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Julia Cafritz recommended Brazil (1985) in Movies (curated)
ClareR (5603 KP) rated The Hemlock Cure in Books
Apr 6, 2023
The Hemlock Cure was a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary people during the Black Death (Bubonic Plague) epidemic of 1665-1666. The plague is very much in the background of this story for most of it, though.
The real evil isn’t a disease, it’s being shut in with people who clearly do not have good intentions.
The village of Eyam is well known for the decision to shut itself off from the outside world when its inhabitants started to become ill and die. They understood that the only way to halt the spread of the disease was to isolate themselves - a selfless act.
This novel looks at some of the families and their relationships inside and outside of their family units. The local apothecary and his daughter Mae, are one such family. Mae is desperate to be her fathers apprentice, but this isn’t a time in history where it’s safe for a woman to be working with herbs. So Mae studies with the midwife and a local wise woman (who are both also skating on thin ice, truth be told).
The plague wasn’t a constant in London it appears, and we travel there with one of the main characters. The contrast between the country village and London was quite something to read. I could almost smell the difference off the page!!
I enjoyed the pacing of this book: in Eyam the time crawls, whilst in London everything is all hustle and bustle.
The slow reveal of the terrible secrets in Mae’s family are not so much shocking as terrifying. Wulfric, Mae’s father, is not a well man. It seems to be a race against time for Mae.
I would most definitely recommend this book to historical fiction fans - and if you like a mystery, you may well like this as well.
The real evil isn’t a disease, it’s being shut in with people who clearly do not have good intentions.
The village of Eyam is well known for the decision to shut itself off from the outside world when its inhabitants started to become ill and die. They understood that the only way to halt the spread of the disease was to isolate themselves - a selfless act.
This novel looks at some of the families and their relationships inside and outside of their family units. The local apothecary and his daughter Mae, are one such family. Mae is desperate to be her fathers apprentice, but this isn’t a time in history where it’s safe for a woman to be working with herbs. So Mae studies with the midwife and a local wise woman (who are both also skating on thin ice, truth be told).
The plague wasn’t a constant in London it appears, and we travel there with one of the main characters. The contrast between the country village and London was quite something to read. I could almost smell the difference off the page!!
I enjoyed the pacing of this book: in Eyam the time crawls, whilst in London everything is all hustle and bustle.
The slow reveal of the terrible secrets in Mae’s family are not so much shocking as terrifying. Wulfric, Mae’s father, is not a well man. It seems to be a race against time for Mae.
I would most definitely recommend this book to historical fiction fans - and if you like a mystery, you may well like this as well.
Jordi Sanchez (3 KP) rated Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 in Tabletop Games
Mar 8, 2019
Immersive narrative (3 more)
Plot twists!
Real cooperation
Exciting, lots of surprises every campaign
The campaign is not replayable (1 more)
Adding steps to the mechanics of the game can make you forget some things
The best experience we had on a table
The famous Pandemic cooperative game about saving the world from epidemic disease with a Legacy twist, which means, playing a campaign where new goals, rules, characters, skills will be added and lost along the game.
We loved the tension and the rewarding feeling when we won.
The game is full of surprises. The box includes some mystery boxes and a bunch of dossiers that you can only open as you advance with the campaign.
The storyline is interesting and we'll balanced. You will get help if you keep losing, and things will get more challenging if you keep winning.
We loved the tension and the rewarding feeling when we won.
The game is full of surprises. The box includes some mystery boxes and a bunch of dossiers that you can only open as you advance with the campaign.
The storyline is interesting and we'll balanced. You will get help if you keep losing, and things will get more challenging if you keep winning.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Three Musketeers (2011) in Movies
Feb 11, 2018 (Updated Feb 11, 2018)
Dumb and Dumas
Paul W.S. Anderson, the man behind the Resident Evil and Alien Vs Predator franchises, shows us what real creativity looks like as he gives us his take on a piece of classic literature, adding all those crucial things that Alexandre Dumas inexplicably forgot to include in the original version of The Three Musketeers: aqualungs, flamethrowers, airship battles, Orlando Bloom in a pompadour hairstyle, and Milla Jovovich doing somersaults in a basque.
Pretty much wholly ghastly from start to finish, almost to the point where banning Anderson from reading books seems like a reasonable precaution, just to be on the safe side. About as thrilling as watching your laptop install an update, with all the comic charm of an outbreak of venereal disease. The special effects are technically competent but that really is the best you can say about it.
Pretty much wholly ghastly from start to finish, almost to the point where banning Anderson from reading books seems like a reasonable precaution, just to be on the safe side. About as thrilling as watching your laptop install an update, with all the comic charm of an outbreak of venereal disease. The special effects are technically competent but that really is the best you can say about it.
Chloe (778 KP) rated The Shadow Man in Books
Mar 6, 2021
Clever (2 more)
Interesting
Gripping
Unbelievable in places (1 more)
Not as scary as blurb suggests
Creepy but over described
I enjoyed this book overall, the blurb makes the villain seem a lot more threatening than he actually is, not that there aren't some gross parts. The plot was interesting and I like how it dealt with a unique disease.
The scene was set quite well early on but I think more could have been done to elicit this throughout the book.
I liked the main detective and the psychologist, I could see a sequel in the future with the usual love hate relationship emerging between them.
There were a few instances where the story was a little unbelievable, particularly around the flooring scene. Plus some of the facts of the case are happened upon and theories are very much close to the truth.
The scene was set quite well early on but I think more could have been done to elicit this throughout the book.
I liked the main detective and the psychologist, I could see a sequel in the future with the usual love hate relationship emerging between them.
