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American Animals (2018)
American Animals (2018)
2018 | Crime, Drama
Story: American Animals starts as we see the heist about to take place, rewinding us 18 months where we meet Spencer Reinhardt (Keoghan) an art student in Transylvania University, struggling with his identity, turning to his streetwise friend Warren Lipka (Peters) the two discuss the potential of stealing rare expensive books from the library.

As the idea turns into a plan they bring in Chas Allen (Jenner) and Eric Borsuk (Abrahamson), can they make this plan come off, well the answer is no because as we see the planning we meet the real thieves now in their 30s discussing what they remember about the idea.

 

Thoughts on American Animals

 

Characters – Warren is the streetwise student on a scholarship, not living up to his potential, he will always get things down however illegal they might be. He is the one that brings the team together to make this happen even if he is also the one that gets them in the most problems. Spencer is the art student that comes up with the idea because he is sick of not standing out in the art world, looking for the pain be believes artist require. He is all in with the planning but when it comes to following through he thinks they will need to go too far. Chas is the getaway driver, he has the most money which helps with the planning of the heist. Eric becomes the brains learning where things could and would go wrong if they do it in certain directions. We do also meet the adult versions of these characters in the real version that are looking back on the crime they committed.

Performances – Evan Peters is the clear highlight in this film, he always comes off unpredictable which seeing the older versions of the characters you completely understand too. Barry Keoghan does play the stranger member of the crew well, he is the one that is happy to plan not commit a crime, he needs to be straighter faced than Peters character. When it comes to the rest of the cast they are fine without needing to do that much.

Story – The story here is based on the real story of four university students that robbed the rare book collection in the library of their university. The way the story is told is interesting because it does both help and hinder the film, having a mix of the actors playing the younger versions and the real men talking about the events does give the story a documentary feel. Where this does hinder the story is by telling us that they failed early on and are now just remembering what happen which takes away any excitement or edge of your set moments towards anything going on. There are moments in the story which are good to watch, for example the scene where they are watching heist movies to learn how to pull it off and seeing the pitch perfect plan in Warren’s head. If we are being honest, the story is about 20 minutes too long because the opening hour just drags you along, once the heist gets underway things get more exciting but by then you might see the audience lose interest.

Crime – The crime follows a real heist that happened at the same university, we get to see how it was planned, how things went down and seeing the consequences the boys felt.

Settings – The film is mostly set in and around the university, this helps for any heist film, we do get moments where we step away, but that is for the plan which does work when you see how the boys are out of their depth at times.


Scene of the Movie – Selecting the names.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The first hour.

Final Thoughts – This is an overly long heist movie that drags along at a horribly slow pace, once things kick off we do get some interest, but the fact we have the real criminals involved in telling the story we know the outcome.

 

Overall: Just watch for Evan Peters being slightly crazy.

https://moviesreview101.com/2018/08/28/american-animals-2018/
  
Freiyon Fables: A Tail to Remember
Freiyon Fables: A Tail to Remember
Justin T Hunt | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What I liked best about this book is that it is a rare occasion when I can honestly say that the ending, specifically the Epilogue is my favorite part. (0 more)
the writing style felt simplified and rushed at the same time. (0 more)
Honest Review for Free Copy of Book
Freiyon Fables: Tail to Remember by Justin Hunt was a book that I could only compare to one other book and that would be Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The Prologue promises an amazing tale, yet I feel as if the book doesn't quite live up to it. So even though I compare it to Narnia in style it is nothing like it when it comes to the actual material. The complete book itself is separated into three smaller books (or parts) that is then spread out into chapters.

In A Tail to Remember a squirrel by the name of Micklang escapes from a zoo and in the process is electrocuted, giving his tail a lightning-bolt shape. He then falls into another world in an Alice in Wonderland – down the rabbit hole style. In this new world, Micklang receives dreams about his warrior-self telling hi how to become that version of himself. During his journey, Micklang makes some surprising new friends and is reunited with some he has met before in the human world. It is with these friends that Micklang travels this new world, mapping it out.

