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JT (287 KP) rated Joker (2019) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
This is the film of the year for me. A comic book adaptation like no other. Thought-provoking and difficult to watch it conveys more than just the transformation from abnormal loner to one of the greatest comic villains ever. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance goes some way to matching the psychotic heights of Heath Ledger’s incarnation in The Dark Knight. Ledger was posthumously awarded an Oscar for that performance and I would expect Phoenix to be front and centre when award season comes around.
Arthur Fleck is a clown for hire. Scraping to make ends meet while looking after his ailing mother (Frances Conroy) he has ambitions of making it as a stand-up comedian. Sadly his narcissistic personality and uncontrollable fits of laughter (through no fault of his own) make him a target for society. Gotham City is an unforgiving place and for Arthur, it is a constant struggle of acceptance. He’s belittled and beaten down at every turn and he’s not strong enough to fight back. The bruises on his skeletal frame are a testament to this. He’s an awkward character not least because his quiet personality simmers beneath someone ready to explode – and explode he does.
A comic book adaptation like no other it’s thought-provoking and difficult to watch
But Arthur is sick. That much is clear. Society no longer wants to help. As a result, his social worker explains that the city has cut all funding and the facility and access to his medication he relies on will stop – “All I have are negative thoughts,” he says. When the brutality takes a serious turn he unwittingly becomes a figurehead for Gotham’s society. The clown is a symbol of defiance. Fighting against the rich, of all people Thomas Wayne, who is running for Mayor. Wayne becomes wrapped up in a storyline that brings Arthur together with a familiar young face.
The strong comparisons to Taxi Driver are unavoidable, but there is a definite Scorsese feel to the film. The casting of Robert De Niro as talk show host Murray Franklin is almost a direct nod to King of Comedy in which De Niro stalks and kidnaps his idol to take the spotlight for himself. Here it’s Arthur who lovingly worships Murray. The build up to the clown prince of crime is worth the wait as the transformation builds up to a frenetic and gruesome final act.
One of the biggest takeaways from Joker is its focus on mental illness. Arthur’s battered notebook is not only a journal for his jokes but for his dark thoughts. This is a topic that will hit close to home for many people who might experience similar, with an outward animosity to society.
Arthur Fleck is a clown for hire. Scraping to make ends meet while looking after his ailing mother (Frances Conroy) he has ambitions of making it as a stand-up comedian. Sadly his narcissistic personality and uncontrollable fits of laughter (through no fault of his own) make him a target for society. Gotham City is an unforgiving place and for Arthur, it is a constant struggle of acceptance. He’s belittled and beaten down at every turn and he’s not strong enough to fight back. The bruises on his skeletal frame are a testament to this. He’s an awkward character not least because his quiet personality simmers beneath someone ready to explode – and explode he does.
A comic book adaptation like no other it’s thought-provoking and difficult to watch
But Arthur is sick. That much is clear. Society no longer wants to help. As a result, his social worker explains that the city has cut all funding and the facility and access to his medication he relies on will stop – “All I have are negative thoughts,” he says. When the brutality takes a serious turn he unwittingly becomes a figurehead for Gotham’s society. The clown is a symbol of defiance. Fighting against the rich, of all people Thomas Wayne, who is running for Mayor. Wayne becomes wrapped up in a storyline that brings Arthur together with a familiar young face.
The strong comparisons to Taxi Driver are unavoidable, but there is a definite Scorsese feel to the film. The casting of Robert De Niro as talk show host Murray Franklin is almost a direct nod to King of Comedy in which De Niro stalks and kidnaps his idol to take the spotlight for himself. Here it’s Arthur who lovingly worships Murray. The build up to the clown prince of crime is worth the wait as the transformation builds up to a frenetic and gruesome final act.
One of the biggest takeaways from Joker is its focus on mental illness. Arthur’s battered notebook is not only a journal for his jokes but for his dark thoughts. This is a topic that will hit close to home for many people who might experience similar, with an outward animosity to society.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Conan the Barbarian (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
Conan.
The name either evokes pictures of half naked body builders, and topless wenches, or a very tall man with red, quaffed hair. Well, hopefully the former is what you are all thinking about, because that is what you are going to get. Nobody goes to a Conan movie for the tall, red haired guy. Right?
Jason Momoa, who is not awful to look at for a couple of hours, plays Conan. Physically, he is much truer to the character in the original source material, than the former governor of California. He also has this interesting gravity that makes you sit up and pay attention. Or maybe that was because he was shirtless for most of the movie.
Conan’s story begins as a baby, who is “battle born” and whose first taste, a familiar narrator states, “is not his mother’s milk, but her blood.” He is better then many of his village’s best warrior candidates and joins in a test that ends up being a battle against savages. While the other candidates run back to camp; Conan stay and fights. Not only does he return to the camp having passed the test, but he carries three of the savage’s heads with him. His father (Ron Pearlman) decides it is time to forge a sword and begin to train, with the father imparting sage words like, “You cannot yield the sword until you understand it.”
