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Chasing Rabbits (The Underground #1)
Chasing Rabbits (The Underground #1)
Erin Bedford | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
88 of 200
Kindle
Chasing Rabbits ( underground book 1)
By Erin Bedford

 
Alice was wrong. Wonderland wasn't so wonderful after all.

Kat never expected to be back in her hometown, but when house sitting turns into a mad rabbit chase, Kat finds herself with a whole new set of problems.

A two-headed bird with a Game of Thrones obsession, a party full of tea addicts, and a Cheshire Cat who could seduce the pants off her grandma? And if the citizens weren't bad enough, their prince was off his rocker.

This wasn't your run of the mill Wonderland. This was the fae world, where rules are rules, and some things are exactly as they seem.


I found myself a few times during this book stopping and asking myself wtf am I reading. It got a little confusing in parts to. I have changed my stars from 2 to 3 and back a few times as I just can’t make my mind up! I feel like I’ve smoked something funny after reading it lol. I think it’s intrigued me enough to continue on to book 2!
  
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Smashbomb (4683 KP) created a post in Smashbomb Council

Dec 3, 2020  
Hey Influencers (be prepared for a long post!)

Since we got so much positive feedback on the End of Year Polls idea - we’ve decided to do it again!

But obviously, we want to check with you, our influencers, before we make anything final. So below are the Nominations we have for each category - and we want your opinions!

The way each nomination is chosen for each category, to begin with, is easy - we simply have the most positively rated items that came out in the year 2020 (excluding Apps, Shows & YouTube Channels)! But, if you think something should be swapped or changed let us know!

---

App:
 - Hearthstone (8.8)
 - Netflix (8.7)
 - Amazon (8.9)
 - Amazon Kindle (9.1)
 - Spotify (8.6)


---

Book:
 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library (8.6)
 - Sharon J. Bolton - The Split (9.0)
 - Kate Elizabeth Russell - My Dark Vanessa (9.5)
 - Danny Tobey - The God Game (9.0)
 - Maggie O’Farrell - Hamnet (9.3)

---

Movie:
 - 1917 (8.8)
 - The Invisible Man (7.8)
 - Onward (8.3)
 - The Gentlemen (8.3)
 - Bad Boys For Life (7.7)

---

Music:
 - Eminem - Music To Be Murdered By (10)
 - Blossoms - Foolish Loving Spaces (7.5)
 - Idles - Ultra Mono (9.0)
 - Tame Impala - Slow Rush (8.0)
 - Starflyer 59 - Miami EP (9.0)

---

Podcast:
 - Sword and Scale (7.1)
 - Loot Tine Postcast (7.9)
 - No Such Thing as Fish (8.9)
 - And That’s Why We Drink (8.8)
 - True Crime Garage (8.6)

---

Show:
 - Wicked (8.7)
 - We Will Rock You (8.0)
 - The Lion King (9.5)
 - The Exorcist (8.7)
 - Les Miserables (8.0)

---

Tabletop:
 - Calico (9.0)
 - Faza (9.0)
 - Chronicles of Crime: 1400 (9.0)
 - Macaron (9.0)
 - Tales of Evil (9.0)

---

Tech:
 - iPad Pro (7.4)
 - MacBook (7.2)
 - Dell XPS 13 (7.2)
 - Nest Learning Thermostat (8.4)
 - Amazon Echo Plus (8.4)

---

TV:
 - Locke and Key (7.8)
 - Tiger King (7.7)
 - Umbrella Academy - Season 2 (9.0)
 - The Haunting of Bly Manor (8.1)
 - Lovecraft Country (8.7)

---

Videogames:
 - Final Fantasy VII Remake (8.7)
 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons (8.5)
 - The Last of Us Part II (7.4)
 - Ghost of Tsushima (8.8)
 - Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (8.0)

---

YouTube Channels:
 - Ted-Ed (8.3)
 - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (7.6)
 - Walt Disney Studios (8.7)
 - BBC News (8.2)
 - 20th Century Fox (9.3)

---

There will be one poll for each category, narrowing each of the 5 nominations down to one winner over the course of 2 weeks!

Would love to hear what everyone thinks below!
  
