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Connie (244 KP) rated It (2017) in Movies

Sep 13, 2018  
It (2017)
It (2017)
2017 | Drama, Horror
8
7.9 (354 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I saw IT at a midnight release in a theatre with a person who caused me personal distress and when I say I freaked out, I mean it. But the second viewing, in the day and not with a creep, proved to be a little less scary.

For those who have never read this book, this was a frightening view of how children view fear and how hysteria can grip a town. Unexplainable things happen and no one seems to notice, almost at all. The scene with the blood in the bathroom really freaks me out every time, and her father standing in it not noticing is awful. That being said, this far the movie and the book have a lot of differences.

All in all, I feel that the movie was done well, but it doesn't hold a candle to the book. I can't wait to see the next paet though because I might change my mind!
  
TS
The Sea Is Quiet Tonight: A Memoir
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
MoMo Book Diary recommends Michael Ward’s The Sea Is Quiet as a very emotional 5 star read. Michael truly honors Mark’s memory with this memoir.

“The Sea Is Quiet Tonight: A Memoir” tells a heartbreaking story that will have you hooked from the start. The author writes from the heart as he tells the wonderful yet brutally honest story of his relationship with his partner, Mark Halberstadt. Mark was the 100th person in Massachusetts to be diagnosed with AIDS. I was too young to fully understand the chatter about AIDS during the 1980s. Since then, I have read a number of articles and books on the devastation brought with an AIDS diagnosis – nothing has touched me in the way this memoir has. At times I felt that I was reading the author’s personal diary, it was so raw and honest. The characters were described perfectly and I felt that I knew them personally.

This review is also published on my blog, netgalley and amazon
  
The Wasp Factory
The Wasp Factory
Iain M. Banks | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
4
7.4 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
✭✭ 2 Stars

This was a very difficult book for me to rate so I rated it purely based on 'personal enjoyment'.
Yes the book was dark and clever and so well written but the enjoyment factor just wasn't there for me. Something I can not handle to read about is the abusing, torturing and killing of animals and this book was full of that. I could read an endless amount of books about the killing of people (slashers, thrillers,crime etc.) and not really be phased much but if animals are involved in it then my enjoyment level drops dramatically. I wish I had read other reviews first about this book so then I would of known what this book contains and wouldn't of read it, but I didn't as I worry about stumbling across spoilers.
An excellent look into the minds of the mentally disturbed and a truly crazy ride...it just wasn't for me.
  
Character Development. (1 more)
Moral.
Mistakes Throughout. (0 more)
The Cosy Christmas Teashop.
‘Life would take you on it’s jouney through love, hurt, joy, pain, and all the shades of emotion in between. But you had to hold on to the happy, find a way through, and reach for the stars’ (Caroline Roberts).

The Cosy Christmas Teashop is a recommended book to an extent, attributable to the personal, emotional attachments that develop throughout the book owing to Caroline Roberts depiction of individuals’ scenarios.

Progressing from this, Caroline Roberts concluded The Cosy Christmas Teashop, portraying to a considerable extent, the moral of the story, despite it being made evident throughout the book also. This was advantageous as it allowed you to put the book itself into perspective from a prospective real-life scenario that will affect numerous individuals throughout the year, encompassing Christmas also.

Conversely, there were multiple mistakes throughout this book regarding spelling and grammar, and therefore lessens the conclusive rating I have allocated to The Cosy Christmas Teashop.
  
Loved the insight into the creation and muse behind the series and characters and the other perspectives given by authors and reviewers. (0 more)
A lot of the pronunciation (in the audio book version) wasn't correct and was a bit off putting. (0 more)
Good accompaniment to the series
Overall I think this is a great accompaniment to the shadowhunters series. It gives a view from the author on how she came to create and develop the series and its characters. The essays and reviews given by various authors provides an interesting view on how they perceived certain character behaviours, attributes or even just topics covered in the books.

In the audio book version however, a lot of words and names were (from my experiences and explanations within the series - from the books, film or show) are incorrect and that's a personal grate of mine so I would recommend only the physical copy if anyone else is slightly annoyed by things like this.
  
