Search
Search results
Cradling the Chrysalis: Teaching and Learning Psychotherapy
Harriett Goldenberg and Mary MacCallum Sullivan
Book
This book addresses the ethical and philosophical basis for the teaching/learning involved in...
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Cruel Peter (2019) in Movies
Sep 10, 2020
The movie starts in 1908, a young boy named Peter is accused of cutting a girl with a razor, he insists the girl is lying and his mother defends him even though she knows the girl is actually telling the truth. We learn how evil Peter is soon after when he sets fire to a rat and it is implyed that he killed someone's dog. Peter soon gets a visitor from someone wearing a potato sack on their head, who hits him on the head with a shovel and buries him alive, never to be seen again.
We jump ahead to the present day to a dad studying and then randomly going in his daughters room and finding a boof of spirits in his deaf daughters room. We then jump to another scene of him being offered a job in Italy with some bloke on a boat, who I can only assume is a friend or his boss, its never made clear. Then in the next scene, him and his daughter are pulling up in Italy!?! Literally no lead upto it, just job offer and boom, they're there! The dad is even shown talking to some woman who I thought was a tour guide or his new boss, until she asked him if he'd like to meet her aunt! Anyway, we briefly see his daughter Liz walking down the corridor at her new school and then he finds Peters body whilst on a dig, leading to him searching the Internet and Liz summoning a ghost which we later find out is Peter.
To be honest, I knew from the get go that this movie wasn't going to be great, but I always see a movie to the end so I persevered. The scenes were very poorly put together, they seemed randomly placed and very rushed, random characters would appear, have no introductions (apart from one) and yet seem to have known the dad for a while! Speaking of which, I don't recall ever finding out his name as it was never mentioned. The acting was absolutely atrocious and the sound effects even worse, for example when Liz was supposed to be possessed, she sounded more like a dinosaur from jurassic Park rather than a demon. I was glad to see the end of this truly awful movie.
We jump ahead to the present day to a dad studying and then randomly going in his daughters room and finding a boof of spirits in his deaf daughters room. We then jump to another scene of him being offered a job in Italy with some bloke on a boat, who I can only assume is a friend or his boss, its never made clear. Then in the next scene, him and his daughter are pulling up in Italy!?! Literally no lead upto it, just job offer and boom, they're there! The dad is even shown talking to some woman who I thought was a tour guide or his new boss, until she asked him if he'd like to meet her aunt! Anyway, we briefly see his daughter Liz walking down the corridor at her new school and then he finds Peters body whilst on a dig, leading to him searching the Internet and Liz summoning a ghost which we later find out is Peter.
To be honest, I knew from the get go that this movie wasn't going to be great, but I always see a movie to the end so I persevered. The scenes were very poorly put together, they seemed randomly placed and very rushed, random characters would appear, have no introductions (apart from one) and yet seem to have known the dad for a while! Speaking of which, I don't recall ever finding out his name as it was never mentioned. The acting was absolutely atrocious and the sound effects even worse, for example when Liz was supposed to be possessed, she sounded more like a dinosaur from jurassic Park rather than a demon. I was glad to see the end of this truly awful movie.
Darren (1599 KP) rated The Keeping Room (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Story: The Keeping Room starts as during the civil war, Augusta (Marling), Louise (Steinfeld) and their slave Mad (Otaru) must work together to look after their family home together, while the men are out at war, they are getting by with Louise wanting to do more than just work around the house.
The women soon become targets for the rogue soldiers Moses (Worthington) and Henry (Soller), without the normal support they must defend their home before the war comes to them.
Thoughts on The Keeping Room
Characters – Augusta is the lady of the house, keeping Louise in line, while making it fair for everyone under the roof, no matter what their status is. She will be the one that will go for help and risk her life to protect the rest. Louise is the younger of the two women, she doesn’t like being forced into work believing the slave should do it all, her failure to follow instructions only makes it difficult for Augusta. Mad is the slave that has been welcomed as part of the family, joining in the defence of the home too. Moses is one of the soldiers that is leaving a path of destruction as they run away from the war. He targets the women’s home and the women to make his own for the time being.
Performances – Brit Marling is good in the leading role, we see strong performances from the three women if we are being honest, Hailee Steinfeld continues to show her ability, where as unknown Muna Otaru should be a name we pay more attention too. Sam Worthington does a fine job in the villainous role where we see him deliver lines in a disturbing manner.
Story – The story follows three women that must put their classes a side during the American Civil War to protect their home from rogue soldiers that only want to do unthinkable things to them. We get to see how the women do have their own problems to deal without the soldier adding to them, the unsure feeling about whether they will have the men in their lives returning to them. Once the soldiers arrive it does become a survival story which is good, it shows how difficult and risky it would be for either side just to attack they must focus on defending. The pacing of the story seems solid with giving away too much too early before leading to the night of the event.
Western – The film does use the western themes in the elements of the war time western not the wild west style it works well enough with the rogue soldiers trying to take a home.
Settings – The film uses the lone settings of the house in the middle of nowhere and the paths leading to it, to show us how isolated people would become during the war time.
Scene of the Movie – The night of the event.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain parts feel slow though.
Final Thoughts – This is a slow-moving western that shows the effects of the civil war on the women left behind that could face their own uncertain future as the men out at war. It has strong performances and a dark feeling about what could happen next.
Overall: darkly depressive look at the American Civil War.
The women soon become targets for the rogue soldiers Moses (Worthington) and Henry (Soller), without the normal support they must defend their home before the war comes to them.
