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Preacher - Season 1
8.5
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Fulfilling a promise to his deceased father, one-time outlaw Jesse Custer returns home to West Texas...
Billie Wichkan (118 KP) rated Twisted in Books
May 22, 2019
BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:
1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you've found me. I'm coming for you next.
After you've read this book, you'll know: the truth is far more twisted...
When Maria Cooper accidentally uncovers one of her husband Pauls secrets she enlists her lover Daryl in a plot to get even.
This book is full of suspense and intrigue with lots of twists and turns.
Just when you think you've got it worked out there's another revelation that blows your theory away.
The characterization is excellent, the storytelling first class and the final reveal is kept for the very last page.
Can't wait to see what Steve Cavanagh comes up with next; definitely a book I would recommend reading.
Thanks a lot to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:
1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you've found me. I'm coming for you next.
After you've read this book, you'll know: the truth is far more twisted...
When Maria Cooper accidentally uncovers one of her husband Pauls secrets she enlists her lover Daryl in a plot to get even.
This book is full of suspense and intrigue with lots of twists and turns.
Just when you think you've got it worked out there's another revelation that blows your theory away.
The characterization is excellent, the storytelling first class and the final reveal is kept for the very last page.
Can't wait to see what Steve Cavanagh comes up with next; definitely a book I would recommend reading.
Thanks a lot to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) in Movies
Apr 12, 2020
Our introduction to Captain America withing the MCU gets a bad wrap.
I see it labeled fairly regularly as weak entry into the ever expanding saga and I just don't think that's the case.
It's got a solid narrative for a start as we watch Steve Rogers go from frail Regular Joe to bonafide hero who truly believes in fighting for the good of humanity over the course of two hours.
The WWII setting provides a touch of historical reality, collided with the fantasy of the Tesseract, our first glimpse of the now infamous Infinity Stones, and in this narrative, providing Red Skull with cosmically charged weapons the gain the edge in the war with Allied Forces.
The First Avenger has a fantastic cast. Chris Evans is pretty much perfect in the titular role and has played the character solidly for the last 10 years.
Hugo Weaving as Red Skull is an undeniable highlight. He plays the villain with evil glee, and looks so comic book accurate that it hurts. It's a real shame that he has never returned to the role.
The supporting cast is strong as well. Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, and Stanley Tucci are all great, and relish in a tight screenplay.
I do think that the film feels over long at times, although the story being told is undeniably important in the run up to The Avengers.
The effects are mostly decent and still hold up, with an exception here and there, primarily before Steve Rogers goes all buff, but these are small gripes with an otherwise solid origin film.
I see it labeled fairly regularly as weak entry into the ever expanding saga and I just don't think that's the case.
It's got a solid narrative for a start as we watch Steve Rogers go from frail Regular Joe to bonafide hero who truly believes in fighting for the good of humanity over the course of two hours.
The WWII setting provides a touch of historical reality, collided with the fantasy of the Tesseract, our first glimpse of the now infamous Infinity Stones, and in this narrative, providing Red Skull with cosmically charged weapons the gain the edge in the war with Allied Forces.
The First Avenger has a fantastic cast. Chris Evans is pretty much perfect in the titular role and has played the character solidly for the last 10 years.
Hugo Weaving as Red Skull is an undeniable highlight. He plays the villain with evil glee, and looks so comic book accurate that it hurts. It's a real shame that he has never returned to the role.
The supporting cast is strong as well. Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, and Stanley Tucci are all great, and relish in a tight screenplay.
I do think that the film feels over long at times, although the story being told is undeniably important in the run up to The Avengers.
The effects are mostly decent and still hold up, with an exception here and there, primarily before Steve Rogers goes all buff, but these are small gripes with an otherwise solid origin film.
Halt and Catch Fire - Season 1
7.0
Rate It
TV Season
It's the early 1980s, and the spirit of innovation in personal computing is about to catch fire. Hot...
The Power to Get Things Done: (Whether You Feel Like it or Not)
Chris Cooper and Steve Levinson
Book
A psychologist and work coach collaborate on a "cheat sheet" of practical ways to turn good...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Licorice Pizza (2021) in Movies
Mar 9, 2022
Disjointed
The films of Director Paul Thomas Anderson is a bit of an “acquired taste”, moviegoers generally fall into one of 2 camps. (1) those that LOVE what he does (and thinks he is one of the greatest Directors of All Time) and (2) those that don’t.
