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50 books. 50 movies. 2015. (Follow Format in OP!)

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G

Glaurungr

Member
Glaurungr - 45/50 books | 89/50 movies​
April update:

Books:

  • Arnfinn Pettersen - Vampyr! Blodsugende lik i litteratur og tradisjon (2003)
  • Jan Guillou - Att inte vilja se (2014)
  • Jeanette Sky - Alver: Naturens barn, kulturens skapninger (2003)
  • Michael Crichton - The Andromeda Strain (1969)
  • Michael J. Sullivan - Theft of Swords (2011)
  • Peter Tremayne - Suffer Little Children (1995)

  • Brandon Sanderson - Firstborn (2008)
  • Brandon Sanderson - Sixth of the Dusk (2014)
  • Neil Gaiman and Lorenzo Mattotti (ill.) - Hansel and Gretel (2014)
  • Robert Jordan - Knife of Dreams (2005)
  • Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - The Gathering Storm (2009)

Movies:

  • Cloud Atlas - Tom Tykwer and Andy Wachowski (2012)
  • Corpse Bride - Tim Burton and Mike Johnson (2005)
  • Den demokratiske terroristen (The Democratic Terrorist) - Pelle Berglund (1992)
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Stanley Kubrick (1964)
  • Dumb & Dumber To - Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly (2014)
  • Into the Woods - Rob Marshall (2014)
  • Kaguyahime no monogatari (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya) - Isao Takahata (2013)
  • Outpost 37 - Jabbar Raisani (2014)
  • Sennen joyû (Millennium Actress) - Satoshi Kon (2001)
  • The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines - Jonathan Frakes (2006)
 
D

Dandy Crocodile

Member
April Update:

New in April:
4 Books | 12 Movies

Books:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon - 4/5
On Writing - Stephen King - 4/5
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith - 5/5
My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories - Various - 2/5

Movies:
If I Stay (2014) - 2/5
Maleficent (2014) - 4/5
Dallas Buyers Club (2013) - 4/5
The Boondock Saints (1999) - 2/5
Once (2006) - 4/5
Wild (2014) - 5/5
About Time (2013) - 5/5
Chocolat (2000) - 3/5
Cake (2014) - 4/5
Dear White People (2014) - 3/5
Planet Terror (2007) - 3/5
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) - 3/5

January Update
February Update
March Update

I felt like I slowed down on books but turns out I maintained the requisite 4 monthly. It just took me all month to finish A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. That book is perhaps best suited to reading a chapter a day or so. It has a wonderful flow to it and, along with A Little Life, is a favorite that I've read so far this year.
On Writing was read in a day and I gained a bit of perspective about my own writing from it. Definitely can see why so many recommend it.

In terms of movies, Wild and About Time where two I watched on a whim and both turned out to be wonderful. I'll definitely want to own them in the future. Something must be said for Once as well, since it was a very nontraditional musical film with such a fantastic soundtrack.

April was a great month. :)
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
I wonder who is leading in the movies department.

Also, we are suppose to be doing update posts? I have just been updating my original post.
 
B

bggrthnjsus

Member

Update 12/29: Done…barely. Some of the books I read could be argued against (shorter graphic novels), but some of the other books were thousands of pages (GoT series, pathology textbooks), so I am counting them anyway.

books (author, year and rating out of 5):
  1. colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage (murakami, 2014) - 4/5
  2. dataclysm (rudder, 2014) - 4/5
  3. the washington manual of surgical pathology: 2nd edition (humphrey, dehner and pfeifer, 2011) - 5/5
  4. ghostwritten (mitchell, 1999) - 4.5/5
  5. acceptance (vandermeer, 2014) - 2/5
  6. lawrence in arabia (anderson, 2014) - 3/5
  7. citizen (rankine, 2014) - 4/5
  8. AABB practical assessment (AABB press, 2012) - 2/5
  9. the bone clocks (mitchell, 2014) - 4.5/5
  10. the other end of the microscope (koneman, 2002) - 1/5
  11. anatomic pathology board review (patil, 2012) - 2.5/5
  12. quick compendium clinical pathology 2e (mais, 2011) - 2/5
  13. the martian (weir, 2015) - 3/5
  14. the goldfinch (tartt, 2014) - 3.5/5
  15. showa, 1926-1939 (mizuko, 2014) - 3.5/5
  16. a game of thrones (martin, 1996) - 4/5
  17. quick compendium clinical pathology 3e (mais, 2014) - 4/5
  18. safari honeymoon (jacobs, 2014) - 3/5
  19. clinical pathology board review (spitalnik, 2014) - 3/5
  20. a clash of kings (1998, martin) - 4/5
  21. a storm of swords (martin, 2000) - 3/5
  22. a feast for crows (martin, 2005) - 2.5/5
  23. americanah (adichie, 2014) - 5/5
  24. a dance with dragons (martin, 2011) - 2/5
  25. the first men in the moon (wells, 1901) - 3/5
  26. the invisible man (wells, 1897) - 2/5
  27. radiology for surgeons in clinical practice (sala, 2008) - 1/5
  28. by night in chile (bolano, 2005) - 3.5/5
  29. showa, 1939-1944 (mizuki, 2015) - 3.5/5
  30. wolf in white van (darnielle, 2014) - 5/5
  31. child of god (mccarthy, 1973) - 4/5
  32. the minority report (dick, 1956) - 3/5
  33. the trial (kafka, 1925) - 4/5
  34. herbert west: reanimator (lovecraft, 1921) - 2.5/5
  35. essays at eighty (hall, 2014) - 3/5
  36. a brief history of time (hawking, 1998) - 4/5
  37. station eleven (mandel, 2014) - 2/5
  38. we have always lived in the castle (jackson, 1965) - 4/5
  39. the girl on the train (hawkins, 2014) - 1/5
  40. nimona (stevenson, 2014) - 2.5/5
  41. modern romance (ansari, 2015) - 3/5
  42. the knowledge (dartnell, 2015) - 2.5/5
  43. through the woods (carroll, 2014) - 3/5
  44. current concepts in gynecologic pathology: epithelial tumors of the gynecologic tract (soslow, 2011) - 3/5
  45. savage harvest (hoffman, 2014) - 4/5
  46. showa, 1944-1953 (mizuki, 2015) - 4/5
  47. tracer (boffard, 2015) - 1/5
  48. the forever war (haldeman, 1974) - 4/5
  49. when will there be good news? (atkinson, 2008) - 3/5
  50. hematopoietic neoplasms – controversies and diagnosis and classification (george and arber, 2013) - 2/5

movies (year and rating out of 5):
  1. mad max (1979) - 3.5/5
  2. nebraska (2013) - 3.5/5
  3. universal soldier: the return (1999) - 0/5
  4. frank (2014) - 3.5/5
  5. birdman (2014) - 5/5
  6. big hero 6 (2014) - 5/5
  7. fury (2014) - 2/5
  8. pale rider (1985) - 3/5
  9. 21 jump street (2012) - 2.5/5
  10. captain america (2011) - 2/5
  11. dawn of the planet of the apes (2014) - 3/5
  12. kingsman (2014) - 3/5
  13. mad max: fury road (2015) - 5/5
  14. mad max 2 (1981) - 4/5
  15. 47 ronin (2013) - 0/5
  16. mud (2012) - 3/5
  17. captain america: the winter soldier (2013) - 4/5
  18. foxcatcher (2014) - 4/5
  19. la casa de mi padre (2012) - 3/5
  20. alice (1988) - 3/5
  21. beyond the black rainbow (2010) - 4/5
  22. primer (2004) - 4.5/5
  23. this is spinal tap (1984) - 4.5/5
  24. wet hot american summer (2001) - 4/5
  25. advantageous (2015) - 3/5
  26. spy (2015) - 3/5
  27. terminator: genisys (2015) - 0/5
  28. korengal (2014) - 2.5/5
  29. beasts of no nation (2015) - 1/5
  30. the hunger games: mockingjay part 1 (2014) - 2.5/5
  31. burn after reading (2008) - 4/5
  32. american ultra (2015) - 3.5/5
  33. predators (2010) - 2.5/5
  34. the maze runner (2014) - 3/5
  35. blades of glory (2007) - 3/5
  36. lucy (2014) - negative a million /5
  37. white god (2014) - 3.5/5
  38. ex machina (2015) - 5/5
  39. beavis and butthead do america (1996) - 2/5
  40. infernal affairs (2002) - 4/5
  41. trainwreck (2015) - 2/5
  42. a serious man (2009) - 4/5
  43. rambo: first blood (1982) - 4/5
  44. escape from la (1996) - 1.5/5
  45. fantastic planet (1973) - 4/5
  46. sicario (2015) - 4/5
  47. revenge of the nerds (1984) - 3/5
  48. the martian (2015) - 3/5
  49. jurassic world (2015) - 3/5
  50. star wars: the force awakens (2015) - 4.5/5

also shooting for 250 albums again.

