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Aphrodisiacs: An A-Z

Linda Louisa Dell

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Book

Aphrodisiacs is a fun and sexy romp through the world of natural libido enhancers, perfect to keep...

A World Aflame: Interwar Wargame Rules, 1918-39

Mark Stacey and Paul Eaglestone

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Book

Often called the "Pulp Era", the years between the two World Wars have seen a tremendous surge in...

David McK (3562 KP) rated Death to the French in Books

Jul 26, 2021

A name that is probably more familiar - perhaps even all but synonymous - with his most famous literary creation, Horatio Hornblower.

Hornblower, however, is not the only of his creations that has their adventures set during the Napoleonic Wars: Rifleman Dodd is another.

He's also one that I was totally unfamiliar with, or with the fact that this creation (and story) inspired Bernard Cornwell's still-ongoing 'Sharpe' series - it's very easy, reading this, to see the similarities between the two creations!

This is set in Spain, round about the times of the Lines of Torres Vedras (1810 or thereabouts, I think), with Rifleman Dodd cut off from his company during a retreat and forced to spend several months behind enemy (French) lines as he tries to make his was back to his own company, sometimes with the (dubious) aid of Spanish (or was it Portuguese? ) Guerilla's and other times entirely on his own.

This also doesn't shy away from the full horrors of the war, with several of the passages and chapters told from the French point of view.

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Talk to Her (2002) in Movies

Sep 11, 2019 (Updated Sep 11, 2019)

Talk to Her (2002)

2002 | Drama, International

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Genre-busting Spanish drama almost feels like the film Hitchcock could have made if he'd spent thirty years in therapy. The story is told partly out of sequence but concerns two men devoted to women in comas: a bullfighter and a dance student. Slowly their stories unfold, and turn out to be quite different. Almodóvar's script is as subtle and playful as ever, cheerfully toying with audience assumptions and expectations - it's impossible to predict the way this story will go, and this is before we even get to the eye-popping silent movie interlude.

Brilliant performances from the two leads; for once, the female characters have a more secondary role but they are also well-played. All the vibrance and sensuousness of Almodóvar's other films, but this is a deeply serious, mature work. Perhaps his greatest achievement is to find pathos and sympathy in the most unlikely places imaginable, and conclude a film which goes to some very dark places on a definite note of implied hope. An excellent movie in every way.

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Ross (3284 KP) rated Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun in Books

Aug 19, 2019

Thrilling and eerie film adaptation

*I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
It has been a number of years since I watched Pan's Labyrinth, but remember it as being a dark, twisted fairy tale set during the second world war. The book keeps that feel, we are introduced to Ofelia, a quiet bookish young girl who is moving with her mother to live with her stepfather, as he tries to break a group of Spanish rebels, ahead of the birth of her half-brother.
Ofelia sees some unusual statues and artefacts in the woods and soon meets the Faun, who sets her a mission to return to take her place as the princess of the Underground Kingdom.
There follows a brilliant mix of Ofelia's real life, the despicable exploits of Franco's army, and the fairy tale world she steps into.
This is a very short, immersive fairy tale with lots of nice side-stories that all weave into the book in some form.