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Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated Fire Study (Study, #3) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
I strongly recommend reading <i>Poison Study</i>, <i>Assassin Study</i>, <i>Magic Study</i>, and <i>Power Study</i> all at a go. The two novellas are optional, but canonical and fun.
Snyder's world seems to be made up of just two countries: Ixia and Sitia. Ixia has been ruled by Commander Ambrose and his generals for about a decade when <i>Poison Study</i> starts, after a military coup overthrew the old monarchy. There are no beggars, every child is entitled to an education, nobody has to go hungry or homeless, and promotions are based solely on skill, with no gender or racial discrimination—but every citizen also has to wear a uniform declaring his or her proper location and job function, government approval is required for marrying, moving to a new home, or changing jobs, and anybody identified as having magic talent is killed immediately. Everyone is subject to the Code of Behavior, and there are no exceptions for any kind of extenuating circumstances. If you kill someone, you are sentenced to death, even if you were defending yourself or another.
Yelena has been in the Commander's dungeon for most of a year after killing the son of General Brazell. Valek, Ambrose's spymaster, gives her a choice: go to the gallows, or become the Commander's food taster. The job doesn't have a long life expectancy, as poisoning attempts are fairly common, but Yelena sees a chance at life better than immediate death, and takes the job.
Yelena manages to survive several attempts to murder her. The fact that Brazell wants her dead is understandable, but the other attempts are mysterious. Why would a Sitian master magician try to kill her? Who would slip poison into her wine?
<i>Magic Study</i> finds Yelena in Sitia, learning to cope with a very different way of life. Magic is almost taken for granted, and a strong family/clan structure forms the backbone of the government. But why are there beggars in the streets, and why is it that only those who can afford it are educated? Everyone in Sitia believes that life in Ixia must be horrific, but looking around her, Yelena sees that Ambrose's rule does have its benefits.
<i>Fire Study</i> moves between Sitia and Ixia, involving the leaders of both nations and intriguers who want to bring both of them down by pitching them against each other. Yelena and her friends are trying to prevent a war and reveal the traitors, but they've been declared outlaw and have to sneak around trying to figure out what's going on.
Another reviewer found Yelena too talented for belief, but I found her fairly realistic. She certainly isn't good at everything—she could use a lot of help in terms of social skills!—and the skills that she begins with and gains over the course of the trilogy do make sense. She trained as an acrobat when she was a child, so it does make sense that she is able to learn some types of self-defense without too much trouble. Some of her aptitudes make more sense after she learns more about her family background. She does find that she has magical abilities, but she isn't good at everything, and indeed, cannot seem to master some tasks that other magicians consider rudimentary.
I did find some of the betrayals to be difficult to comprehend, as some of the traitors would have no defense against mental scans. There's a Sitian Ethical Code of Conduct that prohibits non-consensual scans, but it doesn't apply to criminals, and in a war situation, I found it hard to believe that nobody ever did a little telepathic peeking at the people around them.
These were fun books, and they could be useful in looking at the pros and cons of different types of governments with teens. There's some sex in the books, but nothing terribly explicit. The violence is more troublesome, but the author never dwells on it.
Snyder's world seems to be made up of just two countries: Ixia and Sitia. Ixia has been ruled by Commander Ambrose and his generals for about a decade when <i>Poison Study</i> starts, after a military coup overthrew the old monarchy. There are no beggars, every child is entitled to an education, nobody has to go hungry or homeless, and promotions are based solely on skill, with no gender or racial discrimination—but every citizen also has to wear a uniform declaring his or her proper location and job function, government approval is required for marrying, moving to a new home, or changing jobs, and anybody identified as having magic talent is killed immediately. Everyone is subject to the Code of Behavior, and there are no exceptions for any kind of extenuating circumstances. If you kill someone, you are sentenced to death, even if you were defending yourself or another.
Yelena has been in the Commander's dungeon for most of a year after killing the son of General Brazell. Valek, Ambrose's spymaster, gives her a choice: go to the gallows, or become the Commander's food taster. The job doesn't have a long life expectancy, as poisoning attempts are fairly common, but Yelena sees a chance at life better than immediate death, and takes the job.
Yelena manages to survive several attempts to murder her. The fact that Brazell wants her dead is understandable, but the other attempts are mysterious. Why would a Sitian master magician try to kill her? Who would slip poison into her wine?
