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Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018)
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
Imaginative portrayal of the internet (2 more)
Ralph and Vanellope
Good positive messages throughout
Stumbles and drags a bit towards the end (0 more)
Enjoyable Sequel
I cannot believe it's been 6 years since we last saw Ralph and Vanellope! And when we join them again, they're still in the same arcade, right where we left them. By day carrying out their respective gaming duties, by night socialising with the other arcade characters and drinking together in Tappers bar. They seem happy and content with life, although Vanellope is beginning to feel that there's more to life than the same old Sugar Rush races all day every day.

In an attempt to help his friend and spice things up for her, Ralph decides to smash a new race course through the Sugar Rush landscape. But things don't go quite according to plan, resulting in a broken steering wheel on the arcade machine. Unfortunately, the company responsible for making that machine is no longer in business so parts for it aren't readily available, or too expensive to buy online, so the plug gets pulled on the machine. With the future of the game in jeopardy, and with the Sugar Rush inhabitants having to find new homes with the other arcade residents, Ralph and Vanellope decide to try and help. The arcade has just had a Wi-fi router plugged in, and they overheard one of the kids in the arcade earlier talking about the steering wheel being available online on some site called eBoy? So, they decide to go investigate this thing called the internet.

I've seen a few reviews that draw comparisons to this movie and with 'Ready Player One' from earlier this year. As we entered the Oasis of Ready Player One, we were treated to an amazing visual onslaught of wonderful imagery and instantly recognisable characters. And, as Ralph and Vanellope enter the internet, it's a similarly enjoyable experience. Recognisable brands and websites are everywhere you look, either as buildings or with their concepts imaginatively represented in some form. Twitter birds fly around, characters force suspicious looking spam adverts in your face while busy web traffic is everywhere, constantly being directed to its next destination. Ralph and Vanellope eventually find their way to eBay, where the steering wheel they need is currently being auctioned, but they don't really understand the bidding process and end up winning it for more money than they can possibly pay. They then set about finding a way to get rich quick so that they can pay for the wheel and get it shipped to the arcade before the game gets removed for scrap. Their journey takes them to an online game called 'Slaughter Race', a violent racing game featuring skilled racer Shank (voiced by Gal Gadot), a world which immediately excites racing fiend Vanellope, who feels right at home.

It's great to see the characters of Ralph and Vanellope back on our screens. Ralph is still very funny and Vanellope is still extremely cute! There are also a large number of sections of the movie which work very well and are extremely enjoyable. Aside from the initial introduction to the internet, and the whole Slaughter Race segment, probably the most enjoyable portion is the visit to Disney and the Disney princesses, which received such a big reaction when featured in the various trailers for the movie. And we don't just get the princesses either, we also get to see Marvel and Star Wars characters too! Another chance to scour the screen to try and spot background characters, and a reminder that Disney is in fact slowly taking over the world!

Towards the end of the movie I felt that things weren't so interesting and enjoyable, with a lengthy segment involving a virus and how it spreads and manifests itself, threatening the whole internet. But that's a minor negative from me in what is overall a hugely enjoyable sequel. There are also a number of very strong messages throughout, from the Disney princesses and the way they act, to the way that internet negativity is portrayed. I'm not sure of the longevity of this movie though - after all, at the speed the internet develops these days, how many of the sites or concepts featured are going to still be around or even relevant in another 6 years time?
  
    inRoute Route Planner

    inRoute Route Planner

    Navigation and Travel

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    Plan optimal routes or chart your own course using weather, elevation, curves and more. Then...

Emperor (2013)
Emperor (2013)
2013 | Drama, Mystery
A tough challenge
The end of Asian campaign of World War II is complicated. The Japanese surrender following the US dropping the pair of atomic bombs; killing hundreds of thousands, wounding many more and leaving cities in ruins. Tensions are still running at a fever pitch and many people are demanding answers and swift justice for those responsible.

"Supreme Commander" General Douglas MacArthur is put in charge of rebuilding Japan and enlists General Bonner Fellers the nearly impossible task of investigating the involvement of Japan's emperor Hirohito and whether or not he should be tried convicted and hung as a result of his orders. Did he order the attack on Pearl Harbor? What did he know and when did he know it? Was he the one who gave the orders or were his generals in charge of the overall operations? In addition, Fellers is given only 10 days to find his ruling before MacArthur has to report back to his commanders in the US.

Sellers starts with trying to figure out the people involved, find them, interview them and find those who don't want to be found. His interviews ask more questions than answer them and he feels like he is going nowhere fast.

Intertwined are his recollections of a romance he had years earlier with a Japanese exchange student who left the US and returned to her home in Japan. His emotions are getting the better of him while he thinks about his former love and attempts to locate her or learn her fate while he does his job.




Matthew Fox is the best part of this film. As a military man, he respects the chain of command and works within in, but also is able to show his emotions when he is with the woman he loves. I loved the flashback scenes as they were able to show the man as well as just the uniform and Fox did this very well.

