Book Review - Kill For Me, Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh

Title: Kill For Me, Kill For You
Author: Steve Cavanagh
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery
Published: 2024
 
Description: One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed theur families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you.
 
In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the house she shares with her husband Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there?
 
Review: Jess, Amanda’s infant daughter, was kidnapped and found murdered. Her partner couldn’t deal with it, because she was taken on his watch. He commits suicide and Amanda is left traumatized and is now taking group therapy. During one of these sessions, she meets Wendy, who also had a difficult time. And they both have that one person they passionately hate: the one who destroyed their lives. Together they plot the ideal plan: Amanda will kill for Wendy and Wendy will fill for Amanda.
 
We also get to know Ruth, who lives with her husband Scott. When home alone, Ruth is attacked and stabbed multiple times. He gets away and Ruth has to live in fear for the rest of her life.
 
It’s best to read this book without knowing too much about it. The book has a well-thought-through plot, with several strong twist. Not necessarily shocking, it’s possible to predict them, but none of them are obvious.
 
The chapters are short, how I like them, and told from different perspectives. Not just Amanda or Ruth, but also detective Farrow and some others. Multiple POV’s is something that always intrigues me.
 
“Kill For Me, Kille For You” doesn’t have a ton of characters. They are strongly developed. Not per say likeable, but understandable. You can understand their rhyme and reason and their emotions. They are all interesting characters.
 
I really enjoyed “Kill For Me, Kill For You”, a very strong, solid thriller with interesting characters and some really good plot twists and reveals.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5

Movie Review - The Beautiful Game

Director: Thea Sharrock
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 125 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Bill Nighy, Michael Ward, Kit Young, Sheyi Cole, Tom Vaughnan-Lawlor, Robin Nazari, Valeria Golino
 
Description: Advocates to end homelessness, organize an annual tournament for Homeless people to compete in a series of football matches known as The Homeless World Cup.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 17: A FILM BASED ON A TRUE STORY

Review: Mal is a football scout. He now leads a British football team. But not the team we know. He is the head coach for the English national team for the homeless. Every year, there is a football competition: The Homeless World Cup.

“The Beautiful Game” is a sympathetic feel-good film about the World Cup of soccer for the homeless: an annual event where homeless people are, for a very brief moment, the hero, and not condemned by society. The focus is on the British team, led by Mal, delightfully portrayed by Bill Nighy. In Rome, he must lead his tem to victory, including the help of former talent Vinny.

The film takes a few side paths and leans heavily on sports movie cliches, but is ultimately extremely satisfying, as a tale of infectious underdogs.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Book Review - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Title: Lessons in Chemistry
Author: Bonnie Garmus
Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: 2022
 
Description: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view on equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with – of all things -  her mind. True chemistry results
 
Review: A feminist in the 1960s? There were plenty of them. But none like Elizabeth Zott. This feminist debut novel by Bonnie Garmus paints a stunning portrait of a woman in the male-dominated world of science and chemistry.
 
Meet Elizabeth Zott, a chemist who is ahead of her time. She wants nothing more than a career in chemistry and above all, to be taken seriously by her male colleagues. Unfortunately, as a woman during this time, she is incredibly opposed. By everyone except for Calvin, a colleague who has a crush on her. Elizabeth therefore takes on the role of teacher, by presenting a cooking show that secretly teaches women the intricacies of chemistry.
 
Elizabeth is a powerful, confident woman who knows exactly what she wants. She has contemporary standards that contrast sharply with the ideas of the other characters. A large cast of characters passes by, but despite the many names, it remains easy to properly recognize everyone.
 
“Lessons in Chemistry” begins with a small section in present day, and then goes back several years, following both eh highs and lows of Elizabeth’s career. in doing so, Author Bonnie Garmus nicely highlights the struggles of women in the 1950s / 1960s. Women belonged at home, taking care of her family, something Elizabeth strongly disagrees with. She resists this by actively pursuing her career in chemistry.
 
