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Ronyell (38 KP) rated Return to Oz (1985) in Movies
Jul 24, 2020
Now I have a confession to make. Whenever I talked to people who have seen "Return to Oz" when they were little, many people were terrified of this movie when they were kids. Me however, I wasn't that scared of the movie when I was little and I actually found it to be pretty interesting and I still find it pretty interesting to this very day! This movie has actually turned my expectations on its head as it is a much darker sequel to "The Wizard of Oz" that has caused some controversy among "Oz" fans and yet, it was pulled off extremely well to make it stand out from "The Wizard of Oz." The surprising thing about all this is that this was the most faithful adaptation of L. Frank Baum's "Oz" books in terms of tone, even though "The Wizard of Oz" is hailed as one of the greatest movies of all time. What I really loved about this movie was the fact that it was darker and edgier than "The Wizard of Oz" and the villains in this movie seem genuinely threatening and are actually out to harm Dorothy and her friends. Probably my favorite scenes in this movie were any scenes with the Nome King as he seems to be friendly towards Dorothy and her friends, but you can tell that he has some evil intentions up his sleeves and he actually means to trick Dorothy into a sense of security in order to manipulate her throughout her adventures. I loved the new friends that Dorothy makes along the way, especially Tik-Tok and Jack Pumpkinhead as they were truly original and fun to see on screen.
Parents should know that this movie can be pretty terrifying for small children. There are many scenes where Dorothy and her friends are in constant peril and are in danger of being killed by the villains. Also, there are some genuinely scary scenes such as the scene where Dorothy accidentally wakes up a headless Princess Mombi, who tries to capture Dorothy and the scenes with the Wheelers. Parents might want to screen this movie first before showing it to their children. Also, the reason why I took off half a point from the rating was because the movie can get pretty confusing at times and it was hard for me to follow what exactly happened in the plot at times.
Overall, "Return to Oz" is a truly enjoyable film that "Oz" fans would enjoy extremely well! However, this movie can get pretty scary at times, so watch this film with extreme caution.
Originally posted on: http://surrealmoviesandtvblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/movie-review-return-to-oz-1985.html
"One way or another someone was going to get eaten alive here, Rose realized. She'd be damned if it was her."
I'm a sucker for boarding school stories, but this one did not live up to the promised hype for me. It grew on me a small bit by the end, but when I say this is a slow burning tale, I mean SLOW. I was incredibly tempted to "DNF" this book, but stuck with it, skimming or fast reading portions of it. The big twist, so to speak, doesn't come until halfway through (55% in fact). At that point, we have sat through lots of classics lessons and pontificating about Caldonbrae and gotten to know a lot of girls at the school.
Although, "getting to know" is probably generous, as there's a lack of character development throughout most of MADAM. There are a variety of girls at Caldonbrae thrust upon us, but I found it nearly impossible to keep many of them straight. (It doesn't help that the UK version of schooling is hard to follow, with thirds, fourths, and more tossed about, but rarely ages. Woe to us idiotic Americans!)
We know little about Rose, are offered a scarce backstory, and pieces about her father that are supposed to form her personality seem tossed in haphazardly. Instead she drove me crazy with her dithering and inability to make decisions. Most of the time I just wanted to shake her. She was in an impossible situation, perhaps, but she seemed unable to grasp anything for much of the book, or realize the seriousness of her circumstances.
I think MADAM was going for ominous and creepy--everything building up to its explosive ending (which is hinted at in the beginning pages), but it falls short. Instead, it seems more annoying and perplexing. When the twist is revealed, it's an interesting one, yes, but I couldn't help but question it, wonder how such a thing could be sustainable. MADAM just couldn't keep up the eerie tone it was trying for.
There's definite storytelling potential here, and I did find myself somewhat attached to a few of the girls by the end, when things pick up slightly. MADAM tries to align the classics (think tales of Medea and Antigone and such) with its boarding school girls, but often the tacked on tales of these mythical and classical women feel like unnecessary, added on pieces. It reaches too high, trying for a feminist angle, but falls short, with a fast ending that cannot possibly live up to all those classical, high-reaching aims.
