Book Review - Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman

Title: Mr. Nobody
Author: Catherine Steadman
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Published: 2020
 
Description: A man lacking identification and unable to speak is found unconscious on a British beach and immediately draws national press and Mr. Nobody. But when neuropsychiatrist Dr. Emma Lewis is invited to assess him, she discovers he does recall something about her own past that no one else knows.
 
Review: From the first page, you are in the story. It starts with a man who washes up on the beach in England. He has no memory of what happened to him, who he is and he can’t speak. Dr. Emma Lewis, a specialized neuropsychiatrist, is brought in to help him regain his memory and find out what happened to him. But Emma grew up in this area, a place she never really planned to return back to. Because she has a secret of her own. Emma actually goes by a different name and left Norfolk with her family when she was young.
 
The books leaves you in the dark about Emma’s secret for a long time and the mystery around the man that was found is very intriguing as well. You eventually get to know Emma better and we learn, together with her, what is going on with the man.
 
But once it’s unraveled and we know more about Emma’s past and the mystery around the man, the book really becomes less interesting. It all plays out a bit predictable and the ending is very implausible. There are a lot of plot points that I predicted, because they were obvious. And I don’t mind predicting plot points, as long as they are not too obvious.
 
In the end is was just okay, nothing noteworthy or memorable.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

10s Movie Review - Filth

Director: Jon S. Baird
Genre: Action/ Comedy/ Drama/ Crime
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, Jim Broadbent, Imogen Poots

Description: A corrupt, junkie sop (James McAvoy) with bipolar disorder attempts to manipulate his way though a promotion in order to win back his wife and daughter while also fighting his own inner demons.

I WATCHED THIS FILM FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 18: A FILM WITH JAMES MCAVOY
 
Review: Bruce Robertson possesses every bad trait you can think of: he is manipulative, negative, vulgar and hates everyone. When he hears that he can get a promotion to police inspector, he wants to do everything he can to get this job. He is convinced that this way he can restore his relationship with his wife and daughter. Then he puts everything into defeating his competitors and pits his fellow police officers against each other. In between, he drinks, smokes, fucks and uses drugs on a regular basis. And Bruce is getting worse and worse.

There is a reason why James McAvoy is one of my favorite actors and here is another one. In “Filth” he is fantastic. His character Bruce is irredeemable, he is so unlikeable because of everything he says and does. It becomes increasingly difficult to sympathize with Bruce. But somehow he manages to turn this around right at the end. And McAvoy steals the show and carries the entire film.

Would I recommend “Filth”. Not to everyone. If you’re into sarcasm, dark comedy and a highly unlikeable and disturbed main character, this is for you. If none of this speaks to you, you’d better skip it. This is a typical case of you hate it or you love it.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

Movie Review - Sing Sing

Director: Greg Kwedar
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San Jose, Paul Raci, David Giraudy, Patrick Griffin, Mosi Eagle, James Williams, Sean Dino Johnson
 
Description: Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
 
Review: Sing Sing Prison is one of the best known and most closely guarded prisons in the United States. Some big criminals have been executed in this New York jail in the past. Therefore, you wouldn’t expect to find theater people in that prison. In 1996 a number of inmates founded the theater company RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts).

Through the theater arts, inmates try to get in touch with their emotions and find themselves. It changes the men considerably. This breaks the American stigma of prisoners as machos, trouble seekers, violent men. Within these walls there are also sensitive theatrical types.

This contrast with our expectations immediately makes you feel sympathy for the main characters. An implicit but clear distinction emerges between who these people were before their imprisonment and who they have become. Such a contrast can quickly come across as implausible, but not in “Sing Sing”. It also helps that many of the actors play themselves, with the exception of Colman Domingo and Paul Raci.

Despite their minimal experience in front of the camera, the actors convey their strong personalities beautifully and authentically. There is a lot of nuance in their roles, allowing them to display a broad spectrum of emotions. In the process, they also reinforce each other: the group dynamic is without a doubt the strongest aspect of the film. The way the men interact with each other immediately shows the deep connection they share.

