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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Lara Croft - Tomb Raider (2001) in Movies

Aug 11, 2019 (Updated Aug 14, 2019)

I remember very clearly going to see this in the cinema when it came out (I was but a starry eyed 11 year old full of hopes and dreams back then), and I absolutely loved it. It was loud, obnoxious, and it had Lara Croft in it (again - I was an 11 year old boy...)
I also grew up playing the original Tomb Raider trilogy, so this was an exciting event in my pre adolescent life.

As as I've gotten older, it has become apparent that I don't have a lot of love for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider after all. It's just another shoddy video game adaption that doesn't have a lot of meat to it.
It's a film firmly stuck in the early 00s, with leather jackets, shades, and cringey breakbeat dance music in the background (thanks a lot Matrix).

One thing that is a huge positive, and why it still deserves at least 4/10 from me is Angelina Jolie. The script is just awful, but she is the embodiment of the original Lara Croft. It's honestly like watching the original game hero come to life.
The rest of the cast are pretty so-so. An early appearance from Daniel Craig (with a super dodgy American accent) is largely forgettable.
Iain Glen plays a pretty vanilla villain (although I really find it hard to dislike good old Iain), and Lara's assistants (played by Noah Taylor and Chris Barrie) are mostly enjoyable comic relief.

The action scenes aren't too bad (apart from the aforementioned music choices), and it's good to see some actual Tomb Raiding, but unfortunately Jolie alone isn't enough to elevate Tomb Raider above the ever growing pile of underwhelming video game movies.

I would like to finish this review with an apology to my girlfriend (who is also on Smashbomb and who will read this) who absolutely f***ing loves these movies - please don't hate me!

Kudos

Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) Aug 11, 2019

I enjoyed the 1st when I was younger and still appreciate the effort today, it's still fun to watch but amidst all the 90s pop culture cliches try to Remember...the Cradle of Light....there is no need for it to exist, it started of promising and quickly went south and became its own downfall that just dragged on.
We now have another Tomb raider movie which is clearly heavily based on the Tomb raider videogame reboot but where the game seems to have nailed it - the movie seems to have just missed the mark. Chris barrie was brilliant personally, besides- who doesn't wanna run around in their pj's shooting bad guy's haha.

Kudos

Kaz (232 KP) rated The Girl In Between in Books

Nov 5, 2019

The Girl In Between

Laekan Zea Kemp | 2014 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

8.8

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

Great, characters, imaginative mix of Fantasy and issues connected with Disability (0 more)

Nothing (0 more)

‘The Girl In Between’ was the first book I read for the ‘Disability Read-a-Thon’ in October and, because this was a free download, I didn’t have high expectations for this book at all. However, I was very pleasantly surprised.

This book’s main character Bryn has a sleeping syndrome, which means that she can suddenly sleep for weeks and months on end. This didn’t mean however, that she a poor defenseless girl, in fact she was the opposite. She was funny, sarcastic and a fully rounded teenager and I thought she was relatable and likeable.

This book wasn’t just about Disability but the book does cover some of the issues that, even though I don’t have the same condition as Bryn, I could relate to, when I was growing up. However, it was also a complex mix of real life, fantasy and Bryn’s condition, which was seamlessly and imaginatively, incorporated into the story.

There were a couple of times when I thought that this book would develop into a slushy teen romance, but thankfully, this just managed not to turn into this and any kind of romance was maturely and sensitively handled.

I found the pace of this to be excellent. In no part of the book did I feel the story dragged and I really wanted to know what would happen to the characters.

I think that the ending was really good and it resolved enough to feel satisfied at the end, but it left enough for me to want to read the rest of the series.

I will definitely be reading the rest of this series at some point. I would recommend reading this book, whether you want to read something with a strong main character who has a Disability, or you enjoy a good Fantasy read.

My Rating ****

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Money Monster (2016) in Movies

Aug 6, 2019

Money Monster (2016)

2016 | Drama

6.1

(7 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Growing up, whenever a political or economic scandal was featured on the news, my father would utter the words, “Follow the money.” This phrase was made famous by “Deep Throat” during the Watergate scandal that eventually brought down the Nixon Administration. In the film Money Monster which stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts, this is a question that we start to ask ourselves as a financial investment show is taken captive by a disgruntled investor while it is airing live.

Clooney, who serves as the show’s host, quickly finds himself in the middle of a storm of tension and deception as he and his captor try to discover what happened to over $800 million in investments. The film itself is sufficient as an overview for satisfying our need for some sense of understanding at how corrupt and unstable the financial industry can be. Through much of the film, I found myself wondering about how many people wanted these same answers in 2008 during the financial market meltdowns and the collapse of the housing markets. The film approaches this anger that hit the American working class, but do not delve deeper than the superficial issues and discontent. There is a major lack of depth and this might be a metaphor for the industry itself that is built on confusion, misdirection, and a lack of substance. The plot is simplistic and does not allow for any surprises or twists.

It is a very straightforward movie where a flawed character wants answers. He wants closure. He wants to bring to justice the people who ruined the lives of countless Americans and took advantage of their desire to experience the American Dream. Despite the lack of complexity and a few holes in the storytelling, Money Monster provides a few laughs and leaves the audience asking questions about how deep the problems and corruption may be within our financial system nearly 8 years after the collapse. It makes us want to “follow the money” in the hopes that we will find answers.