Darren (1599 KP) rated The Red Turtle (2016) in Movies
Dec 25, 2019
Story: The Red Turtle starts when a man gets washed up on a desert island, alone he looks for the essentials, water and food, before trying to figure out how he can get off the island. First, he builds a raft, which only fails his escape plans.
Once the man learns that he is being followed by a mysterious red turtle his whole life on the island changes in a way her would never have imagined.
Thoughts on The Red Turtle
Characters – This is a film where the characters have no names, only roles, the man is the one that gets trapped on the island, looking for a way to find rescue, shelter and survival, something he can manages, before setting off on his own voyage of self-discovery on the island. The Red Turtle seems to be holding the man on the island before giving him a gift which will change his life.
Story – The story here follows a man that becomes stranded on a desert island where he searches for a way off, looks to survive, only to clash with a mysterious creature that seems to be holding him to the island. This is a story that is all about the visuals we see, it could easily be reflected into the garden of Eden that the man has been given with different aspects of survival involved, be it from needing food, drink or shelter or one’s own mental ability of being alone. This is a story that could also be look at in different ways by different people, which only enhances this to new levels.
Adventure/Fantasy – The adventure side of this film shows just how one man makes a life out of his time on the island, this does get mixed with the fantasy elements of the film too.
Settings – The film is set on one desert island which does have a lot to survive with, only it has no escape from. It looks beautiful while feeling empty.
Animation – The animation is amazing too, with the different lighting to show different times of day, weather conditions and environment changes.
Scene of the Movie – The Full Life.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Nothing.
Final Thoughts – This is a beautiful animation that shows the importance of life, happiness and survival.
Overall: One of the most beautiful animations ever.
Child Exploitation and Trafficking: Examining Global Enforcement and Supply Chain Challenges and U.S. Responses
Virginia M. Kendall, T. Markus Funk and Richard A. Posner
Book
Each year, more than two million children around the world fall victim to commercial sexual and...
Andy K (10821 KP) rated Buster's Mal Heart (2016) in Movies
Sep 2, 2019
Before he recently won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Bohemian Rhapsody, Rami Malek starred in this very unusual film about a guy who is either stranded out at sea on a one-person raft, running from the law after breaking in and stealing wealthy mansions for his own use or a married man working at a hotel with a wife and daughter. Or maybe all 3?
The character meets a paranoid man talking all about the "inversion" and Y2K (remember that?) which sends the man down a weird slope of cerebral? encounters throughout his various levels of existence.
The screenplay is so interesting that I want to sit in a room with writer/director Sarah Adina Smith to pick her brain just to make sure I either understand what I watched or if I am meant to. I have no issue with cerebral films like Donnie Darko, The Fountain, Under the Skin or Mulholland Drive. Since some of the film takes place in a hotel, I could see comparisons to shades of The Shining also.
It may take another viewing to let everything soak in or maybe I will pick up new things the next time around.
The look of the film is breathtaking with both beautiful outdoor landscapes, gorgeous mansions, and stuffy hotel lobbies.
I am ashamed to say I have not seen Bohemian Rhapsody yet, but based on this film alone Malek appears to be not only up and coming, but here to stay for a while and he deserves it. He was emotional and moving in this film so I am eager to see more of his work.
Please someone else watch this so we can discuss. I would love to hear your opinion!
Tiny Epic Quest
Tabletop Game
A world of peace has been torn asunder by the opening of a vile portal from the goblin kingdom....
JT (287 KP) rated The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
Zak has no idea how to get to where he’s going but is encouraged to escape by his roommate Carl (Bruce Dern). So in just his underpants he slips through the bars of his window and escapes.
Meanwhile, Tyler is running from a troubled and emotional past of his own. Flashbacks show him laughing and joking with his brother Mark played by Jon Bernthal, who as it turns out is killed in a car accident with Tyler asleep at the wheel.
But this film isn’t about Tyler, it’s about Zak and getting the chance to meet his wrestling hero, the Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church) who he’s seen countless times on TV and is desperate to meet.
It’s the kind of film that you know will only have a happy ending as each discovers new things about themselves – they bring the best out in each other.
