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Age of Anger: A History of the Present
Book
'The kind of vision the world needs right now...Pankaj Mishra shouldn't stop thinking' Christopher...
LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated The People Under the Stairs (1991) in Movies
Jan 2, 2021
Often overlooked by Wes Craven's wider known films, The People Under the Stairs is a gem of an early nineties horror in its own right for a few reasons.
First and foremost, it has a great cast. Brandon Quintin Adams heads up the cast. He's a cute kid who is easy to root for. The supporting cast is strong too, including Ving Rhames, A.J. Langer, and Sean Whalen. But the stars of the show are it's horrendous villains. Twin Peaks alumni Wendy Robie and Everett McGill play the antagonists (simply credited as "woman" and "man") and they just relish in how absolutely vile they are, and are the main source of entertainment throughout the runtime. The Hall of Fame of horror villainy isn't easy to get into, being crammed with popular icons and all, but these two deserve a spot for sure.
Other than these positives, it's also boasts some decent practical gore, a few creepy visuals, some moments of well earned tension, and is socially relevant to this day, touching upon subjects such as class difference, unaffordable healthcare, and racism. It's screenplay is an intelligent one in this respect, as well as having a fun side to it.
My only real issue with The People Under the Stairs is it's pacing. It does take a little too long to get going. When everything starts to get chaotic, it really becomes a good time, but it does get a bit repetitive, no matter how entertaining it is to see Everett McGill running around in a gimp suit.
These are minor gripes though, it's definitely worth a watch. It's another solid piece of work from Wes Craven, and deserves it's cult status wholeheartedly.
First and foremost, it has a great cast. Brandon Quintin Adams heads up the cast. He's a cute kid who is easy to root for. The supporting cast is strong too, including Ving Rhames, A.J. Langer, and Sean Whalen. But the stars of the show are it's horrendous villains. Twin Peaks alumni Wendy Robie and Everett McGill play the antagonists (simply credited as "woman" and "man") and they just relish in how absolutely vile they are, and are the main source of entertainment throughout the runtime. The Hall of Fame of horror villainy isn't easy to get into, being crammed with popular icons and all, but these two deserve a spot for sure.
Other than these positives, it's also boasts some decent practical gore, a few creepy visuals, some moments of well earned tension, and is socially relevant to this day, touching upon subjects such as class difference, unaffordable healthcare, and racism. It's screenplay is an intelligent one in this respect, as well as having a fun side to it.
My only real issue with The People Under the Stairs is it's pacing. It does take a little too long to get going. When everything starts to get chaotic, it really becomes a good time, but it does get a bit repetitive, no matter how entertaining it is to see Everett McGill running around in a gimp suit.
These are minor gripes though, it's definitely worth a watch. It's another solid piece of work from Wes Craven, and deserves it's cult status wholeheartedly.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Angel Has Fallen (2019) in Movies
Aug 21, 2019
My attention span has fallen
Angel Has Fallen is a dumb, exhausting, joyless & over long experience that proves old isn't always bold. When this first started I won't lie I felt engaged, it felt like the team behind this series had finally matured/evolved past the blatant racism, painful dialog, woeful storytelling & overall silliness of the last movies. Essssh was I wrong. First thing on this downward spiral was Gerard Buttler not only is his accent always halfway between Scottish & American but theres something distracting about his face & how he constantly seems like he's chewing on something he's not enjoying most of the film (maybe the apauling script). Second they seemed to blow all the budget on these big slow motion action scenes at the start as my god do the production values take a complete nose dive half way in. Green screen & cgi go from quite cool/believable to worse than sharknado quality, its ghastly, distracting & im shocked this film got a cinema release looking how it does. I get the film is going for 90s nostalgia but honestly it fails on almost every level ending on such a cliched boss fight that is so unexciting & half arsed its plain embarrassing (I mean who wants to watch two old men fumble around on a boring roof looking more like they are about kiss than stab each other to death). One big brain dead mess & its stupidity/constant Trump praising became tiresome very quickly. Not even so good its bad its just plain lazy film making at its best & it only caters to people that need their movie plots spelt out in spaghetti shapes for them. Pure childish crap that rips parts from all the great action movies of the 90s & destroys your good memories of them. Avoid at all costs.
