Smashbomb

"I emigrated to Canada with my mother the year Mon oncle Antoine debuted, the same time that the U.S. was doing nuclear testing on Amchitka Island, off the coast of British Columbia. The FLQ (Front de libération du Québec) was flourishing. Canadian radio was given a mandate to stop playing American bubblegum round the clock. In this era of radical identity building, along came a candle-lit holiday fable set in an undertaker’s home in rural Quebec. The nephew of Antoine is a young boy coming of age in a world that no one outside his cloistered family could imagine. Mon oncle Antoine is about the sexual, material, and death’s-end taboos in a small village—and the taboo against anyone outside of it ever learning of such things. Some people puzzle over why this film keeps being called Canada’s finest decades after its release, when so many other artists have surpassed its modest ambitions. It is because of this: It was the beginning of saying, “We are not the back forty of the U.S.; we are not a trinket of the queen’s; our land and generations have given us a purchase of our own.” It was the beginning of remarkable Canadian filmmaking."

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David McK (3623 KP) rated Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) in Movies

Nov 27, 2020 (Updated Nov 27, 2020)

"Captain Jack Sparrow. You are, without a doubt, the worst Pirate I have ever heard of" / "Ah, but you have heard of me ..."

The first Pirates of the Caribbean film (based on a Disney theme ride!), this is far less bloated and self referential than any of the later sequels, with Johnny Depp's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow a breath of fresh air (at the time) in a genre that had become increasingly stale: indeed, I can't even remember there being any other pirate films in my lifetime other than 1995s Cutthroat Island.

The plot, here, makes much use of the superstition and folklore of the Caribbean - "You better start believing in Ghost stories again, Miss: you're in one!" (to paraphrase a certain other character - with the crew of the Black Pearl all cursed to an everlasting life by an ancient Aztec curse unless they can restore all the stolen coins.

And this is where Will Turner comes in, as the son of 'Bootstrap' Bill, a colleague of Captain Jack Sparrows before his crew mutinied, stole the treasure, and were cursed. When the governors daughter Elizabet Swann is kidnapped, Turner sets off to rescue here in the company of Sparrow and a crew of n'er do wells, in a very entertaining slice of Pirate action!

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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Ghost Moon (The Bone Island Trilogy #3) in Books

Oct 24, 2020

Ghost Moon (The Bone Island Trilogy #3)

Heather Graham | 2010 | Contemporary, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

178 of 200
Kindle
Ghost moon (BONE island book 4)
By Heather Graham

Reclusive collector Cutter Merlin is seldom seen in Key West - lately, not at all. Officer Liam Beckett visits Merlin's curious house and discovers the gentleman in his study. In his death grip: a volume of occult lore and a reliquary. His eyes are wide with fright, his mouth a horrified rictus where spiders now dwell.

Kelsey Donovan returns to the old house to catalog her estranged grandfather's collection of artifacts and antiquities, vowing to see his treasures divested properly. But she cannot ignore the sense that she's being watched, the reports of malevolent black figures, the pervasive smell of death.

Is the Merlin house haunted, even cursed? Liam knows well that some ghost stories are true and he swears to protect Kelsey. But there are forces at work for whom one more life is a pittance to pay for their deepest desire...

I enjoyed this one more than the 2nd it rounded everything off so nicely! The only thing that slightly annoyed me was the jumping straight from one character to another in a different part of the story drove me crazy. Bartholomew finally found peace with his lovely lady!
Nice end to a strange ghost series!

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House & Garden

Lifestyle and Magazines & Newspapers

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Britain’s most glamorous, inspiring and influential design and decoration magazine. House & Garden...

LEGO® Ninjago: Skybound

Games

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The evil Djinn Nadakhan is stealing parts of Ninjago Island to rebuild his realm of Djinjago in the...

Logan Eccles (135 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies

Oct 1, 2020 (Updated Oct 2, 2020)

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)

2019 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

6.7

(103 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Take it as it is, A MONSTER MOVIE!

First things first I've never been a huge Godzilla fan and I was not a fan of the 2014 predecessor of this film. I am however a fan of the monster movie genre. There is nothing like a big ol' dumb monster movie. They are a breath of fresh air, especially in today's world when everything has to connect and make sense, Id rather just watch a bunch of made-up monsters beat each other up!

So yes, like every other review on her says, the monster fights are great. And yes, the monsters look amazing! But no, the cast is dull. And the story is ok-ish. Is this film as fun as "Kong: Skull Island"? In my opinion, No. Am I excited for "Gozilla vs Kong? Absolutely! Two respective Kings going at each other. Sign me up!My suggestion to everyone interested in watching this film is this; don't get invested in the story, and don't try to read in between the lines. Watch it for the Monsters. Watch it for the fights. Take it as it is and don't try to make it into anything else. If you follow those guidelines you will enjoy this movie.

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David McK (3623 KP) rated Jurassic Park (1993) in Movies

May 26, 2020

Jurassic Park (1993)

1993 | Adventure, Sci-Fi

8.8

(129 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I've just realised (at the time of writing) that this movie is nearly 30 years old.

Man, I feel old.

Taking some liberties with Michael Crichtons's source material (Hammond dies and was not a very nice man; Grant likes kids), this is a disaster movie with stunning effects (that still hold up pretty well today) for the time, even if our understanding of the 'headline' dinosaurs has changed somewhat in the intervening years since its release (Raptors were the size of chickens, had feathers, and were NOT pack hunters. or so we now think).

Set on a tropical island hit by a storm just as the owner is given a pre-release tour to special invited guests to show off his scientific breakthrough - cloned Dinosaurs, because that's ALWAYS a good idea … - a series of events leads to the power going down, and the 'exhibits' breaking free to wreak havoc amongst those guests. And, lets not kid around the bush here, despite having the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Richard Attenborough, Sam Neil, Laura Dern and - uh- Jeff Goldblum ("life, uh, finds a way") amongst the cast - the real stars are those dinosaurs.

All the sequels (4 so far, with a 5th ion the way in Jurassic World: Dominion) pale in comparison.