Search
Search results
Miguel Covarrubias (143 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Red Dead Redemption 2 in Video Games
Jun 15, 2019
A beautiful game with lackluster rewards
I loved spending hours in this game watching the scenery from horseback, waiting for the virtual animal I was hunting to show up, and discovering new and fascinating places. It carried the game well for a while, but once I finished the main plot, there wasn't much else that held my attention. I completed the master hunter challenges to get a different holster skin? Seems a bit weak to entice people to try to complete challenges. When you can buy some of the more impressive game items in the shops; holsters, belts, and jackets are just a weak enticement at best.
Rockstar usually does a good job of balancing the purchasable items from the earned items in games, but this one seemed an afterthought. If this was better, it would have been the best game I'd ever played.
Rockstar usually does a good job of balancing the purchasable items from the earned items in games, but this one seemed an afterthought. If this was better, it would have been the best game I'd ever played.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Predator (1987) in Movies
Feb 13, 2018
Testosterone-drizzled SF action movie. Elite team of mercenaries - 'veer wescuers, not assahseens!' declares Arnie at one point - are dropped into Latin American jungle on shady political mission, proceed to kill everyone in sight (maybe they need to reconsider how they think of themselves), discover formidable alien big game hunter has plans to turn them all into trophies.
The cast is charismatic, the action is exceedingly well-staged, and there's a very good monster (Jean Claude van Damme was originally supposed to play the Pred but was sacked for complaining about the suit and not being beefy enough). There's also a surprisingly understated subtext about the Vietnam War, for which fighting an invisible monster in the jungle is a not-unreasonable metaphor. Not far off the quality of the other big-name 80s SF movies; inability to produce an equally memorable follow-up suggests the Predator is a one-trick pony, however.
The cast is charismatic, the action is exceedingly well-staged, and there's a very good monster (Jean Claude van Damme was originally supposed to play the Pred but was sacked for complaining about the suit and not being beefy enough). There's also a surprisingly understated subtext about the Vietnam War, for which fighting an invisible monster in the jungle is a not-unreasonable metaphor. Not far off the quality of the other big-name 80s SF movies; inability to produce an equally memorable follow-up suggests the Predator is a one-trick pony, however.
Amanda Mahaffey (3 KP) rated Honeysuckle Dreams in Books
Mar 15, 2018
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This book was a story of Brady a single dad who has to deal with issues in his past and present with his son. And Hope who has some issues of a lost love and fear to love and let someone love her . This story shows love, friendship, trust, and hope between Hope and Brady. They both work together and come up with a plan to help save Brady from losing his son. They both have scars they need work pass within themselves. I enjoyed reading this book because the characters are easy to like and in the previous book they are introduced so you know a little of their story. Denise Hunter does a great job of mixing fiction writing into lessons that some people may need to hear about fear and how God always has our backs.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids in Books
Mar 23, 2018 (Updated Mar 23, 2018)
A hard-headed look at a number of famous cryptids (legendary animals) from a palaeontologist (Prothero) and a 'professional skeptic' (Loxton), attempting to determine if cryptozoology really is a genuine science (Michael Sheard just writes the introduction). Also goes on to consider the further question - if people aren't actually seeing monsters, then why do they think they are?
Pretty much guaranteed to make your average Bigfoot hunter or Nessie spotter squeal in outrage, but the writers' main proposition - that the famous cryptids are essentially products of 20th century pop culture - is coherent and well-argued, if nothing else. Some of the chapters are a bit more accessible than others, and they do take a variety of approaches - the section on sea serpents mainly focuses on the cultural development of the idea of such a creature, while the one on the Congo dinosaur is a fierce critique of creationist attempts to hijack science. A thoughtful and persuasive book.
Pretty much guaranteed to make your average Bigfoot hunter or Nessie spotter squeal in outrage, but the writers' main proposition - that the famous cryptids are essentially products of 20th century pop culture - is coherent and well-argued, if nothing else. Some of the chapters are a bit more accessible than others, and they do take a variety of approaches - the section on sea serpents mainly focuses on the cultural development of the idea of such a creature, while the one on the Congo dinosaur is a fierce critique of creationist attempts to hijack science. A thoughtful and persuasive book.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Most Dangerous Game (1932) in Movies
Mar 25, 2020
(Can't see that movie about people being hunted for entertainment as all the cinemas are shut, so went for this instead (the daddy of the genre).) Much mimicked pulp adventure movie. Big-game hunter survives a shipwreck but pitches up on the private island of an insane Russian aristo who hunts people for sport.
Slots very nicely into the development of early-30s genre cinema - the premise vaguely recalls Dracula, while many of the key personnel would go on to make King Kong the following year. Still stands up well as an adventure movie in many ways; above average script, some rousing set pieces, and an enjoyably extravagant performance from Leslie Banks as the bad guy. The short running time does count against it though (the hunt only gets underway in the final third of the movie). One of the progenitors of the modern action blockbuster, and a fine movie in its own right.
Slots very nicely into the development of early-30s genre cinema - the premise vaguely recalls Dracula, while many of the key personnel would go on to make King Kong the following year. Still stands up well as an adventure movie in many ways; above average script, some rousing set pieces, and an enjoyably extravagant performance from Leslie Banks as the bad guy. The short running time does count against it though (the hunt only gets underway in the final third of the movie). One of the progenitors of the modern action blockbuster, and a fine movie in its own right.
Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, and the Birth of the New West
Book
From the #1 international bestselling author of THE REVENANT - the book that inspired the...
Our Dark Duet
9.0
Rate It
Book
Kate Harker is a girl who isn’t afraid of the dark. She’s a girl who hunts monsters. And she’s...
Real Herbalism Radio
Podcast
Real Herbalism Radio is the weekly podcast created by The Practical Herbalist team to dish up the...
Great Gourmet Weekends in Australia
Book
Australia is home to some of the world's best food and wine destinations, and Great Gourmet Weekends...