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A Plus One for Murder
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Entrepreneur Emma Westlake is reinventing herself as a hired friend when murder gets in the way in...
Darren (1599 KP) rated S. Darko: A Donnie Darko Tale (2009) in Movies
Nov 25, 2019
Verdict: Pointless Sequel
Story: S. Darko starts seven years after the events of Donnie Darko, Samantha (Chase) his little sister has grown up to become a lost soul in the world, drifting with Corey (Evigan), still struggling with the grief of what happened to her brother’s unsolved death. The two women find themselves in a small country town while their car is getting fix.
As the two spend the time in the town, they learn about the secrets, including the estranged war veteran known as Iraq Jack (Lafferty) who is considered a danger in the local area, though he starts getting visits from Samantha talking about the end, will the rest of the town’s secrets get revealed.
Thoughts on S. Darko
Characters – Samantha is the younger sister of Donnie Darko, she has seen her family destroyed by what happened to him, seeing her left alone in the world, drifting with her friend, she has always been spaced out, but now she starts to experience the same visions that Donnie once did, sleepwalking and visiting people with warnings of an impending doom coming to this town. This is a strange twist for the character that starts of shier and more innocent, but soon is trying to find the truth about her own visions. Corey is the confident of the two friends, she likes to party and flirt, which has seen her getting tired of Samantha’s awkwardness. Iraq Jack is a war veteran that has been branded a creep in the town, the police are just waiting to blame him for any crime to get rid of him, but he has a story to tell, one that Samantha can connect too. Randy is the local bad boy that befriends the two girls, he has lost his brother and this has turned him to drink for comfort, while he battles his own demons once the girls arrive in the town.
Performances – Daveigh Chase is the only actors to return to the franchise, she doesn’t give us a bad performance, she does look like the innocent lost soul she is meant to be playing. Briana Evigan as the confident flirty best friend is strong through the film, while the rest of the cast really do what they can with the material, this isn’t one that the actors should be criticised for.
Story – The story here follows the sister of Donnie Darko as she discovers that she has her own journey with the time travelling universe saving rabbit figure that is desperately trying to put the warning out there to this small town. Well that is about as much as I could figure out, much like Donnie Darko, we do get a town filled with secrets that the time travelling is meant to expose or save, but we just try to get an overly diluted version of the genius of the original story. The idea that somebody in this town has their own bunny mask confuses more than anything and by the end you will be left wondering what the point in the story here was, the sequel ideas never seem to understand the uniqueness of the original, losing the direction it is trying to show.
Mystery/Sci-Fi – The mystery in this film comes what is going on, though it doesn’t even feel solved by the conclusion of the film, while the sci-fi side of the film follows the idea of time travel.
Settings – The film is set in a small town which does have a few secrets that people want to keep secret, but are about to be exposed.
Special Effects – The effects are fine they have the keep the goo water trail that we had in the first film.
Scene of the Movie – Umm, pass.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – So many plot holes.
Final Thoughts – This is a sequel that just seems to become pointless, he doesn’t dig any deeper and only confuses the timeline with plot holes everywhere.
Overall: Hopeless Sequel.
Story: S. Darko starts seven years after the events of Donnie Darko, Samantha (Chase) his little sister has grown up to become a lost soul in the world, drifting with Corey (Evigan), still struggling with the grief of what happened to her brother’s unsolved death. The two women find themselves in a small country town while their car is getting fix.
As the two spend the time in the town, they learn about the secrets, including the estranged war veteran known as Iraq Jack (Lafferty) who is considered a danger in the local area, though he starts getting visits from Samantha talking about the end, will the rest of the town’s secrets get revealed.