I thought I fell into the 2nd camp, but upon reviewing his portfolio of work for this review (HARD EIGHT, BOOGIE NIGHTS, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE and THERE WILL BE BLOOD), I realized that I pretty much liked whatever he had done, but with his last few films (THE MASTER, INHERENT VICE, THE PHANTOM THREAD) I am finding that “PTA” (as his fans call him) is becoming just a little too “artsy” and pretentious for my tastes. He has fallen too in love with his material - and artistic style - to objectively look at a film and realize that it needs to move along at a brisker pace.
Such is the case with his latest film, LICORICE PIZZA.
A memory of his youth, LICORICE PIZZA follows the relationship of a pair of mismatched young adults as they work their way through the early 1970’s in search of themselves and love.
This film is a series of scenes stitched together to tell a story and the problem with it is that it made this film seem disjointed. The central “get together already” love story of the main 2 characters is supposed to be the through-line of the film, but when this through-line breaks (as it often does here) it is detrimental to the flow of the story.
Based, loosely, on the real-life exploits of PTA’s friend, Producer Gary Goetzman, LICORICE PIZZA stars Cooper Hoffman (son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as Gary Valentine and Alana Haim (of the Sister Act Musical Group HAIM) as Alana as they have an on-again/off-again friendship that SHOULD BE a romance, but isn’t (kind of like WHEN HARRY MET SALLY). They circumnavigate circa 1973 Los Angeles running into fictionalized portrayals of famous people like Producer Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) and Film Actor Jack Holden (Sean Penn) an amalgamation of William Holden and Steve McQueen.
The central performances of Hoffman and Haim are competent enough, but never rises to anything more than that, which pulls this film down for one or the other of them is in every scene . The various actors doing extended cameos (like Cooper and Penn) seem to be having fun chewing up the scenery, but they are acting in a completely different style of film than Hoffman and Haim are and our 2 leads don’t stand a chance of standing out compared to these over-the-top performances.
Blame for all of this needs to be laid on Anderson (Oscar Nominated for his Direction in this film). He tried to give us a “slice of life” nostalgia piece like AMERICAN GRAFFITI or ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, but he just doesn’t pull it off.
An Oscar Nominee for Best Picture, LICORICE PIZZA seems to be riding the wave of nostalgia both for the times depicted - and the artist who put this film on the screen - but it just isn’t that good of a film.
Letter Grade B- (for Cooper’s and Penn’s scenes in this)
6 stars (out of 10) and you can take this to the Bank(ofMarquis)
I thought I fell into the 2nd camp, but upon reviewing his portfolio of work for this review (HARD EIGHT, BOOGIE NIGHTS, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE and THERE WILL BE BLOOD), I realized that I pretty much liked whatever he had done, but with his last few films (THE MASTER, INHERENT VICE, THE PHANTOM THREAD) I am finding that “PTA” (as his fans call him) is becoming just a little too “artsy” and pretentious for my tastes. He has fallen too in love with his material - and artistic style - to objectively look at a film and realize that it needs to move along at a brisker pace.
Such is the case with his latest film, LICORICE PIZZA.
A memory of his youth, LICORICE PIZZA follows the relationship of a pair of mismatched young adults as they work their way through the early 1970’s in search of themselves and love.
This film is a series of scenes stitched together to tell a story and the problem with it is that it made this film seem disjointed. The central “get together already” love story of the main 2 characters is supposed to be the through-line of the film, but when this through-line breaks (as it often does here) it is detrimental to the flow of the story.
Based, loosely, on the real-life exploits of PTA’s friend, Producer Gary Goetzman, LICORICE PIZZA stars Cooper Hoffman (son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as Gary Valentine and Alana Haim (of the Sister Act Musical Group HAIM) as Alana as they have an on-again/off-again friendship that SHOULD BE a romance, but isn’t (kind of like WHEN HARRY MET SALLY). They circumnavigate circa 1973 Los Angeles running into fictionalized portrayals of famous people like Producer Jon Peters (Bradley Cooper) and Film Actor Jack Holden (Sean Penn) an amalgamation of William Holden and Steve McQueen.
The central performances of Hoffman and Haim are competent enough, but never rises to anything more than that, which pulls this film down for one or the other of them is in every scene . The various actors doing extended cameos (like Cooper and Penn) seem to be having fun chewing up the scenery, but they are acting in a completely different style of film than Hoffman and Haim are and our 2 leads don’t stand a chance of standing out compared to these over-the-top performances.
