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Kaz (232 KP) rated Pet Sematary in Books

May 15, 2019 (Updated May 15, 2019)  
Pet Sematary
Pet Sematary
Stephen King | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
7
8.4 (53 Ratings)
Book Rating
Atmospheric and creepy (0 more)
The ending (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
What the 'Blurb' says:


When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better…-


My Thoughts:

I've just finished 'Pet Sematary' and have mixed thoughts on this.

On the positive, I liked the creepy, macabre writing. This book is full of dark atmosphere and some parts of this book gave me the chills just reading them. The characters are believable, even if some of their actions were a bit questionable and I liked how the story flowed.

However, what I wasn't too keen on, was the fact that during the book, a couple of the characters, particularly the family's cat Winston Churchill and Ellie,the daughter, were built up to be important characters and in the end, were forgotten about. Whilst reading this, I spent a lot of the time wondering what had happened to them, when I should have been focusing on what was actually going on in the story at that time. Churchill does get rediscovered at the end of this book, but I'm still unsure what happened to Ellie. So I don't think all of the strands of story were tied up as well as they should have been and for me, the ending of this book was just ok, if slightly frustrating, due to the actions of certain characters.


I haven't seen the original film adaptation of this novel, but I'd be interested in watching the adaptation, to see how this translates into film.


If you want a creepy tale to read for Halloween, you might want to consider this book.


My Rating *** ½
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Yes Please in Books

Feb 1, 2018  
Yes Please
Yes Please
Amy Poehler | 2015 | Biography
6
7.5 (24 Ratings)
Book Rating
I wasn't sure how to feel about this book. In some ways, I appreciated that it was more serious than some of the other "funny people" memoirs going around. I am not a huge fan of books written by silly people full of silly things that pretend to tell the story of their life. What's the point? At least Amy makes an attempt to write a memoir, chronicling bits and pieces of her life and actually detailing true thoughts and feelings about things, rather than just jokey things that have no meaning. I found myself sort of rushing through some of the silly lists and spending more time on the actual writing, though some of the funny bits were good - fake acceptance speeches and the like.

The problem is that the book jumps around a lot and never really delves too much into anything. Not wanting to cover her divorce - okay, I get that. There is a really sweet chapter on her sons, which was lovely. You get a rough chronicle of how she became a kid from New England who wound up in New York by way of Chicago. But there's not a lot of detail. I also, selfishly, wish there had been more Tina Fey.

I enjoy that you get the impression that Amy is a deep person with deep thoughts - and isn't even perhaps always nice. She's not afraid to tell stories that don't necessarily flatter her. You get an idea of her as multifaceted person - actress, writer, mom, etc., and not just someone who tells funny stories. There are also some good stories that feature celebrities, which you are always looking for in a celebrity memoir. Finally, there's a fun bit annotated with notes by Parcs & Rec creator Mike Schur. He and Amy talk about a holiday gift Mike gave all his family and friends containing every email, text, and phone message he received during the Red Sox's successful World Series run in 2004. I was left thinking I want to read *that* book.

Anyway, the book just felt a little flat to me, as if it was missing something. It was a little disjointed in its presentation and content. Because it jumps the line between serious and funny, you're left without a full idea of who Amy is, but yet it's not funny enough to just make you laugh and forget all the other flaws.
  
Station Eleven
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.9 (29 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is an instance of a book cover catching my attention, and refusing to let it go. I started seeing this one first in magazines, and then bookstores and websites all over the place, until I decided I had to read it. I had the impression that it took place in a post-pandemic world, but that was about it. I'm glad I didn't read the book blurb more carefully, because I don't think that I would have been interested in the story of a Hollywood star and a band of travelling actors. I would probably not have picked it up, and I would have missed something beautiful.

This book is, at its heart, a story of survival and resilience. It starts at a point in time just as the flu pandemic is beginning. We meet a variety of individuals at a performance of Kind Lear, and then follow several of them both forward and back ward in time, learning about their past, and watching as their futures unfold in the new world. The author's main focus is on the characters, what drives them, what mattered to them before the collapse of civilization and afterwards, and their personal relationships more than the disaster itself.

Kirsten Potter does an excellent job with the narration - her voice and timing were a pleasure to listen to.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook, and would recommend it to fans of almost any type of fiction or word lovers in general. It was so full of memorable quotes, that I caught myself jotting them down to read later, and that isn't something I normally do. Since I have them though, I'd like to leave you with a few of my favorites....

“Hell is the absence of the people you long for.”

“It was gorgeous and claustrophobic. I loved it and I always wanted to escape.”

“What I mean to say is, the more you remember, the more you’ve lost.”

“First we only want to be seen, but once we’re seen, that’s not enough anymore. After that, we want to be remembered.”

“She had never entirely let go of the notion that if she reached far enough with her thoughts she might find someone waiting, that if two people were to cast their thoughts outward at the same moment they might somehow meet in the middle.”

“There are certain qualities of light that blur the years.”
  
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Darren (1599 KP) rated 1941 (1979) in Movies

Jun 20, 2019  
1941 (1979)
1941 (1979)
1979 | Action, Comedy
Story: 1941 starts in the aftermath of Pearl Harbour, The Japanese are searching for Hollywood for their latest attack, while the army are planning to create a defence on the Californian coastline, Sgt Frank Tree (Aykroyd) leads his men in preparations while pilot Captain Wild Bill Kelso (Belushi) travels the country to support his troops.

