Category: Ramblings

Book Review: The Deathless Girls by Kiran Milwood Hargrave

Publisher: Orion

Release date: 19.9.19

About: Gothic, intoxicating, feminist and romantic – this is the breathtakingly imagined untold story of the brides of Dracula, by bestselling author Kiran Millwood Hargrave in her much-anticipated YA debut.

They say the thirst of blood is like a madness – they must sate it. Even with their own kin.

On the eve of her divining, the day she’ll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community. 

Forced to work in the harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens, Lil is comforted when she meets Mira, a fellow slave who she feels drawn to in a way she doesn’t understand. But she also learns about the Dragon, a mysterious and terrifying figure of myth and legend who takes girls as gifts. 

They may not have had their divining day, but the girls will still discover their fate…

“The Deathless Girls is exquisitely written, as we have come to expect from Millwood Hargrave, but it is also riveting, intoxicating, and utterly unputdownable.” – Louise O’Neill

Copy: Netgalley

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This is the book that will inject new life into the vampire novel. It’s so beautifully written that I had to stop hi-lighting text on my ecopy. It’s style and voice gives you a rich experience as life as a servant/slave.

There is scope for a sequel, but ends in such a fulfilling and satisfying way that it isn’t needed. It’s perfect for anyone wanting to dip their toes into historical fantasy.

TW:

– there is a scene of attempted rape and allusions to an almost sex slave lifestyle.

– a descriptive scene of genitalia examination in relation to sex slavery and sex trafficking.

For me, I felt it was well handled without being gratuitous and historically accurate, however it may trigger other people.

This is a short review, but hopefully it has everything you need to make you want to read this stunning book.

Love Han x

Movie Review: Lion King (2019)

Lion King (2019)

Length: 1Hr 58

Rating: PG

Release: 19.7.2019

About:Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny on the plains of Africa. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub’s arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother — and former heir to the throne — has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is soon ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba’s exile. Now, with help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba must figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his.

The Good

  • The photo-realistic animals are breathtaking, detailed and quite simply a work of art. From the movement of the animal to tiny details all add to the magic of the story. It’s seen most powerfully when the film shows a lion’s ability to use smell. It forms a direction for the plot and gives us a look at how detailed computer technology is. There’s been criticism that the film lacks emotional impact because the animals ‘don’t emote’. This is simply not the case. They emote, but as an animal would.
  • Scar was less panto villain, more psychotic sibling with a lust for power. Even his relationship with the hyenas has changed ever so slightly, giving a darker and more desperate tone to his actions. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s voice will chill your bones in a way Jeremey Irons couldn’t.
  • Removal of anthropological behaviours of the animals brings an extra level of realism to the story. There’s no animal pyramid, no exaggerated facial expressions and Timon doesn’t walk upright. These are just a few things I can think of from the original that have been removed. I hadn’t realised, but one of my fears of a shot-for-shot remake was these conceits would remain and clash even more so with the realism.
  • The scenes that are meticulously recreated are not there out of laziness but an acknowledgement of the legacy it was taking on. The opening is one example, but the one I want to draw on is the stampede. On first glance it might seem derivative. However, what we have to remember is that the part in which the animals go over the lip and into the ravine was the Studios shining moment; it used the top technology to produce and it’s where we can see so very clearly how far they’ve come.
  • The songs have lost their show tune grandure and become much more integrated into the the characters and the storytelling. My favourite is still Be Prepared and I’m glad they kept it despite their misgivings.
  • Timon and Pumba shine as the comedy double act. They’ve again shed their Broadway perfect personas. Instead we have a conversational and down to Earth odd couple.

The Bad

  • While it isn’t something that bothered me overly, some may find there are perhaps one too many identical/ shot-for-Shot scenes or that the changes are too minimal. I personally didn’t like the stylised cloning of the iconic ‘fall’ scene, but it’s only a niggle.
  • I actually don’t like the story. I never have. It’s Hamlet with a somewhat happier ending and I really don’t like Hamlet.

