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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Saw: The Final Chapter (2010) in Movies
Dec 22, 2018
They just get worse
I’ve always hated what they did to the Saw films. The first one was fantastic, the second one quite good and then the rest have gone downhill at an alarming rate.
This ‘final chapter’, which actually isn’t as they’ve started making Jigsaw films now, is the worst of the bunch. Not only are the traps actually quite dull and boring (they obviously outdid themselves with the traps in the first film), the special effects and gore look really bad too. Did nobody notice that the blood didn’t look even slightly real? In some scenes it was verging on fuschia. The plot itself is just convoluted as always and they’ve been trying to tie up loose ends with little success. They should’ve just left the original as a stand alone film instead of messing it up with all of Jigsaw’s accomplices in these 6 sequels. And the final twist reveal at the end? Come on, I predicted that from the second film onwards, and I’m sure many other people did too. Such a lame ending.
This ‘final chapter’, which actually isn’t as they’ve started making Jigsaw films now, is the worst of the bunch. Not only are the traps actually quite dull and boring (they obviously outdid themselves with the traps in the first film), the special effects and gore look really bad too. Did nobody notice that the blood didn’t look even slightly real? In some scenes it was verging on fuschia. The plot itself is just convoluted as always and they’ve been trying to tie up loose ends with little success. They should’ve just left the original as a stand alone film instead of messing it up with all of Jigsaw’s accomplices in these 6 sequels. And the final twist reveal at the end? Come on, I predicted that from the second film onwards, and I’m sure many other people did too. Such a lame ending.
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Redshirts in Books
Dec 23, 2018
Some books are surreal suspensions of disbelief. Some books just make you go "WHAT the FUCK" every couple of chapters when a new twist is revealed, and this is one of the latter. Just - what the FUCK.
Imagine your average sci-fi space opera TV show on cable television with hand-wavey science and half-assed special effects - take those characters and make them realize they're IN A TV SHOW. Let them realize all of their woes are due to shitty writing, and see what they do with that knowledge. THAT is this book, and it is crazy and hilarious and weird and eye-roll-inducing.
Between the time travel, the Box that does magic science behind the scenes so things work out on-screen, the Narrative taking control and making people say and do things they wouldn't otherwise do - this book is wacky and just full of what-the-fuckery. It's fun, though, and if you can keep yourself from groaning out loud every few pages, it's a pretty good read.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Imagine your average sci-fi space opera TV show on cable television with hand-wavey science and half-assed special effects - take those characters and make them realize they're IN A TV SHOW. Let them realize all of their woes are due to shitty writing, and see what they do with that knowledge. THAT is this book, and it is crazy and hilarious and weird and eye-roll-inducing.
Between the time travel, the Box that does magic science behind the scenes so things work out on-screen, the Narrative taking control and making people say and do things they wouldn't otherwise do - this book is wacky and just full of what-the-fuckery. It's fun, though, and if you can keep yourself from groaning out loud every few pages, it's a pretty good read.
You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Ghost Ship (2002) in Movies
Oct 26, 2019
Better than expected
I feel like Ghost Ship is a rather underrated horror film. It may be a little dated now and it definitely shows it in the special effects, but it’s a lot more enjoyable than current modern horrors. It starts off with a bang, and continues with a lot of gore throughout the film. It isn’t the scariest of films which is a shame, but at least it doesn’t rely on cheesy jump scares. It’s got a great cast, and I hadn’t realised Karl Urban was in this which was a nice surprised. The characters may be slightly underdeveloped and there are some characters that come to rather unsatisfying ends, but I found that the twist ending more than makes up for some of these short comings. Whatever you think this film might be, I’d be surprised if you could predict how it turns out. It reminds me a little of Event Horizon at sea, and if it had been a little creepier and satisfying, it’d actually be a very good film.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated Event Horizon (1997) in Movies
Dec 17, 2018
A classic
Pretty much everyone I know within my similar generation absolutely loves this film, even one me and my brother both agree on, which is unusual.
This is still one of the best and scariest sci-fi horror films I’ve seen since this was originally released. It’s dark, ominous and full of blood and gore. The effects at the time were very good, although admittedly they haven’t aged as well watching it back now and some of the CGI especially looks a bit dodgy. It has a fantastic cast, it’s one of my all time favourite Sam Neill films and you can’t really go wrong with Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee either. The plot is fairly straight forward but very creepy, and this will always be the film that spawned the pencil through paper wormhole explanation (sorry Interstellar).
This film isn’t perfect by any means and has sadly not aged as well as it should, but for me it’s still one of my favourites and a true classic sci-fi horror, not far off the likes of Alien etc.