Conan’s training is interrupted by the arrival of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), a ruthless warlord who brings death and destruction to Conan’s village. Zym’s on a a quest to to claim the final piece of a mask that will give him control of the magic of Asheron. Conan is left the sole survivor of his Cimmarian people, growing up to become a fierce warrior intent on avenging his father’s death. All the while, Zym and his daughter Marique continue on Zym’s quest to become a powerful god, in search of a “pureblood” – the one person whose blood will make the mask work. Inevitably, Zym and Conan’s paths cross again and swordfights ensue.
The best thing about this movie, for me, were the female leads. Rose McGowan as Marique and Rachel Nichols as Tamara (the pureblood) are both warriors. It was also excellent to have Conan acknowledge this in Tamara; even saying, “Cimmarian women are warriors, give her the leather and armor.” We would have never heard 1982’s Conan say anything like this.
Listening to people while leaving the movie I heard grumblings about how the Conan character never really had an origin story. This movie provides that, and because of this it also provides something that the original movies lacked: plot. Not that the plot is very rich, but again, nobody goes to a Conan movie for the story or the plot. Right?
The name either evokes pictures of half naked body builders, and topless wenches, or a very tall man with red, quaffed hair. Well, hopefully the former is what you are all thinking about, because that is what you are going to get. Nobody goes to a Conan movie for the tall, red haired guy. Right?
Jason Momoa, who is not awful to look at for a couple of hours, plays Conan. Physically, he is much truer to the character in the original source material, than the former governor of California. He also has this interesting gravity that makes you sit up and pay attention. Or maybe that was because he was shirtless for most of the movie.
Conan’s story begins as a baby, who is “battle born” and whose first taste, a familiar narrator states, “is not his mother’s milk, but her blood.” He is better then many of his village’s best warrior candidates and joins in a test that ends up being a battle against savages. While the other candidates run back to camp; Conan stay and fights. Not only does he return to the camp having passed the test, but he carries three of the savage’s heads with him. His father (Ron Pearlman) decides it is time to forge a sword and begin to train, with the father imparting sage words like, “You cannot yield the sword until you understand it.”
Conan’s training is interrupted by the arrival of Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang), a ruthless warlord who brings death and destruction to Conan’s village. Zym’s on a a quest to to claim the final piece of a mask that will give him control of the magic of Asheron. Conan is left the sole survivor of his Cimmarian people, growing up to become a fierce warrior intent on avenging his father’s death. All the while, Zym and his daughter Marique continue on Zym’s quest to become a powerful god, in search of a “pureblood” – the one person whose blood will make the mask work. Inevitably, Zym and Conan’s paths cross again and swordfights ensue.
The best thing about this movie, for me, were the female leads. Rose McGowan as Marique and Rachel Nichols as Tamara (the pureblood) are both warriors. It was also excellent to have Conan acknowledge this in Tamara; even saying, “Cimmarian women are warriors, give her the leather and armor.” We would have never heard 1982’s Conan say anything like this.
Listening to people while leaving the movie I heard grumblings about how the Conan character never really had an origin story. This movie provides that, and because of this it also provides something that the original movies lacked: plot. Not that the plot is very rich, but again, nobody goes to a Conan movie for the story or the plot. Right?
Ross (3284 KP) rated Doors: Twilight in Books
Mar 24, 2021
Great idea, poorly executed
The idea behind the Doors books is that of three different versions of a story with a shared beginning, but the stories diverge when the characters go through one of three (actually five but two are ignored as far as I'm aware!) doors. A team of people, each hired for their own area of expertise, are tasked with rescuing a rich German man's daughter who has wandered down into the mysterious cellar of their former family home, where a series of doors are believed to lead to strange new places.
The first quarter of these books is identical, with the damsel in distress being introduced and the team coming together and being given their tasks. At this stage, there is next to no organisation around their approach, it really is simply a bunch of people heading into the unknown and being drastically under-prepared. When the team quickly find the missing and take her back to the surface, the reader is left somewhat taken aback at the speed with which it was resolved. This is nothing compared to how the reader feels when the team go back looking for the real missing woman, simply based on their employer's assistant's momentary mistake that the woman's eyes were the wrong colour. This is not challenged by anyone in the team, who head back downstairs. It's a bigger WTF moment than the Batman vs Superman 'Martha' fiasco.
As with some of Heitz's Dwarves books, I think this suffered from fairly poor translation, as a number of phrases and words just are not clear. At no point did i really know where the team were heading, forwards or backwards, which door they went through etc.
