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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Funny People (2009) in Movies

Aug 9, 2019

Funny People (2009)

2009 | Comedy, Drama

6.6

(5 Ratings)

Movie Rating

We all have our favorite Adam Sandler movies. There are the fans of The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates and there’s the loyal camp who can quote Happy Gilmore or Big Daddy verbatim. You hear the name Adam Sandler’s and you think goofy, lovable guy. Dependably funny and quotable, from the mid-90’s on, he was the go-to comedian when we looked for an easy laugh. Of late, with the growing list of popular movies under his belt, when you think goofy, lovable funny guy, another name comes up: Seth Rogan. In “Funny People” you get them both.

Sandler plays George Simmons, a popular comedian who’s diagnosed with a fatal disease. Playing a comedian is hardly a stretch for Sandler, but for one whose dramatic turns can be counted on one hand, he plays the stricken man who’s suddenly face to face with his immortality quite convincingly. Rogan is Ira Wright, a desperate young comic who’s still vying for stage time at the local comedy club. George, perhaps recognizing a bit of himself or seeing a glimmer of comedic genius in Ira after catching his act, hires Ira to write for him.

Ira goes from writer and personal assistant/confidante to opening act as he helps George deal with his illness. He encourages the veteran comedian to reconnect with his compatriots in the business, opening the film to a parade of old faces from the stand-up circuit. George’s reflections on his life eventually lead him back to a lost love, Laura, played by Leslie Mann. Amidst the funny, laugh-out-loud scenes, are some believably tender moments, not just between Mann and Sandler but also, oddly enough, Sandler and Rogan.

Directing the comedic duo is writer/director Judd Apatow, who gave Rogan that growing list of successful movies after first casting him in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Sandler could certainly use some of Apatow’s Midas-like touch after his recent string of marginal films. With a strong supporting cast of Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman who play Ira’s roommates Leo and Mark and Eric Bana, Laura’s husband, the movie is in turns hilarious and puzzling. The strong storyline of a veteran comedian taking a novice comic under his wings gets lost when George pursues a second chance with an unhappily married Laura. What could’ve been a touching passing of the torch tale is confused by an annoying love triangle. When the movie returns its focus to George and Ira, it’s saved, just barely, by the fact that we’re still watching two of comedy’s goofy, lovable funny guys.

Kudos

Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Pagan Portals - Celtic Witchcraft: Modern Witchcraft Meets Celtic Ways in Books

Feb 3, 2020

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<img src="https://i1.wp.com/diaryofdifference.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Book-Review-Banner-9.png?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1"/>;

 DID NOT FINISH 

If you have been following my book journey for a while, you will know what I’m about to say. I don’t have rules about reading a certain book, but there is one thing I always stick to:

I give a chance to every book that comes my way. If I have it in my physical library – it will be picked up at some point. 

Pagan Portals – Celtic Witchcraft is a book I won from a giveaway. It is not usually a genre I go for, but I do love witchcraft and spells. It intrigues me.
This book focuses on the Celtic Witchcraft and explains what it means to firstly, be a witch and what Celtic culture is all about – the beliefs, the customs etc.

After reading 30 pages, I decided that this book is not for me. This is, therefore, the second ”Did Not Finish” for 2019.

It starts very slow, gives detailed information of all things Celtic and the history of Celtic Witchcraft. It was a very boring introduction for me.

Then I got involved in a few life lessons without any added benefit really, and a full overview of a moon cycle followed by a detailed report on how the author’s behaviour changed during all these phases. This might be something you are interested in, but I felt like wasting my time reading someone’s daily moon diary. This was the moment I decided to close this book and move on.

I can understand why some might like this book, and you are valid! I am aware a lot of you will love and appreciate this book for what it is. And that’s okay. I just don’t seem to fit into this group. I love learning about witchcraft, witches and find out new things, but this book didn’t give me what I was looking for.

Better luck next time!

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Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Eternal Soul in Books

Feb 3, 2020

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#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2720127654">Eternal Soul</a> - ★★★
#2 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2720128155">Eternal Love</a> - Not Read Yet

<img src="https://i0.wp.com/diaryofdifference.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Book-Review-Banner-4.png?ssl=1&w=510"/>;

Eternal Soul by Karimah Colden was a mysterious and adventurous read for me. The author contacted me and the book seemed to have an interesting plot, so I said - yes, I would love to read it.

Reign is a very private person and keeps everything close to her heart. She is a descendant of powerful hoodoo magick and her family has some dark secrets.

One day, her father appears in her life, which happens very rarely. She can feel trouble and danger, and before she knows it, her world is full of magick and discovering herself again. The one thing that she always denied - her powers - will now be something she will have to embrace and live with.