LaBeouf gives an excellent performance and the story has a Mark Twain feel about it. Walking barefoot, swimming and floating down the river on a hand made raft, free from a society that holds them back. Zack Gottsagen is equally good and provides some funny and dramatic moments that will tug at the heartstrings.
They are followed closely on their adventure by Eleanor (Dakota Johnson) Zak’s caregiver who has foiled his previous escape attempts on more than one occasion. When she finally catches up with them she too discovers a few home truths.
The Peanut Butter Falcon oozes charm and is helped by two brilliant central performances. If you’ve not seen it already then I urge you to make time for it.
River Cottage Every Day
Book
Putting food on the table for the family quickly and economically doesn't mean you have to...
Mayhawke (97 KP) rated This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor in Books
Feb 13, 2018
Referring to the diaries he was obliged to keep during his years as an obstetrician, Kay has pulled together a raft of stories and thoughts ranging from simple one line 'notes-to-self' to more lengthy tales of patients he cared for. The happy, the funny and the occasional simply uplifting make for an easy and read that clips along nicely. I had this in audio book form and it was a little over six hours long. It is easy to pick up, slightly less easy to put down.
You may also have seen this book referred to as 'heart-breaking'.
And it is. Because in writing a highly entertaining memoir Kay has found the perfect vehicle to deliver some brutal truths about the state of our NHS these days. To highlight the lies being pedalled by the Secretary of State for Health and the government.This is not a treatise on the issues facing the National Health Service and the people who work there-in delivering health care, there is no lengthy analysis - he simply punctuates the usually funny, sometimes tragic stories with brutal realities he has experienced first-hand:
- being told that he would have to come back for a weekend halfway through a two-week holiday abroad because the cover he had had to arrange himself fell through.
- falling asleep in his car in the hospital car park before he even managed to start it and waking up the next morning only to find he'd slept so long he was still late for work. On Christmas Eve.
- working out that with the unpaid overtime he was expected to put in his actual wage was £6.60ph - less than if he'd worked in McDonalds.
This is far more important book than it is really given credit for. It should be mandatory reading for anyone who has ever nodded their head when Jeremy Hunt's lips have been flapping.
The 100 Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity
Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
Book
What will your 100-year life look like? Does the thought of working for 60 or 70 years fill you with...
Lonely Planet Nepal
Lonely Planet, Bradley Mayhew, Lindsay Brown and Stuart Butler
Book
#1 best-selling guide to Nepal* Lonely Planet Nepal is your passport to the most relevant,...
Debbiereadsbook (1197 KP) rated Fate in Suspension (Horn & Haven #1) in Books
Sep 15, 2022
I liked this, a lot. It's a very different sort of shifter book and that its unicorns made it all the more special.
I can't stretch to 5 stars for a couple of reasons.
Its a LONG book, some 500+ pages. It does, however, even with all those pages, NOT say a lot!
I still have no idea what being an AGENT means, what that roll entails. Gates doesn't seem to like being an Agent much! Clearly it has some negative connotations, but those are explained when Tai tells gates about his experience with other Agents.
Something happened in Gates' work world, then there was the destruction of the Haven and I wasn't sure, STILL am not sure, whether these two events were one and the same! The implication, or at least I got an implication, that they were, but that point was never fully made clear.
I will always say, I don't like the massive info dumps you get when entering a new world. I like little and often. However, here? You are thrown in headfirst into the deep end, and it takes a time to be able to swim to the surface, and breathe!
It says at the back of the book that this is a spin off from another series by this author. One I have NOT read. I wonder it reading those would have given me a bit of a life raft before reading this one.
What I did like, nay, what I LOVED was the chemistry between Gates and Tai. It jumps off the page at every turn, and burns hot and bright right through the book. It's clear, right from the start, for both men, that this was something different to what had gone before. There was an air about it that scared them both, and it was great watching them battle with themselves, to work it all out.
AND!! I loved that shifting, turning, takes a massive back drop to this book, rather than being front and centre. Both men do turn at some point, but Gates only twice and Tai just the once.
So, I liked it, but found it a bit too long.
4 good solid stars
*same worded review will appear elsewhere