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Alvar Aalto: Architect
Richard Rogers and John Stewart
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Alvar Aalto remains Finland's greatest architect, retains his place among the Modern Masters of...
The Book of Dust
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“What can I tell you about it? The first thing to say is that Lyra is at the centre of the...
Darren (1599 KP) rated The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018) in Movies
Oct 2, 2019
Characters – Lisbeth Salander is the famous hacker that will stand up against any man that is causing a woman abuse, she will leave her brand on them. She is called for difficult hacking jobs, which sees her take something from the Americans, this makes her a wanted suspect in Sweden and her on the run looking for answers to clear her name. Mikael Blomkvist is still the only person that Lisbeth will trust, he tries to operate from a distant and investigates the trust behind what is happening. Ed Needham is the American that has his system hacked, a government man, he heads to Sweden to get it back and finds nothing but barriers from the Swedish government. Camilla Salander is the long lost sister of Lisbeth, she thought to be dead, but now she is involved in a criminal gang known as The Spiders, targeting Lisbeth for what she wants.
Performances – Claire Foy does feel mis-cast in this role, she doesn’t seem to have a tough enough look to make this character effect as the two previous stars. Sverrir Gudnason had large shoes to fill and he doesn’t do a strong enough job in the Mikael role, while Sylvia Hoeks does what she can with her role without being anything overly special, while LaKeith Stanfield doesn’t seem to feel like the character he is meant to be playing.
Story – The story here is the fourth story in the Dragon Tattoo world, the second in English and is the first not written by the original author. We follow Lisbeth who once again finds herself needing to take on secret organisation that what something that could put the world in danger and this time it becomes more personal, with her sister being the enemy. This story does feel like it has borrowed from many other films and while it still puts Lisbeth is an anti-hero role, we only seem to find ourselves in one direction where Lisbeth is always one step ahead of everything happening, despite the fact we get to see just how twisted the Spiders are, it paints one image of them only to leave us facing a different softer enemy.
Action/Crime – The action was pretty much all given away in the trailer, we have the motorbike chase across the ice, the car chases and shoot outs, each feels very similar and doesn’t have the suspense required in a thriller.
Settings – The film does try to bring everything back to Lisbeth’s backstory with the settings showing the off the grid life she current lives compared to the one she could have lived, the snowy roads add a little to the chases, but not that much overall.
Scene of the Movie – Ice lake escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Spider’s not hinting at wanting to do to what they did to the guy without a nose, to the new Lisbeth group.
Final Thoughts – This does feel like a cash grab on a franchise that has never taken off on the American side of things, we get everything scaled back leaving us feeling disappointed by the end of the film.
Overall: No thrills to be seen here.
Performances – Claire Foy does feel mis-cast in this role, she doesn’t seem to have a tough enough look to make this character effect as the two previous stars. Sverrir Gudnason had large shoes to fill and he doesn’t do a strong enough job in the Mikael role, while Sylvia Hoeks does what she can with her role without being anything overly special, while LaKeith Stanfield doesn’t seem to feel like the character he is meant to be playing.
Story – The story here is the fourth story in the Dragon Tattoo world, the second in English and is the first not written by the original author. We follow Lisbeth who once again finds herself needing to take on secret organisation that what something that could put the world in danger and this time it becomes more personal, with her sister being the enemy. This story does feel like it has borrowed from many other films and while it still puts Lisbeth is an anti-hero role, we only seem to find ourselves in one direction where Lisbeth is always one step ahead of everything happening, despite the fact we get to see just how twisted the Spiders are, it paints one image of them only to leave us facing a different softer enemy.
Action/Crime – The action was pretty much all given away in the trailer, we have the motorbike chase across the ice, the car chases and shoot outs, each feels very similar and doesn’t have the suspense required in a thriller.
Settings – The film does try to bring everything back to Lisbeth’s backstory with the settings showing the off the grid life she current lives compared to the one she could have lived, the snowy roads add a little to the chases, but not that much overall.
Scene of the Movie – Ice lake escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The Spider’s not hinting at wanting to do to what they did to the guy without a nose, to the new Lisbeth group.
Final Thoughts – This does feel like a cash grab on a franchise that has never taken off on the American side of things, we get everything scaled back leaving us feeling disappointed by the end of the film.
Overall: No thrills to be seen here.
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Joey Yap's iBaZi The most anticipated BaZi app for iPhone/iPod Touch user has finally arrived. ...
Debbiereadsbook (1197 KP) rated Retribution (The Protectors #3) in Books
Apr 15, 2019
My fav of the three so far!
*verified Audible purchase June 2017*
This is book three in the Protectors series. You don’t NEED to have read/listened to books one and two, but I think you SHOULD. It will give you a better picture of this group of people and what they do, and how Hawke came to at the head. And you know, FIVE star listens, people!
