The New Rebellion (Star Wars Legends)
8.0
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Somewhere in the galaxy, millions suddenly perish in a blinding instant of pain, anguish, and...
Lost (House of Night Otherworld #2)
9.0
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The moment Other Kevin returns to his world trouble begins. Thankfully, he finds friends and...
Wicked (A Wicked Trilogy, #1)
8.0
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Things are about to get Wicked in New Orleans. Twenty-two year old Ivy Morgan isn’t your...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Hidden Magic ( Harper Shadow Academy 1) in Books
May 2, 2023
Kindle
Hidden Magic ( Harper Shadow Academy 1)
By Luna Pierce
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A cursed witch, four sexy men, and a shadow realm hidden within their academy.
My name is Willow Oliver, and I’m descended from a bloodline of powerful yet cursed witches. At least, that’s what my mother claims. Most people think she’s crazy.
I never put too much thought into it—the whole being a witch thing—I assumed my strange quirks were something everyone else had.
Flowers don’t glow when you look at them?
When others my age go off to faraway colleges and escape our sleepy town, I stay close to home so I can continue to keep an eye on my mother.
My new academy buzzes with a familiar energy. One that half the student body doesn’t seem to notice. The others simply disappear through hazy shadows, vanishing into thin air. Three of the four men I’m magnetically drawn to have skin that feels like electric when we touch, something magical hidden under the surface of each of them.
The more I uncover, the more I doubt my sanity, making me consider one of two things: I’m going crazy, too, or maybe my mom was right after all.
And if what she said of our lineage was true, will I be strong enough to face the ancient curse that is stealing our power? Or will I succumb to it while risking the lives of the ones I can’t help but care for?
It was good. Good story, decent characters and pretty much what I was expecting. Didn’t blow me away but was a decent read.
Learned by Heart
10.0
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Adding to the already moving, richly told and gripping collection of historical fiction from Emma...
Historical fiction
Bruce Wayne: Not Super
Stuart Gibbs and Berat Pekmezci
10.0
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13-year-old Bruce Wayne attends an exclusive prep school for the gifted. But in this case, "gifted"...
Relight My Fire
10.0
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Some comebacks can be murder . . . Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she...
The Persians
8.0
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A riotously funny and moving debut novel following five women from three generations of a once...
Historical fiction Iran
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Spencer (2021) in Movies
Nov 11, 2021
This is the second movie in a row that I’ve intro’d via a positive emotional response to a great trailer. In the last case – for “Last Night in Soho” – the movie more than lived up to my high expectations from the trailer. But here – oh dear! It comes to something where the very best thing about the film is the trailer.
For, unfortunately for me, this came across as pretentious, vaguely insulting and with a dreadful script.
Plot Summary:
It’s Christmas 1991 at the Sandringham estate. Diana (Kristen Stewart) is the black sheep of the royal family, flouting tradition and always late for every formal event. She sees conspiracies at every turn, suspecting the household coordinator Major Gregory (Timothy Spall) of plotting against her. Her only allies that she can talk to are head chef Darren (Sean Harris) and her dresser Maggie (Sally Hawkins).
Mentally unstable, bulimic and self-harming, Diana must survive a tumultuous three days without destroying the Christmas spirit for her two sons and irreparably damaging her relationship with the wider royal family.
Certification:
US: R. UK: 12A.
Talent:
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Timothy Spall, Sally Hawkins, Jack Farthing, Sean Harris.
Directed by: Pablo Larraín.
Written by: Steven Knight.
“Spencer” Review: Positives:
Kristen Stewart does a simply fabulous job of impersonating Diana. She’s clearly studied a lot of video of the lady in getting to mimic the way she looks, walks and dances. Although I didn’t rate the film, the performance is a cut-above.
It’s an ironic touch that in all of her driving scenes, Diana never wears a seat-belt.
Negatives:
Oh man, Steven Knight’s dialogue here I found to be simply atrocious. Head-in-the-hands bad. I decided about half way through this monstrosity that “The Room” had had its day as a cult student classic, and that “Spencer” should take over in that role.
These things evolve organically over time, but I came up with the following basic rules for a student showing:
Every time Kristen Stewart does a ‘simp’ look to camera, down a shot;
When Darren utters the line “What are you going to do with wirecutters?” the audience yells as one “CUT WIRE!” **;
When Diana intones “Beauty is useless. Beauty is clothing”** the audience should strip to their underwear;
Every time a member of the hunt shouts “PULL!” you throw a stuffed pheasant in the air. Otherwise you keep the stuffed pheasant next to you, and engage in studious conversation with it as the film progresses;
Whenever Anne Boleyn appears, shout “OFF WITH HER HEAD”;
When a character says to Diana “I love you. And yes, in that way”**, the audience must shout “Aye aye” and every female audience member needs to passionately kiss another female audience member; and finally…
When Diana says “Leave Me. I want to masturbate”**, the audience throws dildos at the screen.
** I’d really like to pretend that I made these lines up. They might be paraphrased a bit, but honestly, that’s the gist!
Oh yes. It’s a sure-fire student classic of the future. You read it here first folks! I can see the filmmakers lauding me with praise for turning their movie into a post-release sleeper hit. “WHAT A CULT” they shout at me. “WHAT A CULT”!
The rest of the cast do a good enough job with what they have, but have the general vibe of being embarrassed to deliver the dialogue they’ve been given. Sean Harris – a fine actor – inexplicably spouts Shakespeare like Christopher Plummer in “Star Trek VI”! And one can only assume that Timothy Spall was given direction to act as if he had a whole lemon stuck inside his mouth for the whole movie.
I’ve been a fan of Jonny Greenwood’s music in other movies like “Phantom Thread“. I’ve seen Mark Kermode describe this soundtrack as “fantastic”. But, for me, the intrusive atonal strings and laid-back jazz vibe just didn’t work for me at all.
Summary Thoughts on “Spencer”
As you can probably tell, I hated this one. And the illustrious Mrs Movie Man 100% agrees with me in this assessment. The trailer promised a lot, but the movie delivered very little for me. It just all felt to me like an affront to the memory of Diana. Making a highly fictitious “fable based on a real life tragedy” just feels wrong. This seems particularly the case when the Queen, Prince Charles and (particularly) William and Harry are alive to watch it. What must they think if and when they get to view this?
I was a big fan of Larrain’s 2017 biopic on Jackie Kennedy – “Jackie” – which really covered the very similar ground, of a lady in the focus of publicity struggling with mental illness. But at least that had the benefit of historical distance.
I seem to be swimming against the critical tide here, since the movie currently has an IMDB rating of 7.4/10. But frankly, for me, I thought the recent series of “The Crown” did this so much better.