Thoughts on The Keeping Room
Characters – Augusta is the lady of the house, keeping Louise in line, while making it fair for everyone under the roof, no matter what their status is. She will be the one that will go for help and risk her life to protect the rest. Louise is the younger of the two women, she doesn’t like being forced into work believing the slave should do it all, her failure to follow instructions only makes it difficult for Augusta. Mad is the slave that has been welcomed as part of the family, joining in the defence of the home too. Moses is one of the soldiers that is leaving a path of destruction as they run away from the war. He targets the women’s home and the women to make his own for the time being.
Performances – Brit Marling is good in the leading role, we see strong performances from the three women if we are being honest, Hailee Steinfeld continues to show her ability, where as unknown Muna Otaru should be a name we pay more attention too. Sam Worthington does a fine job in the villainous role where we see him deliver lines in a disturbing manner.
Story – The story follows three women that must put their classes a side during the American Civil War to protect their home from rogue soldiers that only want to do unthinkable things to them. We get to see how the women do have their own problems to deal without the soldier adding to them, the unsure feeling about whether they will have the men in their lives returning to them. Once the soldiers arrive it does become a survival story which is good, it shows how difficult and risky it would be for either side just to attack they must focus on defending. The pacing of the story seems solid with giving away too much too early before leading to the night of the event.
Western – The film does use the western themes in the elements of the war time western not the wild west style it works well enough with the rogue soldiers trying to take a home.
Settings – The film uses the lone settings of the house in the middle of nowhere and the paths leading to it, to show us how isolated people would become during the war time.
Scene of the Movie – The night of the event.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Certain parts feel slow though.
Final Thoughts – This is a slow-moving western that shows the effects of the civil war on the women left behind that could face their own uncertain future as the men out at war. It has strong performances and a dark feeling about what could happen next.
Overall: darkly depressive look at the American Civil War.
Be-be-bears
Games, Entertainment and Stickers
App
Exciting educational game for kids about charming little bears Bjorn & Bucky and Franny the Fox now...
Ben
Book
'It's amazing how some people can light up a room just by stepping into it. Ben was twenty-one...
Dalo: the Autobiography
Book
Anthony Daly was the most successful captain in the history of Clare hurling, leading the county to...
American Smoke: Journeys to the End of the Light
Book
In American Smoke, Iain Sinclair hits the road to America in the tracks of the Beats. On the trail...
Pinocchio: The Tale of a Puppet
Umberto Eco, Carlo Collodi and Geoffrey Brock
7.7
Rate It
Book
There was once upon a time a piece of wood in the shop of an old carpenter named Master Antonio....
Melanie Caldicott (6 KP) rated The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake in Books
Apr 29, 2021
I loved the concept of this books and as soon as I heard about it I was intrigued and wanted to read it. I read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake in a couple of days, which with 3 children rarely happens, so I continued to find it intriguing and compelling throughout.
However, I found the narrative elusive and shadowy which was often frustrating. Whilst I understand that Bender was creating a narrative largely written from the perspective of a child, from whom many things were hidden and secret, I still found that as a reader you were constantly trying to grasp what she was describing and failing. I found this made the book less plausible and destroyed the intrigue turning it into annoying gameplay.
I have read other novels with narratives from the perspective of a child such as The Earth Hums in B Flat, The Book Thief, Mister Pip, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Room etc and found these all to be written far more skillfully than Bender manages here. It is an art to realistically write through the eyes of a child but reveal things to an adult reader through the child's naive perspective of the world. If this is failed to be achieved it can leave the reader feeling frustrated and disillusioned through being led on a journey that is over-constructed and inauthentic.
However, I found the narrative elusive and shadowy which was often frustrating. Whilst I understand that Bender was creating a narrative largely written from the perspective of a child, from whom many things were hidden and secret, I still found that as a reader you were constantly trying to grasp what she was describing and failing. I found this made the book less plausible and destroyed the intrigue turning it into annoying gameplay.
I have read other novels with narratives from the perspective of a child such as The Earth Hums in B Flat, The Book Thief, Mister Pip, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Room etc and found these all to be written far more skillfully than Bender manages here. It is an art to realistically write through the eyes of a child but reveal things to an adult reader through the child's naive perspective of the world. If this is failed to be achieved it can leave the reader feeling frustrated and disillusioned through being led on a journey that is over-constructed and inauthentic.
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Shadow Thief (Flirting with Monsters, #1) in Books
Jan 24, 2021
DNF @ 56%
Contains spoilers, click to show
This starts with Sorsha breaking into a big house where she knows the owner has a collection of creatures in his exhibition room. Shadow creatures that need dark to escape but are kept under blinding lights. Sorsha breaks them all out and is shocked the next morning to find three of them waiting in her kitchen wanting to do her a favour back for freeing them. They also seek her help in freeing their boss from the band of humans who took him - and possibly the same group who tried to take Sorcha's "aunt" many years ago.
I did struggle a little with this one right from the start. I never really got into the storyline but I decided to carry on, thinking the action at the start might continue throughout but it was few and far between.
The description had me intrigued and I don't mind reverse harem books but up to the point i got to (56%) Sorsha had only slept with one of the three demons - the incubus - and was secretly lusting after the other two while trying to hunt down the people who had taken the demons' boss but it was going so slowly... I was bored. I was finding other things to do; buying other kindle books, watching tv instead of being engrossed in this. It just wasn't working for me.
I did struggle a little with this one right from the start. I never really got into the storyline but I decided to carry on, thinking the action at the start might continue throughout but it was few and far between.
The description had me intrigued and I don't mind reverse harem books but up to the point i got to (56%) Sorsha had only slept with one of the three demons - the incubus - and was secretly lusting after the other two while trying to hunt down the people who had taken the demons' boss but it was going so slowly... I was bored. I was finding other things to do; buying other kindle books, watching tv instead of being engrossed in this. It just wasn't working for me.