Search
Search results
Under A Cloud (The Rival Courts #2)
Book
Vicky's father, Albert, the Prince Consort, has just died, leaving her and her family under a heavy...
Historical Fiction Victorian German History
The Lady Who Left
8.0
Rate It
Book
The best love stories begin with a divorce. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, Lady Marigold...
Historical Romance Forbidden Romance
Ravens Hill (The Atheling Chronicles #5)
Book
In 1030 C.E. — When Harald, the second son of King Cnute, returns from fighting the king's enemies...
Historical Mystery Vikings
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Jun 5, 2019
Good Enough - Monsters Fighting Each Other
I grew up in the 1960's watching old monster movies on Saturday afternoons on an old black and white TV in the home I grew up in. A staple of these Saturday afternoon movies was the Godzilla monster movies from Japan, featuring such great monsters as Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah. So, imagine my excitement when I realized that they all would be in the same film.
And...that film...GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS...delivers the goods just fine. Sometimes you go to the movie theater looking for laughs, sometimes you are looking to cry, sometimes you are looking to have your mind stimulated with interesting thoughts and ideas and sometimes you just want to watch giant monsters battling it out over the remnants of Fenway Park in Boston.
The 3rd in the "Monarch Series" of films from Warner Brothers (following the surprisingly good 2014 GODZILLA film and the fun KONG: SKULL ISLAND movie of 2017), GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS follows Monarch as they find (and in some instances, re-awaken) giant monsters - TITANS as they are called - the Titans attempt to take over the planet from the humans (there's a "save the planet" message that is being used as the excuse)...but here comes good ol' Godzilla to save the day.
Besides the monsters, there are quite a few humans along for the ride...Kyle Chandler and Vera Famiga as a dysfunctional couple (who also happen to be experts in Monsters) who are trying to keep in check their daughter, Millie Bobbie Brown (STRANGER THINGS). Ken Watanbe, Sally Hawkins and Jason Strahairn reprise their roles as members of MONARCH from the 2014 GODZILLA film, 2 veritable "that person" actors, Thomas Middleditch & Aisha Hinds as other members of Monarch along with Ziya Zhang and O'Shea Jackson, Jr. - all of these actors are "serviceable" to the plot and machinations, reacting appropriately to the green screen carnage and monsters that they are pretending to react to. Only Bradley Whitford (as a Monarch Scientist) rises above things with a goofy, "almost too over the top" performance that captures the spirit of the proceedings. Add into this good ol' Tywin Lannister himself (Charles Dance) as a shadowy, non-feeling bad guy that seems to have an inexhaustible supply of men and material - kind of like Tywinn Lannister - and the "human side" of this movie is fun...enough.
But, make no mistake about it, this film - and the reason I came to see it - is to watch giant monsters fighting each other and destroying everything in their wake and this film delivers the goods. Director Micheal Dougherty ( KRAMPUS) does a "serviceable" job keeping the action moving and coherent while avoiding (for the most part) the headache-inducing "quick-cut" editing sequence. There's nothing much new or innovative in his approach to showing us monsters fighting and creating massive destruction, but he doesn't take away from the spectacle of the action on the screen so that's a good thing..
There are 2 more Godzilla films currently "on the books" to be produced - including next year's KONG vs. GODZILLA - which will keep me coming back to the IMAX in the multiplex for years to come...and that's just fine with me.
Letter Grade: a solid B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
And...that film...GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS...delivers the goods just fine. Sometimes you go to the movie theater looking for laughs, sometimes you are looking to cry, sometimes you are looking to have your mind stimulated with interesting thoughts and ideas and sometimes you just want to watch giant monsters battling it out over the remnants of Fenway Park in Boston.
The 3rd in the "Monarch Series" of films from Warner Brothers (following the surprisingly good 2014 GODZILLA film and the fun KONG: SKULL ISLAND movie of 2017), GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS follows Monarch as they find (and in some instances, re-awaken) giant monsters - TITANS as they are called - the Titans attempt to take over the planet from the humans (there's a "save the planet" message that is being used as the excuse)...but here comes good ol' Godzilla to save the day.
