Search
Search results
Words With Friends Cheat - Cheats Complete & Free
Catalogs and Reference
App
Features - Words with friends supported (including Fast Mode) - Character recognition technology...
Sports Action Bet Tracker
Sports, News and Stickers
App
"Best app for sports fans and it's not even close" - @BarstoolBigCat "There was never a good sports...
Times of Malta
News and Magazines & Newspapers
App
This is the official app that brings together all the news published on timesofmalta.com to your...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (2018) in Movies
Sep 29, 2021
I had a dream. A sob. A sing.
You remember in “Aliens” when Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) fought through hell and high water against that “bitch” to protect the youngster Newt (Carrie Henn)? And then how betrayed you felt in that emotional investment at the start of “Alien 3”?
Which brings us spoiler-free to the start of “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”, typically shortened by everyone to “Mamma Mia 2”, the sequel to the enormously successful cheese-fest (and Bros-fest) that was the first film, now – unbelievably – 10 years old.
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is trying to open the Bella Donna hotel on that magical Greek island separated from her husband Sky (Dominic Cooper) who is learning the tips of the hotel trade in New York. As preparations for the opening party progress we flash back to the back-story of Donna (as a post-graduate played by Lily James) as she meets Harry (Hugh Skinner, “The Windsors”, “W1A”), Bill (Josh Dylan, “Allied”) and Sam (Jeremy Irvine, “War Horse”) en route to Greece.
If you remember the first film and thought Donna (Meryl Streep) was a bit of a… erm… ‘loose woman’, then this plot point could have been amplified by seeing the “dot, dot, dot” acts in the flesh, as it were. Fortunately, in steps Lily James as the young Donna who is so mesmerisingly gorgeous and vivacious that you can forgive her just about anything. “Beguiling” was the description my better half came up with, and I couldn’t describe her better. Supporting her effectively are Alexa Davies (as the young version of Julie Walters‘ character) and Jessica Keenan Wynn (as the young version of Christine Baranski‘s character). The trio’s exuberant performance of “When I Kissed the Teacher” sets the tone well for the grin-fest to follow. (By the way, if you are a Mary Poppins fan then a bit of trivia is that Wynn is the great-granddaughter of Ed Wynn, the character who “Loved to Laugh” on the ceiling!).
In these days of drought, Trump vs the world, Brexit and universal bruhaha, this is a much-needed joyful film, and far better I would say than the original. A good story, well executed and stuffed with excellent tunes. True, apart from a number of key repeats, we are more in the territory – in CD terms – of “More Abba Gold” than “Abba Gold”, but Bjorn and Benny’s B-sides are still better than many other’s A-sides. What’s really nice is that the songs are well chosen to mesh better into the story and the lead singing of Seyfried and James is uniformly excellent. Pierce Brosnan gets to sing (no, no, come back!) but it is cleverly low-key and genuinely touching. And as for Celia Imrie, you’re a legend and we forgive you!
It’s also far better at finding both humour and pathos than the original, with the splendid Hugh Skinner exhibiting perfect comic timing and comedian Omid Djalili being very funny (stay to the end of the end-credits for a very funny monkey). National treasure Julie Walters also adds excellent comic content, particularly in a number of dance scenes.
And as for the pathos, if the duet at the finale doesn’t move you to tears you are either made of rock or are immune to being shamelessly manipulated! It’s a well-scripted convergence of grief and joy (I feel Richard Curtis‘s hand in the story here) around one of Abba’s most beautifully tear-jerking songs. I will admit to you – don’t tell anyone else – that I was left in a complete mess… another reason to sit through the end titles!
At the elderly end of the cast list Andy Garcia is magnificent as the South American hotel manager Mr Cienfuegos (you’ll NEVER guess what his first name is!) and Cher (“Moonstruck”) literally rocks up trying hard to steal the show as Sophie’s Vegas superstar grandmother.