albums - 252/250 (not gonna post the list for obvious length reasons)
 
C

cocopuffs

Banned
April update:
cocopuffs said:
cocopuffs - 0/50 Books | 10/50 Movies

10. Zodiac - ★★★★½ - Really liked the movie, didn't know the real ending
(or lack thereof)
to the Zodiac story so that whole story was pretty suspenseful to me. Loved the tension especially in that one basement scene near the end. The film also looked really nice. I did have slight issues with the length though as I find myself losing attention a bit at about the 2-hour mark, pacing was pretty good though. Overall I liked it but in terms of Fincher films I've watched, I'd rank The Social Network/Fight Club above this.
Click to expand...

Still didn't read any books, I think if I'm gonna even the book side of the challenge, I'm going to have to get a Kindle. The convenience of e-books over physical ones is too much to pass up.
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
cocopuffs said:
April update:


Still didn't read any books, I think if I'm gonna even the book side of the challenge, I'm going to have to get a Kindle. The convenience of e-books over physical ones is too much to pass up.
Click to expand...

After I got my Kindle, my book consumption skyrocketed. I highly recommend it.
 
W

walkmetothelake

Banned
cocopuffs said:
April update:


Still didn't read any books, I think if I'm gonna even the book side of the challenge, I'm going to have to get a Kindle. The convenience of e-books over physical ones is too much to pass up.
Click to expand...

You probably already know but Amazon has an app for Kindle books that you can use on your phone along with a website/web app for use on a PC.

I've had water damage issues with my Kindle but both of those are a nice way to still be able to do ebooks price and convenience wise.
 
F

Freeza Under The Shower

Member
19.
I just watched Of Origin Unknown (1983) and this movie is amazing. And I mean that in a non-sarcastic manner. I'm not exactly big on monster movie, in particular because most of them are 'shlock' basically, but this one is smart about what it does.

You'll get to see Future Robocop (tm, at that time still four years pending) go full Ahab and what can only be accurately described as a demon rat from hell. He even has Moby dick on his nightstand, watches the Old Man And The Sea on tv, and everything.
There is also a bit of Kafka in the sense that the movie starts with 'the crazy guy explaining the sane yuppy about rats' and after having to deal with the seemingly ever bigger rat, Weller gives him a look that puts the sane in the crazy guy. Amazing.

I had a lot of fun with this one.

There is also a scene early on which uses noise correctly, by having a lot of noise with Weller just walking with dead eyes after reading up on rats. Most modern movies are just noise all the same, so this stuck out like a sore thumb.

edit:

20. Debug (2014). Doc McKay from Stargate Atlantis presents: a fairly decent space slasher movie featuring hackers this time. It's a little over-doing it on the special effects and somewhat underwritten(scenes and characters, mostly), but it's serviceable. One rather 'newbie' mistake however, is the names of characters. You should also make sure your character have very different names, so the audience can always tell them apart, particularly in dialogue about another character. Every character in this movie seems to have an a at the end of their name, which makes it hard to tell who is who. And of course character motivations needs more background and less telling, more showing. So basically newbie mistakes, but the integration of effects into the movie is quite good.
 
choodi

choodi

Banned

Books
  1. Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett (B)

Movies
  1. Monsters (B)
  2. Today's Special (C)
  3. The Cove (C)
  4. La Haine (C)

Monsters was fantastic. So much atmosphere without relying on cheap scares.

Reaper Man was great. Reading it was my tribute to Terry Pratchett.

At the moment i am reading Almayer's Folly: a story of an Eastern river by Joseph Conrad and listening to Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell by Susana Clarke.

I'm really enjoying Conrad's writing style. It's compact and efficient, but retains a very descriptive nature.

The same can't be said for Clarke. I just find the style so...laborious. The story is going nowhere either. I am assuming it will pick up soon, but so far it has just been taking forever for anything to happen.
 
A

Anas

Banned
March Update

Anas - 11/50 books | 50/50 movies

Books :
1. Fifty Shades of Grey ★★☆☆☆
Well, there was a good funny moments, but there was a lot of emails and sexuality in lines.

2. Thirteen Reason Why ★★★☆☆
Interesting book in the beginning but there's a reason or two you'll find it silly and won't suicide for it

3. Mockingjay ★★☆☆☆
No hunger games in this one.. It felt boring in the first chapters but the ending worth it.

4. Fifty Shades Darker ★★★☆☆
At least it have some action in it, but not quite what you'll expect, and it's basically coping Twilight.. and it's so obivious.

5. Insurgent ★★☆☆☆
Does any of these books that I read getting any good? I got confused in the book cause I didn't read the first one, only watched the movie which is very different than the book

6. Attack on Titan Chapter 65 ★★★☆☆
a lot of secrets has been unveiled in this Chapter, pretty much soon the story will be more clear.

7. Attack on Titan Chapter 66 ★★★★☆
Best thing Historia did sense she ever appeared.

8. Attack on Titan 67 ★★★★☆
Wow another weird Ttian.. this time is huge.

Movies :
1. If I Stay ★★☆☆☆
The movie really have the potential to make you cry with the good plot, unfortunately the direction sucks and Chloe Mortez performance could give us better, but she sucked.

2. The Roommate ★★☆☆☆
A good teenager's movie have TV stars cast that is so good looking, the movie was fun but not that excellent like most of thriller movies, is like watching a CW's TV movie.

3. Clueless ★★★★☆
A movie that shows us not all movies about high school girls are suck, this movie was the start of proving that, and led and inspire good movies like Mean Girls, Easy A.

4. Nightcrawler ★★★★★
Jake Gyllenhaal is one of the best actors of his generation, giving us a good performance, and also the movie really fun for causal people who doesn't considered hardcore.

5. The Vow ★★★☆☆
If Rachel McAdams name's appears on romantic movie poster don't regret and watch it, cause this she gave so much of this genre.

6. Ghost ★★★★★
Wow. where this movie has been all life, it was excellent, funny, touchy, thrilling a masterpiece of old-school movies.

7. Pirates of The Caribbean ★★★★☆
A movie where Johnny Depp doesn't wear a full make-up.. or does he? playing Black Flag and watching this movie in the same period was kinda.. Deja Vu.

8. The Interview ★★☆☆☆
Well thank god the movie didn't make that much of success, because it was not bad but not even good, the thing I liked about this movie is the references of Pop culture.

9. Rudderless★★★★☆
Amazing movie where Selena Gomez doesn't do auto-tune, with really a dark twist in the end.

10. Alexander and The Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ★★★☆☆
A good PG-13 movie form Disney where they''re allowed to say the word "Penis". and Again.. Bella Throne is the mean girl.

11. Boyhood ★★★★☆
Simple story of family or actually a boy and how all his life went through 12 years, all performance suck except for Patricia Arquette, but the movie is really touching.

12. Birdman ★★★★★
Unlike boyhood, Birdman lead cast gave us a notable performances like Emma Stone's, Edward Norton's , and the most important Michael Keaton's.

13. Camp X-Ray ★★★☆☆
Will the Musilms will feel the racism for sure, Kristen Stewart give us her best, but not enough yet, her acting carrer could get better after seeing this movie.