<i>Magic Study</i> finds Yelena in Sitia, learning to cope with a very different way of life. Magic is almost taken for granted, and a strong family/clan structure forms the backbone of the government. But why are there beggars in the streets, and why is it that only those who can afford it are educated? Everyone in Sitia believes that life in Ixia must be horrific, but looking around her, Yelena sees that Ambrose's rule does have its benefits.
<i>Fire Study</i> moves between Sitia and Ixia, involving the leaders of both nations and intriguers who want to bring both of them down by pitching them against each other. Yelena and her friends are trying to prevent a war and reveal the traitors, but they've been declared outlaw and have to sneak around trying to figure out what's going on.
Another reviewer found Yelena too talented for belief, but I found her fairly realistic. She certainly isn't good at everything—she could use a lot of help in terms of social skills!—and the skills that she begins with and gains over the course of the trilogy do make sense. She trained as an acrobat when she was a child, so it does make sense that she is able to learn some types of self-defense without too much trouble. Some of her aptitudes make more sense after she learns more about her family background. She does find that she has magical abilities, but she isn't good at everything, and indeed, cannot seem to master some tasks that other magicians consider rudimentary.
I did find some of the betrayals to be difficult to comprehend, as some of the traitors would have no defense against mental scans. There's a Sitian Ethical Code of Conduct that prohibits non-consensual scans, but it doesn't apply to criminals, and in a war situation, I found it hard to believe that nobody ever did a little telepathic peeking at the people around them.
These were fun books, and they could be useful in looking at the pros and cons of different types of governments with teens. There's some sex in the books, but nothing terribly explicit. The violence is more troublesome, but the author never dwells on it.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Overlord (2018) in Movies
Feb 3, 2019
Crazy Insane
When a team of American troops take on a routine mission in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, they stumble upon something abnormal and horrifying that they weren’t expecting.
Acting: 10
Beginning: 10
Characters: 10
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Conflict: 10
From it’s heartpounding beginning to crazy conclusion, you’re put right in front of consistent action. They are the kind of scenes that leave you wanting more. Intensity awaits at every turn with gun battles, explosions, and crazy zombie(esque) fights. The action was managed perfectly, not overdone in anyway.
Genre: 7
Memorability: 8
I remember jumping quite a few times while watching Overlord. It’s one of those movies where you, as an audience member, recognize something is wrong, but the characters don’t seem to pick up on it until it’s too late. Some of the things you see are quite unsettling and hard to get out of your memory.
Pace: 8
Overlord moves at a steady speed, although not perfect. I would prefer “breakneck” with a movie like this, but instead you get “just over the speed limit”. Fortunately there are only a handful of lulls, but they seem to come at the worst times right when you expect the train to keep rolling.
Plot: 7
Resolution: 10
I won’t give anything away, but the ending left me both satisfied and hoping for more. There is definitely room for some kind of a sequel here if they wanted to go that route. All the loose ends that needed to be tied up were taken care of.
Overall: 90
I can’t stress enough that I appreciate when certain genres get reused for the sake of being spun in a different fashion. Sometimes it’s a big miss (insert Pride and Prejudice and Zombies here). Other times, a film succeeds with a big swing. Overlord hits a home run.
Acting: 10
Beginning: 10
Characters: 10
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Conflict: 10
From it’s heartpounding beginning to crazy conclusion, you’re put right in front of consistent action. They are the kind of scenes that leave you wanting more. Intensity awaits at every turn with gun battles, explosions, and crazy zombie(esque) fights. The action was managed perfectly, not overdone in anyway.
Genre: 7
Memorability: 8
I remember jumping quite a few times while watching Overlord. It’s one of those movies where you, as an audience member, recognize something is wrong, but the characters don’t seem to pick up on it until it’s too late. Some of the things you see are quite unsettling and hard to get out of your memory.
Pace: 8
Overlord moves at a steady speed, although not perfect. I would prefer “breakneck” with a movie like this, but instead you get “just over the speed limit”. Fortunately there are only a handful of lulls, but they seem to come at the worst times right when you expect the train to keep rolling.
Plot: 7
Resolution: 10
I won’t give anything away, but the ending left me both satisfied and hoping for more. There is definitely room for some kind of a sequel here if they wanted to go that route. All the loose ends that needed to be tied up were taken care of.
