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Defiance (Rise of the Iliri #3)
Defiance (Rise of the Iliri #3)
Auryn Hadley | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
HER ONLY CHOICE IS TO CHANGE HER WORLD…

Salryc Luxx has come a long way in just four years, from slave to conscript, to elite Black Blade assassin, rising rapidly as her extraordinary abilities are revealed. Promoted to lieutenant after capturing a valuable shipment of metals and laying waste to the invading force, she and Cyno, her partner (in war and love), have been entrusted with a dangerous mission: to assassinate the King of Anglia and the five nobles in line for the throne, leaving the path to ascension clear for their own leader.

That’s one side of the story. The other is that she and Cyno have been assigned this suicide mission as Parliament’s first pass at removing the iliri taint from the military. Either way, without the strength of allies, the Conglomerate of Free Citizens cannot turn back the invaders, whose goal is to wipe out the whole iliri species, so Sal and Cyno are the only hope of ending the continental war devastating their species. Traveling for months, they are so far away from their home base that they’re beyond the mental link that connects the pack. They remain committed to their mission—and to each other, but… unhappily disturbed. They can only hope their separation from the pack bring them closer together. But the danger is, in the absence of the pack, their bond will wither.

A kind deed, helping what they take to be a wounded animal, leads to the discovery of their true nature, to strengthening and re-energizing their pack, and to a surprising alliance that offers hope for the future. The wounded animal, they learn, is a graour wolf, a species of ferocious warriors with language and traits nearly identical to iliri. When two of them ask to join her pack, Sal recruits them as Black Blades and the iliri are no longer the only dog in the fight for iliri freedom.

But Anglia is nothing like the Conglomerate of Free Citizens. Anglians discriminate based on gender, not species. Iliri are thought to be just a myth--until Sal shows her face. To convince the king and his council that yes, a woman really can be a soldier, she's going to have to make her own rules. The enemy is moving. She doesn't have time to deal with outdated court manners.

As the defiance of an entire species rises up in her, she really has no choice—she’ll just have to change the world.

Women readers will thrill to the reverse harem idea that pushes the boundaries of epic fantasy in this second world series that may remind some of Avatar without the scary beasts; or even Game Of Thrones, but happier, with more color—and a dazzling female protagonist. Fans of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern will find Sal’s planet Ogun a thrilling destination for their next fantasy fix



They just keep getting better! Sal and Cyno are out on their own and they are kicking up a storm! We get to meet the Graour who the Iliri are descended from! We get a chance to see a whole new world building. I love the new characters and you are with them every step of the way on the battlefield it's also such a good feeling when the black blades are all back together and loving their new pack mates. It was only a matter of time before Cyno became her number 1 I'm glad Blaec took it well. Looking forward to book 4!
  
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012)
2012 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Fans all around the world have been waiting for the fifth and final installment of the film adaption of Stephanie Meyer’s best selling book series, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part 2” and without skipping a beat, part two begins right where its predecessor left off.

Bella opens her eyes with heightened vampire senses and embraces her new life as a wife, a mother and more importantly as a vampire. With her uncontrollable thirst she and Edward go for a run in the woods so that she can learn to hunt. She suddenly becomes enamored with her sudden speed and amazing strength. There certainly is no need for Edward to show her the tools of the trade as with Bella’s new found strength she is able to do that on her own.

Another perk to being vampire newlyweds who for that matter don’t have to rest or eat certainly leaves room for only one other thing to do and they sure love doing it! This finally provides the audience with a much steamier scene then in the last installment and in my opinion exactly how the writer intended it to be.

When Renesmee is born she is half vampire and half human and therefore poses no risk to anybody. Unfortunately for the Cullen family, she is mistaken to be one of the “immortal children”. In the past the “immortal children” were done away with by the Volturi as they posed a huge risk because being children they had no self control and posed a risk of showing humans that there were in fact monsters that had been living among them. This leads to a massive showdown with the leader of the Volturi, Aro and his cohorts against the Cullens and other clans who have come to their aid along with Jacob and his wolf pack. Will Bella and Edward get the “happily ever after” they so desire?

This is probably the hardest review that I have had to write and I say that because I am as a lot of you already know one of the biggest Twilight fans out there. This installment, film wise, is my favorite one because of all of the action and suspense. Parts of the film will surprise you and parts will tug on your heart strings but all in all, it is the best film of all of them by far.

