Deliciously Ella
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The Deliciously Ella App is all about making healthy, natural recipes easy to access. The app...
Interior 2015 SWEET HOME : Bedrooms & Bathrooms, Kitchens & Kids' rooms, Sauna & Pool, Loft & Patio
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Decorating your home? INTERIOR 2015 helps you find your perfect House Design. With Interior 2015 you...
Bathroom Designs - Exclusive Gallery: Ideas & Trends, Products & Accessories
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Does Your Bathroom Need A New Look? You've Come To The Right Place For BATHROOM DESIGNS! Bathrooms...
Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter, #2)
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To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it. Months have passed since Juliet Moreau...
The Dante Chamber
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The year is 1870. Five years after a series of Dante-inspired killings disrupted Boston, a man is...
Swear on This Life
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From USA TODAY bestselling author Renée Carlino (Before We Were Strangers), a warm and witty novel...
David McK (3425 KP) rated Joker (2019) in Movies
Oct 27, 2019 (Updated Dec 5, 2021)
But, prior to this, never one about his most famous nemesis; about the Joker.
And that, I felt, was always part of the appeal: we never really had a clear hold on who the Joker was, why he was the way he was, where he came from.
As the character himself says in one of the movies: "If I have a past, I would prefer it to be multiple choice …"
With that said, this film does just that, giving the Joker a tragic past (and somewhat different than that he had in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film), with - or so I thought, when I first heard about it - taking inspiration from the seminal comic 'The Killing Joke' ("all it takes is one bad day …").
Joaquin Phoenix puts in a powerhouse performance here as Arthur Fleck, a struggling comedian who suffers from a debilitating illness that causes him to break into uncontrollable laughter at the most inopportune of times, who also suffers from severe mental health issues.
With Bruce Wayne only making a short appearance, I do have to say, however, that (to me) the timeline see's somewhat 'off': I always saw Joker and Batman as being roughly the same age, but by the time this Bruce becomes the Dark Knight (and yes, his parent's murder does happen in the film), this Joker would be near retirement age ...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated Under the Paper Moon in Books
Apr 25, 2024 (Updated Apr 25, 2024)
The premise and setting for this book intrigued me, and I dove in excited to see what would be happening. We get some flashbacks to the war, but most of the book is set in the “present” of 1948. The story was good with plenty going on to keep us engaged and a climax that makes sense. But there are many things that didn’t work for me, including the relationship between the leads. I also feel like the author forced a certain ending on Evelyn’s life. But maybe it was just that I was rooting for other things to happen. In the end, I was okay with the way Evelyn’s life turned out. Maybe it was just that the film noir inspiration didn’t work for me here. The narration got a little awkward at times as well, but most of the time it worked. I’m not sorry I read this book, and I got caught up in the story, but I’ll probably pass on anything else from the author.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2204 KP) rated A Very Woodsy Murder in Books
Jul 25, 2024 (Updated Jul 25, 2024)
While the motel and the areas where the action takes place are all fictional, anyone familiar with the Sierra Nevada mountains will pick up on the inspiration for the setting. Between that and the motel itself, I was completely charmed and wanted to go visit in real life. The characters we meet are a bit eccentric even for a cozy but also just as delightful. Dee’s background as a sitcom writer provides some good laughs and adds to how Dee views the events. The mystery sets itself up well so it can really get going once Michael is killed. I was hooked and surprised by the logical conclusion. While not a full-blown culinary cozy, there are a couple of recipes at the end. I was utterly charmed by this debut and am already booking my return visit.
David McK (3425 KP) rated The Dark Knight Rises (2012) in Movies
Jun 30, 2019 (Updated Aug 2, 2024)
As portrayed by Tom Hardy, this version of the character is nothing at all like you might remember from the Batman and Robin abomination: there's no mention of venom (the drug) in this movie, nor is it overstuffed with villains like that earlier movie/portrayal of the character was.
Instead, we have Bane as the primary antagonist throughout, although - in the tradition of Batman Begins - he is later revealed to be but a pawn, with deliberate call-backs to that first movie. While Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow does make a return (in what largely amounts as a camoe) alongside Ra's Al-Ghul (again, largely as a cameo in flashbacks), there's no Joker this time round - probably as a result of the real-world death of Heath Ledger (although I might have preferred even a throw-away line saying why the character wasn't in this!)
We also have Anne Hathaway's take on Catwoman/Selina Kyle, here portrayed more as a cat burglar than the Michelle Pfeiffer version from Batman Returns, and the 'passing on' of the mantle of Gotham's protector to another very-familiar character (who doesn't use his given name until the very end).