For ten years, Hawke has been searching for the men who killed his wife and unborn son. Meeting Tate makes him feel again, something he didn’t think was possible. He certainly never thought it possible he would feel for a MAN.
I loved books one and two, and I loved this one too! I again cannot split the narration from the story, so not even gonna try. So I apologise if this review jumps around a bit!
Hawke loved his wife, bone deep, and when she was murdered, it broke. He’s spent the last ten years as head of an organisation that delivers justice to those let down by the law. The revenge for his wife’s death is a long time coming but he’s getting close and Tate is his link. His reaction to Tate is . . . unexpected. And when Hawke realises why Tate is running, his protectiveness goes into overdrive.
It’s no secret I’m not a fan of READING first person books, particularly if they are multi person but I find I’m really enjoying LISTENING to first person books, ESPECIALLY if they are multi point of view! Joel Leslie is a MASTER at his craft, at narrating multi point of view, in the first person! I simply CANNOT fault the narration. The way Leslie gets every single heart wrenching thought that Hawke has: thinking about his wife, ad what his growing feelings for Tate mean. Every fear that Tate has: that his father will find him, that Hawke might hurt him, that he might lose his little boy. This is not a short listen, over 8 hours and I listened to it in one single siting. I tried to stop, I really did but I needed to know what would happen, how this would play out. It takes a single question from Ronan (Salvation, book 2) to break Hawke. The same question broke me too! And I sobbed at that point, great heart wrenching sobs at the emotion that Leslie pours out of Hawke.
Of course, Leslie can only narrate the words given him, but Kennedy is fast becoming a favourite of mine. The way she intertwines multi level stories, from book to book, is amazing. Sometimes, series lose their . . .what’s the word . . .ethos, as it moves along but not so here. They hold true to their meaning, and I cannot wait to see where this series goes.
I LOVE that I have 9 more books to get through BUT I’ve discovered that Michael Pauley narrates book 4, Forsaken, and I’m not sure how I feel about that! I’ll buy it, without a doubt, but it will be interesting to see how Pauley portrays the voices that Leslie has done up to now.
So, because I can’t split the narration, because I listened in one day, and just bloody I can . . .
5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration
5 stars overall
This is book three in the Protectors series. You don’t NEED to have read/listened to books one and two, but I think you SHOULD. It will give you a better picture of this group of people and what they do, and how Hawke came to at the head. And you know, FIVE star listens, people!
For ten years, Hawke has been searching for the men who killed his wife and unborn son. Meeting Tate makes him feel again, something he didn’t think was possible. He certainly never thought it possible he would feel for a MAN.
I loved books one and two, and I loved this one too! I again cannot split the narration from the story, so not even gonna try. So I apologise if this review jumps around a bit!
Hawke loved his wife, bone deep, and when she was murdered, it broke. He’s spent the last ten years as head of an organisation that delivers justice to those let down by the law. The revenge for his wife’s death is a long time coming but he’s getting close and Tate is his link. His reaction to Tate is . . . unexpected. And when Hawke realises why Tate is running, his protectiveness goes into overdrive.
It’s no secret I’m not a fan of READING first person books, particularly if they are multi person but I find I’m really enjoying LISTENING to first person books, ESPECIALLY if they are multi point of view! Joel Leslie is a MASTER at his craft, at narrating multi point of view, in the first person! I simply CANNOT fault the narration. The way Leslie gets every single heart wrenching thought that Hawke has: thinking about his wife, ad what his growing feelings for Tate mean. Every fear that Tate has: that his father will find him, that Hawke might hurt him, that he might lose his little boy. This is not a short listen, over 8 hours and I listened to it in one single siting. I tried to stop, I really did but I needed to know what would happen, how this would play out. It takes a single question from Ronan (Salvation, book 2) to break Hawke. The same question broke me too! And I sobbed at that point, great heart wrenching sobs at the emotion that Leslie pours out of Hawke.
Of course, Leslie can only narrate the words given him, but Kennedy is fast becoming a favourite of mine. The way she intertwines multi level stories, from book to book, is amazing. Sometimes, series lose their . . .what’s the word . . .ethos, as it moves along but not so here. They hold true to their meaning, and I cannot wait to see where this series goes.
I LOVE that I have 9 more books to get through BUT I’ve discovered that Michael Pauley narrates book 4, Forsaken, and I’m not sure how I feel about that! I’ll buy it, without a doubt, but it will be interesting to see how Pauley portrays the voices that Leslie has done up to now.
So, because I can’t split the narration, because I listened in one day, and just bloody I can . . .