The writing style is comfortable to read and immediately draws you into the story. The story is told mostly from Elizabeth’s perspectives, but also from other characters, like Calvin, her daughter Madeline and even her dog Six Thirty. I loved Garmus’ style.
 
Elizabeth eventually has her own cooking show, Supper at Six, after her daughter Madeline was born. This cooking show is meant to teach the average housewives new dishes. But Elizabeth actually gives the show something extra. She cooks real dishes, but explains everything in such a way that it might as well be a chemistry lesson. And she never talks down to her audience, telling every woman who’s watching, they are not just housewives or average women.
 
“Lessons in Chemistry” is a novel that gives you an insight into the life of a woman in the 1950s/ 1960s. It beautifully highlights the hardship women have to endure when they want something different from what society dictates. It grabbed me from the start, Elizabeth Zott is an inspiring character and I loved every minute of this book. “Lessons in Chemistry” is definitely a new all-time favorite.
 
Rating: 5/ 5

20s Movie Review - Expendables 4

Director: Scott Waugh
Genre: Action
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Megan Fox, 50 Cent, Anday Garcia

Description: Armed with every weapon they can get their hands on, the Expendables are the world’s last line of defense and the team gets called when all other options are off the table.

Review: The “Expendables” were never really good, but at least they managed to give the impression that they would be good. Posters filled with big names like Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, Jason Stathman and many others made it clear that plenty of Hollywood stars were happy to show up for them, so that had to be some sign of quality. Part four, however, has to make do with… Megan Fox and 50 Cent?

Okay, Fox is an easy headline, because the problems of “Expendables 4” are bigger than one mismatched actress. But her presence is somewhat exemplary of how the source has dried up nicely. The previous volumes packed in plenty of action heroes of yesteryear, but now we have apparently arrived at actors we know mostly from modern blockbusters. That’s remarkable for a film series meant to capitalize on nostalgia for a time when action movies were a lot rougher and simpler than the ones Fox is known for.

Regulars like Jet Li, Terry Crews and Arnold Schwarzenegger are nowhere to be found, while the newcomers from the previous installment also proved completely expandable. Initiator Sylvester Stallone also seems to be a bit don with it, and Jason Statham is upgraded to lead actor in this fourth installment.

This movie is really bad. No memorable one-liners, the new characters are forgettable and uninteresting, and this film is just no fun. The other three were so much fun, they didn’t take themselves serious. “Expendables 4” looks like it does. If all these previous action stars that weren’t in this fourth film said no to it, I understand why and they should be happy about it. I’m just going to pretend this film never happened and I will stick with the other three films.

Rating: 1/ 5

10s Movie Review - Rambo: Last Blood

Director: Adrian Grunberg
Genre: Action/ Crime
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Paz Vega, Yvette Monreal, Adriana Barazza
Description: John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) must confronts his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 16: A FILM FROM A DIRECTOR YOU’VE NEVER SEEN A FILM FROM BEFORE
 
Review: Already the fifth installment of the “Rambo” franchise, and given the title, probably the last. Although, they were hinting at this in the previous film as well.

Rambo was portrayed as a Vietnam veteran shaped by war to the point where he could never really come home in “First Blood”. Hence, in the sequels, this one-man army was then unleashed on Amerca’s enemies.

“Rambo: Last Blood” no longer has anything to do with war traumas or thoughless military interventions, it feels a bit more like the movie “Taken”, but then with Rambo. We find John Rambo where the fourh film has left him: on a ranch in Arizona where he once grew up. He spends his old days in the company of a Mexican lady and her granddaughter Gabrielle, for whom Rambo has taken care as a father. This peaceful existence comes to an end when Gabrielle wants to meet her father in Mexico, against the advice of Rambo. When something happens to Gabrielle, Rambo blames himself and wants revenge.

It's a no-nonsense revenge movie, with lots of blood and action. The final act is kind of satisfactory and entertaining, but the rest of the movie is just bland and unoriginal. Not a very necessary sequel, lets hope that this is really the last in the franchise.

