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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Piranha 3D (2010) in Movies
Oct 2, 2019
Kind of great, definitely awful
Looking for a silly, average, stupidly gory horror film? You could do a lot worse than Piranha 3D.
This movie is never going to be considered a horror great, not even close. It's cheesy, it's brimming with awful acting (except Elisabeth Shue, we love Elisabeth Shue), and it's completely brain dead, and in spite of all of this, Piranha 3D knows exactly what it is, and just waves it in our stupid entertained faces - it's a lot of fun.
The build up to the ridiculous finale is filled with a lot of one dimensional characters that are hard to care about, but has enough sudden gore (with some pretty nice practical effects for the record) to keep you interested.
They even throw in Christopher Lloyd just being a perfect bat-shit crazy version of himself, because why the hell not.
For the most part, it's all very standard and pretty average. But that aforementioned finale....Christ.
The final 20 minutes is gratuitous and then some.
The audience is just assaulted by outrageous violence, enough to keep you firmly grasping just how silly this film is...it's kind of glorious, and the whole thing deserves it's place in the infamous so-bad-its-great hall of horror fame.
It's dumb, but it's entertaining. A must for anyone who fancies a braindead popcorn horror now and again.
This movie is never going to be considered a horror great, not even close. It's cheesy, it's brimming with awful acting (except Elisabeth Shue, we love Elisabeth Shue), and it's completely brain dead, and in spite of all of this, Piranha 3D knows exactly what it is, and just waves it in our stupid entertained faces - it's a lot of fun.
The build up to the ridiculous finale is filled with a lot of one dimensional characters that are hard to care about, but has enough sudden gore (with some pretty nice practical effects for the record) to keep you interested.
They even throw in Christopher Lloyd just being a perfect bat-shit crazy version of himself, because why the hell not.
For the most part, it's all very standard and pretty average. But that aforementioned finale....Christ.
The final 20 minutes is gratuitous and then some.
The audience is just assaulted by outrageous violence, enough to keep you firmly grasping just how silly this film is...it's kind of glorious, and the whole thing deserves it's place in the infamous so-bad-its-great hall of horror fame.
It's dumb, but it's entertaining. A must for anyone who fancies a braindead popcorn horror now and again.
Ducklady (1174 KP) rated Mansions of Madness: Second Edition in Tabletop Games
Aug 25, 2019
Want to play more!
Despite the price tag, I took the plunge on this one. I own the first one and thoroughly enjoyed it, but the lengthy rules put quite a few people off that I was playing with. If you have the patience, then once you’ve learnt the rules then he game goes a lot quicker. This particular edition attracted me as the app makes learning the rules a lot easier. Ive played the shorter adventure twice already and i am keen to do the longer ones if i can get the people to play, although I’m pretty sure you can actually play 1 player. The figures in the game look amazing and all the house/scene tiles are nicely illustrated.
The downside for me is that the longer adventures seem to take a LOT longer than it states on the app which usually leads to it overrunning and a non-completion of the game. When we went to return to the game, the app had deleted where we were, which was frustrating. The app sometimes crashed and reset, but in general it worked smoothly. But saying that, the app really encourages players who aren’t as into board games as I am, meaning I could enlist more players at Christmas time XD.
The downside for me is that the longer adventures seem to take a LOT longer than it states on the app which usually leads to it overrunning and a non-completion of the game. When we went to return to the game, the app had deleted where we were, which was frustrating. The app sometimes crashed and reset, but in general it worked smoothly. But saying that, the app really encourages players who aren’t as into board games as I am, meaning I could enlist more players at Christmas time XD.
A good and extremely informative read about the female computers at NASA who were behind a lot of the theory behind space flight, and were integral to getting rockets into space and to the moon.
I did enjoy reading about these women, but I did find some of it extremely heavy going with a lot of the information being around maths and science. But it was a lovely read to find out more about the women who have been hidden for so long and not had the credit and recognition that they deserve in the history books.
I will say, that this may be one of the only times that I have actually preferred the film to the book. And I think that might have been because it flowed better as a story rather than how Margot Lee Shetterley presented the facts. I think the film showed just how much the women had to endure with segregation and made it a lot more shocking than reading it in the book. While it was shocking in the book the extent of things, I don’t think it quite hit as hard as seeing it on screen.
But overall, a very interesting book if you want to learn more about how these women helped shape space travel as we know it today.
I did enjoy reading about these women, but I did find some of it extremely heavy going with a lot of the information being around maths and science. But it was a lovely read to find out more about the women who have been hidden for so long and not had the credit and recognition that they deserve in the history books.