Thoughts on S. Darko
Characters – Samantha is the younger sister of Donnie Darko, she has seen her family destroyed by what happened to him, seeing her left alone in the world, drifting with her friend, she has always been spaced out, but now she starts to experience the same visions that Donnie once did, sleepwalking and visiting people with warnings of an impending doom coming to this town. This is a strange twist for the character that starts of shier and more innocent, but soon is trying to find the truth about her own visions. Corey is the confident of the two friends, she likes to party and flirt, which has seen her getting tired of Samantha’s awkwardness. Iraq Jack is a war veteran that has been branded a creep in the town, the police are just waiting to blame him for any crime to get rid of him, but he has a story to tell, one that Samantha can connect too. Randy is the local bad boy that befriends the two girls, he has lost his brother and this has turned him to drink for comfort, while he battles his own demons once the girls arrive in the town.
Performances – Daveigh Chase is the only actors to return to the franchise, she doesn’t give us a bad performance, she does look like the innocent lost soul she is meant to be playing. Briana Evigan as the confident flirty best friend is strong through the film, while the rest of the cast really do what they can with the material, this isn’t one that the actors should be criticised for.
Story – The story here follows the sister of Donnie Darko as she discovers that she has her own journey with the time travelling universe saving rabbit figure that is desperately trying to put the warning out there to this small town. Well that is about as much as I could figure out, much like Donnie Darko, we do get a town filled with secrets that the time travelling is meant to expose or save, but we just try to get an overly diluted version of the genius of the original story. The idea that somebody in this town has their own bunny mask confuses more than anything and by the end you will be left wondering what the point in the story here was, the sequel ideas never seem to understand the uniqueness of the original, losing the direction it is trying to show.
Mystery/Sci-Fi – The mystery in this film comes what is going on, though it doesn’t even feel solved by the conclusion of the film, while the sci-fi side of the film follows the idea of time travel.
Settings – The film is set in a small town which does have a few secrets that people want to keep secret, but are about to be exposed.
Special Effects – The effects are fine they have the keep the goo water trail that we had in the first film.
Scene of the Movie – Umm, pass.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – So many plot holes.
Final Thoughts – This is a sequel that just seems to become pointless, he doesn’t dig any deeper and only confuses the timeline with plot holes everywhere.
Overall: Hopeless Sequel.
The Myth Seekers: The Legacy of Vulcan
Games and Stickers
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FANTASTIC HIDDEN OBJECT PUZZLE ADVENTURE GAME FROM THE CREATORS OF ENIGMATIS AND GRIM LEGENDS! As...
Change: What Really Leads to Lasting Personal Transformation
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Change is often a mystery, one that baffles doctors, therapists, teachers, coaches, parents-and...
Darren (1599 KP) rated 400 Days (2016) in Movies
Jun 20, 2019
Story: 400 Days starts with our four main characters Captain Theo (Routh), Emily (Lotz), Cole (Cook) and Bug (Feldman) being put in a social simulation for 400 days to show what it will be like to travel through space over long periods of time. We follow the four as they get put hiccups as the learn to manage them after losing connect to mission control early on but it is dealing with the psychological side of the mission that will test them the most.
When they open the hatch they find themselves questioning what happened but more worrying where they are now.
400 days really seems to be a film that is two different incomplete films, the first half is all psychological but when they leave the hatch it turns into a post-apocalyptic film that never really ends up being dealt with. Each side of the story works well as a single film but both don’t have enough time to really pull off what is really happen. As for the ending it is all left up to you what you think happens which doesn’t help and what happens to two of the character never really gets answered either. This has problems but really could have been great.
Actor Review
Caity Lotz: Emily is the medical officers who is also the former partner of Theo who has to make sure the crew remains sane over the course of the mission as well as keeping the medication up to date. Caity gives us a solid performance but really doesn’t get a chance shine.
Brandon Routh: Theo is the captain of the mission; he has to make the big decision with the information provided by his crew. He doesn’t want to be on the mission and has been on a four-day bender before the mission. Brandon continued to show why he is struggling to live up to the hype he once had early in his career.
