The Lady Killer

The Lady Killer turned out to be a decent enough mystery, however it is the type of novel that engages you when you are reading but you don't feel the urge to stop everything and keep reading. 

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is a new type of viewing where you can pick from the alternatives given and direct the story. Despite being a bit wary, I was also eager for it is always good to experiment. However I ended up not liking that fact that I was able to pick what our hero will do next. Maybe because the choices were all horrible. I actually managed to end it without killing anyone (I think, once the viewer has to choose one of the two who will be jumping from the balcony of a high building and die) and the other time I got him murder his father without really knowing how it came to it. But in the end I managed to get him to a film studio and they call the medical personnel on him since he seemed to be in character even when he doesn't need to be. It was nice to hear the songs of my youth. 

Love In The Moonlight

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Love In The Moonlight interested me only in that I wanted to see whether I'll like Park Bo Gum as much as the rest of the world. Well sadly he was not handsome to my eyes and I didn't feel any attraction (nothing to do with age I felt it with LSG and SJK) and I don't think he is a good actor but he has a nice on screen presence and an earnestness (whether true or not, it is impossible to say) that I responded to.

The drama is one of those uneven ones where it starts with adorable meet cute moments and lots of hilarity but towards the end it is angst filled not a single comedic element in site. I didn't really care for it and I think that I'd have found a story line where the King had a great love but gets married to someone else and in time finds happiness in marriage.

Anyway it was not a total loss but I was not eagerly lapping it up either. 

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere exceeded my expectations and I liked it much better than the author's first novel. 

Spinning Silver

Spinning Silver turned out to be even better than Uprooted. I liked the reader very much and this ended up being a novel that made me to prefer it than everything else. Highly recommended.
At the end of the story I felt that I truly loved Ms. Novak. Thank you for writing a good story. 

Bird Box

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Bird Box  I kind of liked the novel but in a rare occasion, I liked the film better. Sandra Bullock may have mediocre acting talent but she has such an earnest on screen present that it is not possible to dislike her. I love her and the cast was very good, and I was in loud tears by the end of it. It is not scary but when watching it you know scaring you is not the point. 

The Outsider

The Outsider turned out to be a decent mystery/procedural/horror novel. Well even a bad Stephen King novel is better than a lot of novels out there so in comparison to his other novels I didn't like it as much (but I liked it better than the last of the Hodges novels) and the recommendations (I doubt that Uncle Steve took money for these so I use recommendations instead of commercials) were kind of annoying but other than those I liked it very much. Will Patton is a good Stephen King reader. 

Narcos: Mexico

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Narcos: Mexico did not really interest me initially. I started it because there was not nothing else interesting at the moment and I wanted to watch something in Spanish to improve my languae skills. I left the first episode in the middle and did not return back for quite some time. I realised it was very similar to The Power of the Dog (novel) and I liked that one very much and I did not want to see characters that looked very different from the ones I imagined in the novel. And then I watched Diego Luna in The Daily Show; he sounded intelligent and passionate and the things he said made sense to me. So I started to watch it again and slowly I was sucked into it and then binge watched yesterday. The story is very similar to The Power of The Dog because I now see that Mr. Winslow is inspired by the real events (but turned them into great fiction). And I'm probably the only one who liked Diego Luna over Gael Garcia Bernal in Y Tu Mama Tambien. And Mr. Luna is very very good here (sometimes chanelling Al Pacino in The Godfather). I liked the secondary characters too. The only weak link as far as I'm concerned it Michael Peña. I like him, I do. He is a decent actor and he actually resembles the guy he is portraying. But for some reason he didn't fit. Narcos: Mexico has another major problem with the script not being that good, but all in all I really liked it in the end. And can safely recommend if you are not averse to watching sex, violence and drugs on screen (but if so you wouldn't be interested in a show called Narcos no?)

As far as Spanish improvement is concerned this one was not a success on my behalf. The Mexican accent was different and they were talking so fast. I understood some of it but very little. I would be lost without the subtitles.

The Aftermath

The Aftermath is a novel I was only interested in when I came across a trailer starring Alexander Skarsgard. Of course I wanted to read the novel and thank  God I was able to purhase a secondhand copy right away. It turned out to be a balmy antidote after Blood Meridian (but still have not erased the latter's affect) and it was interesting to know that the author has planned a screenplay at the same time as he was writing the novel. I liked the message of it and it was a very easy read. 

The Intern

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

The Intern is just as good in this second viewing. I like Nancy Meyers films, the lady knows her melodrama.

Doctor Stranger

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Doctor Stranger turned out to be more of a spy drama rather than a medical drama, and it was not very good but I didn't want to leave it unfinished so completed all the 20 episodes. 

Roma

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Roma is a film I was very eager to watch and it ended up being so full of emotion that I have unexpectedly cried a lot during. It is beautifully filmed, expertly directed and written and wonderfully acted. Yes I'm all out of adjectives, I have read some pretty awful reviews on twitter but there is no way a viewer wouldn't like it if they pay attention to it for more than 2 minutes. Highly recommended. 