Show all 15 comments.
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Smashbomb (4683 KP) Dec 7, 2020

@Melika Jeddi - Yes you're completely right - that's why the list above is of the items with both the MOST + HIGHEST ratings! :)

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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) Dec 7, 2020

The Queen's Gambit 100% should be in TV. And yeah, Tenet in Movies maybe.

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Smashbomb (4683 KP) created a post in Smashbomb Partners

Dec 3, 2020  
Hey Partners (be prepared for a long post!)

Since we got so much positive feedback on the End of Year Polls idea - we’ve decided to do it again!

But obviously, we want to check with you, our Partners, before we make anything final. So below are the Nominations we have for each category - and we want your opinions!

The way each nomination is chosen for each category, to begin with, is easy - we simply have the most positively rated items that came out in the year 2020 (excluding Apps, Shows & YouTube Channels)! But, if you think something should be swapped or changed let us know!

---

App:
 - Hearthstone (8.8)
 - Netflix (8.7)
 - Amazon (8.9)
 - Amazon Kindle (9.1)
 - Spotify (8.6)

---

Book:
 - Matt Haig - The Midnight Library (8.6)
 - Sharon J. Bolton - The Split (9.0)
 - Kate Elizabeth Russell - My Dark Vanessa (9.5)
 - Danny Tobey - The God Game (9.0)
 - Maggie O’Farrell - Hamnet (9.3)

---

Movie:
 - 1917 (8.8)
 - The Invisible Man (7.8)
 - Onward (8.3)
 - The Gentlemen (8.3)
 - Bad Boys For Life (7.7)

---

Music:
 - Eminem - Music To Be Murdered By (10)
 - Blossoms - Foolish Loving Spaces (7.5)
 - Idles - Ultra Mono (9.0)
 - Tame Impala - Slow Rush (8.0)
 - Starflyer 59 - Miami EP (9.0)

---

Podcast:
 - Sword and Scale (7.1)
 - Loot Tine Postcast (7.9)
 - No Such Thing as Fish (8.9)
 - And That’s Why We Drink (8.8)
 - True Crime Garage (8.6)

---

Show:
 - Wicked (8.7)
 - We Will Rock You (8.0)
 - The Lion King (9.5)
 - The Exorcist (8.7)
 - Les Miserables (8.0)

---

Tabletop:
 - Calico (9.0)
 - Faza (9.0)
 - Chronicles of Crime: 1400 (9.0)
 - Macaron (9.0)
 - Tales of Evil (9.0)

---

Tech:
 - iPad Pro (7.4)
 - MacBook (7.2)
 - Dell XPS 13 (7.2)
 - Nest Learning Thermostat (8.4)
 - Amazon Echo Plus (8.4)

---

TV:
 - Locke and Key (7.8)
 - Tiger King (7.7)
 - Umbrella Academy - Season 2 (9.0)
 - The Haunting of Bly Manor (8.1)
 - Lovecraft Country (8.7)

---

Videogames:
 - Final Fantasy VII Remake (8.7)
 - Animal Crossing: New Horizons (8.5)
 - The Last of Us Part II (7.4)
 - Ghost of Tsushima (8.8)
 - Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (8.0)

---

YouTube Channels:
 - Ted-Ed (8.3)
 - The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (7.6)
 - Walt Disney Studios (8.7)
 - BBC News (8.2)
 - 20th Century Fox (9.3)

---

There will be one poll for each category, narrowing each of the 5 nominations down to one winner over the course of 2 weeks!

Would love to hear what everyone thinks below!
  
Show all 3 comments.
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Hadley (567 KP) Dec 4, 2020

I think this is a great way to pick for the polls.

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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) Dec 7, 2020

The Queen's Gambit is a glaring omission from TV :)

Mortal Kombat (2021)
Mortal Kombat (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Potentially, I'm one of the only people to have enjoyed Mortal Kombat Annihilation. Admittedly it was a long time ago that I saw it, but I remember good memories of it.

I'm going to skip over the extended synopsis, firstly because the short one sums it up, and secondly because if I put much more in it the whole plot will be ruined.

While I watched the film I was generally entertained, but when I came out there were some points that festered in my brain a bit. And those thoughts seem to have been reflected in podcasts and reviews I've come across.

This is probably exactly what you'd expect from A] a video game film and B] a Mortal Kombat film... it's both good and bad in varying degrees.

