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Kyera (8 KP) rated A Study in Charlotte (Charlotte Holmes, #1) in Books
Jan 31, 2018
If you’re a fan of re-tellings then you will love A Study in Charlotte, a contemporary novel that follows the lives of a new generation of Sherlock and Holmes. Jamie Watson’s life is turned upside down when he is sent to a boarding school in Connecticut that just so happens to be close to his father’s house. The same man that got remarried and Jamie hasn’t spoken to in years. Despite his protests Jamie finds himself at this new school and longing for London. The one bright spot? Charlotte Holmes, whose accent makes him feel like home and won’t give him the time of day. As the only Holmes around his age, Jamie has been dreaming about Charlotte since he learned her name. He wonders what she looks like and imagines blonde hair, creating fantastic stories in his head of their crime solving adventure and friendship reminiscent of the original Sherlock and Holmes. His dreams aren’t exactly grounded in reality and it turns out that she has dark hair, but he’s not fazed. He manages to become friendly, if not friends with Holmes.
Charlotte and Jamie are wonderful, contemporary versions of their counterparts with familiar attributes while still being their own unique characters. Charlotte has a problem with narcotics, plays the violin and can usually be found with her beakers and test tubes (hopefully not blowing anything up). Jamie wants to be a writer, is a decent rugby player (despite what his scholarship might lead you to believe) and is braver than he thinks. Their best-friendship is appealing and realistic, despite Charlotte’s unique outlook on how to treat other human beings. You fall in love with the characters, whether you relate to Charlotte, Jamie, a little of both, or maybe one of the other supporting characters – you’ll find yourself enjoying this novel.
Each character even has a well thought out backstory that we learn more about throughout the course of the novel. What events and mistakes lead to Charlotte being sent to a boarding school in Connecticut when she should be in England? If a Moriarty and narcotics are involved, then you know it’s going to be intense – especially when the famous crime family isn’t particularly forgiving. Jamie’s story is less thrilling but no less important to his character. Not everyone is as they appear, some have secrets, some don’t always make the best choices, but it all drives the story forward. The book is full of poison, explosions, spying, chases and other staples of great mysteries.
The book has a lot of nods to classic Sherlock and Watson adventures and sometimes outright mentions them. As a huge Sherlock fan, from the classic novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the modern BBC creation – this book was perfection. I loved how it felt like a new story featuring some of my favourite characters and it kept you guessing until the end. The action and plot were well paced, allowing the story to unfold like a mystery should. Don’t worry, Moriarty’s were included in the writing of this story.
Highly recommended to young adult/teen fans of mystery, contemporary, or the classic Sherlock Holmes novels. I fell in love with this series and can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Charlotte and Jamie are wonderful, contemporary versions of their counterparts with familiar attributes while still being their own unique characters. Charlotte has a problem with narcotics, plays the violin and can usually be found with her beakers and test tubes (hopefully not blowing anything up). Jamie wants to be a writer, is a decent rugby player (despite what his scholarship might lead you to believe) and is braver than he thinks. Their best-friendship is appealing and realistic, despite Charlotte’s unique outlook on how to treat other human beings. You fall in love with the characters, whether you relate to Charlotte, Jamie, a little of both, or maybe one of the other supporting characters – you’ll find yourself enjoying this novel.
Each character even has a well thought out backstory that we learn more about throughout the course of the novel. What events and mistakes lead to Charlotte being sent to a boarding school in Connecticut when she should be in England? If a Moriarty and narcotics are involved, then you know it’s going to be intense – especially when the famous crime family isn’t particularly forgiving. Jamie’s story is less thrilling but no less important to his character. Not everyone is as they appear, some have secrets, some don’t always make the best choices, but it all drives the story forward. The book is full of poison, explosions, spying, chases and other staples of great mysteries.