Besides the monsters, there are quite a few humans along for the ride...Kyle Chandler and Vera Famiga as a dysfunctional couple (who also happen to be experts in Monsters) who are trying to keep in check their daughter, Millie Bobbie Brown (STRANGER THINGS). Ken Watanbe, Sally Hawkins and Jason Strahairn reprise their roles as members of MONARCH from the 2014 GODZILLA film, 2 veritable "that person" actors, Thomas Middleditch & Aisha Hinds as other members of Monarch along with Ziya Zhang and O'Shea Jackson, Jr. - all of these actors are "serviceable" to the plot and machinations, reacting appropriately to the green screen carnage and monsters that they are pretending to react to. Only Bradley Whitford (as a Monarch Scientist) rises above things with a goofy, "almost too over the top" performance that captures the spirit of the proceedings. Add into this good ol' Tywin Lannister himself (Charles Dance) as a shadowy, non-feeling bad guy that seems to have an inexhaustible supply of men and material - kind of like Tywinn Lannister - and the "human side" of this movie is fun...enough.
But, make no mistake about it, this film - and the reason I came to see it - is to watch giant monsters fighting each other and destroying everything in their wake and this film delivers the goods. Director Micheal Dougherty ( KRAMPUS) does a "serviceable" job keeping the action moving and coherent while avoiding (for the most part) the headache-inducing "quick-cut" editing sequence. There's nothing much new or innovative in his approach to showing us monsters fighting and creating massive destruction, but he doesn't take away from the spectacle of the action on the screen so that's a good thing..
There are 2 more Godzilla films currently "on the books" to be produced - including next year's KONG vs. GODZILLA - which will keep me coming back to the IMAX in the multiplex for years to come...and that's just fine with me.
Letter Grade: a solid B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
Mike Wilder (20 KP) rated Real Steel (2011) in Movies
May 30, 2018
This is a good film, not a great film but very good.
Contains spoilers, click to show
This film is the reason I decided to do my own movie reviews. After hearing a review for this film from BBC Radio 1's movie reviewer, I decided to start my own review page. She reviewed this film seeing nothing more than the robots. She totally missed out on the whole plot of the movie, and then her comment "the climax takes a long time to come and it happens right at the end" made me want to climb into the radio and tape her mouth shut. I know where I expect the climax of a film to be, and I know it is nowhere but at the end of the film. Yes this film has big giant robots in it, but the plot is way more than that, it is a story about redemption and doing the right thing no matter how hard the journey. I got that much from just seeing the trailer, she saw the whole thing and missed the whole point.
OK rant over.
This is a good film, not a great film but very good. Hugh Jackman is good in this but to be fair he is good in most things. He gets to show off a bigger range of his acting skills than he has in the X-Men films. He plays Charlie Kenton, a former boxer now heavily in debt due to pushing his fighting robots too hard and expecting more than they can give, like fighting a 300lb bull! This also stars Evangeline Lilly in I believe her first role since the series Lost ended. She is also very good in this. However, the star of the film is Dakota Goya as Max Kenton. He shines as the child thrown together with the father he doesn't know. He enters the world of robot fighting with his father and manages to rescue a robot from a scrap pile. He then convinces his father to enter the robot in the fights. You really get to experience the wonder of the Robots through him. The other star is the robot he rescues, Atom. Although not sentient, the director manages to bring him to life with good camera angles and subtle sounds. You really start to feel for the robot and you manage to forget the fights aren't real. The other very clever part of the film is the setting. It is set in the near future, but the only really futuristic thing is the robots. There are no fancy cars or clothes and this enables you to connect with the film easier.
The climax of the film (at the end!), is a big showdown with the undefeated champion. Instead of just two robots bashing each other, you get Atom, the underdog, controlled by Max, and helped by his father. You see and feel each blow the robot takes and through the acting skills of Dakota Goya, you forget it's a machine and you can't help but cheer him on.
This could have been an average film, but the fine performances by the cast and the skill of the director in bringing Atom to life with just the use of camera shots and clever subtle sounds turns this film in to a joy to watch as you take the journey with father, son and giant robot.
OK rant over.
