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Darren (1599 KP) rated Refuge (2013) in Movies

Sep 26, 2019  
Refuge (2013)
Refuge (2013)
2013 | Horror, Thriller
7
5.6 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – The characters focus on a family, Jack the father, the man that will do everything to keep his family safe, even if it means taking risks by saving strangers, he doesn’t back down from enemies or threats, but is forced into decisions he doesn’t want to make. Nell is the wife and mother, we don’t really learn too much about her though, she falls in the woman being protected circle. Birdie is the daughter that doesn’t fully understand the world and wants to just be a child in this world. Kyle is one of the people that Jack has saved in the past.

Performances – The performances from the cast are great throughout, we feel their bleak outlook on the life they are living which is what we want to see, the final act shows them at their best too.

Story – The story here follows a family in a post-apocalyptic world where the biggest threats marauders and the virus that has wiped out most of the world. This is a bleak story that helps show us just how desperate the world now is and not having any sort of zombie side to everything giving us the only enemy the human one. This keeps everything simple because it is all we need, even though it does follow the typical mistakes being made by the characters.

Thriller – This does try to keep us on the edge of our seats about whether our characters will survive and what is next in line for them.

Settings – The film keeps us in the bleak locations from start to finish, they show where people will survive and keeps us away from the big city.


Scene of the Movie – The break in.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Just shot them.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the best looking bleak virus outbreak movies, it does have questionable character decisions but that does add to the drama.

 

Overall: Simple and effective.
  
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
1960 | Action, Family
5
7.7 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Characters – The characters focus on a family, Jack the father, the man that will do everything to keep his family safe, even if it means taking risks by saving strangers, he doesn’t back down from enemies or threats, but is forced into decisions he doesn’t want to make. Nell is the wife and mother, we don’t really learn too much about her though, she falls in the woman being protected circle. Birdie is the daughter that doesn’t fully understand the world and wants to just be a child in this world. Kyle is one of the people that Jack has saved in the past.

Performances – The performances from the cast are great throughout, we feel their bleak outlook on the life they are living which is what we want to see, the final act shows them at their best too.

Story – The story here follows a family in a post-apocalyptic world where the biggest threats marauders and the virus that has wiped out most of the world. This is a bleak story that helps show us just how desperate the world now is and not having any sort of zombie side to everything giving us the only enemy the human one. This keeps everything simple because it is all we need, even though it does follow the typical mistakes being made by the characters.

Thriller – This does try to keep us on the edge of our seats about whether our characters will survive and what is next in line for them.

Settings – The film keeps us in the bleak locations from start to finish, they show where people will survive and keeps us away from the big city.


Scene of the Movie – The break in.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Just shot them.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the best looking bleak virus outbreak movies, it does have questionable character decisions but that does add to the drama.

 

Overall: Simple and effective.
  
Ravage (Ravaged World Trilogy #2)
Ravage (Ravaged World Trilogy #2)
Iain Rob Wright | 2015 | Horror
8
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I just love a good horror book every now and then as it enables me to put all believability aside and just go along for the ride ... this one did the job and is another great story from Iain Rob Wright. Despite it being the second in the series ("Sea Sick" being the first), it can easily be read as a standalone.

I don't read an awful lot of zombie apocalypse books so don't have anything to compare this one with which, I think, is probably a good thing as I had no expectations but I was a lover of The Walking Dead and I do think this is similar in it's plot, i.e. a band of survivors coming up against hordes of the living dead and various miscreants in society where no one is safe and anyone can meet their end at any time regardless of their importance.

There is your usual set of characters in this book from the nice to the downright nasty some of which are more developed than others which I think is out of necessity as there are many of them. The various settings are perfect and "normal", the writing is set at a good pace and is easy to read. There are, as you would expect, many scenes of peril and death with a good smattering of blood and gore (not always due to the zombies) but also more tender moments that provided some relief and softness in what would otherwise be a bleak read.

I felt the addition of "The Path of Infection" at the end was excellent and provided an explanation as to how the virus spread from when it came ashore to reaching one of the main characters, Nick, and it makes you think just how easily this could happen in the real world with any virus or infection such as flu, Ebola, etc.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read and now I'm off to read "Savage", the last in the series.
  
Death Troopers (Star Wars)
Death Troopers (Star Wars)
4
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Take a classic Space Opera saga (Star Wars), add a soupcon of horror (Aliens), and a large dose of Zombies (Resident Evil), and what do you have?

This book.

The plot? An Imperial prison barge breaks down, and then comes across a seemingly abandoned Star Destroyer out in the wastes of space. It transpires that the Destroyer is not abandoned after all, and that it had been carrying out bio-weapon experiments ...

Definitely felt like the author was (heavily) inspired by the Resident Evil games/films: the Zombies are such not as the living dead back-to-life of Romero, but as a result of a engineered virus. The Aliens link I mentioned comes in on the 'set-on-prison-<s>planet</s>barge' setting, and I'm also not entirely sure why he felt the need to drop Han Solo and Chewbacca into the mix, unless that was just so you would know it is a Star Wars novel?

Not the best Extended Universe book.
  
Fast &amp; Furious Presents: Hobbs &amp; Shaw (2019)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
I've only ever seen the first F&F movie , not being particularly interested in cars and put off by the prospect of 8 movies so its fair to say I went into this with fairly low expectations. Considering I am not really up on the characters back stories (I gather there has been some beef of some sort) I actually thought this was quite good fun. Its got nothing to do with the street racing origins of the series and is now more of a poor mans Mission Impossible. Some cobblers about a virus wiping out the planet and a surgically enhanced Idris Elba shouting allot is about the gist of it. All you need to know there is some quite entertaining switch your brain off action scenes and plenty of wisecracks and banter from Statham and Johnson to keep you entertained. You know its all bollocks but you just can't help but enjoy it.
  
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AJaneClark (3975 KP) rated Sea Sick in Books

Sep 5, 2019  
Sea Sick
Sea Sick
Iain Rob Wright | 2013 | Horror
8
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great writing and presentation (0 more)
Abrupt ending (0 more)
Groundhog? More like Groundzombie Day
Sent away to relax by work, British cop Jack is being punished after killing a drug dealer that murdered his “partner”. And punished he is indeed. Sent aboard a cruise ship heading around the Med, Jack believes he is going to read, drink and relax. However this is not the case. Jack finds himself faced by hundred of virus infected men, women and children who turn into ravenous, insane cannibals that want to tear people apart. Jack spends the day fighting for his life, trying to work out what’s going on, but then he’s caught! Just when he think he’s about to bite the bullet, Jack wakes up in his bed and the day starts again. This is a well written and well presented story. Pulls you in and entertains you. Not a massively long read but great for a nighttime story!