Overall: 90
I can’t stress enough that I appreciate when certain genres get reused for the sake of being spun in a different fashion. Sometimes it’s a big miss (insert Pride and Prejudice and Zombies here). Other times, a film succeeds with a big swing. Overlord hits a home run.
Michael Pacey (8 KP) rated Captain Marvel (2019) in Movies
Mar 8, 2019
First female lead for Marvel (2 more)
Unexpected twists
Kept with MCU continuity
Kree make up lacked a little (2 more)
Good Marvel knowledge required to make full sense of movie
Possibly released too close to Endgame to get the recognition it deserves
Brie Larson rocks Captain Marvel with almost perfect performance
Brie Larson kicks butt in this action packed adventure that takes Carol Danvers on a trip down (a very long) memory lane.
The overall plot of the movie works brilliantly and does well to give fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a glimpse of the raw power that Captain Marvel posseses. The story (with good reason obviously) focused a lot on Captain Marvels journey to learn who she is and where she comes from. In doing that however I feel like Marvel left us with little back story behind the Kree-Skrull war. This could be paid off in later films but I do feel as though this was the perfect opportunity.
The 90's feel was executed to perfection, from the costumes to the sets, the soundtrack to the technology, there was a perfect amount of nostalgia without it getting close to cheesy. This allowed the film to focus on it's 'Top Gun' style and makes it stand out and stand strong amongst any other Marvel film to date.
Whilst I feel there was a small amount of detail missing, overall I thought the film was an action packed rollercoaster of fun which made great use of the opportunity to set up everything that was to come in the MCU timeline.
Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson were terrific and I hope they can collaborate further in any planned sequel.
On a final note, now that Captain Marvel is out there for the world to see, bring on Avengers: Endgame!
Higher Futher Faster.
The overall plot of the movie works brilliantly and does well to give fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a glimpse of the raw power that Captain Marvel posseses. The story (with good reason obviously) focused a lot on Captain Marvels journey to learn who she is and where she comes from. In doing that however I feel like Marvel left us with little back story behind the Kree-Skrull war. This could be paid off in later films but I do feel as though this was the perfect opportunity.
The 90's feel was executed to perfection, from the costumes to the sets, the soundtrack to the technology, there was a perfect amount of nostalgia without it getting close to cheesy. This allowed the film to focus on it's 'Top Gun' style and makes it stand out and stand strong amongst any other Marvel film to date.
Whilst I feel there was a small amount of detail missing, overall I thought the film was an action packed rollercoaster of fun which made great use of the opportunity to set up everything that was to come in the MCU timeline.
Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson were terrific and I hope they can collaborate further in any planned sequel.
On a final note, now that Captain Marvel is out there for the world to see, bring on Avengers: Endgame!
Higher Futher Faster.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Justice League (2017) in Movies
Aug 7, 2018
A rushed DC version of Infinity Wars
This film just missed the mark on so many different aspects. It had high ambitions but just let itself down pretty much everywhere. It felt like a panicked, rushed answer to Infinity Wars, but without taking the time to embed the characters and storyline first. I thought with hits like The Flash and Arrow TV series the DC world may have been fighting back against Marvel's dominance, but I guess for every "Arrow" there is a "Legends of Tomorrow" cheese-fest.
The CGI is truly awful. Massive, expensive battle scenes looked clunky and dated. Steppenwolf is so badly animated as to be ludicrous, especially noticeable as he looks like one of Thanos' minions (I genuinely think you'd see better animated facial movements in mid-noughties PS games). And lets not overlook the dodgy attempt at using CGI to remove Henry Cavill's moustache (some scenes had to be re-shot after he had already started filming Mission Impossible and his moustache had to be removed by CGI!).
I had no feelings towards any of the characters. Whereas the new Spiderman was an immediate hit in Civil War, here The Flash is just annoying and his chirpy geekiness does not contrast well with Batfleck's grumpiness. Cyborg was totally redundant except to solve a plot point. And Aquaman did nothing of note and was not likeable at all.
This should have been a big-hitting blockbuster with edge-of-the-seat tension, laugh-out-loud banter and head-scratching plot twists (and any more hyphenated adjectives I can think of), instead it was a mediocre action film with none of the character of the DC universe on show.
