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Awix (3310 KP) rated Transit (2018) in Movies
Aug 16, 2019 (Updated Aug 16, 2019)
Anna Seghers' novel of life in France following the German invasion of 1940 updates to the present day with disturbing ease. There is much talk of 'occupation' and 'cleansing' but the director wisely keeps things unspecified as Franz Robowski's character steals a dead man's identity in an attempt to escape Europe, only to find emotional entanglements pose almost as great a problem as international borders.
Understated, with various echoes of other films - you can see why it's being compared to Casablanca, but this is a much heavier and more intense movie. Still quite engrossing to watch, mainly because of the performances. There are also shades of Kafka - you are only allowed to stay in one hotel if you can prove you don't want to stay there - and also Antonioni's The Passenger, although the existentialism of the film's theme is kept muted. Concentrates on telling a story rather than putting over a message, and as a result is effective and sometimes moving.
Understated, with various echoes of other films - you can see why it's being compared to Casablanca, but this is a much heavier and more intense movie. Still quite engrossing to watch, mainly because of the performances. There are also shades of Kafka - you are only allowed to stay in one hotel if you can prove you don't want to stay there - and also Antonioni's The Passenger, although the existentialism of the film's theme is kept muted. Concentrates on telling a story rather than putting over a message, and as a result is effective and sometimes moving.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Full Circle: From Hollywood to Real Life and Back Again in Books
Dec 30, 2019
I wanted so badly to fall in love with Andrea Barber's autobiography, but I just couldn't. It wasn't so much of a bad read. It was just very slow paced and boring. It just feels like someone rambling on and on. You know when someone talks to you and won't shut up about something, but they go on and on. It kind of felt like that. Sometimes I felt like I was getting preached at about how to be happy. While I admired Barber's strength to overcome her anxiety, I just felt like there wasn't much happening. Nothing special really stuck out. However, the book does get good about three quarters of the way in. From there, it really held my attention as Barber explains about being on Fuller House and her cast mates. This is a very uplifting autobiography, but I just didn't fall in love with it. It is well written word wise though.
Cumberland (1142 KP) rated Splintering in Books
Jan 18, 2019
Good Read
This book was written in poetry. I have been reading more books in this style lately and I really like them. This one follows the story of a family dealing with the aftermath of a break in. The poetry style was a good fit for all of the emotions the characters were displaying.
I also enjoyed the sibling relationships in this book. I thought it was extremely realistic how they were absolutely horrible to each other sometimes, but had each other's backs when it mattered.
I do have one fairly large complaint. The book alternates perspectives, and its not always clear who's point of view you are reading. The only indication is a slight change in font, and I think it would have really benefited the story if they had included the characters name at the top of the section.
Other than that I really enjoyed the story, and would suggest it to anyone looking for a quick read.
I also enjoyed the sibling relationships in this book. I thought it was extremely realistic how they were absolutely horrible to each other sometimes, but had each other's backs when it mattered.
I do have one fairly large complaint. The book alternates perspectives, and its not always clear who's point of view you are reading. The only indication is a slight change in font, and I think it would have really benefited the story if they had included the characters name at the top of the section.
Other than that I really enjoyed the story, and would suggest it to anyone looking for a quick read.
Merissa (13659 KP) rated Ruby in the Dust in Books
Dec 17, 2018
What a wonderful, heart-warming and realistic (in the best way) book! It takes place in Maidenhead, UK and some of the descriptions just of that had me sniggering to myself.
This is a romance book, a self-help book, full of humour, situations, trials and tribulations and friendship. And don't forget tea or coffee with cake! This book will make you laugh and will also make you cry. There was one bit (that I won't ruin) that came as a shock to me and what followed had me snuffling into my tissues. The very human characters in this book face their inner (and sometimes outer) demons and do it with the love and friendship of others and their own strengths that they don't even realise that they have.
Wonderful writing, with a twist, that completely drew me in. Made me laugh, made me cry and gave me more than a few good self-help quotes.
This is a romance book, a self-help book, full of humour, situations, trials and tribulations and friendship. And don't forget tea or coffee with cake! This book will make you laugh and will also make you cry. There was one bit (that I won't ruin) that came as a shock to me and what followed had me snuffling into my tissues. The very human characters in this book face their inner (and sometimes outer) demons and do it with the love and friendship of others and their own strengths that they don't even realise that they have.
Wonderful writing, with a twist, that completely drew me in. Made me laugh, made me cry and gave me more than a few good self-help quotes.
Eilidh G Clark (177 KP) rated The Diving-bell and the Butterfly in Books
Jul 2, 2019
Emotional
Contains spoilers, click to show
This is a short memoir with snip-bits of chapters. The late Bauby had locked in syndrome, this is one of the reasons that makes this book remarkable. Being unable to speak or move, his story is captured by a friend through the authors blinking with his left eye. He finds a way to rearrange the alphabet in order of letter usage in French. This is not a heart rendering account of a man trapped in (as he calls it) a cocoon, but rather a snap shot of the way he copes, the way his memory allows him to heighten his imagination, the way he separates his existence from the outside world and the way his mind saves him from boredom.
Beautifully written with a conversational tone, this is a wonderful glimpse into the mind of a person whose body no longer works.
Beautifully written with a conversational tone, this is a wonderful glimpse into the mind of a person whose body no longer works.
