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David McK (3752 KP) rated The fall guy (2024) in Movies

Dec 6, 2024  
The fall guy (2024)
The fall guy (2024)
2024 | Action, Comedy
6
8.0 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I think I might have to make a new genre for this to fit into - rom-com adventure conspiracy action movie maybe?

Anyway, in this Ryan Gosling plays a stuntman who - after a near fatal accident (or was it?) - broke off all contact with his former co-workers, including his girlfriend (as played by Emily Blunt), until he is eventually pulled back into the making of a new movie, directed by said former partner, after the star of the movie (who he was previously the body double for, pre-accident) goes missing.

This movie, then, is really about a movie-within-a-movie, playing heavy attention to the oft-overlooked role of the professional stuntmen (and women) in Hollywood blockbusters.
  
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David McK (3752 KP) rated The Iliad: A Graphic Novel in Books

Apr 4, 2026  
The Iliad: A Graphic Novel
The Iliad: A Graphic Novel
Gareth Hinds | 2019
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I *think* I may have (voluntarily!) read The Iliad and The Odyssey whilst at school.

30 odd years ago.

If so, I'd forgotten how The Iliad actually ends, with the death of burial of Hector, Prince of Troy instead of the Wooden Horse and sacking of the city that many readers are probably more familiar with.

This is a graphic novel adaptation of the story, as told in The Iliad and thus ends at the same point - which, I had to say, actually took me by surprise somewhat! (Not Hector's death - I was expecting that! - but that the story ended there).

I can see this being a more attractive read that the original text to any who are not in the mood for, effectively, a 'heavy' meal.
  
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Rachel King (13 KP) rated Not a Sparrow Falls (Second Chances Collection, #1) in Books

Feb 11, 2019  
NA
Not a Sparrow Falls (Second Chances Collection, #1)
Linda Nichols | 2002
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
When I first began reading this book, I was a bit hesitant about reading it because it does not fall into the categories of books that I prefer to read. What propelled me to keep reading was my curiousity about the grandmother of the main character, as well as how the plot seemed to sort of verge to the right of what I tried to predict would happen next as I read. I enjoy reading books that are not completely predictable, but not so unpredictable that the events are absurd. This would definitely fall under that heading.
With this book, I got a peak into a lifestyle (of drugs) that I have blessedly never experienced first hand, and it opened my eyes to the desperation and hopelessness that accompanies it. I also got a look into the polar opposite of that lifestyle - that of a pastor and the politics within a specific denomination. Along with these two heavy topics, Nichols also seamlessly weaves the equally heavy topics of depression and suicide beautifully, albeit bittersweetly. I found myself shedding tears over the book, not once, but twice. The wisdom addressing these topics was right on target and fit very naturally into the plot without the book coming across as "preachy." Each of the characters, no matter how small his or her part in the plot, was well-defined and unique, and I appreciated each one. All of the "loose ends" were accounted for and tied up, and every character seemed to reach a place of redemption in their own way.
This book was very satisfying and I am glad I decided to read it.
  
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Cody Cook (8 KP) rated The Circus of Dr Lao in Books

Jun 29, 2018  
The Circus of Dr Lao
The Circus of Dr Lao
Charles G. Finney | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Somewhat mixed feelings about this book. I became interested due to the film with Tony Randall, which keeps the book's dark humor while adding on a layer of optimism and sentimentality. However, this layer is completely absent from the book. Instead, one feels the palpable cynicism and hatred for humanity and God of a military and newspaper man who obviously witnessed more than his fair share of suffering and inhumanity.

The cynicism does not always feel unwarranted, nor does the bitter but humorous style of much of the book fail to be entertaining. It vacilates between being a sardonic delight and a heavy (and even heavy-handed) piece of short literature that has to be digested in multiple sittings.

The author, himself the grandson and namesake of the great evangelist and abolitionist Charles Finney, if he believes in a God, seems to find Him distant, petty, and hateful. One begins to wonder why the circus seems to provide such fodder for this kind of nihilism (as in Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes and Anton LaVey's biographical details), and perhaps it's because it puts on display those things that we think of as deserving to be hidden where we must face them and despair. The Circus of Dr. Lao puts God through a theodicy trial that Finney doesn't seem to think the Deity survives, but Finney's nihilism is hardly a palatable alternative.

Funny at times, interesting often, and very well-written, the life-as-a-meaningless-freakshow motif still sullies what this book could be. An interesting counterpoint to the film, but on the whole I still much prefer the cinematic rendering.