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The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account In Words and Pictures
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First released in 2002, this provocative, critically acclaimed novel is now a major motion picture...
Fooled Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Book
Fooled by Randomness is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb's landmark Incerto series, an...
Bejeweled Blitz
Games and Entertainment
7.0
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Enjoy one minute of endless match-3 fun from PopCap and EA – and play for free! Detonate as many...
Should We Date Calculator: Love Compatibility Test
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Prove to your crush that you two should definitely go out on a date! Should We Date Calculator...
Undivided Heart & Soul by JD McPherson
Album Watch
JD McPherson presents what he calls "A truly romantic garage rock record". Undivided Heart & Soul...
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Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Star Trek (2009) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
As Leonard Nimoy says on the “making of” featurette, few directors can successfully deliver both ‘action’ and ’emotion’ in the same film, but J.J. Abrams can do. You can tell that he loved the original series, and adds both energy and ‘fan-friendly’ easter eggs into the movie:
We saw Kirk’s death in “Generations” – here we see his birth, with a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth as his heroic Dad!;
The nasty Ceti Eel creatures are back from “The Wrath of Khan”!;
We see the historic event of Kirk beating the Kobayashi Maru starfleet test;
And we see all of the key characters meeting for the first time.
There are some surprises though. The fact that Spock and Uhuru are ‘a thing’ adds a spice to the film that feels like it messes with existing Trek lore. And similarly the destruction of Vulcan – giving this the highest body count of any of the movies! – has to be explained away with the old ‘parallel timeline’ ploy.
The action scenes work well, reliving the ‘submarine warfare in space’ elements that worked so well in the original series and the “Wrath of Khan”. A ‘space drop’ onto Nero’s ‘drill’ is particularly thrilling.
The casting is just about bang on, with Chris Pine pitch perfect as Kirk and Karl Urban particularly impressive as ‘Bones’ McCoy (although the evolution of the nickname – shown here – feels overly forced). The one character that I don’t get on with here is Simon Pegg’s Scotty: might be controversial, but he just doesn’t work for me.
Finally, the music by Michael Giacchino is a favourite score of mine. Simply thrilling and brilliant. I was lucky enough to hear it played live at a showing in the Royal Albert Hall a few years back, where both Giacchino and Abrams appeared on stage – – a truly memorable evening.
It’s not perfect. The whole “transportation of Scotty into the water works” irritates me enormously for some reason. And it’s somewhat glossed over what Nero and his crew have been doing for the 25 years while Kirk grows up: (Nero: “Man, I’ve finished ALL of my Sodoku books… when is this lockdown EVER GONNA END??”). And the JJ ‘lens flare’ is used to a level here that is mind-blowingly distracting! But as a reboot, in the main, it works.
We saw Kirk’s death in “Generations” – here we see his birth, with a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth as his heroic Dad!;
The nasty Ceti Eel creatures are back from “The Wrath of Khan”!;
We see the historic event of Kirk beating the Kobayashi Maru starfleet test;
And we see all of the key characters meeting for the first time.
There are some surprises though. The fact that Spock and Uhuru are ‘a thing’ adds a spice to the film that feels like it messes with existing Trek lore. And similarly the destruction of Vulcan – giving this the highest body count of any of the movies! – has to be explained away with the old ‘parallel timeline’ ploy.
The action scenes work well, reliving the ‘submarine warfare in space’ elements that worked so well in the original series and the “Wrath of Khan”. A ‘space drop’ onto Nero’s ‘drill’ is particularly thrilling.
The casting is just about bang on, with Chris Pine pitch perfect as Kirk and Karl Urban particularly impressive as ‘Bones’ McCoy (although the evolution of the nickname – shown here – feels overly forced). The one character that I don’t get on with here is Simon Pegg’s Scotty: might be controversial, but he just doesn’t work for me.
Finally, the music by Michael Giacchino is a favourite score of mine. Simply thrilling and brilliant. I was lucky enough to hear it played live at a showing in the Royal Albert Hall a few years back, where both Giacchino and Abrams appeared on stage – – a truly memorable evening.
It’s not perfect. The whole “transportation of Scotty into the water works” irritates me enormously for some reason. And it’s somewhat glossed over what Nero and his crew have been doing for the 25 years while Kirk grows up: (Nero: “Man, I’ve finished ALL of my Sodoku books… when is this lockdown EVER GONNA END??”). And the JJ ‘lens flare’ is used to a level here that is mind-blowingly distracting! But as a reboot, in the main, it works.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) in Movies
May 6, 2023
A Return to Form for the MCU
Welcome back, MCU, we missed you.
With GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOLUME 3, the MCU has returned to the top ranks of movie-making, creating a thrilling, character-driven action/adventure that is emotionally charged and satisfying.
Directed and Written by James Gunn (as he has done with the first 2 Guardians films), Guardians 3 ties off the trilogy of this ragtag group of heroes in an appropriate, fun way by focusing on something that recent MCU films failed to do - it focuses on the characters and their relationships and how the out-of-this-world adventure that they are on will, ultimately, grow and enrich these characters and relationships.
Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Pom Klementieff (Mantis) and the voice of Vin Diesel (Groot) are all back and they all slip, comfortably, into their roles and relationships and it feels good to have them back together again.
Karen Gillan (Nebula) and, especially, Bradley Cooper (the voice of Rocket Racoon) shine above the rest as the script calls for their characters to grow in smart, fulfilling ways and both actors shine in these circumstances.
This film also has something that the previous few films - especially the latest Ant-Man film - were lacking…a terrific villain. Chukwudi Iwuji is terribly scary as THE HIGH EVOLUTIONARY who is so single-minded in his mission that living beings - and planets - are expendable. It is a terrific performance (and the 2nd straight strong one from Iwuji in a comic book vehicle, following his work in the HBO-MAX DCU TV Series Peacemaker). He is a talent to keep an eye on.
Of course, credit to all of this goes to James Gunn who, after some controversy, returned to helm the end of the Guardians trilogy (at least the Guardians of the Galaxy with THESE characters) and he hits the mark, finding the right blend of action and character that makes the audience care very much what happens to this group. It is a strong exit film from the MCU for Gunn and the DCU is very lucky/smart to hire him as their artistic director going forward.
A very rewarding end to the Guardians trilogy - and a return to form (at least for 1 film) for the MCU.
Letter Grade: A-
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
With GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOLUME 3, the MCU has returned to the top ranks of movie-making, creating a thrilling, character-driven action/adventure that is emotionally charged and satisfying.
Directed and Written by James Gunn (as he has done with the first 2 Guardians films), Guardians 3 ties off the trilogy of this ragtag group of heroes in an appropriate, fun way by focusing on something that recent MCU films failed to do - it focuses on the characters and their relationships and how the out-of-this-world adventure that they are on will, ultimately, grow and enrich these characters and relationships.
Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Pom Klementieff (Mantis) and the voice of Vin Diesel (Groot) are all back and they all slip, comfortably, into their roles and relationships and it feels good to have them back together again.
Karen Gillan (Nebula) and, especially, Bradley Cooper (the voice of Rocket Racoon) shine above the rest as the script calls for their characters to grow in smart, fulfilling ways and both actors shine in these circumstances.
This film also has something that the previous few films - especially the latest Ant-Man film - were lacking…a terrific villain. Chukwudi Iwuji is terribly scary as THE HIGH EVOLUTIONARY who is so single-minded in his mission that living beings - and planets - are expendable. It is a terrific performance (and the 2nd straight strong one from Iwuji in a comic book vehicle, following his work in the HBO-MAX DCU TV Series Peacemaker). He is a talent to keep an eye on.
Of course, credit to all of this goes to James Gunn who, after some controversy, returned to helm the end of the Guardians trilogy (at least the Guardians of the Galaxy with THESE characters) and he hits the mark, finding the right blend of action and character that makes the audience care very much what happens to this group. It is a strong exit film from the MCU for Gunn and the DCU is very lucky/smart to hire him as their artistic director going forward.
A very rewarding end to the Guardians trilogy - and a return to form (at least for 1 film) for the MCU.
Letter Grade: A-
8 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Women of Troy in Books
Jan 11, 2022
The Women of Troy picks up where The Silence of the Girls finished. Greece has won. The men of Troy are dead, their wealth and women now belong to the Greeks, but due to the fact that the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, the Greeks are going nowhere. Someone must have done something to displease the Gods, but until they come to that conclusion, there’s a lot of eating, drinking, sports competitions and rape. The women, as is usual in any conflict, get the shitty end of the stick. They may not have been killed, but they face a lifetime of slavery and rape.
Briseis is lucky, in that she is now married to Alcimus and is now a respectable, protected woman. But she now feels as though she belongs to neither side. She knows how the female slaves feel: she was one of them once. But they don’t see her as one of them anymore, and she isn’t wholly Greek either. She does manage to see the main female characters from Troy, though. Cassandra makes an appearance - she is still telling everyone what will happen, and on one is believing her. Hecuba is being kept in comfort by Odysseus, but she has seen all but one of her sons killed, and her husband is lying unburied on the beach - she wants to see him sent off to the afterlife before she dies.
We even see Helen and how she’s getting on. Her husband has taken her back, but no one else can see why she hasn’t been killed. After all, she’s to blame for the whole situation, isn’t she?!
Amina is Briseis’ own slave, given to her by Alcimus. It’s clear that she doesn’t like Briseis - after all, Briseis hasn’t tried to convince Agamemnon to have proper funeral rites for Priam. I liked Amina. She stands by her convictions, no matter the consequences (and there are consequences).
In fact, they’re all strong women, trying their best in very difficult circumstances. I always enjoy Greek mythology re-telling, and this book really does it for me. I’d love to see if Pat Barker writes about the times after the Greeks return to their homes. What happens to Cassandra? Helen? And Briseis? Yes, I know I can look it up in any Greek mythology book, but Pat Barkers storytelling is so emotive and really compelling. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!
