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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2434 KP) rated The Big Kahuna in Books

Jun 5, 2019  
The Big Kahuna
The Big Kahuna
Janet Evanovich, Peter Evanovich | 2019 | Mystery
3
3.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Big Letdown
Unlikely duo FBI agent Kate O’Hare and former (maybe) conman Nick Fox have been asked to look for a tech billionaire known to pretty much everyone as The Big Kahuna. He disappeared a few days ago, but Kate and Nick are shocked to find that both his wife and his business partner are already hoping to have him declared dead. Kate and Nick aren’t willing to declare him dead yet; they think he might be hiding out in Hawaii. With Kate’s father and Cosmo, another FBI agent, tagging along, they set out to see if they can find him. However, it appears someone wants The Big Kahuna dead. Can they find him in time? Or will they lead the killers right to him?

The last book in this series was three years and a different co-author ago, and it shows. Nick and Kate are shadows of themselves, with Kate going to Nick for plans on everything instead of them working as partners. Their romantic relationship has gone back several books, too, and yet they don’t appear to be hiding the fact that they work together professionally. Kate’s dad is just a caricature now, and the new characters are one note jokes, per se, which makes spending so much time with them painful. While the plot does include a couple of small cons, it is nowhere near as elaborate and therefore fun as the previous books. Really, any group of characters could have been the stars of this plot. The pacing is uneven, especially early on when we get travelogues of Hawaii. We could have easily cut 30 pages without noticing at all, and in a book that already reads short, that is saying something. I did get hooked as I went along, but I think the flaws would have been more frustrating if I hadn’t been able to knock the book out in a couple of days. I borrowed this book from my local library, but I’m not sure even that price (free) will be enough to get me to come back if Nick and Kate have any more adventures.
  
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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Jonah Hex (2010) in Movies

Aug 8, 2019  
Jonah Hex (2010)
Jonah Hex (2010)
2010 | Action, Drama, Horror
5
5.1 (13 Ratings)
Movie Rating
DC is at it again spinning comic book heroes, or better yet anti-heroes, into film adaptations. Moreover, the company is maintaining their one-of-a-kind knack for providing lead characters with bad vocals. In this case the raspy voice belongs to the traumatized lead character, a Bounty Hunter named Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), who has a story to tell, in brutal and confusing detail.

The film mixes the lore of the Old West, vaguely historical aspects of post-Civil War America, and weapons from a very steampunk-the-Industrial-Revolution. The resulting environment is more explosive than the dynamite that is apparently everywhere.

Filled with ideas that trail off into the dust, it quickly becomes clear that this film was finished in a rush. There are too many characters that lack compelling, if any, back-story. The tale that remains is disjointed and drags. All the buzz about the leading lady, Lilah (Megan Fox), was over minimal participation in the film. Sure she looks nice, and wears a steampunky outfit while performing a few quick stunts, but the resulting character (and poor acting) is not worth the media hype.

The few well-played and interesting characters, aside from the brash but tends-to-grow-on-you Jonah, all have bit parts. Among the best performances are Hex’s best friend, Jeb Turnbull (Jeffery Dean Morgan), one of President Grant’s cohorts, Lieutenant Grass (Will Arnett), and the store owner and gun-runner, Smith (Lance Riddick). Most surprising is that the frequent scenes with screen veteran John Malkovich, as lead bad guy Quentin Turnbull, result in a drab uninterested character that completely fails to engage the audience. It is almost a shockingly poor performance for Malkovich.

But hey, the melding of comic book history with actual film shots in the beginning was some of the best work out there for explaining a complex and multi-media adapted back-story. Additionally, the bold uses of color, costume, sets and scenery made the film visually interesting to watch. But with a budget as big as this film had it is hard to accept there wasn’t a better story to tell.
  
    Patterns with Ibbleobble

    Patterns with Ibbleobble

    Education, Games and Stickers

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

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    Winner of the People's Choice Award for Best Application at the Creativepool Awards 2016. Patterns...

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Bill Nighy recommended Performance (1970) in Movies (curated)

 
Performance (1970)
Performance (1970)
1970 | Classics, Drama, Musical
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"“It’s predictable, but Performance, the Donald Cammell movie, contains one of the great cinema performances from James Fox. Mick Jagger is in there too giving a very good performance, and I know that by heart too. The soundtrack is epic, it’s beautiful, including a great Mick Jagger song called “Turner’s Song: Memo from T” which is a great, great song with some beautiful lyrics. It’s just a film that I have a soft spot for. I always remember watching Mean Streets, which was the first time I ever heard a Stones song in a movie. It was on the jukebox in the club, Jumpin’ Jack Flash was the song, and it was shocking that the Rolling Stones would allow one of their songs to be in a movie. But Scorsese has always had them in there; he’s a man of taste. They have a long relationship, because the Stones don’t use to let just anybody use their songs, you’d never get a Rolling Stones song in your movie. I also enjoyed Shine a Light, I thought it was wonderful. I loved the guests, Christina Aguilera, my god! What is that? She’s got so much talent, she’s so brilliant, and she looks so beautiful. You can see Mick’s face; he looked like he was so happy. Not only is she sensationally beautiful, glamorous and sexy, but also she can really, really, really do it, and the two of them pumping out that song was just beautiful. I’ve never seen a man look more happy or more grateful than Jack White, standing there singing Loving Cup. If you ever want to see a portrait of a young man looking as happy as it’s possible for a young man to look, check out Jack White in Shine a Light. At one point they’ve both got a microphone, Mick’s got one, he’s got the other, but he can’t bear it, he rushes over and shares a mic with Mick, because you know he wants to be able to say, “I shared a mic with Mick.” Then at the end he shakes everybody’s hand, Charlie, Keith and everybody, and if he was a dog he’d wag himself to death. If he’d had nine tails, it wouldn’t have been enough."

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