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TacoDave (3610 KP) rated Bubble Boy (2001) in Movies

Aug 10, 2018

Bubble Boy (2001)

2001 | Comedy

8.5

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Jake Gyllenhaal (3 more)

Humor

Plot

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Vulgaraties (0 more)

Bubble Boy is Hilarious

When I first saw the trailers for Bubble Boy I thought it looked horrible. But I decided to go see it on opening night anyway (I was bored!) and I was blown away by how funny it was.

Like in an episode of South Park, nothing is sacred or too taboo to laugh at in this movie. It follows Jimmy, a boy born without immunity cells in his body, as he builds a portable bubble (to protect him from germs) and sets off on a road trip to Niagara Falls. Why? Because the woman he loves is getting married and he has to stop the wedding.

I wouldn't want to spoil any of the jokes in this movie, because 95% of them land perfectly and made me laugh. But I'll say this: Zach Galifianakis shows up in one of his first movie appearances and is hilarious. Verne Troyer (RIP) aka Mini Me shows up. There's a bus full of cult members, a biker gang, a train car full of circus freaks, Fabio, an Indian man who runs an "ice cream and curry" truck, and a bunch of crazy situations that constantly surprise.

I've seen this movie at least 6 times and it never stops being funny. Highly recommended.

Kudos

ClareR (5681 KP) rated The Queen Of Bloody Everything in Books

Sep 9, 2018

A challenging mother/ daughter relationship.

This starts in 1976 and really captures the feelings and experiences of someone growing up through the 1970s and 1980s in the UK. There are so many familiar cultural references: from Margaret Thatcher to Mivvi ice lollies.
I listened to this through Audible, and I think the narrator was exactly the right choice. Dido, the main character, starts off as a six year old in 1976. We follow her through a difficult childhood with her single, bohemian, hard and fast living mother, Edie, in a very conservative small town. There are times where I wondered who the adult actually was. There is no doubt that Dido loves her mother no matter how difficult she is, but it's also evident that she is largely responsible for the direction that Dido's life takes. Dido is mainly cared for by the Trevelyans, who she meets on the day she and her mother move in to the house left to Edie in her aunts will. Mrs Trevelyan is clearly disapproving of Edie (as are a lot of people in their small town). Dido attempts to become part of the Trevelyan family, and she does succeed in time.
I loved all of these characters and the way their lives played out, and I think the use of the first person narrative was really effective. A really lovely book.

Kudos

Merissa (11953 KP) rated Frostfire (Kyndred, #3) in Books

Dec 17, 2018

This is, for me, by far the weakest book of the 3. I'm glad I've got it but it will be a while before I read this one again.

Lilah can 'speak' to the animals but suddenly, she can understand human thoughts too. Their powers were also unexplained, the descriptions between them often refers to heat and then his ice cold (the Frostfire of the title presumably) but this is again, never explained. Why can she do things with him and not by herself? The connection is never explained and so lost in the story. Her counterpart in this is a question mark in himself. Who is he? What's his past? Why are the Darkyn after him? Who the hero turns out to be is meaningless if you have not read Darkyn books and even then, as he is so characterless, it does not tie in at all with the earlier story. And how he is turned/not turned is not revealed at all.

There is a lot in this relatively small book but too confusing to be enjoyed. Maybe it will make more sense of a second reading but a really good book should pull the reader back a second time to appreciate the layers, not to simply understand what went on in the first place.