And the promise of heading into the future was very much an empty one. Some members of the team briefly find themselves in near-future Frankfurt and there is a short section of the book which adds no value and has no connection to the rest of the book whatsoever. Thereafter, there is just some cliched mysterious dark maze adventures, with some unexplained conspiracy around the use and beginnings of the doors and their purpose. (I am currently around 80% of the way through the 'Colony' book, having mercifully skipped the first, repeated, quarter, and am starting to realise that there is likely to be an overall story arch that only becomes clear once the reader has read all three books).
This book, and the series as a whole, offered so much potential and teased so much, but this one at least completely failed to deliver for me.
Advance copy received from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
The first quarter of these books is identical, with the damsel in distress being introduced and the team coming together and being given their tasks. At this stage, there is next to no organisation around their approach, it really is simply a bunch of people heading into the unknown and being drastically under-prepared. When the team quickly find the missing and take her back to the surface, the reader is left somewhat taken aback at the speed with which it was resolved. This is nothing compared to how the reader feels when the team go back looking for the real missing woman, simply based on their employer's assistant's momentary mistake that the woman's eyes were the wrong colour. This is not challenged by anyone in the team, who head back downstairs. It's a bigger WTF moment than the Batman vs Superman 'Martha' fiasco.
As with some of Heitz's Dwarves books, I think this suffered from fairly poor translation, as a number of phrases and words just are not clear. At no point did i really know where the team were heading, forwards or backwards, which door they went through etc.
And the promise of heading into the future was very much an empty one. Some members of the team briefly find themselves in near-future Frankfurt and there is a short section of the book which adds no value and has no connection to the rest of the book whatsoever. Thereafter, there is just some cliched mysterious dark maze adventures, with some unexplained conspiracy around the use and beginnings of the doors and their purpose. (I am currently around 80% of the way through the 'Colony' book, having mercifully skipped the first, repeated, quarter, and am starting to realise that there is likely to be an overall story arch that only becomes clear once the reader has read all three books).
This book, and the series as a whole, offered so much potential and teased so much, but this one at least completely failed to deliver for me.
Advance copy received from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Elite (The Selection, #2) in Books
Dec 17, 2018
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review</i>
In <i>The Selection</i> Kiera Cass introduced young adult readers to a dystopian society where people are sorted into different castes which dictate how rich or poor they are. America Singer (a five) was selected amongst many other girls to live at the palace where eventually one will be chosen to marry Prince Maxon. With only six girls remaining, the story continues in <i>The Elite</i>.
America and the girls are faced with more challenges to prove they have what it takes to become a princess and eventually a queen, however is this something America wants? It is clear to America and the reader that she has strong feelings for Maxon but she cannot easily forget her childhood sweetheart, Aspen. Things become more confusing for America as she begins to question Maxon’s intentions. She can love him but can she trust him? America needs to decide whether she still wants a place in this competition as she faces rebel attacks and discovers information about the history of Illéa.
The will they, won’t they aspect of America and Maxon’s relationship keeps us engaged in the story, and the love triangle adds even more tension. Cass writes so well that readers will find themselves so engrossed in the novel that they may even become frustrated when things do not go they way they wished they had.
Although America recaps on the major events of book one, this is for the benefit of refreshing readers’ minds and not to ease new readers into the story. Without prior knowledge things may be confusing so make sure to read <i>The Selection</i> first.
Overall, <i>The Elite</i> is a great sequel and it will be exciting to find out where the story goes next. <i>The Selection</i> in general is a great series for teenage girls who love a bit of romance.
In <i>The Selection</i> Kiera Cass introduced young adult readers to a dystopian society where people are sorted into different castes which dictate how rich or poor they are. America Singer (a five) was selected amongst many other girls to live at the palace where eventually one will be chosen to marry Prince Maxon. With only six girls remaining, the story continues in <i>The Elite</i>.
America and the girls are faced with more challenges to prove they have what it takes to become a princess and eventually a queen, however is this something America wants? It is clear to America and the reader that she has strong feelings for Maxon but she cannot easily forget her childhood sweetheart, Aspen. Things become more confusing for America as she begins to question Maxon’s intentions. She can love him but can she trust him? America needs to decide whether she still wants a place in this competition as she faces rebel attacks and discovers information about the history of Illéa.
The will they, won’t they aspect of America and Maxon’s relationship keeps us engaged in the story, and the love triangle adds even more tension. Cass writes so well that readers will find themselves so engrossed in the novel that they may even become frustrated when things do not go they way they wished they had.
Although America recaps on the major events of book one, this is for the benefit of refreshing readers’ minds and not to ease new readers into the story. Without prior knowledge things may be confusing so make sure to read <i>The Selection</i> first.