Dane Cook: Cole is the engineer on the mission, he is easily the most unpopular on the crew and his cocky attitude leads him to become distant to the rest of the crew. Dane is another actor in this film who hasn’t made much of his career and even with this choice because he tries to do something different.
Ben Feldman: Bug is the brains of the crew making all the hard decisions and is clearly the smartest of the four crew members on the ship. He had to leave his young family behind for the mission which haunts him every day of the mission. Ben does a good job even if he does end up being a very generic character for the genre.
Support Cast: 400 days has a supporting you only see half way through the film but they end up being very generic.
Director Review: Matt Osterman – Matt brings us a great idea that doesn’t quite get pulled off effectively.
Mystery: 400 days keep you guessing what is actually happening to our characters.
Sci-Fi: 400 days puts our character in the experiment which would include space travel and a post-apocalyptic world.
Thriller: 400 days does keep us guessing from start to finish.
Settings: 400 days has two good settings the space ship which creates the isolation and the town the end up in that shocks.
Special Effects: 400 days uses the effects for certain moments but tries to keep everything need to the minimum.
Suggestion: 400 days is one to try, it does have a few flaws but you can see a couple of good points. (Try It)
Best Part: The ideas are good.
Worst Part: Not enough time for each story, both sides could have been short to increase the second one.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Overall: Something Missing but good ideas being created.
https://moviesreview101.com/2015/11/02/400-days-2015/
When they open the hatch they find themselves questioning what happened but more worrying where they are now.
400 days really seems to be a film that is two different incomplete films, the first half is all psychological but when they leave the hatch it turns into a post-apocalyptic film that never really ends up being dealt with. Each side of the story works well as a single film but both don’t have enough time to really pull off what is really happen. As for the ending it is all left up to you what you think happens which doesn’t help and what happens to two of the character never really gets answered either. This has problems but really could have been great.
Actor Review
Caity Lotz: Emily is the medical officers who is also the former partner of Theo who has to make sure the crew remains sane over the course of the mission as well as keeping the medication up to date. Caity gives us a solid performance but really doesn’t get a chance shine.
Brandon Routh: Theo is the captain of the mission; he has to make the big decision with the information provided by his crew. He doesn’t want to be on the mission and has been on a four-day bender before the mission. Brandon continued to show why he is struggling to live up to the hype he once had early in his career.
Dane Cook: Cole is the engineer on the mission, he is easily the most unpopular on the crew and his cocky attitude leads him to become distant to the rest of the crew. Dane is another actor in this film who hasn’t made much of his career and even with this choice because he tries to do something different.
Ben Feldman: Bug is the brains of the crew making all the hard decisions and is clearly the smartest of the four crew members on the ship. He had to leave his young family behind for the mission which haunts him every day of the mission. Ben does a good job even if he does end up being a very generic character for the genre.
Support Cast: 400 days has a supporting you only see half way through the film but they end up being very generic.
Director Review: Matt Osterman – Matt brings us a great idea that doesn’t quite get pulled off effectively.
Mystery: 400 days keep you guessing what is actually happening to our characters.
Sci-Fi: 400 days puts our character in the experiment which would include space travel and a post-apocalyptic world.
Thriller: 400 days does keep us guessing from start to finish.
Settings: 400 days has two good settings the space ship which creates the isolation and the town the end up in that shocks.
Special Effects: 400 days uses the effects for certain moments but tries to keep everything need to the minimum.
Suggestion: 400 days is one to try, it does have a few flaws but you can see a couple of good points. (Try It)
Best Part: The ideas are good.
Worst Part: Not enough time for each story, both sides could have been short to increase the second one.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Overall: Something Missing but good ideas being created.
https://moviesreview101.com/2015/11/02/400-days-2015/
Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya
Book
New York Times Bestseller (Expeditions) "Thrilling...A captivating history of two men who...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Synchronic (2019) in Movies
Nov 7, 2019 (Updated Nov 10, 2019)
Contains spoilers, click to show
I'm not sure quite what I expected from the synopsis, it didn't sound like it was going to be very sci-fi, and it wasn't... but it was. I know I'm not making sense. It felt much more like a crime drama than something with sci-fi in it. The sci-fi action blended well with everything around it that you almost don't notice it happening. If there was a fence I'd be sitting on the fence.
