Amy Norman (1042 KP) rated Legion - Season 3 in TV
May 7, 2020
It had the slow and steady pace that quietly draws you in, whilst also being completely fantastical, and leaves you wondering what exactly is going on, or where it will lead.
I loved the new combinations, of what I will deem 'teams', and the deep dive into David's past was completely disarming - this becomes more apparent, and relevant, throughout this season.
I read as little as I could about the original Legion, so I had a lot of 'lightbulb' moments throughout this season, but you don't need to be a comic book geek to follow the story.
I found that I had fallen out of love with a couple of the characters, and some of them had less screen time than I would have expected too.
It felt like a bit of a dirge, marching towards the end but this intentionally added to the weight, and severity of the overall arc.
There were still some sweet comedic moments amongst the dark and twisted tone though.
Overall, I was still rooting for a few of the characters and was glad to see them fulfilled in varying ways.
However, I think this was a fitting end to their journey, and I would be happy if it was left as it is now.
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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The More you Ignore me in Books
Feb 20, 2022
Book
The more you ignore me
By Jo Brand
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Celebrity obsession, coming of age and cow shit - an hilarious, poignant and darkly comic novel by the Queen of Comedy.
Alice is a young girl growing up in a dysfunctional family in Herefordshire in the 1980s. Her mother is suffering a mental illness - she is on medication, is put away in an institution, but constantly escapes - while her father, Keith, very sweetly, tries to keep everything together. His in-laws, the Wildgooses, are a bunch of reckless, lawless country bumpkins and can offer very little help or sensible advice, preferring instead to remain in the pub or to use a shotgun to solve life's little problems. The only thing that gives meaning and hope to Alice as she makes her way through childhood, school and teenage trauma is her obsession with the singer Morrissey of The Smiths. She is desperate to see The Smiths at a live gig, but somehow her family always manages to derail her plans. Gradually her mother begins to share her fascination with the rock god and his presence in their lives goes someway to healing her and repairing her relationship with her long-suffering daughter.
This was really good! It was funny and darkly so. It follows the life of a young girl dealing with the effects her mothers mental illness has on her and her father. It’s has a dark underlay that as someone who struggles mentally I can relate too. So much better than I was expecting.
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) in Movies
Jul 19, 2017 (Updated Apr 16, 2021)
The tone is another issue I have with the movie, it is fairly inconsistent throughout and never reaches the level of threat that it is aiming for. However, this is through no fault of the cast or the performances. MacAvoy and Fassbender stand out here as you would expect, their relationship also remains one of the most interesting parts of the plot. Isaacs’ performance is also suitably threatening and sinister, the only thing lacking in his character other than the odd design choice, is how short he is next to the other mutants. He doesn’t have to be huge like in the comics and cartoons, but making him a little bit more physically imposing with clever camera tricks would have went a long way in adding to the character. Jennifer Lawrence is fine here as usual and young Cyclops and Jean Grey are perfectly serviceable, although Sophie Turner’s American accent does come and go in certain scenes. Even Peters is typically brilliant as Quicksilver and the actress who plays Storm here is also pretty convincing, as is the young English actor who plays Angel. Nightcrawler is a welcome addition to the roster as I feel that he has been criminally underused since the second X Men movie and his power set is definitely one of the most interesting in all of the X Men movies, also the actor playing him here does a good job throughout the film. However the same can’t be said for Olivia Munn who plays Psylocke in this movie, I have disliked this actress in every role I have seen her in to date and the same goes for this one, she brings nothing to the movie and she constantly has a resting bitch face that suggests she doesn’t want to be there.
