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Passengers (2016)
Passengers (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Not as Bad as the Critics Said
Passengers works for me largely in part due to the great chemistry between Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Their relationship is believable, real. Exactly what I would expect from two people stuck in a space paradise together. I try to avoid words like "sizzle" and "spice" when describing onscreen pairings, but it's 7:30pm on a Tuesday night and I have folded clothes to put away. So....Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence absolutely sizzle onscreen together! Free from the inhibitions of watching eyes the duo adds real spice to the film's flavor. Yep, that just happened. No regrets. Yolo.

I was surprised by how solid the film was from beginning to end. The mark of a great movie for me is consistency throughout, the same measure I use to judge a good key lime pie. Passengers kept me engaged for its entirety without managing to overstay its welcome. It's funny in parts while being touching in others. Overall the pace works.

The special effects were also impressive. The inside of the ship where most of the story takes place is a carnival of sights. Its futuristic yet a familiar touch of home at the same time. The recesses of space were captured in brilliant fashion. As main character Jim Preston (Pratt) goes exploring the expanse, you start to realize just how small and lonely he must feel in comparison.

When Preston awakens on a craft headed for another planet, he realizes the ship pulled him from hibernation too soon. It isn't long before he is joined by Aurora Lane (Lawrence) who has to help him figure out why the ship woke them up early before things go terribly wrong.

The only thing holding this film back from being great as opposed to "just ok" is implausibility. There are quite a few things that happen, both from a scientific standpoint and plot advancement standpoint, that may leave you scratching your head a bit. This film falls victim at times of trying to take shortcuts. However, if you can suspend your disbelief for just long enough and turn a blind eye, you won't be disappointed.

Some films are reviewed badly because they're...well...bad. Other films fall victim to what I call Pile-On: A few critics from the "In Crowd" don't like it so everyone else is supposed to hate it as well (see The Hitman's Bodyguard). I think Passengers suffer from the latter. See it. It won't change your life, but a great way to spend two hours nonetheless. I give it a 73.
  
The Burning (1981)
The Burning (1981)
1981 | Horror
Amazing SFX by Tom Savini (2 more)
One of the best camp slashers
A great killer before the likes of Jason, Myers and Freddy
Welcome to Camp... Oh who gives a shit... Let's get on with the killing
This has got to be one of my favorite and top 5 first watch in a relationship films of all time.
Not for the squeamish at all. The Burning has some of the best post CGI kill effects... And personally I love practical effects, nothing destroys a good beheading like digitized blood flying around out of sync with the body dropping.
Effects Master Tom Savini was fresh off the original Friday the 13th when he landed this flick.
A few years into the past the kids of a summer camp decide to pull a prank on the asshole caretaker involving a skull all dolled up with maggots, worms and burning eyes for effect. They sneak it into his dilapidated cabin, where he is sleeping off a drunk, and proceed to bang on his windows shaking him awake and scaring the hell out of hum. In his flailing fear he knocks the skull onto a pile of blankets and his hanging curtains and the whole place goes up in flames... As does he... His name is Cropsey... And he is engulfed in fire. The kids run like hell to get away as Cropsey flies out the door, rolls down a hill and ends up in the lake. Now I'm no doctor, never claim to be and certainly have never played one on tv, but in my imagination dirty lake water and freshly burnt skin do not a good combination make.
We skip ahead a few years and Cropsey is released from the hospital and goes into the downtown core of wherever the hell he is, searching for something. Wearing a trenchcoat and an old fedora over his scars. He picks up a hooker and goes to her place. She gets him to take off his clothes and recoils in horror. He grabs a pair of scissors and exacts revenge.
Without giving more away. You can see where this is going. A slash and gash festival unlike anything is about to follow. Starring a few familiar faces such as Seinfeld's Jason Alexander, Short Circut's Fisher Stevens and a young Holly Hunter in what I imagine was their first big breaks in film. This movie offers the viewer a glimpse of things to come in the slasher sub-genre of horror.
It's worth it alone of the scene in the canoe... What is that you may ask... Watch The damned movie and find out...lol
  
40x40

Rachel King (13 KP) rated Masquerade in Books

Feb 11, 2019  
M
Masquerade
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this novel by the end of it. The beginning is a bit slow and dry, as Moser sets up the background information and almost struggles to get the reader to "side" with the main character Charlotte Gleason by using her maid's voice to excuse Charlotte's "spoiled rich girl" behavior. I really have a hard time buying the lines that Charlotte really is a good person even though she chooses to be naive about the world she lives in because she feels helpless to enact change. But what happens to her family to force her to travel to America is just the thing to wake her up to the real world and her own responsibilities in it.
I feel much more sympathetic to Dora Conners' plight, as she has little to no say in her life and what Charlotte forces on her, even if it does seem to benefit Dora in theory. To be forced into a position in which she has to lie about who she is and where she is from by her "boss" is atrocious, no matter how much a "friendship" has been built between them. In addition, the endgame is that she is expected to give of her own body to a man in marriage who does not even know who she really is - it's completely shameful.
The parallel way that the story is told once the girls get to America is quite interesting, especially how their paths intersect in seemingly coincidental ways, such as the sweat shop where Charlotte works temporarily manufacturing the clothes that Dora orders from the Tremaine's department store. The more that Charlotte suffers and the guiltier she feels for the lies she has told and has also forced on Dora makes me like her more for the maturation in character she experiences.
In contrast, I have a hard time blaming Dora for the choices she has to make while living in the Tremaine household given her circumstances. She was made to come to this place and perform to certain expectations, and she has no backup plan should she decide to do otherwise. The guilt she feels despite her lack of personal choice in the matter only make her more likeable to the reader. Given where she is from and what is being handed to her, there are not many who would fault her for going along with the "masquerade."
In the end, the goal of both girls is true love over financial stability, and since I am a romantic at heart, I can't help but approve of the ending.
  
