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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose in Books

Nov 20, 2017

Poignant, humanising a politician

Listening to Joe Biden's frank and open memoir dealing with his son's cancer and bereavement is heartfelt, especially as it is read by himself.

Unlike most books by politicians, "Promise Me, Dad" is committed to communicating to us the values and principles of a family man who happens to have been a senior member of government.

His most compelling narration comes in the form of him discussing his hopes, fears, dreams and nightmares through which a family succumbs while dealing with cancer. I became emotional listening to him break down while discussing the death of his son - his voice audibly trembles which is why the audiobook gives a whole new depth to the biography.

Warm, insightful and thought-provoking.

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) in Movies

Feb 17, 2018 (Updated Feb 17, 2018)

Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

1985 | Action, Drama, Horror

6.4

(9 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

It's doubtful whether anybody ever wished for a lavish Indiana Jones-style adventure film concerning Sherlock Holmes' youth, but if they had then this would have answered it nicely. Good production values, well-mounted action, ground-breaking use of CGI in some sequences.

The film explicitly acknowledges it's not sticking to the Conan Doyle canon, but still comes closer to the pulpy tone of some of the original stories than many more superficially faithful adaptations, and many very famous actors have been much worse as Sherlock Holmes than Nicholas Rowe is here. Writer Chris Columbus went on to do the first couple of Harry Potter films, which have a very similar tone to this. Rather charming, and very difficult to dislike.

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Murder on the Orient Express (2017) in Movies

Feb 12, 2018

Hard to see past the moustache

Nice-looking and competent new version of the Agatha Christie classic, made in the traditional all-star manner. A bit hard to be gripped by the actual murder-mystery plot, but maybe that's because the twist in this story is so famous it barely qualifies as such any more.

Often looks more like a commercial for a luxury railway touring holiday than an actual thriller, but I suppose the production values are part of the appeal of this sort of film. Ken Branagh is arguably just a little bit hammy as a version of Poirot who appears to have some form of ASD, but he has a certain moral authority. Probably won't rock your world but passes the time nicely enough.