What is sad about this review is that I can't really tell you anything good about it... or just anything about it at all. Everything was instantly forgettable. I can tell you the woman from The Meg & Black Water Abyss is in it (because of course I can). I can tell you that there are bad guys fighting the good guys... or the less bad guys...

Effects, there are some of those too. Vague recollections of them being okay. I could certainly embrace the fantasy angle and forgive some things.

At this point I'd like to apologise for such a half arsed review, but it does perfectly illustrate the film... waffle with no real purpose. Although actually, the film does have a purpose. To set up for a sequel. Because some random comic violence and odd powers are generally entertaining.

As a sign off for this review, I would like to say sorry for this trash (the review and the film). I just think it perfectly sums up how I felt about this film: I've wasted your time, you'll never get it back, but I've (hopefully) given you some brief moments of entertainment. But on the plus side, if you've read this review before seeing the film then I might have saved you the 1 hour and 50 minutes (oh my god, I don't even know how I sat through that) of viewing time.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/08/mortal-kombat-movie-review.html
  
What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine (2018)
What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Deep Space Nine (2018)
2018 | Documentary
Where would we be without DS9?
Maybe the best Trek of all time?

Sisko, Odo, Kira, O'Brien, Dax, Quark, Bashir and the rest of the massive cast brought Star Trek to life as never before in this vastly different "station"ary style of Trek.

At the time, syndication was where it was at for reruns and additional revenue for a TV program. DS9 bucked the trend of wrapping up everything within one episode and began a TV serial which pretty much ran almost the entire run, much to the dismay of studio executives. Nowadays, shows like The Walking Dead, Lost, or Game of Thrones do this every week, but in the mid 90s this was not common.

Sandwiched in between The Next Generation and Voyager, DS9 did not get a lot of respect during its initial run at all. Also at that time, Trek TNG movies were in full swing so the show had to compete with that as well. Television stations would often preempt the show, skip a week or run the show in the early morning hours which made it even harder for its audience to keep track of the action.

DS9 certainly got a 2nd life with the current popularity of "binge watching" on your favorite streaming service. Having the ability to watch multi-part episodes or entire seasons within a few weeks brought back to life the en genius writing, acting and production quality of the series.

For this documentary, former showrunner Ira Steven Behr took several years worth of cast, crew and fan interviews, clips, behind the scenes footage and compiled a wonderful interesting film for any Trek fan. Many cast members major and minor as well as producers, writers and tech workers told tales of working on the show and how they very much enjoyed their time.

Throughout the many iterations of Trek, original creator Gene Roddenberry felt the show should entertain as well as provide social commentary on the issues of the time and DS9 was no exception. Throughout the show's 7 year run they dealt with issues such as racism, homelessness, same sex relationships and even genetic engineering.

One of the most fun subplots of the film was gathering the show's original writers in a room to formulate the first episode for the fictitious "Season 8" which will never actually happen (although I wish it would). The ideas, plot points and arcs they went through and came up with were extremely interesting, keep with the high level of writing the show originally produced, but also through us a few curveballs with some fun surprises.

Through the cast interviews we got to hear how the crew got along, some of their favorite and least favorite episodes and even the friendships they have maintained with one another.

The DVD set I received also had included a vast assortment of additional footage featuring even more nuggets and stories of what made the show great.

Overall, this film was one of the best documentaries I have ever seen about one of my favorite television programs in my lifetime. I might have to start binge watching the show again very soon.

Did I mention my name appears in the end credits?!? 😊

  
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Chad Miller (121 KP) Jul 23, 2019

I am dying to see this!!!!

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Eleanor (1463 KP) Jul 24, 2019

One of the few TV series that starts off poor but then gets better to keep going from strength to strength. Will have to give this a watch.

Passengers (2016)
Passengers (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Guilt trip.
“Passengers” is not a film that you can really talk about in much depth without straying into spoiler territory, so I will break my normal tradition of my reviews being entirely “Spoiler Free” and add a further discussion (but below the Fad Rating, so you are safe ‘til there).
The backdrop for “Passengers” is the spaceship “Avalon”, on a 120 year trip taking Earth colonists to the new world of “Homestead 2”. Following an ‘incident’ the story finds two individuals – Jim Preston, played by Chris “Jurassic World” Pratt, and Jennifer “Joy” Lawrence – as the only passengers awake on the automated ship among 5000+ other slumbering souls. It rather goes without saying that with two attractive and bankable Hollywood stars and nothing else to do, the two ‘get it on’. With things on the ship going from bad to worse, the two must work as a team to try to save the ship, crew and fellow passengers from disaster.

