
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated Endangered Species Superheroes in Books
Jan 9, 2020
Lindsay lives with her grandfather who owns The Smiling Sloth Wildlife Sanctuary. Lindsey loves helping out at the sanctuary and has a very close relationship with many of the animals that live there. At the sanctuary she assists in taking care of some of the animals by drawing their blood for tests, feeding them, and checking their vitals. Many of these animals at the sanctuary bave been hurt in some way by human carelessness. Lindsay and the animals at the sanctuary have a secret that doesn't come out until Lindsay is attacked by a thug hired by Mace Zogan.
Mace at one point was working with Lindsay's grandfather at the sanctuary. He was arrested at some point for poisoning a bunch of sloths on purpose. Mace breaks out of jail and decides to get his revenge on Lindsay's grandfather by going after Lindsay herself. Mace kidnaps Lindsay and takes her back to his Lab on an island. Mace admits that her was trying to chemically alter animals at his lab to make them more useful to humans. With some help from a few unlikely sources Lindsay gets rescued and Mace is arrested once again.
This book teaches readers about animals and the problems that humans are causing because of all the pollution and trash that we leave laying. At one point it talks about a beach clean-up and the importance of trying to get more people involved. While the book dose have the classic chemicals
creating superheros and bad guys pretending to be police officers it even offers helpful information during a kidnapping. Lindsay calls her grandfather and keeps her phone safely hidden in her backpack when Mace grabs her so that she is able to tell details about what is going on to her grandfather by talking to Mace.
What I liked best about this is that I was surprised to find that it was not Lindsay who had superpowers. The artwork is also bright amd simple enough that I do not think it would distract from the story yet would still be interesting to young readers. The information packed in this book was both a posititve and a negative for me. I didn't really like how the entire thing was so informative that the dialogue felt forced at times. There were multiple times when the flow of the story was disrupted by the addition of extra facts.
The target readers for this book are school aged children, mainly those in early middle school. Elementary students might enjoy this book as well but I feel like it might actually be a bit too long to hold the attention of younger elementary students. I rate this book 2 out of 4 because it felt a little too boring for a children's book with how informative the story was. At the same time some children tend to be very interested in anything that has to so with animals so it might be more interesting than I give it credit for.
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Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated The Boy Who Talks to Animals in Books
Feb 29, 2020
“Where does legend end and reality begin? Perhaps all reality has root in legend and the two are intertwined.” - Professor Lofthouse page 140
Ben has worked at the zoo for years and had always wanted to be a zookeeper ever since he was a child. He loves animals and has dedicated his life to their care and happiness. Sometimes this means going into work super early and at times staying all night long. One night he started to notice strange things happening at the zoo restaurant, making him believe someone is breaking in and getting into the food. Concerned about the security of the zoo and the safety of not only the animals but also for the person breaking in, Ben sets a trap and waits to see who it is.
Much to Ben’s surprise, the culprit is a young boy about twelve years old. This boy appears to be a runaway and has been getting his food from the zoo for quite a while now. Slowly Ben befriends the boy and discovers something odd and wondrous about him. While this boy either can’t or won’t talk to people, he can talk to animals. All the animals in the zoo love this boy, even the most dangerous ones consider him to be one of their own. The people that spend a lot of time around the boy also start to notice some changes within themselves. Now all Be can hope for is that the zoo can offer this special boy the shelter, protection, love, and life that he deserves.
What I liked best was the Professor's description of hidden skills and his explanation of Autism was one of the best I have ever heard. He suggests that our ancestors had abilities like the boy in the story but since we lost our connection with the planet we lost those abilities. At times that extra chromosome shows up, giving a person access to these ancient abilities, but they must give up something else such as the ability to speak in order to access it. Honestly, my biggest problem occurs before the book actually starts. There is a four-page synopsis at the beginning of the book. While a synopsis in itself is not a problem this one was so long and detailed that after reading it I lost interest in reading the book. This was because the synopsis contains major spoilers and tells the reader how the book ends. I highly recommend if anyone decides to read this book that you do not read the synopsis.