Tommy Lee Jones played the character he plays in most of his movies. Barking orders to his underlings and enjoying very much being in charge.

I don't know very much about Japanese culture and this film helped me understand what values they hold sacred. These values highly motivate their actions which can be very noble and traditional or unrelenting and barbaric depending on the situation.

You feel real turmoil as the investigation concludes and the results which are found (or not found) and how the situation is resolved. The characters are flawed which makes them more real. This makes the story more emotional and believable.

The Japanese countryside is beautiful in the time of peace contrasted with the desolate scarred Earth shown after the bombs fell.

Compelling historical dramas always intrigue me and this one did the same.

  
    Lotus - Yoga and Fitness

    Lotus - Yoga and Fitness

    Health & Fitness and Sports

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    Welcome to Lotus Yoga! Lotus has the LARGEST yoga library in App Store with 100+ Yoga workouts &...

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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Robin Hood (2018) in Movies

Jan 28, 2019 (Updated Jan 28, 2019)  
Robin Hood (2018)
Robin Hood (2018)
2018 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Scattered flickers of creativity sparsely appear through the film. (0 more)
For the most part, it's just an extremely generic, middle of the road, inoffensive action romp. (0 more)
A Middling Reboot
This is another movie from late 2018 that I am only just getting a chance to see. After my girlfriend and I sat through this one, she turned to me and asked what I thought of it. In response, I just shrugged my shoulders and went, "It was alright." That is genuinely the best way that I can think of to sum up my feeling on this film.

It's a mediocre action movie based around the basic concept of the old tale of Robin Hood. It is extremely cheesy and has bags of whatever the opposite of subtle is. It tries to tell a gritty, 'Year One,' type of story for the character and treats the Robin Hood moniker as a dual identity for Robin Loxley, which draws heavy comparisons to the Batman/Bruce Wayne dynamic. Unfortunately, not much of it lands due to the lack of risk-taking involved.

The movie also feels weirdly dated, especially considering that it's only a few months old. There are an abundance of overindulgent slow motion shots in the style of 300; a movie that was 12 years old at the time of this movie's release. The use of green-screen in this film is actually pretty atrocious judging by today's standards and actually might be some of the worst out of any 2018 movie I saw. This is noticeable throughout the whole movie, but is especially rough-looking during a carriage chase that happens around two thirds into the film.

The cast are all phoning it in as well. Taron Egerton does nothing special with the lead role and Ben Mendlesohn hams it up as the Sheriff Of Nottingham, doing pretty much the same villainous shlock that he did in Ready Player One and Star Wars: Rogue One, way to not get typecast Mendo!

That's the other weird thing about this movie, is that it's not sure what era it wants to be set in. Some of the accents, language and costumes are suitable for the period that the movie is set in, but other elements and other lines and costumes etc feel like they are from 2018, the year that this movie was made. The end result that they were aiming for may have been a sort of rolling timeline that transcends the days of the Crusades that the movie is set in but what we get is just a scattered mess.

There were a few positives in this thing. Some cool shots, Some of the stunt archery is, (while super unrealistic,) pretty cool to watch. I know that 'Real Life Legolas,' Lars Andersen was hired to teach the cast some archery and I believe he helped out with the action choreography as well, which is pretty cool. There are also some glimpses of creativity in some of the shots. One in particular that stood out to me was a shot that gradually panned out from behind a solitary soldiers shield to show the intensity and scale of the battle that was taking place. It's just unfortunate that in so many other places in the movie, all we get is lazy, generic camera angles that add nothing to the scene taking place.

Overall, this is an okay action romp. Don't go in expecting anything of substance or you will most definitely come away disappointed. Though, if all that you are looking for is something to stick on in the background while you do other things or if you are just after an easy, straightforward action adventure popcorn flick, then you could probably do worse than this.
  
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Andrew Sinclair (25 KP) Nov 25, 2019

That's a very detailed, occasionally amusing, enjoyable review. I've not seen the film but I may check it out one day just for the fun of it.

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Paul John (5 KP) Nov 25, 2019

Another Hollywood take on a mythical character.. Bored from start to finish.. Felt like a 90s boy and pop video..

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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Cutaway in Books

Feb 13, 2018  
The Cutaway
The Cutaway
Christina Kovac | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Thriller
4
3.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Virginia Knightly is a busy TV news producer. She's constantly juggling a million stories, cultivating her on-air talent, and appeasing whatever news director has been currently assigned to "revamp" her station and raise ratings. It's a typical day for Virginia when she sees a flyer come across her desk for a missing woman. But something in the woman's eyes in the fuzzy black and white poster haunt Virginia, and she becomes oddly attached to the case of Evelyn "Evie" Carney, a young, married lawyer who disappeared after dining with her husband (and informing him she wanted a divorce). It seems as if the DC police are more involved in Evie's case than Virginia would expect: perhaps even the Department of Justice. What happened to Evie, and is Virginia safe looking into her disappearance?