At one point Micklang comes across an island where his traveling companions are captured and must rescue them before their captors harm them. Then after abandoning ship in a bad storm Micklang finds himself on yet another island, but this one is home to only other lightning-tail animals. Towards the end, Micklang goes back to one of the first islands that he visited in this new world, now called Freiyon. It is there that Micklang and his friends fight in the first battle in a war between The Grabbers and King Karel. It is during this battle that Micklang’s story ends but it is not the end of the stories about Freiyon. This is because a little human boy is told about Freiyon by his mother and decides it is time for him to visit this land of talking animals.

What I liked best about this book is that it is a rare occasion when I can honestly say that the ending, specifically the Epilogue is my favorite part. The epilogue tied the entire story together with the prologue when frankly I originally was confused about how it all connected. This actually redeemed the entire book in some ways. What I did not like was that the talking animals and being in a different world or realm gave the book a Chronicles of Narnia feel. Normally that would be a good thing but in this case, the writing style felt simplified and rushed at the same time. Also, this book felt like it was intended for children up until book three. In Book Three: The Switch Between Stories the phrases “What the HELL” and “how the HELL” were both used and that doesn't feel kid-friendly.

It was hard for me to pick a target audience for this book. My best guess would be for early middle school students and late elementary students, age-wise anyway. This is because the length might make it difficult for some elementary students (and some parents may not be thrilled about all the violence, who knows). Yet the simplified writing style may (or may not) appeal to older readers. Most likely it would be dry and boring for anyone out of middle school. That being said I rate this book a 2 out of 4. This is because this story falls in that dangerous zone between being simple enough for young readers and having just enough detail to feel rushed. The action moves from one major event to another without much of a break in between yet the story is still interesting

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Nintendo Selects: Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Nintendo Selects: Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Simulation
Animals (2 more)
Designing a Town
Designing a Home
Home Loans (1 more)
Bees
In AC:NL you're the young mayor in a town with the task to ensure your villagers are happy and the town reaches a perfect rating.

As mayor you're goal is to befriend your villagers through different tasks (finding lost items, fetching fruit, etc) until you obtain their picture. There is also the goal to build up the town with different Public Work Projects (benches, lighthouse, etc) to attract certain types of villagers (lazy, jock, snooty, normal, and more). Also you have to ensure the town is beautiful by planting trees and flower, and weeding.


Don't forget to build up your home! Besides appealing those who live in your town, you're able to expand your home and decorate it with different types of furniture. There are different sets you can collect (alpine, royal, princess are a few). Your home even gets rated by the Happy Homes Association where you're awarded trophies or other prizes the higher your rank goes up.


Don't worry you can always visit the island if you need a break from being mayor to go on different tours. There are also tournaments in town where you can show off your different skills. Villagers might play hide-and-seek with you. Holidays are cause for more events.


There's so much to do!
  
The Waiting Song
The Waiting Song
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fosters understanding in children to those that are different to them. (3 more)
Lovely illustrations
Catchy song
Teaches ALL children how to share
There is music supplied for the tune of the song, but if you can't read music, you're going to find it difficult!! (0 more)
A lovely little book which not only gives the autistic child advice on how to wait their turn, but also explains to the non-autistic child that everyone is different and there are some children who need help at learning how to share. The illustrations are bold and colourful, and I'm sure that the children in my setting would be just as keen to name the animals as to listen to the story. The song is simple and catchy, and I know that after a few times of reading it together, we would have children singing along.

In the past, we have used an egg timer to illustrate to children how long they can play with a toy before they should pass it along (for those who do not understand the "when you've finished, could you please give it to X"). I could see that for some of those children that this could be a possible tool as well. It's always good to add another string to your, and their, bow!!

I received this book free for an unbiased review through NetGalley and publisher.