Search

Search only in certain items:

The Maze Runner (2014)
The Maze Runner (2014)
2014 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
There's absolutely no excuse to not have utilized the actual maze more (we get like three action scenes in it?) but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a ball with this otherwise thoroughly fun and often thrilling popcorn entertainment. Dylan O'Brien is tremendous in it, even when it wears the dystopian YA format a little too prominently. For a while I couldn't tell if the simplicity helped or hurt this in the end - I mean on the one hand this has precious nothing to say about the implications of its brutal story/world, but then again on the other it 110% forgoes the usual heavy-handed yet jejune moralizing that normally sugar-coat these films. I'm sure you could have found a decent medium between the two but Wes Ball's direction is sturdy, and I kind of like the idea of all these random 18/20-somethings nonchalantly trapped in this ludicrous scenario who just see this giant, mechanical deathtrap maze as a way of life lol. So I had more than enough fun with it. Try to picture a 2014 blockbuster "Lord of the Flies" without the obvious symbolism meets a market-tested π˜›π˜©π˜¦ 𝘝π˜ͺ𝘭𝘭𝘒𝘨𝘦 where a bunch of extras get PG-13-ed to death by huge mechanical alien spiders. Plus no one even takes their shirt off I mean that's *gotta* be a first for one of these.
  
My beloved agents are back, Zaiba is leading another investigation, where her dad and little brother Ali are potential suspects! We have some new characters added this time, that are quite sneaky and have their secret agendas.

The plot of this book is quite interesting and has some really surprising twists and turns. I really liked the parent-child relationships analysed in this book. How parents influence their children without even realising it, I think it is quite an interesting topic. The investigation has its intriguing nuances, but this time the author could not hide the culprit, it was very obvious who it was.

The whole book was set in the school fete, with a very cheery atmosphere, that I thoroughly enjoyed. πŸ™‚ The writing style of this novel is entertaining and easy to read, like in the previous book. The chapters have medium length, but the great illustrations make this book a quite entertaining read. The ending, as I mentioned before was quite predictable. Like in the first book, this book also has great material for young agents, that I think will be useful and fun. πŸ™‚

So, to conclude, it is a great novel with beloved and new characters as well as a plot that has some surprises, and life lessons to teach. This book can be read as stand-alone, but if you read the first part and missed the crew, do give this part a go, it is a very enjoyable read indeed.
  
    Grayout

    Grayout

    Games and Book

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    β€œOne of the most essential iOS games of the year. Proves just how interesting and vital gaming as...

    Kotak Bank for iPad

    Kotak Bank for iPad

    Finance and Business

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Manage your Kotak Accounts and Credit Cards with ease using Kotak Mahindra Bank’s official mobile...

40x40

Ross (3284 KP) rated Cats (2019) in Movies

Jun 9, 2020  
Cats (2019)
Cats (2019)
2019 | Musical
I'd rather have licked my own bum
Just dreadful. I'm not much of a one for musical theatre at the best of times - trying to convey a story through only song is bound to fail and both the songs aren't good and the storyline doesn't land.
5 minutes in we are bombarded with use of the word "jellicle" without any context, repeated over and over again by haunting cat-people. To amuse myself, I replaced "jellicle" with "genital" and it brightened my mood somewhat.
But by that point the damage was done, I was annoyed by the film and the whole concept. I realised I was in for nearly 2 hours of different cats being introduced through the medium of forgettable arrhythmic song.
Luckily my wife had seen the stage show once (her words - "I saw it to say I'd seen it, never want to see it again") so had a little idea of the storyline (something to do with an annual competition to win an undefined prize which turned out to be a hot air balloon ride).
The visuals are not perfect and in order to detract from how hideous the idea was, they had to be.
So many decent actors (ok just Dame Judy and Sir Ian) wasted.
I have realised what sums this film up succinctly and appropriately:
If this film was a person, it would be Louis Spence.
  
40x40

Sarah (7800 KP) Jun 10, 2020

This review made me laugh so much! Replacing "jellicle" with "genital" - genius πŸ˜‚