This is still one of the best and scariest sci-fi horror films I’ve seen since this was originally released. It’s dark, ominous and full of blood and gore. The effects at the time were very good, although admittedly they haven’t aged as well watching it back now and some of the CGI especially looks a bit dodgy. It has a fantastic cast, it’s one of my all time favourite Sam Neill films and you can’t really go wrong with Jason Isaacs and Sean Pertwee either. The plot is fairly straight forward but very creepy, and this will always be the film that spawned the pencil through paper wormhole explanation (sorry Interstellar).
This film isn’t perfect by any means and has sadly not aged as well as it should, but for me it’s still one of my favourites and a true classic sci-fi horror, not far off the likes of Alien etc.
Dean (6927 KP) rated Black Summer - Season 1 in TV
Jan 3, 2020 (Updated Jan 3, 2020)
Simple but effective (1 more)
Gripping episodes
Zombietastic!
After hearing good things about this zombie show on Netflix I finally caught up with it.
Definitely worth putting to the top of your list. This is how a zombie series should be done. We join the start of an outbreak with a small town evacuation and join a handful of survivors trying to get to safety. What I really liked is that the episodes just follow the chaos as it unfolds. You could imagine the situations happening in this type of event. The episodes vary from around 25 - 40 minutes in length. Some are just about 1 guy trying to avoid a zombie. Another episode shows the distrust in others when things go bad. So there is great variation overall in the settings and situations that arise. It's a little low budget, more evident in some episodes. However it doesn't need big budget effects and it has a raw gritty feel which adds to the intensity. A must for Zombie and Horror fans. Season 2 is coming this year.
Definitely worth putting to the top of your list. This is how a zombie series should be done. We join the start of an outbreak with a small town evacuation and join a handful of survivors trying to get to safety. What I really liked is that the episodes just follow the chaos as it unfolds. You could imagine the situations happening in this type of event. The episodes vary from around 25 - 40 minutes in length. Some are just about 1 guy trying to avoid a zombie. Another episode shows the distrust in others when things go bad. So there is great variation overall in the settings and situations that arise. It's a little low budget, more evident in some episodes. However it doesn't need big budget effects and it has a raw gritty feel which adds to the intensity. A must for Zombie and Horror fans. Season 2 is coming this year.
Sara Cox (1845 KP) rated The Psychology of Time Travel in Books
Feb 8, 2020
When I first started reading this book, what I did not expect was it to be a murder-mystery!
Four women have invented a time machine and this book explores how time travel effects the women and their different personalities. There is a running theme of death within the story - and let's be honest, that's what everyone would be asking themselves about their own future. I really like the thoughtfulness of the language, the slang that time travellers would use, for example "green self" is used to describe yourself from a time period before where you are and "silver self" the opposite. I really enjoyed reading this and found the jumping through time quite easy, I even forgot to read the date on some chapters and still managed to figure out where in the timeline the chapter stood pretty quickly without getting confused. The writing is clear and easy to read. I found the murder-mystery especially interesting! And how motives jump through time as well as the detective who has to solve it without altering the timeline. Highly recommend.
Four women have invented a time machine and this book explores how time travel effects the women and their different personalities. There is a running theme of death within the story - and let's be honest, that's what everyone would be asking themselves about their own future. I really like the thoughtfulness of the language, the slang that time travellers would use, for example "green self" is used to describe yourself from a time period before where you are and "silver self" the opposite. I really enjoyed reading this and found the jumping through time quite easy, I even forgot to read the date on some chapters and still managed to figure out where in the timeline the chapter stood pretty quickly without getting confused. The writing is clear and easy to read. I found the murder-mystery especially interesting! And how motives jump through time as well as the detective who has to solve it without altering the timeline. Highly recommend.
ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Middle Years in Books
Apr 17, 2020
The Middle Years is a handbook to surviving life as the parent of teenagers. The first half of the book is funny and engaging, telling it how it really is (hormones etc) to be the parent to preteens and teens, and I really enjoyed it. It was lighthearted, and more serious where it needed to be.
However in the second half of the book, it takes a darker turn, and talks about the authors divorce, mental health issues, guilt of divorcing and the effects this hound have had on her children. To be honest, if I’d known it was going to take this turn, there’s a high possibility that I wouldn’t have read it at all. I’ve had enough personal experience of parents divorcing to last me a lifetime without reading about it. It just seemed very bitter.
I DID enjoy the first half though, which is why I’ve given it a 3/5 (or 6/10, however you want to look at it!).
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read this book.
However in the second half of the book, it takes a darker turn, and talks about the authors divorce, mental health issues, guilt of divorcing and the effects this hound have had on her children. To be honest, if I’d known it was going to take this turn, there’s a high possibility that I wouldn’t have read it at all. I’ve had enough personal experience of parents divorcing to last me a lifetime without reading about it. It just seemed very bitter.
I DID enjoy the first half though, which is why I’ve given it a 3/5 (or 6/10, however you want to look at it!).
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read this book.
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