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Jonathan Rhys Meyers recommended Ivan The Terrible: Part I (1944) in Movies (curated)

 
Ivan The Terrible: Part I (1944)
Ivan The Terrible: Part I (1944)
1944 | Biography, Drama, History
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Ivan the Terrible, Part 1. Sergei M. Eisenstein. Mainly because he shot it during the middle of the second world war, and he had thousands of extras to choose from. It was one of those movies made during, of course, the second world war. Stalin had absolute power, which means that they could literally do anything with this production. Their production was epic on a scale that’s never been seen before because they were using — sort of very freely — prisoners of war for these big scenes. But the end result is the film is an extraordinary interpretation of what Ivan the Terrible, Part 1, is. It’s extraordinary for a myriad of different reasons, but one of those reasons is it was made during the second world war, and you can see aspects of it that we don’t really see about the world at that time. Do you know what I mean? Eisenstein was very cleverly able to mirror Stalin, mirror Hitler, within the confines of that film — disguising it, of course,as Russian folklore to get the movie made. In fact, he probably sold it to Stalin like, “You are as great as Ivan the Terrible was!”Of course he was, but terrible also. It was a great way of being able to reflect the politics, the situation of Europe, the situation of the world at that time within the confines of the film. It’s a great film. Magnificent. His use of individualizing on individual characters is mind blowing. I’m sure every great director has studied it for weeks and weeks, months and months at a time in their lives."

Source
  
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Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Last Girl To Die in Books

Aug 29, 2022  
The Last Girl To Die
The Last Girl To Die
Helen Fields | 2022 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have read one of Helen Field's books from the DI Callanach series (One For Sorrow) and it was absolutely brilliant so I thought I'd be on to a winner with The Last Girl to Die and whilst it's not as good as One For Sorrow, it's still a great read. This is a standalone so no worries about missing out on anything.

Sadie is a private investigator from Canada hired by Adriana's family to find her and it doesn't take her long to locate her body. She is a bit of a maverick and makes some questionable decisions which only serves to stir up the local constabulary and community in her quest to find out who the killer is. All is definitely not what it seems and soon Sadie has a list of suspects as long as her arm and at risk of becoming a target herself.

Helen Fields uses all manner of skills to immerse you into this story from myths, legends and folklore to her vivid descriptions of the Island of Mull, well fleshed our characters and a pace that moves along well and whilst I felt some of the situations Sadie put herself into as being a tad dubious, it did work with her character.

The Last Girl to Die is full of tension and unease which ramps up towards an ending I wasn't expecting at all ... I love it when that happens ... and I would recommend to others who enjoy dark mysteries that keep you guessing.

Thank you to Avon Books UK and NetGalley for enabling me to read The Last Girl to Die and share my thoughts.
  
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Kyera (8 KP) rated The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1) in Books

Feb 1, 2018  
The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)
The Star-Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1)
Roshani Chokshi | 2016 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.1 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Star-Touched Queen is a little slow to start, but once it finds a groove the story will draw you in and you won't want to put it down. The writing style is very poetic and descriptive, which is absolutely gorgeous but can sometimes slow down the story. Those pacing issues continue throughout the story. Sometimes the book flows well and you find yourself reading through chapters in no time, while other times the writing or plot trips you up and slows down the story.

I was very intrigued by the premise of the story, as not only does it include elements of Indian folklore but it is a re-telling of the Hades and Persephone myth. As a huge fan of Greek mythology, that was the aspect of the story that I was most excited to experience. Amar and Maya are our Hades and Persephone, although it is a unique story and you don't feel like you're reading a re-telling.

As strange as it seems, my favourite character was actually the demon horse Kamala. Although she could be really creepy when she salivated over eating people, she could be funny and made some of the scenes for me. Although I liked Amar, Maya and the other supporting characters I didn't relate strongly to any of them so it made me less invested in the book. I wish I did like them more because I would have loved to have stronger feelings about this gorgeous book.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it - but it didn't make any strong or lasting impact on me. Readers who are fans of flowery prose and very descriptive writing will enjoy Roshani Chokshi's writing style, but if you are a fan of more simple sentences you might have difficultly getting through this book.