I really liked Reign and how she was portrayed. There was great character development, which was something I really admired. I loved how she slowly was finding herself throughout the book and did what felt was the best decision for her at each time. I am not sure about the romance and the relationships she formed with both men. It all happened too fast, too unrealistic and too predictable. The book also had a lot of repetitiveness as well, especially in the many scenes when it came to fashion choices and Reign was standing in from of her closet. It felt like deja-vu every time I read about it.

But I still enjoyed Eternal Soul a lot.

Despite the deja-vu's, despite the grammar errors. It is a cute short-ish read and I loved finding out what happens next. I also have the second book of the series as well, and will definitely be reading it soon.

If you like something young-adult, with a bit of magic and self-discovery, and something new and different, go for it, and you might be surprised! Definitely worth giving it a chance!

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JT (287 KP) rated Dredd (2012) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020

Dredd (2012)

2012 | Action, Sci-Fi

7.6

(37 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

From the opening slow motion bullet to the face and exit wound that leaves a spray of deep red across the screen, it’s clear to see that this Dredd reboot is all about eradicating the memory of Stallone. It also does its best to stay true to the graphic novels in which this Judge Dredd leaves his helmet on for the entirety.

Karl Urban steps into the boots for this outing and complete with grizzled voice that echoes of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry he goes up against female villain Ma-Ma (Headey) who is as nasty as she is ruthless.

Mega City one, set on the East Coast and running from Boston to Washington DC is the Judges stomping ground and its being overrun by a new drug called SLO-MO in which users experience reality at a fraction of the speed. When a routine homicide leads Dredd and rookie Judge Cassandra Anderson (Thirlby) to The Peach Trees, a 200-storey slum tower block (wait, another tower block?), they must fight their way through the scum to get to the top and bring down the prostitute turned drug lord.

The film is certainly grittier and bloodier than its almost comic predecessor, and director Travis does not shy away from this.

An early encounter in which Dredd and Anderson infiltrate a drug house is slowed right down, maybe in some way to mirror the feeling the SLO-MO drug has on its users. Bullets and blood fly as the casualties and body count rise significantly, Dredd quips the occasional one liner with deadpan expression “negotiation’s over. Sentence is death.”

Those that saw The Raid would have been mesmerized by the action which was none stop from start to finish, sadly Dredd doesn’t live up to those high expectations but does its best to stay with mainstream carnage, of which there is plenty to satisfy.

It’s all about the facial expression
Thirlby’s psychic abilities prove useful but almost disappointing that she can second guess her opponents, a mutant, she’d probably fit in well with the X-Men. She’s the sense of reason to Dredd’s brute force, although most of the time he’s right in what he does, after all he is the law. The film is stripped back, humour is used when needed, and the action set pieces are exceptional. Urban a long time supporting actor now gets a chance to be front and centre in a franchise that can really go places.

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The Cleaner of Chartres

Salley Vickers

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

'A lovely book ...wise at heart and filled with colourful characters' Joanne Harris, author of...

Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) in Movies

Oct 28, 2020 (Updated Oct 28, 2020)

Klaus Kinski (0 more)

Slow (0 more)

The Vampire Among Them

Nosferatu The Vampyre- is a very slow movie. Very slow, for 90% of the time nothing happens and when some does happens its only for three minutes max. I always wanted to watch the oringal, never got a chance to, hopefully soon i will. As for this remake its so-so.

The plot: Jonathan Harker is sent away to Count Dracula's castle to sell him a house in Virna, where he lives. But Count Dracula is a vampire, an undead ghoul living off men's blood. Inspired by a photograph of Lucy Harker, Jonathan's wife, Dracula moves to Virna, bringing with him death and plague... An unusually contemplative version of Dracula, in which the vampire bears the cross of not being able to get old and die.

There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.

Herzog's production of Nosferatu was very well received by critics and enjoyed a comfortable degree of commercial success.

The film also marks the second of five collaborations between director Herzog and actor Kinski.

While the basic story is derived from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, director Herzog made the 1979 film primarily as an homage remake of F. W. Murnau's silent film Nosferatu (1922), which differs somewhat from Stoker's original work. The makers of the earlier film could not obtain the rights for a film adaptation of Dracula, so they changed a number of minor details and character names in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid copyright infringement on the intellectual property owned (at the time) by Stoker's widow Florence. A lawsuit was filed, resulting in an order for the destruction of all prints of the film. Some prints survived, and were restored after Florence Stoker had died and the copyright had expired.

By the 1960s and early 1970s the original silent returned to circulation, and was enjoyed by a new generation of moviegoers.

In 1979, by the very day the copyright for Dracula had entered the public domain, Herzog proceeded with his updated version of the classic German film, which could now include the original character names.

Herzog saw his film as a parable about the fragility of order in a staid, bourgeois town. "It is more than a horror film", he says. "Nosferatu is not a monster, but an ambivalent, masterful force of change. When the plague threatens, people throw their property into the streets, they discard their bourgeois trappings. A re‐evaluation
of life and its meaning takes place."

Like i said its a decent movie.