5 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration
5 stars overall
Darren (1599 KP) rated American Made (2017) in Movies
Jun 20, 2019
Story: American Made starts as Barry Seal (Cruise) a pilot gets offered a job by the CIA agent Monty Schafer (Gleeson) to fly over different parts of Northern and Southern America to take photos for the CIA, the job is exclusive but as his family grows with Lucy (Wright) having children, he needs more money.
When one if his flights takes him to South America he meets businessman Pablo Escobar (Mejia) and his partners who recruit him to smuggle drug into America. Before long Barry is getting pushed into other forms of smuggling both to and from America.
Thoughts on American Made
Characters – Barry Seal was a small-time cigar smuggling pilot before he gets recruited by the CIA to fly over other parts of the Americas to spy, soon he becomes involved in large scale smuggling across America both in and out, he believes he is working in the CIA but always seemed to be getting slightly in deeper than first thought. He struggles to keep his personal life together with his wife and children suffering his sudden changes in location. Monty is the CIA agent that recruits Barry to smuggle, he believes he is in control of the whole situation as he bails Barry out of trouble and gives him the instructions from the American side of the events. Lucy is the wife of Barry that must deal with his lifestyle but once there is a large amount of money involved she embraces the life of luxury for her family. We do have the drug dealing side of the characters that Barry deals with but we only see them in the dealing side of the story.
Performances – This is another Tom Cruise vehicle where he shows just how talent he is, this helps his credibility after the disaster which was The Mummy, this could be his best full ranged acting performance in years. Domhnall is great in his supporting role showing he can work in nearly any genre right now. Sarah Wright is good but we don’t get to see enough of her characters struggle or enjoyment of the money.
Story – The story follows Barry Seal and how he went from small-time cigar smuggler into one of the most infamous drug and gun smugglers in modern American history. We follow the events from how he remembers them explaining how he just didn’t seem to know how things just kept falling his way but he went with the flow and how the government helped support the international gun trade. This was a lot more interesting that I could imagine showing us just how corrupt the government could be when it needed to be.
Action/Biopic/Comedy – The action comes from how Barry would get the job done, he has edge of the seat moments of when it comes to the flight sequences, the comedy is lightly toned into the story which sounds like a comedy over a real story but seeing the story of Barry Seal and his smuggling makes for an interesting biopic.
Settings – The film does take us across difference parts America to show where Barry ends up going to which all look like the time being presented in the film.
Scene of the Movie – Emergency Landing
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It does make the idea seem like a good thing rather than a criminal in action.
Final Thoughts – This is an entertaining biopic that shows how a smuggler ran a multi-million-dollar organisation that even the government supported.
Overall: Enjoyable movie all around.
https://moviesreview101.com/2018/11/01/american-made-2017/
When one if his flights takes him to South America he meets businessman Pablo Escobar (Mejia) and his partners who recruit him to smuggle drug into America. Before long Barry is getting pushed into other forms of smuggling both to and from America.
Thoughts on American Made
Characters – Barry Seal was a small-time cigar smuggling pilot before he gets recruited by the CIA to fly over other parts of the Americas to spy, soon he becomes involved in large scale smuggling across America both in and out, he believes he is working in the CIA but always seemed to be getting slightly in deeper than first thought. He struggles to keep his personal life together with his wife and children suffering his sudden changes in location. Monty is the CIA agent that recruits Barry to smuggle, he believes he is in control of the whole situation as he bails Barry out of trouble and gives him the instructions from the American side of the events. Lucy is the wife of Barry that must deal with his lifestyle but once there is a large amount of money involved she embraces the life of luxury for her family. We do have the drug dealing side of the characters that Barry deals with but we only see them in the dealing side of the story.
Performances – This is another Tom Cruise vehicle where he shows just how talent he is, this helps his credibility after the disaster which was The Mummy, this could be his best full ranged acting performance in years. Domhnall is great in his supporting role showing he can work in nearly any genre right now. Sarah Wright is good but we don’t get to see enough of her characters struggle or enjoyment of the money.
Story – The story follows Barry Seal and how he went from small-time cigar smuggler into one of the most infamous drug and gun smugglers in modern American history. We follow the events from how he remembers them explaining how he just didn’t seem to know how things just kept falling his way but he went with the flow and how the government helped support the international gun trade. This was a lot more interesting that I could imagine showing us just how corrupt the government could be when it needed to be.
Action/Biopic/Comedy – The action comes from how Barry would get the job done, he has edge of the seat moments of when it comes to the flight sequences, the comedy is lightly toned into the story which sounds like a comedy over a real story but seeing the story of Barry Seal and his smuggling makes for an interesting biopic.
Settings – The film does take us across difference parts America to show where Barry ends up going to which all look like the time being presented in the film.