"...she wondered how an establishment that promised to educate 'girls of the world' could somehow make its women feel so small."
Overall, there's a lot going on in MADAM, but it just didn't gel for me. I couldn't root for Rose for most of the novel, and the classic pieces inserted into the plot didn't work. There were sparks I enjoyed, but overall, this wasn't a favorite. 2.5 stars.

Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Fast & Furious 9 (2021) in Movies
Jun 24, 2021
- Glossy locations, fast cars and beautiful women: the usual Fast stuff.
- When the stunts are "real", they are good and exciting. But it's often difficult to tell when there's been a 'computer-assist'.
Negatives:
- I complained in my review for "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" about it having a childish and ludicrous plot. This movie makes that look like bl***y Shakespeare! There's an attempt to add a smidgen of family tension into the mix, based on Dom's childhood trauma. But aside from that element, the 'story' (I use the term in its loosest possible sense) bounces (without any rational logic most of the time) from ludicrous situation to ludicrous situation without pause. Most of these are linked by Ramsey (the very British Nathalie Emmanuel) stating a random fact such as "Well, now he's going to need to launch a satellite". And off we go again. (That particular crazy story arc even sees them 'doing a Musk' and flying a car into space: I kid you not!)
- It's not even the 'big stuff' that's unbelievable. Everywhere you look, there are inconsistencies and things that don't make sense.
-- Tej (played by Ludicris - an appropriate name here) takes dodging a brigade worth of machine gun bullets to nonsensical limits.
-- Generally, the cast gets blasted, dropped, crashed, burned, and otherwise put through more fatal situations than you can imagine, only to walk out without a scratch.
-- And if you can show me a single delivery lorry in Edinburgh that has an automatic gearbox, I'll be amazed!
- At one point, Roman (Tyrese Gibson) mutters some line about "Trusting in the physics and the numbers". Well, let me tell you, it's like no physics that I studied on this planet. A lot of the set pieces involve huge magnets attached to trucks and cars. Now - correct me if I'm wrong - but if you turn a massive magnet on in a truck then as well as ripping the car you are chasing through the adjacent building (as if), you will also force the truck to be pulled into that building too. OK, perhaps not as much.... but the lorry ain't going to stay in its driving lane, I know that much! And magnets attract metal - they don't repel it!
- At 145 minutes, this is well over 2 hours of my life I will never get back.
Summary Thoughts on "F9": It's just such a formulaic and contrived piece of fluff that it makes me cross that they can spend $200,000 on a movie and not make it better. Part of this involves the lazy use of CGI to create obviously nonsensical stunts that devalue true action films. Yes, the stunt team was busy, and impressive, here - but always going for "one better" has led to extensive use of CGI. That's why I liked the 2014 'knock-off' film "Need for Speed" - - at least they did all their stunts old-school, in camera, and not in the computer.
But whatever I say here, this movie will unfortunately get its audience. At the time of writing, it's already made nearly $300K at the box office on its $200K budget. Which means there will inevitably be an F10, no doubt involving a driving battle on the planet Mars. Sigh.
By the way, before you dive for the exits to relieve your bladder (it is 145 minutes after all), there is a mid-credits scene that re-introduces an old favourite.
(For the full graphical review, please check out the One Mann's Movies review here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/06/24/f9-magnetic-bullst-that-will-no-doubt-attract-fast-fans/. Thanks).

Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Please Fix the Teleporter in Tabletop Games
Jan 25, 2021
Please Fix the Teleporter is a quick real-time action/dexterity card game for 1-4 players, but in this preview I will be tackling it as a solo experience. In it players are teleportation specialists charged with repairing a malfunctioning teleportation beam that is displaying strange mix-and-match features of the two persons attempting to board the craft. By matching the images on the display six times the Captain and his quarry can board safely and in one piece.
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a prototype copy of this game for the purposes of this review. These are preview copy components, and I do not know for sure if the final components will be any different from these shown. You are invited to back the game through the Kickstarter campaign,or through any retailers stocking it after fulfillment. -T
To setup for a solo game choose one color of body part tiles and place them in front of the player. Shuffle the deck of scrambled cards and deal six face-down. Have a timer handy (Alexa, Siri, or Google also work well) and the game may begin!