The book has a lot of nods to classic Sherlock and Watson adventures and sometimes outright mentions them. As a huge Sherlock fan, from the classic novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the modern BBC creation – this book was perfection. I loved how it felt like a new story featuring some of my favourite characters and it kept you guessing until the end. The action and plot were well paced, allowing the story to unfold like a mystery should. Don’t worry, Moriarty’s were included in the writing of this story.
Highly recommended to young adult/teen fans of mystery, contemporary, or the classic Sherlock Holmes novels. I fell in love with this series and can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated 1408 (2007) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
For writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack), ghosts and the supernatural are simply myths people use to bolster the local economy with tourism dollars. Mike has made a career of evaluating and debunking so called haunted inns, hotels, graveyards, and locales all over the nation.
While his books do well enough for his editors to be happy with his work, and for locales to be included in his next book, Mike lives a life of routine.
One a promising author, Mike abandoned his novels for his haunted travel guides, and a life of hotels and sparsely attended book signings.
While Mike is evaluating the numerous brochures sent to him by prospective topics, he notices a simple hotel post card that features the simple message “Do not stay in room 1408”. Intrigued, Mike attempts to book the room for a review, but is unable to as the room is no longer available to the public.
With the help of his editor and the legal staff, Mike is able to cover the mysterious room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York.
Upon his arrival, Mike is greeted by the hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), who offers numerous incentives ranging from rare Brandy, to a penthouse suite if Mike will give up his request to stay in 1408.
It is learned that over 50 people have died while staying in that room and that nobody has even been able to last an hour before befalling some horrific tragedy. Mike is convinced that this is all just part of the hype and that Olin is simply trying to scare him off.
Despite the numerous pleads from Olin to reconsider, Mike insists upon staying in the room, and is soon alone in room 1408.
Upon entering the room, Mike finds it to be a cozy and well maintained room. At first nothing seems out of the ordinary, until a couple of bizarre things happen. Mike is at first convinced there is a member of the hotel staff in hiding, who is playing a trick on him, but soon, Mike realizes just how and why 1408 earned its reputation.
What follows is a serious of horrors that Mike is unable to escape from, despite his best efforts, and he must figure out the mystery of 1408 before it kills him.
The film is based on a short story by Stephen King and is one of the better adaptations of the author’s works. Briskly paced at around 90-minutes, the film is careful to setup the characters and locale, but once the bizarre starts, the audience is in for a thrill ride complete with twists, turns, and some bizarre and suspenseful moments.
Cusack does a masterful job of portraying the conflicted Mike, but never lets you lose sympathy for the man, and displays a very effective ability to blend action, horror, emotions, and pathos, as Mike walks a razor thin line between reality and chaos.
It is especially effective given the fact that Cusack has to carry large segments of the film on his own, without any co-stars in much of his scenes.
The film does lose some momentum in the final 20 minutes, but still rebounds nicely to come to an effective and memorable ending without overusing many of the hackneyed horror film staples.
That being said if chills are what you are looking for this summer, then make sure to check into ?”
While his books do well enough for his editors to be happy with his work, and for locales to be included in his next book, Mike lives a life of routine.
One a promising author, Mike abandoned his novels for his haunted travel guides, and a life of hotels and sparsely attended book signings.
While Mike is evaluating the numerous brochures sent to him by prospective topics, he notices a simple hotel post card that features the simple message “Do not stay in room 1408”. Intrigued, Mike attempts to book the room for a review, but is unable to as the room is no longer available to the public.
With the help of his editor and the legal staff, Mike is able to cover the mysterious room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel in New York.
Upon his arrival, Mike is greeted by the hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), who offers numerous incentives ranging from rare Brandy, to a penthouse suite if Mike will give up his request to stay in 1408.
It is learned that over 50 people have died while staying in that room and that nobody has even been able to last an hour before befalling some horrific tragedy. Mike is convinced that this is all just part of the hype and that Olin is simply trying to scare him off.
Despite the numerous pleads from Olin to reconsider, Mike insists upon staying in the room, and is soon alone in room 1408.