14. Precious ★★★★☆
The movie good but I hate Lee Daniel's directing with stupid scene's like the one that show Lenny Kravits for the first time in movie.

15. Johnny English ★★★☆☆
A nice 007 parody, Mr.Bean never been cooler and funnier. you'll enjoy watching this with you family.

16. The Purge Anarchy ★★★☆☆
Wow. definitely better than the last one, this time it's action and thriller movie, unlike the first one that tried to be a horror n' slasher movie.

17. No Reservation ★★★☆☆
Still keep watching it, maybe I'll talented at cooking as much as Aaron Lockhart.

18. Parker ★★☆☆☆
A good action movie, but no much of action scene's, it felt like a dramatic movie when you see Jennifer Lopez complaining about her situation.

19. Prom Night ★☆☆☆☆
Doesn't gave any shit to Slasher movies genre but Idris Elba was good in it.

20. Pulp Fiction ★★★★★
I loved how all parts of movie was connected, and it's really a masterpiece, I wish Uma Thurman won an Oscar. and god I laughed hard when Samuel said his famous sentence.

21. Life as We Know it ★★★☆☆
Good and a fun movie, Kathrine Heigl printed her name on RomCom genre.

22. Her ★★★★☆
A movie sees that lonely people could be happy in the future , loved the colors of movie environment which been delivered to us by a good photography,

23. The Giver ★★★☆☆
Loved the plot and the movie until the middle of it, but the ending.. not so much, casting Taylor Swift was only for grabbing her loyalties.

24. Chicago ★★★★☆
I'm not into musical but this movie have a good story, but seriously why did Renee not win an Oscar for this? she was better than Cathrine Zeta-Jones.

25. Whiplash ★★★★☆
I thought J.K Simmons could never be more meaner than Spider-Man but he did :/

26. Taken 3 ★★★☆☆
It was good, but the series should've ended with first one.

27. Mr.Pebody and Sherman ★★★★☆
Really fun movie even for grown ups, it have a really good material.

28. The Boy Next Door ★★☆☆☆
Jennifer Lopez is really old :/

29. The Hunger Games : Mockingjay - Part 1 ★★★★☆
Better than I Imagined.. I thought it would be boring but it wasn't for someone read the book.

30. Fifty Shades of Grey ★★☆☆☆
Well they didn't used the martial that I liked in the book, it's good and fifty shades of fucked up in the same time, don't waste your time if you don't want to masturbate.

31. Still Alice ★★★★☆
a real Oscar-worthy made me feel like crying.. but I didn't XD, Julianne Moore give us the performance of her life.

32. Annie 2014 ★★★☆☆
The movie was entertaining for family, but I hated the over auto tune, Jaime Foxx was only person who can sing for real.

33. Big Hero 6 ★★★★★
We need more Disney and Marvel collaboration, this was the best animated CG movie that Disney presented.

34. Chef ★★★★☆
Masterchef Miami. P.S: Don't watch it and you're hungry (&). why it's only 1:45 Hour :( it could have been longer.

35. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ★★★☆☆
I thought it was bad but it was good actually, and what's with the DC's reference.

36. Pirates of The Caribbean Dead Man Treasure ★★★☆☆
Deeper than the first one.. but the first still simple and better.

37. Begin Again ★★★★★
Kiera Knightly desrves a Grammy ! her voice is so better than nowadays singers.

38. Pride and Prejudice ★★★★☆
felt like it was Cinderella's movie put more realistic, still a really good romantic movie.

39. Into The Woods ★☆☆☆☆
A really bad musical and kids movie ! the story is horrible and songs is worst it's not even close to catchy, and learns the kids that is okay to cheat on thier wives as long they were in the woods? WTH?

40. Intersteallar ★★★★★
I can't describe how this movie is the one of 2014's best movies thank you Nolan for this masterpiece.

41. Sister Act ★★☆☆☆
It was a normal movie, not for sure "The Funniest Movie of All Time", oh god I was expecting somethin' better

42. The Equalizer ★★☆☆☆
Sorry Denzel.. but there is only one Liam Nesson, and you not the one.

43. Johnny English Reborn ★★★★☆
oh god.. it's much better than the previous, and so much funnier and embarrassing even. I request another sequel to finish this amazing trilogy.

44. DareDevil Director's cut ★★☆☆☆
it's even worse after watching the Netflex series.

45. Elktra ★☆☆☆☆
This movie should be a full horror movie, it was the worse superhero movie i saw so far

46. Man of Steel ★★★☆☆
The Visual Effect is killing me, unfortunately this was only good thing about the movie, the action choreography was sucks

47. Iron Man ★★★★★
This superhero have the best marvel superhero origin story movie, thanx John Favero.

48. Captain America The First Avenger ★★★★★
I skipped it because they say it's a bad movie comparing to The Winter Solider, but I really liked it, and Steve Rogers character before getting his powers

49. Avengers : Age of Ultron ★★★★☆
The first teaser made so Hyped for something darker , but the movie wasn't that darker, goodbye Joss Whedon.

50. Knocked Up ★☆☆☆☆
Worse of Kathrine career, this movie is full of unnecessary scenes.
 
D

Deleted member 98878

Unconfirmed Member
Just started reading LotR. And I was wondering if I can count it as 6 books, since each of the three books is divided into 2 books.
 
A

Apt101

Member
Apt101 - 19/50 books | 66/50 films

Books
  1. Robert Galbraith - The Silkworm (2014) - ★★★★
  2. George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire: A Dance with Dragons (2011) - ★★★½
  3. Nigel Poulton - Data Storage Networking (2014) - ★★★★
  4. Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End of the Lane (2013) - ★★★★
  5. Mark Greaney - On Target (Court Gentry series) (2010) - ★★
  6. Joe Hill - NOS4A2 (2010) - ★★★
  7. Grady Hendrix - Horrorstör (2014) - ★★★½
  8. Stephen King - Mr Mercedes (2014) - ★★
  9. Tim Powers - On Stranger Tides (1987) - ★★★★★
  10. Paige McKenzie, Alyssa Sheinmel - The Haunting of Sunshine Girl (2014) - ★★★½
  11. David Quammen - Ebola (2012) ★★★★
  12. Dorsey Armstrong, Medieval World - The Great Courses (2015) ★★★★½
  13. Harper Lee - Go Set a Watchman (2015) ★★★★
  14. R.A. Salvatore - Rise of the King: Companions Codex, II ★★
  15. Ernest Cline - Ready Player One (2012) ★★★½
  16. Martin - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (2015) ★★★★
  17. Grisham - Rogue Lawyer (2015) ★★★
  18. Galbraith (Rowling) - Career of Evil (2015) ★★★★
  19. Larry Correia - Son of the Black Sword (2015) ★★★½