Rating: 3 / 5

Movie Review - Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire

Director: Adam Wingard
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Rachel House, Alex Ferns
 
Description: Two ancient titans, Godzilla and Kong, clash in an epic battle as humans unravel their intertwined origins and connection to Skull island’s mysteries.

Review: The world has now learned of the existence of a second world far beneeath our earth, and the Monarch orgination knows that Gozilla is there to protect humanity from oher monsters (Titans). Kong now lives in that Hollow Earth and searched daily in vain for conspecifics. But then suddenly a signal turns up.

“Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” is a lot, but not boring. Godzilla himself doesn’t get particularly much attention, but the build-up toward a spectacular fight is exciting. The human characters have a fun adventure and Kong’s journey also captivates because the emotions are aptly portrayed. You easily empathize with Kong, more then with the humans. Because their characters are a bit flat. But these kinds of movies you don’t go and see for them.

Dan Stevens introduces a new character, whom I really liked. And I liked his dynamic with Brian Tyree Henry’s character.

The universe has expanded a bit again. Kong remains a hero. “Godzilla X Kong: The new Empire” is a successful new installement, a simple but entertaining movie. Exactly what you expect from a monster movie like this.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Book Review - Don't Let Her Stay by Nicola Sanders

Title: Don’t Let Her Stay
Author: Nicola Sanders
Genre: Thriller
Published: 2023
 
Description: Joanne knows how lucky she is. Richard is a wonderful husband, Evie is the most gorgeous baby girl, they live in a beautiful house… Life couldn’t be better.
 
Until Richard’s twenty-year-old daughter Chloe turns up. Chloe hasn’t spoken to her father since the day he married Joanne two years ago. But Chloe wants to make peace. She’ll even move in for a few weeks to help Joanne with the new baby.
 
It sounds perfect, but then things happened that make Joanne feel like she’s losing her mind, she begins to wonder: is Chloe really here to help? Or has Joanne made a terrible mistake by letting her move in? And is it too late to ask her to leave?
 
Review: Joanne and her husband Richard are living a great life, with their baby daughter Evie. Everything seems perfect. Until Richard’s twenty-year-old daughter decides to show up. Richard is of course over the moon about it, having not spoken to her in two years. And Joanne is happy for her husband and really could use some help with Evie. But Chloe acts strange around Joanne and something is off with her. And she is the only one that seems to see that.
 
The book starts a bit slow, but eventually the pace picks up and you go through it fairly fast. It’s very clear from the get go, that Chloe is bad news. She is insufferable, annoying, strange, spoiled and just highly unlikeable. The things Chloe says and does are just unacceptable and I never understand how Joanne lets her get away with all this. Richard isn’t helpful either, since he always picks Chloe’s side. Which I can understand at first. He’s his daughter and Richard is glad to have her back in his life. But both Chloe and Joanne accuse each other of the most outrages things and he seems to believe only Chloe. When she is the unreliable one in the story.
 
The book has some twists at the end. Totally not credible and because of this, some of the events happening up until this reveal make absolutely no sense whatsoever. It makes Richard’s rhyme and reason even dumber then I initially thought.
 
Everyone in this book is suspicious from the get go (everyone but the dog Oscar, loved him), but the most obvious scenarios that you might think of while reading the book, are the ones turning out to be the truth. You’re led to believe certain things, but you already know where it is going. And they throw in a final twist, like it is a big shocker. It wasn’t.
 
It’s a very easy read, enjoyable enough to finish, but those final twists really ruined it for me.
 
Rating: 2/ 5

10s Movie Review - Toy Story of Terror

Director: Angus MacLane
Genre: Animation/ Comedy/ Family/ Adventure
Runtime: 22 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Carl Weathers, Timothy Dalton, Stephen Tobolowsky, Wallace Shawn, Kristen Schaal, Kate McKinnon, Ken Marino

Description: Woody (Tom Hanks) and the gang are held up at a roadside motel and members of the group start to disappear. Woody sets about getting to the bottom of the mystery.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 15: A FILM STARRING YOUR FAVORITE ACTOR OR ACTRESS
 
Review: The “Toy Story” series is very high on my list of favorite Pixar films. The third film is my favorite and I really enjoy all the characters in this franchise. Even in a short story like “Toy Story of Terror”, you get tons of laughs from all these fun characters.

