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David McK (3663 KP) rated Lord Hornblower (Hornblower #10) in Books

Feb 21, 2021

Chronologically the 10th Hornblower novel but the 5th published, this one has a definite air of finality about it, with Hornblower pulled off the invalid list to deal with a mutiny on board another British ship in the Bay of Seine in the year 1814.

Yes, just one year before the end of the Napoleonic Wars and Napoleons final defeat at Waterloo in 1815.

This novel also takes place over that year, from his (successful) completion of that mission, to a landing in the port of Le Havre, to the conference of Vienna where the victors carve up Napoleon's empire, to Napoleon's return and to his final defeat - admittedly, the decidedly not perfect Hornblower may not be personally involved in all those latter events, but they do impact upon him as he is away visiting old friends (from a few novels back) in France when Napoleon returns.

And, I have to say, he has a very lucky escape indeed!

Only 1 more novel to go now to complete the set ...

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Hellraiser (1987) in Movies

May 20, 2020 (Updated May 21, 2020)

Hellraiser (1987)

1987 | Horror

7.9

(58 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Iconic horror; progenitor of many mostly lousy sequels. An unscrupulous adventurer attempts to escape the clutches of sado-masochistic entities by recruiting his adulterous sister-in-law to provide the raw meat for his renewal (it was the 80s, everyone behaved like that under Thatcher).

Not quite the film an unsuspecting viewer might expect: the focus is mainly on the screwed-up Cotton family, especially nasty Uncle Frank; Pinhead, for all that he is on the poster, is in a very minor role (billed as 'Lead Cenobite'). Visually striking and with some interesting ideas, but the low budget is obvious and this is equally obviously a British movie desperately trying to appeal to an American audience. Where the film falls down is in its lack of focus and the fact that its central metaphor or argument is unclear (beyond the fact that the Cottons are a very dysfunctional bunch). Still, there have been worse debuts from writer-directors; it's just that not many of them go on to have nine sequels.