Anne (15130 KP) rated Archimancy (Shadow School, #1) in Books
Nov 4, 2019
I loved and enjoyed this a lot. It was the perfect light and cozy spooky type of read yet it also has deep meaning, great themes and lessons in it as well. It's the first book in what I think will be an amazing Middle-Grade series and the more I read and check into MG books, the more I think that MG is sometimes being overlooked and shouldn't be. Middle Grade is a gold mine with lots of hidden gems in it and this is one of them that had me feeling very satisfied, happy and left with warm fuzzies.
I can't wait to read the next book in this series. Also J. A. White is a fantastic author, I keep falling in love with all his stories and books. If you haven't read this book or any books by J. A. White then you'd better go check his books out!
I can't wait to read the next book in this series. Also J. A. White is a fantastic author, I keep falling in love with all his stories and books. If you haven't read this book or any books by J. A. White then you'd better go check his books out!
Versusyours (757 KP) rated The Goldbergs - Season 1 in TV
Nov 5, 2019
Quoteable lines (2 more)
Nostalgia galore
Likeable characters
The Goldbergs looks and feels like the American family based sitcoms I grew up with in the UK, this is the big appeal from this show, the familiarity and soundtrack of simpler days. The characters are clearly defined from the start and you can identify each of their strengths and vulnerabiltes and how these are used as the season progresses.
When watching this with my daughter aged 11 she gets the humour and she has a sense of wonder at how technology used to be and how the fashions have changed. It gives us more to talk about and shows the universal appeal of the Goldbergs.
Sometimes there is no need to reinvent what works and with the clever writing in this show makes it enjoyable and each episode can be viewed repeatedly. This is the benchmark I use for sitcoms and this works for me. Long live the 80s and all who use mind deloreans to travel back there.
When watching this with my daughter aged 11 she gets the humour and she has a sense of wonder at how technology used to be and how the fashions have changed. It gives us more to talk about and shows the universal appeal of the Goldbergs.
Sometimes there is no need to reinvent what works and with the clever writing in this show makes it enjoyable and each episode can be viewed repeatedly. This is the benchmark I use for sitcoms and this works for me. Long live the 80s and all who use mind deloreans to travel back there.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Sacred Art of Stealing in Books
Nov 25, 2019
A daring bank robbery in broad daylight puts detective Angelique De Xavier on the trail of a highly intelligent, highly motivated and highly unusual thief. The closer she gets the more she both admires him and wonders at his real motives.
This is classic Brookmyre; plenty of Scottish patois and references, clever and imaginative situations and well drawn characters. Nobody in a Brookmyre novel is black or white, everyone has shades of grey, sometimes more than one shade and this book is no exception.
As would be expected this is a thriller with a wry twist of humour running through it; the bank robbery itself is both tense and a hoot to read as the police are completely outmaneouvred. As the real pursuit by De Xavier continues through the rest of the book the reader is drawn in and exposed to every twist as she experiences it.
A thoroughly good read and highly recommended.
This is classic Brookmyre; plenty of Scottish patois and references, clever and imaginative situations and well drawn characters. Nobody in a Brookmyre novel is black or white, everyone has shades of grey, sometimes more than one shade and this book is no exception.
As would be expected this is a thriller with a wry twist of humour running through it; the bank robbery itself is both tense and a hoot to read as the police are completely outmaneouvred. As the real pursuit by De Xavier continues through the rest of the book the reader is drawn in and exposed to every twist as she experiences it.
A thoroughly good read and highly recommended.
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Carlito's Way (1993) in Movies
Mar 3, 2020
De Palma’s best films are thrillers, told with a sense of dread and urgency. His characters are flawed anti-heroes either running toward something or away from it, sometimes both at once. As is the case with Carlito, played with an unforgettable lisp and absolute relish by a Pacino let loose to do his thing without restraint. It’s a big film with broad strokes, that sucks you in and keeps you on a tightrope right to the inevitable end, that you should see coming, but somehow didn’t. A transformed Sean Penn steals the show, with a solid gold turn, quirky, intense and thoroughly repugnant. But it is the story that drives it – a man who always wants “out” and finds himself in a labyrinth of pressure and bad choices, in a world overflowing with fools and selfishness. The set pieces are sublime, the pace is relentless – a film where everything comes together to create more than the sum of its parts.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976) in Movies
Mar 28, 2020
Almost wholly nuts Taiwanese kung fu movie. A blind assassin wielding the dreaded flying guillotine (basically a sort of buzz saw on the end of a length of chain) sets out for revenge against legendary heroic martial arts teacher the One-Armed Boxer. Whose kung fu will prove stronger?
Very little about this film isn't completely ridiculous (the main character visibly has his 'missing' arm stuffed down the front of his shirt, while it almost entirely eschews a second act in favour of about eight random kung fu fights in a row) but it still manages to be almost completely awesome, full of energy and imagination (the fight between our unidextrous hero and a Yoga expert with telescopic arms is a particular highlight). The plot is fairly routine honour-and-revenge-based stuff, but the action sequences are inventively choreographed and lots of fun. Hugely entertaining and very funny, sometimes even on purpose.
Very little about this film isn't completely ridiculous (the main character visibly has his 'missing' arm stuffed down the front of his shirt, while it almost entirely eschews a second act in favour of about eight random kung fu fights in a row) but it still manages to be almost completely awesome, full of energy and imagination (the fight between our unidextrous hero and a Yoga expert with telescopic arms is a particular highlight). The plot is fairly routine honour-and-revenge-based stuff, but the action sequences are inventively choreographed and lots of fun. Hugely entertaining and very funny, sometimes even on purpose.