The toys are in the trunk of the car, traveling with Bonnie and her family, when they get car trouble. They have to stay overnight at a roadside motel. Strange things start to happen at night, when members of the gang start to disappear.

This short film was release around Halloween time in 2013 and has a pretty simple premise. It even introduces a few new characters. It’s not a horror film of course, it’s supposed to be for the entire family. But there are some nods to “Psycho”, for the adults. It’s a fun little short film, I enjoyed it and really loved seeing all the characters together again.

Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - Murder Road by Simone St. James

Title: Murder Road
Author: Simone St. James
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery/ Horror
Published: 2024
 
Description: July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a one hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But nor long after the hitchhikers gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.
 
When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible strtch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.
 
Review: April and Eddie, a young newly-wed couple, have taken a wrong turn. They pick up a woman by the side of the road, who clearly needs help. When she enters the car, they see she’s bleeding and drive her to the hospital. The hitchhiker dies and April and Eddie are the prime suspects.
 
When trying to find out the truth, the road that they found the hitchhiker called Atticus Line, has a dark history. It seems that many people have been found dead there. The police is not really being friendly to April and Eddie, but they get help from a few of locals.
 
I consider Simone St. James one of my favorite authors. I have read three other books by her, which I had all rated 5-stars. I had high hopes for “Murder Road”. Even though I didn’t give it a perfect score this time, I really enjoyed her newest novel.
 
Where we normally follow different timelines in St. James’ stories, we only follow one in “Murder Road”. The story is set in 1995, which I really loved. I loved the 90s vibes, the nostalgia, pop culture references and the fact that the main man is called Eddie (Vedder, from Pearl Jam anyone?). The book had a supernatural element to it, which is also something this author does a lot. And again I enjoyed it. It’s a fast paced thriller that I couldn’t put down. I liked reading about the history of the town and that titular murder road. But, I did found the story a bit predictable and the ending felt a little lackluster.
 
Yet another win for Simon St. James. She still has a large backlist that I need to get to. “Murder Road” is not an all-time favorite, but I would recommend it to people who have loved her books before.
 
Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - Pines by Blake Crouch

Title: Pines (Wayward Pines # 1)
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre: Mystery/ Science Fiction/ Thriller
Published: 2012
 
Description: Wayward Pines, Idaho, is quintessential small-town America, or so it seems. Secret Agent Ethan Burke arrives in search of two missing agents, yet soon is facing much more than he bargained for. After a violent accidents lands him in the hospital, Ethan comes to with no ID and no cell phone. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but sometimes feels… off. As days pass, Ethan’s investigation into his colleagues’ disappearance turns up more questions than answers.
 
Why can’t he make contact with his family in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And What’s the purpose of the electrified fences encircling the town? Are they keeping the residents in? Or something else out?
 
Each step towards the truth takes Ethan further from the world he knows, until he must face a horrifying fact – he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive…
 
Review: Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with one clear mission: to search and find two federal agents that were sent here month ago and went missing. But Ethan gets into an accident and ends up in the hospital. When he wakes up, his ID and cell phone are missing. He quickly realizes that something is very wrong in Wayward Pines. While investigating, Ethan gets more questions than answers.
 
“Pines” is the first book ne the Wayward Pines trilogy, by author Blake Crouch. There was a TV-show based on this books series, which was canceled after only two seasons. A shame, because I highly enjoyed the show and always wanted to know what would happen next. But, we never got that answer. I didn’t even realize that series was based on Blake Crouch’s books. I was ready to delve into the book series.
 
We mostly follow Ethan and his investigation. He is an interesting character. We know just as much as him, trying to find out the secrets of Wayward Pines. What happened to the two special agents? Why is this enormous electrical fence surrounding the town. Who took his personal belongings? Why can’t he get in contact with his wife? There are so many questions and just can’t stop reading, because you want to know what is going on.
 