The CGI is truly awful. Massive, expensive battle scenes looked clunky and dated. Steppenwolf is so badly animated as to be ludicrous, especially noticeable as he looks like one of Thanos' minions (I genuinely think you'd see better animated facial movements in mid-noughties PS games). And lets not overlook the dodgy attempt at using CGI to remove Henry Cavill's moustache (some scenes had to be re-shot after he had already started filming Mission Impossible and his moustache had to be removed by CGI!).
I had no feelings towards any of the characters. Whereas the new Spiderman was an immediate hit in Civil War, here The Flash is just annoying and his chirpy geekiness does not contrast well with Batfleck's grumpiness. Cyborg was totally redundant except to solve a plot point. And Aquaman did nothing of note and was not likeable at all.
This should have been a big-hitting blockbuster with edge-of-the-seat tension, laugh-out-loud banter and head-scratching plot twists (and any more hyphenated adjectives I can think of), instead it was a mediocre action film with none of the character of the DC universe on show.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated Murder Comes to Call in Books
Oct 28, 2020
Thefts and Murder
When Beryl Helliwell goes to court for reckless driving, she meets Declan O’Shea, an Irish immigrant trying to start a life for himself in the English village of Walmsley Parva. However, being Irish, he is viewed with suspicion, and the string of thefts happening in the village only make things worse. When the police start to question him about the thefts, he hires Beryl and Edwina Davenport to clear his name. The stakes are only raised when a dead body turns up at the scene of the latest burglary. Couple that with another client who needs his case solved right away, and Edwina and Beryl have their work cut out of them. Can they figure out what is really happening?
While this is the fourth book in the series, you could easily jump in here. You would miss out on the growth in the characters and their relationships, which is definitely part of the charm of the series. Plus these are just great characters to spend time with. Fans will be delighted to check in with these friends and catch up with the latest going on in their lives. The plot seemed to be a bit scattered early on, but I suspected that events would tie together, and my faith was rewarded. In fact, I was impressed with just how everything came together by the end. The setting, both location and historical, come to life well. We get a great feel for the impact of World War I on this village without it ever slowing things down. I was fully absorbed in another time and place as I read, and if you are looking for a great historical mystery, you will be, too.
While this is the fourth book in the series, you could easily jump in here. You would miss out on the growth in the characters and their relationships, which is definitely part of the charm of the series. Plus these are just great characters to spend time with. Fans will be delighted to check in with these friends and catch up with the latest going on in their lives. The plot seemed to be a bit scattered early on, but I suspected that events would tie together, and my faith was rewarded. In fact, I was impressed with just how everything came together by the end. The setting, both location and historical, come to life well. We get a great feel for the impact of World War I on this village without it ever slowing things down. I was fully absorbed in another time and place as I read, and if you are looking for a great historical mystery, you will be, too.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Avengers: Endgame (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
Contains spoilers, click to show
I'm not really sure where to start with this so settle in for a ride. I've tried to avoid major spoilers but some of the things I've written might give away or hint at events in Endgame so please don't read this until you've seen it at the cinema.
We were left forlorn in the wilds of Wakanda after Thanos' snap in Infinity War. 50% of every living creatures on the planet, on every planet, wiped out of existence. Thanos has set off in his retirement while our heroes are reassembling. What's left of the team is trying to get back to a normal life, saving the world, saving each other. Some are moving on, some are stuck on the past, all are lost.
I wrote more notes for this than I've written for any other movie. It was so much of a problem that I condensed the original and then recondensed them into collected topics. I'm vaguely going to go in chronological order, let's do it!
We open with Hawkeye. The scene was simple and effective to help line up the change in him, but it wasn't the tone I expected for the beginning of the film. You have to start it somehow, and I don't know how I thought they would but tonally it didn't say "Marvel" to me. In the trailers we see his darker side coming through, after seeing the film I can't help but wonder if they needed to do this to him. It felt a little like they were just doing it to use for one scene. Clint is a stand-up guy, he would have been there for them regardless in this situation.
As we recap on what's happening in the wake of the snap we find Nebula and Tony attempting to return from Titan on the Guardian's ship. For me, Nebula was the best bit of the whole film. The scenes with Tony are wonderful and touching, she's able to make a connection that she's never really had before and her transformation through the film is a delight.