Briseis is lucky, in that she is now married to Alcimus and is now a respectable, protected woman. But she now feels as though she belongs to neither side. She knows how the female slaves feel: she was one of them once. But they don’t see her as one of them anymore, and she isn’t wholly Greek either. She does manage to see the main female characters from Troy, though. Cassandra makes an appearance - she is still telling everyone what will happen, and on one is believing her. Hecuba is being kept in comfort by Odysseus, but she has seen all but one of her sons killed, and her husband is lying unburied on the beach - she wants to see him sent off to the afterlife before she dies.
We even see Helen and how she’s getting on. Her husband has taken her back, but no one else can see why she hasn’t been killed. After all, she’s to blame for the whole situation, isn’t she?!
Amina is Briseis’ own slave, given to her by Alcimus. It’s clear that she doesn’t like Briseis - after all, Briseis hasn’t tried to convince Agamemnon to have proper funeral rites for Priam. I liked Amina. She stands by her convictions, no matter the consequences (and there are consequences).
In fact, they’re all strong women, trying their best in very difficult circumstances. I always enjoy Greek mythology re-telling, and this book really does it for me. I’d love to see if Pat Barker writes about the times after the Greeks return to their homes. What happens to Cassandra? Helen? And Briseis? Yes, I know I can look it up in any Greek mythology book, but Pat Barkers storytelling is so emotive and really compelling. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated The White Magic Five and Dime ( Tarot Mysteries book 1) in Books
Aug 15, 2022
146 of 230
Kindle
The White Magic Five and Dime ( Tarot Mystery book 1)
By Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When Alanis McLachlan learns that her mother's been murdered, she's completely unsurprised. Not that Alanis had been given a glimpse into the future. That would be crazy, right? It's just that her con-woman mom, Barbra, was bound to cross the wrong people sooner or later. It's why Alanis was lucky to get out of her childhood alive - and why she hadn't spoken to her mother in decades.
But there is a surprise in store for Alanis. Barbra left her something in her will: a New Age shop in the tiny tourist trap town of Berdache, Arizona. The White Magic Five & Dime.
After going to Berdache to claim her inheritance, Alanis is drawn into the mystery around her mother's death. Did one of Barbra's customers finally get wise to her con-artist ways and take revenge? Alanis thinks she knows how to find out: She'll make those customers her own until she can find the killer. Alanis McLachlan, cynic and unbeliever, is about to become a tarot card reader.
With a little help from her mother's teenage apprentice and a snarky tarot how-to book called Infinite Roads to Knowing, Alanis begins bluffing her way through phony readings. But the more she gets to know the cards, the more she sees real meaning in them...and the closer the murderer comes to making her the next victim.
Omg I had issues with this book so many issues!
This is going to be a strange little review. I absolutely didn’t like the main character at all, she was written to be witty and sarcastic and it just did not work at all. She was irritating and so not funny it was just trying to hard!
So you may ask why a 4⭐️ and my answer is simply because I really enjoyed the book she was the only thing I disliked. I didn’t see the murderer coming till the last minute and it was a fun book to read it made me smile and I’m very much an emotional reviewer.
So yes the main character drove me crazy but the story was really good!
Kindle
The White Magic Five and Dime ( Tarot Mystery book 1)
By Steve Hockensmith and Lisa Falco
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
When Alanis McLachlan learns that her mother's been murdered, she's completely unsurprised. Not that Alanis had been given a glimpse into the future. That would be crazy, right? It's just that her con-woman mom, Barbra, was bound to cross the wrong people sooner or later. It's why Alanis was lucky to get out of her childhood alive - and why she hadn't spoken to her mother in decades.
But there is a surprise in store for Alanis. Barbra left her something in her will: a New Age shop in the tiny tourist trap town of Berdache, Arizona. The White Magic Five & Dime.
After going to Berdache to claim her inheritance, Alanis is drawn into the mystery around her mother's death. Did one of Barbra's customers finally get wise to her con-artist ways and take revenge? Alanis thinks she knows how to find out: She'll make those customers her own until she can find the killer. Alanis McLachlan, cynic and unbeliever, is about to become a tarot card reader.
With a little help from her mother's teenage apprentice and a snarky tarot how-to book called Infinite Roads to Knowing, Alanis begins bluffing her way through phony readings. But the more she gets to know the cards, the more she sees real meaning in them...and the closer the murderer comes to making her the next victim.
Omg I had issues with this book so many issues!
This is going to be a strange little review. I absolutely didn’t like the main character at all, she was written to be witty and sarcastic and it just did not work at all. She was irritating and so not funny it was just trying to hard!
So you may ask why a 4⭐️ and my answer is simply because I really enjoyed the book she was the only thing I disliked. I didn’t see the murderer coming till the last minute and it was a fun book to read it made me smile and I’m very much an emotional reviewer.
So yes the main character drove me crazy but the story was really good!