The Ugly

  • Everyone’s a critic. The irony is not lost on me, I promise. I’m just as guilty as others. Currently, LiongKing (sic) is trending on social media and people are upset certain scenes aren’t there. At least this is something that was said after viewing the thing. However it’s not been the case for some other opinions.
  • So many people have already decided what they thing of the project without giving it a chance. From casting choices, to ‘Pumba looks scary and ugly’. As I said, I was also guilty of this. I was rather miffed when I discovered the mighty Mufasa would still be voiced by Darth Vader himself, James Earl Jones. I couldn’t help but think ‘why, what’s the point.’
  • I was incredibly wrong. His voice has changed, it reflects age and wisdom while tying together the animated and ‘live’ action. It was a stroke of genius.

Final Thoughts

It’s a beautiful film that needs to be seen on the big screen. It’s not the sing along classic, but something more enchanting.

Love Han x

Why So Triggered? (aka why Karen Gregory’s I Hold Your Heart and Holly Bourne’s The Places I’ve Cried in Public are important novels)

This post has remained unpublished for a year. Last year it was about writing down my fears and thoughts that lead to panic attacks and never ending tears.

Now, I’m stronger. Now, thanks to Karen Gregory and Holly Bourne, I am able to quieten that voice that told me it was all my fault….

22nd July 2018

I’ve just finished work for 6 weeks, I should be so unbelievably happy right? Instead of feeling the chill, I’m more anxious than ever.

Upon returning home from an amazing hen do, I found myself amid one of my worst panic attacks in a long while. My route home was closed and it was suggested that I simply get the Piccadilly line.

Simply!

Only, there’s nothing simple when it comes to taking the Piccadilly line from central London. You see, Dick lives on the Piccadilly line. Not only that, but Dick’s ex lives on the Piccadilly line. Pray, how’d you know that?! Well Dick pointed out the very flat they shared on one of his ‘you’ll never be as good as her’ power trips. ‘I pay for it’ he informed me, like I’d care… right before I was made to pay for dinner ‘because you don’t deserve my money as much as her’.

The very thought of bumping into either of them not only has my breathing out of whack, it pulls out my soul and pushes me to the brink of what I’d imagine death would feel like. I’ve been painted the monster in her story and I’m not inclined to put her right. She wants someone to hate so she gets to keep Dick in her life. More fool her; he’s a narcissist who I met on a dating site. I didn’t steal him; according to his profile he was single and had been for a long time. This was a man who told me he wanted to pick a place close to me so moving in together would be easy; long before he told me that they’d still been together when we first met and there was overlap. Not only of me, but of a woman he cancelled our first date for (telling me he had to go see his dad) because he was garenteed sex with her and not with me. (That, was not the issue. The issue was him telling me he was out of town at his family home instead of being honest)

I have PTSD and the distance doesn’t help. It’s easier than ever to convince myself I was the one in the wrong. That I’d been ‘obsessed’ as he’d put it the last time I saw him; erasing the fact that he said he loved me first, that he’d never felt this way about anyone and that he’d covered up the fact that he was screwing 3 other women and had been since way before me and only told me because it was the only way to explain the fact that he couldn’t be my boyfriend. (Despite him asking, not me, and changing his mind without telling me three days later)

It’s a horrible thing to say, but I wish his abuse had been physical… this psychological torture he put me through, cutting me off from everyone I knew and manipulating me to the point of explosion, to then scream and shout at me for ‘over reacting’… I don’t know if those scars will ever heal.

I can’t face YALC on the off chance she’ll be there. I don’t go to signings any more because I feel she ‘deserves’ them more than me and i can’t go to Hammersmith without preparing myself for days in bed afterwards because I’m prettified I’ll bump into him.

It hurts but I feel like she has to come first. Clearly she got Richard, while I got Dick. I reached out thinking she’d understand. Oh how I needed someone to understand and tell me there was life beyond Dick. She’d met someone else and moved on; I experienced ‘depression Dick’ for a month to prove it. I just … well, I wanted to know her for her (having to hear about her everyday, you kind of get to know a person and, in all honesty?! She sounded fucking awesome and someone I’d get along with. Dick actually hated that. He hated that I respected her and actually took her side when he went on a rant about her having a boyfriend) but I think she thought it was to keep my ‘claws’ in Dick.

Sorry kiddos, but when a bloke has you in your FAVOURITE restaurant and tells you he’s considering making the girl you were told ‘wasn’t an issue’ his girlfriend, that in comparison you’re ordinary and recounts her sexual preferences (certain things he’d denied you when you asked) that he is happy to do this act because ‘he’s in love’ in a bid to make you react … you don’t want to keep in touch. You want your memory bleached of him. The ONLY thing you wanted was; the feeling of safety and belonging within a community and I was hoping I could avoid a Dick smear campaign (Dick had banned me from attending the 2017 YALC because she would be there so I feared …)

… … … … …

That’s where it ends. I considered finishing that sentence, but whatever I put now won’t be right.