Something at this point that I feel I should bring up is the partnership that we witness. Tony and Nebula, Nebula and War Machine, Rocket and Thor. We're given lots of different Marvel Mash-ups with great results. Nebula, in particular, shone through in these. Watch out for her with Rhodey.
Steve, Cap, is very much in control throughout this movie, in leadership as well as of his emotions. He still has his positive outlook on life but even when it wanes he's determined. Visually they've left you no room to wonder on whether he is the first Avenger, he leads into a room and he gets a lot of shots that frame him perfectly. But he has changed... on more than one occasion I found myself going "Language, Steve!" I was unsure about his support group in the trailer and after the full scene it felt like it was just there to set up occurrences towards the end of the film. You'd be forgiven for thinking this was actually a Captain America film, it felt much more like one than Civil War did.
Before coming to Endgame one of the things I had been thinking about was how Scott was going to return from the quantum realm. What happens kind of feels like they had no idea how they were going to do it, and it was frustrating and leaves you with questions about what happened in the five years since the snap. There's also a potential horror movie spin-off teased in Scott's walk through San Francisco, he encounters a kid on a bike... classic horror movie moment in that scene.
Nat gets to flex her leadership muscles in the post-snap world trying to keep a new band of Avengers together. Still based in the Avengers complex she's coordinating with members around the world and out in space. We finally see some genuine raw emotion from her as they search for Hawkeye as he's off on his... well what is it? Redirected revenge? She's always had a trusted position with Fury and it seems like his dusting has pushed her to step up.
Carol is back after her recent debut... I still don't think we can call her Captain Marvel when no one else does. I still don't like her, I can't help it. She's cocky and she doesn't seem to have any desire to actually work with the team. If there's anything that I got from this film it's that Black Widow should have had her own film already rather than introducing Carol at the last minute. She's not really a massive feature of the film and her inclusion feels almost like they needed to a solution to a problem and she was the quickest way to fix it.
Now we get to the point where I had some major upset. In my opinion, Marvel have done wrong by Bruce/Hulk and Thor. I saw a spoiler on Twitter for Bruce that I hoped was fan-inspired, but when we get to him in the film I sat in annoyed silence as those around me murmured with excitement. As far as Thor goes, I can see why they made the choices they did with him but it felt like they just turned him into a joke, and that didn't sit right with me at all. Just one small step back from what they did and they would have nailed it, but it felt like they just went for the cheap laugh at his expense.
So it's time to talk about time travel, I think we all knew that we could expect to see it in some way or another in Endgame. Tony and Bruce obvious have a big hand in this one, and it was nice to see them acknowledging the "normal" person discussion of time travel with film references. Outside of that though they threw a lot of complicated script at it, it felt like a very random step away from how they usually deal with technical things in the universe.
From the one hour point of the movie(ish) everything starts to pick up, up until then I wasn't loving the film, and that was upsetting to me. What follows from the quantum suit walk is a lot of fun. There are a lot of nostalgic moments that brought humour and a fun layer to the older films and we get what is probably the most satisfying moment of the entire MCU.
Visually this is one of the better films in the sequence. Shots weren't overly cluttered and so busy that you couldn't see what was happening, and there were a lot more poignant visuals. There are however a few that make me think they had to be reshot because you get very specific angles that give you the back of someone's head and the audio sounds slightly off to the rest of the scene.
Two things left to specifically mention...
The women of Marvel. For so many films we had very few female heroes, certainly none that got their fair share of coverage until The Wasp, Captain Marvel and an excellent female ensemble in Black Panther. I'm all for more female characters but I think Endgame went too far. There is one scene near the end that felt more like they were worried they hadn't had enough women on screen and they really packed them in, it felt awkward rather than awesome.
Stan Lee's cameo. It wasn't the usual fun we're used to. Fleeting and forgettable. Stan deserved better, this just didn't feel right. I even briefly wondered if it was actually him.
For me, Endgame wasn't the finale that we deserved. It wasn't better than Infinity War but I don't think that it could have been because of how much it had to bring to the table. I went and saw it twice because I like to see the 3D and 2D when they come out, it was actually one of the better 3D films I've seen on a regular screen.