Anthony Mackie is only someone I've come across in Marvel movies ready so it was nice to have him in something a little different. His role of Steve has a lot of emotions behind it and I thought he managed to capture them really well. There are a lot of hints to something in his story and the balance between what he shows and his reality helped to sell Steve's reaction. This really makes me look forward to seeing him in more films.
Jamie Dornan has only really been on the periphery of my film watching, I certainly wouldn't have been able to tell you any films he's been in, as an introduction to him as an actor I was impressed. Again, there's a lot of emotion as his daughter goes missing and the tensions between Dennis and those around him were just right.
The two together made a great mix as friends, the bond felt like brothers and was an accurate depiction of the relationship and tension that comes with the horrible truth of illness and the burden that holds.
I liked how Mackie's story unfolded. Half the battle with illness is finding a focus and the mystery in this gives him that. He almost appears to be better while deteriorating in other ways. His purpose is a race against time just like his illness and he is able to choose a more noble cause for what may be all the time he has left.
Whether the science behind Mackie's illness is accurate or not I don't know but they give you a plausible explanation to follow throughout. There is however a moment that breaks the idea of the story... I think. Taking the drug sends the young users back in time, when they come down they are brought back to their present. This means that each pill is a two way journey. When he gets stuck in the past because he moves too far away from his incoming destination he figures he needs to take another pill (that he luckily has on him) and travel back. Fine. He does that successfully but he doesn't then acknowledge the fact that in 7 minutes he should be popping back to where he came from, I'd have been up off my arse a going for a run so I didn't accidentally pop back again. The other issue is that in the present when you pop a pill you go back in time... yet when he takes a pill in the past he comes to the present... Oh hell, I've opened up a can of worms thinking about this now.
The way they've done the effects around the sci-fi bits is very good, but massively affecting as you're drawn into the transitions, especially the first time because you don't know what they're leading to. It almost seamlessly blends together and the stages it takes work so well, and as I said above it doesn't feel very sci-fi
Synchronic was a nice surprise of a film, an interesting mix of genres that managed to keep itself from getting too unbelievable.
Full review originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2019/11/synchronic-spoilers-movie-review.html
Anthony Mackie is only someone I've come across in Marvel movies ready so it was nice to have him in something a little different. His role of Steve has a lot of emotions behind it and I thought he managed to capture them really well. There are a lot of hints to something in his story and the balance between what he shows and his reality helped to sell Steve's reaction. This really makes me look forward to seeing him in more films.
Jamie Dornan has only really been on the periphery of my film watching, I certainly wouldn't have been able to tell you any films he's been in, as an introduction to him as an actor I was impressed. Again, there's a lot of emotion as his daughter goes missing and the tensions between Dennis and those around him were just right.
The two together made a great mix as friends, the bond felt like brothers and was an accurate depiction of the relationship and tension that comes with the horrible truth of illness and the burden that holds.
I liked how Mackie's story unfolded. Half the battle with illness is finding a focus and the mystery in this gives him that. He almost appears to be better while deteriorating in other ways. His purpose is a race against time just like his illness and he is able to choose a more noble cause for what may be all the time he has left.
Whether the science behind Mackie's illness is accurate or not I don't know but they give you a plausible explanation to follow throughout. There is however a moment that breaks the idea of the story... I think. Taking the drug sends the young users back in time, when they come down they are brought back to their present. This means that each pill is a two way journey. When he gets stuck in the past because he moves too far away from his incoming destination he figures he needs to take another pill (that he luckily has on him) and travel back. Fine. He does that successfully but he doesn't then acknowledge the fact that in 7 minutes he should be popping back to where he came from, I'd have been up off my arse a going for a run so I didn't accidentally pop back again. The other issue is that in the present when you pop a pill you go back in time... yet when he takes a pill in the past he comes to the present... Oh hell, I've opened up a can of worms thinking about this now.