Directed and scripted by “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” director Ol Parker (the lucky guy who is married to Thandie Newton!) it drips with cheese again, but who cares when it is so stylishly done. Should you see this? The test is simple: if you hated “Mamma Mia” then you will hate this one; if you loved “Mamma Mia” you will simply adore this one.
Which brings us spoiler-free to the start of “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”, typically shortened by everyone to “Mamma Mia 2”, the sequel to the enormously successful cheese-fest (and Bros-fest) that was the first film, now – unbelievably – 10 years old.
Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is trying to open the Bella Donna hotel on that magical Greek island separated from her husband Sky (Dominic Cooper) who is learning the tips of the hotel trade in New York. As preparations for the opening party progress we flash back to the back-story of Donna (as a post-graduate played by Lily James) as she meets Harry (Hugh Skinner, “The Windsors”, “W1A”), Bill (Josh Dylan, “Allied”) and Sam (Jeremy Irvine, “War Horse”) en route to Greece.
If you remember the first film and thought Donna (Meryl Streep) was a bit of a… erm… ‘loose woman’, then this plot point could have been amplified by seeing the “dot, dot, dot” acts in the flesh, as it were. Fortunately, in steps Lily James as the young Donna who is so mesmerisingly gorgeous and vivacious that you can forgive her just about anything. “Beguiling” was the description my better half came up with, and I couldn’t describe her better. Supporting her effectively are Alexa Davies (as the young version of Julie Walters‘ character) and Jessica Keenan Wynn (as the young version of Christine Baranski‘s character). The trio’s exuberant performance of “When I Kissed the Teacher” sets the tone well for the grin-fest to follow. (By the way, if you are a Mary Poppins fan then a bit of trivia is that Wynn is the great-granddaughter of Ed Wynn, the character who “Loved to Laugh” on the ceiling!).
In these days of drought, Trump vs the world, Brexit and universal bruhaha, this is a much-needed joyful film, and far better I would say than the original. A good story, well executed and stuffed with excellent tunes. True, apart from a number of key repeats, we are more in the territory – in CD terms – of “More Abba Gold” than “Abba Gold”, but Bjorn and Benny’s B-sides are still better than many other’s A-sides. What’s really nice is that the songs are well chosen to mesh better into the story and the lead singing of Seyfried and James is uniformly excellent. Pierce Brosnan gets to sing (no, no, come back!) but it is cleverly low-key and genuinely touching. And as for Celia Imrie, you’re a legend and we forgive you!
It’s also far better at finding both humour and pathos than the original, with the splendid Hugh Skinner exhibiting perfect comic timing and comedian Omid Djalili being very funny (stay to the end of the end-credits for a very funny monkey). National treasure Julie Walters also adds excellent comic content, particularly in a number of dance scenes.
And as for the pathos, if the duet at the finale doesn’t move you to tears you are either made of rock or are immune to being shamelessly manipulated! It’s a well-scripted convergence of grief and joy (I feel Richard Curtis‘s hand in the story here) around one of Abba’s most beautifully tear-jerking songs. I will admit to you – don’t tell anyone else – that I was left in a complete mess… another reason to sit through the end titles!
At the elderly end of the cast list Andy Garcia is magnificent as the South American hotel manager Mr Cienfuegos (you’ll NEVER guess what his first name is!) and Cher (“Moonstruck”) literally rocks up trying hard to steal the show as Sophie’s Vegas superstar grandmother.
Directed and scripted by “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” director Ol Parker (the lucky guy who is married to Thandie Newton!) it drips with cheese again, but who cares when it is so stylishly done. Should you see this? The test is simple: if you hated “Mamma Mia” then you will hate this one; if you loved “Mamma Mia” you will simply adore this one.
Lawnmower - Blockchain Investing & Market Data
Finance
App
▶WELCOME TO THE FUTURE OF FINANCE◀ Check price quotes & follow Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin,...