The Other Hoffmann Sister
Book
Gripping historical fiction from the prize-winning author of The Spring of Kasper Meier Shortlisted...
historical fiction fiction
A Rift in the Earth: Art, Memory, and the Fight for a Vietnam War Memorial
Book
A Distinguished and Bestselling Historian and Vietnam Vet Revisits the Culture War that Raged around...
History Art Architecture
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
Book
Winner of the John Hope Franklin Prize A Moyers & Company Best Book of the Year “A brilliant work...
Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated A Day in the Life of a Caveman, Queen and Everything Inbetween in Books
Oct 25, 2021
As well as the love of reading, I also seem to have passed on my love of history to the Mini Bookworm. He is 8 and I often find myself digging him out of a pile of "Horrible Histories" books just to tuck him in at night!
So when I saw the cover and concept of "A Day in the Life of a Caveman, a Queen and Everything Inbetween", requesting a spot on the book tour was a no brainer.
This GORGEOUS book takes the concept of the illustrations within HH books and totally runs with it. The comic book style really spoke to the mini bookworm and really kept him engaged for a long period of time. In fact, when I asked him if he had any negative points for this review he thought for a very long time before finally saying "it just wasn't long enough".
The topics are presented in one page snippets - it's not going to teach your kids all about one particular subject but, in my opinion, it is going to get them excited to learn more.
As a parent, I also really appreciated the progression of the topics into modern history. The civil rights page initiated a whole conversation about segregation and racism for example! Similarly, fossil fuels and global warming are factors that greatly affect our youngsters, but are presented in a really fun way.
Thank you to Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley for creating this wonderful book, and to Love Books Tours for giving the Mini Bookworm and I the opportunity to review it. As we live in the same county as Mike Barfield the Mini Bookworm did initially want to find him to be his friend, but apparently will settle for adding "A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu and You" to his Christmas list!
So when I saw the cover and concept of "A Day in the Life of a Caveman, a Queen and Everything Inbetween", requesting a spot on the book tour was a no brainer.
This GORGEOUS book takes the concept of the illustrations within HH books and totally runs with it. The comic book style really spoke to the mini bookworm and really kept him engaged for a long period of time. In fact, when I asked him if he had any negative points for this review he thought for a very long time before finally saying "it just wasn't long enough".
The topics are presented in one page snippets - it's not going to teach your kids all about one particular subject but, in my opinion, it is going to get them excited to learn more.
As a parent, I also really appreciated the progression of the topics into modern history. The civil rights page initiated a whole conversation about segregation and racism for example! Similarly, fossil fuels and global warming are factors that greatly affect our youngsters, but are presented in a really fun way.
Thank you to Mike Barfield and Jess Bradley for creating this wonderful book, and to Love Books Tours for giving the Mini Bookworm and I the opportunity to review it. As we live in the same county as Mike Barfield the Mini Bookworm did initially want to find him to be his friend, but apparently will settle for adding "A Day in the Life of a Poo, a Gnu and You" to his Christmas list!
ClareR (6037 KP) rated The Final Revival of Opal and Nev in Books
Nov 21, 2021
The Final Revival of Opal and Nev is everything I could wish for in a book about a band. I loved Daisy Jones and The Six and for a moment, I thought Opal and Nev was going to be a rehash - BUT IT’S NOT!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but Opal is the woman for me! It’s that element of early Punk - Opal knows what she wants, and she’s not going to settle for anything less.
It’s written in the form of interviews: what you see on the page is the transcript of the interviews conducted by S. Sunny Shelton, editor in chief of Aural magazine. Sunny has an ulterior motive. Her father was the drummer in Opal and Nev’s band, and was beaten to death at one of their first gigs - Sunny hadn’t been born when this happened.
