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Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Picking up after the events of the previous film; “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” deals with a world trying to assess what to do with the presence of the giant Titans. The Monarch Corporation wants the creatures studied and has established locales to study the ones they have found currently hibernating. The U.S. Government wants them destroyed as they do not want repeats of the destruction that was previously caused by Godzilla.

Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and her daughter Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown) have developed a device known as Orca that will allow them to communicate with the creatures using specific sonic frequencies.

After a successful test under duress; the duo are captured by a ruthless Eco Terrorist group who want to use the giant creatures for their own objectives.

This leads to a chase around the world with Monarch attempting to stop them and with Emma’s ex-husband Mark (Kyle Chandler) deeply involved though he is deeply divided as he blames Godzilla for the loss of their son.

When a gigantic creature is freed; Godzilla faces his greatest challenge as there is a race against time to save the world.

While the film has some very impressive visual effects, the film drags as aside from a couple of brief encounters; the audience is required to sit through roughly 90 minutes of plodding story to get to the action which is roughly only the last 15-20 minutes of the film.

The human characters were very disinteresting and many of the international cast looked at times like they were sleepwalking though their lines as they seemed to have a real lack of passion for what they were given to work with.

The human characters were also very annoying and I found myself hoping that they would be taken out by the creatures as I had no connection to them and they did not inspire any sympathy.

While it may possibly appeal to hardcore fans, this was a miss for me as there simply was not enough creature action to counter-balance having to sit through the human characters and plodding plot to get to the good stuff.

http://sknr.net/2019/05/29/godzilla-king-of-the-monsters/
  
The Great Wall (2016)
The Great Wall (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, Mystery
8
5.8 (27 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Universal Studios and Legendary’s latest monster film is from the brilliant mind of Zhang Yimou. I must say that though this was a Yimou film I was not really intrigued with the trailer and almost skipped it however I’m glad that I didn’t!

William (Matt Damon) and Toval (Pedro Pascal) are mercenaries trying to make it rich. They are on a mission in China on the lookout for legendary exploding black powder. Instead they find a huge Great Wall and are mystified as to why it was built and what it is trying to keep out. The Tao Tei, are prehistoric looking monsters who are a danger to all of humanity and the only thing stopping them is the wall. William is a skilled archer and Toval a witty fighter. With their help they might be able to save humanity from the onslaught of the Tao Tei.

 I thoroughly enjoyed this film and found it extremely entertaining. The action and unexpected humor is what sold it for me. The casting of Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal was brilliantly thought out and kept the audience laughing with the duos chemistry and how well they played off of each other.

Despite all of the controversy about having Matt Damon as the lead in a Chinese film is crazy and I think Zhang has made the right choice in doing so. To be successful in the American film industry sometimes you have to use a big star to bring in big results. Though the story and script are basic and easy to follow the action, scenery, costumes and humor are fantastic and what makes the film great. This film should definitely be viewed with the 3D option as it fully immerses the audience into and becomes a part of the story. A lot of CGI was used and though normally I am not a fan of a lot of CGI, it works with the film rather than against it. I would definitely recommend this film but the monsters might be too much for kids to handle in 3D.
  
Circe
Circe
Madeline Miller | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
8.9 (17 Ratings)
Book Rating
Circe was my April Book of the Month club pick, and WOW was it epic. I haven't read Song of Achilles, but I just put a hold on it with my library, because this book was amazing. So amazing, in fact, that it sent me into a bit of a reading slump - what book could follow up this masterwork?

This is actually going to be a pretty short review because I'm just in awe of this book. Circe begins as a somewhat naive child in her father's household, unaware of her own power until her brother points it out to her. For those powers, she is banished to a deserted island, but her powers only grow from there. We meet many figures of Greek mythology - from gods and goddesses to mortals and monsters like Scylla and the Minotaur.

I just don't even know how to properly review this book other than it was amazing. If you like Greek mythology at ALL, you should read this book. It's captivating.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com
  
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ClareR (5879 KP) Apr 27, 2018

I have this sat on my bookshelf - I really need to get on with reading it!! Great review, by the way ?

Broken Monsters
Broken Monsters
6
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Broken Monsters was what I call “High Concept, Poor Execution.” There were two major things that caused me to decide not to finish it.

The first reason: The story was written from several different characters perspectives, and it switched almost every chapter. Some books can get away with this (generally there are two or three PoV) but this one had like 5 different voices, and it was just too much to keep track of.

The second and most important reason: The relationship between the police officer and her daughter. Seriously, no police officer is going to pick up her high school daughter and start telling her all about the secret case they haven’t yet allowed the press to get wind of, or tell her details or hunches, or—what really set me off—have her daughter help her use a search engine to find photos from nasty crime scenes. You just don’t do that.

The premise was cool and the bad-guy was amazing (his PoV was my favorite) but I just couldn’t keep going with those two factors.