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018)
The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Drama
Good, But Was Hoping For More
The plot is exactly what the title entails: A man who settles down in a small town after killing Hitler is called back into action years later one last time…to kill bigfoot. You may love it, you may hate it, but you won’t be able to knock its originality. Ten minutes in and it didn’t take me long to figure out I was watching something I had never seen before.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 10
From the beginning, you will be focused on this movie as it grabs your attention immediately. You find yourself wondering, What exactly is this man doing? I loved the intrigue to start, hooks you in right away. You also quickly learn that Calvin Barr (Sam Elliott) is nothing to be trifled with. You get to see his first taste of action and it’s fun to watch.

Characters: 10
Calvin isn’t that hard to figure out. He kicks ass and takes names and gives zero shits about it. He’s the kind of guy you can get behind. He’s hardened by the things he has seen, causing him to shell up into himself. Life experiences, man. They have a way of shaping people.

Cinematography/Visuals: 9

Conflict: 8

Genre: 4
I can’t rate this any higher because I don’t think the movie ever really decided what it wanted to be. Sometimes action, sometimes drama there is a mix here that puts it in a weird place. I would be fine with it if it did one or the other exceptionally well, but I feel like it missed the boat in some spots, just shy of being a really solid movie.

Memorability: 9
Hate it or love it, this is a movie you won’t soon forget. I expected to get short-changed when it came to the bigfoot, but, no, you get to see the creature in all its glory. And what a creature! Definitely an interesting spin on the mythical beast. It’s imagery like this that really has a way of sticking out in my mind.

Pace: 9

Plot: 8

Resolution: 2

Overall: 79
I’m mad because I wanted this to be better than just a “Folding Clothes” movie. It’s good, but falls just short of great unfortunately. I think a little more tonal direction and a better ending could have put it in the range of a classic. Alas, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot is just ok.
  
Forced into deception by the Earl of Plimmwald, will Avelina be able to keep up the facade of being his daughter Lady Dorothea?

The king has ordered Reinhart, the new Margrave of Thornbeck to marry. Knowing he can not deny the king, Lord Thornbeck summons the ten women the king has chosen as suitable matches. For two weeks he plans to test these women to find the most noble lady among them, and choose her as his bride. Little does he know that not all of the ladies presented to him are truly born of nobility. When Avelina arrives at Thornbeck castle, masquerading as Lady Dorothea, she is convinced she will be found out. However as the days pass, she finds it easier to pretend to be a lady, instead of the maidservant she truly is. She has two goals: To make sure no one discovers that she is a servant, and to keep Lord Thornbeck from choosing her as his bride. For if her secret is revealed, destruction and ruin will be brought upon Avelina and her family.

The Beautiful Pretender is "Happily Ever After" at its finest! Melanie Dickerson has a beautiful gift for bringing classic fairy tales to life in an incredibly new and different way. Every page is filled with beautiful descriptions of the castle, clothes, grounds and lifestyle of the medieval times. These fairy tales (and especially Avelina's story) are much more realistic than the Disney adaptations (however I am addicted to fairy tales in general), and makes me feel like these stories could have actually happened. The Beautiful Pretender will have you biting your nails from the first page and there are plenty of suspenseful moments that will keep you turning those pages until you can not keep your eyes open any longer! (Yes, I say this from experience...) This story is such a lovely romance. Seeing in our characters something that I believe we can all identify with, the desire to be wanted and loved for who we are. And we must never forget the One who loves us more than anyone ever could. He who loves us exactly as we are, regardless of our heritage and in spite of our imperfections. Never forget that as a son or daughter of our Lord, you are royalty.

I received a free copy of The Beautiful Pretender from Thomas Nelson Publishers through Book Look Bloggers in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
  
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

Kimberly Rae draws attention to the ongoing trafficking of children in India in her young adult novel <i>Capturing Jasmina</i>. Jasmina was only ten when her father sold both her and her brother Samir to a man promising safety and good education. In reality the siblings end up in a sweatshop slaving over clothes to be sold in America. After three years they manage to escape only to be trafficked a second time. Eventually Jasmina and Samir are separated and Jasmina becomes a street kid.

Whilst living on the streets Jasmina encounters a Christian missionary, Asha, rescuing women from brothels by either offering them a safe place to live or at the very least spiritually, by teaching them about God and Jesus. Intrigued Jasmina follows Asha who then offers to help her too. After having her childhood robbed from her, it seems like Jasmina, with the help of those who trust in God, will get back on her feet again.

Despite being a short novel, Rae paints a contrasting image to what the western world is used to. Jasmina finds the concept of a simple toilet baffling. It is not until you hear or see what is happening to innocent people in other parts of the world that you realize there are so many things in life you take for granted.

<i>Capturing Jasmina</i> emphasizes how difficult it is to escape once trafficked. In these situations people belong to everyone but themselves. They have no freedom and running away can cause more problems than it solves. The novel also shows what Christians can do to help. Although no one can completely solve the problems, the tiniest piece of aid they can provide is a step in the right direction.

It was slightly disappointing that we do not find out what happened to Samir once he was separated from his sister. Jasmina’s first person narrative makes it clear that what she wants most is to be reunited with her family. In a way, although there is a positive ending, not yet finding her brother makes it clear that there cannot always be happy endings. It is not possible to save everyone.

Written from a young teenagers point of view makes this book suitable for ages twelve and older. Christians will appreciate the biblical references however there is not too much religion for non-believers or those of other religions to get offended by.
  
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