Upon entering the room, Mike finds it to be a cozy and well maintained room. At first nothing seems out of the ordinary, until a couple of bizarre things happen. Mike is at first convinced there is a member of the hotel staff in hiding, who is playing a trick on him, but soon, Mike realizes just how and why 1408 earned its reputation.
What follows is a serious of horrors that Mike is unable to escape from, despite his best efforts, and he must figure out the mystery of 1408 before it kills him.
The film is based on a short story by Stephen King and is one of the better adaptations of the author’s works. Briskly paced at around 90-minutes, the film is careful to setup the characters and locale, but once the bizarre starts, the audience is in for a thrill ride complete with twists, turns, and some bizarre and suspenseful moments.
Cusack does a masterful job of portraying the conflicted Mike, but never lets you lose sympathy for the man, and displays a very effective ability to blend action, horror, emotions, and pathos, as Mike walks a razor thin line between reality and chaos.
It is especially effective given the fact that Cusack has to carry large segments of the film on his own, without any co-stars in much of his scenes.
The film does lose some momentum in the final 20 minutes, but still rebounds nicely to come to an effective and memorable ending without overusing many of the hackneyed horror film staples.
That being said if chills are what you are looking for this summer, then make sure to check into ?”
Andy K (10821 KP) rated Electric Dreams (1984) in Movies
Oct 13, 2019
Let me start off by saying I recently purchased a region free DVD/Blu Ray player for myself when I discovered there were films I have not seen in 20+ years because they have never had a DVD/Blu Ray release in the US, but are actually available overseas! When I discovered this fact, among the first movies I purchased is this 1980s classic which has been mostly forgotten due to its unavailability.
Miles is an unorganized, nerdy architect who is delighted to discover a young, beautiful cellist moving in to the apartment above his sparse decorated pad in San Francisco. At the same time, a work colleague tells Miles he should get himself organized so he doesn't miss meetings spending all his time working on a new earthquake=proof brick, his dream pet project. Miles heads to his local electronic store (80s version) and gets talked into buying one of these "new" personal computers which everyone seems to be getting.
After some initial difficulty during set up, Miles decides to fully jump in to the PC world and not only sets up his new toy, but decides to have it fully integrated into his apartment including running his lights, door locks and appliances. He then thinks it would be a good idea to do a mass download of information for his work servers to beef up his own unit's capacity. He quickly realizes this is an overload to his machine when it starts to buzz and flash. In a panic, he douses the machine with some champagne to cool it off inadvertently giving it the spark of "life".
His new machine works quickly to understand its new world around including listening and harmonizing music with the beautiful neighbor upstairs. This leads to the two town house cohabitants developing a relationship. This does not sit well with the PC eventually as "he" has now also evolved to the point where he wants to understand love. Tensions escalate and there is a confrontation for the ultimate fate of the relationships and who will ultimately get the girl.
Since it had been probably 30 years since I had seen Electric Dreams, one of those guilty pleasures from the 80s, I was extremely anxious to rewatch; however, was also worried a new viewing in my adulthood would ruin the magic I had remembered from my youth. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The first thing I had forgotten was all the humor of the film including those awkward moments when Miles and the computer where getting to know each other and the goofy dialogue. Also, it's funny how I read a lot of the functions the computer performed had to be simulated at the time since home PCs were still pretty new to everyone at that point, but now those functions are fairly commonplace including the aforementioned "Smart Home" features among other things.
Yes fine, there are plenty of 80s staples present almost immediately like music montages, bad hairdos, leg warmers and boom boxes, but that still gives the movie charm. After thinking about it, there were elements from other 80s classics like Weird Science, WarGames, and a lot of Short Circuit where an AI was learning about itself. Who remembers Max Headroom?
The soundtrack for the film is also front and center with much of it playing a key role in the budding relationship between Miles and his musical love interest, but it works well and still holds up.
I also have to mention Virginia Madsen. I looked up she was 23 when she made this film (she looked like she was 18), but still looks as remarkable as she did then (80s crush speaking here).