This is a good film, not a great film but very good. Hugh Jackman is good in this but to be fair he is good in most things. He gets to show off a bigger range of his acting skills than he has in the X-Men films. He plays Charlie Kenton, a former boxer now heavily in debt due to pushing his fighting robots too hard and expecting more than they can give, like fighting a 300lb bull! This also stars Evangeline Lilly in I believe her first role since the series Lost ended. She is also very good in this. However, the star of the film is Dakota Goya as Max Kenton. He shines as the child thrown together with the father he doesn't know. He enters the world of robot fighting with his father and manages to rescue a robot from a scrap pile. He then convinces his father to enter the robot in the fights. You really get to experience the wonder of the Robots through him. The other star is the robot he rescues, Atom. Although not sentient, the director manages to bring him to life with good camera angles and subtle sounds. You really start to feel for the robot and you manage to forget the fights aren't real. The other very clever part of the film is the setting. It is set in the near future, but the only really futuristic thing is the robots. There are no fancy cars or clothes and this enables you to connect with the film easier.
The climax of the film (at the end!), is a big showdown with the undefeated champion. Instead of just two robots bashing each other, you get Atom, the underdog, controlled by Max, and helped by his father. You see and feel each blow the robot takes and through the acting skills of Dakota Goya, you forget it's a machine and you can't help but cheer him on.
This could have been an average film, but the fine performances by the cast and the skill of the director in bringing Atom to life with just the use of camera shots and clever subtle sounds turns this film in to a joy to watch as you take the journey with father, son and giant robot.
Darren (1599 KP) rated The Velocipastor (2018) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Story: The VelociPastor starts when Doug Jones (Cohan) whose parents are murdered leading to him to loses his faith, Father Stewart (Steere) sends him of a self-discovery holiday, which sees him head to China, when he returns he finds himself having horrendous nightmares and after he meets a hooker Carol (Kempinski), he tries to put everything together.
Once Doug learns that he can turn into a dinosaur, he works with Carol to fight crime to clean up his own town, including the man that murdered his parents.
Thoughts on The VelociPastor
Characters – Doug Jones is a priest that has followed God for years until his parents are murdered outside his church, he goes on a voyage of self-discovery in China, which sees him infected with an illness. Doug have the ability to turn into a dinosaur, where he decides to use this new power to fight crime in his town, getting revenge on the person who murdered his parents and bring down the drug lord. Carol is a local hooker that meets Doug and sees first-hand just what he is capable off, she pushes him into fighting crime, while she can handle herself in combat too. Father Stewart is the mentor of Doug, he has always helped him keep the faith and is willing to let him discover his faith once more. Wei Chan is the local drug lord that has been controlling the crime in the town, along with his ninjas he will be the fight Doug must take on.
Performances – This movie does have the over the top performances which does only help make things more entertaining, Greg Cohan in the leading role knowns when to hold things back before going over the top, which helps the character. Alyssa Kempinski is fun in her role, which brings the change in our lead character through the film. The whole cast know exactly the tone of this film and it shows in the their performances.
Story – The story here follows a priest that gets infected with something that turns him into a dinosaur and decides to go on to fight crime with this new ability. The first thing you must be prepared for is knowing that this film doesn’t take anything serious and is well aware that everything is as ridiculous as it sounds. The idea behind the film is truly original, it is purely fun and wildly over the top. If you do go into this story thinking you are getting something serious, you will be disappointed because this film is completely self-aware of what it is trying to tell.
Action/Comedy/Horror/Sci-Fi – The action in the film does play into the comedy, which is silly and over the top, which does include the dinosaur fighting ninja, which helps with the horror and sci-fi elements in the film.
Settings – The film is set in a small town, this does help with the idea of how silly this film takes itself without needing to go into anything too serious once again.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are practical, this again plays into the self-aware side of the film, which does show with the dinosaur suit fighting ninja.
Scene of the Movie – Dinosaur v ninjas.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The random Father Stewart backstory.
Final Thoughts – This is one if not the most self-aware movies you will see, it is so funny you can enjoy laughing through how ridiculous this film is.
Overall: Purely fun.
Once Doug learns that he can turn into a dinosaur, he works with Carol to fight crime to clean up his own town, including the man that murdered his parents.