Content-wise this book is safe for just about anyone to read. Aside from kissing the only thing that could be classified as inappropriate is a primate grabbing at a woman’s butt in one short area. The book is a bit long which may discourage some younger readers. I rate this book 2 out of 4. The story itself is really good but the delivery isn’t all that great. Besides the synopsis (which ruined the book for me) inside the book which tells everything of importance that happens. Also, the book drags, nothing really happens until the last few chapters and the first half of the book is really slow to progress.
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) in Movies
Apr 2, 2021
Overall it had a much more serious tone to it, and I don't mind that in a superhero film, but then it goes and throws in the petshop/hotdog scene. I feel like it was meant to be funny, but almost everything about it stuck out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the film. I saw someone say they thought this version of the film was funnier in general compared to the first, I'm not sure we watched the same movie.
If you read my reviews you'll be aware of my feelings on "bizarre" ratios. In things like The Lighthouse I can see why they go with certain aspect ratios, but unless they're being shown on a screen that is that size they're really not for me, it's a distraction. This is a very personal feeling of course, there are a lot of people who like the aesthetics and style choices around this sort of thing. For me though, I want that full screen experience, especially with this sort of blockbuster.
I'm one of these strange people that likes most superhero movies, I liked the various Fantastic Fours, even Green Lantern... and I enjoyed the original Justice League cut. I gave it 4/5. And while seeing everything that was cut out of it makes me feel like we were robbed, I still enjoyed that movie on a rewatch. I'm unlikely to sit through the epic version again by choice, whereas I probably would rewatch the first one.
I always find it a little baffling when it comes to DC and Marvel. For me, Marvel always got the films right, but the TV shows were just okay. And DC always got the TV shows right and their films were okay. (When I'm saying okay I mean they're watchable but I wouldn't need to rush to rewatch them.) That felt like something that was on the change. Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam, all seemed to find a level that worked in a way I hadn't felt about their films in a while. I wanted to see them again, they mixed dramatic and fun in a way that Marvel have always been able to nail. But while this version of Justice League goes out and does its own thing, and that's perfectly acceptable, the tone felt wrong for the set of characters that were brought together... and when you put all the little niggles together from across the whole thing it leaves me with a film I'd be fine without.
Perhaps my rating of this is a little unfair, it has a lot of things I like in it after all. The negatives outweighed the bad in the end though, and as much as I like the Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman development, they wouldn't compel me to sit through it again. Not even in chunks.
Because this had a lot of different things to talk about it wasn't one of my usual reviews, you can find my full review here: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/04/zack-snyders-justice-league-movie.html

Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula (2020) in Movies
Oct 6, 2020
Peninsula is a 2020 South Korean Action Horror movie directed by Yeon Sang-ho and written by Park Joo-Suk and Yeong Sang-ho. The film was produced by Next Entertainment World, RedPeter Film, and New Movie and distributed by Next Entertainment World (worldwide) and Well Go USA (United States) with producer Lee Dong-ha. The film stars Gang Dong-won, Kim Do-yoon, and Lee Jung-hyun.
Four years after the entire country of South Korea fell to a virulent zombie outbreak, former Marine Captain Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won) lives a life of regret following tragic events. Jung-seok is guilted in to joining his brother-in-law Chul-Min (Kim Do-yoon) on a suicide mission to go back to South Korea. If they can locate and bring back a truck containing $20 million dollars, then they get half, that is along with two other equally reckless people along for the job.