Overall, <i>The Elite</i> is a great sequel and it will be exciting to find out where the story goes next. <i>The Selection</i> in general is a great series for teenage girls who love a bit of romance.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2466 KP) rated And Then There Were Crumbs in Books
Nov 22, 2019
Unfortunately, the Mystery Got Crumbs
Looking for a fresh start, Kate McGuire packs up and moves from New York City to Coral Cay, Florida, where she lands a job working at The Cookie House. On her first day on the job, Stewart Lord stalks into the bakery. He is a real estate developer who has decided to buy up Coral Cay and turn the entire island into a resort for the rich and famous, and he has The Cookie House in his sites as his first purchase. He makes the owner, Sam, a rock bottom offer, but only leaves with some cinnamon rolls he demanded from Sam. A few hours later, Stewart is dead, and Sam’s cinnamon rolls are the culprit. The police arrest Sam, but Kate doesn’t think her new boss is a killer. Can she prove he didn’t poison Stewart?
Between the fact that this is a culinary cozy and it is set in the Florida Keys, I was ready to sit back and enjoy. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was captivated at first. The setting is very real and fun and comes to life. Kate quickly makes a lot of fantastic friends, and I enjoyed hanging out with all of them. The further I went into the book, the more frustrated I became with the pacing of the mystery. We spend significantly more time watching Kate work to save and transform the bakery while Sam is in jail than we do getting clues to who might have killed Stewart. It’s a shame because there is a good mystery here; we just needed more of it. All the baking certainly made me hungry for bread and cookies, but there aren’t any recipes at the end of this book. Plenty of people seem to love this book, so if the premise interests you, I recommend you pick it up and judge the results for yourself.
Between the fact that this is a culinary cozy and it is set in the Florida Keys, I was ready to sit back and enjoy. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was captivated at first. The setting is very real and fun and comes to life. Kate quickly makes a lot of fantastic friends, and I enjoyed hanging out with all of them. The further I went into the book, the more frustrated I became with the pacing of the mystery. We spend significantly more time watching Kate work to save and transform the bakery while Sam is in jail than we do getting clues to who might have killed Stewart. It’s a shame because there is a good mystery here; we just needed more of it. All the baking certainly made me hungry for bread and cookies, but there aren’t any recipes at the end of this book. Plenty of people seem to love this book, so if the premise interests you, I recommend you pick it up and judge the results for yourself.
ClareR (6054 KP) rated Haven’t They Grown in Books
Jan 23, 2020
A compelling story, with an unguessable ending - well, for me, anyway!
Haven’t They Grown starts off with what can only be described as a bizarre incident. Beth decides to go and see what her rich ex-best friend’s house looks like before she drops her son off at his football match - after all, its kind-of on the way. What she is confronted with though, is unbelievable: her friend, Flora, with her two children. Her two SMALL children. Which sounds perfectly normal, but the children look exactly the same as they did 12 years ago.
Beth becomes obsessed by this conundrum, and is determined to find out what is going on. Honestly, at several points I thought I might have picked up a science fiction novel, and there was going to be some rational, clone-based explanation (of course these kinds of explanations are ALWAYS rational in my world!). But there wasn’t. There is a perfectly TWISTED reason behind all of this (and you’ll have to read it to find out!). I didn’t for one moment guess the reason behind the ageless children.
Beth is a determined woman - luckily she seems to have a husband who backs down, supports her and lets her get on with it. Her daughter seems as persistent and driven as her mother - except for when her GCSE revision is involved. Living with a teenager in his final year at school, I can empathise with Beth here - my son will do anything to avoid his revision as well! But Beth’s daughter is a good sounding board for her, and pushes her to do things and ask people questions that her character probably wouldn’t have done on her own.
I really very much enjoyed this. The big reveal at the end completely floored me, and I most definitely hadn’t seen it coming. This is a great, entertaining story, and had me gripped throughout.
Many thanks to Readers First for my copy of this book to read and honestly review.
Beth becomes obsessed by this conundrum, and is determined to find out what is going on. Honestly, at several points I thought I might have picked up a science fiction novel, and there was going to be some rational, clone-based explanation (of course these kinds of explanations are ALWAYS rational in my world!). But there wasn’t. There is a perfectly TWISTED reason behind all of this (and you’ll have to read it to find out!). I didn’t for one moment guess the reason behind the ageless children.
Beth is a determined woman - luckily she seems to have a husband who backs down, supports her and lets her get on with it. Her daughter seems as persistent and driven as her mother - except for when her GCSE revision is involved. Living with a teenager in his final year at school, I can empathise with Beth here - my son will do anything to avoid his revision as well! But Beth’s daughter is a good sounding board for her, and pushes her to do things and ask people questions that her character probably wouldn’t have done on her own.
I really very much enjoyed this. The big reveal at the end completely floored me, and I most definitely hadn’t seen it coming. This is a great, entertaining story, and had me gripped throughout.
Many thanks to Readers First for my copy of this book to read and honestly review.
Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta
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Adventure writer Richard Grant takes on "the most American place on Earth" the enigmatic, beautiful,...