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Moving Pictures
Moving Pictures
Terry Pratchett | 2005 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Discworld Industrial Revolution #1
<2021 update>

I hadn't realised that this book had the first appearance(s) of Ponder Stibbons, Arch-Chancellor Mustrum Ridcully alongside that of Gaspode the Wonder Dog! (well, maybe I knew the latter)

<original review>

Book #10 in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, which (for my money) stands alongside Soul Music as one of his best works, perhaps because these are the two books it is easiest to catch the many allusions in!

This is the one where Discworld discovers the magic of the Motion Picture, culminating in a not-quite-right scene of a giant lady carrying a screaming ape up a tall building (Ankh-Morpork's Tower of Art in the Unseen University), and is also, perhaps, the only book where CMOT Dibbler is actually a major character rather than an extra.
  
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Kaz (232 KP) rated Salem's Lot in Books

May 16, 2019  
Salem&#039;s Lot
Salem's Lot
Stephen King | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror
7
8.1 (50 Ratings)
Book Rating
Atmospheric and creepy writing (0 more)
Indistinguishable Characters, Disappointing Ending (0 more)
A Creepy Read
I was challenged to read ‘Salem’s Lot’ as part of a reading challenge last year’. Although, it wouldn’t have taken much persuading, for me to read this book. Stephen King has been one of my favourite authors, since I was about 15 and that is quite a few years now!

One of the things that drew me into this book, was the suspense that was created from the very first chapter. There was a sense of great foreboding in the small town of Jerusalem’s Lot.

Having read the majority of ‘The Dark Tower’ series, I already had an inkling as to what was going to happen, as one of the characters in ‘The Dark Tower’ series, featured in ‘Salem’s Lot’. However, you don’t necessarily have to have read any of ‘The Dark Tower’ series to enjoy this and vice versa. So when the mystery of the town was revealed, I wasn’t as surprised as I should have been.

I also like the play on the horror genre within this book. At one point during the story, one of the characters was going to do something very stupid and the character even jokes about it, to one of the other characters.

Two reasons I love Stephen King’s writing, are that he is a great story teller and he is able to create fully formed characters, without having to rely on large paragraphs of description. Whilst I think that ‘Salem’s Lot’ had a very good plot, I was disappointed at how indistinguishable, some of the main characters in ‘Salem’s Lot’ were.

A lot of the main characters were male and several times during the book, I had to go back to previous chapters to clarify who was who, before continuing the story. Whilst reading other King’s novels, I have never had to remind myself who each characters was, even when reading some of King’s lengthier stories. So it was a surprise to me, how similar some of the characters were in this book. There were also a lot of secondary characters within the story and sometimes, it was also difficult to keep up with them all.

Another problem I had with this novel, was that the suspense kept building in the novel and I was expecting a dramatic climax to this novel. Whilst I think that ‘Salem’s Lot’ has a reasonable ending, I felt it went a little flat at the end.

That being said, I really enjoyed ‘Salem’s Lot’. It was a fun read, with plenty of atmosphere. So if you enjoy a good scare, you may enjoy ‘Salem’s Lot’.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) rated Overlord (2018) in Movies

Nov 5, 2018 (Updated Nov 6, 2018)  
Overlord (2018)
Overlord (2018)
2018 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Brutal and intensely enjoyable
Overlord follows a group of WWII soldiers on a mission to bring down a radio tower in a remote French town. It opens with our team of soldiers traveling by plane, one of a large number of aircraft and warships all heading towards enemy territory during the dead of night. As they near their destination, things heat up. Bullet fire begins raining up from the enemy on the ground and things become very intense, with our soldiers having to evacuate the plane quickly. We are then treated to a stunning one shot sequence following the soldiers as they parachute to the ground, surrounded by explosions, bullets and complete chaos.

Down on the ground, the team (what's left of them) regroup and begin making their way towards the radio tower in order to carry out their mission. They have Nazi soldiers and landmines to contend with though, eventually coming across a local woman from the town they're headed to, and she leads them back to the home she shares with her younger brother and poorly aunt. It turns out that the town is being terrorised by Nazi officers who are randomly killing the towns residents and then doing shocking things with them beneath the radio tower that our soldiers are seeking to destroy.

The thing about Ovelord, for me, is that it never goes full on crazy with all the zombie experiment stuff that they show you in the trailers. Up until this moment in the town, and throughout the rest of the movie to a certain degree, Overlord is basically just a really solid war story in a similar vein to something like Saving Private Ryan. An intense opening, a journey across enemy territory by a team of soldiers, some scenes within a war-torn village. Time is dedicated to introducing and developing the characters and, even if the odd one is a little bit stereotypical, the whole thing feels very well done and hugely enjoyable. It's a fair while before you get any hint of anything more than that and when you do, it's not a complete From Dusk Till Dawn style flip either. It's not over the top and is in a similar tone and style to what's come up until that point. I felt that made it all the more believable, and even more terrifying.

The practical effects relating to the creatures the Nazi soldiers are creating are extremely effective and disturbing at times. They had the desired effect of either making me squirm in my seat, jump out of my skin or grin from ear to ear at how cool it all was! I absolutely loved this movie. Brutal, intensely enjoyable and with a satisfying ending. Loved it.
  
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Kevin Phillipson (10021 KP) Nov 5, 2018

So want to see this

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Andy K (10821 KP) Nov 6, 2018

This looks good!