Colman Domingo shines as the main character John “Divine G” Whitfield, but it’s Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin who steals the show. His transformation from the tough, emotionless jailbird to passionate actor is simply brilliant. As an initial outsider, he comes up with ideas the regular members didn’t think of before. This beautifully exposes the contrats between the characters.

“Sing Sing” is a crowd pleaser, it has emotional depth, an excellent script and great performances. Loved it!

Rating: 5/ 5

Book Review - Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Title: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games # 0.5)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian/ Young Adult/ Reread/ Science Fiction
Published: 2025
 
Description: As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
 
Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is truing not to think too hard about his chances. All eh cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.
 
When Haymitch’s name is called, he can fell all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that want to fight… and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.
 
Review: If there was one book I was looking forward in 2025, it’s “Sunrise on the Reaping”. In preparation of this, I reread the original trilogy and also read “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”. I was so excited to finally pick up Suzanne Collins’ newest story in the Hunger Games universe. And it did not disappoint. It exceeded every expectation I had.
 
In “Sunrise on the Reaping” we start on the day of the reaping, for the 50^th annual Hunger Games: the games Haymitch Abernathy was in. We already got a glimpse of these games in “Catching Fire”, but in this book we get all the details. And just when you thought these books couldn’t get any darker, Suzanne Collins makes it even more horrific and emotional.
 
When we first meet Haymitch, in “The Hunger Games”, we learn he is a grumpy, bitter man. Drinks a lot, has lost his lust for life. And now I know why. Of course, we knew that he won the 50^th Hunger Games, but we never learn what he had to go through.
 
You would think that, with a book where you already know who the winner is going to be, there will be little surprise. Well, think again. Collins manages to surprise and shock us many times. Just the way Haymitch had to enter the Games alone was a twist.
 
There are many familiar characters in this book, which I will not discuss here. But Collins also introduces us to a bunch of new characters as well. Some of them with links to well-known characters. I especially loved Ampert, Maysilee Donner and Lenore Dove. Great characters, that you really care about. But the star is Haymitch, who was already one of my favorite characters in the series (maybe only Finnick beats him). It’s such a clever idea to focus on his story in this book. And I was invested from start to finish. And you really understand older Haymitch so much better now.
 
I somehow knew that I was going to enjoy “Sunrise on the Reaping” but I never thought I would be so consumed by this book. I loved everything about this, it broke me mentally and emotionally. We experience love, grief, loss, gain, hope, helplessness and so much more in this book. Suzanne Collins did it again and shows us that this series is not dead yet. Far from.
 
Rating: 5/ 5

TV Show Review - You (Season 5)

Season: 5
Genre: Thriller/ Drama
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2025
Starring: Pen Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer, Anna Camp, Griffin Matthews

Description: A dangerously charming, intensely obsessive young man (Penn Badgley) goes to extreme measures to insert himself into lives of those he is transfixed by.

Review: In the penultimate season, we saw Joe take a trip to the United Kingdom, where he was inexplicably allowed to play the literature teacher. The members of his new elite social circle were not sure of their lives. His friend Kate, who came from a well-to-do family, knew about Joes secret, but like some of her predecessors, she found a way to deal with her lover's killing intent. If only because she only knew half the truth.
 
In season five, we are several years down the road and Joe has moved back to New York with Kate. Kate runs the prosperous family business Lockwood there, but soon finds herself in trouble. This prompts Joe to overcome obstacles in unconventional ways. In addition, he dusts off his old bookstore, where he finds an eccentric woman who calls herself Bronte. Joe decides to hire her as a bookseller, but soon develops an obsession with her.
 
WARNING! THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!
 
It's just the same old story, told again, with some twists and turns here and there. So many things in this season make no sense. Why does Joe decide to become a public figure, with everything he has done? And why is Kate still surprised about Joe, when she knows what he is capable of? And another new woman who Joe claims to be “the one”…..?
 
