Monday, January 6, 2025

The Eyes Have it














tags: humor, idioms, Philip K Dick, sci-fi, short story
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I started my 2025 reading with the shortest short story written by Philip K Dick, The Eyes Have It. He probably had fun writing in a few American idioms to his sci-fi stories. I like it.

Read it here

Thursday, December 26, 2024

When The Stars Gossip

 

From AsianWiki 
Gong Ryong (Lee Min-Ho) is an obstetrician and he is the prospective son-in-law of the largest chaebol group MZ. He has a secret mission that he can't tell anyone about. For his secret mission, he pays large sum of money to travel to the space station as space tourist. At the space station, Eve Kim (Kong Hyo-Jin) is stationed there. She is an elite space scientist and is currently on her first space station mission as a commander. She is a perfectionist who strictly follows rules and doesn't tolerate a single mistake in an area where dangers lurk everywhere. Her crew members including fruit fly research scientist Kang Kang-Soo (Oh Jung-Se), who is the second son of a family that runs a global financial company.

The plot sounds interesting. I will watch anything with Lee Min-Ho. I also like Kong Hyo-Jin. 

Starts streaming January 4, 2025 on Netflix.

Friday, December 20, 2024

Thursday, December 12, 2024

Maria


tags: Maria Callas, Netflix movie
⭐🥱

Don't bother. The movie is extremely boring. I must be crazy to even consider watching it because I don't care much for Angelina and Maria. They are both overrated performers. Maria Callas dubbed as the greatest diva ever is laughable, IMHO. I never owned a single song/aria nor watched any of her performances. Same with Angelina. I have seen just two of her movies, Hackers and Salt. 

Yeah, I was a bit nuts to watch the Netflix movie. 45 minutes in, I started looking at my cellphone and realized the movie is making me sleepy. I stopped and removed it from my list. 

Monday, December 9, 2024

Christmas Tree Cats

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Monday, November 11, 2024

The Fiery Priest Season 2


Finally, the wait is over after 5 years! Kim Nam GiI, Honey Lee, and the gang are back. I miss the old villains but the new group of villains, led by Sung Joon as a drug lord in Busan, is as good if not better. 


From AsianWiki 
Kim Hae-Il (Kim Nam-Gil) is a hot-tempered Catholic priest with a burning sense of justice. He heads to Busan to pursue a drug case which originated in Gudam-district, Seoul. Helping him in his pursuit are Prosecutor Park Kyung-Sun (Lee Ha-Nee), Detective Gu Dae-Young (Kim Sung-Kyun) from Gudam Police Station, and Detective Gu Ja-Young (Bibi) from Busan.

Sung Joon

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

The Forest Of Lost Souls











tags: mystery, thriller
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From GoodReads 
A fearless woman, raised in the forest, fights against a group of powerful men in a novel about good versus evil, the enduring nature of myth, and the power of love by #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz.
Raised in the wilderness by her late great-uncle, Vida is a young woman with an almost preternatural affinity for nature, especially for the wolves that also call the forested mountains home. Formed by hard experience, by love and loss, and by the prophecies of a fortune teller, Vida just wants peace.
If only nearby Kettleton County didn’t cast such a dark shadow. It’s where Jose Nochelobo, the love of Vida’s life and a cherished local hero, died in a tragic accident. That’s the official story, but Vida has reasons to doubt it. The truth can’t be contained for long. Nor can the hungry men of power in Kettleton who want something too: that Vida, like Jose, disappear forever. One by one they come for her, prepared to do anything to see their plans through to their evil end. Vida is no less prepared for them. Vida, the forest, and its formidable wonders are waiting. She will not rest until goodness and order have been restored.

Dean Koontz's latest book is absolutely riveting. A fight between a young woman living alone far from the town and seriously evil men. She was orphaned at 5 years old and adopted by her great uncle who died of old age and she never left her forested 18 acre home.

The degenerate men who came for her with murder in their mind didn't know what was coming. The story unfolded slowly and the reader would feel scared for Vida but will find out how clever and prepared she was.  

Sunday, October 6, 2024

A Hazard of Hearts

tags: Amazon streaming, gothic romance, rewinding the 80s
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

From IMDB
When compulsive gambler Sir Giles Staverley (Christopher Plummer) has lost his estate and all of his money playing dice, he realizes that he only has one thing left of value: his daughter Serena (Helena Bonham Carter). In a final game, he stakes his daughter's hand in marriage, convinced that this time he will not lose. Unfortunately, however, he does lose; to the evil Lord Harry Wrotham (Edward Fox). Unable to return home and tell his daughter that he has lost her in a game of dice, Sir Giles kills himself there and then.
Lord Justin Vulcan (Marcus Gilbert), who has witnessed the events, takes pity on Serena Staverley, although they have never met. He challenges Lord Harry Wrotham to a game of dice in which the winner takes Staverley Court and Miss Serena. Lord Justin Vulcan wins and is simply pleased that he has saved someone from the nasty Wrotham, he thinks no more about the event. One evening, however, Vulcan's friend Lord Peter Gillingham (Robert Addie) insists upon them going to Staverley Court to take a look at Vulcan's "prize". When arriving there, Vulcan finds Serena Staverley more beautiful than he ever imagined.

The gothic romance movie is based on a Barbara Cartland book. I've read a few of her books eons ago. They are all the same. You read one and you don't need to bother with the rest of her novels. They have the same stories with new names and titles of the lead characters. LOL.

I was not expecting much but I did enjoy it. It has the 80s campy vibes but with a British Lord and his household.  I couldn't believe how bad the movie is, yet I couldn't look away. I just had to finish it and liked it. Diana Rigg's acting as the evil mother is over the top, but I also liked it. hahaha. This movie with all its flaws is much better than the garbage Hollyweird is making these days. 

Recommended for fans of British period romance movies. 

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Killer Heat


tags: murder mystery
⭐⭐

From IMDB
Follows twin brothers who find themselves in a dangerous love triangle on an isolated Greek island. The investigation is given to "The Jealousy Man," a wounded detective.
I knew this movie would be mediocre but it is based on a Jo Nesbø short story The Jealousy Man, and I just have to watch it. 

It is set in an island in Greece which is beautiful BTW. It stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, and Richard Madden. I've never seen anything with Shailene Woodley. She's alright but not a very good actress IMHO. 

I didn't like the narration by the hired PI, played by Levitt. I find it overused, pretentious, and tried too hard to sound noir. Gordon-Levitt is no Bogart, sorry. I also knew right away who the murderer is and why. It is so obvious. If viewers are surprised by the "twist", then they don't know murder mystery at all. Newbies to the genre, maybe. 

I also didn't like that some innocent people were killed but the 2 main characters did not even talk about it as though they are pieces of trash. The director and writer should have shown that the 2 main characters grieved for them because it was their mistake. Amateurs.

Not recommended.