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After the humans became ravaged from a plague that reverted all human life to cannibalistic savages, the benevolent Krakau cured them, as best they could. No longer savages their presence is barely tolerated and seen as boogey men by other sentient species.
The crew of the EMCS Pufferfish suddenly revert back to this crazed feral state killing their command Krakau crew. the only ones not affected are Marion "Mops" Adamopoulos and her team of Hygiene and Sanitation specialists. Completely in over their heads this ragtag crew have to figure out how to fly the ship, what kind of bioweapon was used, who used it, and what they have to do to clean up someone else's mess. Their world will never be the same.
Jim C. Hines does a wonderful job of bringing this futuristic world to life. His wit and humor elevate the craziness of the situation wanting more and more. The alien species are spectacular in their creativity. Although, I would have liked to know that some of the alien species used certain pronouns earlier in the book. The Glacidae species are referred to in the plural Them/they. I took me forever to realize Grom was one "person". Just wait until you meet a Tjikko, talk about a confusion of pronouns. An extremely fun, quick, and action packed read.

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David McK (3786 KP) rated Predator: If It Bleeds in Books

Jan 30, 2019

Towards the end of 2017/at the start of 2018 I picked up both this and [b: Aliens: Bug Hunt|31416104|Aliens Bug Hunt|Jonathan Maberry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474300660s/31416104.jpg|52265710], as I'd always had a soft spot for both those films.

Both as sci-fi anthologies; both are based around their respective properties.

I read the latter first, and (truth be told) wasn't overly impressed: while there were some good stories amongst those included, none really stood out all that much.

As a result, I put off reading this until I worked my way through some 'proper' novels, and only came back to this relatively recently.

Thankfully, of the two anthologies, I found this to be the better (despite a somewhat ropey start). I think that may be due to the central conceit of the Predators: as (effectively) alien Big Game hunters, that allows these stories to be set at any point throughout human history, not 'tied down' to the future as the Alien stories are.

That's a concept put into full use in this, with stories that run the gamut from the traditional sci-fi setting of the future, to the American Civil War, to the Wild West, to feudal Japan, to present-day Third World countries and to pretty much every point in-between!

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JT (287 KP) rated Rim of the World (2019) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020

Rim of the World (2019)

2019 | Action, Adventure, Comedy

6.1

(11 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Given the success of Stranger Things it would seem that the mismatched relationship of a group of adolescent teens would make for great viewing. The format has had plenty of success in the past, think The Goonies and Lost Boys, but here it just seems tiresome and flat.

Teens at a summer camp get caught up in an alien invasion which leaves them with the option – whether to save the world or not – they do of course. And so begins a quest to through California to deliver an important piece of information that holds the key to defeating the alien race. Director McG really doesn’t have a grip on this one, relying on toilet humour and a pointless romantic sub plot to carry the film through to its final conclusion.

Makes me want to have kids just so I can insist they don’t watch this

Where the above mentioned films had a real sense of 80s nostalgia and a group of kids who you genuinely had an interest in, Rim of the World feels like an interlude to the next big retro throwback. Picking four stereotypes which pretty much cover off the socially inept and outcast, is almost annoying. Poor jokes and not very good special effects does little to elevate it to a Netflix success.

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Danny Boyle recommended Apocalypse Now (1979) in Movies (curated)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

1979 | Action, Drama, War

8.7

(37 Ratings)

Movie Favorite Watch

"Always, and always number one for me in every list is Apocalypse Now. There are lots of reasons. It’s imperfect; which every film should be. I love action movies. I believe in motion, in the motion picture industry. And Apocalypse Now is the ultimate action movie. Firstly, it’s the only period film you’ll ever watch where nobody ever says it still ‘stands up after 30 years.’ Every other film — like Alien, and I’m a huge fan of Alien, I even did some promotion for it when they re-released it — the main thing you say are phrases like “Even after 25 years it still stands up.” You never have to use that (phrase) for Apocalypse Now. Everyone always just says: “Wow.” The second reason it’s the ultimate action movie is every time it stops moving it’s weird and unnatural and disturbing. Everytime it stops moving: they stop to collect mushrooms, they get attacked by a tiger; they stop and watch the playboy bunnies arriving; the boat stops and they end up shooting these people over a puppy in a little boat. And it stops, of course, with the ultimate stop: When he (Martin Sheen) meets Marlon Brando, Colonel Kurtz at the end. You can tell by how unnatural the stops are, how natural an action movie it is."

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