I’m also aware, having had the woman my first boyfriend left me for 10 years ago lurk on my Insta Stories for almost two weeks, perhaps trying to befriend the exes ex was the brightest of moves. It was weird, stupid and not something I would normally do.

  • I Hold Your Heart by Karen Gregory is out now
  • The Places I’ve Cried in Public by Holly Bourne is out 3rd October 2019 but samplers and the chance to win a proof will be up for grabs at this year’s YALC.

YALC 2019

I will not be attending YALC this year. However, this is more about the fact that I’ve returned to Liverpool to care for my father than PTSD triggered anxiety. Plus, for all the books, photo ops and autographs I’d be wanting… I’d need a lotto win to accommodate. Nah… I’m going to spend next weekend curled up on the couch in the room next door to dad and reading my eyes out.

I will be missing some amazing people. Some wonderful women within the world of YA. I have found my people and I love them dearly.

Love Han x

Movie Review (with spoilers) Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Length 2Hr 9

Rating 12a

Release 5.7.2019

About Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man must step up to take on new threats in a world that has changed forever.

The Good

  • Tom Holland for me, is the perfect Spider-Man (discounting the Spiderverse’s Noir Spider-Man for the moment). He gives us everything we need for Peter Parker and the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. I am hoping he sticks around long enough to get Parker out of High School.
  • Holland is well supported in this outing and the acting is solid. There’s a welcome return of Sam L Jackson and Cobie Smulders, providing some excellent humour.
  • The plot was well handled, easy to follow for all (having heard a few mini humans tell me they didn’t get Captain Marvel, it’s something I’m mindful of going forward). I liked how the plot has Parker going around the world while reluctantly participating in being an Avenger.
  • The villain(s) provide another clever layering to the franchise. I’m curious as to when they’ll crop back up, but I’m certain this wasn’t the end.
  • Happy!!!! I love Happy. I love the comedy, I love the awkwardness, but most of all, I love the parental nature that is being developed within Spider-Man between Happy and Peter. You see a hint of it in Endgame, but here you see how much of an impact the events of Endgame truly had on Tony’s best friend.

The Bad

  • I struggled with the first half an hour. It felt very clunky. I know there were a few bits from Endgame that needed smoothing over in order to progress, but it should also feel like a stand alone in its own right. It lost some of that and, as a result, stalled a few times out the gate.
  • Oh and while we’re on the subject. The blip? What the fuck?! Who got paid to name it that?! I mean, ‘the snap’ was bad enough but the blip?! So, that’s what earth are calling the missing 5 years for some people; a ‘whoops’?
  • Also, get your editing right. Don’t say they were brought back 5 years later, but have the image look like they were gone for seconds at most. This is seen most clearly when showing a basketball game in action.
  • The villain was a bit pants. While there’s that clever strand of bringing people back from obscure scenes from the last ten years, it all feels a little overused. It’s a blend of Iron Man 3 and Captain Marvel. While Jake J is brilliant, his guise is just a bit shit. Mainly because anyone who is remotely comic literate knows the background and history of Mysterio so it comes as no surprise when we have the mid film switcharoo. Trying the rug-pull bad guy posing as a good guy trick twice in one year MCU? Come on, give us something new.

The Ugly

The mid and post credits. I have big issues with these two plot points being where they are. What they reveal, in theory, is important to the franchise going forward and shouldn’t be missed. This sort of reveal should be available for all to watch; not just geeks like me who know to stay until the end. Just feels a little… mean spirited.

The Nice and Accurate Good Omens Book Tag

As soon as I saw this tag was being made, I knew I was going to have to get involved. You can find the original post here:
https://fantasticbooksawtft.wordpress.com/2019/07/11/the-nice-and-accurate-good-omens-book-tag/?blogsub=confirmed#blog_subscription-3

“Would be funny if we both got it wrong, eh? If I did the good thing and you did the bad one?” – A book you expected to like but didn’t and/or a book you didn’t expect to like but did or more than you had thought you would.

