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Awix (3310 KP) rated Styx (2018) in Movies

May 1, 2019 (Updated May 1, 2019)

Styx (2018)

2018 | Drama

7.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

No-frills drama from Germany (not much dialogue, and most of that in English) achieves genuine tension after a slow start. Competent, compassionate doctor seems to be having no trouble sailing the Atlantic until she comes across a ship loaded with refugees in very bad shape: her small boat can't help, and the authorities advise her by radio to leave the area; but they show no sign of doing anything to help. The arrival on board of a young boy only complicates matters further. What is she supposed to do?

Wears its heart very much on its sleeve as a parable about civilised European attitudes to crises in other parts of the world; not exactly subtle and doesn't seem to have many answers to give. The slow start may also put some people off. However, Wolff carries the film impressively, and the moral dilemma at its centre is engrossing and resonant. Director does good work with what's clearly quite a low budget.

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2340 KP) rated The Caboose Who Got Loose in Books

Oct 16, 2019

Dream but Enjoy the Present

Katy is a caboose, but she doesn’t like traveling at all. She longs for peace and quiet and a stationary life. Then she is presented with the joys of her current life. Will she realize her dream? Will she enjoy life until then?

I hadn’t read this picture book for years until I picked it up recently, and I was immediately struck by the moral of the story. It’s complex, about enjoying your life while you dream of something else, so kids might not fully grasp it, but that doesn’t make it any less good. Of course, kids are mostly going to be interested in the story and pictures. As with all Bill Peet’s books, the pictures are detailed and colorful. The story, told in rhyme, will keep kids’ attention as well although the vocabulary might be a bit too complex for those just learning to read to read on their own.

Kudos

Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The White Hart (Red Grouse Tales) in Books

Nov 28, 2019

The White Hart (Red Grouse Tales)

Leslie W.P. Garland | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery, Paranormal

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

The fourth of The Red Grouse Tales is also the most obviously paranormal in nature. Told by Pete, a keen fell runner and ladies' man, his one tale actually consists of three linked stories. The central and longest concerns a visit to an old chapel, all that remains of a stately home. There he meets a woman who relates the tragic story of Christine, the former owner of the house and supposed ghost.

This isn't a ghost story designed to spook or discomfort; instead the intriguing tale of Christine, along with that of Pete himself, is a moral one of how some men and women manipulate each other and at what level that becomes unacceptable. The story itself is light with a happy (if not entirely surprising) ending that will leave a warmth where other stories in this collection have left a chill.

The lightest of the Red Grouse tales (in the edition I read) but very much a suitable one to end with.