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Libertalia in Tabletop Games
Sep 5, 2019 (Updated Dec 2, 2019)
(Sung to the tune of “Rainbow Connection”) Why are there so many games about pirates? Why do I love them so much? (end music) Well I will tell you. Libertalia is one of the first pirate games I ever collected and played. I was finally able to introduce it to Laura recently and you can see by the ratings graphic that she really enjoyed it too. But why? It’s just another pirate game, right?
Libertalia pits the players against each other to become the wealthiest pirate captain by manipulating crew members and using their strengths to secure the almighty booty. The game takes place over three weeks, and each round of play is equal to one week. There are six playable days where captains will be selecting crew members to contribute their special abilities for gain and treachery to other captains.
DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
To setup the game lay out all boards in the center of the table, choose which color pirate you would like to represent and take all corresponding color components, fill the booty spaces on the bottom of the ship board with enough booty tokens for one per player per box, and give each player ten doubloons worth of starting money. The youngest player now shuffles their deck thoroughly and deals themselves nine random cards. They player then reads out the numbers of cards they have drawn so that all players will have a matching hand of cards of the same numbers. Example: the youngest player draws 9 – 12 – 16 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 25 – 29. Each player will remove those exact cards from their decks to form the matching starting hand. You are now ready to play!
All captains will simultaneously choose one card from their hand to play for the “day.” The youngest player collects all played cards and arranges them numerically from lowest to highest (with numbers in the gray box area breaking ties). The Day now begins with any Day time specific abilities triggering on cards that show the matching Day symbol beginning with the lowest numbered card and ending with the highest (we will call it “initiative” for the purposes of this review). It could be taking doubloons, or otherwise affecting other cards. Once complete, the booty tokens for that Day are claimed in reverse initiative order (highest to lowest) and Dusk abilities are triggered. When all captains are satisfied with their booty (or oftentimes NOT satisfied) any Night special abilities are triggered and performed as well as the Cutlass and Spanish General token abilities. Those that have been discarded (slain) are placed under the play mat on the left side (where one can find the graveyard), and all surviving pirates retire to the “Den” where they may still be of service at the end of the week or even end of the game. At the end of the sixth Day/Night any pirates alive in the Den with a Day of Rest anchor icon will trigger their special abilities. The youngest player then draws and relays the next six cards to setup the next round and you are off for week #2. Play continues in this way for six Days over three Weeks.
Components. The game has a fair amount of different components, but they are all quite good. The punchboard components (boards, booty tokens, doubloons) are all a good thickness and quality. They look so good that my 3-year-old son wanted to play with them and add them to his gold doubloon collection. Yes, he has a gold doubloon collection in a treasure box. The cards and play mats are of good quality too. The art on this game is absolutely stellar. It is so realistic and wonderful that you actually get caught up in the piratey theme and wanting to score that sweet booty. (I’m done with the booty jokes I think)
So this was my first pirate board game I ever purchased, and I obviously still have it in my collection, so it’s good right? Absolutely! This is one of the best pirate-themed games I have ever played and I am certainly not alone. As of today Libertalia is ranked #2 in pirate themed games on BGG by rank (I believe Friday is disqualified because that’s not really a pirate game to me). The interplay between the pirates you can choose in your limited hand each round, but captains may choose different combinations of pirates to use each hand and each round that you sometimes forget that they had not yet used their Surgeon, and this is such a great time for them to use it. Bloody sneaky powder monkey!
Libertalia is that rare game that you instantly fall in love with, and when you try to share your love of it with others, you can see their eyes light up over the brilliance of design and deep appreciation of the art and components. If I ever get into seriously blinging out my games, you better believe Libertalia will be one of the first I treat. Purple Phoenix Games gives Libertalia a buccaneer’s loot of 21 / 24.
Libertalia pits the players against each other to become the wealthiest pirate captain by manipulating crew members and using their strengths to secure the almighty booty. The game takes place over three weeks, and each round of play is equal to one week. There are six playable days where captains will be selecting crew members to contribute their special abilities for gain and treachery to other captains.