Films
  1. American Sniper (2014) - ★★★
  2. John Wick (2014) - ★★★★
  3. Louis CK: Live at the Comedy Store (2015) - ★★★
  4. Atari: Game Over (2014) - ★★★★
  5. The Babadook (2014) - ★★
  6. Going Clear (2015) - ★★★★½
  7. It Follows (2015) ★★★★½
  8. Noah (2014) ★★★½
  9. The Great Invisible (2014) ★★★½
  10. The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) ★★★½
  11. Road Hard (2015) ★★★
  12. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) ★★★★½
  13. Farmland (2014) ★★★
  14. Extraterrestrial (2014) ★★★½
  15. Rescue Dawn (2006) ★★★
  16. Rosewater (2014) ★★★½
  17. Thief (1981) ★★½
  18. Jurassic World (2015) ★★★★
  19. The Butler (2013) ★★★
  20. Seven Psychopaths (2012) ★★★★
  21. Draft Day (2014) ★★★
  22. Nightcrawler (2014) ★★★★½
  23. Fury (2014) ★★★½
  24. The Canal (2014) ★★★
  25. An Honest Liar (2015?) ★★★★
  26. GameLoading: Rise of the Indies (2015) ★★
  27. Horrible Bosses 2 (who cares)
  28. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) ★★★★★
  29. Hercules (2014) ★★
  30. The Drop (2015) ★★★½
  31. The Sisterhood of Night (2014) ★★★
  32. Transcendence (2014) ★★★½
  33. Birdman (2014) ★★★★★
  34. World 1-1 (2015) ★★★
  35. Slow West (2015) ★★★½
  36. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) ★★★★
  37. Pixels (2015) neagitve 5000
  38. Lord of War (2005) ★★★½
  39. Centurion (2010) ★★½
  40. Enemy (2013) ★★★★
  41. Gods and Kings (2014) ★★★
  42. Promised Land (2012) ★★★½
  43. At the Devil's Door (2014) ★★½
  44. Kill the Messenger (2014) ★★½
  45. Black Mass (2015) ★★★
  46. The Lazarus Effect (2015) ★★½
  47. Gun Fight (2011) ★★½
  48. The Woman in Black 2 (2014) ★★★
  49. The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014) ★★
  50. Odd Thomas (2013) ★★½
  51. Beasts of No Nation (2015) ★★★★
  52. Taken 3 (2015) ★★½
  53. House of Saddam - II (2008) ★★★
  54. In the Heat of the Night (1967) ★★★
  55. Another Me (2014) ★★½
  56. Stonehearst Asylum (2014) ★★★
  57. Kung Fury (2015) ★★★★
  58. Haunt (2013) ★★★½
  59. Time Lapse (2014) ★★★½
  60. Parallels (2015) ★★★½
  61. Ex Machina (2015) ★★★★½
  62. Champs (2015) ★★★
  63. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 (2015) ★★★½
  64. The Secret of Kells (2009) ★★★
  65. Outcast (2014) ★★
  66. Song of the Sea (2014) ★★★★
 
P

Pluto

Member
Pluto 15/50 Books | 1/50 Movies​


I kinda forgot updating the list since February, whoops. But I read a few more books, I finished the Haruhi Suzumiya series and a few others.

I'm still stuck at one movie, I watch too much tv and rematch movies I've already seen, I never thought that THIS would be the hard part. At least catching up on movies should be possible.
 
M

mvtn

Member
I've started reading few books but wasn't able to finish them, which is really surprising.

mvtn - 0/50 books | 16/50 movies

Movies:


  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Finding Vivan Maier
  • Werckmeister Harmonies
  • Night on Earth
  • Her
  • Cria Cuervos
  • The Organ
  • Ida
  • Microtopia
  • Patriotism
  • Polytechnique
  • Boyhood
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Apocalypse Now
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s
  • Closely Watched Trains
 
D

donny2112

Member
Tragicomedy said:
They are? I've never heard of that.
Click to expand...

IIRC, the books offer a very distinct line between what's happening with Frodo/Sam and what's happening with everyone else. It really draws their isolation in a clearer manner. Coming from the movies first and then the books, it was very unexpected but an appreciated emphasis. On this topic, I think the in-book separation was mainly that split, but I could be wrong.
 
D

donny2112

Member
Detailed writeups on Books 1-9 and Movies 1-9
Detailed writeups on Books 10-17 and Movies 10-17
Detailed writeups on Books 27-39 and Movies 27-49
Detailed writeups on Books 40-50 and Movies 50-60
Detailed writeups on Books 51-57 and Movies 61-66