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge. I’ll be honest, as well intended as I was when I purchased the memoir regarding Sledge’s experiences in the Pacific war, I didn’t expect I’d get past the first few chapters.
However, I was transfixed. It’s not an enjoyable read, but it’s an important one. It not only gave me an insight into Joe Mazzello’s performance but it taught me a hell of a lot about warfare.

“Get behind thee, foul fiend…After you.” – Favourite flirty line

“Lovely chatting with you, darling, but I’ve got to run. Face it, you’re always more content when you’re chasing me than when you have me locked up. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun.” Gretchen in Chelsea Cain’s Heartsick series has a rather strange relationship with the protagonist. Their type of flirting is VERY different.

“Somebody killed my best friend” – Bookish death that affected you the most

Jake and Cloquet in the Bloodlines Series by Glen Duncan. Jake, I struggled with but I understood why it happened however when Cloquet died mid By Blood We Live, I put the book down, cried my eyes out and never returned to the story. I just couldn’t do it. Nope, no way.

“You go too fast for me Crowley” – Favourite slow burn

Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer is my favourite slow burn. Mainly because of how the relationship develops and the alternating characters so we get to know both Juliet and Declan.

Or it would have to be Birthday by Meredith Russo! It’s the slowest of burns and quite possibly the best romance book I’ve ever read.

“Thank you for my pornography” – A romance scene you loved or that made you cringe (stating which is optional if you’d like to keep people guessing)

In the last of the Heartsick series there’s two scenes that really made me uncomfortable. Both happen to Archie Sheridan and one is most defiantly sexual assault and the second becomes assault by the end.

“There never was an apple, in Adam’s opinion, that wasn’t worth the trouble you got into for eating it” – Have you ever been caught reading a book when you shouldn’t have been? Either for content or the situation. 

So, I used to work in a cinema and I’d be put on many different jobs. If I was on Box Office or Ben and Jerry’s I’d have a book with me to keep me out of trouble. It’s how I read the Twilight Saga. I even read the entire of Howl’s Moving Castle one Tuesday when I worked a 2-10 on Ben and Jerry’s (It was February and I served maybe 3 people)
This is all well and good and the managers turned a blind eye to it. Except for one; my at-the-time boyfriend who, I might add, didn’t even work in the same branch.

“Well, obviously. You’re a demon. That’s what you do.” – Favourite unapologetic villain. 

It has to be Artemis Fowl. The child genius who very rarely shows remorse for his actions. He’s loyal to his own and someone you enjoy following, but the fact that he’s not an angel makes it all the better.

“He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, ie., everybody, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.” – Favourite Twisty book

Slayer by Kiersten White has to have one of the best twists going. I didn’t see it coming and I’m itching for the sequel.

“Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people.” – Favourite complex or morally grey character 

There’s only one character that I can put here. It can only be Professor Serverus Snape. While there’s an argument that he is actually morally pure based upon his actions, however he is presented to the read as a conundrum. It’s not until the end that the reader finds themselves surprised or have their theory of his faux villiany validated.
He’s the truist hero in every sense of the word; he allows himself to be accused, villified and hated all for the sake of the cause.
Long live the half-blood prince!

That’s all for now.
Han x

The Nice and Accurate Good Omens Book tag

Jemma - Starry Eyed Reader's avatarStarry Eyed Reader

After watching the whole of Good Omens for the third time and then falling into a hole of video edits on youtube while looking up where to buy the script book, I thought to myself “…I really should be blogging.” Instead, I pressed play on episode three (my favourite for that 6000 years of slow-burn pre-intro alone). It was then I instead thought to myself, perhaps I can do both? I’m due a book tag post this week so what if? No. Surely it seems too easy of a solution. Or is it? I could make a Good Omens book tag I figured before obsessing over it for over a week before actually writing the damned thing. So now here we are, I hope you enjoy it and that it “feels love” to you.

Good omens booktag (1)“Would be funny if we both got it wrong, eh? If I did the good thing…

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Wooly Boys (2001)

Length: 1Hr 39

Rating: PG

Release: 7.10.2001 (no UK release)

About: Two ranchers (Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson) from North Dakota find adventure in Minneapolis after one goes to visit his only daughter.

