Search

Search only in certain items:

Black Water (2008)
Black Water (2008)
2008 | Horror, Mystery
4
5.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Black Water starts when Grace (Glenn) her husband Adam (Rodoreda) and her younger sister Lee (Dermody) are off on an adventure across Northern Australia, visiting a crocodile farm before heading out into the black water for a fishing day with guide Jim (Oxenbould).

When their small boat is capsized by a crocodile the family find themselves hiding in the trees waiting to see if the crocodile has gone before making their decision on how to escape.

 

Thoughts on Black Water

 

Characters – Grace is the married pregnant old sister, she is using the trip to make the announcement to her husband, once the attack happens she wants to protect her younger sister, while trying to think of a logical way out of the situation. Lee is the younger sister that is on the trip for her first adventure, she doesn’t have anything about her to make her feel unique other than that she seems to sleep a lot. Adam is the husband that suggest the trip, once trapped he wants to use the quick option to safety which might be the more dangerous one.

Performances – When we look at the performances we must start with the negatives, it doesn’t help that the characters are written very weakly, which gives the three main stars very little to work with, must of what they need to do is sit in a tree have the same conversation.

Story – The story here is simple, we follow three people that get trapped by a crocodile in the middle is the North Australian waters, they must figure out how to survive and this is sold on based on a true story. there are plenty of things which don’t help the story here, first we don’t get a chance to get to know the characters well enough, they are mostly just generic because we don’t know enough to care about them. We get the same conversation about what is the best idea for seemingly ages without any action being followed. We do get to follow the normal animal attack story which mostly revolves around screaming over anything else.

Action/Horror – The action isn’t shot with the best style, we know what is happening, its just most of the action is off camera which makes it hard to believe the crocodile attacks.

Settings – The film puts us in the middle of the black water in North Australia which is does put our characters in a place where rescue isn’t an option and escaping isn’t one either.

Special Effects – The effects for the after attacks look like good strong practical effects, when we start seeing the attack in progress we lose something about what we are seeing.


Scene of the Movie – The feeding night.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We see to have the same conversation 4 or 5 times.

Final Thoughts – This is a simple animal attack movie that lacks that extra quality to make us truly disturbed by what we are seeing, we have dull characters and poorly shot action.

 

Overall: Simple animal attack film.
  
40x40

Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Dead Woman Walking in Books

Nov 5, 2020 (Updated Nov 8, 2020)  
Dead Woman Walking
Dead Woman Walking
Sharon J. Bolton | 2017 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Jessica Lane treats her sister, Isabel (known to most as Sister Mary Magdalena, as her sister has been serving in a convent for many years) to a hot air balloon ride for her 40th birthday. But things go awry when Jessica--from the balloon--sees a man murder a young woman. From the ground, he spots her face clearly. Then the balloon crashes, and there is only one survivor. The man knows she can identify him, and he won't stop until the threat to his safety is eliminated. So Jessica runs, unsure of who she can trust, or where she can go, all the while knowing that her beloved sister is dead.

Wow, what a book. I don't want to say more about the plot for risk of spoilers or ruining any of the awesome "whoa" moments you encounter while reading this one. The story flashes back and forth in time as Jessica tells us about the day of the accident and then various pieces of the past. It's a combination of suspenseful, confusing, and spellbinding that will grip you from the very beginning. You're immediately roped in as the balloon crashes and then left wondering about the sisters' past, which is only unveiled in small nuggets.

I found this book to be extremely tense. As in, my body was actually tight while reading. I was rigidly turning pages, wondering what was going to happen next and if Jessica was going to get to safety. Bolton made me suspicious of everything and everyone--I felt like our protagonist: I could trust no one.

One of the best parts of this novel is that in addition to our "Fugitive"-esque plot, we have a fascinating police case weaved in. This really keeps the book moving as the plot continues to thicken. Not only is Jessica being pursued, but we're learning more and more about the case she was researching in the years and months before the crash. In addition, the final layer is the snippets about the sisters and their tangled family past. Somehow, Bolton twists them all together nearly effortlessly. You have to be able to keep track of when everything occurs (the chapters are just marked as "XX amount of time before" the crash), but you get used to it.