DISCLAIMER: I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rule book, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy from the publisher directly or from your FLGS. -T
To setup the game lay out all boards in the center of the table, choose which color pirate you would like to represent and take all corresponding color components, fill the booty spaces on the bottom of the ship board with enough booty tokens for one per player per box, and give each player ten doubloons worth of starting money. The youngest player now shuffles their deck thoroughly and deals themselves nine random cards. They player then reads out the numbers of cards they have drawn so that all players will have a matching hand of cards of the same numbers. Example: the youngest player draws 9 – 12 – 16 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 25 – 29. Each player will remove those exact cards from their decks to form the matching starting hand. You are now ready to play!
All captains will simultaneously choose one card from their hand to play for the “day.” The youngest player collects all played cards and arranges them numerically from lowest to highest (with numbers in the gray box area breaking ties). The Day now begins with any Day time specific abilities triggering on cards that show the matching Day symbol beginning with the lowest numbered card and ending with the highest (we will call it “initiative” for the purposes of this review). It could be taking doubloons, or otherwise affecting other cards. Once complete, the booty tokens for that Day are claimed in reverse initiative order (highest to lowest) and Dusk abilities are triggered. When all captains are satisfied with their booty (or oftentimes NOT satisfied) any Night special abilities are triggered and performed as well as the Cutlass and Spanish General token abilities. Those that have been discarded (slain) are placed under the play mat on the left side (where one can find the graveyard), and all surviving pirates retire to the “Den” where they may still be of service at the end of the week or even end of the game. At the end of the sixth Day/Night any pirates alive in the Den with a Day of Rest anchor icon will trigger their special abilities. The youngest player then draws and relays the next six cards to setup the next round and you are off for week #2. Play continues in this way for six Days over three Weeks.
Components. The game has a fair amount of different components, but they are all quite good. The punchboard components (boards, booty tokens, doubloons) are all a good thickness and quality. They look so good that my 3-year-old son wanted to play with them and add them to his gold doubloon collection. Yes, he has a gold doubloon collection in a treasure box. The cards and play mats are of good quality too. The art on this game is absolutely stellar. It is so realistic and wonderful that you actually get caught up in the piratey theme and wanting to score that sweet booty. (I’m done with the booty jokes I think)
So this was my first pirate board game I ever purchased, and I obviously still have it in my collection, so it’s good right? Absolutely! This is one of the best pirate-themed games I have ever played and I am certainly not alone. As of today Libertalia is ranked #2 in pirate themed games on BGG by rank (I believe Friday is disqualified because that’s not really a pirate game to me). The interplay between the pirates you can choose in your limited hand each round, but captains may choose different combinations of pirates to use each hand and each round that you sometimes forget that they had not yet used their Surgeon, and this is such a great time for them to use it. Bloody sneaky powder monkey!
Libertalia is that rare game that you instantly fall in love with, and when you try to share your love of it with others, you can see their eyes light up over the brilliance of design and deep appreciation of the art and components. If I ever get into seriously blinging out my games, you better believe Libertalia will be one of the first I treat. Purple Phoenix Games gives Libertalia a buccaneer’s loot of 21 / 24.
Shaw Academy Learning
Education
App
Join over 2 million graduates and learn new skills today with the largest live online educator on...
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Need for Speed in Video Games
Apr 13, 2018 (Updated Apr 13, 2018)
Time To Move On
One of the reasons that I love the medium of video games so much, is because there are times that you absolutely do not expect to feel anything for a game that you download on a whim and end up pouring an abundance of hours into it until you have almost earned the platinum trophy without even realising it.
By no means am I saying that this is a masterpiece, but I had downloaded it months ago in a PSN sale and totally forgot about it, then while I was playing through Evil Within 2, I wanted something else to break up the time spent in Union, so I stuck it on as sort of a backburner game. At first I hated it, I cringed at every cheesy cutscene and longed for the old days of the Underground games and Most Wanted (OG version,) but slowly, I came to accept the updated version of NFS and before too long, I was spending more time with NFS than I was with Evil Within 2. In fact, I sort of rushed my way through Evil Within 2 against my better judgement, so that I could spend more time in NFS guilt free.
