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Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World

Sharon Waxman

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Why are the Elgin Marbles in London and not on the Acropolis? Why do there seem to be as many...

Bellewether

Susanna Kearsley

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

It’s 1759 and the world is at war, pulling the North American colonies of Britain and France into...

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918

Joseph Loconte

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The untold story of how the First World War shaped the lives, faith, and writings of J. R. R....

Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated Pain and Glory (2019) in Movies

Aug 12, 2020

Not Enough Conflict For Me

A director is forced to confront his past when an old flame shows up.

Acting: 10

Beginning: 4

Characters: 10

Cinematography/Visuals: 10
From a cinematic standpoint, I dare call the movie a masterpiece, or this portion of it rather. Love the way the movie unfolds on screen. Regardless of how I feel about the movie as a whole, it is visually beautiful.

Conflict: 2

Entertainment Value: 7

Memorability: 8
This movie is full of poignant cinematic moments that remain etched in your brain. Director Pedro Almodovar has an extreme talent for capturing just the right moment in time that is perfect. It is like watching a beautiful dream unfold.

Pace: 7

Plot: 5
There is a story here, but too often it felt aimless. This was one of the biggest misses for me, the fact that I could never really get a good grasp on where this movie was going. I was hoping for more of an arrowed directive.

Resolution: 6
Decent ending, but again I felt like there was something lacking here. I was hoping for more closure for Salvador (Antonio Banderas) the main character. It didn’t feel like the proper sum to its parts.

Overall: 69
Heartfelt, Pain and Glory certainly means well. I can see what it was trying to do, but I felt like the execution could have been much better. A stronger story most certainly would have sold me.

Kudos

The Search (Across the Great Divide #2)

Michael L. Ross

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Where do you go when home is no longer an option? The guns of the Civil War have ceased firing,...

Historical Fiction Christian Romance

Ross (3284 KP) rated The Scarab Path in Books

Sep 13, 2017

The Scarab Path

Adrian Tchaikovsky | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

5.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

For me, this episode in the Shadows of the Apt series was a real struggle. From a fairly slow, crawl of an opening it barely got moving until the last hundred pages or so. This book is key to the overall series but it really felt like a chore reading it. Che's character development in this book installs her as one of the most important characters in the series, and her link to the new Empress sets up a lot of the conflict to come, but it just felt so dragged out.
A must-read if one is to appreciate the whole series but from a fairly first 4 books this was a definite low.

Kudos

Ross (3284 KP) rated American Horror Story - Season 4 in TV

Apr 2, 2020

Utterly messed up

After a disappointing teen-angst third series, AHS got back to its best in this series. A truly twisted but generally likable cast of misfits interact wonderfully to give a glimpse into the treatment of travelling freakshows in small-town America. The ring-mistress' desire for fame weighed up against the freaks' desire for mere acceptance adds a delicious conflict that bears fruit in every episode. Meanwhile the freaks are being hunted by someone looking to sell their body parts to a museum, and Twisty the clown is getting frustrated with his unwilling audience's lack of appreciation for his terrifying yet mediocre act.
Thrilling, despicable and horrific in equal measure.