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    Education and Games

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    Set your child's mind in motion! Thinkrolls are the 26 smart characters in this award-winning app...

Mission impossible dead reckoning part one (2023)
Mission impossible dead reckoning part one (2023)
2023 | Action
9
8.5 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
What A Summer Blockbuster Movie Should Be
Boy, that Tom Cruise sure knows how to make a crowd-pleasing, summer blockbuster movie.

Fresh off his cinema-saving success with TOP GUN: MAVERICK, Cruise (and Director Christopher McQuarrie) comes back with another giant summer tentpole film - MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE - and they hit it out of the park again.

The 7th film in the Mission Impossible franchise (which debuted, incredibly, 27 years ago), DEAD RECKONING, PART ONE reunites Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) with his band of hero/outlaws to stop yet another world-wide crisis. It’s familiar ground but it is the journey not the destination that makes these types of films work and the journey (which, to be honest, is just an excuse to jump from action set piece to action set piece) is a fun one filled with comfortable characters/actors both old and new.

Besides Cruise (who’s got the Ethan Hunt character down), DR1 is filled with Hunt’s “regular” crew, Luther (Vingh Rhames - the only other actor besides Cruise to be in every MI film), Benji (SImon Pegg - around since MI 3) and Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson - on board since film 5). These are all familiar, comfortable characters and when the band gets back together about 1/2 way through the film, it felt liking sinking into your couch after a long, hard (but good) day of work to watch your favorite comfort show.

McQuarrie, wisely, populates the rest of the film with new, but comfortably familiar, faces such as Haley Atwell (Agent Carter in the MCU), Shea Wigham (ironically, he played Atwell’s boss in the Agent Carter TV Series), Pom Klementieff as Paris (the name of the character Leonard Nimoy played in the TV Series). Klementieff is also a veteran of the MCU having played Mantis in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Esai Morales (one of the bosses in NYPD BLUE) and Cary Elwes (the Princess Bride). All bring their “A” game to the adventure and all of them acquit themselves just fine.

Oh…and Henry Czerny reprises his role as Kittridge from the first Mission Impossible film - and it was good to see him, too as was Vanessa Kirby’s re-appearance as Hunt’s “frenemie”, The White Widow (in a role that is a bit more expanded).

But, of course, all of these actors/performances takes a back seat to the action sequences and McQuarrie and Cruise are at the top of their game here. The big action set pieces are a marvel to watch - very enjoyable, exciting, nerve-wracking and easy to follow with some sense of humor rolled in. Unlike another big action flick (that leaned more towards the over-the-top comic-book type action), this Mission Impossible film relies on tension to make these action scenes pop off the screen - and McQuarrie succeeds.

Since this film is labeled as “Part One” you would expect to this film to end on a cliff-hanger and McQuarrie/Cruise were smart about that, too. It is more of “the mission isn’t finished” than a cliff-hanger, which helps this film hold together on it’s own and not just “Part One of a two-parter”.

Very smart, indeed.

A fun romp at the cinema - head out to the biggest screen possible to immerse yourself into this mission, you’ll be glad you did.

Letter Grade: A

9 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)

A fun, escapist, action film that is satisfying (and not dumb), MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: DEAD
  
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Tara (6 KP) rated Ink Iron and Glass in Books

Jul 3, 2018  
II
Ink Iron and Glass
Gwendolyn Clare | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
8
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Has some twists you don't see coming! Keeps you guessing. Keeps building to the end. Makes you wish you had the next book ready so you can find out what happens next. (1 more)
Wasn't a complete cliffhanger, but it did leave you with questions. General curiosity to how the story will continue.
Starts off slow. A lot of characters appear at once. A few times I got a character mixed up with another. (0 more)
Keep with it!
Book Sleeve Description -
Can she write a world gone wrong?
A certain pen, a certain book, and a certain person can craft entirely new worlds through a branch of science called scriptology. Elsa comes from one such world that was written into creation, where her mother - a noted scriptologist - constantly alters and expands their reality.
But when her home is attacked and her mother kidnapped, Elsa is forced to cross into the real world and use her own scriptology gifts to find her. In an alternative Victorian Italy, Elsa finds a secret society of young scientists with a gift for mechanics, alchemy, or scriptology - and meets Leo, a gorgeous mechanist with a smart mouth and tragic past. She recruits the help of these fellow geniuses just as an assassin arrives on their doorstep.
In this thrilling debut, worlds collide as Elsa unveils a deep political conspiracy seeking to unlock the most dangerous weapon ever created - and only she can stop it.

Wish I had the second book so I can find out what happens!
New type of YA story.
Refreshing.
Can start off slow...trust me...stick with it!
  
The Killer On The Wall
The Killer On The Wall
Emma Kavanagh | 2017 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel is told from multiple perspectives, so it is quite hard to choose the main character. I think they all played a very important part in this book. I really liked Isla and Mina (police detective investigating the murders), they are two smart, dedicated, and determined women. Ramsey’s (Isla’s husband) parts were quite boring, and my mind just wandered off on multiple occasions. I liked the way the characters interacted between each other, and even though they are into different things, they all had something to offer to this investigation.

I liked the narrative of this book, it was full of surprises and you never knew who is going to die next. The investigation part was quite slow and not very inventive, but I enjoyed all the twists and deception it had to offer. I have to admit, after finishing this book, I had a ton of questions and some of the things didn’t make sense to me.

The writing style was creative, and overall delivery of the book was pretty good. The chapters had a decent length and didn’t leave me bored. I liked the ending of the book, it was very unexpected and it rounded up the story very nicely. This book carries some gross details about murders, so it’s a joy for gory crime lovers, but a nightmare for sensitive readers. :S

So, to conclude, I liked this twisty story, filled with psychopaths and the reasons why they become one. Even though I have lots of unanswered questions, I hope that after reading, it will make more sense to you.
  
    OXENFREE

    OXENFREE

    Games

    8.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

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    “Oxenfree takes the best parts of supernatural 1980's teenage horror films and combines it with...