Thoughts on The VelociPastor
Characters – Doug Jones is a priest that has followed God for years until his parents are murdered outside his church, he goes on a voyage of self-discovery in China, which sees him infected with an illness. Doug have the ability to turn into a dinosaur, where he decides to use this new power to fight crime in his town, getting revenge on the person who murdered his parents and bring down the drug lord. Carol is a local hooker that meets Doug and sees first-hand just what he is capable off, she pushes him into fighting crime, while she can handle herself in combat too. Father Stewart is the mentor of Doug, he has always helped him keep the faith and is willing to let him discover his faith once more. Wei Chan is the local drug lord that has been controlling the crime in the town, along with his ninjas he will be the fight Doug must take on.
Performances – This movie does have the over the top performances which does only help make things more entertaining, Greg Cohan in the leading role knowns when to hold things back before going over the top, which helps the character. Alyssa Kempinski is fun in her role, which brings the change in our lead character through the film. The whole cast know exactly the tone of this film and it shows in the their performances.
Story – The story here follows a priest that gets infected with something that turns him into a dinosaur and decides to go on to fight crime with this new ability. The first thing you must be prepared for is knowing that this film doesn’t take anything serious and is well aware that everything is as ridiculous as it sounds. The idea behind the film is truly original, it is purely fun and wildly over the top. If you do go into this story thinking you are getting something serious, you will be disappointed because this film is completely self-aware of what it is trying to tell.
Action/Comedy/Horror/Sci-Fi – The action in the film does play into the comedy, which is silly and over the top, which does include the dinosaur fighting ninja, which helps with the horror and sci-fi elements in the film.
Settings – The film is set in a small town, this does help with the idea of how silly this film takes itself without needing to go into anything too serious once again.
Special Effects – The effects in the film are practical, this again plays into the self-aware side of the film, which does show with the dinosaur suit fighting ninja.
Scene of the Movie – Dinosaur v ninjas.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The random Father Stewart backstory.
Final Thoughts – This is one if not the most self-aware movies you will see, it is so funny you can enjoy laughing through how ridiculous this film is.
Overall: Purely fun.
Monster Legends RPG
Games
App
Battle with the ultimate monster fighting force to lead them to victory in Monster Legends! Breed,...
Solomon Kane
Tabletop Game
Solomon Kane is a dour English Puritan and redresser of wrongs. He roams the world, fighting against...
Boardgames NovelsintoGames 2019Games
Amy Christmas (171 KP) rated Half the World in Books
Dec 20, 2017 (Updated Dec 22, 2017)
Amazing character development (2 more)
Fast paced scenes along with slow scenes
Writing style is easy to follow
Starting is slow to get in to (1 more)
Spelling and grammatical mistakes
An unexpectedly good middle book
In the second book following from Half a King we follow two new characters, Thorn and Brand. Thorn is a girl in a man's world fighting in the ring with the desire to become a gettland warrior, while Brand is a man who despite fighting in the ring hesitates and only wants to do 'good'.
In the first few chapters we learn that Thorn is disliked for her desire to fight and Master Hunnan, their trainer, sets 3 men on her at once for her warriors test. Thorn is beaten down by the men until she accidentally kills one of them. Named a murderer and shamed she's taken to the king and sentenced to death.
Meanwhile Brand while disliking Thorn doesn't want her to be punished due to the unfairness of the situation. Then we get our first look at Yarvi as Brand confesses the true situation and asks him to save Thorn.
At first Yarvi comes off as a cold closed and cunning man but we soon learn that he is the same old Yarvi just with a few more tricks.
Following these events Thorn and Brand find themselves on Yarvi's ship as he sails out to find allies against The High King who angers at Gettland not bending their knee to him. Skifr a warrior trains Thorn in battle until Thorn is as deadly as a knives edge.
We meet king Fynn of Throvenland and sail up the divine and denied and carry a ship over the fall hauls to arrive at the first city. Here we meet the new empress of the South and find that they too have political disturbances leading to death and chaos.
Through this journey we find Brand is a good but uncertain man and Thorn is bold, and deadly yet broken and Yarvi doesn't keep to all of his oaths.
This is a fantastic follow on from the first book as the new characters are well developed as well as the world itself. As the stake rise and allies are found I can't wait to read the third book to finish this story off.
In the first few chapters we learn that Thorn is disliked for her desire to fight and Master Hunnan, their trainer, sets 3 men on her at once for her warriors test. Thorn is beaten down by the men until she accidentally kills one of them. Named a murderer and shamed she's taken to the king and sentenced to death.
