Beast 2022

Movie Review by E. Perryman

Trailer: https://youtu.be/T_YMHhdpyf0

Favorite Quotes:

Idris after his youngest daughter launches a tranquilizer dart “Your sister put a dart in his ass”. 

When trying to drive the poachers car: “Dad, you don’t know how to hotwire a car?”

Martin Battles: You know, just hug a lion and take a picture with Mare.

Meredith Samuels: My dad’s not much of a hugger.

Martin Battles: No?

Meredith Samuels: No. More of a fist bumper.

Beautiful animals, gorgeous setting, well paced, interesting characters, Lion hugs, riveting action, clever humor, artistic filming, and Idris Elba taking on a dark side Mufasa…… these are the reasons I recommend the movie “Beast”.

This is an interesting and well acted screenplay by humans and animals. Bad decisions are made by a regular family dealing with a catastrophic situation. It’s an ill advised trip for sure; not sure what Dad and Uncle were thinking. A secondary title of this film could be “Dumb choices people make while family bonding.

The story is told with an honest conversational approach. There are many stupid but lucky moves the family risks (who should have never been cruising down poacher lane.) It’s an episode of “what not to do in the wild” with a homicidal Lion King who has PTSD from witnessing the killing of their pride. Age-old emotional quandaries are explored including “I thought I had more time” family issues. I wanted to see the movie for Idris and he did not disappoint. Watching him take on a charred, wounded Beast was worth the price of admission. However, the actors who played Sir Elba’s daughters were a delightful bonus.

The story is a bit uneven and fairly implausible but it was a solid story which made me root for the characters (and cheer when the Beast face palmed/whipped his luxurious mane.) I noticed for the first time that the credits included a substantial section for Covid protocol acknowledgements. 

ARMRESTRATING: 1.5 Lion King Scar approved arm rest up for a solid and entertaining film

Flowers In The Attic Sequels #9102022

VC Andrew Attic Sequel Diary Series

Review by E. Perryman 9.10.22

1. It was enjoyable to hear more about these epic tales in the audiobook form. 
2. The writing isn’t the most well written but I don’t expect as much in this genre. 
3. The most interesting part of these books are the continuing stories of the flowers in the attic series. The new characters that lead the books are pretty bland and feel like filler. 
4. There are some fun Easter egg references for those who know the first 4 books well. 
5. I was especially touched by hearing more about Cory. That was a hard loss to metabolize in the first book and so much happened as a result of the arsenic tragedy. 
6. The author was pretty lax about the historic references. The language didn’t fit the times. Especially in the secret brother book, there are some lazy modern references that wouldn’t have existed in the 1960s. 
7. The end of book 2 of this series has a great surprise. 
8. The character of Clara Sue is written with very little redeeming qualities. Yikes. 
9. The Uncle Bobby references are just a bummer; not sure the relevance.  
10. I will say some of Grandfather Arnold’s cookie cutter actions and his inability to see how this could affect a teenager who has lost so much of her family was pretty insensitive. He had the money for a new room, clothes, and toys. The naming was trite as well. I myself was glad she renamed the child. 
11. If you enjoy these books, it’s worth a read. There’s not a lot of new info but it’s a fun nostalgic trip down VC Andrews gothic horror memory lane. 

ARMRESTRATING: 2 very nurturing Count Piro (sans evil relatives) raised up for entertaining FITA sequels.

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