Hakan:Muhafız

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Hakan: Muhafız beni epey eğlendirdi. Ama ben Çağatay Ulusoy'u (burun deliklerini gerekli gereksiz şişirip durmasına rağmen) beğeniyorum, Okan Yalabık'ın ise hastasıyım diyebilirim. Fantastik Kurgu türü bana hitap ediyor. Prodüksiyon gayet iyi, bölümler gereksiz uzun değil. 10 bölüm şıp diye bitiverdi. Çok derin iz bırakmasa da, iyi vakit geçirdim.

Blood Meridian

Blood Meridian is a book I both wanted to read and not read because despite loving The Road (and the film,The Counselor, not many people did) it was too depressing. I have decided to give this one a go and I loved it, even though it is a hard novel to read, it left a deep impression on me and its effect is not waning in the least. This is a very violent and depressing novel but it is high end literature. So if you like reading but you are not that into literature then this is not really for you. But if you like literature I urge you to give this a try even if you are squeamish, just the art of the prose will be worth it. 

Where The Crawdads Sing

Where The Crawdads Sing is a nice novel and beautifully read but it just didn't work for me (despite the fact I have shed a few tears during). 

Hold The Dark

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Hold The Dark is yet another Netflix film with AS in it so I decided why not? (Despite the fact that I actually wanted to read the novel beforehand but haven't yet) and another happy surprise this film turned out to be almost tailor made for me. First off, I loved the cinematography, then the story and then the cast (AS gave yet another amazing performance, a very different character than the one in Mute). I didn't see any of it coming and loved it all.  

Cingöz Recai

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Cingöz Recai sevilen bir eski film karakterini yenileme çabası maalesef bir çok sebepten başarısız olmuş. İlk sebep hatalı oyuncu seçimi, Kenan İmirzalıoğlu bence çok iyi bir oyuncu ama bu rolün adamı değil. Bir iki kere kılık değiştirdiği kısımlar var ama ben açıkçası kılık değiştirmiş olduğunu diyalogtan anladım görüntüsünden değil. Meryem Uzerli çok güzel bir kadın ve Hürrem rolünde çok iyiydi ama nedense ondan sonra bir tek Annemin Yarası'nda beğendim kendisini. Burada da çok güzel ama onun dışında bir şey yok. Neyse senaryo iyi değildi, hiç bir şey iyi değildi. Şehir adları yazmışlar şirin şirin ama sadece iki şehirde çekilen bir film için her şehir değiştiğinde (toplam iki kez) yine isim yazıp durmak itici olmuş. Hayır üzüldüğüm nokta bir de bu filme devam çekeceklerini düşünmüşler galiba. 

Mute

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Mute is a Netflix sci fi film and despite it being on my to watch list I didn't really care for it and kept pushing it back. But I'm currently at an Alexander Skarsgard (AS) phase and since he is in it I decided to give it a go. And this ended up being a film I liked very very much irregardless of AS presence. Firstly I liked the AU (near future?) and AS was so good looking and acting very well but also everyone else. Paul Rudd was amazing at a different type of role than he is usually cast in and I couldn't even recognise Justin Theroux (truly I didn't recognise him and just realised it when I read the caption on one of the photos). It was a happy surprise this one. 

The Haunting of Hill House

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

The Haunting of Hill House sounded just like my thing when it first appeared on Netflix but I was alone at the house at the time (my mother and sister having gone to hot springs for a 10 day visit) so I decided to skip it just in case it scares me. I needn't have worried since I didn't find the show scary at all but I actually enjoyed the emotional side of it, the drama was done so well. The casting is perfect here from the little ones to their older selves. And every performance was very good. The make up and special effects were also very well done. This one turned out to be as good as everyone says it is and I loved it (some parts of it reminded me of Stephen King novels and it is high praise coming from me). 

49 Days

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

49 Days  this drama was kind of on my radar and since I didn't want to purchase it at the time (I was not and am not really interested in any of the leads) so I have read recaps and knew the drama inside out. And since I saw it on Netflix I decided to see whether the recap was good or not. And then I was hooked and by Episode 12 I cried like a baby and bowled at the last episode. This is a good drama. 

The Girl In The Ice

The Girl In The Ice actually entertained me and I was not able to guess who the killer is until the the very end.  It is not a literary mystery but it is a good one and I liked the message of equality and tolerance. 

The Selection

The Selection maybe a good novel for a 13 year old who doesn't read a lot would read and like. It is not bad storytelling but definitely not fit for someone who is older than 13 and/or a voracious reader.

The reason I read it was because I like to read this type of novel in order to slowly come down from a literary high.

The Last of The Mohicans

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

The Last of The Mohicans is a film for some reason I was reluctant to watch over the years. At last I have watched it on weekend and I have to say it didn't move me at all except of course fantastic Daniel Day Lewis and a great score.