As a fan of sci-fi, I’ll start with a positive that the Avalon is a gloriously rendered spacecraft, and many of the scenes of space walking present beautiful cinematography (by Rodrigo Prieto of “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Argo”). Many of the other special effects in the film – led by special effects supervisor Daniel Sudick, of the Marvel franchise – are spectacularly good, especially one which demonstrates why the lifeguards closed the pool on the International Space Station!

The overall premise of the film is also original and well-conceived, setting up the backdrop for some serious post-watch ethical debate (see spoiler section).
Where the wheels came off for me though is with the script by Jon Spaihts (“Prometheus”, “Doctor Strange”). Some of the dialogue is just appallingly trite, and some of the supposed capabilities of our hero, Preston, are laughable. For example, he possesses an uncanny ability as “an engineer” to open a cabinet of electronics, scan the circuits and say “Nope – that all looks fine”: the next time my washing machine controller packs in, he’s going to be on my speed-dial for sure! And (cue trite line – “every component on the ship has a spare”) Preston immediately finds the required part (curiously, it’s right next to the failing component and not in Bay 67 on cargo deck 327!) and knows how to plug and play it as required.
Chris Pratt; Jennifer Lawrence
Pratt and Lawrence, with Pratt about to debug my washing machine controller just by looking at it.

But, for me, there was one particularly dire point in the script where Spaihts obviously forgets which film he’s writing the scene for and ‘goes superhero’: oh, hang on, Preston doesn’t HAVE any superhero powers! For me, any goodwill the story had built up through to that point get vented into space.
The director is Morten Tyldum, whose “Headhunters” I really enjoyed but who is probably more famous for “The Imitation Game”. Not overawed by the production’s scale, he does a great job of getting good performances out of the rather wooden action hunk that is Chris Pratt and the reliable Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence who (apart from one dramatic and emotional scene) the script doesn’t really stretch. Michael Sheen is also a great watch as the witty and dry android bar-tender.

In summary, this was a nice premise with great special effects and gorgeous production design, but frustratingly let down with a weak screenplay. With a better script and another 10% of tweaking, this could have been a real sci-fi classic.
  
Last Night in Soho (2021)
Last Night in Soho (2021)
2021 | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Unique
Writer/Director Edgar Wright has developed into one of the more unique film makers working today with a stylistic look, feel and sound to all of his films. Long known as the Director of the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost comedies (SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ and AT WORLD’S EDGE), Wright started coming into his own with the under-rated SCOTT PILGRIM vs. THE WORLD and the marvelous BABY DRIVER and with his latest film, the trippy thriller LAST NIGHT IN SOHO, Wright has graduated - in my eyes - as a Director who’s work is “must watch” whenever they come out.

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is unique, stylized, stunning - both visually and aurally - mind-bending, tense and satisfying. A truly unique film by a unique filmmaker.

To tell the tale of LAST NIGHT IN SOHO is to spoil it. The less you know about it, the better. But, as the trailers suggest, a modern young fashion student is in London and is transported into the “swinging ‘60’s London and ends up living, vicariously, the life of another. That’s all I’ll say. I would recommend just going in and let the story wash all over you - both through the eyes and through the ears - which is why I would recommend this film been seen in a theater (or, at the very least, on a set-up with a killer sound system).

Because of the highly stylized and “go with it” feel of this film, the performances have a tendency to move to the background, but they are very well done. Thomasin McKenzie (JOJO RABBIT) is a strong choice as the Fashion Student who has this “adventure” (to say more is to spoil), she brings the right amount of reality and “unreality” to her character. Anya Taylor-Joy (THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT) is superb as Sandie, the object of the “adventure”. She isn’t asked to do much more than be mysterious - and she does it well.

Wright, wisely, fills the rest of the film with strong supporting players - Matt Smith (DR. WHO), the great Terence Stamp (THE LIMEY) and, most importantly, Dame Diana Rigg (Emma Peel in THE AVENGERS in the 1960’s, in her final film role before her death in September 2020), all bring their “A” game to the festivities and fill their roles well.

