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Never Too Late

Amber Portwood

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Book

MTV reality star Amber Portwood's autobiography describes her shocking downward spiral and recovery...

Confessions of a Casting Director: Help Actors Land Any Role with Secrets from Inside the Audition Room

Jen Rudin

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Book

Confessions of a Casting Director is a must-have for any aspiring actor or stage parent-the...

The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007)

4.0 (4 Ratings) Rate It

Movie

The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007) Larry B. In this prequel re-telling of the famous...

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2393 KP) rated Killing in a Koi Pond in Books

Jun 13, 2021

Jessica Gets Back on the Road to Murder

Jessica Fletcher is traveling down to South Carolina to visit a college friend. Delores has just married Willis, and she is over the moon. She is also blind to the way that Willis treats the majority of those around them, but Jessica observes the way others are reacting to his almost abusive behavior at dinner. When Jessica sets out for a run the next morning, she finds Willis dead in the Koi Pond. While Delores doesn’t want to believe that anyone could have killed Willis, the police being to treat Delores as a suspect. Can Jessica figure out what is really happening?

Although I’ve been a fan of the TV show for years, I just started reading the books a couple of years ago. While I enjoyed those books, they felt a little off for the franchise. This book captures the feel of the show much better, especially Jessica on a trip episode (which were the majority). Jessica is her charming best here, and I enjoyed several other characters as well as appreciating the growth in Delores. I did feel that Delores’s step-granddaughter was a bit young for the age she was supposed to be and the suspects were thin. The plot was good, although the pacing was off. Still, it did provide some enjoyable red herrings before we reached a classic Murder, She Wrote climax. Fans of the series will feel right at home here.

Kudos

Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated The Zodiac Paradox (Fringe, #1) in Books

Nov 30, 2020

My wife and I were late bloomers, getting into the show as it entered its 5th, and final season. We "binge watched" on Netflix, getting caught up, and then left with a craving for more after series ended. Enter 'Fringe: The Zodiac Paradox', the 1st in Christa Faust's trilogy that serves as prequels for the the three main characters: Walter and Peter Bishop, as well as Olivia Dunham.

Reviewing a number of reviews on here, as well as via Amazon.com, I found complaints that Walter's characterization was more in-line with his character in the show, not the 1968 "scientist" version. And, yes, that is true enough, the story and dialogue were good enough that I could overlook that issue, in head, reworking his persona, as I read it.

I am probably biased, as I am fan of 'Fringe', as well as having an interest of sorts in stories involving the Zodiac Killer, but I liked the book. Is it perfect? No, but, as I am finding these days - in books, newspapers/magazines, and even scrolling text on TV, spelling, grammar, and/or syntax have gone the way of the dinosaur! The errors were minimal, at worse, and the only character that appeared "off" was Walter. None of that, though, affected my appreciation of the story.

If you are looking for a good fix to fill your 'Fringe' void, you could do a heckuva lot worse. Try it, I think you may surprise yourself..

Kudos

Zoe Nock (13 KP) rated Codename Villanelle (Killing Eve #1) in Books

Jun 26, 2019

Whilst binge-watching the BBC’s excellent Killing Eve I kept promising myself that I would hunt down a copy of the source material to learn more about the fascinating female protagonists.

It was certainly intriguing to hear the inner workings of Eve’s & Villanelle’s minds and to discover more about their backstory. I particularly enjoyed learning how Villanelle was moulded into the cold-bloodedly efficient assassin that fans of the show have come to love and fear.

“Black, white and red. Darkness, snow and blood. Perhaps it takes as Russian to understand the world in those terms.”

The novel is well written and clips along nicely. There are some well-executed (pun intended) set pieces in exotic or glamourous locations, it easy to see why it was targeted for adaptation. I’m glad that they resisted the temptation to give it the big screen treatment, turning it into what would probably been a beautifully shot but ultimately forgettable ‘sexy spy’ film.

It was an inspired decision to inject humour into the TV show; Phoebe Waller-Bridge brought this book to life in a darkly, deliciously, delightful way. Because of that I was a little disappointed with the book itself. Eve’s kookiness and Villanelle’s bat-s**t craziness are absent and sorely missed by anyone who has seen the series. It is still a good read but Waller-Bridge has shown us what the characters are truly capable of.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (AVP 2) (2007) in Movies

Jun 28, 2019

A shameless money grab

After the thoroughly underwhelming AVP, we are presented with Requiem, a film that's entices you with it's R rating (after the first films odd PG-13 rating), and it's clear to see why a lot of the advertising was centred around the R rating - because Requiem has little else to offer.

Both of these franchises are beloved, but unfortunately, the bad films have really started to outweigh the good - and Requiem is a film made purely to make money. There's no diving into the lore behind any of the past films, and instead the story is set in a small Colorado town, full of actors that I kind of recognise from various TV shows - which is fitting, because the film plays out like an episode of Dawson's Creek, just with lots of Aliens running around.

The staple violence of both series is present once again, however, it feels like the constant Gore is being thrown at you to distract you from the threadbare plot.

The (singular) Predator looks pretty good, however the Aliens are mostly shrouded in shadow, I don't recall seeing a full body shot of a Xenomorph at any point, and the Predator-Alien hybrid, again, is never really shown properly, and what we do see looks silly.

It's a pretty shoddy movie all in all, and this particular mash up is probably best left to books and graphic novels.