Books
  1. Cast No Shadow (Star Trek: TOS, 360 pages) (2011) - ★★★★★ (Jan. 3, 2015)
  2. Hunger Games (374 pages) (2009) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 6, 2015)
  3. Hunger Games: Catching Fire (389 pages) (2010) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 9, 2015)
  4. Oliver Twist (264 pages) (1837) - ★★★★★ (Jan. 20, 2015)
  5. Artful: A Novel (277 pages) (2014) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 27, 2015)
  6. Cold and Broken Hallelujah (Long Beach Homicide series) (283 pages) (2014) - ★★☆☆☆ (Jan. 31, 2015)
  7. The Klingon Art of War (qeS'a) (160 pages) (2014) - ★★★★★ (Feb. 3, 2015)
  8. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone (309 pages) (1998) - ★★★★★ (Feb. 7, 2015)
  9. Star Trek Mirror Universe: Rise Like Lions (401 pages) (2011) - ★★★★★ (Feb. 10, 2015)
  10. Girl on a Wire (375 pages) (2014) - ★★★★★ (Feb. 17, 2015)
  11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (341 pages) (1999) - ★★★★☆ (Feb. 25, 2015)
  12. Star Trek: Myriad Universe: Shattered Light (489 pages) (2010) - ★★★☆☆ (Mar. 2, 2015)
  13. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (435 pages) (1999) - ★★★★★ (Mar. 5, 2015)
  14. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game (336 pages) (2010) - ★★★★★ (Mar. 8, 2015)
  15. Ticker (267 pages) (2014) - ★★☆☆☆ (Mar. 18, 2015)
  16. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (752 pages) (2002) - ★★★★★ (Mar. 24, 2015)
  17. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Seize the Fire (488 pages) (2010) - ★☆☆☆☆ (Apr. 2, 2015)
  18. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (870 pages) (2003) - ★★★★★ (Apr. 22, 2015)
    Broken record, but these just continue to explain so many things that didn't completely make sense in the movies. Love Dumbledore's
    coming clean with Harry at the end of the book, too
    . Don't know if I agree with his assessment of blame but maybe he was just trying to comfort Harry. Love seeing more of the Department of Mysteries and more of the Centaur inner workings, as well. Also explains
    the origins of the prophecy, Trelawney's presence at Hogwarts, and why Voldemort had targeted Harry's parents. Neat tidbit about Neville, too!
    So much good stuff in this book to clear up unconnected/explained bits in the movie. Looking forward to the next one in the series ... again!
  19. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire (387 pages) (2011) - ★★★★★ (Apr. 29, 2015)
    Another good Typhon Pact novel! (^o^) This one focusing on the Romulans with a dash of Tzenkethi mixed in.
    Empress Donatra dies. (;_;)
    Tzenkethi are very interesting. Very efficient species. Use gravitational control to use all areas of a room instead of "wasting" good space on a ceiling. Test their people constantly via puzzles to be sure of their worthiness for their positions. Pretty cool (and a bit scary; think: ruthless efficiency). Great story showing that not all Star Trek writers are afraid to move pieces around and leave things out of place from where they started. Mainly focuses on Spock (may Leonard Nimoy RIP) and Sisko as he deals with much loss. Also explains how Elias Vaughn ended up the way he did in Zero Sum Game.
    On the writing, it all made sense. Logical, reasoned, and more than a bit of subterfuge to keep you guessing and caring about how it ends up. Overall a great movement for the big picture storyline and a really good telling of this particular story. Recommended!
  20. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (672 pages) (2005) - ★★★★★ (May 4, 2015)
    Dumbledore didn't fall from the Astronomy tower and those were Inferi in the black lake. Oh, and Harry saved some of the luck potion for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, which saved them from the Death Eaters while he was with Dumbledore. Oh, and Dumbledore didn't Apparate from Hogwarts. Oh, and a bunch of other stuff!
    Okay, that's out of the way. Please read the books if you liked the movies. You are morally obligated to read the books if you liked the movies but found that many parts of it didn't make sense. (~_^) Like going through the repeated structure of summer before new school year, start of year and adjustment, trials start, coming of age stuff, make some progress, bogged down by studies, Christmas, start going back to making progress, more studies, things coming to a head, and then end of year madness. With Quidditch interspersed a lot more in the books than in the movies. 7th book is probably going to be a bit different, but looking forward to it!
  21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (791 pages) (2007) - ★★★★★ (May 14, 2015)
    Wow. Much better than the movie, and again with the much better explanations of everything.
    Explains how Harry wasn't killed in the Dark Forest, the neat effect of that on the people still in Hogwarts, how Voldemort really died, no silly breaking of the Elder Wand, clearer reasoning of Dumbledore's plans both for his own death and Harry, Voldemort's disassociation from the Horcruxes, Kreacher rocks, and the book allowed for future stories dealing with the Deathly Hallows quite easily. Also liked that they talked to Dumbledore's painting at the end and showed some of the power of the Elder Wand by using it to fix Harry's unfixable broken wand.
    Still think they should've started making the movies 2-parters when the books got long with Goblet of Fire to not miss out on so much stuff. Also really come to understand just who Dumbledore is, why he is where he is, and just how powerful he is as a wizard
    seeing as he straight-up beat another wizard using the Elder Wand
    . Wonderful story. Wish I could read it again for the first time. Someone called these modern-day classics, and I have to agree. Highly recommended!
  22. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Paths of Disharmony (455 pages) (2011) - ★★★★☆ (May 19, 2015)
    This part of the Typhon Pact book line is dealing with Andoria and Captain Picard, the Federation's roving do-everything, monkey-wrench, problem-solver in this post-Borg era. Ending was pretty shocking, so won't go into it here. The main thrust of the story deals with Andoria's rebuilding after the Borg destroyed half their world combined with the ongoing reproductive crisis brought on by their unique physiology requiring four parents to have a kid. Explores Choudhury's (new security head) and Worf's (new first officer) relationship a lot, and shows how Jean-Luc and Beverly are doing with their new son Rene. (Post-TV series books are fun!) On Andoria, see some old faces and really see just how desperate the Borg/reproductive situations are making everyone. LPT: Don't make big life-changing decisions out of desperation unless there are no other options. Good book for moving along the full storyline of the Typhon Pact/Federation relations and looking forward to the further books down the line even more!
  23. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night (385 pages) (2012) - ★★★★★ (May 24, 2015)
    Story's heating up like Season 7 of DS9! Appropriate, since this book is greatly focused on DS9! Even ends on a cliffhanger! Exclamation points! *ahem* Also involves Enterprise, but DS9 seems the more relevant focus.
    Sisko (he came back a while back, by the way) hasn't talked to the Prophets in a long time, and now his life is falling apart around him. But the Prophets haven't totally abandoned him, and I think his mom even stepped in to help at the end of the book there.
    Really hate people being deceptive, especially good people being deceived, but I hold out hope that it'll get better in the next book(s). Great build-up and crazy tech. Really bringing all the info they've been discussing about past Typhon Pact members to bear here in this story. Can't wait for the next one(s)!
  24. Guardians of the Night (A Gideon and Sirius Novel) (352 pages) (2015) - ★★★★★ (May 24, 2015)
    A really good book! Another freebie from Amazon Prime and another detective novel, but this one was really good! Intelligent discourse, useful planning of storyline to make things connect, a tortured detective and his cadres of friends to with the well-placed offer of supports, examinations of motives and duplicity, and a well-planned plot. This is the second novel in a series, but I think this novel probably spoils the first one in the series for me. Really looking forward to the next one to come out, though. If they can keep up the quality, this is a new series I can see myself following. (^_^)
  25. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Raise the Dawn (394 pages) (2012) - ★★★★★ (May 27, 2015)
    Wow. All is right (sort of) with the world. (Seriously, real spoilers. Don't read if you ever intend to read this book.)
    Typhon Pact attempt to get slipstream parts was thwarted again (and again), the good Romulan praetor excised the most troublesome parts of her government that were working against her and there's a real chance for peace now, Benjamin has been released by the Prophets and can now continue his life with Kasidy because he recognized the signs of the "sorrow" coming and belatedly followed the Prophets, Kira's basically in with the Prophets now after having been saved by the last effort of Elias Vaughn after having been dead for 2.5 years, Odo's back in the Alpha quadrant with unfortunately no way home (got to be a focus of upcoming book(s), for sure), a new DS9 is being built after the Typhon Pact destroyed the old one, and life is generally good.
    No major hanging threads but some relatively minor ones that I'm sure will come out to be bigger than they seemed. Glad I'm way late to reading these as that means I don't have to wait months between books! :lol
  26. Death of a Chimney Sweep (A Hamish Macbeth Mystery) (228 pages) (2012) - ★★☆☆☆ (June 5, 2015)
    I don't understand how this is a popular series with positive reviews. It's 3rd-grade level kind of writing here. The hero (Hamish Macbeth) is a clairvoyant policeman. Not in the way Sherlock Holmes would astudiously comb through the facts and come to magnamonious conclusions. No, he just takes wild guesses, and the author makes them all happen. All the bad guys lose no matter how far away they try to go. Hamish is an outright criminal (you know, the police guy?) that regularly turns a blind eye where it suits him and black mails other to keep himself (
    or his cat
    ) out of trouble. Every police office around him is nearly completely inept. People die left and right with no care or big deal being made (it's way more than just a Chimney Sweep that kicks the bucket here). And then there's this from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution "This series is pure bliss." *jawdrop* Oh, well. Not every book read can be a winner. Have another in this series to read, too, so we'll see if that one does a bit better!
  27. Death of a Kingfisher (A Hamish Macbeth Mystery) (274 pages) (2004) - ★★☆☆☆ (June 9, 2015)
  28. Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Brinkmanship (334 pages) (2012) - ★★★★☆ (June 12, 2015)
  29. Pulling up Stakes (113 pages) (2012) - ★★★★☆ (June 17, 2015)
  30. Pulling up Stakes, Part 2 (147 pages) (2012) - ★★★★☆ (June 20, 2015)
  31. Flirting with Felicity (237 pages) (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (June 26, 2015)
  32. Road to Samarcand (269 pages) (1955) - ★★★★☆ (July 8, 2015)
  33. Treasure Island (183 pages) (1883) - ★★★★★ (July 11, 2015)
  34. Star Trek: New Frontier: The Returned, Part 1 (164 pages) (1883) - ★★★★★ (July 12, 2015)
  35. Alice in Wonderland (122 pages) (1865) - ★★★☆☆ (July 21, 2015)
  36. The Martian: A Novel (369 pages) (2011) - ★★★★★ (July 29, 2015)
  37. Einstein Prophecy (327 pages) (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (August 12, 2015)
  38. Charlotte's Web (184 pages) (1952) - ★★★★☆ (August 16, 2015)
  39. The Mermaid's Sister (231 pages) (2014) - ★★★★☆ (August 28, 2015)
  40. Boundary Crossed (302 pages) (2015) - ★★★★★ (September 6, 2015)
  41. A Dark Lure (408 pages) (2015) - ★★★★★ (September 8, 2015)
  42. Dead Spots (287 pages) (2012) - ★★★★★ (September 9, 2015)
  43. Crow Hollow (335 pages) (2015) - ★★★★☆ (September 11, 2015)
  44. New Frontier: The Returned, Part II (161 pages) (2015) - ★★★★★ (September 12, 2015)
  45. New Frontier: The Returned, Part III (171 pages) (2015) - ★★★★★ (September 13, 2015)
  46. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (295 pages) (1870) - ★★★★☆ (September 22, 2015)
  47. Flee (247 pages) (2012) - ★★★☆☆ (October 4, 2015)
  48. Trail of Dead (299 pages) (2013) - ★★★★★ (October 6, 2015)
  49. Arena Mode, Book 1 (299 pages) (2013) - ★★★★☆ (October 8, 2015)
  50. Once Bitten (234 pages) (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (October 14, 2015)
  51. Disenchanted (Land of Dis) (221 pages) (2012) - ★★★★☆ (October 17, 2015)
  52. The Good Neighbor (205 pages) (2015) - ★★☆☆☆ (October 24, 2015)
  53. The Confession (417 pages) (2010) - ★★★☆☆ (October 31, 2015)
  54. Hunter's Trail (376 pages) (2014) - ★★★★☆ (November 3, 2015)
  55. Q are Cordially Invited... (eBook, est. 91 pages) (2014) - ★★★☆☆ (Feb. 21, 2015)
    +
    Malediction (64 pages) (2014) - ★★★★☆ (November 5, 2015)
  56. Kissing Mr. Right (269 pages) (2015) - ★★☆☆☆ (November 23, 2015)
  57. Killing Floor (Jack Reacher Book 1) (562 pages) (1997) - ★★★★☆ (December 29, 2015)