Season 4 was already a mixed bag for me, but season 5 was just bad. I didn’t like it. It had some twists I thought were pretty good, but most of it was very predictable actually. And in the first couple of seasons I could still, kind of, understand why women fell for Joe. But not anymore. It becomes increasingly implausible that women fall head over heals for him. And I was just hoping, the entire time, that Joe would be exposed. Because he made so many dumb mistakes (this entire season is filled with dumb people and decisions by the way), it doesn’t really feel like Joe Goldberg anymore.
 
They tried, but they should have ended “You” after season 3.

20s Movie Review - The Pod Generation

Director: Sophie Barthes
Genre: Science Fiction/ Dystopian
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Emilia Clarke, Chiwetel Ejiofor

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 17: A FILM WITH EMILIA CLARKE
 
Description: In a not-so-distant future, tech giant Pegazus offers couples the opportunity to share their pregnancies via detachable artificial wombs or pods. And so begins Rachel (Emilia Clarke) and Alvy's (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wild ride to parenthood in this brave new world.

Review: Emilia Clarke shines in this subtle and layered sci-fi satire about a near future where women no longer have to carry their pregnancies themselves but can outsource them to a technologically advanced egg-like pod.

The ambitious Rachel can’t resist the temptation when her promotion includes being offered and immediate discount to the company “Pegasus: The Womb Centre”. After all, if she does not have to carry her pregnancy herself, she can continue to perform well. She embraces the idea. What follows is a scarily realistic and totally alienating, but above all tragicomic.

Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor both have a lot of nuance. Rachel is the one who is overly excited about the idea and she has to convince her husband Alvy. He doesn’t know what to do, when they eventually “get pregnant” and see the pod. But soon they switch Alvy feels more connected to their unborn child and Rachel feels like she is out of her depth.

The world created in “The Pod Generation” is really interesting. Everyone has cognitive assistants, everything is digital, nothing works manually. Technology has taken over. It’s not a grim or dark futuristic world, as in many “Black Mirror” episodes. But this movie could fit in though. Everything is aesthetically pleasing, but nobody seems to have their own voice anymore.

The clever thing about “The Pod Generation” is that it remains lighthearted. But it does raise numerous questions. Especially now, with AI being up and coming. I love the world that was created for this film, enjoyed Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor together and apart and just overall really enjoyed this film. It’s a hidden gem, an underrated and very overlooked movie.

Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Title: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games # 0)
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian/ Young Adult/ Reread/ Science Fiction
Published: 2020
 
Description: It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
 
The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment to mentoring the female tribute from District twelve, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined – every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
 
Review: This is the first book in the Hunger Games series that I haven’t read before. In “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, we meet a young Coriolanus Snow, before becoming the relentless President of Panem that we know from the original trilogy. It takes place 64 years before “The Hunger Games”, at the start of the 10^th annual Hunger Games.
 
It’s a villain origin story and we follow it through Coriolanus Snow’s perspective. How was het as an eighteen-year-old? What made him into the merciless President that we know so well?
 
You learn how certain elements of the Hunger Games, that we already knew about from the original trilogy, were introduced in this prequel. In the earlies stage of the games, things were much more primitive. Tributes were thrown into a cage right after they were chosen at the reaping, and treated poorly. They were starving them and some of the tributes wouldn’t even make it to the arena.
 
When we enter the Hunger Games, we see it from a different perspective. We see what Snow sees, because he’s the main character and not one of the tributes. That is also interesting.
 
I don’t think we’re meant to feel any sympathy for Snow, especially because we know what he would do in the future. Even though Snow did know hunger, poverty and love in his younger years, you can already see that he has certain priorities. He really loves to be loved and doesn’t want anyone to know that his family is not rich anymore as when his parents were still alive.
 
The best part of the book was the middle, the Hunger Games. Before and after that I was a bit bored at times. Mainly because I didn’t really care about Lucy Gray Baird or about her relationship with Coriolanus. I felt no connection to either of them.
Although I do believe that this villain origin story is interesting to tell, I expected more from it. I don’t think that what happened to Coriolanus in this book was enough for him to turn out as evil as he did. I enjoyed it enough, but I will probably not ever reread this.
 
Rating: 3/ 5