I will say, that this may be one of the only times that I have actually preferred the film to the book. And I think that might have been because it flowed better as a story rather than how Margot Lee Shetterley presented the facts. I think the film showed just how much the women had to endure with segregation and made it a lot more shocking than reading it in the book. While it was shocking in the book the extent of things, I don’t think it quite hit as hard as seeing it on screen.
But overall, a very interesting book if you want to learn more about how these women helped shape space travel as we know it today.
ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Hurricane Wars in Books
Jan 19, 2024
I think I came at this book from a completely different angle than all the 1-3 star reviews I’ve seen, because I thoroughly enjoyed it! The world building was perfectly done - I believed in these places, customs and conflicts. The magic element was exciting, and Talasyn’s journey to learning how to control and use her magic was fascinating.
And then there’s Talasyn’s love interest. Alaric uses a magic that’s the opposite to Talasyn’s - dark to her light. When their magic accidentally merges during a battle and creates a new, immensely powerful magic, Alarics interest is piqued. Talasyn hates Alaric and his kingdom - or does she?
There’s a lot of sexual tension going on in this book, and Alaric and Talasyn have a rather combative relationship. There was a part of me that just wanted them to sort it out, but there’s a lot of water under the bridge between these two, so it’s understandable.
So, I’m looking forward to the next book for a lot of reasons: there’s the “will they/ won’t they; whether Alarics father will ruin everything or not; whether the continents will survive the ensuing natural disaster; whether Talasyn will harness her powers in time; what’s going to happen to Talasyn’s friends?!
So many questions and I’m just going to have to wait!
And then there’s Talasyn’s love interest. Alaric uses a magic that’s the opposite to Talasyn’s - dark to her light. When their magic accidentally merges during a battle and creates a new, immensely powerful magic, Alarics interest is piqued. Talasyn hates Alaric and his kingdom - or does she?
There’s a lot of sexual tension going on in this book, and Alaric and Talasyn have a rather combative relationship. There was a part of me that just wanted them to sort it out, but there’s a lot of water under the bridge between these two, so it’s understandable.
So, I’m looking forward to the next book for a lot of reasons: there’s the “will they/ won’t they; whether Alarics father will ruin everything or not; whether the continents will survive the ensuing natural disaster; whether Talasyn will harness her powers in time; what’s going to happen to Talasyn’s friends?!
So many questions and I’m just going to have to wait!
ClareR (5879 KP) rated Mary I: Queen of Sorrows in Books
Oct 22, 2024
I always feel that Mary I gets a lot of bad press. She’s remembered for her bloodthirsty streak (aka Bloody Mary), for being a strict Catholic and for marrying a foreigner - and a Spaniard at that! Oh, and she was a woman at a time when women weren’t believed to be capable of ruling a country in their own right.
Alison Weir is writing a work of historical fiction, but she has done her research. Of course, a lot of Mary’s story could be open to interpretation, and we’ll never know her exact inner thoughts, but she wrote letters and people wrote things down about her at the time. And personally, I really like Weirs interpretation. She makes Mary a human being, with thoughts, loves, hates and responsibilities. The period in history is described so well, that the reader can understand why Mary had such an extreme reaction to those who wouldn’t convert to Catholicism. And, well, Elizabeth I killed a lot more people than Mary ever did, so 🤷🏼♀️
I found the chapters on Mary’s childhood really interesting and very sad. What a traumatic childhood she had.
So, if you enjoy historical fiction and want to find out more about Mary I, then this may well be the book for you too. A totally absorbing read!
Alison Weir is writing a work of historical fiction, but she has done her research. Of course, a lot of Mary’s story could be open to interpretation, and we’ll never know her exact inner thoughts, but she wrote letters and people wrote things down about her at the time. And personally, I really like Weirs interpretation. She makes Mary a human being, with thoughts, loves, hates and responsibilities. The period in history is described so well, that the reader can understand why Mary had such an extreme reaction to those who wouldn’t convert to Catholicism. And, well, Elizabeth I killed a lot more people than Mary ever did, so 🤷🏼♀️
I found the chapters on Mary’s childhood really interesting and very sad. What a traumatic childhood she had.
So, if you enjoy historical fiction and want to find out more about Mary I, then this may well be the book for you too. A totally absorbing read!
BobbiesDustyPages (1259 KP) rated Westworld - Season 1 in TV
Sep 5, 2017
Characters (2 more)
plot
That season finale
Though a remake it is still such a unique concept.