Movies
  1. I, Frankenstein (2014) - ★★★☆☆ (Jan. 2, 2015)
  2. Chinese Zodiac (2012) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 4, 2015)
  3. Great Expectations (2012) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 8, 2015)
  4. Jane Eyre (2011) - ★★★☆☆ (Jan. 14, 2015)
  5. Blackhat (2015) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 17, 2015)
  6. Selma (2015) - ★★★★★ (Jan. 19, 2015)
  7. The Interview (2014) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 24, 2015)
  8. Black or White (2015) - ★★★★☆ (Jan. 31, 2015)
  9. The War of the Worlds (1953) - ★★☆☆☆ (Feb. 10, 2015)
  10. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) - ★★★★☆ (Feb. 12, 2015)
  11. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (Feb. 14, 2015)
  12. Jupiter Ascending (2015) - ★★★★☆ (Feb. 16, 2015)
  13. Olympus Has Fallen (2013) - ★★★★☆ (Mar. 13, 2015)
  14. Frozen Fever w/ bonus Cinderella (2015) - ★★★★★ (Mar. 13, 2015)
  15. Emperor (2012) - ★★★★☆ (Mar. 15, 2015)
  16. Run All Night (2015) - ★★★★☆ (Mar. 22, 2015)
  17. Furious 7 (2015) - ★★★★☆ (Apr. 5, 2015)
  18. Insurgent (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (Apr. 11, 2015)
    I can't help but think it says something about the lack of brand identity that my Insurgent ticket says "Divergent," like they wanted to be sure I knew that is was the Divergent sequel and not some random movie named Insurgent. Speaking of Hunger Games, the world Divergent set up always seems more non-sensical than Hunger Games, and Insurgent just keeps upping the ante! (I don't like this.) Also, not to be content to just take ideas from Hunger Games, the movie series now drifts into
    Maze Runner
    plot-point stealing making the entire "city"
    one big experiment just because
    ! Don't like the main girl's new hairstyle, and she really does stink as a protagonist. She keeps abandoning good sense, abandoning her friends, making stupid decisions, and everything miraculously falls into place for her. I hate story-telling like that. At least the
    Four/Four's mom
    sub-plot may be actually heading somewhere for the next movie, but we'll see!
  19. Age of Adaline (2015) - ★★★★☆ (Apr. 25, 2015)
    Really liked this movie
    for 80% of the way through
    ! Love "immortal human" stories and seeing how they approach their lives. In this case, Adaline spent a good deal of her life
    hiding to keep from being a test subject somewhere
    , but she did a lot of good in the small things. Liked the detachment of the main character as being appropriate for someone who expects to
    move on from those around her ever decade or so
    . I didn't like the ending, though.
    They decided that since she was "restarting" her idling life by letting herself fall in love again that it'd be a good time to get rid of her immortality. WHY?!? There's nothing wrong with living forever! I like to hold up "Flint" from Star Trek as a good example. He would move on from one life to the next, too, but did some remarkable things with it like being Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Michelangelo, Brahms, etc. Just because you outlive the ones you love doesn't mean you don't love! Man, so much missed potential from her life.
    Other than that, really liked it, though. Do think it's weird that
    she slept with her current boyfriend's father 50 years ago
    , though.
  20. Avengers: Age of Adaline Ultron (2015) - ★★★★☆ (May 2, 2015)
    Ultron's age didn't last very long, did it?
    Good fun Marvel movie with the Avengers back at it. Exactly what you'd think in terms of action and a pretty fair story. Pretty sure I saw Jarvis from the Agent Carter series standing in the background behind Hawkeye when
    he stepped over the lifeboat to save that kid
    . Considering
    Jarvis is effectively a new Avenger
    , I like that they threw him in there! Good to see Agent Carter again, too, even if it was
    just a delusional dream
    . A pretty surprising twist from what you'd expect about 3/4ths of the way through
    with Jarvis's Avenger birth and the unexpected support for it
    , so it was nice to have some unforeseen turns in the movie for a change. Also love that they brought back a few people from Winter Soldier. We're going to be watching Marvel movies this whole century, aren't we ...
  21. Collateral Damage (2002) - ★★★☆☆ (May 6, 2015)
    Formulaic Schwarzeneggar flick. Does the cardinal sin of everything happening to fall into place for the protagonist to get into Columbia and to his target. Does redeem it a bit at the end with him recognizing
    the dual-nature of the terrorist target and acting accordingly
    . Not his best work for sure, though. Okay but nothing great. Worth it if you just want to see another Schwarzeneggar movie with him a bit younger than nowadays.
  22. Leon: The Professional (1994) - ★★★★☆ (May 12, 2015)
    Padme before she was Padme. Don't recall seeing her prior to Episode 1, so this was interesting just for that! She's also really the only one you can root for without much reservation, but it was good to see that
    the dirty DEA agent didn't get away with his actions. So many had to die to get him his comeuppance, though. (-_-)
    Worth seeing to pass the time, see some older appearances of stars and figure out where that "Everyone!" GIF came from. (~_^)
  23. Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) - ★★★★☆ (May 22, 2015)
    Like the first, a good fun story with way too much over-the-top, in-your-face innuendo. Still a good movie, but make sure no young ones are with you for it, please.
  24. Tomorrowland (2015) - ★★★★☆ (May 25, 2015)
    Didn't initially want to see this due to George Clooney (he rubs me the wrong way) but seeing Hugh Laurie in the previews tipped me over. A pretty fantastical "bring hope back for the future" novel with some interesting psychoanalysis to boot. Fun movie to see. (^_^)
  25. Under the Skin (2013) - ★☆☆☆☆ (June 6, 2015)
    So this movie is basically only available on Amazon Instant Video because of Scarlett Johansson. It reminds me of one of those 70s Artsy movies that seem weird and don't really make a lot of sense. There's very little talking in it, so it has to fly or die on its visual story. However as typical of 70s artsy movies, you're left with a whole lot of questions and not a lot of answers by the end. One of the reviews said it was about understanding what it was to be human. I really think that reviewer was talking about understanding the concept of empathy, which the main character completely lacks in the beginning, but
    as she spends more time in the guise of a human
    , that empathy starts to appear by the end
    before some"great" example of humanity tries to rape her and then burns her to death
    . And if they can
    wear the skin of humans
    , why'd they need to steal the clothes off a dead girl in the beginning? Okay...
  26. Inglorious Basterds (2009) - ★★★★☆ (June 7, 2015)
    (O.O) /jawdrop
    Historical fiction rewrite of the end of the War in Europe for WWII. Not recommended for the faint of heart.
  27. Jurassic World (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (June 11, 2015)
  28. Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) - ★★★★☆ (June 26, 2015)
  29. Agent Carter, Season 1 (2015) - ★★★★☆ (March 14, 2015)
  30. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Season 2 (2015) - ★★★★☆ (July 1, 2015)
  31. Terminator: Genisys (2015) - ★★★★☆ (July 3, 2015)
  32. Inside Out (2015) - ★★★★☆ (July 11, 2015)
  33. Expendables 3 (2014) - ★★★★☆ (July 15, 2015)
  34. Sabotage (2014) - ★★☆☆☆ (July 15, 2015)
  35. Minions (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (July 19, 2015)
  36. Sherlock, Season 1 (2010) - ★★★★★ (July 20, 2015)
  37. Parks and Recreation, Season 1 (2009) - ★★★☆☆ (July 21, 2015)
  38. Parks and Recreation, Season 2 (2010) - ★★★★☆ (July 25, 2015)
  39. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015) - ★★★★☆ (July 31, 2015)
  40. Parks and Recreation, Season 3 (2011) - ★★★★☆ (July 31, 2015)
  41. Earth to Echo (2014) - ★★★☆☆ (August 2, 2015)
  42. Ant-Man (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (August 2, 2015)
  43. Parks and Recreation, Season 4 (2012) - ★★★★★ (August 6, 2015)
  44. Sherlock, Season 2 (2012) - ★★★★★ (August 11, 2015)
  45. WWII from Space (2012) - ★★★☆☆ (August 13, 2015)
  46. Straight Outta Compton (2015) - ★★★★★ (August 15, 2015)
  47. Parks and Recreation, Season 5 (2013) - ★★★★★ (August 20, 2015)
  48. Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015) - ★★★★☆ (August 25, 2015)
  49. Pixels (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (August 28, 2015)
  50. Shanghai Noon (2000) - ★★★★☆ (September 2, 2015)
  51. Parks and Recreation, Season 6 (2014) - ★★★★★ (September 3, 2015)
  52. Zatoichi (2003) - ★★★☆☆ (September 9, 2015)
  53. Legend of the Drunken Master (2000) - ★★★☆☆ (September 16, 2015)
  54. The Scorch Trials (2015) - ★★★☆☆ (September 17, 2015)
  55. Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015) - ★★★★☆ (September 25, 2015)
  56. The Martian (2015) - ★★★★★ (October 1, 2015)
  57. Goosebumps (2015) - ★★★★☆ (October 15, 2015)
  58. The Guild (2007-2012) - ★★★★★ (October 24, 2015)
  59. Bridge of Spies (2015) - ★★★★☆ (October 24, 2015)
  60. Dracula (1931) - ★★☆☆☆ (October 25, 2015)
  61. Dracula (Spanish-language version) (1931) - ★★★☆☆ (October 25, 2015)
  62. Peanuts Movie (2015) - ★★★★☆ (November 5, 2015)
  63. Fantasia (1940) - ★★★☆☆ (November 15, 2015)
  64. Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (2015) - ★★★★★ (November 18, 2015)
  65. Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (2015) - ★★★★★ (December 17, 2015)
  66. Creed (2015) - ★★★★☆ (December 26, 2015)
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
allegate said:
allegate - 30/50 Books, 31/50 Movies​