It’s not a perfect film, the beginning drags on a bit before things start to get good (and weird) and their is a superfluous subplot involving some “Mean Girls” at the Fashion School that our heroine attends in today’s world - a subplot that never really goes anywhere. The ending, also, does go “over the top”, but by that time, I was swept up in the style of this film and forgave it it’s flaws.

I ended up having LAST NIGHT IN SOHO-type dreams, and indication that this film struck a chord with me and is going to stay with me for awhile - and is probably worth a re-watch (it certainly is one of those types of films that can be different upon a re-watch).

Well worth the effort to check it out on the Big Screen - certainly the visuals and sound will make it worthwhile.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
Don't Breathe (2016)
Don't Breathe (2016)
2016 | Crime, Horror, Thriller
the twists (5 more)
gripping
lethal game of cat and mouse
terrifying heart pounding moments
engrossing character
tension snapping scenes
some predictable parts (0 more)
I just need you for 9 months than you can leave
OHHHH Roseys back with the terrible spelling .. just bare with me LOL

So two people told me to watch this movie, Oh my god am i happy that i listened. So i love horror let just get that out there but i don't like the new horror, for me it's boring and i'm not scared, it's all about the paranormal; i want something more realistic, i definitely got it with Don't Breathe.

One thing i really enjoyed about this movie was it was so eerie calm at some moments than it was like a massive explosion went off, it was terrifying and i loved every second of it
I also had headphones on so that could be why as well!
This movie had so many twists and turns i had a idea on how the movie was going to go but than it did a 360 and i had no idea and i was so intrigued, one thing that kinda odd to me was how the hell did that man move that fast in his house. hes blind.. or maybe that just made the rest of his senses like super in a way? could have also been because its "his" house and he knows it well enough.


Photo creds to google!
  
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Courtney (25 KP) rated Instagram in Apps

Feb 7, 2019  
Instagram
Instagram
Communication, Photo & Video, Social Networking
8
8.2 (362 Ratings)
App Rating
Can express emotions. (4 more)
Can show off your photography skills.
Can keep up to date with family and friends.
It rarely crashes.
Can make your account private.
It reminds me a bit of Snapchat and Messenger now since all of the updates. (1 more)
Have a limit on video length.
My Main Social Media Platform!!
Instagram.....this is what I use mainly, more so than Facebook. It's something different and interesting to see people posts pictures instead of a status. I love putting up a picture of the day or even a quote of the day because I believe there's different ways to look at a picture, like that saying, a photo can tell you a 1000 words (something like that).

I do think it's got slightly more technical since the updates as years have gone on, I know to keep ahead of the game and more modernised. In some elements I do feel like it has copied Snapchat and Messenger were it didn't need it.

It has great effects on it from black and white to changing your photo to sepia or enhancing tones and shading. I do like doing all the different enhancements myself to find the perfect way I want my photo to look.

All in all, I can't really say much of a bad thing about Instagram because I use it everyday. I would definitely reccomend, especially if you want to try something new or express yourself more than words could.
  
Cold Calling
Cold Calling
Haydn Wilks | 2020 | Horror, Thriller
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b><i>People will put up with all manner of perversion, all manner of fucked-up-ness, they’ll positively revel in it, but what people won’t tolerate is boredom.</b></i>

To a certain extent, I did enjoy this, but I don't feel comfortable saying that due to the depravity and obscenity of it. This certainly has some <i>American Psycho</i> vibes to it, a book which I thoroughly enjoyed, but <i>Cold Calling</i> somehow seems to excel Bateman's darkness with Rhys' spur-of-the-moment crime. I suppose because in <i>American Psycho</i>, there is a clear underlying cultural message and in <i>Cold Calling</i>, that same message doesn't get across so easily, if it's even there at all.

Wilks' writing is good, there's no doubt about that, he keeps you reading and wanting more no matter how disturbed you feel. There's a card game scene in the middle of the novel that I got a bit tired with, but it was to develop the growing anger, boredom and hatred inside of Rhys.

This is definitely <b>NOT</b> one for the squeamish. I'm not surprised this has several low ratings, it's certainly a difficult novel to handle and is only going to be enjoyed by a very niche market.

One thing I <i>really</i> love about this book is the gruesome cover art!

Thanks to Haydn Wilks for sending me a copy in exchange for a review!