The preparations bring us comical happenings which lead to what is going on between the Americans and the impending Japanese.

 

Thoughts on 1941

 

Characters – We have so many characters in this film it is hard to pick out the main ones, we will though, Sgt Frank Tree tries to keep peace between his soldiers and not letting them fight with the locals. Ward Douglas is the man that sees it has an honour to host the army for prime location for defence. Captain Wild Bill Kelso is a pilot that enjoys a drink, he heads across country to join the battle. Where we have too many characters it is hard to see which one we are meant to be follow the most.

Performances – The performances are affected by the mass cast because no one gets to show their best skills, we have the comical actors that want to joke, only for them to miss, then the serious actors not hitting their moments either.

Story – The story follows the Americans as they plan for a potential next attack on America from the Japanese in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbour attack. The problem I see with this story, it showing us how we make light of a devastating moment in history with the Pearl Harbour attack and shows how America did panic but didn’t seem to take the events serious, well that is what the film gives us.

Action/Comedy/War – The action plays into the comedy which gets basic laughs but most of the laughs seem to have dated badly and even just give us toilet humour, all with the backdrop of World War II.

Settings – The film puts us in LA for the events of the film which shows how Hollywoodland would react to the impending war.


Scene of the Movie – Plane sex.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many characters.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the biggest misses of Spielberg’s career, it has too many characters and doesn’t manage to balance out the comedy and action well enough.

 

Overall: Disappointing throughout.

https://moviesreview101.com/2018/12/05/1941-1979/
  
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Darren (1599 KP) rated REC (2007) in Movies

Jun 20, 2019  
REC (2007)
REC (2007)
2007 | Horror
9
7.5 (13 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: [Rec] starts as reporter Angela Vidal (Velasco) is cover the local firefighter department for her latest report on While You’re Sleeping. The first incident the team gets called to is a domestic disturbance case inside an apartment building.

What seems like a simple and even boring story to cover quickly turns into a battle of life and death when the woman causing the disturbance attacks the police officer sent to help. The make the matters worse the people find themselves trapped inside the building which has been locked down by the authorities refusing to let anybody out. When the infection continues to spread, Angela must find a way to survive the terror inside the building and learn the truth about the source of the virus.

 

Thoughts on [Rec]

 

Characters/Performance – Angela is the reporter that is covering a simple story but finds herself fighting for her life but wanting to report every single part of the story for her audience. The rest of the characters are cops, firefighters, residents of the apartment and the cameraman.

Performance wise, Velasco is good as the main screen attraction for this film, with everyone else all doing a great job with their roles through the film.

Story – The story is simple to follow, people get trapped in a building as a virus is spreading through the people inside making them killing machines and the ones not infected need to find a way to survive. This all works and the added found footage keeps us believe this could be a breaking story unfolding.


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Horror/Mystery – The horror is very good with each corner potentially having a threat as well as each character not knowing what is happening which I think adds to any horror element.

Settings – The whole film is set within the apartment complex which adds to the tension and horror unfolding through the film.

Special Effects – The special effects all great to with most being practical effects when it comes to the gore required.

Final Thoughts – This is a great atmospheric horror that is short, sweet and hits all the marks for found footage horror needs.

 

Overall: One for all the horror fans out there.

https://moviesreview101.com/2018/03/10/original-v-remake-rec-2007/
  
Out of the Shadows (2017)
Out of the Shadows (2017)
2017 | Horror
Story: Out of the Shadows starts as we follow a paranormal investigation team looking to recruit the only known survivor Carter (Kellogg) to join them as they search the answers about what happened on his famous activity tape.

With the team in place the teams sets up the cameras around the asylum with team member Cynthia (Morrison) getting the first does of activity in a communication from her father, whom went missing in asylum with Carter’s team. Using her as bait the team record her time inside the asylum as they look to explain the unexplainable.

 

Thoughts on Out of the Shadows

 

Characters – Carter is the lone survivor from a previous encounter inside the asylum, he goes back but could have his own motivation for this. Cynthia is searching for her father who went missing but the rest of the characters are just another mix of the crew you would expect on a paranormal investigation team.

Performances – The performances across the board are not the best, the crew does feel like it could be a real documentary crew at times but then other times its just a group of actors trying to overreact to everything going on.

Story – The story does have a good twist, which is the only interesting part of the story, it is nearly 90 minutes investigating the shadows with too many characters to follow, it gets difficult to follow the characters in the dark for the most part and as for the reasoning behind everything well, it doesn’t seem to have one.

Horror – The horror is a lot of jumping at the camera or activity happening behind the camera, it isn’t scary but will give you a forced jump.

Settings – The film could easily have only had one setting, the asylum but going back to the motel makes it feel like the evil could escape which does try to make it stand out from just a haunted asylum movie.

Special Effects – The effects are what you would expect for a found footage film, they work without being ground breaking.


Scene of the Movie – Welcome to the Devil’s Toy Box.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The scares were too random.

Final Thoughts –This is a disappointing and mostly dull horror movie, the jumps are too random, the characters don’t make smart decisions and found footage only works in places.

 

Overall: Horror film to skip by the end.