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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Living Daylights (1987) in Movies

Sep 22, 2020

Fifteenth Bond movie is obviously trying to toughen the franchise up a bit after the knockabout fun of the last couple of Roger Moore films: Dalton's 007 is a hardened assassin who is repeatedly despatched on missions to execute people. Nevertheless, the producers hedge their bets by still including a few sight gags and comedy bits here and there. The plot is one of the franchise's knottiest, which isn't necessarily a bonus: possibly as a result of this, it's quite hard to work out who the evil mastermind is - Joe Don Baker gets the big confrontation and death scene, but Jeroen Krabbe has a lot more screen time.

Still, all the globetrotting, fights and chases and so on you would expect from a Bond film in the classic style, and Dalton brings enough of the literary Bond to the screen to make this satisfying for people who like the franchise in slightly grittier mode. Has a certain value as a historical oddity, given it concludes with Bond teaming up with (essentially) the Taliban to attack an airbase in Afghanistan. Dalton arguably never got a proper crack of the whip as Bond; in this film he shows enough promise to make that a real cause for regret.

Kudos

Dry Stone Walls: History and Heritage

Angus Winchester

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Book

Dry stone walls create much of the character of upland landscapes across Britain. How do we go about...

Ecosystem Services: Key Issues

Mark Everard

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Book

The concept of ecosystem services has emerged in recent years as one of the most powerful guiding...

Environmental Education

Justin Dillon and Alan Reid

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Addressing the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of this rapidly growing...

What To Do With A Duke

Sally MacKenzie

2.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Welcome to the charming, fatefully named village of Loves Bridge, where a woman destined for...

Historical Romance Romance Regency

Ali A (78 KP) rated The Fountains of Silence in Books

Jun 1, 2020

The Fountains of Silence

Ruta Sepetys | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Young Adult (YA)

9.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

The Fountains of Silence is about Texan teen Daniel visiting Francisco Franco's Spain in the 1950's. Franco is a dictator who needs business men to invest in his country so he opens it to Americans. Daniel visits with his parents to see his mother's birthplace. Ana works at the hotel Daniel and his parents are staying in and is assigned to their rooms. Daniel and Ana quickly become friends but Ana is guarded with him. Her family were Republicans, those who were against Franco's rein, and now are either shunned to live as second class citizens or died horrific deaths. Daniel quickly learns that Spain isn't what the government likes to show and there are secrets everyone is hiding.

I was fascinated with this novel as it's something I have never really learned of this time in history in school. I knew of before, during World War II, but never afterward with Franco's dictation. I cared about the characters and wanted to know the outcome. I could tell when some things would happen and cried during some of them too.

It was a heartfelt novel set in a dark time that had family and love and exploration. A must read for historical fiction readers and lovers of Ruta Sepetys.

Kudos

Lindsay (1717 KP) rated When I Meet You (Tree Of Life #3) in Books

May 9, 2020

When I Meet You is well done. It another story about genealogy. We are brought in with Jillian being with her dad on a trip to Denver. She does not know why. But her reaction to the steamer trunk brings us to the start of Jillian's journey in finding out who the owner is.

I enjoy the way, the author brings the past to life and the future together. Though she does it with clues given to her. We will not be able to solve the mystery until the end. Jillian also is pulled to look at her family history or at least into the steamer trunk that she was given by her mother.

The timelines go back and forth between the 1909 storyline and the present-day timeline. Could have Jillian found someone special. Norlan seems to be more occupied to feed two hundred people. Will he be able to create a menu for that many people. Will get the help he needs as well.

There are historical events. The story is mostly on the train from Ohio to Denver. Pinkerton seems to be the one mostly corresponding that is sent to a woman that is the owner of a trunk that was abandon at Denver's Union Station. Whatever happened to the owner?