Opal and Nev’s band has been a fascination for her since childhood, so when they announce a revival concert, Sunny sees this as her chance to wet a book about them and perhaps find out more about her father along the way.
The writing is so atmospheric. I could feel myself in the concert hall, the recording studio, and there in the rooms (or planes) where Sunny was conducting her interviews. You get a real feel for the time - the 1970’s - and it’s inherent racism. It was really interesting to read of Opal’s life away from the band and in Paris, and how she coped without Nev (hint: just fine).
And just so you know: I would most definitely buy Opal and Nev’s albums (and there’s a Spotify playlist that I think has been created by Dawnie Wilson - it’s excellent!).
It’s written in the form of interviews: what you see on the page is the transcript of the interviews conducted by S. Sunny Shelton, editor in chief of Aural magazine. Sunny has an ulterior motive. Her father was the drummer in Opal and Nev’s band, and was beaten to death at one of their first gigs - Sunny hadn’t been born when this happened.
Opal and Nev’s band has been a fascination for her since childhood, so when they announce a revival concert, Sunny sees this as her chance to wet a book about them and perhaps find out more about her father along the way.
The writing is so atmospheric. I could feel myself in the concert hall, the recording studio, and there in the rooms (or planes) where Sunny was conducting her interviews. You get a real feel for the time - the 1970’s - and it’s inherent racism. It was really interesting to read of Opal’s life away from the band and in Paris, and how she coped without Nev (hint: just fine).
And just so you know: I would most definitely buy Opal and Nev’s albums (and there’s a Spotify playlist that I think has been created by Dawnie Wilson - it’s excellent!).
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Feb 24, 2023
I have to say kudos to the designer of the cover ... how good and striking is that?!? If that doesn't grab your attention, then the blurb certainly will ... well, it did me but then I am a bit of a sucker for these types of stories every now and again 😎
The story - 5 people in 3 countries suddenly find themselves in The Game but it's not your run-of-the-mill game of Monopoly; no, it's something far more sinister. If they refuse to play, the one they love dies; if they tell anyone, their loved one dies ... they have no choice but to participate but there can only be one winner.
The pacing of the book is fast and flowing with the story being told from the perspective of all the characters and occasionally some of their loved ones. The plot is intriguing - you don't know until near the end why the participants have been chosen or who the 'puppet-master' is which made trying to work out the 'why' difficult but all is revealed in an ending that is as surprising as it is violent.
Now, I'm not going to say that all is perfect with this book, there are a number of times where you have to suspend belief a little and it does deal with themes and uses language that some may find unpalatable, e.g. homophobia, racism, abuse, rape, suicide, and there are numerous scenes of violence, so if you find these are triggers for you, I would give it a miss.
Overall, I think this is a very creditable debut and I will be looking out for more of Mr Kershaw's work in the future and I must thank HQ and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Game and sharing my thoughts.
The story - 5 people in 3 countries suddenly find themselves in The Game but it's not your run-of-the-mill game of Monopoly; no, it's something far more sinister. If they refuse to play, the one they love dies; if they tell anyone, their loved one dies ... they have no choice but to participate but there can only be one winner.
The pacing of the book is fast and flowing with the story being told from the perspective of all the characters and occasionally some of their loved ones. The plot is intriguing - you don't know until near the end why the participants have been chosen or who the 'puppet-master' is which made trying to work out the 'why' difficult but all is revealed in an ending that is as surprising as it is violent.
Now, I'm not going to say that all is perfect with this book, there are a number of times where you have to suspend belief a little and it does deal with themes and uses language that some may find unpalatable, e.g. homophobia, racism, abuse, rape, suicide, and there are numerous scenes of violence, so if you find these are triggers for you, I would give it a miss.
Overall, I think this is a very creditable debut and I will be looking out for more of Mr Kershaw's work in the future and I must thank HQ and NetGalley for allowing me to read The Game and sharing my thoughts.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) Jan 2, 2021