Like Civil War, X Men wasn’t anything like the comic it was based on and we didn’t get what we expected, but what we did end up getting was fresh and entertaining in it’s own right, so it’s okay that the film plots aren’t 100% faithful to the source material and that is something that Singer has been preaching since he made the first X Men movie back in 2001, which incidentally wasn’t based on any comic book and was a totally original plot. Also I love how because of the alternate timeline they are now free to do whatever they want in terms of the timing of certain events. For example, (and this is a slight spoiler, but the movie has been out for a while now so deal with it,) the Phoenix Force makes an appearance in this movie, which typically isn’t something that Jean Grey acquires until later in her life. Also the fact that we saw Wolverine escaping from Weapon X again, (again spoilers but this was in the trailers anyway so again, deal with it,) was awesome and this time we saw him being broken out by the young X Men and this time he had the comic book accurate electric headgear on while he escaped and I also loved how we saw him interact with young Jean Grey and regain some of his memories. This could also could be a change in the timeline caused by the butterfly effect as a result of the events of Days Of Future Past. This would also explain why the Magneto/Quicksilver, father/son relationship has never been discussed before, because if Apocalypse never awakened in the original X Men trilogy, then Quicksilver would have never went to the X Men mansion and therefore wouldn’t have come into contact with his dad during the final battle scene. Also Mystique looks like she is now a member and potential leader of the X Men team, rather than an enemy of the team like she was in the original movies when she was played by Rebecca Romjin. The other big change in the timeline is the death of Magneto’s family and even the fact that he had a wife and another child besides Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch.
Overall I really enjoyed this movie, however I can also see why some people would take a disliking to it, as it does require a good amount of previous knowledge of the universe, but as an X Men fan, I loved it. Also another criticism I have read is that people aren’t happy with the length of the film, stating that it is too long and it drags in, but I actually thought the pacing was spot on. Anyway as an X Men fan, I loved my time would this movie and I look forward to seeing it again and I’d recommend it to anyone who is a mutant superhero fan.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Batman Begins (2005) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
The act will forever scar the younger Wayne, and will install and fuel a dark fire to stop crime and corruption wherever they may be. Fast forward years later and Bruce (Christian Bale), is interned in and Asian prison as a result of his desire to stop crime and an unfortunate series of events that made him flee Gotham City to find himself. Hope arrives one day in the form of a visitor named Henri Ducard (Liam Neeson), who arranges not only to free Bruce, but to train him for his destiny.
High atop a rocky, snow-covered peak, Bruce undergoes rigorous physical and mental training to hone his body and mind into the ultimate tool to combat crime. As time passes, Bruce eventually is ready to go out into the world. That is until an unexpected situation arises that forces him to decide which path he wishes to select.
The aftermath of this decision has Bruce returning home to Gotham City, where he is again under the care of the trusted family servant Alfred (Michael Caine), who informs him that crime and corruption is rampant in Gotham because the crime leader Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson), has many members of the police force and judicial system under his influence.
While touring his father’s company, Bruce meets Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), who makes all manners of high-end experimental military weaponry and armor available to Bruce. Inspired, Bruce begins to craft his alter ego Batman, and takes to the nights to disrupt Falcone and the criminal activities in Gotham.
Unknown to Bruce/Batman, an evil villain known as the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), is plotting to destroy Gotham, and with Batman being wanted by the police as a vigilante his attempts to cleanse the city are hindered as Bruce/Batman must fight a war on different fronts.
For most films this would be more than enough plot to carry a summer action film, but for Batman Begins, it is only the setup as the depth of the story is surpassed only by the depth of the intensity and emotion of the film as this is not Tim Burton or Joel Schumacher’s campy takes on the tale of the Dark Knight.
Director Christopher Nolan takes the gloves off and shows that his triumphant work in “Memento” was not a fluke. He has crafted a complex, dark, and emotional film that is more of a drama than a comic book caper. Bale does a masterful job portraying the angst and anger of his character without ever being hammy or over the top. He portrays Wayne as a very normal, yet disturbed soul, who clearly has a method to his madness and is not a shallow once dimensional character. When Bruce is not out fighting crime, he is not above cracking jokes, squiring the ladies about town, and spending time with long time friend (and the one who got away) Rachael Dawes (Katie Holmes).
