![]() ![]() ![]() What I have always appreciated about this film is its divergence from traditional Dracula pop culture while retaining the character's innate sense of style and portent evil combined with an empathetic forlorn essence. Francis Ford Coppola's visionary telling coupled with a superlative and chillingly stirring performance by Gary Oldman elevate the gothic story of passion, love and blood. When the charismatic Dracula meets Mina (Winona Ryder), a young woman who appears as the reincarnation of his lost love, the two embark on a journey of romantic passion and horror.īram Stoker's Dracula needs no introduction among film fans and is highly regarded among the various incarnations of the classic horror tale brought to the big screen. After centuries alone in his crumbling castle, Dracula’s taste for humanity has grown bold with desire, drawing him out of seclusion. Originally released in 1992 and helmed by award-winning director Francis Ford Coppola comes the remake of the classic and chilling tale about the devastatingly seductive Transylvanian prince (Gary Oldman) who travels from Eastern Europe to 19th century London in search of human love. A new rating for the bonus materials is indicated above. ![]() This offering, unlike the previous 4K release now includes both HDR10 and Dolby Vision HDR grading. Ratings for film, Atmos track, and video will be the same. I reviewed Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s 2017 Ultra HD Blu-ray release, and have included my comments from that review here. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() But the rift actually cuts deeper: each girl envies the other's life. In this be-careful-what-you-wish-for tale, two best friends learn that the grass is not always greener on the other sideĪt the end of the summer, 12-year-old best friends Melody and Katie are no longer speaking, having fallen out over a boy. Katie is Melody and Melody is Katie and neither one has the experience she expected. When they both wish for the exact same thing at the exact same time, to redo summer as each other, their wishes come true. Turns out Melody is jealous of Katie, too. Twelve-year-old Katie is insanely jealous of her best friend, Melody. Everyone always talks about how pretty I am, like that's the most important thing, like that's all I am. They have family dinners practically every single night. ![]() Why Melody thinks Katie has the ideal life: Meanwhile, I get stuck babysitting almost every day. Her parents never make her do any chores. Katie's reasons why it's better to be Melody: ![]() ![]() The first 100-or-so pages are an introduction to the history of “The Odyssey.” She brings attention to the new findings of who Homer might be. The tone is straightforward and helps clarify the text in a modern way. Both are forms of poetry, but iambic pentameter is more common in English poetry.Įmily Wilson’s translation is different from other translations of the epic. The original text is in dactylic hexameter, whereas Wilson’s translation is in iambic pentameter. In this version of “The Odyssey” the meter of the poem was changed. Although she is not the first woman to translate the epic, she is the first woman to translate it into English. Her translation of “The Odyssey” was published in 2018 and provides a fresh take on the ancient text. The author, Emily Wilson, teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and is a College for Women Class of 1963 Term Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classical Studies, and graduate chair of the Program in Comparative Literature & Literary Theory, according to her website. It’s even more fascinating to find that this author is the first female to translate “ The Odyssey” into English. ![]() ![]() We all know “The Odyssey” is a classic epic that is typically found in the syllabi of higher education courses. Not only do I love Greek history, but the background of the author caught my eye. I decided to write about a book I recently picked up at Reads & Company on Bridge Street. ![]() ![]() ![]() One thing remains constant: He wants his wife back. He takes off on his own journey out west, searching for the answers to all that has gone wrong in his life. Together the two women embark on the most difficult journey of their lives: Joanna struggling for independence, roots, and a future of her own, as her family tugs at her from afar and Grace, choosing to live the remainder of her life for herself alone, knowing she may never see her children again.Įntwined is Paul Harrison's story as he loses his wife, his job, and everything that defines him as a man. She finds a job as a live-in companion to Grace Finelli, a widow who has come to the island to fulfill a girlhood dream. She runs away to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a place she's been to just once. more » the thought of having to start all over again, Joanna commits the first irresponsible act of her life. ![]() Her children are grown and gone, her husband is more married to his job than to her, and now they're about to pack up once more. After more than a dozen moves in twenty-five years of marriage, Joanna Harrison is lonely and tired of being a corporate wife. Sometimes you have to leave your life to find yourself again. ![]() ![]() ![]() The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim"-īook Synopsis "An inventive plot and incisive character studies elevate MWA Grand Master Grafton's twenty-fourth Kinsey Millhone novel.This superior outing will remind readers why this much-loved series will be missed as the end of the alphabet approaches."