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Nicole Hadley (380 KP) rated Tricky in Books

Jun 16, 2018

Tricky

Kari Rust | 2017 | Children

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Tricky by Kari Rust is about Tricky,a dog, and the Duke, his human. In the beginning of the book they spend their days playing tricks on the townsfolk by tripping people, stealing, and cheating. Together they sleep well at night and awake the next day to do tricks on the townspeople again.

Mrs. Paisley, is unaware of their behavior so she is perfect for their next trick. The Duke uses his charm to warmly welcome Mrs. Paisley to town while Tricky steals several loaves of bread behind her back. Unaware of their past thievery, Mrs. Paisley gives Tricky a treat, which harms his heart. He then realizes his behavior with the Duke is wrong.

Tricky wanted to show the Duke that what they were doing is wrong. He shows this by playing tricks on the Duke. The Duke eventually catches on and kicks Tricky out on a night which was rainy. Tricky goes to the bakery to protect it and Mrs. Paisley takes him in and loves him. The Duke realizes how much he misses Tricky when he tries to do the tricks by himself but they were not successful and leaving town.

The illustrations are engaging and add to the tale. This book would be a great addition to a classroom library. The book will allow for conversations on values and virtues. I highly recommend this book.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Hands of the Ripper (1971) in Movies

May 27, 2018 (Updated May 27, 2018)

Bring the Daughter; Have some Slaughter

Pretty decent Hammer horror melodrama set in a sort of grab-bag version of late Victorian London. Anna (Rees) grows up an orphan, little suspecting the identity of her father, or the fact that she seems to have inherited his compulsion to kill. An ambitious psychiatrist (Porter) takes her under his wing, believing he can help her with her little problem. (As ever, hubris comes before a gory comeuppance.) Meanwhile, Hammer whips up gallons of fake blood.

Not-bad production values and decent performances go a long way to make up for some fairly preposterous plotting; you get the classic Hammer sense of a traditional costume drama coupling energetically with a disreputable exploitation movie, with a good time had by all. On the one hand this is another tale of an improbably arrogant man whose specific area of brilliance doesn't stop him making a whole series of insanely bad decisions; on the other it is about the power of men to seriously screw up the lives of women in patriarchal societies (so perhaps still somewhat relevant). Film does an interesting little dance, too: are Anna's problems purely psychological or is she genuinely possessed by the spirit of the Ripper? Well put together, some interesting ideas, doesn't outstay its welcome - definitely worth a look if old British horror movies are your thing.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated The Golem (Der Golem) (1920) in Movies

Nov 4, 2019 (Updated Nov 4, 2019)

The Golem (Der Golem) (1920)

1920 | Fantasy, Horror

6.5

(4 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Usual disclaimers apply when discussing a movie this old (the pace, production values and performance style should not be judged by modern standards), but this is another one of those films proving that things have, perhaps, not changed as much as we think. This is technically Golem 3, a prequel to the first two showing the creation of the titular monster during the middle ages. The structure of the story is very familiar - it seems like a good idea to create an immensely powerful servant from clay using dark magic, to begin with anyway, but he proves an unruly worker in the end, to say the least.

Another expressionist German fantasy film about the dangers of flirting with the powers of darkness; if you're looking for historical irony the fact it's based on a Jewish legend should give you plenty to work with. Holds up pretty well; the similarities to Frankenstein are very obvious, and the director gives a striking performance as the monster. Many other performances are striking to the modern eye as well, although not in quite the same way. Some interesting cultural baggage to be unpicked here too (the Jewish characters are the heroes of the film, but the Rabbi does have black magic powers which no-one seems very surprised). Interesting historically and a watchable genre movie, too.