You would at least need to know the back story before getting in to it or you will be completely lost! The cinematography and colors against the Northwest backdrops are beautiful. Bill Condon did a great job! I am not a fan by any means of computer generated humans, especially babies so I could have done without that but honestly how else could they have portrayed little Renesmee as she grew at such a fast rate?

This film is worth seeing and the guys will get at least some really cool fighting scenes and pretty ladies to look at while taking there girlfriends to see this film. All joking aside it is a fantastic story and should be not be missed. There is a reason why they bring in the big bucks and its not just because of teen girls going to see Jacob taking his shirt off.
  
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil (2011)
Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs Evil (2011)
2011 | Animation, Comedy, Family
4
6.4 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Does anyone remember the original Hoodwinked movie? Nobody else does, either. Blue Yonder Films, the studio that brought you Doogal tries to pull another rabbit out of their hat by releasing a sequel to the twisted fairy-tale movie titled Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil. All of the original voice characters are present from the first film, except for Red (Anne Hathaway was replaced by Hayden Panettiere), and Kirk the Woodsman (Jim Belushi , who was replaced by Martin Short).

It doesn’t really matter if you’ve seen the first movie, as a storybook opening catches the audience up on the current situation. A short intro introduces the HEA (Happily Ever After Agency; shouldn’t that be HEAA?) staking out a Wicked Witch who is holding Hansel & Gretel (Bill Hader & Amy Poehler) hostage in her Gingerbread House. The main protagonist, Red Riding Hood (Panettiere) is off on training, and her former partner, The Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton) is handling the situation with Granny (Glen Close).

Of course, the seemingly simple scenario changes to a conspiracy which has actually been masterminded by the hostages, in order to drag a secret from Granny. Granny is a part of the Sisterhood of Kung-Fu Bakers (the “Hood” in the film’s title), and possesses the recipe of a secret weapon known as the Super Truffle, which supposedly makes those who consume it invincible. The movie has a small army of all-star cast members, and each one makes the most of their parts.

Unfortunately nearly everything else in the film misses the mark, from the writing, direction, and even the animation. Many other computer-animated movies today feel a lot more organic, and although the visuals of this sequel are better than the first there are times when character movements appear more programmed than motion-captured. Most of the jokes in the movie require one to have lived during the 70s or 80s, and nearly all of them are groaners. Jokes like “Dog is your co-pilot”, and a backwards sign where “dyslexic” is clearly visible are just too obscure even for the average adult. Sure, this is a family movie that should have something for everyone, but the preview theater I was in had a large mix of children and their parents, and there was only one time when the audience laughed as a whole.

There are a few running gags that did receive a positive audience response. Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong play two of the Three Little Pigs (hitmen for hire), and they received most of the genuine laughs. Another running gag was of a banjo-playing goat, who is constantly being fallen upon by other characters. This gag did get some chuckles, particularly from children, but was an obvious rip-off of “Scrat” from the Ice Age series, but just didn’t have the same charm. Most animated films either have amazing visuals, humor or heart, and the best ones blend these essentials together. Unfortunately none of these elements are present in Hoodwinked Too to make the audience feel for Red’s story, and the semi-warm victory at the end is simply “meh”.

You won’t be missing anything by skipping this film at the box office. It might be worth a rental when it comes out on DVD, but you and your family can still live a full and satisfying life without it.
  
    ZOOLA Animals

    ZOOLA Animals

    Education

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Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)
2020 | Drama, Music
Give Chadwick the Oscar
Pulitzer Prize winning Playwright August Wilson wrote 10 plays that he labeled his “Century Cycle” - one placed in each decade of the 20th century that depicts the Negro experience in America. Denzel Washington has pledged to produce a film for each one of these plays.

The first film, FENCES (2016), earned Viola Davis an Oscar and was nominated for Best Film. The 2nd film, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM looks to be just as awarded.

Set in a recording studio in Chicago in the 1920’s (the only play of Wilson’s Century Cycle NOT set in Pittsburgh), MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM tells the story of a recording session for Ma Rainey and her band.