I probably would have given this 3 stars, while I had fun watching it I came out both times feeling kind of "meh" about it. Nebula, America's ass and the epic moment in the finale, as well as a few other amusing moments, bumped it up slightly. I sadly found that first hour rather challenging and couldn't get on board with some of the character choices that were made.
What you should do
Let's face it, you're going to watch it if you've invested time in watching all the Marvel movies and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I'm aware I'm in a minority with my feelings about this, but not everyone can feel the same way about everything. What a world it would be if we could.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'd still like an infinity stone... but I don't know which one.
We were left forlorn in the wilds of Wakanda after Thanos' snap in Infinity War. 50% of every living creatures on the planet, on every planet, wiped out of existence. Thanos has set off in his retirement while our heroes are reassembling. What's left of the team is trying to get back to a normal life, saving the world, saving each other. Some are moving on, some are stuck on the past, all are lost.
I wrote more notes for this than I've written for any other movie. It was so much of a problem that I condensed the original and then recondensed them into collected topics. I'm vaguely going to go in chronological order, let's do it!
We open with Hawkeye. The scene was simple and effective to help line up the change in him, but it wasn't the tone I expected for the beginning of the film. You have to start it somehow, and I don't know how I thought they would but tonally it didn't say "Marvel" to me. In the trailers we see his darker side coming through, after seeing the film I can't help but wonder if they needed to do this to him. It felt a little like they were just doing it to use for one scene. Clint is a stand-up guy, he would have been there for them regardless in this situation.
As we recap on what's happening in the wake of the snap we find Nebula and Tony attempting to return from Titan on the Guardian's ship. For me, Nebula was the best bit of the whole film. The scenes with Tony are wonderful and touching, she's able to make a connection that she's never really had before and her transformation through the film is a delight.
Something at this point that I feel I should bring up is the partnership that we witness. Tony and Nebula, Nebula and War Machine, Rocket and Thor. We're given lots of different Marvel Mash-ups with great results. Nebula, in particular, shone through in these. Watch out for her with Rhodey.
Steve, Cap, is very much in control throughout this movie, in leadership as well as of his emotions. He still has his positive outlook on life but even when it wanes he's determined. Visually they've left you no room to wonder on whether he is the first Avenger, he leads into a room and he gets a lot of shots that frame him perfectly. But he has changed... on more than one occasion I found myself going "Language, Steve!" I was unsure about his support group in the trailer and after the full scene it felt like it was just there to set up occurrences towards the end of the film. You'd be forgiven for thinking this was actually a Captain America film, it felt much more like one than Civil War did.
Before coming to Endgame one of the things I had been thinking about was how Scott was going to return from the quantum realm. What happens kind of feels like they had no idea how they were going to do it, and it was frustrating and leaves you with questions about what happened in the five years since the snap. There's also a potential horror movie spin-off teased in Scott's walk through San Francisco, he encounters a kid on a bike... classic horror movie moment in that scene.
Nat gets to flex her leadership muscles in the post-snap world trying to keep a new band of Avengers together. Still based in the Avengers complex she's coordinating with members around the world and out in space. We finally see some genuine raw emotion from her as they search for Hawkeye as he's off on his... well what is it? Redirected revenge? She's always had a trusted position with Fury and it seems like his dusting has pushed her to step up.
Carol is back after her recent debut... I still don't think we can call her Captain Marvel when no one else does. I still don't like her, I can't help it. She's cocky and she doesn't seem to have any desire to actually work with the team. If there's anything that I got from this film it's that Black Widow should have had her own film already rather than introducing Carol at the last minute. She's not really a massive feature of the film and her inclusion feels almost like they needed to a solution to a problem and she was the quickest way to fix it.
Now we get to the point where I had some major upset. In my opinion, Marvel have done wrong by Bruce/Hulk and Thor. I saw a spoiler on Twitter for Bruce that I hoped was fan-inspired, but when we get to him in the film I sat in annoyed silence as those around me murmured with excitement. As far as Thor goes, I can see why they made the choices they did with him but it felt like they just turned him into a joke, and that didn't sit right with me at all. Just one small step back from what they did and they would have nailed it, but it felt like they just went for the cheap laugh at his expense.
So it's time to talk about time travel, I think we all knew that we could expect to see it in some way or another in Endgame. Tony and Bruce obvious have a big hand in this one, and it was nice to see them acknowledging the "normal" person discussion of time travel with film references. Outside of that though they threw a lot of complicated script at it, it felt like a very random step away from how they usually deal with technical things in the universe.