This seems to be yet another novel where I'm a bit of the minority here, but I just could not get into this one. The premise seemed intriguing (and of course, it was compared to all the popular thrillers du jour, which really doesn't do books favors these days). At times, I almost gave up on this book, which is not like me. First of all, instead of just focusing on the plot of Evie's disappearance, there is a ton (I mean a ton) of time focused on the in-fighting and arguing at the news station, which majorly detracts from the actual mystery plot. I found it juvenile and irritating. Because of this, quickly, I didn't like or care for any of the characters or their relationships whatsoever. Unfortunately, that never really changed. So much seemed to be going on in the book (including Virginia's own personal relationships: with the lead cop investigating Evie's case, her father, the main talent at the station) but so little of it related to Evelyn and her disappearance. A lot of loose ends never seemed to be tied up. I often found myself cringing at the dialogue.

It's sad, because, at times, the actual plot relating to Evelyn is good. I continually found myself wishing there was more of it. There's also a lot of telling versus showing, but I did find myself getting into the various pieces related to Evie. (It certainly makes you hope nothing bad ever happens to you, between the issues at the police department and various levels of justice.) I enjoyed that the story was set in a familiar location for me (Washington, DC). I did guess many of the main plot points, which was a little disappointing, including something you could see coming from the beginning of the story. The whole thing is so convoluted, with so many personal entanglements thrown in, that it's hard to believe at times. Virginia's obsession over Evie's disappearance is strange, and although a rather unbelievable reason will be given near the end, you spend the entire wondering why she's so fanatical. Apparently, while working in news, Kovac covered the Chandra Levy story, and you can see that in this tale at times. This is definitely a first novel, and there are glimmers of hopes for a second. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't for me.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review; it is available everywhere as of 03/21/2017.

<center><a href="http://justacatandabookatherside.blogspot.com/">Blog</a>; ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/mwcmoto">Twitter</a>; ~ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/justacatandabook/">Facebook</a>; ~ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+KristyHamiltonbooks">Google+</a></center>;
  
The Rum Diary  (2011)
The Rum Diary (2011)
2011 | Comedy, Drama
For those unfamiliar with Hunter S. Thompson’s work (as I am), you may not recognize that this movie is based on his book of the same title, first published in 1998. Hunter S. Thompson is the same author who gave us the novel for which the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was based on.

The Rum Diary follows Paul Kemp (played by Johnny Depp), a failed novelist turn journalist, who finds himself at a critical turning point in his life. Having written two and a half novels that were never published, he was having trouble finding his voice, in that he needed to find a way to “write like him” as Paul put it himself. So he decides to do some freelance writing for a small publication located in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1960.

The movie opens with Kemp waking up in a hotel, and you can immediately, and clearly, see that he partakes in certain pleasures of life. After reporting to work at San Juan Star, Kemp meets Sala (played by Michael Rispoli), the photographer for the Star who quickly becomes his cohort. The editor-in-chief of the San Juan Star, Lotterman (played by Richard Jenkins) indicates to Kemp that the publication is only a few months away from being closed down, and that there really isn’t much to look forward to. He assigns Kemp to do some fluff pieces and the horoscope section of the paper.

Kemp is not content with this as he is looking at this experience as a way to put his career back on track. Over the next few days, during his adventures with Sala, he comes across a few different story ideas that are immediately shot down by Lotterman, as they emphasize the things that are wrong with San Juan, and Lotterman feels that the focus should be on the good things (like bowling alleys).

During one of his nights of boozing, he meets Chenault (played by Amber Heard). She’s aloof, mysterious, and of course… Kemp falls immediately in love with her. She just happens to be the girlfriend of Sanderson (played by Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson immediately recognizes the talents that Kemp has and begins recruiting him for a real estate scam. The idea is to get a foothold and build a new hotel on a private island that is used for United States military testing, but will soon be relinquished from that purpose. Sanderson and a group of investors want Kemp to put a brilliant positive spin on the hotel investment so that the public opinion, and that of those in a position to block the development, is a positive one.

Things begin to unravel as Kemp and Sala’s shenanigans keep getting them into trouble, culminating in a heated night where Kemp, Sala, Chenault and Sanderson end up at a bar during the St. Thomas Carnival.

The Rum Diary was highly entertaining with a great supporting cast. Giovani Ribisi provides an excellent distraction from some of the more serious events of the movie as he appears every now and then as Moburg, another reporter for the San Juan Star. The movie played like a great alcohol-induced, drug-fueled adventures of a journalist in the 1960s. Definitely some quirky moments, and you will find yourself laughing at many of Kemp and Sala’s exploits.

My only gripe with the movie is how it ended. The build up to Kemp printing the story and putting it out there leaves you wanting more. While I don’t think the film will reach the same cult-status that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas will, it is definitely entertaining (all the way until the end). It is a good nod to Thompson and fans of his books and movie adaptations are sure to enjoy.