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Choose Or Die (2022)
Choose Or Die (2022)
2022 | Horror
3
5.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A mother and son are arguing in the kitchen. The father overhears them and decides to stay in his man cave where he starts to play a computer game. This game turns sinister, it asks him repeatedly "his tongue, her ears or die". He eventually chooses after being forced, his tongue and when he goes to the kitchen he finds his wife holding a knife and his sons tongue is missing..........

Fast forward to 3 months later, a computer programmer and his friend find a copy of a game called curs<r (the game played at the start of the movie) which offers a huge cash prize if won. They agree to meet up in a coffee shop to play the game.

When the guy is a no-show kayla decides to play the game by herself, quickly learning the type of game this is as it forces her to choose or die, each choice with real life consequences. After playing, kayla destroys the games tape, but it is soon evident that no matter what she does she must complete the game or risk dying.

The movie had an interesting concept but it was just too bizarre and it got stranger the more the movie went on, to the point where I lost interest fairly quickly, though I did like the little nods to the 80s such as the 80s style music and 8 bit video games, but sadly not these or even Robert Englund could save this movie.
  
TS
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
There were many things that attracted me to this novel by Bauermeister, first she’s from the Pacific-Northwest which is where I live. She lives in Seattle I live in Vancouver. The second, cooking, food, learning to cook, all things that I am fascinated with and want to explore more with includes me actually getting into my kitchen and cooking. Not only that, she appreciates the smells, textures, emotions, and all the ingredients that make up a recipe, not only for eating, but for your own life.
I identified with all of the characters, Tom, Chloe, Clair, Lillian, Antonia, Carl, Helen, and Ian. Lillian’s the teacher and the rest students. So worth reading, I devoured each page like a fine pasta dish from Italy. I recommend it.
  
The Kitchen (2019)
The Kitchen (2019)
2019 | Action, Crime, Drama
Melissa Mccarthy (0 more)
Slow placed in parts (0 more)
Based on a DC comic series this is the tale of 3 women who decide to play gangster up in hells kitchen when their mob connected husbands are sent to prison for 3 years.Their rise to power is noticed by the mafia and they eventually go into business together but things start to come off track when their husbands are released from jail early.

I have to say I've never ever been a fan of melissa mcCarthy but she is actually ok in this along with her two other co stars.There were a few flaws to this film,the pace of it is often slow and lacks some intensity but still an enjoyable crime drama overall.
  
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Tonya (52 KP) rated The Informant! (2009) in Movies

Jan 13, 2018 (Updated Feb 5, 2018)  
The Informant! (2009)
The Informant! (2009)
2009 | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Matt Damon (1 more)
Lots of twists and turns
A bit slow at times (0 more)
It was a train wreck that I just couldn't turn away from
This was a strange movie ... and apparently based on a true story - but I guess real life is the strangest of them all. Matt Damon plays a character bent on doing the right thing and turns his company in for unfair business practices. He's not a very smooth FBI informant but he gets the job done. But don't run to the kitchen for more snacks in the last 30 minutes or you will miss the twists and turns that actually make the movie worth watching. You won't find a lot of action in this movie but you will get a lot of plotting, deception, and worthwhile dialogue.
  
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Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Gone Girl in Books

May 10, 2018  
Gone Girl
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
10
7.7 (142 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was one of the most twisted and disturbing stories I have ever read. And it makes me want to read more!

It's Nick & Amy's 5th year wedding anniversary. Amy is up early making crepes and she has prepared their annual treasure hunt. After Nick arrives at work, he receives an unusual call from his neighbor; the front door to his house is open and Amy appears to be gone.

The police investigation turns up blood all over the kitchen floor and overturned furniture in the living room. But there is something very strange about this "crime scene."

After weeks of searching, there is still no sign of Amy. Where is Amy? Who took her and why? The search will turn up lots of interesting and strange information about this couple.
  
Margaret Powell's memoir Below Stairs is growing up in a poor in money but rich in love with her family in a small village near London, England and her life in domestic service in the 1920s. It is simply wonderful. Her other memoirs Climbing the Stairs and Servants Hall and her Cookery Book are next on my list. It's more like listening to your favorite aunt sitting at the kitchen with you over fresh-baked cookies and glasses of homemade lemonade while retelling stories of her childhood and life in the early part of the 20th century. You HAVE to read it!. Julian Fellowes read her books and they were the inspiration behind the extremely popular BBC series Downton Abbey, that is watched by us in the states on PBS Masterpiece.
  
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
1972 | Crime, Drama

"The Godfather. The palette of the movie, the colors. There’s something about the production design and the cinematography. Everything about that. I mean, I like the story, the characters, all that, but the thing, when I think of the movie — like if I’m flipping channels and it’s on, I have to stop and watch it — the thing that catches me is always just its rich, rich, rich deep palette. It’s incredible. I mean, they’re all great films, the first one especially. When I was a kid and it was on TV, I would always have to go make spaghetti and watch it. I could not watch that movie without having spaghetti and tomato sauce. There was just something so evocative about those guys making sauce in the kitchen."