(Warning Spoilers Below)
I have to say first off that Train to Busan was a great movie. I'm a big fan of that movie so I have to say I was pretty hyped for this movie. I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed with the direction they took on this movie plot/story wise compared to the story they told in the first movie. But it was still a decent zombie movie. Right away it had me with it's opening scene and I think that's what let me down. It started off so emotional and I half expected a similar experience to the first film and it's anything but. It's hard in this genre to be original and I like how they were still able to bring some cool ideas to the board in and otherwise overdone genre. I like how they implemented a couple of things into the movie like showing how the zombies are attracted to light and sound, like with the r/c car and the car alarms. Also the people talking about how the zombies are more active in the day and going out at night more. I didn't like that they went too far in the special effects where things wind up looking overly-fake, even though most were pretty decent. I liked the weird gladiator/survival game that they made the prisoners of Unit 631 compete in. That was interesting. I also liked the sister characters and thought that they were a welcome addition to the movie. I feel like there wasn't enough character development between their mother and Jung-seok. They should have shown him get more attached to her or the daughters. Also with him and his brother-in-law, I feel they skipped a lot in those 4 years. There were some ridiculous zombie scenes with a lot of zombies (number-wise), which was a little expected because Train to Busan was the movie World War Z ripped off with the concept of zombie hordes that way. But I have to say the whole scene with the glass tunnel and all the zombies spilling out was pretty satisfying. All in all I would say this movie fails to reach the emotional tone and despair of the situation as well as setup characters that you care about as well as the first film. That being said it's a pretty good zombie movie and a stand alone sequel that shouldn't really be judged that way even if it's hard not too. I would have to give this movie a 6/10. It does a decent job rising about the average zombie movie in being exciting as well as gripping without holding itself too serious.

Sarah (7800 KP) rated David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020) in Movies
Oct 14, 2020
In the opening scene of this documentary Attenborough is in Chernobyl, the site of one of the worst man-made disasters in history. His comparison of the impact of the Chernobyl disaster to the impact humanity is having gradually on the environment is not one that many would have even considered, but it’s provides a stark warning. And it continues in this same vein throughout.
Whilst this still features beautifully captured videos of nature and historical footage of Attenborough throughout his career, this documentary has very dark and bleak overtones. Even the statistics on world population, carbon content and decrease in wilderness provided for certain years in Attenborough’s career prove to be crystal clear and unmistakably illustrating just how badly we’ve treated our planet in the space of a mere 90 years. For reference, wilderness in the 1930s was at 66% - in 2020 it has nearly halved to 35%. When you see it there in black and white, it’s terrifying.
Even more terrifying is Attenborough’s glimpse into the future. Showing what will happen to us and our planet in the 2030s to 2100s and beyond, it’s scarier than any horror film you will ever see. And what’s worrying is that the chances of this happening is a lot more likely than anything you see in a scary movie.
Fortunately this does move away from the rather effective warnings and dark tones and goes on to discuss how we can change to prevent this bleak future from coming true. These resolutions – stopping deforestation and overfishing, stabilising the population, more plant based diets – are nothing that we haven’t heard of before. However Attenborough does at least go on to suggest how we as a planet can move towards achieving the above and promote some rather positive success stories where this has already been achieved in a number of places across the globe.
My problem with this documentary is two fold. For one, Attenborough steers clear of the politics and blame game and doesn’t point the finger at any areas of society that may be more at fault than others (i.e. the super wealthy and their excesses). He just seems like he’s being too nice when really he needs to call out the people and areas that hold more responsibility.
My other issue is that he doesn’t relate the solutions to how we can help as individuals. Other than moving to a more plant based diet, the solutions proposed are not things that Joe public can help with and for me personally I found this very frustrating. I want to know what I personally can do to help and sadly I have no control over poaching, deforestation or over-fishing. I barely have any input into my local council’s initiative to build thousands of houses on the greenbelt behind my house, so the issues and solutions discussed here seem rather overwhelming and feel almost impossible to achieve.
However despite this, Attenborough has created a rather bleak and stark documentary that proves to be both depressing and incredibly moving and informative to watch. It will undoubtedly spur many into action and prove to be the warning we as a people need, especially with the final scenes showing how the wilderness has returned to Chernobyl and Attenborough’s reminder that we’re not saving the planet, we’re saving ourselves. I just hope those higher up that have the true power to put the solutions in place have watched this and taken note.