Red Country

Red Country is the third of the standalone First Law series novels and it is a western. I loved it from beginning to end and the reader Steven Pacey is the perfect match for Joe Abercrombie's prose. And Mr. Abercrombie is one of the few men who manages to make me laugh out loud. I'm so happy that I was able to finish these novels. Now on to the Shattered Sea trilogy (and funnily enough I have ordered all three but only received the last two in different envelopes. So I'm still patiently waiting for Half A King but getting kind of worried that it got lost in the post.

Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice is a novel I got from a second hand book store on line. I like the plot of it and as I get older, I'm more interested in old people romance. Despite the battered condition I was instantly into it and loved it more and more as I went on reading. By the time it ended I was in happy tears and I'll seek more novels from this writer. 

The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora This novel has good reviews on youtube, goodreads etc. and comes recommended when and where ever I chose a book from this genre. Knowing very little about it, I didn't hesiste to pick it up when I saw this second hand copy in great condition at a bookstore (The Last Bookstore, LA - oh the good old days). Well this one didn't work for me. It has great world building and the story telling is good but I just couldn't like any of the characters. They are a team of con men called Gentlemen Bastards. I'm they are good guys but they still rob and decieve people and despite the fact that I had no trouble liking a torturer as a character in another (in my opinion, better, fantasy series) I just couldn't like these guys. They don't even feed the poor with their earnings. They just keep them all at a vault. Anyway the main problem for me was the revenge aspect. This is one of my favorite tropes. But this time it made it harder to get into the story since the main villain is a man after revenge and he has good enough reasons too. Anyway, despite the fact that I liked the action, the con plots and the characters didn't work for me. I'm not thinking of purchasing the second novel of this series.  

We Are What We Are (USA Remake)

Photo credit:www.ioncinema.com

We Are What We Are is a remake of a Mexican film. I have not seen the original but this one was decent enough. I liked the cast and the scene before last was horrible (which is a good thing in this case). 

The Dressmaker

Photo credit: www.sbs.com.au

The Dressmaker worked for me. This one is more like a surreal story, couture aspectes used to enhance the effect (small town women wearing runway quality gowns under the merciless sun and dust of rural landscape). Kate Winslet is dynamite as usual the rest of the cast are also very good. However do not expect this film to make sense in a realistic way. The message and the human characteristics are all there but somehow do not quite fit the setting. I recommend Pricilla The Queen of the Desert if you'd like to see a better application to this sort of story telling.  

Una Pistola En Cada Mano (Gun In Each Hand)

Photo credit: www.sensacine.com

Una Pistola En Cada Mano (A Gun In  Each Hand) I only watched it because it was Spanish but I actually liked it a lot. It is a collection of short films with each character having a connection of some sort to each other. Each male and going through something. 

Insecure (Qui Vive)

Photo credit: blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine

Insecure (Qui Vive) is a film I chose to watch because of two things, a) the plot, b) Adele Exarchopoulos. The plot at Digiturk was listed as "a security guard likes a girl he met on the bus but he is too shy". This had nothing to do with the plot. Yes there is a security guard at a mall, yes there is a girl he met on the bus but that is about it. The film is about the security guard and an incident that changed his life and others. He is being bullied by a group of middle school age kids. They harass him constantly. He actually wants to be a nurse and has finally won the written exam at this fourth try. Meanwhile he meets this nice girl at the bus and they connect immediately and start to date. He really likes her too. He has a shady friend who he has grown up together in the same neighbourhood. This guy always asks him some tips regarding the mall schedule and he is up to no good. Our protagonist always refuses him, however one day he goes to a rap concert and there are the mall rats who harass him again with his girlfriend right next to him. And it appears that they look up and listen to his shady friend. So he agrees to tip him in exchange for the brats to leave him alone. He gives him the date and time of a delivery. He is also in the security team who'll meet the delivery to the shopping mall. Things then go really bad. The robbers produce a gun and one of them is caught (by an angry and big security guard) and is killed. Of course we were annoyed and at the same time kind of scared of these group of kids but after his death we understand that they really are kids and it is such a waste. The film is of the artsy European type I like. The actors look like real people, the locations and costumes look authentic and there isn't a certain resolution or redemption.