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Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated The Lion King (2019) in Movies
Jul 19, 2019 (Updated Jul 19, 2019)
If this is where the monarchy is headed Count me out!
Lion king 2019 is by far the worst of the Disney live action remakes & while newcomers/children will certainly love it many of the people that hold the original close to their hearts will leave wishing they had just stayed home with the far superior predecessor instead. Aladdin & The Lion King are two of the greatest animated feature films of all time & as I experienced them both in cinema on release they are very special to me. Now i loved the Aladdin remake & im not one for comparing these to the animated features but while I was watching this all i could think about was how much better the original is. While it looks absolutely gorgeous (until anything starts to move) the animation at times is so unnatural especially when animals are walking slowly that its constantly distracting & kills the illusion of these creatures being real. Voice work is bland/mediocre & delivered with almost no enthusiasm at all like the cast were more concerned with sounding different to the original than giving the characters charm & personality. Voices also dont feel connected to the characters like your watching a nature documentary thats been dubbed over. While Aladdin did its own thing & changed up the movie Lion King is practically & infuriatingly a scene for scene remake which would be ok if it had the charm, colour, grand scale, imagination, excitement, thrill, humour & emotional impact of the original but it doesnt. Songs are butchered/dull with seemingly no energy or spectacle to them at all feeling significantly toned down/grounded rather than fun & toe tapping (they have also ruined 'Be Prepared'). So whats new? theres new humour & yup you guessed it its really bad with awkward timing & dragged out jokes that just fall flat. I wanted so bad to love this movie but not even a scense of nostalgia kicked in either because the film is just soulless, unenthusiastic, boring, bland, lacking in excitement & magic. Kids will no doubt love it but for me its this years biggest let down. If it were a silent film with an epic score over the top it might of at least been unique/watchable & helped be bearable but as it is I just cant recomend seeing it. A big fat cash grab.
The Ballad of John Latouche: An American Lyricist's Life and Work
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Born into a poor Virginian family, John Treville Latouche (1914-56), in his short life, made a...
A Pocket of Wind Resistance by Karine Polwart
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The first studio album from the acclaimed Karine Polwart in over 5 years. A Pocket Of Wind...
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (2020) in Movies
Jun 30, 2020
I don't think there's anyone who would be able to say "Danny who?" unless they were living in a cave somewhere. Whether it's Machete, Navajas in Desperado or the voice of Jaguar in Rick and Morty, there's something for everyone to click with out there. (3-Headed Shark Attack for the classiest of you out there.)
There's always something amazing around Danny Trejo, I love seeing him pop up in films. It wasn't until watching this that I realised just how many roles he's done and has coming up, it's even gone up a significant amount since they put this together. It also made me realise that I have a lot of things I need to watch. I'm at a measly 5% watched according to Letterboxd.
With several documentaries I've watched recently there are fundamental pieces that they've tweaked to try and change things up, Inmate #1 has kept to quite a traditional setup and it works tremendously well. We have interviews, old video footage of locations and sets and photos from Danny's life, the archival footage gives you a very clear image of what is being narrated and it helps to take you through the timeline.
The only slight drawback to the interview portion is the sheer variety of people that they include. Trejo's children, friends and colleagues have recurring parts and a significant portion is them recounting stories. It's all interesting content, but it's not always personally relevant to them and that seemed a little odd. It was really only a small point on the whole thing but I wouldn't have said no to more Trejo moments.
Seeing Danny Trejo's personality come across is wonderful to behold, he has an addictive humour to him and seeing him laugh at memories will make you smile back. But you also get to see remorse and emotion in such an honest way. The Kermit story broke me.
Overall, the documentary handles change in tone and situations well. All the transitions you see are smooth and there was no jarring change at any point which meant I was engaged for the whole 1hr and 47 minutes. It's compiled wonderfully and the mix between old and new content is balanced, the fact that it brings you full circle and shows you how hard he works on his career and his community is a joy.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/06/inmate-1-rise-of-danny-trejo-movie.html
There's always something amazing around Danny Trejo, I love seeing him pop up in films. It wasn't until watching this that I realised just how many roles he's done and has coming up, it's even gone up a significant amount since they put this together. It also made me realise that I have a lot of things I need to watch. I'm at a measly 5% watched according to Letterboxd.
With several documentaries I've watched recently there are fundamental pieces that they've tweaked to try and change things up, Inmate #1 has kept to quite a traditional setup and it works tremendously well. We have interviews, old video footage of locations and sets and photos from Danny's life, the archival footage gives you a very clear image of what is being narrated and it helps to take you through the timeline.
The only slight drawback to the interview portion is the sheer variety of people that they include. Trejo's children, friends and colleagues have recurring parts and a significant portion is them recounting stories. It's all interesting content, but it's not always personally relevant to them and that seemed a little odd. It was really only a small point on the whole thing but I wouldn't have said no to more Trejo moments.
Seeing Danny Trejo's personality come across is wonderful to behold, he has an addictive humour to him and seeing him laugh at memories will make you smile back. But you also get to see remorse and emotion in such an honest way. The Kermit story broke me.
Overall, the documentary handles change in tone and situations well. All the transitions you see are smooth and there was no jarring change at any point which meant I was engaged for the whole 1hr and 47 minutes. It's compiled wonderfully and the mix between old and new content is balanced, the fact that it brings you full circle and shows you how hard he works on his career and his community is a joy.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/06/inmate-1-rise-of-danny-trejo-movie.html
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Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends - Series 2
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Documentaries by writer and presenter Louis Theroux which delve into the weirder fringes of American...
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Love you to death (2019) in Movies
Jun 2, 2022
Police arrive at a house in 2013, The door is unlocked so they enter to find a dead body on the bed. We are shown a montage of pictures of a sick teen girl called Esme and her mum, it seems they had been raising a lot of money because of her illness.
Rewind to a few months before the death, it's Esmes 16th birthday and then her routine appointment, but sadly she is showing no signs of improving. During a shopping trip they bump into Esmes estranged dad, and it's clear there is hostility between him and Esmes mum. We soon discover that Esme has had the illness since she was 4 years old and also has a learning disability which just adds to the sadness of her illness.
It soon becomes evident how controlling her mother is though, she refuses to let anyone take Esme anywhere, controls what she eats as well as which doctors are allowed to treat her. After Esme is attacked at a gaming convention, the mother purchases a gun for protection and it isn't long before she's using it against an intruder.
About half an hour into the movie, we are thrown back to 2005, and we see Esmes side of the story. Esmes mum has a conversation with a nurse who confirms that Esme was misdiagnosed and she was fine, I won't go into that too much incase you want to watch it, but basically Esmes mum continues to fake Esmes illness. You will have to watch the movie to see how she achieves this, by tricking everyone including medical staff.
I enjoyed the movie but I was so shocked to find out it was based on a true story, I immediately went on to watch the documentary to compare and I felt they did do the true story justice, they included Esmes mum always holding her hand and hitting her if she didn't do as she was expected to do. The way Esme (gypsy rose) meets her boyfriend was different in real life, I felt the movie made him out to be this sweet guy trying to save Esme but in real life he was very disturbed, but then again it was told through Esmes eyes, so it was probably to show what she saw at the time.
Rewind to a few months before the death, it's Esmes 16th birthday and then her routine appointment, but sadly she is showing no signs of improving. During a shopping trip they bump into Esmes estranged dad, and it's clear there is hostility between him and Esmes mum. We soon discover that Esme has had the illness since she was 4 years old and also has a learning disability which just adds to the sadness of her illness.
It soon becomes evident how controlling her mother is though, she refuses to let anyone take Esme anywhere, controls what she eats as well as which doctors are allowed to treat her. After Esme is attacked at a gaming convention, the mother purchases a gun for protection and it isn't long before she's using it against an intruder.
About half an hour into the movie, we are thrown back to 2005, and we see Esmes side of the story. Esmes mum has a conversation with a nurse who confirms that Esme was misdiagnosed and she was fine, I won't go into that too much incase you want to watch it, but basically Esmes mum continues to fake Esmes illness. You will have to watch the movie to see how she achieves this, by tricking everyone including medical staff.
I enjoyed the movie but I was so shocked to find out it was based on a true story, I immediately went on to watch the documentary to compare and I felt they did do the true story justice, they included Esmes mum always holding her hand and hitting her if she didn't do as she was expected to do. The way Esme (gypsy rose) meets her boyfriend was different in real life, I felt the movie made him out to be this sweet guy trying to save Esme but in real life he was very disturbed, but then again it was told through Esmes eyes, so it was probably to show what she saw at the time.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated The Caretakers in Books
Apr 6, 2020
As soon as I read the synopsis for The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell, I was instantly hooked. I knew it was a book that I had to read. It's like it was calling out to me saying "read me...read me." What a wild ride The Caretakers had in store for me!
Tessa Shepard made a documentary that helped free a man that she thought was framed for murder. However, when it seems he's killed the police chief's daughter, Tessa's life becomes upended. Around the same time, Tessa and her twin sister inherit a large estate named Fallbrook. There she meets two old ladies who are the caretakers of Fallbrook that have their own crazy story about the past when it comes to Fallbrooks history. With danger lurking around every corner, Tessa must try to survive and figure out the two old ladies' story.
I could not fault the plot of The Caretakers at all. It was absolutely solid from beginning to end. With The Caretakers, I felt like I was sort of getting two stories in one which was great! The first story is Tessa's. The narrative follows Tessa as she deals with her conscience about freeing a man from prison who may have actually been guilty. She's also dealing with the fallout between her and her twin sister Margot. With Tessa's reputation in tatters, Tessa tries to stay out of the spotlight and deal with what's going on in her personal life, but it doesn't turn out to be that easy. The second narrative belongs to the two old ladies and caretakers of Fallbrook, Kitty and Deidre. Their story was the most interesting to read about. Kitty and Deidre remember two different accounts of what actually befell Fallbrook when they were children. It was traumatizing for both of them, and at least one of the sisters has blocked out the actual memories of the horrible event that happened there. I found myself trying to guess which events were the true ones. Kudos to Eliza Maxwell for adding so many plot twists to The Caretakers that I never saw coming! I absolutely was thrilled that there were so many plot twists. Just when I thought I had the story figured out, a curve ball was thrown at me making me have to start my guess work all over again. However, all cliff hangers and questions are answered by the end of the book.
The characters in The Caretakers were all written fantastically! All were fleshed out appropriately even the minor characters. It was easy to empathize with everything Tessa was going through. She had so much bad stuff going on at one time. Learning her back story, it was easy to see why she thought the way she did. I liked Margot as well. While she's not a main character, she does play a fairly important role in Tessa's life. Sometimes I felt like Margot was a little too closed off when it came to Tessa and her husband, Ben. This wasn't due to bad writing, but quite the opposite. I felt like this was a character flaw that even real life people struggle with. I enjoyed Oliver's character. He made for a fantastic antagonist. Oliver was the one who Tessa freed from prison due to her documentary. Through fantastic storytelling, it was easy to see why Oliver went off the deep end after he was released. I felt bad for him actually. Deidre was an interesting character, and I came to understand why she was wary of strangers meddling in hers and Kitty's business. Kitty was my all time favorite character in The Caretakers though. I was sucked up in her childlike way of acting. She seemed to trust everyone and came across as such a sweet person. It seemed like she was too nice to be unkind towards anyone. I felt like Kitty had the most interesting backstory out of all the characters. The Cooke family, who had previously lived in Fallbrook before it became derelict, had the most intriguing story out of everyone. I really enjoyed reading about them.
Trigger warnings for The Caretakers include profanity, murder, violence, drinking, and police corruption.
To say I was blown away by The Caretakers is an understatement. Seriously, this book gave me goosebumps and a severe book hangover. That's how great it was! With intriguing plot lines and fantastic characters, it was such a fantastic read. I would most definitely recommend The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell to those aged 17+. I really believe readers of all genres will really enjoy this book!
--
(A special thank you to Lone Star Literary Life and Eliza Maxwell for sending me a paperback and Netgalley for an eBook of The Caretakers in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)
Tessa Shepard made a documentary that helped free a man that she thought was framed for murder. However, when it seems he's killed the police chief's daughter, Tessa's life becomes upended. Around the same time, Tessa and her twin sister inherit a large estate named Fallbrook. There she meets two old ladies who are the caretakers of Fallbrook that have their own crazy story about the past when it comes to Fallbrooks history. With danger lurking around every corner, Tessa must try to survive and figure out the two old ladies' story.
I could not fault the plot of The Caretakers at all. It was absolutely solid from beginning to end. With The Caretakers, I felt like I was sort of getting two stories in one which was great! The first story is Tessa's. The narrative follows Tessa as she deals with her conscience about freeing a man from prison who may have actually been guilty. She's also dealing with the fallout between her and her twin sister Margot. With Tessa's reputation in tatters, Tessa tries to stay out of the spotlight and deal with what's going on in her personal life, but it doesn't turn out to be that easy. The second narrative belongs to the two old ladies and caretakers of Fallbrook, Kitty and Deidre. Their story was the most interesting to read about. Kitty and Deidre remember two different accounts of what actually befell Fallbrook when they were children. It was traumatizing for both of them, and at least one of the sisters has blocked out the actual memories of the horrible event that happened there. I found myself trying to guess which events were the true ones. Kudos to Eliza Maxwell for adding so many plot twists to The Caretakers that I never saw coming! I absolutely was thrilled that there were so many plot twists. Just when I thought I had the story figured out, a curve ball was thrown at me making me have to start my guess work all over again. However, all cliff hangers and questions are answered by the end of the book.
The characters in The Caretakers were all written fantastically! All were fleshed out appropriately even the minor characters. It was easy to empathize with everything Tessa was going through. She had so much bad stuff going on at one time. Learning her back story, it was easy to see why she thought the way she did. I liked Margot as well. While she's not a main character, she does play a fairly important role in Tessa's life. Sometimes I felt like Margot was a little too closed off when it came to Tessa and her husband, Ben. This wasn't due to bad writing, but quite the opposite. I felt like this was a character flaw that even real life people struggle with. I enjoyed Oliver's character. He made for a fantastic antagonist. Oliver was the one who Tessa freed from prison due to her documentary. Through fantastic storytelling, it was easy to see why Oliver went off the deep end after he was released. I felt bad for him actually. Deidre was an interesting character, and I came to understand why she was wary of strangers meddling in hers and Kitty's business. Kitty was my all time favorite character in The Caretakers though. I was sucked up in her childlike way of acting. She seemed to trust everyone and came across as such a sweet person. It seemed like she was too nice to be unkind towards anyone. I felt like Kitty had the most interesting backstory out of all the characters. The Cooke family, who had previously lived in Fallbrook before it became derelict, had the most intriguing story out of everyone. I really enjoyed reading about them.
Trigger warnings for The Caretakers include profanity, murder, violence, drinking, and police corruption.
To say I was blown away by The Caretakers is an understatement. Seriously, this book gave me goosebumps and a severe book hangover. That's how great it was! With intriguing plot lines and fantastic characters, it was such a fantastic read. I would most definitely recommend The Caretakers by Eliza Maxwell to those aged 17+. I really believe readers of all genres will really enjoy this book!
--
(A special thank you to Lone Star Literary Life and Eliza Maxwell for sending me a paperback and Netgalley for an eBook of The Caretakers in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.)
Ross (3284 KP) rated Making A Murderer - Season 2 in TV
Nov 5, 2018
Too long and unsatisfying
Contains spoilers, click to show
Steven Avery is back, still appealing his conviction for the murder of Theresa Hallbach, as is his nephew, Brendan Dassey.
The series was interesting, giving so much insight into the US courts and appeals system, which seems very convoluted, with so much apparent new evidence emerging on more thorough investigation and forensic analysis.
Avery's appeal case is submitted based on lots of facets - ineffectiveness of counsel, constitutional violations, new evidence etc etc. How this evidence is uncovered was really interesting and compelling. However, you have to wonder whether the submission of Avery's appeal was made too early in order to satisfy the TV series. It seemed like so much more evidence was uncovered after it was filed, which would have made the case so much stronger - fine if it goes to trial as this can all be used, but once the original appeal is submitted, that is what the judge will use to assess whether it should. Again, this facet of the appeal system seems unfair - the same judge reviews the appeal repeatedly and is bound to get fed up with hearing the same appeal over and over again. If the conviction was a result of large-scale corruption and evidence-planting, they had to nail the appeal first time, not file some of it then add bits and pieces later.
Dassey's appeal also seemed flawed, focusing so much on his coerced confession, when they should have paid more attention to how little evidence there was against him other than a dubious confession. I guess it was a case of having College lawyers who saw it more as an intellectual/theoretical exercise and were possibly a bit green for the courts in action.
All in all, the series ends with no progress for either party - Dassey's case has been all the way to the top with no joy. However, Avery's case is still in the early stages and the fight is clearly not over. This felt similar to the filing of his appeal, submitted too early just to satisfy TV scheduling.
The series, while compelling throughout, is too long for the content included and could easily have been edited down to 5 episodes or less.
I suspect another few episodes will be released next year, if some progress is made on either case.
The series was interesting, giving so much insight into the US courts and appeals system, which seems very convoluted, with so much apparent new evidence emerging on more thorough investigation and forensic analysis.
Avery's appeal case is submitted based on lots of facets - ineffectiveness of counsel, constitutional violations, new evidence etc etc. How this evidence is uncovered was really interesting and compelling. However, you have to wonder whether the submission of Avery's appeal was made too early in order to satisfy the TV series. It seemed like so much more evidence was uncovered after it was filed, which would have made the case so much stronger - fine if it goes to trial as this can all be used, but once the original appeal is submitted, that is what the judge will use to assess whether it should. Again, this facet of the appeal system seems unfair - the same judge reviews the appeal repeatedly and is bound to get fed up with hearing the same appeal over and over again. If the conviction was a result of large-scale corruption and evidence-planting, they had to nail the appeal first time, not file some of it then add bits and pieces later.
Dassey's appeal also seemed flawed, focusing so much on his coerced confession, when they should have paid more attention to how little evidence there was against him other than a dubious confession. I guess it was a case of having College lawyers who saw it more as an intellectual/theoretical exercise and were possibly a bit green for the courts in action.
All in all, the series ends with no progress for either party - Dassey's case has been all the way to the top with no joy. However, Avery's case is still in the early stages and the fight is clearly not over. This felt similar to the filing of his appeal, submitted too early just to satisfy TV scheduling.
The series, while compelling throughout, is too long for the content included and could easily have been edited down to 5 episodes or less.
I suspect another few episodes will be released next year, if some progress is made on either case.