The Good

  • Kris Kristoffersen and Peter Fonda are names that I’ve always known, however I’m not certain I’ve seen either in anything. They are a brilliant double act from the get go. These are veteran actors doing what they do best and I’m certainly going to be checking out their back catalogues over the coming months. I’m guessing from Kristofferson’s staring role in A Star is Born, he was the Bradley Cooper of the day.
  • It’s hard to make a film in the West and not be a cowboy movie. I’m quite happy that it was able to move beyond the tropes and give a fresh look at modern ranch life.
  • The humour, music and plotting are all sound and give the audience a family film with heart, charm and hope.

The Bad

  • Joe Mazzello’s rare appearance as a teen only appears in the bad because his awesome performance only makes me wish that he’d taken on a few more roles at the time. He’s acting against Fonda and Kristofferson for Christ sake. Lesser actors would have been swallowed whole. Not Mazzello, he not only brings an excellent performance, but is able to create believable and heartfelt relationships with the two men.
  • I’m a bit gutted about the fact that these two Wooly Boys weren’t the original Brokeback. There was a love between them, there’s no denying that, but I’d have love it to have been developed and more overtly romantic rather than platonic. Perhaps even have this as the cause of the rift between father and daughter. Although I can see that perhaps adding a little bitterness to the proceedings. Something it didn’t really need.

The Ugly

  • This film hit me a little too hard in the feels. I know all too well about the man of little words and the rift it can cause. While it’s a sweet film, it weighed a little too heavy for me to be enjoyable.
  • Animal death. It’s the one thing I can’t really deal with in my films and if I was in a position the cry, there’s a scene that would have had me bawling.

Final Thoughts

It’s a well made, expertly acted family drama that feels a little more like a TV movie by today’s standards.

Film Review: X-Men Dark Phoenix (2019)

Length: 1 hr 53

Rating: 12a

Release: 5.6.2019

About: This is the story of one of the X-Men’s most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic DARK PHOENIX. During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. The film is the most intense and emotional X-Men movie ever made. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we’ve come to know and love must face their most devastating enemy yet — one of their own.

The Good

  • It was an interesting, low key change of pace from the all out action of Avengers Endgame. The drama really takes centre stage and while it wasn’t exactly well executed, it still packed a punch.
  • It was well paced and the Mutant elements are brilliant. The human impact is almost sidelined in order to break the relationship between the X-Men and POTUS. I would have liked that to have been further developed.

The Bad

  • There are a few sketchy sections of CGI in the final showdown. I think I’ve become a bit of a snob, but it does take me out of the moment.
  • Jessica Chastain bugged the hell out of me. I can’t put my finger on why, but for all the mouthing off about human’s being weak, I felt like I could take her out with a well aimed fart. There was no threat. There was no jeopardy.
  • Sophie Turner, while giving a solid effort, is not leading lady material in this sort of film. While she didn’t make me want to tear my own eyes out much like her portrayal of Sansa did, I didn’t feel won over by this performance.
  • If Evan Peters has gained the franchise some amazing reviews in the past, why relegate him to one liners?! I don’t get it. While I was very much over the musical CGI slow mo scenes, I needed more interaction with him.
  • J-Law can act, we know she can, she got the Oscar to prove it. So why couldn’t she act like she wanted to be there? She was not Raven in this film, she was J-Law being J-Law. It’s a shame as bringing her A-game would have really brought some emotion to the film.

The Ugly

  • The biggest flaw lies not necessarily at the feet of this film, but the franchise. As a viewer, I see this section, that began with First Class, and the Stewart/McKellan helmed trilogy one and the same universe. So, my problem is continuity. By the end of this film we should have been all set up and ready to meet Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Only this film introduces a timeline, without spoiling the fate of the characters, that makes the next set of films impossible.
  • Perhaps, then, the biggest problem is that it was essentially a reboot of the Last Stand. Of all the comic incarnations of X-Men, why Fox thought their final film was best being a rehash of a badly received film is beyond me.

Final Thoughts

After such a good film with Booksmart, this feels a little like a franchise killer. So much so that I swerved my third film of the day in fear that it also would be a redundant edition to its franchise (MiB).

It’s a better watch than Last Stand when you consider it in isolation. However, bring in all of the other films and this plays so fast and lose with the laws of franchise continuity, you’d swear Rhian Johnson was behind this outing.

Booksmart (2019)

Length: 1 hr 42

Rating: 15

Release: 27.5.2019

About: Academic overachievers Amy and Molly thought keeping their noses to the grindstone gave them a leg up on their high school peers. But on the eve of graduation, the best friends suddenly realize that they may have missed out on the special moments of their teenage years. Determined to make up for lost time, the girls decide to cram four years of not-to-be missed fun into one night — a chaotic adventure that no amount of book smarts could prepare them for.