Westworld started off as being just interesting enough for me to keep coming back for more but at the same time I didn't fall in love with it as fast or as hard as a lot of other people did, but by the season finale I was so hooked even though I guessed the major plot twist part way through the season that the thought of waiting for season 2 was heartbreaking.
The concept of the show is such a unique idea and I love how it shows people at their worst when they have free reign of their own stories, there are a lot of plot twist and even though I figured out most of them it really didn't takeaway from the show at all.
The concept of the show is such a unique idea and I love how it shows people at their worst when they have free reign of their own stories, there are a lot of plot twist and even though I figured out most of them it really didn't takeaway from the show at all.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Fisherman's Friends (2019) in Movies
Mar 20, 2019 (Updated Mar 20, 2019)
Punishingly trite, manipulative and formulaic (not very) based-on-a-true-story rom-com melodrama. Jaded urban over-achiever finds himself stranded in remote rural community, learns to appreciate the value of The Important Things in Life; meanwhile a crew of hairy fishermen sing songs with lyrics like 'Nacker-nacker-toory-ay'. Cornwall and its inhabitants are arguably patronised a lot.
Utterly predictable and not very funny (well, we did laugh a lot during the bit with the funeral, but we're not very proud of that), the script overdoses on feelgood platitudes while not bothering all that much about things like characterisation or internal logic. The music is not that bad (if you like that sort of thing), but sheesh, you can go and buy a CD for that. In the end this is a sort of lobotomised version of Local Hero with added folk music.
Utterly predictable and not very funny (well, we did laugh a lot during the bit with the funeral, but we're not very proud of that), the script overdoses on feelgood platitudes while not bothering all that much about things like characterisation or internal logic. The music is not that bad (if you like that sort of thing), but sheesh, you can go and buy a CD for that. In the end this is a sort of lobotomised version of Local Hero with added folk music.
Ashley Wold (5 KP) rated A Court of Wings and Ruin in Books
Jan 31, 2018 (Updated Jan 31, 2018)
FEELS (2 more)
Action-packed
Court of Dreams banter
Melodramatic/cheesy/repetitive writing (3 more)
Character development overall isn't as satisfying
Feysand smut isn't as interesting, feels excessive
Some of the plot feels forced
I'm conflicted about this book. I definitely liked it better than ACoTaR, but ACoMaF was so incredible that I had high expectations for the third book, and some parts of it just fell flat.
The first bit pacing is a bit slow, but picks up. There were times I felt the writing was a bit cheesy and/or melodramatic, and at times repetitive. For the second book, there was a lot of sexual tension, but in this book it just seems like excessive sexy times since they're already together. A lot of the plot felt forced.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading this book! But it definitely felt more like a "guilty pleasure" read.
The first bit pacing is a bit slow, but picks up. There were times I felt the writing was a bit cheesy and/or melodramatic, and at times repetitive. For the second book, there was a lot of sexual tension, but in this book it just seems like excessive sexy times since they're already together. A lot of the plot felt forced.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading this book! But it definitely felt more like a "guilty pleasure" read.
Dean (6927 KP) rated The Reader (2008) in Movies
Feb 10, 2018
A fine example of great actors, Winslet won an Oscar for this film telling a sad love story. The film has two different halves. The first with an impressive performance by David Kross as a teenage boy who begins an affair one summer with a much older woman. The couple appear naked for much of the first half of the film as the couple spend their time either reading or making love. The second half of the film is set a good few years later as their paths cross again at a war crimes trial. For me quite a few things in the film don't have much of a back story or make a lot of sense. For me the end of the film didn't have a satisfying conclusion and leaves a lot of questions unanswered. A sad story of two lonely lives and the impact they had on each other.
Alex Trybus (79 KP) rated Groupon in Apps
Jan 27, 2018
There really are some good deals that you wouldn't find anywhere else. (1 more)
There is a huge variety (vacations, jewelry, events, concerts, clothing, etc.)
Some of the fine print for events and packages can get really confusing. (1 more)
There are a lot of exclusions on deals so trying to plan something can get impossible sometimes.
Great deals with confusing fine print
I really do love Groupon, and I have gotten a lot of good deals off of it (I paid only $25 for a Boudoir photoshoot that would have been over $200, I saved about $20 on an outing to Phipps Conservatory, and many more.) Really the only annoyance I have with it is that the fine print and learning how to properly use your Groupon at the venue can get VERY confusing sometimes. Other than that, it is a great idea and I will keep using it in the future!