TacoDave (3610 KP) rated Funhouse (2019) in Movies
Feb 15, 2022 (Updated Feb 15, 2022)
I go into these movies with rock-bottom expectations, hoping against hope that they will be slightly better than expected. "Funhouse" was suprisingly entertaining, when compared to similar genre films.
The premise is simple: eight wannabe famous people (think: influencers, normal people who married celebrities, low-level MMA fighters, etc.) sign up for a reality TV show in the vein of Big Brother where they will be locked in a house together and voted out by the public.
There's one catch, of course: the guy running the show - who uses a digital avatar of a panda to speak to the "contestants" - is a nutjob and the loser of the public vote gets killed in a gruesome way.
Is it real? Is it fake entertainment for the online era? Will reacters on Youtube believe it is real? How does society treat the death of someone who really, really wants to be famous, but is only barely-known?
These questions are good ones and the movie doesn't shy away from them. In fact, after each "kill" there is a cut to people in the real world reacting to it that gives the movie a lot more nuance than a typical horror film.
The kills are very graphic and gruesome and I actually looked away for a couple of them because (as I said before) I'm not a fan of torture porn. And there is some female nudity in the movie, specifically when one character decides to strip to earn viewer votes to stay alive.
Still, all in all I was entertained. And that's all I wanted for those 90 minutes - to shut off my logical brain and just watch something different. This movie fit the bill.
Sam (74 KP) rated Turtles All The Way Down in Books
Mar 27, 2019
And I kinda stuck to that. I didn’t buy it for myself. I got it for Christmas because I decided that I actually quite wanted to read it and for once I could try and throw my prejudices away.
Aza and her best friend Daisy decide to try and find out where a missing billionaire has gone. This billionaire is coincidentally Aza’s childhood best friend’s father, and the reward for finding him is $100,000.
Aza struggles with mental health illnesses throughout the book, and the book includes narratives between Ava and her thoughts which perfectly show how mental health effects people and what it actually feels like to not be in control of your thoughts. It also shows how your mental health affects people around you, even if it’s a bit brutal when it comes to that.
I love that Daisy is constantly writing fanfics throughout the novel and found her whole attitude entertaining. She’s the typical fictional best friend and is so lovable despite her flaws. She’s one of those characters who is impossible to hate.
I’m a convert. I love John Green now and I may go and try his other books again because Turtles All The Way Down is one of my top books of 2017.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Hello, Sunshine in Books
Apr 9, 2019
I read Eight Hundred Grapes a couple of years ago and I really enjoyed Laura Dave's writing. I've heard mixed reviews on this book, for me it was alright.
Sunshine Stephens grew up in Montauk, NY Even though the town was full of people with wealthy backgrounds, Sunshine was not a part of those people. She didn't come from a wealthy family, but she escaped the first chance she got. When she met Ryan, he promised her fame and fortune. All she had to do was tell a little lie about who she was and her abilities as a chef. But after a few years like this it's hard to separate fact from fiction. So some jerk has decided to knock Sunshine off of her pedestal and bring her back to reality. All of this was to remind her who she was and where she came from and the life she was currently living was not hers at all.
Overall, this book was pretty good. I liked Sunshine as a character. It sucks that her life had to come down to this life and career destroying conclusion. Will she be able to bounce back and continue to live her life?
Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Buying Samir (India's Street Kids #2) in Books
Jun 18, 2018
This book describes the dangerous side of the streets throughout the story. Through Jasmina's story, we learn more ways that people are lured in and human trafficked in India. Parts of the story were exciting, but Jasmina was more passive than usual while she figured out what was going on with the "modelling" business. I'd expected this to be more about Samir's story, but it's not. It's Jasmina coming to terms with how human trafficking has destroyed her family.
By the end of the story we are left with the beautiful outcome of Jasmina accepting Jesus Christ as her Savior. We see how His love can turn her tragedies into a story of healing and triumph. Samir, on the other hand, has sadly chosen to embrace his hatred and anger. It has turned him into becoming the very people he hated. Life is like that. We face trials, and who we turn to...God or Satan/the lost world...will decide whether our story is triumphant or tragic.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
I received this book from BJU Press via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
Steve Fearon (84 KP) rated Kill List (2012) in Movies
Sep 7, 2018
Featuring a number of recognizable British tv actors, and a interesting edit style that chops out extraneous seconds here there and everywhere, often overlaying conversational narrative over a shot displaying a different scene, effectively giving you two informational elements at the same time.
It has some brutal violence, as the two hitman proceed to move down their list discovering generally bad people, which allows the viewer to avoid the moral conflict that might otherwise complicate the premise.
There are nods that the people hiring them know more than they are letting on, and the film builds to a slightly confusing crescendo with an ending similar to another very controversial horror film of recent years, that will shock some and disappoint others.
Overall it is an enjoyable but challenging film, that would have benefited from signposting a few more of the confusing elements more clearly, though the ending and its insinuations are more than likely intended to be of a vague and open nature by design.
Violent, upsetting and very dark in theme, Kill List is definitely a horror, and definitely not one for those of a weak constitution...it is flawed, and not a classic but it certainly is a solid choice for a rainy evening.
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