Search
Search results
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Fright Night (1985) in Movies
Jan 19, 2021
Fright Night absolutely epitomizes everything that is great about its era and genre. Its just flat out top tier 80s horror.
It has great pacing for a start, wasting no time getting to business, as teenager Charley (William Ragsdale) is immediately sus of his new next door neighbour Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) before quickly (and correctly) accusing him of being a vampire.
Ragsdale is a good lead, even if his character is frustratingly written at times, but it's his teammates who shine here. Amanda Bearse is a scene stealer as Charley's girlfriend Amy, and is equally great when she's adorably likable for the most part, and when she is suitably creepy-as-fuck near the climax. Same goes for Stephen Geoffreys as Charley's friend Ed - typical bone headed teenager one minute, before gleefully relishing in being a creature of the night the next minute. Roddy McDowall plays Peter Vincent, a soon to be washed up horror TV personality who's services are enlisted to help defeat the vampire next door. The three of them together are a damn fine set of support characters.
Chris Sarandon is one smooth S.O.B as the vampyric villain. He manages to be both charming, and a truly evil shit at the same time, and commands attention in all of his scenes.
The narrative is fun, and manages to encapsulate the feeling of teenage adventure. The humour and horror are perfectly balanced throughout. The first half is witty as hell, especially the way that Jerry and his housemate Billy (Jonathan Stark) just fuck with Charley (before things get a little nastier) is low key hilarious. I would have enjoyed a whole movie of that kind of stuff easily. When things get a little messier, the practical effects on display are superb, and although Fright Night is more a light hearted experience, it still manages to pack in some great gory moments. The scene with Vincent and Ed in wolf mode is a perfect example of how practical horror will always be superior.
Fright Night is a truly fantastic horror gem, where everything just fell into place, from the great cast, to the wonderful screenplay. First time director Tom Holland (who would of course go on to direct Child's Play) hit the ground running with this one, and it's definitely a favourite of mine.
It has great pacing for a start, wasting no time getting to business, as teenager Charley (William Ragsdale) is immediately sus of his new next door neighbour Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon) before quickly (and correctly) accusing him of being a vampire.
Ragsdale is a good lead, even if his character is frustratingly written at times, but it's his teammates who shine here. Amanda Bearse is a scene stealer as Charley's girlfriend Amy, and is equally great when she's adorably likable for the most part, and when she is suitably creepy-as-fuck near the climax. Same goes for Stephen Geoffreys as Charley's friend Ed - typical bone headed teenager one minute, before gleefully relishing in being a creature of the night the next minute. Roddy McDowall plays Peter Vincent, a soon to be washed up horror TV personality who's services are enlisted to help defeat the vampire next door. The three of them together are a damn fine set of support characters.
Chris Sarandon is one smooth S.O.B as the vampyric villain. He manages to be both charming, and a truly evil shit at the same time, and commands attention in all of his scenes.
The narrative is fun, and manages to encapsulate the feeling of teenage adventure. The humour and horror are perfectly balanced throughout. The first half is witty as hell, especially the way that Jerry and his housemate Billy (Jonathan Stark) just fuck with Charley (before things get a little nastier) is low key hilarious. I would have enjoyed a whole movie of that kind of stuff easily. When things get a little messier, the practical effects on display are superb, and although Fright Night is more a light hearted experience, it still manages to pack in some great gory moments. The scene with Vincent and Ed in wolf mode is a perfect example of how practical horror will always be superior.