Nominated for the Tony for Best Play of 1984, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM is the perfect stage play, for it takes place in one room - the recording studio. The problem with turning this into a film is that Director George C. Wolf felt compelled to “open things up” and added scenes, mostly at the beginning of the film, that takes you out of the studio. He also included Ma Rainey in some of these scenes, thus taking away the power of her entrance about 1/3 of the way into the story. These added scenes add nothing to the story and waters down some of the strength that being confined in one place brings.
But, oh, with performances and dialogue like this, those things are quickly forgotten.

Davis, of course, is stellar as Ma Rainey grabbing the spotlight and commanding the room with her presence. Ma Rainey (and Davis) are not to be trifled with and this is a powerhouse performance, so much so that I can forgive the film for having Davis’ voice dubbed for much of her singing performance.

But…Davis performance pales in comparison to the elite level work of Chadwick Boseman in the central role of trumpet player Levee who has some demons to unpack, demons that drive both his artistic and emotional self. This is a difficult character to root for, but Boseman’s charm shines through and mixed with his rage and sadness, makes for a potent combination and an interesting character to watch. Adding to the poignancy of the performance is the knowledge that this as Boseman’s last role before succumbing to cancer.

Colman Domingo (my favorite actor in FEAR THE WALKING DEAD) brings a strong grounding to the preceedings in the role of Cutler while veteran character actor Glynn Turman (who I remember from the 1970’s mini-series CENTENNIAL) is at a career best as another musician, Toledo. Most of the film (and play) consist of Cutler, Toledo and Levee talking, arguing, bantering and pontificating and these 3 are more than up to this challenge.

All of this, of course, would not be possible without the power of the original stage play script by August Wilson. This work was ably adapted to the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson (a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination).

A very strong, very interesting tale with some very moving performances makes MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM a worthy Oscar-type film that should be checked out by all.

Letter Grade: A-

8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(OfMarquis)
  
Wolf  (2019)
Wolf (2019)
2019 | Horror
4
3.3 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
A group of Roman legionnaires in Britain are sent on a mission to find a group of missing messengers only to find themselves attacked by something that comes out with the full moon.
So basically it's Roman’s vs werewolves in the woods, a premise with so much potential. However it fails in oh so many ways. I feel a bit bad for this review because I did enjoy the film, admittedly I seemed to be the only one as everyone else left about half way through (ok there were only two other people there but they did leave) but as a film it was quite terrible. First off we have the legionnaires, the group have only been together for a few weeks and don't trust each other, and they consist of:
Shouting guy who has just been sent from Rome who can't seem to decide if he's channelling Nick Frost or Brian Blessed.
Not so shouting guy who is friends with shouting guy and likes to drink
Captain who doesn't seem very effective
Old guy who shouldn't be there, doesn’t get on with the captain
Tall blonde guy who is always on about his wife who about to have a baby
Germanic female scout that no one trusts
Ex slave woman who looks like she should be a witch (she’s not) who is friends with the captain
Black woman who has a brother
And two other guys I can't really remember
So, the film gets points for having a culturally mixed squad which is historically correct but they don’t act as a unit. They are always talking, even when hunting the creatures they never shut up. One of them say “We are Roman we do the hunting.” But they don't seem to know to be quite.
It does strike me that the film is trying to be (Or seem) historically accurate, there are mentions of tactical formations that can be used, everyone uses the names of an appropriate god and there is mention of what certain weapons are made of but all of this just adds to the feeling that the film has been made by a group of Roman reenactor enthusiasts.
I had a friend who said that ‘Cloverfield’ was one of the worst films ever because you never see the monster, we pointed out that you do but acknowledge that 'Cloverfield’ keeps the monster hidden to make it more mysterious and scary. Wolf does this as well, for most of the film all you see of the monsters are pink streaks that seem quite reminiscent of naked people and when you finally see the creatures they look like they could be extras in classic doctor who. The effects in general are a bit rubbish to the point of one the cast walking around with what looks like rice pudding or custard in his beard for ten minutes.
The camera work is sometimes shaky, shots of the sky blind you and there are times when it looks like the actors don't know how to hold a sword.
And the film doesn't end, there's a revelation, the survivors say they will continue the mission then the credits roll. There could be a sequel but if there is it will be because the cast want it and not on reviews (although I think I did enjoy it a bit).
  
    Ultimate Bird Simulator

    Ultimate Bird Simulator

    Games and Education

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    Soar into a brand new adventure as a majestic Eagle, swift Falcon, or a colorful Parrot! For the...