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Best Day Ever
8.7
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Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife,...
fiction mystery thriller
Murder Worth the Weight
8.0
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Whenever Terry Mangel's body acceptance revival meeting rolls into town, local diet execs and "fat...
Psychological Thriller Romantic Suspense Women's Fiction
Caio (Limerent #1)
Book
Sarah Baker is a paralegal in a law firm in modern day Brooklyn. Her life is bouncing between her...
Paranormal Supernatural Legal Romance Thriller Series
Deadly Gold Rush (The Indie Retirement Mystery Series)
Book
Murder, mines, and missing millions—retirement just got interesting. When a shady real estate...
Historical Mystery Thriller
Three Steps Behind (Jeopardy Falls #3)
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A suspicious death. A desperate search for truth. With danger hovering, can they uncover the...
Romantic Suspense Thriller
Stephen (210 KP) rated Isn't It Romantic (2019) in Movies
Mar 18, 2019 (Updated Mar 18, 2019)
The good thing about a rom com is that even if it’s not that good, there’s still always something to like in there somewhere.
‘Isn’t It Romantic’ sets out to lovingly spoof the rom com formula, and does this perfectly, but still ends up delivering everything a good rom com should do.
It’s lovely to see the wonderful Rebel Wilson getting a starring role, normally she just gets to inject a bit of her talents here and there, but she really gets her teeth into this role. She comes across as a really lovely person, her natural self shining through the character she plays.
There are lots of references to other much loved rom coms (e.g. Bridget Jones and 13 Going On 30), all done with an obvious passion.
One touch of genius was the way Rebel Wilson’s character’s expletives were drowned out by an assortment of background noises - a really simple idea but so refreshing and also hilarious.
The karaoke scene, in which the cast sing along to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ is superb, and equals the magic of ‘13 Going On 30’s outstanding ‘Thriller’ scene.
Overall, I adored this movie, great cast, great music, and loads of love poured into the film by all those involved.
‘Isn’t It Romantic’ sets out to lovingly spoof the rom com formula, and does this perfectly, but still ends up delivering everything a good rom com should do.
It’s lovely to see the wonderful Rebel Wilson getting a starring role, normally she just gets to inject a bit of her talents here and there, but she really gets her teeth into this role. She comes across as a really lovely person, her natural self shining through the character she plays.
There are lots of references to other much loved rom coms (e.g. Bridget Jones and 13 Going On 30), all done with an obvious passion.
One touch of genius was the way Rebel Wilson’s character’s expletives were drowned out by an assortment of background noises - a really simple idea but so refreshing and also hilarious.
The karaoke scene, in which the cast sing along to Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ is superb, and equals the magic of ‘13 Going On 30’s outstanding ‘Thriller’ scene.
Overall, I adored this movie, great cast, great music, and loads of love poured into the film by all those involved.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Angel Has Fallen (2019) in Movies
Aug 21, 2019 (Updated Aug 21, 2019)
Bog-standard alpha-male action-thriller with Gerard Butler off on another bloody barrage of bombastic bodyguarding. Swivel-eyed psycho Mike Banning is struggling to come to terms with knocking on a bit (bad neck, painkiller addiction, looming desk job) when a bigger problem arises - someone tries to kill the Prez (who is Morgan Freeman this time) and frames Banning for it! Must be time for him to knife someone in the throat.
Thoroughly mechanical and frequently quite dull stuff, leavened only by the odd narrative curve-ball - we meet Poppa Banning, who is also a swivel-eyed psycho, but a comic relief one played by Nick Nolte. There is some stuff about Banning being framed for colluding with the Russians which seems mainly pitched to appeal to the red baseball cap crowd (I would say the film's depiction of the US presidency had completely departed from reality, had the presidency itself not already done that many months ago). There is something oddly tender and even perhaps romantic to the concluding tussle to the death between Butler and Danny Huston (who at least is good value). And it is less grimly objectionable than the previous one. But all in all - my advice, Gerard? Take the desk job.
Thoroughly mechanical and frequently quite dull stuff, leavened only by the odd narrative curve-ball - we meet Poppa Banning, who is also a swivel-eyed psycho, but a comic relief one played by Nick Nolte. There is some stuff about Banning being framed for colluding with the Russians which seems mainly pitched to appeal to the red baseball cap crowd (I would say the film's depiction of the US presidency had completely departed from reality, had the presidency itself not already done that many months ago). There is something oddly tender and even perhaps romantic to the concluding tussle to the death between Butler and Danny Huston (who at least is good value). And it is less grimly objectionable than the previous one. But all in all - my advice, Gerard? Take the desk job.
Dark Falls (Dark Falls #1)
Book
A cop hunting a violent thrill seeker. A woman from his past. Will their history and heated...
BookInspector (124 KP) rated Mine in Books
Sep 24, 2020
There are two protagonists in this story, Alice and Luke, and the story is told from their perspectives. Alice is Luke’s biological mother, and Luke only recently found her. Alice integrates into this family really quickly, until Luke realises that something is not right. Alice is sharing her story with the reader, her life in the seventies, when she was a young art student, that had a beautifully heartbreaking relationship, that caused her to give up Luke for adoption. I really liked Alice’s parts of this story, it was very absorbing and romantic. Luke’s parts were less interesting to me, even though that was were the mysterious events were happening, I found it a little slower paced. I think the author allowed me to connect with the protagonists through their thoughts and all the challenges the characters had to endure.
