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In the Tall Grass (2019)
In the Tall Grass (2019)
2019 | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Characters – Becky is the pregnant lady travelling across country to start a life with her baby, her maternal instincts take over when she hears a young boy calling for help in the grass, which sees her get trapped, she experiences different pregnancy problems while trying to find her way out. Cal is the protect brother, who couldn’t win a fight to save his life, he wants his sister to date somebody with a future and an education. Ross is the father of Tobin who has gone too far into the grass before, he knows what is happening making him a real threat to the rest. Tobin is the little boy that is calling out for help, he desperate cries for help lead to the events of the film as Becky and Cal go in search for the answer.

Performances – When it comes to the performances this is a hard one to hate or enjoy anybody in the film, nobody is bad, Laysla De Oliveira and Avery Whitted as the brother sister don’t have the best chemistry. Patrick Wilson does go full crazy for parts of the film and it is the best part to watch.

Story – The story here follows a group of people that lost in tall grass which seems to have a mind of itself which will see them needing to figure out how to make it out alive. This is a story that does do a lot of confusing things because we do try to capture the magic of ‘Triangle’ only for it to be way to confusing for the most part because we are going over and over through different points of view which just doesn’t give us enough to work with because a lot happens in pitch black too which doesn’t make it clear just what was happening. This is a story you could break down and figure out what happened, but it isn’t a causal watch when figuring out the loops.

Horror – The horror in the film is meant to come from the unknown in the grass and just what happens within the grass.

Settings – The film wants to use the tall grass for the settings, I guess this is an American thing for it to be scary.

Special Effects – The effects used in the film are mostly shock for gore, which are fine, but just don’t shock the way they want too.


Scene of the Movie – Ross finds a way in.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many attempts to create a reset.

Final Thoughts – This is a horror that just doesn’t get to any horror levels, if you have seen ‘Triangle’ you will have seen a much more interesting and better version of this story.

Overall: Just not Triangle.
  
Darius the Great is Not Okay
Darius the Great is Not Okay
Adib Khorram | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
9
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel got a lot of hype before and after its release - and it deserves it. It has great minority representation, from Persian (and bi-racial!) to Zoroastrian and Baha'i, to clinical depression and male friendship. You could also read gay and/or asexual into it, but that's not explicitly mentioned. Romantic love is just never addressed; perhaps because the story just doesn't involve it, but you could definitely read the main character as ace.

Darius is a great main character. He's funny, self-deprecating, and complex. He has clinical depression, is medicated for it, and can sometimes tell when it's the depression making him think a certain way, but sometimes he can't. He's biracial, visiting Iran and his mother's Persian family for the first time, and adjusting to Persian social norms and traditions while trying not to lose sight of his American life. His connection with his father is tenuous and fraught with miscommunication, and lot of the book is spent wrestling with that relationship. His new friend, Sohrab, is a great foil to that, as his father is completely absent from his life, having been arrested and thrown in jail prior to the start of the story, largely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and being part of a minority religion.

There are so many small things touched on this book - suspicion at customs when flying through, bullying at school for being Persian, not speaking his family's language because his mother didn't teach it to him (and feeling cut off because of it) - all little things that a lot of immigrant children deal with.

Aside from the cultural things the book addresses, there's also the mental health aspect. Both Darius and his father have clinical depression, and there's stigma attached to having the diagnosis, and to taking pills for it. We see how their mental states affects their relationship with each other and with the rest of their family, and it's quite powerful. The author talks about having clinical depression in an afterword, and includes some resources that helped him. This is an #ownvoices novel in more ways than one, and it really shows. Excellent book.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
Murder on the Orient Express
Murder on the Orient Express
Agatha Christie | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.4 (65 Ratings)
Book Rating
You know the ending but it’s about the journey ! (0 more)
What a journey!
Contains spoilers, click to show
How do you a summarise a book that is a classical as this one ? We come face to face with Hercule Poirot as he joins the Orient Express at Aleppo in a rush to get to London. After getting in the train Poirot is approached by Samuel Ratchett, a malevolent, elderly American who wants to hire the detective as He believes his life is being threatened.

On the second night of the journey the train is stopped by a snowdrift near Vinkovci and Poirot's is woken by a cry emanating from Ratchett's compartment. The next morning we discover that Ratchett has been murdered and Poirot investigates the crime.
As we get to meet the other passengers we soon discover that everyone on the train has a motive to murder. Poirot discovers that everyone in the coach had a connection to the a famous Family called the Armstrong family who lost their daug in tragic circumstances. and a to kill . He proposes two possible solutions.

What does our detective friend do when he finds the truth?

Even if you know the ending the journey mpoint is weaved so wonderfully in and out like a train sneaking up the route of the Orient Express