“Pines” is a very action-packed and eventful story. It is a thriller, with mystery, horror and science fiction elements. And you constantly feel frustrated for Ethan, because nobody seems to be very helpful in Wayward Pines. There is a good character development for Ethan, we get know his background thoroughly and understand him.
 
I absolutely loved “Pines” and I will most definitely continue this series and want to read more by Blake Crouch. This is just right up my alley.
 
Rating: 5/ 5

Book Review - At Home with the Horrors by Sammy Scott

Title: At Home with the Horrors
Author: Sammy Scott
Genre: Horror/ Short stories
Published: 2022
 
Description: Just when you thought it was safe to go home again…

In this chilling collection of short fiction, Sammy Scott dares to explore the horrors that lurk behind your front door. In “Katherine” a lonely woan finds an unlikely companion when she discovers that her new house is haunted. A couple’s mundane argument quickly evolves into a night of terror in “Wat We Have Here”. A harried wife finds herself the victim of her husband’s pranks when he launches a YouTube channel titled “Scared Mary”. An antisocial teenager encounters a mysterious world when he begins looking into the windows of his neighbors’ homes in “Peeping Tommy”. A mourning widow is forced to relive her husband’s death when he calls her daily on her cell phone in “Theresa”. In “People You May Know”, a happily married man turns his life upside-down when he send a Facebook friend request to an old college flame that no longer remembers him. A woman sets a trap for her runaway cat and is horrified to find that she has captures “Something Else Entirely”. And in the conluding novella “Emil Boens”, a librarian regrets the day she reads a mysterious little book left behind in the library’s drop box.
 
Exploring both the natural and the supernatural, the alien and the ghostly, the chilling and the horrific, these fourteen diversions first root themselves in the mundanity of everyday life before extending their branches into the very things and ideas that terrify us all. In “At Home with the Horrors”, Scott brings the nightmares to the one place where we should all feel the safest, and shows us that when it comes to horror, grief, loss and guilt can be just as terrifying as ghosts and goblins.

Review: When it comes to short story collections, horror is my preferred genre. In “At Home with the Horrors”, author Sammy Scott tells 14 short stories that are all set within the safety of people’s own houses. The one place you should always be safe in. Each story starts out as an everyday type of story, but all have twisty tales to tell. This is one of the best short horror story collections I have ever read.
 
I’m not going to write about every story individually, but I’m going to shine the light on a few that really stood out and were favorites.
 
The first story that I really found scary was “Sisters”. I don’t believe this is a story that most people love or have on their favorites list, but I really enjoyed it. We follow Andrea who becomes the caregiver of this elderly lady, whose dead sadistic sister seems to be haunting her. It had such a creepy twist and it gave me the chills.
 
“Peeping Tommy” was not so much scary, but it really creeped me out. And the fact that Tom is making a habit of looking inside other people’s homes is not even the disturbing part, gives you an idea.
 
The two opening stories, “What We Have Here” and “Theresa” were really perfect for setting the tone of the book. They really got me in the right mood.
 
My favorite story was “Something Else Entirely”. Amy and Eric’s cat Sybill escapes home. Eric has to travel for work and Amy stays home trying to find Sybill. We follow the story from the perspective of Eric, who stays in contact with his wife via text and phone messages. When Sybill finally has returned home, Amy feels something is off and Sybil is not the same. I had major “Pet Semetary” vibes and I loved this story.
 
Another amazing story was “Emil Bones”, which is the longest story in the book and actually a novella. Helena works in a library, where she finds a mysterious book with an eerie poem in it about someone called Emil Bones. After reading it, strange things start to happen in her home. This was without a doubt the scariest story in the book.
 
A few stories I rated 3,5 stars, but the rest was al 4 or higher. “At Home with the Horrors” is a very solid horror story collection, that I can recommend to anyone who loves reading shorts horror stories.
 
Rating: 4/ 5
 

Book Review - First Lie Wins by Ashely Elston

Title: First Lie Wins
Author: Ashley Elston
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery
Published: 2024
 
Description: Evie Porter has everything a nice, Southern firl could want: a perfect, doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence and a garden, a fancy group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter does not exist.
 
