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FrameMagic - All In One Collage Maker

Photo & Video and Utilities

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[FrameMagic] enables you to create awesome photo collage, video collage and video slideshow within...

The Last Express

Games

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Step aboard the 1914 Orient Express in this award-winning mystery adventure from Prince of Persia...

Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Rusty Brown in Books

Aug 6, 2020

Rusty Brown

Chris Ware | 2019 | Comics & Graphic Novels

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Just look at what a beautiful object this book is! It gets better on the inside, too. The detail and creativity is immense; the dust cover unfolds into a gorgeous mosaic, with puzzles, and even the copyright notes have a little Easter egg snuck in there. Every satisfyingly thick page of it is dense with ideas and art of admirable quality. It’s heavy and well made. Simply, one of the nicest books aesthetically I’ve ever owned.

I don’t have a big history of reading graphic novels. In fact I can count them on one hand: this one, Watchmen, V for Vendetta and Persepolis. But what I see I like. There is something extra on the storytelling that is the best of both a book and a film – like a film unravelling at the pace of a book, with your imagination made into still images. I love the possibilities of them! There really isn’t anything you couldn’t do with it given enough imagination. I must try a few more as I go through life.

Rusty Brown, by Chris Ware is rich, melancholy, sometimes downright sad, but always truthful. Nothing is exaggerated, only presented, as we see snapshots of all the children and teachers that live in a small American town. They are dealing with regret, nostalgia, self-esteem, bullying and secret Joys, but in a mundane way as the routine of life plays out around them. Yet it manages never to seem bleak or hopeless, as enough moments of beauty keep everyone afloat.

There is a hint of subversive politics going on under the surface, but no more than issue flitting through Chris Ware’s mind; there’s no agenda or propaganda going on. He’s basically showing us a place he knows and saying, huh, what do you think of this. It made me laugh out loud many times, and cry at least twice. Remarkable work.

Both this artist and graphic novels in general are now very much something on my radar to learn more about and enjoy. If you haven’t ever really tried, I recommend Rusty Brown Chris Ware whole-heartedly as a starting place.

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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Odd Thomas (2014) in Movies

Aug 15, 2020

Odd Thomas (2014)

2014 | Mystery

7.9

(9 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I'd put off watching this for a long time, I loved the books by Dean Koontz and that made me a little nervous for the film. I'd almost forgotten about it until it popped up streaming, it's been a long time so I figured I'd forgotten enough about the books to see it.

Odd tries to live a simple life in Pico Mundo but when you have the ability to see dead people and talk to them it makes things difficult, especially when everything is pointing to something disastrous on the horizon.

The idea behind Odd's ability is a good one and I feel like they manage to illustrate it well during the film, foreknowledge may have helped a bit but I honestly don't remember that much from the books and we're given a succinct explanation.

Anton Yelchin plays the lead character and he has the perfect demeanour for it. There's a calm but scared quality that fits right into his wheelhouse and it was a match made in heaven.

Yelchin is off-set by Willem Dafoe as Chief Porter and Addison Timlin as Stormy Llewellyn, both of whom give great performances that bolster to story from each side. While they're not massive roles they both influence and guide Odd in very different ways and they're particularly effective characters.

The film plays out like a supernatural detective story with Odd at its centre trying to save Pico Mundo from an unknown terror. It creates a nice sense of intrigue to latch on to early on and plenty of fantasy action to move you along with the story at a quick pace.

For a relatively obscure film it's got a solid all round feel with passable graphics and a great visual style. Normally I find voice overs in films a little off putting but the bits of the story it's combined with work really well and again, added to the storytelling. I couldn't honestly say how accurate it was to the source material after such a long time, but I can tell you I wasn't disappointed with what I watched.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/odd-thomas-movie-review.html

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AJaneClark (3975 KP) Aug 17, 2020

Absolutely love this movie

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Amy Norman (1048 KP) Aug 18, 2020

Have watched this film a few times, and love it 😊
I haven't read the source material but it's been on my list for a while 😅 from what I have read about them, there are a few nods given to things that played a much larger part in the books. However, from what I can tell they may not necessarily translate well to film!

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