Gameplay is simple: flip over one card, match the card with the body tiles to recreate the image and then flip over the next card. Repeat these steps until all six cards have been matched and then stop the timer. Based on the table on the back of the rulesheet the player may determine how well they fared. For example, the highest score that may be achieved is five stars, which is earned by completing the game in under 30 seconds.
Once the game is over, the player will most certainly wish to play again, so multiple games may be played in order to earn that glorious five star rating.
Multiplayer rules are almost exactly the same except instead of dealing six cards at the beginning, the first player to match and claim five cards will be the winner.
Components. This game is a bunch of cards and four tiles per player. The cards are nice squares and the tiles are chunky cardboard. What sets this game apart for me is the art style. The art here, as you have seen, is so crazy and wonky and I just love it! The colors used are some of my favorites and it just looks amazing on the table. I have zero complaints for components and art.
Gameplay is similarly loved. This one is so quick and easy that anyone can play and be great at it. It takes mere seconds to teach and each player will want to play more and more, even the solo player. I cannot really comment on strategy, as this game really doesn’t lend itself to any sort of strategic play. It is a free-for-all to match the cards and move on to the next. I like being frantic.
So if you are at all like me and love these little “refreshers,” as I like to call them, check this one out. It will fit perfectly between two heavy hitters to refresh the players for the next game. Or will perfectly balance your night of solo play. Are you into theme nights? I am. What a great addition to an outer space themed game night! Quick and easy with excellent art. This one is a winner, even if I never manage to actually fix the dang teleporter.

Natacha (374 KP) rated Kings of the Wyld in Books
Sep 29, 2019
Kings of the Wyld is a "getting out of retirement of one last job" story. A band of five getting back together to save the daughter of one of them. The story is very well written, action-packed with a touch on humour here and there.
Things I liked:
-All the characters are very well written. They all have their own unique voice, personality and they offer something different to the band as well as the story.
-The relationships between all the characters are well crafted. By the end, you know and feel how close this band is and how much they love each other.
-I generally adore when an action/adventure book or movie has just a hint of comic relief without going overboard and turning it into stupid moments. And the author knows exactly when and where to add this little moment of humour to make you laugh without turning the story into ridicule. Love, love that!
-You never get bored. There is always something happening, twists and turns and obstacles being thrown to our heroes, without the story getting repetitive.
-They weren't a lot of twists and most were obvious but one of them I didn't see it coming. Maybe if I had paid more attention I could have seen it coming but I didn't so I was quite surprised.
-The final battle. I spend the entire book wondering how 5 guys will manager to fight a whole army. And the answer wasn't something that I was expecting and it was epic! Maybe with some clichés, like the "final speech to get people to follow you", but they were all so well done!
Things I didn't like:
-The fantasy world contains EVERY creature ever mentioned in fantasy, folk stories, and mythologies. From dragons and orcs to merpeople to vampires and werewolves. Which is amazing and interesting but... because there are so many creatures mentioned some of them are not described maybe because we should know how they look (?) and if you add all the author places and his own fantasy creature some time I got confused and overwhelmed and didn't necessarily know what kind of creature the author is talking about and I couldn't picture the scene properly in my mind.
-Magic has no rules. Which I don't really mind but.... [Spoiler] at some point it was used in a way that kind of put me off. Towards the end, our primary MC loses his hand and I liked the fact that the author didn't shy away from injuring his character but... this was fixed a chapter later with a magic potion that just made his hand grow back. What? Why? And this is where a draw the line on the "magic with no rules". Don't use random magic as a way to "fix" your character because you didn't want them to be hurt after all! Scars are witness to our own story and our past. Those guys went through a crazy adventure they should have scares and injuries, so if one of them loses his hand during a battle why go back on that a chapter later with a convenient magic potion. I was quite mad about that part but it was just a minor part of the story.
Despite a couple of tiny details, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. It was one of the best books I've read so far this year.
The review can also be found here: https://natachainreviewland.wordpress.com/2019/09/29/king-of-the-wyld-by-nicholas-eames/

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~~> Be ready for Halloween when you get your full costume and makeover done! ~~> Use the spooky...