The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and a location by her mysterious boss Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.  
 
Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job will be different. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s staring to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes. Especially after what happened last time.
 
Because the one thing’s she’s worked her entire life to keep clean, the one identity she couls always go back to, her real identity, just walked right into this town. Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher, but then, Evie has always liked a challenge.
 
Review: When I read the synopsis of this book, I had a completely different vision of the story. I believed it to be a domestic type of thriller, about a woman with a secret past, telling lie after lie to keep that life a secret. “First Lie Wins” gives you something completely different and it’s a lot more complicated and layered as you might expect.
 
What we get is a game of deception in which Evie has to try to be one step ahead at all times. Which she doesn’t always manage to do. I loved the fact that the characters constantly tried to outsmart each other.
 
The story is told from the point of view of Evie, a woman you don’t know much about at the start. Secrets start to unfold along the way and you realize she is not who she claims to be. We have several flashbacks throughout the story, that give you a lot of backstory about Evie and her past life. It was very thrilling.
 
One thing did bother me though. Evie is supposed to be the best, or at least one of the best, in her field of work. For someone of that level of expertise, Evie makes a lot of strange, dumb and bad decision and mistakes. I’m not saying she is bad at her job, she certainly isn’t. But I found it hard to believe she was one considered one of the best.  
 
Even though the book took me by surprise, by turning out to be really different from what I expected it to be, the story itself doesn’t have many big plot twists. It wasn’t predictable, but there were no moments in the book where I was left shocked about what was happening.
 
I think “First Lie Wins” is a solid thriller, I did enjoy it for the most part. But it’s one of those books I will probably have forgotten about reading at the end of the year.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

20s Movie Review - Wonka

Director: Paul King
Genre: Musical/ Fantasy/ Adventure/ Family/ Comedy
Runtime: 116 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Oliva Colman, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Jim Carter, Matt Lucas, Paterson Joseph, Hugh Grant, Sally Hawkins

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 14: A FANTASY FILM
 
Description: With dreams of opening a ship in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers.

Review: A young Willy Wonka has traveled all over the world, and is now ready to settle down somewhere and reveal his homemade chocolate to people. Easier said than done, especially since the mall in which he plans to open his own business us run by an evil trio of chocolatiers. Soon Wonka finds himself locked up working in a laundry basement, where his dream feel impossible.

There are many unsublte references to “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” and the original book. However, they are woven into the story and are not just simple crowd pleasers.

Wonka has been eccentric since he was a child. Timothée Chalamet took some mannerisms from Gene Wilder’s rendition. But her otherwise plays him in his own way. He portrays an energetic and naïve Willy Wonka who has yet to experience the necessary fall backs and has too much faith in human kind. Logical to approach it that way. Chalamet carries the movie effortlessly. Is there anything he can’t do?
Besides Willy Wonka, only two characters were in the original story: the Oempa Loempa and Slugworth as one of the evil chocolatiers. The other characters are all new and feel like they come from Roald Dahl’s imagination. Especially the ruthless and opportunistic adults.

“Wonka” contains a number of original songs. Again, not forced copies from the old movie, but no heavily modernized either. They are charming and some have the potential to be memorable.

The bond between Wonka and the young girl Noodle was so heartwarming, that scene in the zoo stole my heart and made me so happy. I also loved the backstory of Noodle. Sad, yet hopeful in the end. I was kind of skeptical about Hugh Grant as the Oompa Loompa, but he was surprisingly funny, even though I still believe it looked a bit weird.

“Wonka is a delightful film for the entire family, and adventure with good characters against the bad without becoming one-dimensional. I absolutely loved this film and that it also happens to be a musical is just a major win for me.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Happy Gilmore

Director: Dennis Dugan
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 92 minutes
Year: 1996
Starring: Adam Sandler, Carl Weathers, Julie Bowen, Christopher McDonald, Kevin Nealon, Allan Covert

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 13: A FILM FROM THE 1990S
 
Description: After his grandmother’s house is repossesses by the IRS, bad tempered hockey player Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) takes his talents to golf to earn the big bucks and get his grandmother’s house back.