The way they've done the effects around the sci-fi bits is very good, but massively affecting as you're drawn into the transitions, especially the first time because you don't know what they're leading to. It almost seamlessly blends together and the stages it takes work so well, and as I said above it doesn't feel very sci-fi
Synchronic was a nice surprise of a film, an interesting mix of genres that managed to keep itself from getting too unbelievable.
Full review originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2019/11/synchronic-spoilers-movie-review.html
Rachel King (13 KP) rated Chocolat (Chocolat #1) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
I have lost count of the number of times I have watched the movie that is based off of this book, so I figured it was time for me to read the book. Like most movies based on books, the movie is only about half true to the book. In this case though, that did not really bother me.
Joanne Harris has a way of writing that has me savoring every word like one of Vianne Rocher's fine chunks of dark chocolate. What I would have given for a few recipes of the dishes she served in La Celeste Praline, especially the pots of chocolate that were served as frequently as coffee. The descriptions of the various confectioneries and even the non-chocolate dishes were detailed with a light touch, so that I never felt too overwhelmed -- but I still wanted to dive into the pages all the same.
All of the characters, large parts and small, were unique and original, even down to the quirky preferences and hidden burdens. I could easily relate to Armande's attraction to the color red and her unrefined mannerisms, as well as Guillaume's indulgence of his pet dog. So many of the characters could pass for people that I encounter every day -- from Roux's skepticism to Josephine's renewed independence to Caro's need to control. These characters will stay with me for a long time.
Probably the most interesting character, aside from Vianne Rocher, is the town's priest, Pere Reynaud. Like most of the rest of the town, he masks inner demons and makes up for them with his profession of choice. Though those inner torments are slowly revealed through the course of the book, I don't feel that his story was completely resolved, or that he even experienced any true character growth.
Vianne Rocher is certainly the most creative character in the book, both easily likeable and eternally mysterious. Haunted by memories of a nomadic lifestyle with her mother, she intermittently addresses her conflicting desires to both travel and put down roots even as her simple, self-taught cooking and hospitality brings about subtle and lasting change in the village of Lansquenet. A thread of fantasy runs through the plot as Vianne hints at the ability to read people's thoughts, choosing not to influence them, and consults her mother's tarot cards in her darker hours of contemplation. She even adds a touch of magic and mystery to her Chocolaterie to draw the wary villagers into the shop. Oh, what I would give to pay a visit to that amazing place myself.
Joanne Harris has a way of writing that has me savoring every word like one of Vianne Rocher's fine chunks of dark chocolate. What I would have given for a few recipes of the dishes she served in La Celeste Praline, especially the pots of chocolate that were served as frequently as coffee. The descriptions of the various confectioneries and even the non-chocolate dishes were detailed with a light touch, so that I never felt too overwhelmed -- but I still wanted to dive into the pages all the same.
All of the characters, large parts and small, were unique and original, even down to the quirky preferences and hidden burdens. I could easily relate to Armande's attraction to the color red and her unrefined mannerisms, as well as Guillaume's indulgence of his pet dog. So many of the characters could pass for people that I encounter every day -- from Roux's skepticism to Josephine's renewed independence to Caro's need to control. These characters will stay with me for a long time.
Probably the most interesting character, aside from Vianne Rocher, is the town's priest, Pere Reynaud. Like most of the rest of the town, he masks inner demons and makes up for them with his profession of choice. Though those inner torments are slowly revealed through the course of the book, I don't feel that his story was completely resolved, or that he even experienced any true character growth.