Fright Night is a truly fantastic horror gem, where everything just fell into place, from the great cast, to the wonderful screenplay. First time director Tom Holland (who would of course go on to direct Child's Play) hit the ground running with this one, and it's definitely a favourite of mine.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Hustlers (2019) in Movies
Sep 16, 2019
Diva is the female version of a Hustler
Hustlers is such an extremely glamorous and electrifying film that once you are pulled in and comfortable under its spell it rips the rug right from under you bringing you crashing down into the harsh realities of the real world. From its trailer you may dismiss Hustlers for being a seedy throw away cash grab movie but to do this you would be missing out on one of this years best films. Playing out somewhere between Widows and the Wolf Of Wall Street Hustlers is smart, hard hitting and classy with a perfect dash of comedy too. Shot exceptionally with fantastic cinematography Hustlers drips style and glam making it almost seem like a dizzying fantasy film at times. We are shown the harsh realities of the stripper industry and just how much hard work has to be put in constantly to get any kind kind of pay off back. These girls literally put their heart, sweat and tears into this job sacrificing their wellbeing and health just to pull the wool over the customers eyes making them believe its the place of their dreams so in turn they earn more money. Everything is a lie and the constant comparison of stripping and wall street is explored greatly with the line between whats wrong and right always being contested. Theres no doubt that what both sides do is wrong but the film brilliantly makes you care for both of them equally depicting both as victims just trying to get by in a harsh world but also as heartless animals doing anything to become top dog. Its all really is thought provoking stuff and some of its themes of how selfish, obsessive, disturbing, desensitized, cold & heartless we have all become are so relevant at the moment too. There's also a very heavy theme of rape and how no matter what the circumstances exploiting anyone in a vulnerable state is still taking advantage wrong and unacceptable on every level. Acting is superb too with Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu putting in next level performances. Hustlers really impressed me, theres not one ounce of exposition here as all the film and its characters demand is that your paying attention assuming that you are smart enough to think for yourself instead which I truly admire.
Cougar Sim: Mountain Puma 3D
Games
App
Free Cougar simulator game. The cougar versus mountain forest animals. Become the brown puma or...
Cryptofolio #1
Finance and Utilities
App
Discover the easiest way to track your crypto currency investments on the go. Follow your profits...
Hunting Call
Sports and Entertainment
App
Hunting Call improves your skill to bring in deer, predators, waterfowl, elk, birds and much more....
Darkness Falling (Light Up the Dark, #1)
10.0
Rate It
Book
When the world goes dark, can true love light the way? Lex I seem like the luckiest witch in...
Paranormal Post-Apocalyptic MM Romance
Dana (24 KP) rated Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) in Books
Mar 23, 2018
Okay, so this book gets a 4.5 stars, but, again, I am rounding up for this book because it was honestly close enough to a 5 that I'm okay giving it a five star!!
Why did I wait so long to read this book?!?! Oh my goodness. I loved Cinder so much and I bought this book almost immediately after reading Cinder, so I'm not sure why I hesitated reading this because it was just as good!!
Kai and Cinder are still so cute together. I just love all of the little moments when they are thinking about each other and they are just consumed by those thought. Ugh. So freaking cute. (I'm still going for the the ship name of Kainder because they both need a little kindness in their lives, to be honest).
I love the new characters as well. Scarlet is so independent and feisty! I love how she sticks up for what she believes in and wants to protect those she loves, but she's also very trusting, maybe too trusting with people.
And Wolf, he's so smooth, but he's got anxiety. He wants to be a better person for Scarlet because she believes in him! Wolflet is an adorable ship name and I love them together.
And *CAPTAIN* Carswell is hilarious and I can't wait to see what shenanigans he gets into in the next year.
I'm just so in love with all of the new characters and I'm so glad they were added to the story! It's never certain that the characters introduced in the sequels will be as compelling as the characters in the first book, but they shined just as brightly. (Yeah, I know I'm getting cheesy, I just love these characters so freaking much.)
Normally I'm not the biggest fan of multiple PoV stories, this book was written so well that I actually loved it!!
I read this whole book in a day and it helped me out of a minor book slump, so thank you Scarlet!!
I absolutely love where the plot is going. I can't wait until I can get my hands on the rest of the series, which will hopefully be soon!
I just love these books and the author. I got to meet her a couple of years ago at yallwest and she signed this book. She's just so freaking nice and I'm so happy she's had so much success in this series! I can't wait to see what else she will be writing!
Why did I wait so long to read this book?!?! Oh my goodness. I loved Cinder so much and I bought this book almost immediately after reading Cinder, so I'm not sure why I hesitated reading this because it was just as good!!
Kai and Cinder are still so cute together. I just love all of the little moments when they are thinking about each other and they are just consumed by those thought. Ugh. So freaking cute. (I'm still going for the the ship name of Kainder because they both need a little kindness in their lives, to be honest).
I love the new characters as well. Scarlet is so independent and feisty! I love how she sticks up for what she believes in and wants to protect those she loves, but she's also very trusting, maybe too trusting with people.
