slightly predictable sub-plot, Gru both fends off, and finds, love! We saw the movie in 3D, which I normally do not do, as it frequently makes me feel slightly ill, however, in this instance it was totally fitting, and completely drew us into the story and the characters.

Kudos

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in Books

Feb 14, 2020

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Becky Albertalli | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry, Gender Studies

9.0

(29 Ratings)

Book Rating

I got this because I saw the film was out on DVD and I like to read the books before I see the film.

So, this centres around 16 year old Simon who's in the closet, scared to come out to his friends and family. He's instead having an email conversation with someone else from his school - someone whose identity he doesn't know - sharing tales of his life while starting to fall for this someone.

I actually really enjoyed this from the first page. I was drawn into the drama as Simon is pretty much blackmailed by a fellow pupil into helping him get a date with one of Simon's friends. Things escalate and don't go great in the end and I really felt for Simon. Kids can be so cruel to each other and over stupid things that shouldn't matter.

I just fell in love with this group of friends. I loved how protective they could all be of each other and then when Simon and his crush/Blue finally got around to meeting each other...I was smiling like a lunatic. It was so cute. I fell in love with them even more. There was just something so believable about this group. Crushes, friendships, parents.

I cannot write a truly fitting review of this book but if you like young adult books with gay characters or just a sweet romance, then you really should give this book a read.

I definitely feel like I need to read more books by Becky Albertalli now, if they're anything like this one