I'm sure I probably still revere this movie more than the people who actually made it, but I can handle that.
Miles is an unorganized, nerdy architect who is delighted to discover a young, beautiful cellist moving in to the apartment above his sparse decorated pad in San Francisco. At the same time, a work colleague tells Miles he should get himself organized so he doesn't miss meetings spending all his time working on a new earthquake=proof brick, his dream pet project. Miles heads to his local electronic store (80s version) and gets talked into buying one of these "new" personal computers which everyone seems to be getting.
After some initial difficulty during set up, Miles decides to fully jump in to the PC world and not only sets up his new toy, but decides to have it fully integrated into his apartment including running his lights, door locks and appliances. He then thinks it would be a good idea to do a mass download of information for his work servers to beef up his own unit's capacity. He quickly realizes this is an overload to his machine when it starts to buzz and flash. In a panic, he douses the machine with some champagne to cool it off inadvertently giving it the spark of "life".
His new machine works quickly to understand its new world around including listening and harmonizing music with the beautiful neighbor upstairs. This leads to the two town house cohabitants developing a relationship. This does not sit well with the PC eventually as "he" has now also evolved to the point where he wants to understand love. Tensions escalate and there is a confrontation for the ultimate fate of the relationships and who will ultimately get the girl.
Since it had been probably 30 years since I had seen Electric Dreams, one of those guilty pleasures from the 80s, I was extremely anxious to rewatch; however, was also worried a new viewing in my adulthood would ruin the magic I had remembered from my youth. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The first thing I had forgotten was all the humor of the film including those awkward moments when Miles and the computer where getting to know each other and the goofy dialogue. Also, it's funny how I read a lot of the functions the computer performed had to be simulated at the time since home PCs were still pretty new to everyone at that point, but now those functions are fairly commonplace including the aforementioned "Smart Home" features among other things.
Yes fine, there are plenty of 80s staples present almost immediately like music montages, bad hairdos, leg warmers and boom boxes, but that still gives the movie charm. After thinking about it, there were elements from other 80s classics like Weird Science, WarGames, and a lot of Short Circuit where an AI was learning about itself. Who remembers Max Headroom?
The soundtrack for the film is also front and center with much of it playing a key role in the budding relationship between Miles and his musical love interest, but it works well and still holds up.
I also have to mention Virginia Madsen. I looked up she was 23 when she made this film (she looked like she was 18), but still looks as remarkable as she did then (80s crush speaking here).
I'm sure I probably still revere this movie more than the people who actually made it, but I can handle that.
Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) in Movies
Jun 19, 2019
The much anticipated second film in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy has arrived in time to reap box office gold much the way the previous films based on Tolkien’s works have. The film continues the adventure started in the previous film and finds the band of adventurers chased by a pack of Orcs and faced with the deadly and dark Mirkwood Forest as they attempt to reach The Lonely Mountain in time.
The journey is long and filled with peril as everything from Orcs to giant spiders stand in the way and should the group be successful in reaching their destination, there is the little matter of a giant and very nasty dragon named Smaug to contend with.
Undaunted the group press on despite finding danger a constant companion and once again give us a series staples of endless shots of them walking and walking in locales lifted from the Tourism New Zealand film room in between the amazing visual work that makes up the battle sequence and other-worldly visuals of the film.
Bilbo (Martin Freeman), is becoming more and more under the spell of the ring he obtained in the previous film and Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen), suspects that darker forces are growing and sets off to confirm his suspicions. This divides the film into two quest centric storylines that are sure to cause some division amongst fans of the series.
The film does manage to hold your attention throughout its 2.5 hr plus run time and does have a very enjoyable finale act as the arrival of Smug (Benedict Cumberbatch), for me has been honestly the most enjoyable of any of the four prior films in the series to date. His interactions with Bilbo and the group flesh him out to be more than a creation of CGI, but rather infuse him with a evil and complexity that make him a very compelling and dynamic character.
