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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Jul 31, 2021  
How awesome is this scrapbook page from author Teddy Jones about West Texas!?! Check it out on my blog, and learn about her women's fiction novel MAKING IT HOME. Enter the giveaway to win a set of all three novels in her Jackson's Pond, Texas-the Series or a copy of her short stories/literary fiction novel Nowhere Near and a $25 Bookshop.org gift card!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/07/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-making-it.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
In this third novel in the Jackson’s Pond, Texas series, fifty-five-year-old Melanie Jackson Banks encounters racism, intolerance, and violence both in her family’s distant past and in current day Jackson’s Pond. She leads family and community efforts to create reconciliation for past wrongs and also to demonstrate strength and defiance in the face of vandalism, cross-burning, domestic violence, threats to Jackson Ranch’s operation, and kidnapping. In the midst of this stormy period, she finds allies in her mother’s long-time companion, Robert Stanley; her mother, Willa Jackson; her daughter Claire Havlicek; and many others.
     
Searching (2018)
Searching (2018)
2018 | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
The movie is in the same format as the unfriended movies, it takes place entirely through social media.
At the beginning we see a montage of clips and photos from the Kim family's life where we learn that the mum (pam) passes away from cancer. Fast forward a few years later and Margot - pam and David's daughter- is all grown up and everything seems to be going fine, that is until Margot goes missing.
David starts frantically searching on social media only to discover he didn't know Margot as much as he thought he did, and finds out some unusual information about her.
For a one time watch I did enjoy this movie, it shows how things can develop online from parent blaming to people pretending to be the missing persons friend, and writing 'heartfelt' messages. It also shows the hidden dangers of the online community such as how easy it is to obtain information. It was very gripping and kept me glued right to the twist at the end which I was not at expecting.
  
Anything for Her
Anything for Her
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Technically my mum won a copy of this book via Goodreads' Giveaways/First Reads program, but since she doesn't write reviews and I do, I'll read it too.

------------------------------------------------------------

3.5 stars.

So, I've read it. And though it isn't my usual genre--I like to mix it up every so often--I must admit I got quite into it. I wanted to know what happened that night; what secret were the mum and daughter keeping? Was it really that bad? Who was this guy scaring them?

Now that I've read it, I've gotten answers to all of the above and strangely enough; I kind of feel it was justified. How Louise and Brooke went about it was just all wrong on many levels, especially what Louise did. I was extremely put off by that.

Some of the other stuff put me off as well. What was with Michael?

As I mentioned above, this isn't my usual genre but for a first book--going via createspace for paperbacks--this is a pretty good book.
  
Crawl (2019)
Crawl (2019)
2019 | Horror, Thriller
Kaya Scodelario makes a striking action heroine (1 more)
Some "Jaws-lite" action scenes
Dialogue is atrocious: particularly re a father/daughter angst sub-plot (0 more)
Directed by Alexandre Aja (“Piranha 3D”) this is a sub-90 minute film that at least doesn’t outstay its welcome. It’s been a decent summer hit for the studios (at the time of writing it has made $75 million on a meagre $13 budget).

It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted in its gore. It delivers a lot of chomping, with the action getting progressively more ludicrous, reminiscent of the “flesh-wound” scene in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”!. Some jump scares work well. But I can’ t say its a great film, because it’s really not. In the hands of a Spielberg, this might have really had legs (…to chomp on, LoL). It’s CERTAINLY no “Jaws”. It’s not even a “Deep Blue Sea”. But it’s mildly entertaining nonetheless.

For the full review, please check out One Mann's Movies on https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2019/09/06/one-manns-movies-film-review-crawl-2019/
  
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Lenard (726 KP) rated Stuber (2019) in Movies

Aug 19, 2019  
Stuber (2019)
Stuber (2019)
2019 | Action, Comedy
Who ya gonna call?
In the vein of such mismatched buddy action crime comedies like Midnight Run, 48 Hours, and National Security, Stuber pairs ex-wrestler Dave Bautista (Vic) and stand-up Kumail Nanjiani (Stu). Vic is a Los Angeles detective with a lead on the drug lord he has been investigating for years who murdered his partner. He gets eye surgery in a plot device to pass his firearm test so he is effectually blind. Stu is a sporting goods employee in the friend zone with a beautiful blonde he has known since college who has just broken up with her boyfriend and needs some Stu-love. Stu also works nights as an Uber driver with a checkered history. One night after crashing his Ford Crown VIctoria, Vic uses the Uber app his daughter installed on his phone so he could safely attend his sculpture exhibition. Stu takes the ride and rides along as Vic chases his white whale. Soon, Stu gets a load of testerone from the steroid-addicted Vic and Vic learns to express his emotions from the metrosexual Stu.
  
    Optical Inquisitor 17+

    Optical Inquisitor 17+

    Games and Entertainment

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

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    Its the year 1988. Acid wash jeans are in. Our hero, Tommy Rissken has been betrayed by his friends...

The Mask of Zorro (1998)
The Mask of Zorro (1998)
1998 | Action, Romance
8
7.7 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Late 90's action comedy movie that acts as a sort of sequel to the old Zorro movies of old; with 'that mysterious masked man dressed all in black' who is here played by two different actors: by Sir Anthony Hopkins (the elder Zorro), and by a pre Puss In Boots Antonio Banderas (lets face it, Puss In Boots pretty much is a feline Zorro ...) as his younger protege.

It's also slightly surprising that this got a PG rating, with a strong vein of revenge running throughout it (the elder Zorro's quest to avenge the death of his wife, and to get his revenge on the man who stole his daughter and raised her as his own) alongside his younger protege's quest for revenge on the soldier who killed his brother.

Taking in horse chases, stunts, lots of swordplay, romance and even El Dorado, this is a genuinely enjoyable throwback to the less serious, less po faced movies of old than seems to be the current trend. (It's also better than the sequel)
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Edge of Darkness (2010) in Movies

May 5, 2020 (Updated May 6, 2020)  
Edge of Darkness (2010)
Edge of Darkness (2010)
2010 | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
The legendary TV mini-series is retooled for the big screen as a bog-standard Mel Gibson revenge thriller. A detective's daughter is killed, and his investigations lead him to discover she was a target of forces within the military-industrial complex operating above the law.

As well as two-thirds of the running time and most of the plot, the movie version of Edge of Darkness also cheerfully dispenses with virtually everything that made the TV show so memorable: theoretically a fiendishly convoluted thriller, it also contained an environmentalist subtext, an incest subtext, a subtext about Anglo-US relations, even some borderline SF & fantasy elements. All of this is gone and just replaced with Mel Gibson looking intense and beating people up. As a result it is very hard to care about what's happening, although the illogicality of much of it does manage to cut through (someone poisoning someone else and then deciding to shoot them as well is practically a motif). Ray Winstone is not bad as Jedburgh, but given the source material the rest of it is unforgivably lousy.