And Wolf, he's so smooth, but he's got anxiety. He wants to be a better person for Scarlet because she believes in him! Wolflet is an adorable ship name and I love them together.
And *CAPTAIN* Carswell is hilarious and I can't wait to see what shenanigans he gets into in the next year.
I'm just so in love with all of the new characters and I'm so glad they were added to the story! It's never certain that the characters introduced in the sequels will be as compelling as the characters in the first book, but they shined just as brightly. (Yeah, I know I'm getting cheesy, I just love these characters so freaking much.)
Normally I'm not the biggest fan of multiple PoV stories, this book was written so well that I actually loved it!!
I read this whole book in a day and it helped me out of a minor book slump, so thank you Scarlet!!
I absolutely love where the plot is going. I can't wait until I can get my hands on the rest of the series, which will hopefully be soon!
I just love these books and the author. I got to meet her a couple of years ago at yallwest and she signed this book. She's just so freaking nice and I'm so happy she's had so much success in this series! I can't wait to see what else she will be writing!
Alice (12 KP) rated Of Sand and Malice Made (The Song of the Shattered Sands, #0.5) in Books
Jul 3, 2018
Definitely wasn’t what I expected. After reading the blurb I was excited to read about the youngest pit fighter in Sharakhai only there wasn’t so much pit fighting as running all over the desert trying to escape from a demonic being who becomes fixated on Ceda.
Ceda is 15 when the story begins and it starts off with her picking a fight with someone who – in the beginning – gives off a secondary character kinda vibe, almost filler but ends up being an integral part of the story later on. Brama had apparently stolen a purse that Ceda wad tasked to collect and Ceda decided she’d rather fight him than find the purse. That came across as quite juvenile particularly when her “boss” pointed out the same thing that I thought.
The story progresses pretty slowly for the first 60 or 70 pages where it does eventually improve but there’s a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe to this story. It’s sort of like a twisted sci-fi type of Aladdin story.
The pit fighting is few and far between and for a character who is called the White Wolf I would have preferred a little more fighting and a little less talking but the steroidal like properties to the flower petals is amazingly unique, I don’t think I’ve ever read that in a book so kudos to that.
The writing style was a touch different to what I’m used to but it was written quite well. As mentioned above there was a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe to this story and the descriptions of the desert and other areas in Sharakhai were beautifully written and it almost made me feel like I was back on holiday in Egypt which was a lovely experience.
The concept of Rumayesh was really good – a semi corrupt demonic type being who overtakes the body of her “chosen” one – and Rumayesh took an awful big shine to Ceda which is where the story basically followed. Now having not read Twelve Kings I am completely unable to comment on how the story progresses in that book but the plot line in this novella was drawing to the mind and the descriptions of what was happening were very good.
Apart from my initial dubious feeling and the subsequent lack of pit – fighting for a story based on a pit-fighter I did enjoy Of Sand and Malice Made but I don’t think that it is entirely my thing and I don’t think I’d be continuing the story anytime soon though I do look forward to seeing where this novella leads.
Ceda is 15 when the story begins and it starts off with her picking a fight with someone who – in the beginning – gives off a secondary character kinda vibe, almost filler but ends up being an integral part of the story later on. Brama had apparently stolen a purse that Ceda wad tasked to collect and Ceda decided she’d rather fight him than find the purse. That came across as quite juvenile particularly when her “boss” pointed out the same thing that I thought.
The story progresses pretty slowly for the first 60 or 70 pages where it does eventually improve but there’s a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe to this story. It’s sort of like a twisted sci-fi type of Aladdin story.
The pit fighting is few and far between and for a character who is called the White Wolf I would have preferred a little more fighting and a little less talking but the steroidal like properties to the flower petals is amazingly unique, I don’t think I’ve ever read that in a book so kudos to that.
The writing style was a touch different to what I’m used to but it was written quite well. As mentioned above there was a distinctly Middle Eastern vibe to this story and the descriptions of the desert and other areas in Sharakhai were beautifully written and it almost made me feel like I was back on holiday in Egypt which was a lovely experience.