Despite the strong cast and amazing visual FX in the film that is captured very well by the 3D filming Jackson used, the movie does have it’s share of frustrations.
Jackson has once again loaded the film with tons of characters, scenarios, and padding that easily make up more than half of the film. The idea seems to be to show a greater connection to the original LOTR films and the inclusion of Orlando Bloom as Legolas and Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel is bound to cause controversy. On one hand it was great to see the two characters and the great amounts of action they brought to the film, but the entire time I kept thinking that there was no need for most of this extra stuff as it was included simply to stretch out the film in order to justify a third movie and ensure another big box office.
When the film reaches it’s conclusion it was very clear to me that they could have completed the film in two films had the removed all of the padding and fluff and stuck to the source material. Segments are drawn out or included that really do not need to be there no matter how exciting and visually appealing they may be.
When the film was first announced it was planned to be two films but was later expanded to three when Jackson took over as Director following the departure of Guillermo del Toro. If one film was sufficient to capture each book in the original series than three films for this one book is simply overkill to me and it undermines the source material.
That being said, I did enjoy the film as it works best for me if I look at it as “inspired by’ rather than a cinematic translation of the book and in doing so I was able to get caught up in the action of the film and the character’s.
In the end the film is a true delight filled with plenty of action and adventure and will keep fans old and new entertained as despite the issues I had with it, it was one of the better action/fantasy films of the year and is a great technological achievement.
http://sknr.net/2013/12/13/the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug/
The journey is long and filled with peril as everything from Orcs to giant spiders stand in the way and should the group be successful in reaching their destination, there is the little matter of a giant and very nasty dragon named Smaug to contend with.
Undaunted the group press on despite finding danger a constant companion and once again give us a series staples of endless shots of them walking and walking in locales lifted from the Tourism New Zealand film room in between the amazing visual work that makes up the battle sequence and other-worldly visuals of the film.
Bilbo (Martin Freeman), is becoming more and more under the spell of the ring he obtained in the previous film and Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen), suspects that darker forces are growing and sets off to confirm his suspicions. This divides the film into two quest centric storylines that are sure to cause some division amongst fans of the series.
The film does manage to hold your attention throughout its 2.5 hr plus run time and does have a very enjoyable finale act as the arrival of Smug (Benedict Cumberbatch), for me has been honestly the most enjoyable of any of the four prior films in the series to date. His interactions with Bilbo and the group flesh him out to be more than a creation of CGI, but rather infuse him with a evil and complexity that make him a very compelling and dynamic character.
Despite the strong cast and amazing visual FX in the film that is captured very well by the 3D filming Jackson used, the movie does have it’s share of frustrations.
Jackson has once again loaded the film with tons of characters, scenarios, and padding that easily make up more than half of the film. The idea seems to be to show a greater connection to the original LOTR films and the inclusion of Orlando Bloom as Legolas and Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel is bound to cause controversy. On one hand it was great to see the two characters and the great amounts of action they brought to the film, but the entire time I kept thinking that there was no need for most of this extra stuff as it was included simply to stretch out the film in order to justify a third movie and ensure another big box office.
When the film reaches it’s conclusion it was very clear to me that they could have completed the film in two films had the removed all of the padding and fluff and stuck to the source material. Segments are drawn out or included that really do not need to be there no matter how exciting and visually appealing they may be.
When the film was first announced it was planned to be two films but was later expanded to three when Jackson took over as Director following the departure of Guillermo del Toro. If one film was sufficient to capture each book in the original series than three films for this one book is simply overkill to me and it undermines the source material.
That being said, I did enjoy the film as it works best for me if I look at it as “inspired by’ rather than a cinematic translation of the book and in doing so I was able to get caught up in the action of the film and the character’s.
In the end the film is a true delight filled with plenty of action and adventure and will keep fans old and new entertained as despite the issues I had with it, it was one of the better action/fantasy films of the year and is a great technological achievement.
http://sknr.net/2013/12/13/the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug/