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Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Birthday (Detective Natalie Ward #1) in Books

Dec 9, 2018

The 1st book in the Detective Natalie Ward series

I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. “The Birthday” is the first in the Detective Natalie Ward series, a new series by Carol Wyer. A five-year-old girl goes missing at a classmate’s birthday party. Two years later her body is found. Soon after, another little girl, who was also at the party, disappears. Det. Ward is in charge of the investigation and worries it will end like her last job which did not end well.
I enjoyed the story-line involving the disappearances of the little girls. However, her last job was mentioned often and did not move the story along. Also included is the detective’s house life with her husband and two teenage children. I found myself attempting to skim those parts too. For me, the disappearance story-line has a nice pace to it. It does not drag or rush the story. The other parts just broke up that story-line and it did not seem to flow well.
I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. According to the scale used by Goodreads, which means it’s OK. I did not think the book was a waste of time. I would read another book by Wyer but it would not be a priority “to be read” book.

Kudos

Andy K (10823 KP) rated Halloween (2007) in Movies

Oct 10, 2018

Halloween (2007)

2007 | Horror

6.0

(19 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

A successful re-imagining but turned up to 11!

When I first heard director Rob Zombie was going to have a hand at Halloween, I couldn't have been more excited. His films up to that point had been intense, scary, gruesome, gothic, sexual and down-rite awesome!

This reinvention had big shoes to fill since the original Halloween is not only a scary movie classic, but invented or perfected a lot of horror elements still used in films today.

The additions to the story proved successful seeing a lot more scenes of Michael as a child, his dysfunctional family roots (which could have been part of his inner demons) and more details around his escape from the psychiatric hospital. Then the original story plays out as you are familiar; although, more intense and evil.

The third act does seem to drag out just a bit as the movie is around 2 hours in length.

Great to see a lot of "B" movie actors appear in the film including Malcolm McDowell, Clint Howard, Brad Dourif, Dee Wallace and Richard Lynch. Also Danielle Harris who was the little girl in parts 4 & 5 is also there as another homage.

Overall, a successful reboot with enough mixture of old and new to keep me very well entertained.

Kudos

Sarah (7799 KP) rated Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) in Movies

Jan 8, 2020

Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)

2019 | Action, Adventure, Comedy

7.4

(90 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Second rate sequel

I'm probably the only person who didn't really rate the first film in this reboot series. Yes it was better than I expected but not great, although having watched this sequel I can definitely now appreciate the first film.

This is by far a second rate sequel. The whole plot and game premise offered is just a little dull and predictable, and the bad guy is this is even less threatening in the first film (which is a shame seen as he's Rory McCann). They've tried to go even more extravagant with the set pieces and action scenes, but it doesn't quite hide the fact that the plot is fairly weak. Which is a shame as seeing the gang all back together again is actually quite fun. The way they've done the avatars this time round started off ridiculously funny, but there are a couple of characters who soon get very irritating very quickly. Thankfully we've got Jack Black who really shines in this no matter who he is, and he at least makes up for some of the more irritating characters. The inclusion of Danny DeVito and Danny Glover seemed entirely unnecessary.

Overall this was a vaguely enjoyable film but despite it's runtime being less than 2 hours, really seemed to drag. And I hate how they've set it up for yet another sequel.