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Rickey A. Mossow Jr. (689 KP) rated Dumbo (2019) in Movies

Aug 27, 2019  
Dumbo (2019)
Dumbo (2019)
2019 | Animation, Family, Fantasy
4
6.5 (81 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Another unnecessary remake of a childhood classic.
When I originally saw the trailer for this pop up on YouTube, my heart swelled with happiness and the child in me grinned from ear to ear. So many memories came back and flooded my heart and mind. Then, I actually watched this movie. It struggled for me from the beginning as it was instantly clear the star wasn't the elephant with big ears, but rather a typecast Danny Devito, Collin Farrell with a terrible southern accent, his women empowerment staple daughter, and his son that is just kinda there. The anthropomorphism of the animated film is gone, and without it, the key scenes lifted from the original don't carry the emotional weight they did. Much of the story makes little to no sense, including the climax and tie everything up in a neat bow ending. All the PC nonsense and making a statement about current social and political issues isn't needed. It's a kids movie. Once it was clear that this was Disney making a movie about evil corporations buying up small entities to make a monopoly, I checked out mentally from the obvious irony. As the credits rolled, I was just left with an empty feeling, my swollen heart shrunk and my grin gone. Memories from my childhood had been stamped out by Disney Inc. in search of the almighty dollar with yet another unnecessary and bad remake.
  
    Owl

    Owl

    Desmond Morris

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    The owls are not what they seem. From ancient Babylon to Edward Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat and...

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) in Movies

Jul 30, 2020  
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
1988 | Horror
8
7.1 (38 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Slightly discombobulating horror sequel. Following the events of the first movie Kirsty Cotton unsurprisingly ends up in a loony bin run by brain surgeon and keen puzzle-box fan Dr Channard (Kenneth Cranham tries mightily to bring a touch of Peter Cushing-style class to an underwritten part). As Channard is a lunatic, he resurrects Kirsty's evil stepmother, and because he is clearly either very forgetful or slow off the mark, together they give a puzzle box (which he already had) to a traumatised patient who's good at puzzles (who he likewise already had about the place) and together they begin to explore the realm of the box.

Meanwhile... oh, does it really matter? As you can perhaps begin to discern, the plot of Hellraiser II Makes No Sense Whatsoever (the Cotton house appears to have teleported from London to New York City in the gap between films, and this is only a minor issue), and there is something baffling and miraculous about the fact the film is as coherent and watchable as it is. Then again, it's not actually about logic, plot, or the motivation of the characters, just a succession of grisly, visceral, nightmarish, surreal images. In this respect at least the film is an astonishing success. Doesn't stop the story from being nonsense, though. Manages to be a very bad movie but also a terrific one, frequently at exactly the same time. Like I say, discombobulating.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Camino Winds in Books

Aug 20, 2020  
Camino Winds
Camino Winds
John Grisham | 2020 | History & Politics, Mystery, Thriller
7
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a typical Grisham quick read. It builds on the first book, but focuses mainly on Bruce. We see little of Mercer, a main character in book one, which was unfortunate. But Bruce is a blustery star, who can easily dominate both in his life and a novel. He has a huge group of friends, literary and "normal" alike. One is Nelson Kerr, a former lawyer with a big firm in San Francisco. He ratted out a client, a defense contractor who was illegally selling high-tech military stuff to the "bad guys." Nelson settled his case and fled to the island after a divorce. He's been working on another book and we learn quickly that his work may have gotten him killed.

It's easy to feel the storm and its tension through Grisham's picturesque writing. Leo hits quickly and the devastation that follows is bad. The post-hurricane feeling on a nearly abandoned Camino Island seems oddly aligned to the pandemic--at least when I read this in May--or it's easy to read that sense into everything I read.

Still, despite the hurricane and the murder and other various killings, this is actually a fun read. Grisham gives us an engaging mystery, and I love his "good versus evil" formula. It always works so well for him and this is one of his breezier presentations. While there isn't much depth, it's a fast read with interesting characters and a snappy mystery. 3.5 stars.