Books
28. Holmes on the Range - On the Wrong Track - Steve Hockensmith, May 6th, 4/5
29. The Prestige - Christopher Priest, May 8th, 4/5
30. Greenglass House - Kate Milford, May 10th, 4/5
31.

Movies
25. Big Hero 6, May 1st, 4/5
26. The Maze Runner, May 2nd, 3.5/5
27. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, May 3rd, 4/5
28. Maleficent, May 6th, 4.5/5
29. Saving Mr. Banks, May 9th, 4/5
30. Avengers: Age of Ultron, May 12th, 4/5
31. Heavenly Sword, May 18th, 1/5

Updated original post.
Click to expand...

Heavenly Sword was just a terrible movie. The quality of the animation changed from scene to scene, and it almost looked like the resolution changed as well. Like someone took a 640x480 picture and blew it up to fit the 1920x1080 resolution of blu-ray. The story was all over the place, and the acting wasn't much better. I have reduced faith in the upcoming Ratchet & Clank movie if this is what Sony is approving. Not that I think Insomniac will do a poor job, just that Sony needs to get on the ball here.

And why did they release the film 7 years after the game? What did they gain? They barely followed the story of the game. And Anna Torv had issues with her accent. There were several places where it was just 'fuck it, I'm Australian and can't make these sounds with my mouth".
 
S

SolKane

Member
I have never read Lord of the Rings, but I would think that "Book One" and "Book Two" are just discrete divisions of the narrative, are they not? You could easily refer to them as "Part One" and "Part Two" I suppose. Unless they've historically been published separately they should count as one book. For instance, A Tale of Two Cities is divided into three portions called "Book the First", "Book the Second" and "Book the Third" but we would insist that it was one singular book.
 
W

walkmetothelake

Banned
May update.

Threads l 16/50 Books l 80/50 Films

Books:
14. Red Dragon - Thomas Harris - ★★★
15. Loaded - Christos Tsiolkas - ★★★½
16. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy - S.D. Perry - ★★

Films:
67. Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) - Jim Jarmusch - ★★½
68. Mommy (2014) - Xavier Dolan - ★★★★½
69. Last Summer (2013) - Mark Thiedeman - ★★★★
70. Boys (2014) - Mischa Kamp - ★★★
71. Love & Other Drugs (2010) - Edward Zwick - ★★★
72. Unfriended (2015) - Levan Gabriadze - ★★
73. Futuro Beach (2014) - Karim Aïnouz - ★★★★
74. Source Code (2011) - Duncan Jones - ★★★★
75. Kitchen Party (1997) - Gary Burns - ★★½
76. The 24th Day (2004) - Tony Piccirillo - ★★½
77. Burnt Money (2000) - Marcelo Piñeyro - ★★★★½
78. Undertow (2009) - Javier Fuentes-León - ★★★½
79. Chuck & Buck (2000) - Miguel Arteta - ★★★
80. Adoration (2008) - Atom Egoyan - ★★★


Favorite book of May: Loaded
Favorite film of May: Burnt Money
 
A

Ashes

Banned
time to make a serious dent in this challenge.

edit: might even do a half way progress for all the pips that have been updating regularly. Use the preferred format if you want to make my life easy.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
Ashes said:
time to make a serious dent in this challenge.

edit: might even do a half way progress for all the pips that have been updating regularly. Use the preferred format if you want to make my life easy.
Click to expand...
I've got a spreadsheet with all the names filled out if you want it.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
orthodoxy1095 said:
I've got a spreadsheet with all the names filled out if you want it.
Click to expand...

Cool.

80% of the people still updating will probably finish, so we'll be better off focusing on those who have been posting recently...

edit: on that note, for folks who haven't updated since March you best speak up, cause that's as far we're going... :p
edit: Make that May 1 and forward posts... :p
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
lastflowers - 9 books | 29 movies | 32 TVSeasons

Hi everyone! Been a silent couple of months, with far too many 80 hour weeks. 'Twas worth it for the great response to our reveal


I've been slowly working my way through some economic books (Piketty's Capital and Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds).

I also read a fantastic biography on Geronomo by Angie Debo. It's simply fantastic.
I'm about 85% through Dune, and should finish by tomorrow evening. Looking forward to a 2 week vacation and to get myself back on track for finishing these 50 books. Don't worry, I'll get it done.
 
K

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.

Been slowing down with the weekly posts mostly because time isn't on my side. So here's the update for the midway point and so far I'm on track if a bit behind my wanted pace. Been a lot of readingless nights. Hopefully the longer commute starting next month will give me a few more notches on my belt.

Books
  • In Search of Lost Time, Volume 2: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower (1919), Marcel Proust - ★★★★ - The ponderings of a young Frenchman continues. This time it's the girls his musing turns to. I find both the narrative style and how he let's us partake in his musing interesting if a bit oddly paced at times.
  • Animal Farm (1945), George Orwell - ★★★★ - All books are equal but some books are more equal than others. Had only seen the cartoon movie but never read the book. Interesting and scary.
  • Retorikanalys (2007), Bo Renberg - ★★★ - Been wrapping up my studies in rhetorics and with that comes the course literature. This is a good entry point into the field of analysing rhetoric. It lacks somewhat in depth.
  • Talande kvinnor (2011), Birgette Mral - ★½ - The shape of the book was the first warning sign. This introduction to about 30 promintent women speakers through history is shallow and one-dimensional. It could have been something but failed to live up to it.
  • Genusperspektiv på språk (2003), Kerstin Nordenstam - ★★★ - A really interesting book on how men and women speak and how they use language. It doesn't venture too deep into the subject which is a shame because it has some pretty interesting lines of thought.
  • Röda rummet (1879), August Strindberg - ★★★★ - A real Swedish classic. The structure and use of language really stand out. A really modern work that's more than a 100 years old.