Titan A.E. (2000)
Titan A.E. (2000)
2000 | Animation, Family, Sci-Fi
Stellar story (2 more)
Excellent vocal cast
Early Joss Whedon writing credit
The contrast between the 2D character animation and the 3D environments is incredibly jarring (1 more)
The music is hailed as "groundbreaking" by the DVD case, but is just kinda meh for me.
Very fun, but visually dated
I remember loving this movie when I was younger, and on rewatching it today I still do, but I have to admit that the visuals haven't aged well. The story is great, if occasionally predictable, and most of the characters are quirky and unique (Gune is a personal favorite!) If they'd restrained themselves to using the early CGI to animate the villainous Drej, a race of aliens made of pure energy, that would have probably aged okay. Those scenes still work. But the fact that all the mechanical elements, ships and such, even spacesuited characters are animated in decidedly dated CGI pulls you out of the narrative pretty fast.
  
Hercules (1997)
Hercules (1997)
1997 | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
8
8.2 (75 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Vibrant colours, character development, good story, fun musical numbers (0 more)
Plot was a little light (0 more)
Zero to Hero
Contains spoilers, click to show
Disney's take on the Greek mythological Hero.
 Hercules (Tate Donovan), son of Zeus, was kidnapped as a baby by minions of Hades (James Woods) and is found and raised by mortals in a superman-esque kinda way.
Now a teenager, Hercules wants to know about his real parents. Along the way he needs to perform a rite of passage on Earth to prove himself worthy of living with the gods on Mount Olympus and dealing with his first true love With help from his plucky satyr sidekick, Philoctetes (Danny DeVito), who's along for the ride, Hercules must learn how to use his strength to become the hero he's needed to be.

This movie is very light hearted and has an array of characters you can appreciate, many vibrant colours manage to draw you in, great dialogue and banter between characters with a meaningful story.

My personal favourite Disney animation.
  
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Stan & Ollie (2018)
2018 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Surely-long-overdue Laurel and Hardy bio-pic focuses on their tour of British and Irish music halls in the early 50s, presumably because this is a low-ish budget British film. A sixty-something Stan and Ollie have to try and persuade the world they haven't died or retired just yet while waiting for the finance on a new movie to come together and coping with some long-standing tensions in their relationship.

Movie does a pretty good job of balancing what you'd expect from a L&H movie (timeless slapstick, perfectly performed) with less obvious and more dramatic material (some of the boys' personal foibles, amongst other things). The thing it does better than any other movie I can think of is capture the feeling of what it's like to be in a successful double act, and all the positives and negatives that go with it. Very good performances from Reilly and Coogan, clearly made with affection and skill; well worth watching.
  
AB
A Body in Berkeley Square
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is actually the fifth book in the series (with a novella making an additional story) of mysteries featuring Captain Lacey - and a thoroughly enjoyable series it has been too! The books are well written with myserties that you can follow but are full of twists and turns and red herrings. There is also a great cast of recurring characters in support. The mysteries are set in Regency England, mainly in London. If you enjoyed any of CS Harris' Sebastian St Cyr books I think you will also enjoy the Captain Lacey mysteries.

My only regret is that I've read my way through the series so far and that the next book is not yet available in a Kindle edition, as it promises to tie up some of the issues in Gabriel's personal life that have come to light over the series! Anyone looking to download these books onto their Kindle is also getting a bargain as the price is fantastic!
  
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Vegas (725 KP) rated the Xbox One version of Red Dead Redemption 2 in Video Games

Jul 7, 2019 (Updated Jul 8, 2019)  
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
2018 | Action/Adventure
The story (1 more)
The gameplay
Nothing (0 more)
Improvement on the original
The long awaited sequel (prequel) to red dead doesn't disappoint in the solo game, the story is an epic adventure travelling through the open plains to the growing towns and cities, railroads, carriages, and horseback are all ways of getting around the massive map. Build up your camp, help the gang, or rob stores and banks the choice is yours, you can even spend time fishing or hunting...

The cast of characters you meet are diverse, funny, serious, violent or just odd but whoever you meet, you do find yourself caring one way or another about the people in the game you interact with...

I will say I did struggle to get as engaged in the multi player game side of it, but that is just a personal thing as I do prefer solo gaming...

For shear enjoyment aspect and length of game, this is one of the best games of recent times.