The narrative has a nice contrast between the past and the present, and this combination made this read more intriguing and absorbing. As I mentioned before, this novel breaks the barrier between genres, we have a romantic story and a domestic thriller mixed together, and I really enjoyed this way of storytelling. The plot had tendencies of kind of plodding along sometimes, and I would have liked a little more pace and twists added to it. It is a really emotional read, filled with depression, wishes to belong, secrets, abusive parenting and many more.
I liked the author’s writing style in this novel, it was creatively written and well delivered. I enjoyed the research done for this book in the music and arts industries, it was intriguing to read about the music bands lifestyle. The setting of this book constantly changes between seventies London and present day, and I really liked the ability to learn more about the past. The chapters had a decent length and didn’t drag to me. I really loved the ending, it left me shocked and nearly in tears, I really wasn’t expecting it.
The narrative has a nice contrast between the past and the present, and this combination made this read more intriguing and absorbing. As I mentioned before, this novel breaks the barrier between genres, we have a romantic story and a domestic thriller mixed together, and I really enjoyed this way of storytelling. The plot had tendencies of kind of plodding along sometimes, and I would have liked a little more pace and twists added to it. It is a really emotional read, filled with depression, wishes to belong, secrets, abusive parenting and many more.
I liked the author’s writing style in this novel, it was creatively written and well delivered. I enjoyed the research done for this book in the music and arts industries, it was intriguing to read about the music bands lifestyle. The setting of this book constantly changes between seventies London and present day, and I really liked the ability to learn more about the past. The chapters had a decent length and didn’t drag to me. I really loved the ending, it left me shocked and nearly in tears, I really wasn’t expecting it.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Our Kind of Traitor (2016) in Movies
Sep 16, 2019
Characters – Perry is a university professor, he is trying to make amends with his wife on a romantic holiday, he reluctantly gets involved in the information trade with his good nature being used by both sides. Gail is the lawyer wife of Perry, she has become distant from him while still loving him and does question his decision to help Dima. Dima is the Russian mafia handling the accounts, but he wants out to help his own children become safe, he uses his connection with Perry to get MI6 involved in the truth. Hector is the MI6 agent that is willing to work with Dima for the information in exchange for the family, he does have his own grudge with the man they are trying to take down too.
Performances – The performances through the film show us just what Le Carre does with his characters, he gives them good moments, without making them stand out. McGregor is good, but you feel a younger up and comer would have been perfect here, Harris is good and doesn’t put a foot wrong, while Skarsgard enjoys his role, shady but loyal. Damian Lewis brings back his true English role which at times does feel weird knowing how often he has been an American character recently.
Story – The story comes from a John Le Carre novel, so instantly we know we are going to get a thriller that keeps us guessing on what everyone’s motivation will be. The idea that a normal couple get mixed up in the middle of an international information exchange is different and does work for the film because it helps us stay on edge thinking and wondering if they do have a bigger involvement. The story does feel like that one moment to make it great is missing, as everything does end up feeling just normal and good only.
Crime – The crime side of the film follows a criminal looking for a safe way out of the life for his family in exchange for bringing down the mafia’s dealings in London.
Settings – The film splits the settings between London, for the deals, Morocco for the exchanges and the final location for the next chapter of the lives, they work because they show how this world would operate.
Scene of the Movie – The escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It lacks the edge of your seat style of Le Carre novels have given us.
Final Thoughts – This is a solid thriller even if it lacks that final factor to make it one of the best ones, it does the by the book material well, but never develops the characters enough to understand the situation they put themselves in.
Overall: Simple thriller.
Performances – The performances through the film show us just what Le Carre does with his characters, he gives them good moments, without making them stand out. McGregor is good, but you feel a younger up and comer would have been perfect here, Harris is good and doesn’t put a foot wrong, while Skarsgard enjoys his role, shady but loyal. Damian Lewis brings back his true English role which at times does feel weird knowing how often he has been an American character recently.
Story – The story comes from a John Le Carre novel, so instantly we know we are going to get a thriller that keeps us guessing on what everyone’s motivation will be. The idea that a normal couple get mixed up in the middle of an international information exchange is different and does work for the film because it helps us stay on edge thinking and wondering if they do have a bigger involvement. The story does feel like that one moment to make it great is missing, as everything does end up feeling just normal and good only.
Crime – The crime side of the film follows a criminal looking for a safe way out of the life for his family in exchange for bringing down the mafia’s dealings in London.
Settings – The film splits the settings between London, for the deals, Morocco for the exchanges and the final location for the next chapter of the lives, they work because they show how this world would operate.
Scene of the Movie – The escape.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It lacks the edge of your seat style of Le Carre novels have given us.
Final Thoughts – This is a solid thriller even if it lacks that final factor to make it one of the best ones, it does the by the book material well, but never develops the characters enough to understand the situation they put themselves in.
Overall: Simple thriller.
Chloe (514 KP) Mar 18, 2019