The film takes many twists and never gets sappy as far too many comic based films do. In fact, the intensity of the film keeps going up until the town literally explodes into frenzy of violence and chaos. Parents should note that this Batman is a very intense film filled with dark images and as such may be too intense for younger viewers as this is a film that is aimed towards a more mature audience.
As I sat through the films nearly two and a half hour running time, I was captivated as the film holds your attention throughout, and is filled with great performances and action. The chase scene with the new Batmobile is one of the best car chase sequences in recent memory and the action scenes move with a crisp and steady pacing. Bale, as I mentioned, does great work, but so do Neeson, Caine and Gary Oldman in a supporting role as Police Officer Gordon. They take supporting characters and infuse them with a touch of humanity that enables them to come across as real people rather than the thin constructs that are far too often passed on as characters in films of this type.
The only real quibble I had with the film, and it is very minor, would be that Holmes was not given a chance to show more to her character other than the duality of the damsel in distress and the passionate Assistant D.A. Her scenes with Bale seem to lack the spark and chemistry of someone who is supposed to have been a close friend of Bruce since they were children.
That being said, the mature nature and gripping and deep storyline, as well as the standout performances and action, make this film a true classic and rivals “Spider-Man” as the best and most faithful adaptation of a comic book.
Christina Haynes (148 KP) rated The Fandom in Books
Mar 26, 2018
By Anna Day
Review: Christina Haynes
Ever loved a story so much that you wanted to jump inside the book and be apart of it. Imagine going to 'comic con' dressed up as your favourite character. Then actually becoming them in their world. Violet her two best friends; Alice and Katie. And her little brother Nate. Arrive at 'comic con' dressed up as their favourite characters from a book/film called 'The Gallows Dance'
Whilst meeting their favourite actors who play the lead characters in the movie, something happened and they get transported into the real Gallows Dance. Only they don't know this until the main character Rose gets killed and Violet who's dressed up as Rose has to take over her role.
So a little information about the Gallows Dance. The Gallows Dance is a book within this book, written by an author called Sally King. The characters in the book are called 'The Imps or the Gems'
The Imps are lower class citizens they live on the streets or in small houses, sealed in the old cities whilst the Gems have the countryside. The Imps don't have much, they are rife with disease and crime, they all look different and not 'what the gems like'
The Gems, however, are PERFECT. They are genetically enhanced to have the perfect body, the perfect mind and life. They live in these perfect houses and have taken over the stately homes and castles all for themselves. They have servants and go to balls almost every day, they stick to only Gems and marry only Gems.
The Gallows Dance is set in a dystopian London but in a very backwards way, for example, the Gallows is where they hang the Imps like they hung people back in the Elizabethan era in Tyburn, where they would hang 'Witches' The clothing is similar to this (well this is how I imaged it anyway) of course things are more like now, with the landmarks, but its all very backwards.
In the 'Gallows Dance' Rose is a rebel Imp who wants to with the rebels help, stop all Gems from being 'THE RULERS' and treating Imps like they are the lowest of all humans and that the Gems are the best. She heads into the Gem's world and tries to find out secrets to destroy the Gem government. She does this by working for the Gems as a servant in the Pastures, to gain the secrets about a powerful Gem, Jeremy Harper. She does this by befriending his son Willow Harper. However, Willow falls for Rose and in return, she falls for him. As the story goes on they both run away to which Rose is caught and hanged at the 'Gallows Dance' but not before Willow confesses his love for her. Which puts an end to the 'Gallows Dance' once and for all and everyone will live as one again, no more Imps and Gems. They will simply just be Humans.
But all this won't happen if Violet doesn't complete the story how Rose would of. If Violet does not get Willow to fall for her and follow her to the Gallows. Then they will all be stuck in the book forever and never be able to go home.
So time is ticking for Violet and her friends, they have exactly one week before Rose who's now Violet is due to hang. So Violet had better start learning her lines.
3 ½ – NOT A BAD BOOK / BUT I REALLY LIKED IT