The Good

  • Last Man Standing’s Kaitlyn Denver is her awesome self in this coming of age drama. Her development throughout the film will charm you and have you wondering where she was when you were in high school. The emotion she brings to the film final act is something you have to see. I predict we’ll be seeing Dever in main stream films very soon.
  • The film on a whole is quite possibly one of the best teen films I’ve seen in a very long time. It’s done away with the fixed stereotypes as much as possible and it certainly has representation and inclusivity bang on the nose. What is most surprising, is that the malice of high school is removed. We have no ‘Carrie’ style humiliation for the outsider.
  • Skylar Gisondo is, as always, a delight to have in a film. He’s shed the loser geek status of ‘Vacation’ but retained the vulnerable quality. It makes for an interesting character you’ll really care for.
  • The scene stealer of the film has to go to Billie Lourd. She’s everything like her mother, and more. I’ll say nothing more; she has to be seen to be believed.
  • It was refreshing to have the American Pie type topics (read: porn, masterbation and performance fears) from a female perspective. It gives a positive and empowering message regarding sex to women. Something I’ve not really seen outside of Sex and the City.

The Bad and The Ugly

I am sick of the teacher trope. Fuck me, I’m so tired of it. In an age where we’re calling out the Weinstein’s of the world and demanding diversity and equality, I want Hollywood to kill the social acceptance of a teacher fucking a student in a movie and there being no consequence. As someone who left the profession recently, you are not doing us any favours Hollywood. You’re rose tinting the fuck out of statutory rape and a gross misuse of power, and its not cool. In fact, you’re making it easier for predators because you’re not only telling kids that it can happen but you’re telling them to embrace it, when in fact you should be telling them to run!

It’s pretty much the only thing I didn’t like, but it really sucks.

Final Thoughts

It’s an excellent indie film that pushes all the boundaries that have been set over the past decade or so and needs to be seen by everyone. Gone is the belter soundtrack you’ll be racing to buy, the tour of the cafeteria with all the cliques and its all for the better.

It’s not a family time watch, but its uplifting, inspiring and empowering.

Movie Review: Toy Story 4 (2019)

Length: 1Hr 40

Rating: U

Release: 21.6.2019

About: Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang embark on a road trip with Bonnie and a new toy named Forky. The adventurous journey turns into an unexpected reunion as Woody’s slight detour leads him to his long-lost friend Bo Peep. As Woody and Bo discuss the old days, they soon start to realize that they’re worlds apart when it comes to what they want from life as a toy.

First Thoughts

I wasn’t expecting another outing from the Pixar flagship franchise. I’d said my goodbye 9 years ago. I took my boyfriend to the newly opened excuse for IMAX in Liverpool and made up special snack bags. It was a fitting final to a trilogy, even if it would never be my favourite or goto watch over the next decade.

Then came the trailer and all my wishes came true; Bo Peep was back on the role call. I couldn’t wait. I was so excited and there was no way I wouldn’t be seeing it in the cinema.

The Good

  • The plot feels familiar but with a fresh angle, so you’ll forgive it for hinging the plot on yet another rescue mission.
  • Having Woody reunited with Bo is awesome because she really becomes the focus in this film. She gives us a take on the lost toy that I’m, as an adult, grateful for. It is what makes this film as good as it is and makes it acceptable to add another instalment.
  • Keanu Reeves is a perfect, funny addition. His Evel Knievel homage toy with Canadian spirit is a joy to watch and I could have happily had even more of Keanu’s can do attitude.
  • The quality of the animation is incredible. Each Toy Story does bring with it the best skills and technology to the screen, but this was lightyears (sorry) ahead of the other films. Fully immersive and breathtaking from start to finish.

The Bad

Many of the fan favourites are given little to do and I really could have done with more of them. Instead, the film does focus on Forky, Bonnie’s self-made toy who faces an identity crisis and the ‘Lost Toys’ of a town the RV finds itself in. It’s great, but I can’t help but feel a little short changed.

The Ugly

Oh I ugly cried like you wouldn’t believe and I can’t really talk about it without ruining the plot. All I will say is that it will truly sucker punch you in the feels.