Blame for all of this needs to be laid on Anderson (Oscar Nominated for his Direction in this film). He tried to give us a “slice of life” nostalgia piece like AMERICAN GRAFFITI or ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, but he just doesn’t pull it off.
An Oscar Nominee for Best Picture, LICORICE PIZZA seems to be riding the wave of nostalgia both for the times depicted - and the artist who put this film on the screen - but it just isn’t that good of a film.
Letter Grade B- (for Cooper’s and Penn’s scenes in this)
6 stars (out of 10) and you can take this to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Ryan Hill (152 KP) rated Avengers: Endgame (2019) in Movies
May 11, 2019
"Part of the journey is the end"
A satisfying conclusion to the Infinity Saga, the best way to describe Avengers: Endgame is Fan Wish Fulfillment: The Movie. Seriously, this film lives and breathes fan service from top to bottom, yet it WORKS. Rather than coming off as obnoxiously pandering, the film’s use of fan service is more secondary to everything else, often being used in ways that are creative and even add to the comedy. And speaking of comedy, Avengers: Endgame is unquestionably one of the funniest films in the MCU, yet the comedy never detracts from the heart or the emotional weight of the film itself.
It’s legitimately shocking how much the Russo Bros have improved as filmmakers. Not only do they perfectly nail tonal consistency here, but most, if not all, of the drama scenes are well handled, the direction of actors is great, and even in terms of just visual composition (especially cinematography) and editing, they show major improvement here compared to their previous MCU works. There’s also some neat production design and Alan Silvestri provides a fantastic score.
Co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s screenplay is easily one of the strongest aspects of Avengers: Endgame. While some characters won’t get as much focus as others, the characters who are primarily focused on (Nebula, Tony, Steve and Hawkeye) each have legitimately really great, character arcs, and the way it ties them into the film’s theme of loss only makes them even better.
But despite the shockingly strong writing and direction, Avengers: Endgame mostly works so well due to its mostly committed ensemble. The acting is mostly pretty solid-strong across the board, with the standouts being Robert Downey Jr, Karen Gillan and Chris Evans who are excellent. That said, Chris Hemsworth, Brie Larson (in very minimal screen time), Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo,Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin and Don Cheadle all have their moments as well.
If Avengers: Endgame really is a farewell to many characters people have grown to love, then it is almost certainly a rewarding and satisfying one, and the third act features one of the best battle sequences in any comic book film. It might not be absolutely perfect, but it’s well performed, strongly written & directed, thoroughly entertaining and incredibly satisfying, and you’ll laugh, cheer and most definitely even cry. Without a doubt one of the absolute best MCU installments to date.
It’s legitimately shocking how much the Russo Bros have improved as filmmakers. Not only do they perfectly nail tonal consistency here, but most, if not all, of the drama scenes are well handled, the direction of actors is great, and even in terms of just visual composition (especially cinematography) and editing, they show major improvement here compared to their previous MCU works. There’s also some neat production design and Alan Silvestri provides a fantastic score.
Co-writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s screenplay is easily one of the strongest aspects of Avengers: Endgame. While some characters won’t get as much focus as others, the characters who are primarily focused on (Nebula, Tony, Steve and Hawkeye) each have legitimately really great, character arcs, and the way it ties them into the film’s theme of loss only makes them even better.
But despite the shockingly strong writing and direction, Avengers: Endgame mostly works so well due to its mostly committed ensemble. The acting is mostly pretty solid-strong across the board, with the standouts being Robert Downey Jr, Karen Gillan and Chris Evans who are excellent. That said, Chris Hemsworth, Brie Larson (in very minimal screen time), Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo,Paul Rudd, Bradley Cooper, Josh Brolin and Don Cheadle all have their moments as well.
If Avengers: Endgame really is a farewell to many characters people have grown to love, then it is almost certainly a rewarding and satisfying one, and the third act features one of the best battle sequences in any comic book film. It might not be absolutely perfect, but it’s well performed, strongly written & directed, thoroughly entertaining and incredibly satisfying, and you’ll laugh, cheer and most definitely even cry. Without a doubt one of the absolute best MCU installments to date.
Joe Elliott recommended Every Picture Tells a Story by Rod Stewart in Music (curated)
Belatedly by Ore
8.0
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Rugby League Live for iPad
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With over 10 million downloads, Sportsmate Apps are created by the world’s favourite independent...