Scene of the Movie – Emergency Landing
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It does make the idea seem like a good thing rather than a criminal in action.
Final Thoughts – This is an entertaining biopic that shows how a smuggler ran a multi-million-dollar organisation that even the government supported.
Overall: Enjoyable movie all around.
https://moviesreview101.com/2018/11/01/american-made-2017/
Little Ray Of Sunshine (41 KP) rated The Hunt in Books
Jan 11, 2019 (Updated Feb 10, 2019)
Book Review | The Hunt by T. J. Lebbon
Rose is the one that got away. She was the prey in a human trophy hunt run by an elite organisation known only as The Trail. She paid the worst possible price. Every moment since she has been planning her revenge. And now her time has come ...
Chris returns from his morning run to find his wife and children missing and a stranger in his kitchen.
He's told to run.
If he's caught and killed, his family go free. If he escapes, they die.
Rose is the only one who can help him, for her, Chris is bait. And The Trail have not forgotten the woman who tried to outwit them.
The Trail want Rose. The hunters want Chris's corpse. Rose wants revenge, and Chris just wants his family back.
THE HUNT IS ON ...
I was given this book by my friend she told me it was a great book. I don't usually read thriller books but this year I am starting to go out my comfort zone of romance. I have enjoy reading these thrillers and how they make my heart beat faster.
When I first saw the front cover it intrigued me and I wanted to get straight into the book and see what it like.
The book is about Rose she was the one who got away from a game where rich people pay to hunt people down its a sick game to play. While this is happening her family was taken hostage. She was told if she escape them her family will die. Rose outwitted them and escaped them as she thought they wont kill my family. But sadly they was killed and she went back to her house to find them dead and she is framed for their murder. So she goes on the run to find out more about what The Trail is and how she can hunt them down and seek revenge for what did to her family.
While she was searching on the internet to see if The Trail as took another family hostage she found out that there was another and this time it was a man called Chris he returned from a morning run to find hes family as gone missing and a stranger in hes kitchen. He was told if he escapes and they can't find him hes family will be killed. He feels all alone as he can't get in contact with hes family and friends.
But all a sudden this women comes to the rescue called Rose shes the only one who can help him and she knows more about The Trail. So she uses Chris as bait while she hunts each of the hunters down and kills them. Chris doesn't trust Rose he feels that she is in with the The Trail but he soons realise that she aint there to kill him but safe him from The Trail and save hes family too.
Wow this book is a page turner, I was intrigued what was happening through the book and I was thinking all the way through the book "Will they survive?" "Will they find Chris's family in time?" Also I wanted it to have a happy ending and The Trail need to be stopped!
I won't say anymore as I want you to decide what you think to the book and ending.
Thanks for reading x
Chris returns from his morning run to find his wife and children missing and a stranger in his kitchen.
He's told to run.
If he's caught and killed, his family go free. If he escapes, they die.
Rose is the only one who can help him, for her, Chris is bait. And The Trail have not forgotten the woman who tried to outwit them.
The Trail want Rose. The hunters want Chris's corpse. Rose wants revenge, and Chris just wants his family back.
THE HUNT IS ON ...
I was given this book by my friend she told me it was a great book. I don't usually read thriller books but this year I am starting to go out my comfort zone of romance. I have enjoy reading these thrillers and how they make my heart beat faster.
When I first saw the front cover it intrigued me and I wanted to get straight into the book and see what it like.
The book is about Rose she was the one who got away from a game where rich people pay to hunt people down its a sick game to play. While this is happening her family was taken hostage. She was told if she escape them her family will die. Rose outwitted them and escaped them as she thought they wont kill my family. But sadly they was killed and she went back to her house to find them dead and she is framed for their murder. So she goes on the run to find out more about what The Trail is and how she can hunt them down and seek revenge for what did to her family.
While she was searching on the internet to see if The Trail as took another family hostage she found out that there was another and this time it was a man called Chris he returned from a morning run to find hes family as gone missing and a stranger in hes kitchen. He was told if he escapes and they can't find him hes family will be killed. He feels all alone as he can't get in contact with hes family and friends.
But all a sudden this women comes to the rescue called Rose shes the only one who can help him and she knows more about The Trail. So she uses Chris as bait while she hunts each of the hunters down and kills them. Chris doesn't trust Rose he feels that she is in with the The Trail but he soons realise that she aint there to kill him but safe him from The Trail and save hes family too.
Wow this book is a page turner, I was intrigued what was happening through the book and I was thinking all the way through the book "Will they survive?" "Will they find Chris's family in time?" Also I wanted it to have a happy ending and The Trail need to be stopped!
I won't say anymore as I want you to decide what you think to the book and ending.
Thanks for reading x
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