Source
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

Aug 20, 2020  
Today's special guest on my blog is Sandra Nickel, Author of the children's food history picture book NACHO'S NACHOS! Read my interview with Sandra about the book, and enter the GIVEAWAY to win a print copy of the book and/or a recipe card - 5 winners total!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2020/08/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-nachos.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
NACHO’S NACHOS is the deliciously true story about how nachos were invented—about what happened when a regular customer asked Ignacio “Nacho” Anaya for something new, and there were no chefs in the kitchen.

2020 is the eightieth anniversary of the invention, and Oliver Dominguez’s illustrations transport us back to the border of the Rio Grande in 1940, when Nacho’s quick thinking resulted in a snack now eaten everywhere from Texas to Paris to Hong Kong!
     
The Kitchen (2019)
The Kitchen (2019)
2019 | Action, Crime, Drama
A Very Messy Kitchen: Good Ingredients But No Flavor
The Kitchen is a 2019 action crime movie written and directed by Andrea Berloff and producers Michael Dell Luca and Marcus Viscidi. It's based on the Vertigo comic created by Ollie Masters and Ming Doyle and produced by New Line Cinema, Bron Creative, D.C. Vertigo and Michael Dell Luca Productions with distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss and Common.


In 1978 Hell's Kitchen, 3 women married to husbands in the Irish mob face hardship as all 3 of their husbands are arrested and sentenced to 3 years in prison. The new head of the mob ensures that they will be taken care of financially but gives them each a tiny pittance. When they go to ask him for more they are aggressively refused. At a loss for what to do next the women seize an opportunity when they are told that despite local businesses paying protection fees, the mob has done little to help them. They themselves begin collecting protection fees and helping the neighborhood becoming beloved and making a huge profit as well as lots of enemies.


This movie was not what I expected. I was really let down, especially for it having a great cast of actors. I don't think it was over hyped either, I felt like it was false advertising. From the trailer it looked like it was supposed to be a gritty female led mob movie but didn't deliver. From the beginning and throughout the movie it felt really lackluster and didn't have enough going for it to remain interesting. I honestly don't know how I made it through the movie, I guess I just kept waiting for it to get better and it never really did. I did like certain things, Melissa McCarthy's acting was good for being a drama and Tiffany Haddish did a decent job, also Elisabeth Moss's character was probably the one that had the most character development, but even then, you'll see what I'm talking about if you ever decide to watch this movie. It also didn't have a very compelling plot, and with the girl's situation and what they were dealing with, you would think it would be more gripping but there was not enough tension for a movie dealing with the mob and the dangers of being killed. I would have to give this movie a 4/10 because I felt it was really below average.
  
The Kitchen (2019)
The Kitchen (2019)
2019 | Action, Crime, Drama
Thinly written and directed
A rainy weekend is the perfect time to catch up with films that I meant to see in the Cineplex, but just didn't get around to it. So it was with some excitement that I flipped on the "Women Run The Mafia" movie THE KITCHEN from 2019.

I should have watched 21 BRIDGES.

Based on the DC/VERTIGO graphic novel, THE KITCHEN is set in the late 1970's in NYC and offers up the "what if" scenario of 3 women that take over the Mafia. A pretty interesting premise that could have been the GODFATHER or GOODFELLA's of the day (or...at least...another WIDOWS from 2018), but instead THE KITCHEN falls flat like the all female GHOSTBUSTERS from a few year's ago.

A star of that Ghostbuster's film, Melissa McCarthy leads the cast as Kathy Brennan, the wife of a mobster who was sent to jail and becomes the leader of the group. McCarthy has shown that she has the "chops" as an actress to tackle this role, but she never really gets there. There is no real depth or emotional stakes to her character throughout the course of the film. The screenplay (and McCarthy's performance) does pick up at the end, but by then, it is too little, too late. Also not fairing well is comedienne Tiffany Hadish as Ruby O'Carroll - an African-American female trying to dominate in a predominately white male world. Again...this character had potential, but the writing and, quite frankly, Hadish's performance just didn't quite succeed.

What did succeed is the always excellent Elisabeth Moss as the 3rd part of this triumvirate. Her "mousy, abused housewife turned stone cold killer" was interesting to watch - especially when paired with Domhnall Gleeson's assassin about 1/2 way through the movie. I wanted to watch a movie with these 2 criminals on the run.

I've mentioned the weak writing as part the issue here, so I'll have to mention first time Veteran Writer and first-time Director Andrea Berloff as the main culprit here. She wrote STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON so she has it in her, but here, the screenplay and characterizations are "thin". Perhaps, a good Director could have made something out of this, but she also made her Directing debut with this film, so it just didn't work well enough.

This isn't a bad film, it just isn't a very good - or very interesting - one.

Letter Grade B- (for the Moss/Gleeson portion of this film)

6 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)