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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Wonder Woman (2017) in Movies

Oct 1, 2019

Wonder Woman (2017)

2017 | Action, Fantasy, War

8.2

(517 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

A glimmer of hope

Contains spoilers, click to show

After a fleeting visit in Batman vs Superman (bleugh), my hopes weren't high for Wonder Woman.
But as everyone knows, it's actually pretty good.

One of the main problems with BvS is that it felt rushed, like Warner Bros were trying to pack in as much as they could in a short amount of time to establish a far reaching movie universe. Wonder Woman is a perfect example of why they should be concentrating on standalone movies first.

Given a full film to shine, Gal Gadot is a great fit as DCs First Lady. The time devoted to her backstory makes you care for her, and her surrounding team mates.
Gadot, and Chris Pine make a duo worth rooting for.

The story being set in wartime is used to great effect. The scene where Diana steps out into No Man's Land is nothing short of breathtaking. The visuals used throughout are great, and the script is a vast improvement on what we've had so far. There are no silly gimmicks like with Suicide Squad, just a good solid superhero adventure, with a good solid lead.

Wonder Woman falls apart at the final hurdle however. After Danny Huston (who is just sort of there) is set up to be Ares, it is revealed that David Thewlis' character is in fact Ares, and what follows is a climatic battle that is a dodgy CGI overload.
I have no problem with David Thewlis playing Ares, but his little mustache peeking out from underneath his Ares war helmet looks absolutely ridiculous.

But honestly, with the exception of the last 15 minutes, director Patty Jenkins has done a pretty decent job of bringing Wonder Woman to life. It's stands alongside Shazam! in terms of quality, and I'm actually looking forward to the upcoming sequel!

Kudos

ClareR (5950 KP) rated A Shadowed Livery (Inspector James Given Investigations #1) in Books

Sep 16, 2019

A really well written police procedural

A Shadowed Livery is a police procedural very much in the vein of an Agatha Christie novel. It’s set in 1938, just as the rumblings of war begin and National Socialism and Fascism raise their heads in Germany. DI James Givens has been pulled off the case that he was working on (the murder of a Jewish butcher - the guilty men have been hanged, but there’s still work to be done) and sent to a small village in the English countryside, to wrap up the deaths of three people (mother, son and fiancée) at Grovestock House, where Sir Arthur Barleigh and his family live. DI Given has been told that it’s a simple case of murder/ suicide, but of course it develops into anything but that.

I very much enjoyed this - the style in which it was written felt just right for the time period, and there was great attention to detail. I liked how Given’s background is revealed as the story progresses, and how relevant it was to the time in history.

The mystery itself had me guessing up to the end, and it has a great ending! I love it when I’m kept guessing to the final pages. DI Given is a very likeable character, if a little naive in some ways - but that’s rather nice really. It lends him that human touch.

I’ll be interested to see what happens in the second book as we edge closer to war. I’d like to see how DI Given gets on!

Many thanks to Sapere Books for my copy of this book to read and review. I will be preordering the next book for when it comes out next month (October 2019)!

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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Shazam! (2019) in Movies

Aug 11, 2020 (Updated Aug 11, 2020)

Shazam! (2019)

2019 | Action, Sci-Fi

7.4

(104 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Spawn, Kick Ass and Don't Die

Shazam!- is the PG-13 verison of Kick Ass, Deadpool and Spawn. Mix all those movies together and you get Shazam!. A movie that has comedy, dark humor, action, suspense and viloence. In the end its trying way to hard to be the PG-13 verisons of Kick Ass. Deadpool and Spawn and in the end it just doesnt work. Its a good superhero movie, i give it that but it drags on for way to long than its supost to. Their are to many here's the end moments but nope its still going. What feels like the end its not, and goes on.

The plot: We all have a superhero inside of us -- it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In 14-year-old Billy Batson's case, all he needs to do is shout out one word to transform into the adult superhero Shazam. Still a kid at heart, Shazam revels in the new version of himself by doing what any other teen would do -- have fun while testing out his newfound powers. But he'll need to master them quickly before the evil Dr. Thaddeus Sivana can get his hands on Shazam's magical abilities.

Also you got the main actor who is not buff at all and put him into a buff suit, that also ruined the movie. It just makes him look buff but in reality he is not.

The comedy/humor is all over the place. It can be funny, serious or dark or even all three at the same time.

I give it this it is better then Man of Steel, Batman vs. Superman and Suicide Sqaud. I think Aquaman and Wonder Woman are better though.

Shazam! is a decent movie, its just all of the place and doesnt know what it wants to be.