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The Perfection (2019)
The Perfection (2019)
2019 | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Better than expected
I feel like this film has been on my To Watch list since forever, and it's only taken a lockdown for me to finally get around to watching it. And it turned out much better than I expected.

This is a rather unusual film, it starts off feeling rather sinister and arty and then seems to rush through a variety of genres including romance, horror and suspenseful thriller. I'm a little undecided at how good an idea this was, but I was decently entertained for the most part. The plot starts off well, and whilst it may have been a tad predictable it was still enjoyable until the final few scenes. Sadly I feel like the final scenes and how the story got wrapped up went a little too bizarre and ridiculous. The very final scene almost had me in hysterics at how downright stupid it was. There was also a story telling mechanism used in this a couple of times that I think was trying to be retro but instead seemed a little silly and outdated, and entirely unnecessary.

Despite the negatives, this surprisingly kept my attention and wasn't as bad as I'd thought. There was a decent amount of gore that made me cringe in delighted horror and the short run time helps to make it a lot more enjoyable.
  
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Dean (6925 KP) Apr 30, 2020

Yes definitely an oddball of a film.

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Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated The Nine in Books

Jul 9, 2021  
The Nine
The Nine
Gwen Strauss | 2021 | Education, History & Politics
10
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is not for the faint hearted and made me cry for the nine women and the others who they met along their way so many times.
We follow nine women as they escape from a death march and their journey to try and get to safety. Throughout the recount of the escape, their own stories of who they were before and how they came to be at the concentration camp were told.
The resilience of these nine women throughout everything they enjoyed was inspiring and that they retained their hope and kindness after the disgusting treatment that they endured is nothing short of a miracle.
The story is harrowing, but also one that I feel everyone must know. I thought I knew enough about what happened in those concentration camps in World War II but after reading this I have found that I only knew the tiniest amount of what they endured.
Although I know this is a true story, sometimes I had to remind myself that it was not fiction as some of the passages were so horrific in their descriptions that it is almost unbelievable that a human being can treat another human being like that.
This book will stay with me for a long time, which I am glad of. Thank you to Gwen Strauss and Pigeonhole for allowing me to read this incredible book.
  
Titan A.E. (2000)
Titan A.E. (2000)
2000 | Animation, Family, Sci-Fi
Design-wise nothing short of extraordinary, the blend of astounding nu-age CGI and trademark Bluth animation should by no means work but it ends up looking like heaven. Definitely also helps that this has exactly 0% fat to it and rides on one fun, kinetic wave from start to finish that's full of rapturous action sequences and endlessly creative visuals. That being said, outside of a couple nice turns the story is total copy-and-paste sci-fi template - but I digress, I guess it's still serviceable for this type of thing but this is just *begging* to have some depth injected into its potentially thought-provoking story. What kills this from greatness for me is how chained it is to the era it was made in; granted it still could have turned out much worse but the fakey-sounding, faux-edgy soundtrack sucks so much shit (sans a couple okay song choices [thx Powerman 5000]) that it single-handedly knocks the whole rating down a half star, and the totally repellent "tude" that was required in all of these mid-late 90s/early 2000s kids' films makes me want to rip my hair out. I suppose you can write this in with 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 for flawed early-aughts orgasmically animated sci-fi bombs that I'm still a total softie for. Gets pretty gnarly sometimes, too.
  
Christmas Cupcake Murder
Christmas Cupcake Murder
Joanne Fluke | 2020 | Mystery
4
7.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Fine Short Story Stretched
There is a stranger in Lake Eden, and no one knows who he is – including the man himself. Hannah and her mother find him one day mostly starved, and get him to the hospital. When he is revived, he doesn’t remember his name, but asks to be called Joe Smith instead of John Doe. Hannah makes it her mission to find out who he really is. Can she help him recover his memory?

This book takes us back in time to the early days of the series, and it is fun to see some of those relationships knowing what has happened to the characters since then. The plot is definitely different for a cozy, but I liked it for the variety. Unfortunately, the plot is drowned out by talk of food. I skimmed parts of the book, and I didn’t miss any part of the plot. The plot does get stronger as the book goes along, and I liked the way the story finished. This series always has an abundance of recipes, and this book is no exception with twenty new treats to try, including seven cupcakes. If you are a fan of the series and set your expectations accordingly, you’ll be fine. But otherwise, there is no need to read this book.
  
A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder
A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder
Holly Jackson | 2019 | Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I had only read the short prequel, Kill Joy, to this book which I sat and read in one go and this one didn’t disappoint me.
Following Pip trying to prove that Sal Singh didn’t murder his girlfriend Andie Bell five years earlier was thrilling and had me guessing the whole way through. Every time I settled on a suspect, Pip did the same and then I was somehow talked back out of it with fresh evidence and clues that Pip had found. It definitely had my brain working!
I loved the way that it wasn’t just Pip’s story that had all of the focus, I loved that mingled in with the story, we had Pip’s logs, diagrams, messages and emails that gave more and more evidence and also made it exactly like we were having a sneak peek into her project for school.
Holly Jackson’s writing was so easy to read and I love that she didn’t make it obvious who the real killer was and that even towards the end of the book there were a couple of twists that shocked and surprised me. It was a very entertaining book and it didn’t seem like it was a debut novel at all.
I will definitely be continuing on with the series as I can’t wait to find out what happens to Pip!