From the one hour point of the movie(ish) everything starts to pick up, up until then I wasn't loving the film, and that was upsetting to me. What follows from the quantum suit walk is a lot of fun. There are a lot of nostalgic moments that brought humour and a fun layer to the older films and we get what is probably the most satisfying moment of the entire MCU.
Visually this is one of the better films in the sequence. Shots weren't overly cluttered and so busy that you couldn't see what was happening, and there were a lot more poignant visuals. There are however a few that make me think they had to be reshot because you get very specific angles that give you the back of someone's head and the audio sounds slightly off to the rest of the scene.
Two things left to specifically mention...
The women of Marvel. For so many films we had very few female heroes, certainly none that got their fair share of coverage until The Wasp, Captain Marvel and an excellent female ensemble in Black Panther. I'm all for more female characters but I think Endgame went too far. There is one scene near the end that felt more like they were worried they hadn't had enough women on screen and they really packed them in, it felt awkward rather than awesome.
Stan Lee's cameo. It wasn't the usual fun we're used to. Fleeting and forgettable. Stan deserved better, this just didn't feel right. I even briefly wondered if it was actually him.
For me, Endgame wasn't the finale that we deserved. It wasn't better than Infinity War but I don't think that it could have been because of how much it had to bring to the table. I went and saw it twice because I like to see the 3D and 2D when they come out, it was actually one of the better 3D films I've seen on a regular screen.
I probably would have given this 3 stars, while I had fun watching it I came out both times feeling kind of "meh" about it. Nebula, America's ass and the epic moment in the finale, as well as a few other amusing moments, bumped it up slightly. I sadly found that first hour rather challenging and couldn't get on board with some of the character choices that were made.
What you should do
Let's face it, you're going to watch it if you've invested time in watching all the Marvel movies and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I'm aware I'm in a minority with my feelings about this, but not everyone can feel the same way about everything. What a world it would be if we could.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'd still like an infinity stone... but I don't know which one.
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) in Movies
Nov 5, 2018 (Updated Nov 5, 2018)
Slight variation on the Alice in Wonderland reboot
I'm guessing Disney want to keep going with their live action Princess films, and thought they'd hit gold with the rights to the Nutcracker for a Christmas release. Similar to the 2010 Alice in Wonderland, the film intends to act as a sequel to the original tale of the Nutcracker, where the world has fallen into disarray. Clara is the daughter of the original story's Marie, who has passed away, and looking to open the intriguing present left by her mother she finds herself following a mouse (not a rabbit!) into a strange world. She is introduced to the world her mother was made queen of, though sadly learns that the "fourth realm" (led by Helen Mirren as Mother Ginger) is at war with the other three (among them are realms led by Keira Knightley and an underused Richard E Grant).
Here Disney have taken some liberties as Clara's brother and sister take the roles and names of her mother's siblings in the original, and for no apparent reason the film based on the Russian ballet that was based on the French adaptation of the German fairy tale, is set in London. I can only assume this was to up the Festive quotient, but seems a very odd choice, despite keeping a number of the German themes.
Keira Knightley is very irritating, doing an ear-piercing impression of Queenie from Blackadder.
Neither of the actors playing Clara or the Nutcracker are very good or likeable and you find yourself bored and starting to root for Mother Ginger just to end it.
The film is too long, and drags in large parts, and all three of my kids were restless for a lot of it. And there was a definite lack of large-scale special effects, some impressive scenes but audiences expect spectacles (not 3D glasses, I mean big scenes!) these days and those were lacking.
The most enjoyable scene was the use of ballet to get Clara up to date with the world she found herself in, being quite respectful to the medium it was adapting (though I can't say how authentic it was!).
Here Disney have taken some liberties as Clara's brother and sister take the roles and names of her mother's siblings in the original, and for no apparent reason the film based on the Russian ballet that was based on the French adaptation of the German fairy tale, is set in London. I can only assume this was to up the Festive quotient, but seems a very odd choice, despite keeping a number of the German themes.
Keira Knightley is very irritating, doing an ear-piercing impression of Queenie from Blackadder.
