Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (4130)

Content

ClareR (5874 KP) rated The Break in Books

Apr 26, 2019 (Updated Apr 26, 2019)

The Break

Marian Keyes | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

8.8

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

Another enjoyable book from Keyes!

I listened to this on audiobook, and the narrator, Aoife McMahon, did a great job - except for the Geordie, male accent, but you can’t be good at everything, right?!
This is a funny, engaging book (a bit cringy during the sex scenes, but I suspect that might just be the convent-school educated girl in me ??‍♀️ ). The story was very enjoyable, although I did feel that she jumped into another relationship rather quickly (ahem, convent school...). But after listening further, it does make sense. She hadn’t been happy for a while, it seems. I loved the teenaged girls in the family - I think she wrote them realistically. I loved the family members too, and you get a real feel for an Irish family, and family dynamics generally. A great, fun book, with a few rather teary moments. Lots of feels, people!

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Ex Machina (2015) in Movies

Feb 13, 2018

Ex Machina (2015)

2015 | Sci-Fi, Thriller

7.9

(58 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The Fembot Awakens

Slightly-retro-but-in-a-good-way SF movie from the writer of The Beach and 28 Days Later. Corporate minion is whisked off to the wilderness by wealthy boss to participate in experiments testing the intelligence of a female-looking android he has built; android indeed proves to have a mind of her own.

Wears its influences relatively lightly and looks good; that said, seems more content to play with the issues it raises than actually explore them with any real rigour. Ending is a bit silly, but forgivably so. If, as seems possible, the director wants to make a point about male exploitation of women, it might be better not to do so in a movie where every female actress is required to do a full-frontal nude scene. Smarter than the usual studio SF film, anyway; passes the time entertainingly.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Omen (2006) in Movies

Mar 1, 2018

The Omen (2006)

2006 | Horror, Mystery

5.8

(11 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Bafflingly superfluous and redundant mid-budget remake of the classic horror blockbuster. American diplomat and his wife discover their adopted son is a right little devil.

In no way an actively bad film, but given it cleaves so closely to the original, what exactly is the point of it? You would expect that the inclusion of a top-billed Julia Stiles would mean the character of Thorn's wife would be beefed up and given a little bit of agency in the plot (heaven knows she could use some); but no, the focus is still on the manly men doing masculine male things together. Pretty well cast, but you could guess who's playing which part just from looking at a list of actors, it is that unimaginative and unsurprising. Worth watching only if you've never seen the original and are unlikely ever to do so.

Kudos

AT (1676 KP) rated Alice in the Country of Hearts: Vol. 1 in Books

Nov 13, 2019

I generally liked volume 1 of Alice in the Country of Hearts. It was trippy and bordering on perverse at times because of the male characters in Wonderland, but it's an interesting manga take on Alice in Wonderland. Alice is kidnapped and brought to an unfamiliar land that's filled with odd gun-wielding characters, most of which are constantly at war with each other. They see life very differently than Alice, so as she tries to navigate her way through Wonderland, she begins to get to know some of the people, and an exchange of ideas and emotions take place. Some of them are set in their ways, and some are open to learning about Alice, the Outsider, who is a normal human. It's more complicated and frustrating than it probably needs to be, because everyone that she meets falls in love with her.