Review: Adam Sandler can always pleasantly surprise you. He is not considered one of the best actors out there, but her has proven his acting cops several times. I have to say that “Happy Gilmore” is not one of those films, but it is one of the funniest Sandler films I have ever seen.

Sandler plays hockey player Happy Gilmore, who tries his luck at golf after his grandmother’s house has been repossessed by the IRS. He wants to make easy money. “Happy Gilmore” has a high entertainment value and is absolute worth watching. I love Adam Sandler’s hot tempered character, I somehow always find it funny when he start yelling.

I can honestly say that “Happy Gilmore” is a real good time and a good comedy.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Rview - Poor Things

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 141 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef
 
Description: An account of the fantastical evolutions of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).

Review: The intense cinematography takes some getting used to. The Victorian world in which monstrous Dr. Godwin Baxter conducts scientific experiments. There are all sorts of strange creatures running around that he has pieced together himself. His latest creation is Bella, brought to life, stomping around the house adrift and throwing everything around like a toddler. Everything is painfully sharp and oppressively portrayed.

Bella is a child inside a grown woman’s body, literally. She develops from a little girl to an adult in a very short period of time, has no understanding about social conventions, has to refine her motor skills. A toddler in a grown woman’s body is frightening and disruptive to watch, but Emma Stone at the same time makes her completely disarming in her dumbfounding looks when she is not allowed to do or say something. Stone won an Academy Award for her role as Bella, which makes perfect sense. She master the art of portraying Bella, she keeps you completely enthralled. She puts everything in her facial expressions and motor skills. It’s also a very daring role for Stone. She was already my favorite, but no one can beat her now. Stone is fantastic in “Poor Things”.

Willem Dafoe plays Bella’s father/ creator. For some reason Dafoe fits this film and its style perfectly. Mark Ruffalo plays the scummy lawyer Duncan Wedderburn, a completely different role for Ruffalo. He is also really strong.

“Poor Things” is wonderfully directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. His previous works, such as “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”, The Favourite” and “The Lobster” are also masterful pieces of art. But “Poor Things” will most likely become a new classic. For the average moviegoer this will be way too weird, because it’s a very weird film. But the good kind and I absolutely loved “Poor Things”. I already had high expectations, but it exceeded them.

Rating: 5/ 5

Book Review - Five Survive by Holly Jackson

Title: Five Survive
Author: Holly Jackson
Genre: Thriller/ Young Adult
Published: 2023
 
Description: Eighteen year olf Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. Ans as the wheels are show out, one by one, the friends realize that this is no accidents. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for.
 
A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. No everyone will survive the night.
 
Review: A group of six friends, touring in an RV to go spend Spring Break at the beach, strand in the middle of nowhere, when the RV breaks down. When they find out, all the tires have been shot out, they know something is wrong. This is too big of a coincidence. A sniper is keeping them at gunpoint. He knows all of them by name and knows that one of them has a secret that he is willing to kill for. The friends have to figure out which secret it is he wants. Because, everyone has secrets.
 
The setting is great, stranded in the middle of nowhere, just one location, with danger lurking. Cell phones not working and no one around, add to the scary atmosphere. Even though these things are pretty predictable ingredients, I did enjoy that part.
 
We are dealing with teenagers in this book. Aside from Red, you don’t really get to know the characters very well. Some of the are just the siblings and the boyfriend, they have no depth. Red was the only fleshed-out character and you understand her rhyme and reason to everything. Overall, these characters make dumb decisions and I hated Olive.
 
Even though this was a thriller with high stakes for the character, I never felt on the edge of my seat. This book went up and down for me. Some moments I was really into it and loving it, and at times I was just sighing and annoyed by the characters.
 
I was so excited for this book Holly Jackson, I love her “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder” series. This is her first standalone and it was really disappointing. I do want to continue reading Jackson’s novels, this was the only slight miss, where I have already read 4 hits.
 
Rating: 2,5/ 5