The Future King
7.0
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Dealing with monster attacks and his missing father has been hard enough for Fort Fitzgerald in his...
A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return
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When Zeina was born, the civil war in Lebanon had been going on for six years, so it's just a normal...
Kingsbane
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When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated 1917 (2020) in Movies
Nov 28, 2019
As we know this did not happen as a generation later the world was once again at war with even great death and destruction to follow. However in “1917” we see the conflict from the viewpoint of a lowly Corporal Schofield (George MacKay) who along with his friend Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are tasked with delivering a message across enemy lines to warn advanced units to call of an attack due to an ambush being set by the Germans.
The duo are told that the enemy has pulled back and as such; the dreaded No Man’s Land between the opposing trenches are likely to be abandoned as well their approach to a town near their destination. With the phone lines down; the duo are the only option and they are at first shocked to learn that it would just the two of them.
As they make their way across a grim and corpse-laden battlefield, the audience as well as the two men get a look at the horrific conditions that combat took place under and how fallen individuals were left to decompose where they fell due to the entrenched and stagnant nature of Trench Warfare.
As complications mount, the two must face up to their greatest fears and challenges; driven by a sense of mission and purpose for a conflict they just want to see end so they can return home to their families.
Director Sam Mendes has crafted an Oscar Caliber film as it is gripping as it is breathtaking thanks to the amazing visuals. The contrast between the beauty of the landscape and the carnage of war has rarely been captured as well as it was in this film and the fact that Mendes had a hand in writing the story based on stories told by a relative really help to bring the full impact of the story home.
The film has some amazing sequences like sustained and extended shots where you wonder how Mendes was able to film scenes with so many things going on in one take as there is a scene near the start that looks as if it is an extended scene with no breaks or cutaways.
In the end the biggest selling point for the film is that it is a human drama at its core. While there is combat and action, they are not the focal points as much of the film centers around the young men and their conversations.
The film will stay with you after the credits roll and I consider “1917” to be one of the best films of 2019 and one not to be missed.
ClareR (6241 KP) rated The Great Alone in Books
Feb 6, 2018
This is a story of survival: Leni and her mother survive the violence of Leni's Vietnam War vet father (who is suffering from PTSD after being held as a prisoner by the enemy). Cora, Leni's mother, will not leave him, saying that she loves him and needs him, and repeatedly pays the price. Leni loves Alaska and her boyfriend Matthew, but tragic circumstances take her away from both for a number of years. Many years later, under different circumstances, she is able to return.
I think I really like Kristin Hannah books. The way she describes the surroundings in Alaska: the wildness, the beauty, the unpredictability. I've read a couple of books recently set in the cold, snowy arctic circle, and this only made me want to actually see it myself even more!
I know I'm only two books in to my Kristin Hannah experience, but I can't say as there is anything about either of them that I didn't like. I'll be hunting down more!
War and Peace: Ricky Hatton, My Story
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On 24 November 2012, four-time World Champion boxer Ricky Hatton dropped to his knees, felled by a...
Stretcher Bearer: Fighting for Life in the Trenches
Charles Horton and Dale Le Vack
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Among the thousands of men who shivered and suffered in the trenches during the First World War,...
The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: Escaping Tyranny in North Korea
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A non-fiction thriller by international bestselling author Blaine Harden (Escape from Camp 14) that...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The King's Man (2021) in Movies
Dec 14, 2021
In pre-World War I Europe; wealthy pacifist Orlando Oxford (Ralph Finnes); looks to raise his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson); following the tragic loss of his wife some years earlier on a Red Cross mission.
When events kick off the war; Conrad wishes to enlist and fight and his father is able to keep this from happening as he wants his son to avoid the horrors of war. At the same time; a secret Cabal has been plotting to start the war and manipulate the outcome and one of the agents named Rasputin (Rhys Ifans); looms prominently due to his influence over the Czar of Russia.
As the years pass and the war unfolds; Conrad and Orlando soon find themselves at odds and being pulled into opposite directions which sets a chain of events into action and puts the fate of the world in the balance.
The film is at times more retrained than the prior two films but the action sequences when they arrive are entertaining and mix the humor and violence that the series is known for. The cast is solid and the way that historical events were used but given an alternate perspective really added to the enjoyment of the film.
The movie does have a decent amount of humor but does spend a great deal of time on character development and exposition which can lead to some long gaps between the action, but the engaging stories and characters hold your interest throughout.
The film sets up further adventures in the Prequel timeline well and it appears that this is the direction that future films may go which would be more than fine as the film delivered what fans have come to expect from the series.
4 stars out of 5
Crow Killer: The Saga of Liver-Eating Johnson
Raymond W. Thorp and Robert Bunker
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The movie Jeremiah Johnson introduced millions to the legendary mountain man, John Johnson. The real...