Thankfully there were few people in the screening I went to. THIS was the ending the franchise needed. It’s just… perfect, for me.

Final Thoughts

For me, it’s better than the third. However I’m worried this is going to kick start a new trilogy and I’m not sure how that would work or if I can invest.

Blog Tour: My Secret Lies With You’s Faye Bird shares her favourite mysteries

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead.

A genuinely intriguing book with an entirely punchy style – we don’t feel a pervasive darkness here, as is often the case with mysteries. What hooks us in is the voice of main character Miranda and a desire to find out the truth of the strange happenings around her. And there are plenty of those. The book is full of surprise and oddity, but Rebecca Stead’s pithy, sharp, upbeat tone pulls us along with wonderfully short hooky chapters so that nothing about this book feels too contrived or drawn out. The plot feels complex enough to make the reader work, but the narrative style so compelling that you find yourself simply being happily taken along for the ride. You wait for everything to be laid out for you at the end, and you aren’t disappointed. There are some beautifully economic, well-judged descriptions – Miranda’s Mum’s boyfriend Richard is described as “…the way I picture guys on sailboats – tall, blond and very tucked in, even on weekends.” Brilliant. There’s a lovely description, which we return to, about seeing the world. Miranda’s mum says we all see it as if from under a veil. If we take off the veil and peek out we “…see all the beauty, and cruelty, and sadness, and love.” Miranda goes on to explain that her Mum uses this not to explain God or angels or magic but rather that “…most of the time people get distracted by little stuff and ignore the big stuff.” This is how we survive. The New York setting sits perfectly with the tone, and once you read the book you won’t be surprised to learn that Rebecca Stead has talked openly about her huge debt in writing this novel to Madeleine Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. When You Reach Me is a quirky upbeat novel that beautifully encapsulates the quote at the start: “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.” Albert Einstein, The World As I See It (1931). If you haven’t read it already, then certainly a recommendation from me.

High Lonesome: A Father for Charlie (1995)

Length: 1Hr 27

Release: 1.1.1995

Rating: 12

About: Based on a true story. A poor black sharecropper strikes up an unlikely friendship with a hostile young white boy – but their budding friendship is threatened by a brutal red-neck sheriff.

The Good

  • The story is able to be told in a realistic and gritty way without an overuse of offensive language. It was my biggest worry going into the film as it pains me to see and hear the mistreatment of people, especially in regards to something they have no control over.
  • The story is important. The only thing that upsets me, is how important the message still is today. The blind and learned hatred, not only from Charlie, but the entire town is something that is still in society today. Having Osgood’s actions and kindness change the views of a child is one thing, but there’s an unexpected ally to be found by the film’s closing scenes.
  • The gravitas in which Louis Gossett Jr holds himself throughout the film as the sole man of colour, Walter Osgood, is incredibly moving. There are many scenes in which Gossett Jnr is conversing with his wife’s grave stone. He holds the viewers attention effortlessly. I’d watch him in anything, and I’m quite surprised I’m unfamiliar with his name.
  • Joe Mazzello’s portrayal of Charlie is quite possibly one of his best. His accent is solid and he is able to present a head strong young boy who has been neglected by the one person he needed. How someone at 12 years old, with no academic training, can act the shit out of a complex character is beyond me. His scene with the Sheriff ( the ever brilliant William Fichtner), in which he bluffs about his relationship with Walter will have your heart in your mouth.
  • At the heart of this movie is the relationship between Charlie and Walter. It only works because of the two actors you have in the roles. The chemistry of the two is believable and charming; the frosty learned behaviour melts so easily with just a little bit of kindness. Not many actors of Mazzello’s age could bring the conceited innocence, vulnerability and ‘old soul’ charm to the role.

The Bad

I’ve never liked the presence of the KKK within films. It’s a personal thing that breaks my heart and keeps me agnostic; how can an organisation perform such horrific acts and claim to be religious?! Scenes that subtly and overtly express their actions and views make for this to be a rather difficult and uncomfortable watch.

The Ugly

The music is really the only big giveaway that this period film is in fact a TV movie. I want to rescore the whole film as I found the light and, at times, humorous tone a little jarring in contrast to the narratives subject content.

Final Thoughts

It is a well made, superbly acted film. It’s not going to be a film I watch often as there are scenes that upset me greatly, however it is certainly a good film to watch in order to put the treatment of people of colour into context.