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Justice League (2017)
Justice League (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure
Wonder Woman is nice to look at. (0 more)
Superman's upper lip is horrendous due to poor CGI removal of his filmed mustache. (0 more)
Justice Beer League
Contains spoilers, click to show
What should have been an epic film for the decade fell flat on many levels. I got burned out with the whole superhero theme a while back. So I may have brought a little heat into the burning fire.
They took nearly 4 hours of a film and cut into barely 2 hours. Imagine the editing room floor for just a moment. So much was cut in this movie and seemed so choppy. You can see the edits that most try to hide. The bad guy of the film looked straight out of a cartoon. Which wouldn't be bad if everyone else wasn't portrayed to be a real life character.
It's a good popcorn family flick but for fanboys who have waited years for this movie will be greatly saddened.
  
Clara (Stories of Lorst #1)
Clara (Stories of Lorst #1)
Suzanna J. Linton | 2013 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Clara (Stories of Lorst #1) by Suzanna J. Linton
Clara is a young girl of ten when we first meet her, enjoying her last day of freedom although she doesn't realise that. Her life is about to change for the worst, but there is also a spark of hope in the form of Emmerich, a gypsy boy she meets. Clara loses many things, including her voice, during her trials and tribulations but it looks like her life is changing for the better when she meets Emmerich again. Is everything as it seems, or has Emmerich changed in ways too many to be ignored?

This is a well-written historical fantasy with a hint of romance. With good guys doing bad things, bad guys turning over new leaves (possibly), plus evil dudes without any form of redemption, this story captured my imagination as I read through.

Well-written and smoothly paced, this was a good, solid book. Definitely recommended.

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
This was truly a weird book, but I don't think it was the strangeness (exactly) that kept me from liking it. Arielle was rather a bore and slightly Mary Sue-ish, while Seth was strange and not quite likable; but most of all, the book was boring. I don't know how with all the convoluted ideas this story had, but it was. With the exception of Shelley and Ethan, I didn't like anyone, and their romance was by far the better one. Too bad it was secondary to Arielle's and Seth's. And even though I like things out of the ordinary, the plot didn't do it for me and was a bit <i>too</i> odd. I'm beginning to think that Colleen Shannon's books are not for me, even though I really enjoy Shelley's character - too bad she's always investigating the supposed main love interests, because she is so much more interesting than they ever are.
  
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Crime
Forgettable
Apart from the first one, I’ve never been particularly enamoured with the Oceans films, so I never really saw the need to make a new one with only women. Sadly after watching it, i still don’t think it was necessary.

The women’s only heist is actually not a bad idea, but it has been poorly executed with a forgettable and dull plot and an only half decent cast. Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett are great, but the rest of the female cast seem barely used and bit parts at best. I adore Richard Armitage but he too was underused. And I simply can’t understand why they cast James Corden, he is one of the most irritating men around. The plot itself isn’t bad but it’s not good either. It’s a bit dull in parts and even the big reveal at the end doesn’t feel particularly smart or flashy revealing. It was all just a bit ‘meh”.
  
Godzilla Vs Hedorah (1971)
Godzilla Vs Hedorah (1971)
1971 | Fantasy
The movie that goes to show that when it comes to allegorical fables about the environment featuring man-in-a-suit monsters, subtlety isn't always necessary. Pollution-spawned jelly-beastie develops various peculiar powers and threatens Japan; Godzilla turns up to deal with it. Is the subtext that we should choose nuclear power over fossil fuels? Unlikely but possible.

Godzilla Vs Hedorah makes itself distinctive amongst the Godzilla films of the early 70s by virtue of its sheer, insidious weirdness, most of it due to Banno's direction: there are sudden switches to black-and-white, split screen sequences, educational segments, and allegorical cartoons. Doesn't stop it being mostly awful, but in a strangely hypnotic way, and it least it's obviously about a serious issue for a change. Possibly most infamous for the sequence where Godzilla uses his atomic breath as rocket thrust to fly with, but much other weirdness is also present. Bad, but very watchably bad.
  
LI
Lust is the Thorn
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second novel I have read from this author and I am not sure if I like her or not yet. Both stories feature tormented men with troubled past and the women who love them. I love a good romance about a man falling in love with his best friend’s sister, but there seemed to be a lot lacking from this novel. I felt that the only conflict was the character’s own hang ups.

I did, however, enjoy the bad girl, good boy dynamic. I am so used to the man being the “bad” one that it was refreshing. Not to mention he was genuinely a good guy. I felt like they deserved each other and helped each other heal.

However, I didn’t particularly care for the story line. There was nothing wrong with it or the author’s writing. I just didn’t care about the characters or their story.
  
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Joe Julians (221 KP) rated Daddy's Home 2 (2017) in Movies

Feb 6, 2018 (Updated Feb 6, 2018)  
Daddy&#039;s Home 2 (2017)
Daddy's Home 2 (2017)
2017 | Comedy
The first Daddy's Home was hardly a comedic masterpiece. It was sub par for the most part and only really borderline enjoyable thanks to a cast that seemed enthusiastic and game to play a part in it. For the sequel, like Bad Mom's (a franchise where it's first movie was actually great) it has decided to bring in the grandparents. That didn't work out well for A Bad Mom's Christmas and it doesn't work for Daddy's Home 2 either.

There's nothing wrong with the performances in this one as such. Nobody is all that great, but they do the best they can with the material. The material however is the problem. This script is dire. It's a comedy without any jokes, a christmas movie without any heart and a family story where almost everyone is unwittingly unlikeable. I can't think of a single joke, a single moment that made me laugh and when a film contains Farrel, Wahlberg, Gibson and Lithgow- that's unforgivable.
  
Escape Room (2017)
Escape Room (2017)
2017 | Horror
2
5.3 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Beyond stupid
Considering this was a straight to dvd/Sky film, I hadn't been expecting much and sadly it delivered even less than that.

I understand why this film has been made as escape rooms are huge at the moment, but this is such a poor attempt at a horror film. It's not scary, and there's no real suspense or nothing to make you care about the characters. There are so many ways they couldve done a horror escape room, and they picked the lamest storyline available. Put that together with a bad script and terrible acting and it makes for a tedious 90 minute watch. It's not even entertainingly bad, it's just awful.


All I can say is that for anyone watching this, please don't let it put you off doing a real escape room. Real escape rooms are really fun and entertaining and pretty challenging, and not in the slightest bit boring like this sorry excuse for a film.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Warlords of Atlantis (1978) in Movies

Feb 20, 2018 (Updated Feb 20, 2018)  
Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
1978 | Action, Sci-Fi
7
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Really-not-bad-considering-what-it-is British fantasy film, from the makers of three other mid-70s Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations - this story is original (well, up to a point). Two-fisted bathyscape engineer and his posh associate discover Atlantis, which is populated by various unexpected character actors, rubber monsters, and also Cyd Charisse (goes to show you never can tell).

Looks slightly more lavish than the three Amicus films; Atlantis bears a suspicious resemblance to Malta (which may give you a clue as to where the location filming was done). Pleasantly tropey plot, occasionally verges on the absurd; rubber monsters (the Zaargs!) are actually not too bad. The giant octopus has a kind of kitsch grandeur to it; somewhat emblematic of the whole movie. In the end it's not exactly written by Shakespeare but highly entertaining if you like this sort of thing; possibly the best of the Connor-McClure fantasy films.