Rebecca Crunden's Blog, page 50

Graphic Novel Review: Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms (2021)

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier, illustrated by Val Wise

Synopsis: Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who’s under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend BeeBee is a people-pleaser—a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressure...

Film Review: Possession (2009)

Sarah Michelle Gellar and Lee Pace need to be in more films together. They seriously know how to command a screen! Possession was great! It’s very much a suspense film, and has a bit of a fantasy/horror twist. Kind of. Maybe. Hard to say, really. But I greatly enjoyed the leading couple’s chemistry. The film has an engaging and surprising plot. And apparently there’s an alternative ending, which also sounds interesting, but it’s not on the version I watched.

Basically, a married coup...

Film Review: Breaking and Entering (2006)

Hm. This was an enthralling film, definitely. I’m not sure if I really liked it, but it wasn’t bad. I think my issue is that I have to really fall in love with the characters to totally enjoy a movie, even when the acting and plot are great. This one had the acting for sure. Everyone in this is extremely talented and I loved all the actors I spotted: Jude Law, Vera Farmiga, Robin Wright, Juliette Binoche. It was especially nice seeing Rafi Gavron in a central role, as I haven’t really seen h...

Film Review: Stardust (2007)

I was trying to find a great romance yesterday and just couldn’t, and then I put on Stardust and it’s filled to bursting with romance and ticked all the boxes. It was so great! The film is based on the book by Neil Gaiman and follows Tristan Thorn, a young man from the town of Wall, who goes on a hunt to bring a fallen star back to Wall for his beloved Victoria.

In the story, Wall is a small town in England that borders Stormhold, a magical kingdom on the side of Wall’s wall (it’s no...

Film Reviews: The Darjeeling Limited (2007) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

I am having a Wes Anderson Sunday. I was trying to think of bright, sunny movies to watch and the first thing that sprang to mind was The Darjeeling Limited, which is funny, because I haven’t actually watched the film in years, but I think my brain just went: whimsy = Wes Anderson, and that’s exactly what I needed.

I love how colourful and bright this film is. The soundtrack is perfect for Sunday mornings. And the film is just so darn funny. Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwar...

Poetry and Photography Review: Rhythm Flourishing (2020) and Seizing the Bygone Light (2021)

Rhythm Flourishing: A Collection of Kindku and Sixku
by Cendrine Marrouat and David Ellis

Today
questions still
haunt old stone.

Ooooh, I do adore photography blended with poetry. I’d never heard of Kindku and Sixku before, so learning about these types of poetry was very informative!

I loved so many of the poems, especially the one quoted above and the one inspired by William Ernest Henley, who is a personal favourite of mine. The photography in here is absolutely stunning, too! ...

Book Review: Mortal Engines (2001)

Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve

I absolutely fell in love with the Mortal Engines film by Peter Jackson, which I’ve reviewed here, and ever since I watched it, I’ve been wanting to read the book. I finally had time to finish it the other week and I ADORED it. There are a few big differences from the film, but I loved both in their own way. For anyone who loves dystopian fiction, definitely dive into this series.

*SPOILER WARNING*

“You aren’t a hero, and I’m not beautiful, and...

Show Review: ¿Quién mató a Sara? (2021)

¿Quién mató a Sara? takes chaotic family mysteries to a whole new level. The show follows Álex after he’s wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of his sister, Sara. Eighteen years later, Álex is let out and determined to get revenge for Sara’s death, his imprisonment and what his mother endured all the while.

The story flashes back and forth between before Sara’s death, when the characters are all teenagers, and the present, where Álex is going after Rodolfo and Chema, his former friends....

OUT NOW: These Violent Nights (2021)

THESE VIOLENT NIGHTS IS OUT NOW IN EBOOK AND PAPERBACK!

Synopsis:

Once upon a time, inhabitants of another world tore a hole through the universe and came to Earth. They called themselves Suriias, and rivalled humans in knowledge and skill with one great exception: they had magic.

War followed. Humanity lost. And three hundred years later, humans are on the brink of extinction.

Orphans Thorn and Thistle live in hiding. They are the last of their families, the last of their friends. The...

Show Review: Barbaren (2020)

For all the fans of Centurion (2010), King Arthur (2004), The Last Kingdom (2015) and Vikings (2013), Barbaren (‘Barbarians’) is the show for you. Set in 9th century Roman-occupied Germania, the tribes and villages are struggling to stay alive under the repressive, brutal rule of the Romans. To keep the peace, one chief trades his sons to the Romans – years later, ‘Ari’, now Arminius, is a respected Roman soldier who has little in common with his childhood best friends, Folkwin and Thusnelda...