The game isn't very hard once you get the knack for drifting. Choose the Subaru at the start of the game and pour all of your in game cash into upgrades for the car until you max it out with what you have unlocked at that stage, then save up and buy the 1999 Skyline and max that out with upgrades, then buy the Lamborghini Aventador as soon as you can afford it and you won't be faced with many losses, as long as you don't wipe out too often. You will have to go back and buy a lower horsepower car for certain missions in the game, but other than that, just pour all of your money into upgrades and you are golden. (Note: don't waste your money on the F132 Hotrod. It's the most expensive car in the game, but it's balls compared to the Lambo and can't be upgraded.)
Also, this is my first platinum trophy since Infamous: First Light and is by far my most surprising platinum. (I'm not the trophy whore that I used to be.) I played through the story until the end and levelled up to 50 with very minimal grinding, then I checked the trophy list and saw that I was only 2 arbitrary trophies short of the platinum, so I worked towards them and popped the platinum. For those of you that aren't Playstation gamers or trophy hunters, this may mean nothing to you, but let's just say I sincerely didn't believe that I was going to platinum this game back when I first downloaded it, in fact I would have put money on the fact that I wouldn't.
Overall, this is hot trash, but it's fun. Need For Speed is never going to be what it was in the PS2 days, but if you can accept that and stomach the excessive amount of inane fistbumps and cringey dialogue spouted by the game's stereotypical cool kids, there is an enjoyable game in here.
By no means am I saying that this is a masterpiece, but I had downloaded it months ago in a PSN sale and totally forgot about it, then while I was playing through Evil Within 2, I wanted something else to break up the time spent in Union, so I stuck it on as sort of a backburner game. At first I hated it, I cringed at every cheesy cutscene and longed for the old days of the Underground games and Most Wanted (OG version,) but slowly, I came to accept the updated version of NFS and before too long, I was spending more time with NFS than I was with Evil Within 2. In fact, I sort of rushed my way through Evil Within 2 against my better judgement, so that I could spend more time in NFS guilt free.
The game isn't very hard once you get the knack for drifting. Choose the Subaru at the start of the game and pour all of your in game cash into upgrades for the car until you max it out with what you have unlocked at that stage, then save up and buy the 1999 Skyline and max that out with upgrades, then buy the Lamborghini Aventador as soon as you can afford it and you won't be faced with many losses, as long as you don't wipe out too often. You will have to go back and buy a lower horsepower car for certain missions in the game, but other than that, just pour all of your money into upgrades and you are golden. (Note: don't waste your money on the F132 Hotrod. It's the most expensive car in the game, but it's balls compared to the Lambo and can't be upgraded.)
Also, this is my first platinum trophy since Infamous: First Light and is by far my most surprising platinum. (I'm not the trophy whore that I used to be.) I played through the story until the end and levelled up to 50 with very minimal grinding, then I checked the trophy list and saw that I was only 2 arbitrary trophies short of the platinum, so I worked towards them and popped the platinum. For those of you that aren't Playstation gamers or trophy hunters, this may mean nothing to you, but let's just say I sincerely didn't believe that I was going to platinum this game back when I first downloaded it, in fact I would have put money on the fact that I wouldn't.
Overall, this is hot trash, but it's fun. Need For Speed is never going to be what it was in the PS2 days, but if you can accept that and stomach the excessive amount of inane fistbumps and cringey dialogue spouted by the game's stereotypical cool kids, there is an enjoyable game in here.
Fred (860 KP) rated Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in Movies
May 3, 2018
Special effects are great, except Bruce Banner's head in the Hulkbuster suit. (4 more)
Great action scenes.
Great seeing just about all the Marvel characters.
PETER DINKLAGE!
Josh Brolin is great as Thanos.
Too talky at points. (5 more)
Some weird, illogical, wtf parts.