- Publishers Weekly (starred review) Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. Sue Grafton's X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. ![]() X: The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. X: The shortest entry in Webster's Unabridged. ![]() ![]() ![]() He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he is a little different from his fellow Dead. “R” is having a no-life crisis-he is a zombie. This special five-year anniversary edition includes the powerful prequel novella, The New Hunger, which sheds light on the saga’s past while setting the stage for its epic conclusion. In Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion’s New York Times bestselling novel that inspired a major film, a zombie returns to humanity through an unlikely encounter with love. ![]() “Has there been a more sympathetic monster since Frankenstein’s?” - Financial Times “A strange and unexpected treat…elegantly written, touching, and fun.” -Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler’s Wife “A mesmerizing evolution of a classic contemporary myth.” -Simon Pegg “Gruesome yet poetic…highly original.” - The Seattle Times NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() But her POV was never annoying, and she was refreshingly pragmatic, something I love in a main character. This was wicked cool, as everyone's abilities differ, and the occasional inconvenient appearance of the spirits really rendered everything higher stakes and more interesting.Ĭlara was an interesting protagonist I didn't see many dimensions to her, and I think it was intentional, that she has closed herself off because of the way her connections with the spirit world work. And for every "treat" slash magical ability they bestow upon a bargainer, there is a "trick", a dark downside and cost of the powers. The "magic" system of this world was really interesting, comprised almost entirely of the unearthly abilities granted to specific characters through bargains with powerful spirits, some of whom are recognizable from other Black lore I've consumed over the years. I also love a heist-like plot with one of those gangs of varied characters, and this was fun like the best of them. ![]() in the 1920s, steeped in African American folk magic concepts and intrigue. I quite enjoyed this adventure through the Black neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. ![]() ![]() ![]() Going directly from the first two points, the biggest criticism against the Dark Tower film is that the story felt rushed, characters were not fleshed out, and that it felt like a generic action movie rather than one of the better fantasy series of our time. ![]() And it seems that they were heading in that direction, as a TV series adaptation of Dark Tower was set to be made, but was unfortunately canceled. In order for Hollywood to get the series right, a film would have to have a longer runtime at least two hours or longer. For a movie that took over ten years to develop and make, a run time like that was a disappointment. Critics stated that the best moments of the film were when Roland and Jake were bonding (and Elba's performance as well), but because of the run time, they could not be explored more. Characters weren't as fleshed out as they could have been the plot was immensely rushed, and important themes and messages were merely glossed over in order to get the film over with. ![]() Considering the series contains eight books and over three thousand pages, having the first film be that short was a huge detriment. ![]() One of the biggest gripes shared by most (if not all) critics, and Stephen King himself, was that the run time of The Dark Tower was way too short, coming in at a measly ninety-five minutes (roughly an hour and a half). ![]() ![]() ![]() “ To Paradise,” Yanagihara’s third novel (out next week), feels like further proof that her greatest strength lies in finding new ways to seduce her readers, while calling into further question the value or the purpose of the lure. It was almost chemically addictive, but it lacked the complexity and texture of an empathic piece of art. In fact, feelings in “A Little Life” were mostly flat and blunt force - the same notes hit hard over and over. ![]() Empathy is not the sole or even the most interesting goal of art, but it is worth exploring what critics have decided is a defining attribute of Yanagihara’s work. “Empathy” was the word used most often in reference to the novel. Elif Batuman aptly compared it in the New Yorker to “ Sex and the City” but with suffering. In contrast to her 2013 debut “The People in the Trees,” Yanagihara’s follow-up had beautiful people, Harvard, the New York art world, money, fashion, architecture. I read the novel, an 816-page New-York-friends melodrama that devolves into near-constant pain and trauma, on a plane, and I sobbed. T-shirts were emblazoned with the names of the four main characters. ![]() It was a finalist for the Booker prize and the National Book Award. In 2015, Hanya Yanagihara’s “ A Little Life” seduced millions. Writing a novel is, in part, an act of manipulation and seduction, a give-and-take, a dance. ![]() If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. ![]() ![]() ![]() Connolly makes her conflicted narrator so slow on the uptake that readers, who will twig to the true villain's identity far earlier, may grow impatient waiting for her to get on with it. More betrayal awaits, though, along with considerable slaughter, before just deserts are fully paid. The horrific truth at last revealed, devastated Kymera sets out to rescue the dozens of girls she has taken. But as Kymera pursues her nocturnal mission, aided by wings and a stinging tail that (in overt homage to Frankenstein) are bolted on, exchanges with an intrepid lad named Rendall and other puzzling clues gradually lead her to question her assumptions. ![]() ![]() Having wakened with no memory, patchwork Kymera knows only what her kind-faced creator, Barnabas, tells her-that the girls of nearby Bryre are being stolen by a deranged wizard, and she has been assembled from gathered parts of victims and magical creatures to rescue them, one per night. A monster's search for identity and redemption, with betrayal, lies and madness at its core. ![]() |