Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

David McK (3796 KP) rated Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998) in Movies

Aug 15, 2021 (Updated Jun 29, 2025)  
Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998)
Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998)
1998 | Adventure
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
First of the TV movie adaptations of CS Forester's famous nautical hero Horatio Hornblower, taking it's main inspiration and plot from the earliest (set, if not released) of those books when Hornblower had just joined the navy.

Ant, therein, I found, lies my biggest problem with the film: Ioan Gruffudd (back before Hollywood came calling - he was Mr Fantastic from the original Fantastic Four movies, remember) is simply too old for the part!

That's not to say that he doesn't give it his all, or even manage to fully inhabit the role: just that, in this one at least, I couldn't get over the fact that Midshipmen were only supposed to be in their very early teens (11, 12, thereabouts), and yet here we have an actor in his mid 20s (at the time of recording) playing a 17 year old - and even 17, to me, seems too old to be a Midshipman during the period portrayed.
  
Death at the Sign of the Rook
Death at the Sign of the Rook
Kate Atkinson | 2024 | Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I read my first Jackson Brodie in July 2021, and I’ve since worked my way through them all, not wanting any of them to end too quickly. I love this little corner of the literary world.

Death at the Sign of the Rook gives a nod to the Golden Age of Agatha Christie I think, with the murder set in a grand country house that’s fighting for survival, by turning part of it into a country hotel.

There are some very Christie-esque characters: an army major, a vicar, a dowager and of course, the sleuth with his sidekick (in the form of Jackson Brodie and DC Reggie Chase).

There’s art theft, people in disguise, secrets, lies and a truly awful Murder Mystery weekend! And Brodie can’t even get away because of the snowstorm!

This is everything I’d hoped for: funny, clever, fast-paced and immersive. I loved how it all came together at the end.

I can’t wait for the next instalment now!
  
40x40

Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated A Landscape of Lies (2011) in Movies

Nov 1, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)  
A Landscape of Lies (2011)
A Landscape of Lies (2011)
2011 | Crime, Drama, Thriller
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
After a fairly violent opening to the film, A Landscape of Lies tells the story of Jacob who is inflicted with PTSD after spending his time in the Gulf war, as he tries to adjust to being back in the UK and is helped along by his former commanding officer, Hilt.

But after Hilt is murdered by a serial killer, Jacob’s reality comes crashing down, Jacob decides that the only thing that he can now do is find out who the killer was and to help bring closure for Louise, Hilt’s widow, after the murder. Jacob then goes head to head with DCI Lane and his partners Sergeant Egan and DC Carter as he tries to discover the killer his life starts to mix with the suspects, such as East End villain and property tycoon Brannigan Woods, Marcus Clancy a workaholic who has put a strain on his marriage to his wife Claire, who is also cheating on him, and their rebellious daughter, Hannah.