Movies

  • Edge of Tomorrow (2014, dir. Doug Liman) - ★★★½ - Not as awesome as everyone and their dog hyped it up to be. It's a competent action movie with some really smart ideas. It's entertaining but it could have been better paced.
  • Noah (2014, dir. Darren Aronofsky) - ★★★½ - The ideas that work really work but there's some things in here I can't really put my finger on that doesn't quite work. I like how it retells the biblical events but a bit odd that they change things. Aronofsky is always interesting to watch and this is no exception.
  • Hot Fuzz (2007, dir. Edgar Wright) - ★★★ - Odd humour. I don't know if this is meant for me but it kept me entertained. The visual gags are top-notch and
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014, dir. Bryan Singer) - ★★★ - I really miss Matthew Vaughn. He made X-Men fun again. Bryan Singer's complete lack of translating human emotions to the screen takes the series back to the dry as sand approach of telling a story. A sterile look at colourful events and characters.
  • Kung-Fu Panda (2008, dir. Mark Osborne, John Stevenson) - ★★½ - Stupid fun. What's not to like? A lot. I'm annoyed at every story that tells of a "chosen one" and that the secret "lies within and was there all along". It makes for boring storytelling.

★ = Bad, ★★ = Okay, ★★★ = Good, ★★★★ = Very good, ★★★★★ = Brilliant
 
T

Tragicomedy

Member
G

gaiages

Banned
Ashes said:
Cool.

80% of the people still updating will probably finish, so we'll be better off focusing on those who have been posting recently...

edit: on that note, for folks who haven't updated since March you best speak up, cause that's as far we're going... :p
edit: Make that May 1 and forward posts... :p
Click to expand...

Well, I update my original post, but don't do separate weekly/monthly updates for a few reasons (mainly because my progress comes in random bursts), do I still count? >.>"
 
C

Christoff Yurievich

Member
allegate - 32/50 Books, 33/50 Movies​

Books
28. Holmes on the Range - On the Wrong Track - Steve Hockensmith, May 6th, 4/5
29. The Prestige - Christopher Priest, May 8th, 4/5
30. Greenglass House - Kate Milford, May 10th, 4/5
31. Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein, May 21st, 4/5
32. The Science of Interstellar - Kip S. Thorne, May 21st, 3/5
33.

Movies
25. Big Hero 6, May 1st, 4/5
26. The Maze Runner, May 2nd, 3.5/5
27. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, May 3rd, 4/5
28. Into the Woods - May 4th, 4/5
29. Maleficent, May 6th, 4.5/5
30. Saving Mr. Banks, May 9th, 4/5
31. Avengers: Age of Ultron, May 12th, 4/5
32. Heavenly Sword, May 18th, 1/5
33. Wild, May 24th, 3.5/5
34. Mad Max: Fury Road, May 27th, 4.5/5
35.

Updated original post.

Saw Mad Max yesterday and it was pretty damn good. I haven't said "holy shit" out loud at the theater (or even at home, for that matter) for a long time but when
they ripped Joe's face off
, I said, "holy shit!" with gusto.
 
A

Ashes

Banned
gaiages said:
Well, I update my original post, but don't do separate weekly/monthly updates for a few reasons (mainly because my progress comes in random bursts), do I still count? >.>"
Click to expand...

You do! Just post the single line update in a new post as follows:

Ashes - 2/50 books | 8/50 films | 0/12 seasons

Or something similar enough..

These pages are so long because some folks post entire lists rather than an update(s) & link to their master post.. :p

Reviews and comments are good though.
 
choodi

choodi

Banned

May update
Books
  1. Almayer's Folly: a story of an Eastern river - Joseph Conrad (B)

Movies
  1. Avengers: Age of Ultron (C)

First time reading Joseph Conrad and after a short period to adjust to the style, I loved it. Such a good tragic story. None of this modern day feel good crap.

Avengers was OK, but I feel that the whole Marvel thing is definitely played out now. The films are becoming less and less entertaining and unless they bring in some new characters as 'mainline' films, I can't see myself getting too excited about them anymore.
 
M

mu cephei

Member
This is my first update, I'll just link the original post:


Best film so far is probably Whiplash. Worst film - terrible terrible awful appalling almost couldn't finish film would be Into The Woods.

Best book is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. Worst book is less clear; I've read a few really mediocre books this year. I won't give them the dignity of pointing them out.
 
G

gaiages

Banned
^ Cool Ashes, will do! :3

Here's my progress thus far, taken from my original post:

gaiages - 6/50 Books | 14/50 Movies​

I'm so far behind
 
P

Pau

Member
Ashes said:
You do! Just post the single line update in a new post as follows:

Ashes - 2/50 books | 8/50 films | 0/12 seasons

Or something similar enough..

These pages are so long because some folks post entire lists rather than an update(s) & link to their master post.. :p

Reviews and comments are good though.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ashes. Every month or so I'll get halfway through updating, then stop because I suck. :/

Pau - 27/50 Books | 14/50 Movies
 
T

tmarques

Member
May update.

I almost passed The Custom of The Country over because of its 400 pages, but I'm glad I didn't. It might be my new favourite Edith Wharton novel.

Masterchef Spain is ruining my movie-viewing, though.
 
O

orthodoxy1095

Banned
May Update

orthodoxy1095 - 09/50 Books | 19/50 Movies

I haven't written an update in forever. My reading this month was pretty lame. The poetry anthology I read, Victims of a Map was actually amazing and touching. It's written by Palestianian poets, and after being there this past March, I was really touched. Fear's Empire was reading for a class, and while I know it's looked down on to re-read, I re-read The Hobbit. My thinking there was that I hadn't read the book since I was nine, and it ended up being a really new and refreshing experience. I had forgotten what a genius storyteller Tolkein was. I can't wait to read the book to my kids someday.

On the movie side, Avengers 2 was kickass, bombastic, cheesy fun. I had a lot of fun watching the movie with one of my buddies who is a comic nerd like me. I also watched Birdman which I liked, but was a bit too self-indulgent for my likes. I'm not a prude in any way, but by God, that movie had to many uses of the word "Fuck." I was honestly sick of the word by the end. One thing that I loved about the movie though was the smooth camera transitions from person to person to scene to scene. Absolutely brilliant. Unbroken was a "patriotic feels" movie, and I guess it was alright. The Last Stand was an amusing Arnold movie, watched it with my parents. Totally cheesy Western right there. Not bad for a $1 Redbox rental.
 
B

Ben Morales

Member
Update for May


Books

18. The Branches of Time - Luca Rossi - ★★★★
19. The Executioness - Tobias S. Buckell - ★★★★

Movies

9. The Babadook (2014) - Dir. Jennifer Kent - ★★★★

I might finish a movie tonight, if so, I'll update this post one more time before 9pm.

I only managed to finish two books this month. Mostly because I've been reading a couple of longer/meatier books and taking my time with them. Those books being Imajica and Four Minutes to Midnight. Halfway through Imajica, so I should be finished with that one next month. Fantastic book, enjoying it a lot.

Still slacking in movies as usual (I wouldn't mind a books only challenge next year... =P). I can catch up on movies much easier than books though. Even though I'm finding it more difficult to sit down and finish a movie nowadays. Lately, I have been much more into TV shows.
 
T

TestMonkey

Member
TestMonkey - 42/50 Books | 33/50 Movies​

Books

  • The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
  • Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
  • Redeployment by Phil Klay
  • Animal Farm by George Orwell
  • Dog on It by Spencer Quinn
  • Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn
  • To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn
Movies

  • Léon: The Professional
  • The Bag Man
  • Avengers: Age of Ultron
  • Mad Max: Fury Road

Finished with classes for the semester so will probably catch up with my movie watching soon and maybe even finish up the challenge this month.
 
S

Saad

Member
May Update
Saad - 15/50 books | 29/50 movies

Books
  • Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel ★★★☆☆
  • Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence ★★★★☆
  • Sycamore Row - John Grisham ★★★☆☆
  • Animal Farm - George Orwell ★★★★★

Movies
  • Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) ★★★★★

Currently reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King and I'm liking it so far. Then I'll jump to Mistborn which I'm really excited about, as everything thing I read for Brandon Sanderson has been amazing.
The last few months have been really slow for movies since I have been catching up with my TV shows.
 
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