There were a few instances where the story was a little unbelievable, particularly around the flooring scene. Plus some of the facts of the case are happened upon and theories are very much close to the truth.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Train to Busan (2016) in Movies
Jun 4, 2021
Fair play, Korea does not fuck about when it comes to zombies.
Train to Busan is a proper ride from start to finish. Its action is well paced, unrelenting when it's happening, and the quieter moments are brimming with wonderful character building, as well as some horribly tense scenes to keep things moving.
The zombies themselves are pretty full on, breaking their own bones to get where they need to go, not even eating people, just biting and moving on, spreading the disease, in all their scary ass rabid-ness.
The train setting that takes up the majority of the runtime is claustrophobic as hell, and gives the movie a unique feel.
Overall, Train to Busan is a film that proves that the zombie genre isn't as tired as one might think. Extra points for nearly making me cry during the homestretch.
Train to Busan is a proper ride from start to finish. Its action is well paced, unrelenting when it's happening, and the quieter moments are brimming with wonderful character building, as well as some horribly tense scenes to keep things moving.
The zombies themselves are pretty full on, breaking their own bones to get where they need to go, not even eating people, just biting and moving on, spreading the disease, in all their scary ass rabid-ness.
The train setting that takes up the majority of the runtime is claustrophobic as hell, and gives the movie a unique feel.
Overall, Train to Busan is a film that proves that the zombie genre isn't as tired as one might think. Extra points for nearly making me cry during the homestretch.
Andy K (10821 KP) rated Hoarders in TV
Feb 20, 2019
A unique representation of the human condition
It's hard to believe that human beings can hoard. The act of keeping things just to keep them. What goes through their minds?
They sometimes live in filth, human and animal waste, their homes toppling from within. Do they not see it? I know it's a disease like alcoholism or OCD, but it just pains me yet fascinates at the same time.
I find it so interesting to watch through the TV lens at those who are different than me. It makes me think my life isn't as bad as I think it is and I feel like I want to help them.
This show has been on 10 years now and it never fails to amaze me. I sometimes weep as I see how others live and that their families cannot even help them sometimes.
They sometimes live in filth, human and animal waste, their homes toppling from within. Do they not see it? I know it's a disease like alcoholism or OCD, but it just pains me yet fascinates at the same time.
I find it so interesting to watch through the TV lens at those who are different than me. It makes me think my life isn't as bad as I think it is and I feel like I want to help them.
This show has been on 10 years now and it never fails to amaze me. I sometimes weep as I see how others live and that their families cannot even help them sometimes.
Lenard (726 KP) rated Black Panther (2018) in Movies
Feb 20, 2018
Conquered or conqueror
Does a nation or peoples with ability have a responsibility? That seems to be one of the central questions. There is a long history of nonwhite civilizations that developed more advanced technology that became conquered by the white nations (more through their disease, but that is another story, than their weaponry although they had that too.) Wakanda and its king have remained hidden in an effort to prevent such a tragedy.
China gave us gunpowder, Japan feudalism, Arabs medicine and math, Africa astronomy, and Mayans soccer. Yet all of these people became conquered and enslaved over time. T'Chaka seems to attempt to prevent this eventuality, but T'Challa soon faces his own dilemma. When an African-African cousin wants to expose Wakandan ability to his oppressed "others," Black Panther, king of Wakanda, must come out of hiding to assist the world and possibly expose their many secrets.
China gave us gunpowder, Japan feudalism, Arabs medicine and math, Africa astronomy, and Mayans soccer. Yet all of these people became conquered and enslaved over time. T'Chaka seems to attempt to prevent this eventuality, but T'Challa soon faces his own dilemma. When an African-African cousin wants to expose Wakandan ability to his oppressed "others," Black Panther, king of Wakanda, must come out of hiding to assist the world and possibly expose their many secrets.
Andy K (10821 KP) rated Brain on Fire (2016) in Movies
Jul 5, 2018 (Updated Jul 5, 2018)
Not very deep
This Netflix movie about a young woman who comes down with a mysterious brain disease was all right for me, but lacked much depth or details of the story. Her relationship with her boyfriend, divorced parents and her employer all become strained when her behavior starts to change.
It's not the story, which is of course compelling, I had a problem with. It was the screenplay which lacked any real depth and some of the acting. The actor playing her father, boyfriend, father and Tyler Perry as her boss I thought overacted and were not believable.
If I wanted to find out any details about the complexity of her illness, there weren't many to be found in this 88 minute film.
Do yourself a favor and watch Awakenings, Lorenzo's Oil or Something the Lord Made instead of this film.
It's not the story, which is of course compelling, I had a problem with. It was the screenplay which lacked any real depth and some of the acting. The actor playing her father, boyfriend, father and Tyler Perry as her boss I thought overacted and were not believable.
If I wanted to find out any details about the complexity of her illness, there weren't many to be found in this 88 minute film.
Do yourself a favor and watch Awakenings, Lorenzo's Oil or Something the Lord Made instead of this film.
Dean (6925 KP) rated Surrogates (2009) in Movies
Aug 9, 2019 (Updated Aug 9, 2019)
I didn't know too much about the story when I saw this. Surprised it doesn't seem to be well known and got some bad reviews? It did feel like a mix of films from the likes of Gamer, Total Recall, Matrix, Blade Runner, irobot and even A.I. In the near future people plug in using their brains to control a robot which effectively they use to live their day to day lives. No danger of disease, accidents, violence and of course you can look like whatever you want to through your surrogate. Until someone found a way of destroying the robot also kills the controller while they are plugged in! This has a good cast, cool effects and was enjoyable to watch. Highly unoriginal though and it did feel like a collection of ideas from the mentioned films. Never the less this is still an entertaining film worth checking out!!