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Lincoln in the Bardo
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book was given to me as a christmas present by my brother. When I first started reading it, it took me two attempts of the first chapter to find my flow with the style of writing. As i havent read a book with this writing style before, it's more like a play, or a collection of thoughts by various speakers.
That being said I thoroughly enjoyed it. And found it is the type of book you keep going back to for more. The story flows very well and at times Is so descriptive you feel the anguish Mr Lincoln must have been feeling at the time of losing his son.
  
American Beauty: Original Motion Picture Score by Thomas Newman
American Beauty: Original Motion Picture Score by Thomas Newman
2000 | Soundtrack
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is my alarm clock; I wake up to it every morning. It’s so brilliant because it begins with this... and then I listen to it when I read books on a loop and it’s enough for me. It’s all I need. I have like one song for every mood. “I heard this way before I watched the movie American Beauty. It was many, many years ago and it was one of the first songs I had. I had an orange iPod which I got for Christmas and I only had this song on it for years. I still think if I went into that iPod now, this is the only song I would have on it. I haven’t had it for years though, and they were such nice colours. “It’s good for walks in the forest, it’s like everything is still. Another is the Finding Nemo soundtrack which is also good for timeouts or when you go for walks. It’s really lovely.”"

Source
  
This Christmas, Meg’s husband Michael has turned his one-man production of A Christmas Carol into a full play. In an effort to bring in more people to watch, Malcolm Haver has been cast as Scrooge. Malcolm is best known for a part in a cult TV show from 30 years ago, but he does have a loyal fan base. Unfortunately, he also has a habit of showing up late and drunk. In an effort to find out where Malcolm is getting his alcohol, Meg follows him from the theater one day. Where will Malcolm lead her?

While my teaser doesn’t reveal much of it, there is a mystery, even a murder, in this book. It’s just best to watch it all unfold for yourself. I did feel the ending was a tad weak, and the pacing was a little uneven early on, but these are minor complaints. I love these characters, and they are in fine form here. We get some laughs as grins along the way as always. Really, it’s hard to not have fun while reading this book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/12/book-review-how-finch-stole-christmas.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
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Kevin Wilson (179 KP) rated The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) in Movies

Jul 13, 2018 (Updated Jul 13, 2018)  
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
1993 | Animation, Family, Sci-Fi
Fantastic animation style (3 more)
Great music
Great acting
A unique story
My favourite movie of all time
This is by far my favourite movie of all time.

Created my Tim Burton who is also my favourite director (yes I know he didn't direct this)

The style he uses in incredible. It's all stop motion which basically means he builds real life models, takes a picture of it in a pose and then takes another in a slightly different pose then and another and another until the pictures come together to look like a moving model. It's incredible and if you watch the behind the scenes you can see the effort they put into this movie and it shows.

The character designs are so good as well as the locations.

The plot is pretty much halloweentown finds Christmas for the first time. It's fun, funny, emotional, even creepy and it's just a good time all the way through.

The music is fantastic. Every song is unique and catchy and you will find the soundtrack on my phone. Actors are incredible and at perfect for the roles they play.

People tend to ask if it's a Halloween or Christmas movie but I watch it anytime of the year.
  
Last Christmas (2019)
Last Christmas (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Romance
Lacking in romance & comedy
The trailer made this film look awful, and whilst it isnt quite as bad as it looked, it left me feeling rather underwhelmed.

For a rom-com set at Christmas, it's surprisingly lacking in romance, comedy and even festive spirit. The romance feels rather forced and there isn't any sort of spark between the two main characters at all, so it's quite unbelievable. I like Emilia Clarke, but even she can't save the lack of connection. There are a few funny lines in the film, but the rest of the script seems out of place, badly written and the intended humour falls flat. And trying to be relevant with some Brexit references doesn't work either.

Even the plot itself isn't great. It varies from typical rom-com to a predictable twist and even the George Michael/Wham theme didn't work. I was expected to be overwhelmed with music but instead you'd barely notice this was meant to be the theme at all. Admittedly the twist may go some way to explaining some of my above niggles, but not all of them. This is one of those strange films that isn't good but isn't terrible enough to hate every minute of it either. Definitely not a christmas classic though!
  
Show all 7 comments.
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AJaneClark (3975 KP) Dec 6, 2019

thanks for the review! I was considering seeing it, but like Heather, I will save myself some money... I will wait until it hits Netflix, now or prime.

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Dean (6927 KP) Dec 28, 2019

I surprisingly really enjoyed it, if you like festive films go catch it.