Vianne Rocher is certainly the most creative character in the book, both easily likeable and eternally mysterious. Haunted by memories of a nomadic lifestyle with her mother, she intermittently addresses her conflicting desires to both travel and put down roots even as her simple, self-taught cooking and hospitality brings about subtle and lasting change in the village of Lansquenet. A thread of fantasy runs through the plot as Vianne hints at the ability to read people's thoughts, choosing not to influence them, and consults her mother's tarot cards in her darker hours of contemplation. She even adds a touch of magic and mystery to her Chocolaterie to draw the wary villagers into the shop. Oh, what I would give to pay a visit to that amazing place myself.
BookblogbyCari (345 KP) rated The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle in Books
Jul 31, 2018
This book is an all-singing, all-dancing time-travel-mystery-thriller - the plot is simultaneously absurd and delightful.
The action kicks off immediately when the Protagonist wakes up with no recollection of who he is, and witnesses a murder. But events take a stranger turn the following day when he wakes up as someone else, replaying the events of the previous day.
Effectively, the Protagonist takes the roles of several different versions of himself in randomly assigned host bodies, replaying the events of the same day over and over. His predicament is a form of rehabilitative imprisonment, and he soon learns he can only escape this predicament by solving the murder.
There are plots and sub plots galore, with juicy gossip at every turn, and I revelled in it! With so much going on, I had no pause to try and figure out who the murderer was. It became quite hard to keep up even before I had reached the halfway mark. As I went along the book, I found that the author was making reference to a lot of things that had slipped my mind.
The Protagonist struggles with ascertaining and maintaining his true identity and struggles to ascertain and assure himself of who’s a friend and who’s a foe. He tries to leave clues for himself and his helpers but his host bodies alternatively provide assistance and impediments.
The Protagonist solves the central murder with 20% of the book left to go - he's still on a mission to do the save the others in his situation. And with 10% of the book left he sets out to solve another murder on the same premises.
The author uses an old fashioned but bearable writing style. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the book was how the soul of the Protagonist reacts in the bodies of different hosts, all with different tendencies and propensities.
It is a pleasure to read, and I may have enjoyed it more had I been able to keep track of the minutiae.
You can check out more of my book reviews on Wordpress or Facebook:
https://bookblogbycari.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bookblogbycari/
The action kicks off immediately when the Protagonist wakes up with no recollection of who he is, and witnesses a murder. But events take a stranger turn the following day when he wakes up as someone else, replaying the events of the previous day.
Effectively, the Protagonist takes the roles of several different versions of himself in randomly assigned host bodies, replaying the events of the same day over and over. His predicament is a form of rehabilitative imprisonment, and he soon learns he can only escape this predicament by solving the murder.
There are plots and sub plots galore, with juicy gossip at every turn, and I revelled in it! With so much going on, I had no pause to try and figure out who the murderer was. It became quite hard to keep up even before I had reached the halfway mark. As I went along the book, I found that the author was making reference to a lot of things that had slipped my mind.
The Protagonist struggles with ascertaining and maintaining his true identity and struggles to ascertain and assure himself of who’s a friend and who’s a foe. He tries to leave clues for himself and his helpers but his host bodies alternatively provide assistance and impediments.
The Protagonist solves the central murder with 20% of the book left to go - he's still on a mission to do the save the others in his situation. And with 10% of the book left he sets out to solve another murder on the same premises.
The author uses an old fashioned but bearable writing style. One thing I particularly enjoyed about the book was how the soul of the Protagonist reacts in the bodies of different hosts, all with different tendencies and propensities.
It is a pleasure to read, and I may have enjoyed it more had I been able to keep track of the minutiae.
You can check out more of my book reviews on Wordpress or Facebook:
https://bookblogbycari.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bookblogbycari/
Who Can Afford to Improvise?: James Baldwin and Black Music, the Lyric and the Listeners
Book
More than a quarter-century after his death, James Baldwin remains an unparalleled figure in...