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The Mars Room: A Novel

Rachel Kushner

6.3 (3 Ratings) Rate It

Book

From twice National Book Award-nominated Rachel Kushner, whose Flamethrowers was called "the best,...

Nanban: Japanese Soul Food

Tim Anderson

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Nanban: Japanese Soul Food is an exploration of southern Japanese cookery focused on authentic yet...

Virtual Villagers 5

Games and Entertainment

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App

Virtual Villagers: New Believers is the fifth chapter in the award-winning Virtual Villagers series...

Ethical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965-2009

Zachary M. Schrag

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

University researchers in the United States seeking to observe, survey, or interview people are...

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies (1999) in Movies

Oct 6, 2020

Alternative/goth female lead? Check. Atrocious CGI? Check. Casual homophobic slurs? Check. We are deep into shitty 90s straight-to-video territory here.

Wishmaster 2 is a big step down from the first film in almost every way. In its defense, it had a pretty small budget, but Christ it looks cheap. All of the characters are boring and under-developed, the lead character is somehow more irritating than the girl from the first Wishmaster, some of the acting on display is pretty horrific and the sound mix is just all over the place.
I found myself forgetting the general plot as I was watching it - what the fuck was that Russian gangster side plot all about?

If there are some positives to take from Wishmaster 2 (and believe me, there aren't many) then the best one is obviously Andrew Divoff, returning as The Djinn. He hams it up a storm, and provides the only entertainment value this movie has to offer. I will also say that the make up work on his demonic form looks pretty good.
Aside from that, there are a couple of good gore scenes, the guy forcing himself through the prison bars is a particularly gratuitous and bloody moment and the practical effects are decent enough, it's just that these fleeting moments of something resembling quality are few and far between. There's also a bit where a guy contorts his body to literally fuck himself, so there's that...

Overall then, Wishmaster 2 is pretty crap, which is a shame, as the flawed but entertaing first movie showed some franchise potential. Can't wait to put myself through Wishmaster 3 and 4....

Kudos

Kristina (502 KP) rated Ten Below Zero in Books

Dec 7, 2020

Ten Below Zero

Whitney Barbetti | 2014 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Contains spoilers, click to show

I'm going to be brutally honest. Throughout the first several chapters of this book, I was only mildly interested. Parker is so negative and closed off, I almost quit reading - I've had experience with that before and reading her thoughts were just too much for me. But I stuck with it, even if hearing about Everett's problem almost made me bow out. I felt like things finally picked up around the time both Everett and Parker left for their trip. Considering how well they get along, all I could do was imagine how entertaining things would be; I was not disappointed! It's crazy, because even though I enjoyed the story and became marginally more interested when they traveled together, I can only describe my interest as casual, at best. A lot of that, I do believe, had to do with how I assumed the book would end. I've gotten used to seeing heartache from chapters away, so perhaps I was trying to cushion the blow. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. Now, I didn't ugly cry. But I did shed some tears and felt the emotions deep within my bones. I yearned right along with Parker. Wished and hoped, even though I kept telling myself it was probably futile. Reading the Divergent series, the Bright Side, and Me Before You has hardened my heart a bit. I don't regret the tears that spilled while reading Ten Below Zero. It made my heart hurt and burst at the same time. I'm equally ecstatic that Whitney releases bonus scenes every few months - I look forward to signing up and reading more, especially from Everett's point of view.