mystery

atthequillsmercy

Finally Watched It: “Stranger Things”

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The subject of a series of unethical experiments, Eleven escapes her tormentors and is found by three young boys; Lucas, Dustin, and Mike. But Eleven isn’t the only escapee and with townspeople vanishing, the organization is hunting Eleven down.

That’s a pretty thin synopsis but I don’t wanna even attempt to give anything away. I don’t know what is going on with these little original series these days but WOW, are they impressive. The characters are written so well you relate to them immediately and the flow of this is on point. I won’t give away too much but I will say that the sheriff character in these types of shows can take entire seasons to deduce things but Jim Hopper is on the damn ball. And Winona Ryder as Joyce? She’s just amazing.  Even the kids make these fabulous performances.

The only bad thing about this is just a common writing thing where if the characters provided simple explanations, some misunderstandings would be avoided but that’s just a very, VERY minor gripe.

I get some serious Outer Limits, Twin Peaks vibes from this show and it trips my nostalgia switch being set in the early 80’s. This is yet another series where I am so glad I listened to people when they insisted I watch it. Completely worth my time and I look forward to season 2.

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atthequillsmercy

Underrated Movies: “The Great Mouse Detective”

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I’ve been on a kick lately of making my kid watch the movies I grew up with to see if she likes them and if I still get any enjoyment out of them. We’ve done Return to Oz, Secret of NIMH, Jurassic Park, Labyrinth, and Flight of the Navigator so far. It’s been one heck of a trip for me, let me tell you. When I remembered this title, I couldn’t wait to pop it in.

Watching it now, it is certainly darker than I remember. When Olivia’s father is kidnapped, it’s scary, Rattigan orders one of his henchmen eaten alive by a cat, that henchman is shown drinking and is quite obviously drunk off his ass, Basil smokes AND drinks beer and there’s this part that I TOTALLY forgot about:

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Let’s face it; she’s a burlesque dancer.

She does a frikkin strip tease. That’s what it is. No sugar coating.

I am not saying these are bad things by any means but none of this would fly in a kid’s movie today. However, this sadly overlooked Disney film is so much fun and it’s a shame it’s not mentioned more often. There’s just something about older kid’s movies (some of them anyway) that seemed to expect more from the kids in the audience. Basil’s flagrant use of science, math, and SAT level vocabulary are offset by his huge ego and selfishness. Rattigan is genuinely frightening but he’s voiced by Vincent Price. He HAS to be scary then. Dawson is the perfect foil for Basil and Olivia isn’t just an annoying kid; she tries her best for just a child. The animation is beautiful, the story has layers I didn’t see before as a kid, and man I could SO see a spin-off TV series with this.

All in all, great movie that is just fun, heartwarming, and well done. It even got me talking about Sherlock Holmes, which now my kid wants to read. And hey, if a movie is good enough to inspire a 9 year old to read classic literature, I’m all for it.

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atthequillsmercy

Lenni Reviews: “The Mystery of Nevermore” by C. S. Poe

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*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is intended for 18+

*This review is cross-posted to Otakus and Geeks.

Ever walk into work and find a pig heart under a dislodged floorboard? Me neither but Sebastian Snow has. Now he’s caught up in a mystery involving the works of Edgar Allen Poe and falling for the lead detective on the case – Calvin Winter – despite being in a rocky relationship with another cop, Neil Millett. More important than his now complicated relationships, Sebastian can’t resist being nosy and may very well end up the next victim.

First off, it was interesting having the main character; Sebastian, have achromatopsia. I didn’t know that was a thing and learning about it through our main character didn’t slow down the pacing of the book.

As for the rest, the mystery itself was compelling and I’m not a fan of mysteries. To be fair, it’s likely because I’m a literature geek and it was based around Poe’s work. Sadly, I have to take a point off for (er, spoilers, kinda?) damaging a rare book. I’m a bibliophile and a librarian. You just don’t hurt books.

But seriously, this book was a fast, fun, and naughty read. Sebastian and Calvin are characters you can empathize with and have a decent amount of chemistry. The mystery itself I can’t really comment on as I don’t have much experience in this genre but I found it interesting. I would consider reading more in this series in the future. 4 out of 5.

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