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The Big Sick (2017)
The Big Sick (2017)
2017 | Comedy, Drama, Romance
I like it when there's an Unlimited screening of a film I'm not entirely sure about. I'd seen adverts for The Big Sick and was on the fence about seeing it, but when you get a sneaky Unlimited you have to go.

Based on Kumail Nanjiani & Emily V. Gordon real-life story (click on that link to see them interviewed on The View), The Big Sick is a romantic comedy that will have you laughing out loud.

Kumail's family are determined to find him a Pakistani Muslim girl so that he might settle down and follow in their traditions. But Kumail is anything but traditional. He's trying to make it as a comedian, while driving Uber in his spare time.

He meets Emily at one of his gigs and the pair hit it off. As they get further into their relationship though, Kumail worries what his traditional family will say about her. But Emily finding his parent's catalogue cards of potential brides changes everything.

When Emily is taken sick, her friend call Kumail for help. With the hospital putting her into a medically induced coma, he's then left with the prospect of contacting her parents, who up until this point, he'd managed to avoid...

It's a recurring things with my friends that they always ask me what I've seen or have booked at the cinema now, and this is the first one that has pretty much made them all react in the same way...

Me: I'm going to see The Big Sick.
Them: *scrunches face up at the title of the film*

I'm not even kidding, something about the title just doesn't sit right with them. But I have been urging them to go and see it anyway. Kumail Nanjiani is such a funny guy, if you haven't seen him in Franklin and Bash you really need to.

This film was funny and emotional, and felt very real. I feel contented about having watched it, and that doesn't happen a lot with me. Ray Romano and Holly Hunter make a great pair alongside Nankiani and Kazan. It's an all-round nice film, heartbreaking at points, but still wonderful.
  
Knit the sky was whimsical and exciting. The book is quite different from the traditional knitting book, in that it doesn’t give step-by-step instructions, specific patterns, or have photos. Instead, it has colorful watercolor illustrations and beautiful inspiring text that paints a picture in the mind and leads the knitter to the place the writer wants them to be. The idea of giving inspiration for a project but not a specific pattern was challenging and new to say the least… but it worked for the book. It can be for a beginner knitter who wants the freedom to explore and not fit themselves into a pattern (just to grow as an artist) or for a free-former like myself, who doesn’t really follow patterns anyway and just wants the basic idea, or for an advanced knitter or pattern maker ready to push their creativity to the next level. It would even work for a crocheter (since most of it is make-up-as-you-go anyway).
  
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David McK (3377 KP) rated Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) in Movies

Feb 10, 2019 (Updated May 8, 2021)  
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
It's a Star Wars movie (3 more)
Donald Glover
Woody Harrelson
Alden Ehrenreich gives it his all in playing a younger Han Solo
Alden Ehrenreich is no Harrison Ford (2 more)
Predictable plot
The leader of Crimson Dawn didn't need to be who it is
The second of Disney's 'A Star Wars story' spin-off from the main (numbered) films followimg Rogue One, this one is largely held responsible for Disney's decision to slow down on releasing this spins offs (originally intended to be one every other year, in between the main ones) when it underperformed at the box office.

Personally, I feel a large reason for that underperformance is that, of all the characters in the original saga, Han is probably one of those least in the need to get an origin/prologue movie and that this was released during the summer months instead of the more traditional festive release period for a Star Wars movie.

Whereas Rogue One was, largely, a war movie, this one takes a different approach: more of a heist (complete with double and triple crossing) Western movie, if anything.
  
After The Cure
After The Cure
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A non-traditional zombie book that stays with you.
Contains spoilers, click to show
I loved this book. It had such a unique take on the zombie genre, rivaled perhaps only by M.R. Carey's The Girl with all the Gifts . Even compared to Carey's book, it's still in a league of its own. Just read the title. After the Cure.

Can you imagine what that would be like for the 'zombies'? To be cured, but have memories of all the horrible things they did while they were infected? To try to pick up again, to reintegrate into life? How positively horrifying.

Then there's the research to build a case against the jerks that started it all. There's intrigue, twists, horror, and discoveries, all told from the viewpoint of after the world almost ended, but humanity managed to save itself just in the nick of time. ...Right?

I haven't read the rest of this series, so I can't speak for it all...but I can speak for this book. This was, is, an awesome book that I highly recommend for zombie fans!
  
All the Crooked Saints
All the Crooked Saints
Maggie Stiefvater | 2017 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
7.9 (13 Ratings)
Book Rating
Life changing reflection (0 more)
Slow to gain momentum (0 more)
Slow to suck you in, but then seriously moving
This book was so hard for me to get into. I restarted it four times - I'm confident that was a result of my self inflicted expectations.

The Crooked Saints are not the traditional fictional characters we have grown to expect from Maggie - they are instead a reflection, a little bit from each of us. They are the struggles that we each experience, and for some of us the self-actualization that helps us move successfully through life.

I thought that once I brought it home, I'd read this book in just a few hours. I was so excited by this prospect, that the fiction of my assumption actually shocked me. I was somewhat disappointed in myself for my delay, but as I went on to learn - some miracles take longer than others.

I love this book. I will place it with my favorites and go back whenever I need a reminder about the type of person I'd like to be.