Neither of the actors playing Clara or the Nutcracker are very good or likeable and you find yourself bored and starting to root for Mother Ginger just to end it.
The film is too long, and drags in large parts, and all three of my kids were restless for a lot of it. And there was a definite lack of large-scale special effects, some impressive scenes but audiences expect spectacles (not 3D glasses, I mean big scenes!) these days and those were lacking.
The most enjoyable scene was the use of ballet to get Clara up to date with the world she found herself in, being quite respectful to the medium it was adapting (though I can't say how authentic it was!).
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated A Blade So Black in Books
Mar 21, 2019
I've seen the point brought up that so many fantasy protagonists have really neglectful parents. Who lets their kid be gone for an unknown amount of time doing something "important" that their kid refuses to tell them about because it's a "secret"? This book makes a point of how NOT neglectful Alice's mother is. The blurb calls her overprotective, but really it's just normal protective. Alice's mom just wants to know her daughter hasn't been shot by the police when she's gone for 24 hours and not answering her phone, that seems normal to me! I actually enjoyed how that was different than a lot of fantasy YA, even if it's really a small sideplot.
In the main plot, Alice is a Dreamwalker, wielding Figment Blades and her own Muchness to kill the Nightmares that try to cross from Wonderland to our world. Her mentor is Addison Hatta, an exile from Wonderland who's been charged to guard his Gateway and train new Dreamwalkers. Along the way we meet two more Dreamwalkers, more exiled Wonderlanders, and learn a bit about the war in Wonderland and why they're exiled but still charged with such an important mission as guiding the Gateways between our world and theirs.
About the only thing I didn't like about this book was how it left so many questions unanswered at the end. We got a cliffhanger to lead us into the sequel, A Dream So Dark, but it isn't due out until September! I'm also wondering where the Cheshire Cat is - he's too instrumental a character to leave out, I would think - but I have a few possible ideas about where the author is going with that, so I'm anxious for the sequel, to see if I'm right.
A Blade So Black is a very unique take on Wonderland by a POC author, starring a POC heroine. There's also an adorable lesbian couple as side characters. With minority racial representation, a fairy tale base, and a splash of LGBT+ rep, this book checked a lot of the boxes I look for in my fantasy. It wasn't the best YA fantasy that I've read in the last year, but it was definitely fun!
You can read all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
In the main plot, Alice is a Dreamwalker, wielding Figment Blades and her own Muchness to kill the Nightmares that try to cross from Wonderland to our world. Her mentor is Addison Hatta, an exile from Wonderland who's been charged to guard his Gateway and train new Dreamwalkers. Along the way we meet two more Dreamwalkers, more exiled Wonderlanders, and learn a bit about the war in Wonderland and why they're exiled but still charged with such an important mission as guiding the Gateways between our world and theirs.
About the only thing I didn't like about this book was how it left so many questions unanswered at the end. We got a cliffhanger to lead us into the sequel, A Dream So Dark, but it isn't due out until September! I'm also wondering where the Cheshire Cat is - he's too instrumental a character to leave out, I would think - but I have a few possible ideas about where the author is going with that, so I'm anxious for the sequel, to see if I'm right.
A Blade So Black is a very unique take on Wonderland by a POC author, starring a POC heroine. There's also an adorable lesbian couple as side characters. With minority racial representation, a fairy tale base, and a splash of LGBT+ rep, this book checked a lot of the boxes I look for in my fantasy. It wasn't the best YA fantasy that I've read in the last year, but it was definitely fun!
You can read all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1) in Books
Aug 2, 2022
138 of 230
Book
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Book 1)
By Laini Taylor
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Reread
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
When you start a book and realise you have already read it but continue because it was so good! Well this was better the second time round. All the emotions came flooding back and I love that a book can have that effect on you. Rereading Karou and Akivas story was just as enjoyable as the first time the world building and story is just beautiful. I really like this authors style.
Book
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Book 1)
By Laini Taylor
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Reread
Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.
When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
When you start a book and realise you have already read it but continue because it was so good! Well this was better the second time round. All the emotions came flooding back and I love that a book can have that effect on you. Rereading Karou and Akivas story was just as enjoyable as the first time the world building and story is just beautiful. I really like this authors style.
Modern Greece: What Everyone Needs to Know
Book
Just a few years ago, Greece appeared to be a politically secure nation with a healthy economy....