I totally guessed one of the big shocking aspects of the novel early on, but I was still second guessing myself the whole time, and it didn't diminish my enjoyment of it whatsoever, plus there was still so much that completely surprised me. To the extent that I wish I had time to go back and read it again and figure out how I missed so many things! Seriously. This book made me go "wow!" multiple times. It captivated me the entire time I was reading it. There was one final twist too many for complete plausibility at the end to get 10 stars, but I still highly recommend this one. A wonderful, spellbinding thriller that cements for me how much I love Bolton's work.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!) in return for an unbiased review.
  
40x40

ClareR (6001 KP) rated The Switch in Books

Jul 18, 2020  
The Switch
The Switch
Beth O'Leary | 2020 | Contemporary
10
9.1 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Switch by Beth O’Leary was a book that I was very much looking forward to reading. I had read, loved and gifted The Flatshare, her debut book. Then I read the synopsis for this book, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little trepidatious (is that a real word?). I had visions of Tom Hanks in Big, or of Jodie Foster in Freaky Friday, if I’m honest. I needn’t have worried, because this isn’t Big or Freaky Friday (sorry, if that’s what you’re expecting 🤷🏼‍♀️).

Instead, this is the story of two Eileens: 79 year old Eileen and her granddaughter Leena who is 29. They are both at times of great change in their lives. They’ve both just experienced the death of Leena’s sister, and Eileen’s husband has left her for a younger woman.

When Leena comes home for a visit, she realises that Eileen has been casing the men in the village with a mind to dating one. There isn’t a great choice. After a look on a dating website, she realises that the choice of men in their 70’s is far greater in London, so Leena creates an account on the dating website for her Grandma, and they swap lives for 8 weeks - the length of time that Leena’s boss has given her as a holiday, to try and recover from the loss of her sister.

I adored this book. Need I say more? OK, I suppose I should.
I loved how Eileen was treated as an adult with real feelings and sexual urges. She may be 79, but she isn’t some sexless old biddy, treated like a child. As much as we don’t necessarily like to think of our mothers/ grandmothers having sex , it’s highly likely that they do, and why not?

I loved how the death of Leena’s sister was treated. The long, slow process of grieving, and how it doesn’t just switch off, that there are no rules.

Leena’s love life is very entertaining too, and I was rooting for one particular character throughout.

So in conclusion, just do yourself a favour and go and buy this book. It’s ace. Beth O’Leary writes wonderful stories it would seem, about wonderful, quirky, normal people. I’ll be waiting and ready to read whatever she puts out there next, of that I’m sure!
  
40x40

Kristy H (1252 KP) Aug 3, 2020

I'm so looking forward to reading this - glad to hear how much you enjoyed this!

Unchosen
Unchosen
Katharyn Blair | 2021 | Dystopia, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist of this book is Charlotte, she is a middle child out of three sisters and the least gifted one of them all. Her older sister Harlow is a popular guitar player and very strong personality in general, her younger sister Vanessa is a talented gymnast. All her life Charlotte is left living in Harlow’s shadow, loving the boy who is in love with her sister and taking care of Vanessa. She sounds pretty miserable until she is taken from the camp as the Chosen One, who will save everyone from Crimson. Only then I could see, that Charlotte is not as useless as she portrayed it. I have to admit, in the beginning, I thought that Harlow should be the main character, she was more suitable, but by the time I finished the book, I was glad that Charlotte was the protagonist. 🙂 This book has such a great selection of characters to choose from! I loved them all, they were very well presented and delivered.

The narrative of this book is very fast-paced, and there is always something happening in this book. Most of the book is spent on the ship sailing through the ocean, and I really enjoyed the sailor’s life portrayed in this book. There is plenty of action, turns and twists, and this book really had me hooked and entertained. I loved the romance in this book as well, it is exciting, full of sexual tension and very adorable. The topics discussed in this book are forbidden love, family relations, bravery, adventures, self-pity, friendships, overcoming your fears and phobias and many more.

I really enjoyed the world that the author created for the reader. I felt like I was alongside the characters during their journeys. It has very strong Bird Box vibes, but also there is so much more going on than that. The chapters are pretty short, and the pages just flew by. I loved the ending of this book, it left me very satisfied with the outcome.

So, to conclude, I loved this book, and could not put it down. I really liked the characters and the roles they played as well as the fast-paced and full of adventures plot. It has all the things I need for an enjoyable dystopian/fantasy YA book, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who likes pirates, ships and adventures.