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John Wick. Chapter 4 (2023)
John Wick. Chapter 4 (2023)
2023 | Action, Crime, Thriller
9
8.2 (12 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Keanu reeves (1 more)
Donnie yen
Watched today probably the best action movie I've seen this year so far the action scenes especially shot around Paris are quite amazing and hats off to donnie yen as the retired assassin who knows John wick is brilliant nice to see both ian mcshane and lance riddick in his last role before his but my favourite character goes to shamier Anderson as nobody who's never seen without his dog by his side gets plenty to do and laughs as well overall good action movie
  
TP
The Precious One
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I've loved Marisa de los Santos since I read "Love Walked In" 8 or so years ago. She has a lovely, poetic way with words and "The Precious One" doesn't disappoint there. It's told in the alternating voices of two sisters: Taisy, a grown woman, who has always wondered why her domineering father, Wilson, was never a true father to her, and who has been basically estranged from him since 18, and Willow, her 16-year-old half sister, Wilson's pride and joy.

After Wilson suffers a heart attack, he summons for Taisy and her twin, Marcus. Only Taisy -- still longing for the fatherly approval she could never attain-- comes. There she learns that Wilson wants her to write a book about his scholarly life. As she embarks on that quest, she learns more than she bargained for about her father, her halfsister, her stepmother, and herself.

Here's the thing about this book. Much of it is incredibly implausible. It's kind of insanely implausible. There's a line where Willow, who is truly this pure, kind child of 16, after being isolated her entire life by her father, is talking to a school friend and asking how anyone could possibly be so nice. That's how I feel about half the characters in the book. Willow, said friend, Luka, Taisy... we also meet Taisy's high school boyfriend, Ben, whom she abandoned when the Wilson craziness happiness. Even he's amazingly nice.
They're all so kind and amazing and introspective. Well, except for Wilson, who is a completely horrible person: even after you learn about his past, he's just an ass.

But it doesn't matter if the characters seem a little too nice, or things happen a little to easily. There's definitely adversity, and poor Willow is certainly put through the wringer in a short period in this book. You find yourself rooting for her (she's just so nice, dammit) and Taisy (she's just so feisty and kind, dammit!) and for their relationship(s). There's also a beautiful moment, where things sort of come full circle, and you find yourself amazed about de los Santos' writing all over again.

It's a pretty book, and a romantic book, and a slightly improbable book, but still a good read nonetheless. Rated 4 stars here, probably truly a 3.5 rating (there's a little de los Santos nostalgia that goes into that rating).

Note: I received a free ebook copy of this novel from Edelweiss in return for a honest review.
  
Marvel's Luke Cage  - Season 1
Marvel's Luke Cage - Season 1
2016 | Sci-Fi
Luke Cage - obviously (2 more)
Claire Temple gets some more screen time
More back story
Slower with less tension (1 more)
I feel Luke deserved a better story
Another decent Marvel show
Contains spoilers, click to show
I was all hyped up for this one but was left feeling a little disappointed and I'm not sure why. Don't get me wrong, it's still a great show with some brilliant action scenes and puts forward Luke's backstory. After being a side character in Jessica Jones it's good to see a bit more about his life and how he settles into Harlem.

It's possible that his story, while nice to see, wasn't as good as it could have been - the backstory is but what he went through in the present day was far too slow and could've picked up a bit. The ending unravelled a bit but I like the idea that his past caught up with him and for someone who seems to have such a good heart it's nice to see that he's happy to accept that and serve the time he owes.


I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops in The Defenders, especially since he'll be reunited with Jessica Jones after the development of his relationship with Claire.
  
Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens
2015 | Animals, Card Game, Comic Book / Strip, Humor
Nice Art (1 more)
Funny Theme
Not Very Replayable (1 more)
Mostly Luck
Not Enough Game
I really wanted to like Exploding Kittens. I Kickstartered the original. I bought the expansion hoping things would be better. Sadly, under the theme and the cute funny art, there really isn't much of a game here. Now it sits under other things in my small games closet and the large box for the expansion gets in the way when I am moving things around.

When people come over to play games, this is one of the games they always pull out wanting to try and this is always one of the games I try very hard to persuade them to put back into the dark corner of the gaming closet. When I first played it I though the art was nice and the theme was fun and I hoped I had missed something about the gameplay. But over time, as more people pull it out of the game closet and I am unable to persuade them otherwise I realize that there is very little here at all to make this game re-playable unless you are totally blind drunk - which I guess may be the point.

Hey - at least I don't have to wear rubber crab claws for this one.