Meanwhile Brand while disliking Thorn doesn't want her to be punished due to the unfairness of the situation. Then we get our first look at Yarvi as Brand confesses the true situation and asks him to save Thorn.
At first Yarvi comes off as a cold closed and cunning man but we soon learn that he is the same old Yarvi just with a few more tricks.
Following these events Thorn and Brand find themselves on Yarvi's ship as he sails out to find allies against The High King who angers at Gettland not bending their knee to him. Skifr a warrior trains Thorn in battle until Thorn is as deadly as a knives edge.
We meet king Fynn of Throvenland and sail up the divine and denied and carry a ship over the fall hauls to arrive at the first city. Here we meet the new empress of the South and find that they too have political disturbances leading to death and chaos.
Through this journey we find Brand is a good but uncertain man and Thorn is bold, and deadly yet broken and Yarvi doesn't keep to all of his oaths.
This is a fantastic follow on from the first book as the new characters are well developed as well as the world itself. As the stake rise and allies are found I can't wait to read the third book to finish this story off.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Fighting with My Family (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
There are certain expectations from this sort of film, just like The Full Monty, Walk Like A Panther and Swimming With Men before it. There's something satisfying about this sort of film that makes it comforting to watch, or at least that's what you hope for going in. Fighting With My Family doesn't disappoint on that front, it's funny, emotional and a nice easy watch.
There was something about the very beginning of the film that didn't sit quite right with the rest of it. It was so brief though that it was easily forgotten, but it did momentarily make me worry.
It's definitely laugh out loud funny, although it might rely a little too much on dick jokes. That being said I did appreciate discovering the phrase "dick me dead and bury me pregnant."
While I know nothing about wrestling it doesn't seem to be an issue going in with no previous knowledge. The film is very much focused on the journey and family dynamic, and on that front it really hits the spot. The emotion around Zak is the strongest throughout. Jack Lowden plays it brilliantly and caused a fair amount, if not all, of my tears that were shed during this viewing.
The supporting cast was entertaining and Lowden was definitely the high point. As much as I love Nick Frost I'm not enjoying his recent trend in characters, I was amused by the full phone conversation with The Rock though.
I wasn't particularly blown away by Florence Pugh in the main role of Paige, she never seems like she's excited about anything that's going on. I didn't feel much emotion around her character and if anything it was just a lot of awkward.
Despite my nit-picking Fighting With My Family is a great little film and it doesn't overstay its welcome on the screen. At 1 hour and 48 minutes it's just the right length, everything is laid out, explained and concluded without any padding, there aren't many films getting that right at the moment.
What you should do
If you're looking for a fun night out then this is well worth looking out for when it's released.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
If someone could just instantly give me some of the agility to do those wrestling moves I'd be one very happy woman.
There was something about the very beginning of the film that didn't sit quite right with the rest of it. It was so brief though that it was easily forgotten, but it did momentarily make me worry.
It's definitely laugh out loud funny, although it might rely a little too much on dick jokes. That being said I did appreciate discovering the phrase "dick me dead and bury me pregnant."
While I know nothing about wrestling it doesn't seem to be an issue going in with no previous knowledge. The film is very much focused on the journey and family dynamic, and on that front it really hits the spot. The emotion around Zak is the strongest throughout. Jack Lowden plays it brilliantly and caused a fair amount, if not all, of my tears that were shed during this viewing.
The supporting cast was entertaining and Lowden was definitely the high point. As much as I love Nick Frost I'm not enjoying his recent trend in characters, I was amused by the full phone conversation with The Rock though.
I wasn't particularly blown away by Florence Pugh in the main role of Paige, she never seems like she's excited about anything that's going on. I didn't feel much emotion around her character and if anything it was just a lot of awkward.
Despite my nit-picking Fighting With My Family is a great little film and it doesn't overstay its welcome on the screen. At 1 hour and 48 minutes it's just the right length, everything is laid out, explained and concluded without any padding, there aren't many films getting that right at the moment.
What you should do
If you're looking for a fun night out then this is well worth looking out for when it's released.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
If someone could just instantly give me some of the agility to do those wrestling moves I'd be one very happy woman.