To be honest, I am in rebellious mood right now. I am changing the blog's template a bit.
Film:
Edge Of Seventeen (2016)
The movie revolves around the life of a 17-year-old Nadine, who believes her life is as miserable as they come. A short look back into the past shows Nadine being bullied by her classmates when she was young. The only people in the world she is able to connect with is her father and her best (and only) friend Kristie. Everything is seemingly well until her father passes away when she is 13. Now, she only has Kristie in her life and things take a turn for worse when Kristie starts dating Nadine’s elder brother, who is despised by Nadine.
What follows is an amazing tale of how Nadine reacts to this seemingly betrayal of trust of the highest magnitude as she leads us on a wonderful journey portraying some of the common teenage problems in a humorous way without losing the plot.It is an absolute gem of a movie, which ultimately makes you root for all of the characters involved.
Simply Phenomenal.
Television:
The Night Manager
A British spy mini-series of six episodes directed by Susanne Bier, starring Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman and Elizabeth Debicki. Tom Hiddleston plays Jonathan Pine, the protagonist in this spy thriller by John Le Carre. Jon Pine is the night manager for a hotel in Egypt. Riots ensue on the streets, and one woman seems distressed. Viewers learn that she is romantically involved with a local gangster. She possesses information linking the gangster and Richard Roper, an English billionaire, in an illegal arms trade. Despite Pine’s best efforts to offer her protection, she is murdered, no doubt on the orders of the aforementioned gangster. Distraught, Pine leaves Egypt and moves to a remote hotel in Switzerland. Roper visits this Swiss hotel, and Pine rekindles his thirst for revenge. He is recruited into the MI6 by Angela Burr, an agent who’s been after Roper for years. Following this, Pine infiltrates Roper’s organisation. Details, of course, are best enjoyed on-screen. The action-packed series is available for streaming on Prime Video.
Kindle:
Killing Floor (Lee Child's Jack Reacher Debut)
This is the book that introduces Lee Child's popular character, Jack Reacher. Reacher is an ex-MP(military policeman, for the unfamiliar) who's been made redundant by the end of the cold war. After spending his entire life in the military (Reacher grew up in a military family), he's now completely on his own. After spending much of his life abroad, he's wandering about the country, getting to know the U.S. up close and personal. As will continue to be the case, Reacher travels light, with nothing more than the clothes on his back, paying cash, traveling by bus and staying off the grid.
On a whim, Reacher has a bus driver drop him off at the interchange for tiny Margrave, Georgia. Reacher has heard a story about an ancient Blues man who once spent time in the town and decides to check it out. He walks fourteen miles into town, orders a cup of coffee in a diner, and is promptly arrested for murder.
Reacher knows that he hasn't killed anyone, at least not in Margrave and not for some time, so he's obviously mystified. He soon discovers that there are a lot of weird things going on in this tiny, pristine town where the townfolk, or at least a good number of them, are harboring some strange secrets. Reacher couldn't care less. He just wants to get clear of the murder charges, get back on the bus, and resume his wandering life. But he quickly develops a personal stake in the murder case, which is decidedly bad news for the evildoers.
Before long, the bodies are piling up left and right, and Reacher is contributing more than his fair share to the carnage. This is a cleverly-plotted book, although it does depend on a coincidence that's almost too huge to swallow. Still, it's a fun read that sets the template for the future books in the series. This is essentially "Shane" brought forward into the Twentieth (and now the Twenty-first) century. Jack Reacher is the mysterious stranger with something approaching mystical powers, who rides into a troubled town, albeit on a Greyhound rather than a horse. He cleans up the town, disposes of the bad guys, dallies briefly with a beautiful, sexy woman that he will have to abandon in the end, and then, once his job is done, he rides off into the sunset.
What's not to like? The formula has worked very well through sixteen books now, and Jack Reacher has become an international favorite. Those who have somehow missed him would do well to start with Killing Floor.