The concept of Rumayesh was really good – a semi corrupt demonic type being who overtakes the body of her “chosen” one – and Rumayesh took an awful big shine to Ceda which is where the story basically followed. Now having not read Twelve Kings I am completely unable to comment on how the story progresses in that book but the plot line in this novella was drawing to the mind and the descriptions of what was happening were very good.
Apart from my initial dubious feeling and the subsequent lack of pit – fighting for a story based on a pit-fighter I did enjoy Of Sand and Malice Made but I don’t think that it is entirely my thing and I don’t think I’d be continuing the story anytime soon though I do look forward to seeing where this novella leads.
Darren (1599 KP) rated 3 Days To Kill (2014) in Movies
Jun 20, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Story: 3 Days to Kill starts as we meet CIA agent Ethan Renner (Costner) who along with his team is about to take down one of the biggest threats in the world The Wolf (Sammel) by eliminating his closest associate The Albino (Lemarquis) only the mission gets compromised when Ethan’s health catches up with him as he learns he only has 3 months to live.
Released by the CIA Ethan sets out on cleaning up his own personal affairs wanting to build a relationship with daughter Zooey (Steinfeld) through his ex-wife Christine (Nielsen) after years of times apart working. With everything going badly Ethan knows that it will become difficult but when fellow agent Vivi Delay (Heard) offers him a chance to live longer Ethan comes out of retirement for one last assignment.
Thoughts on 3 Days to Kill
Story – The story for this film tries to balance a dying man’s final months with his family and his CIA life that he has meant to have walked away from. The CIA story does feel very generic of this modern day slick hitman style which is all fine. The dying man’s wish story ends up feeling like an awkward comedy in places. The story also feels very long and doesn’t seem to end up deciding if it wants to be serious or not.
Action/Thriller – The action is all very good and entertaining with the opening sequence looking like it set the tone but in the end if just turns into another slick hitman film.
Characters/Performance – I can’t find anything wrong with Costner’s performance as well as Steinfeld or Neilsen, it is the Heard performance that doesn’t make sense because she doesn’t suit the character and the character doesn’t suit the movie. The movie tries to make all the characters fit into everyday experiences but for some reason Vivi character is wildly over the top for no apparent reason.
Settings – The settings are mostly all in Paris which all works for the film which is trying to make us have a location we want to visit but showing that crime can happen there I guess.
Special Effects – The Special effects are mostly used for the action sequences and they all come off to the level you need them too.
Final Thoughts –This is an overlong action thriller that ends up getting caught up in the middle of comedy too often for its own good.
Overall: Solid action film that starts too strong for its own benefits.
Released by the CIA Ethan sets out on cleaning up his own personal affairs wanting to build a relationship with daughter Zooey (Steinfeld) through his ex-wife Christine (Nielsen) after years of times apart working. With everything going badly Ethan knows that it will become difficult but when fellow agent Vivi Delay (Heard) offers him a chance to live longer Ethan comes out of retirement for one last assignment.
Thoughts on 3 Days to Kill
Story – The story for this film tries to balance a dying man’s final months with his family and his CIA life that he has meant to have walked away from. The CIA story does feel very generic of this modern day slick hitman style which is all fine. The dying man’s wish story ends up feeling like an awkward comedy in places. The story also feels very long and doesn’t seem to end up deciding if it wants to be serious or not.
Action/Thriller – The action is all very good and entertaining with the opening sequence looking like it set the tone but in the end if just turns into another slick hitman film.
Characters/Performance – I can’t find anything wrong with Costner’s performance as well as Steinfeld or Neilsen, it is the Heard performance that doesn’t make sense because she doesn’t suit the character and the character doesn’t suit the movie. The movie tries to make all the characters fit into everyday experiences but for some reason Vivi character is wildly over the top for no apparent reason.
Settings – The settings are mostly all in Paris which all works for the film which is trying to make us have a location we want to visit but showing that crime can happen there I guess.
Special Effects – The Special effects are mostly used for the action sequences and they all come off to the level you need them too.
Final Thoughts –This is an overlong action thriller that ends up getting caught up in the middle of comedy too often for its own good.
Overall: Solid action film that starts too strong for its own benefits.
The Bucket: Memories of an Inattentive Childhood
Book
The Bucket by Allan Ahlberg - the enthralling childhood story one of Britain's best-loved children's...