Guardians seemed out of place acting so serious.
Wasn't moved by the ending. Was kind of like, "Okay...so what? This is a comic-book movie."
Too long to introduce everyone.
Not funny.
Hype says it's better than it actually is
I knew this movie wasn't going to live up to the hype. Just like Black Panther, it's just an okay movie. Just like every other movie made these days, it starts strong, gets boring, then ends strong. Except it doesn't end too strong. It sort of ends with a whimper. I see memes where people were devastated at the ending. I felt like it was meaningless, as we know this is a comic book movie & all will be put right in the next installment.
I feel one of the main problems of the movie was the humor. When you have great Marvel movies, like The Guardians of the Galaxy films, and Thor: Ragnarok, which relied on a lot of humor and then are intertwined with a movie so dark, so deathly serious & try to keep the humor of those films, it just doesn't work. The Guardians, Thor & Bruce Banner were all throwing out jokes, but they mostly fell flat. It's hard to smile when Thanos is being an absolute terror.
All this being said, I did like the movie. Where I probably wouldn't watch Black Panther again, I would definitely watch this again. I actually have BP a 7, just like this film, I would probably change my score to a 5, as this movie was better, but doesn't deserve higher than a 7.
I feel one of the main problems of the movie was the humor. When you have great Marvel movies, like The Guardians of the Galaxy films, and Thor: Ragnarok, which relied on a lot of humor and then are intertwined with a movie so dark, so deathly serious & try to keep the humor of those films, it just doesn't work. The Guardians, Thor & Bruce Banner were all throwing out jokes, but they mostly fell flat. It's hard to smile when Thanos is being an absolute terror.
All this being said, I did like the movie. Where I probably wouldn't watch Black Panther again, I would definitely watch this again. I actually have BP a 7, just like this film, I would probably change my score to a 5, as this movie was better, but doesn't deserve higher than a 7.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2171 KP) rated Chasing the Dime in Books
Nov 18, 2018
"What Happened to You?" "I Got the Wrong Number."
Henry Pierce is just days away from a patent and a huge meeting with a potential investor at the company he founded. However, he's also just moved into an apartment since he has split with his fiancee. That, of course, means a new land line, and Pierce starts to get phone messages for someone named Lilly. Pierce quickly figures out that Lilly is a prostitute, but how did he get her number? Why would she give it up? Pierce isn't able to let the puzzle go, and he begins to spend his weekend obsessing over finding her instead of doing the last-minute things he should be doing for his company. Will he find her? Will he destroy everything he's worked for in the process?
This book is definitely a departure for Michael Connelly, featuring an everyman and bordering on a technothriller. It starts out well with plenty of intrigue, but it gets bogged down in the second half. The pace gets way too slow at one point before picking up again and racing to the climax. Pierce's reasons for getting as involved as he does are reasonable, but we don't find out until the end. He does make an interesting main character, however, and the rest of the cast are just as strong. Since this book originally came out in 2002, it has some dated elements. It's amazing how much our lives have changed in the last decade and a half. This is one of Connelly's rare stand-alones, and you can read it as much, but fans of the Harry Bosch books will recognize some cool Easter Eggs, including a reference to the ending of City of Bones, the Bosch book that came out just before this book did.
This book is definitely a departure for Michael Connelly, featuring an everyman and bordering on a technothriller. It starts out well with plenty of intrigue, but it gets bogged down in the second half. The pace gets way too slow at one point before picking up again and racing to the climax. Pierce's reasons for getting as involved as he does are reasonable, but we don't find out until the end. He does make an interesting main character, however, and the rest of the cast are just as strong. Since this book originally came out in 2002, it has some dated elements. It's amazing how much our lives have changed in the last decade and a half. This is one of Connelly's rare stand-alones, and you can read it as much, but fans of the Harry Bosch books will recognize some cool Easter Eggs, including a reference to the ending of City of Bones, the Bosch book that came out just before this book did.