This movie has a chuckle in almost every scene. The main actors—Vince Vaughn, Tom Wilkinson, and Dave Franco–have great chemistry together. Vince plays a high performing salesman who decides to quit his job because he feels unappreciated and has had no time to spend with his family of two kids and wife. As he goes to the parking lot to leave, he comes across Tom, who was let go that same day because of his age (67 years old). Vince also meets Dave, who had just interviewed with the company, and was heading out. Still feeling charged from having the courage to walk out, Vince declares to the two that he is starting his own business and he asks them if they want to join in. They do, and more funny stuff happens. Continue reading
Reviews – book & movie reviews
K. Pinella’s movie & book reviews
The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker (a book review)
One of the main characters in The Scarlet Gospels is a character first found in Clive Barker’s earlier novella, The Hellbound Heart, upon which the Hellraiser series of movies were based. The character is the lead Cenobite, referred to as the Hell Priest in The Scarlet Gospels. He has nails sticking up from his head, earning him the nickname of Pinhead behind his back by the people he tortures. He despises the name and it makes him angrier when his nemesis, Harry D’Amour, taunts him with it. Continue reading
Kidnapping Mr. Heineken (a movie review)
That Kidnapping Mr. Heineken is based on a true story is one of the reasons I decided to watch it because I never knew such an event took place. I was curious as to whether the kidnappers were successful. The movie is set in Amsterdam, where five childhood friends conspire to kidnap the local tycoon, who is the heir (played by Anthony Hopkins) to the Heineken beer empire. One of the friends is played by Jim Sturgess, an actor I like and probably the main reason I found myself wanting him and his friends to succeed in getting away with the ransom money. Continue reading
Mortdecai (a movie review)
I didn’t finish this movie because it was mortifyingly dull. I thought Johnny Depp was miscast as Mortdecai, a nearly broke British aristocrat with a budding mustache that repulses his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow. The opening scene is Johnny, as Mortdecai, talking to a group of Chinese hoodlums. When Johnny was talking, my immediate thought was the movie was trying to be like the Pink Panther remakes in which Lieutenant Clouseau is played by Steve Martin, who mangles the French language. Johnny Depp’s British accent sounded forced; he didn’t pull it off like Steve Martin did with his funny French accent in the Pink Panther movies. (I wish Steve Martin would star in a new movie. I’ve seen all his movies, but that’s another list.)
Continue reading
The Forgotten Room by Lincoln Child (a book review)
A suspense story about a mysterious room within a haunted mansion that now houses an exclusive think tank. A gruesome suicide occurs in the mansion so Professor Jeremy Logan is asked to investigate because he is an expert in cases that are strange or supernatural in nature. The story takes place along the coastline of Newport, Rhode Island.
The writer, Lincoln Child, always comes up with a somewhat unusual or unique protagonist in his suspense stories. The Forgotten Room is his sixth book. I’ve read all the fiction stories he’s written, and they are listed below in the order they were published.
Utopia
Death Match
Deep Storm
Terminal Freeze
The Third Gate
Full Wolf Moon
Lincoln Child also co-writes with another author, Douglas Preston, another writer I follow. I’ve read all the books they’ve written together, but I will list those when the next book they write together comes out. I’ve also listed below the books Douglas Preston has written, and I will continue to update it as I finish reading his new books.
Impact
Panic in Level 4
The Demon in the Freezer: a True Story
The Kraken Project
Two Night Stand (a movie review)
This is a fun movie to watch. Clever lines and a nice take on one night hook-ups. As the movie title indicates, what starts as a one night stand becomes more because the two get trapped together in the man’s apartment the morning after due to blizzard conditions.
Set in Brooklyn, NY, the man’s apartment is the main setting, where the couple gets to know each other, warily, at first. The main actors, Miles Teller and Analeigh Tipton, have a good chemistry between them and are believable within their characters because they look average and have concerns that are relatable. Each is experiencing hurt from their respective long-term relationships that they later realize are with the wrong people.
The movie doesn’t get maudlin and it’s just the right amount of patness when they see they have more in common with each other than they thought. An uplifting movie for anyone who just got out of a relationship.
The Gambler (a movie review)
Even though the storyline of a movie could be better crafted, I will sit through the movie because I like the cast. Such is the case in The Gambler, which is about an English professor, played by Mark Wahlberg, who leads a double life going to an underground casino and gambling on borrowed money. Certain scenes did not seem to fit in the movie, and the events that lead to an ending that explains the main character’s motivation seem exaggerated in their gravity. Continue reading
Ghoul Movies Ranked
When the main scare is a ghoul that teases its way in and out of the scenes, I would classify such a horror film as a ghoul movie. Expressionist artist Edvard Munch’s The Scream embodies the basis of a ghoul for me—a creature with a long, pale face racked in pain. With that foundation, add to it long hair straggled over the face, or eyes sewn, or even an eery expression. Then, have the ghoul pop out at the least expected moment and you’ve got its grisly image burned into your psyche. I ranked below (1 – the best, the last – the worst) such movies I’ve seen to date, and will update if I recall or view another ghoul movie, so periodically check in by clicking the “ghoul movies” tag.
1. The Ring
2. Ringu
3. Sinister
4. Insidious 2
5. Insidious
6. Insidious 3
7. Out of the Dark
8. Woman in Black
9. Woman in Black 2
Zombie Movies Ranked
I am not much of a discriminating viewer. If the synopsis sounds interesting, I will watch it. I’ve sat through more movies than walked out on them. I think it’s because either the story is so interesting that I forgive some bad acting, or the acting is so good that I overlook the thin story line. Here I’ve ranked the zombie movies according to which is the best I’ve seen to date (1 – the best, last – the worst). Continue reading
Karina Pinella 