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Juliet, Naked (2018)
Juliet, Naked (2018)
2018 | Comedy, Drama, Musical
Not up to Nick Hornby’s usual standards
Nick Hornby’s books are marvellous, so adapting them into films is an obvious choice for getting a sure fire hit (a la About a Boy). However sadly this doesn’t quite work for Juliet, Naked.

The plot itself is fine, fairly interesting yet doesn’t appears to be very in depth and i feel like there’s probably a lot missing in this that was in the book. It’s a good idea, just not very well executed and a little dull. It tries for humour but isn’t particularly funny and the romance side is a little lacking too sadly. I’ve always liked Ethan Hawke and he’s good in this but perhaps a little underused, and Rose Byrne is good but her accent is definitely a bit dodgy! Not too sure what was going on with Chris O’Dowd though, I’m not his biggest fan anyway but I found him particularly irritating in this but that may have just been his character. It’s a shame really that this film appears to be lacking all of the usual magic you’d see with Nick Hornby. Think I’ll just go read the book.
  
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
2015 | Action
Enjoyable
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is not quite as good as its predecessor, but still manages to serve up some good fun. Set moments after the first, Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) and his crew end up at a rescue facility where Thomas suspects strange things are happening. What Thomas ultimately finds is far more than what he expected.

Acting: 9
Dylan O'Brien is a rising star in my book. His role requires a strong mix of emotions and he carries out each without flaw. He seems to work with what he's given, never trying to overdo it. I appreciate the intensity he brings to the screen. I also appreciated the solid efforts from the supporting cast as well.

Beginning: 9

Characters: 10

Cinematography/Visuals: 7
The special effects throughout the film were superb. The "cranks" reminded me of the World War Z zombies, just terrifying once they got rolling. Their horde attacks made me grip my seat a few times. And that sewer scene. Oh man, the sewer...

Personal favorite scene: The tilted building scene. If you haven't seen the film yet, I won't ruin it by saying anything else other than very nicely done. Not only is it great to look at, but also very unique.

Conflict: 7

Genre: 10

Memorability: 7

Pace: 8

Plot: 6

Resolution: 5

Overall: 78
Not a life changing movie by any means, but definitely worth a watch for some solid action.
  
Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, #1)
Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, #1)
Jack Campbell | 2006 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
While I doubt this novel is going to win any awards for literature, I have to say that it is a good enough read: not brilliant, but not terrible either.

Written by a ex-navy man, it's easy to see the influnece of his career in the pages: this is 'real' science-fiction, not science-fantasy, with the space battles obeying the laws of physics as we know them. The plot outline is also somewhat remniscient of the new series of BattleStar Galactica, with a smaller rag-tag force being chased by a numerically superior foe. Ironically, this book was first released at around the same time as that series came on TV, with (in this edition) the author claiming that that WAS NOT an inspiration (in the interview at the end), as if he'd been thinking of BSG it woud've been the older series.

With the way the book opens I must also admit that, at first, I thought I'd missed something: the best corollary I can think of is as if the film Aliens (that's the one with the 'S') had started without the whole prologue of them finding Ripleys life pod: you'd be able to infer what had happened, but would be feeling a bit lost at first.