Movie Review: Dracula Untold

DRACULA UNTOLD

 Seen On REDBOX

Rating 3 Fangs

  It takes a lot for me to give good ratings on any vampire film I watch. I hold them all to higher standards and am not easily impressed by them. Dracula Untold was a re-telling of the old Vlad Tepish legend. The story was changed from the Bram Stoker version, and that was not a bad thing. Dracula is portrayed as an anti-hero forced to become a vampire to help him people. He is granted incredible power, but may not drink blood for three days, if he can resist he will return to normal, if he cannot he will remain a vampire and release his maker from his prison.

The imagery and special effects were incredible and definitely eye pleasing. The story was solid though a bit slow at times. To me it never built up as I was expecting, but it did build up. The ending left it wide open for more, but never really explained what was to come, so you knew something was coming but not exactly what, so that was a bit of a disappointment.

Movie Review: Dragonheart 3

Dragonheart 3

 

Dragonheart 3

Seen on Red Box

Rating: 3 Fangs

 

I was expecting less than nothing from this movie. I honestly did not want to watch it, as I absolutely hated Dragonheart 2, and the direction they went with that movie. I must say that aside from a shaky start with a comet in the beginning, I was surprised when the movie began to win me over. Cinematography was solid, as was the acting. I was expecting a low grade B movie, but as I let myself get immersed in the story, it began to wrap its arms around me. Special effects were also not sub-par and believable to the eyes, that Dragon looked great in every frame in appeared in. Combat scenes were realistic and not too bloody so as not to scare the wee ones. Over all it was a great movie, that I would not have minded paying 14.00 at the normal theater to watch on the big screen. I did comment that this movie was one that we should add to our dvd library. I would rate this movie just slightly below its original counterpart. I would watch Dragonheart 1, forget that #2 ever existed, and go straight into #3. You will have an enjoyable lighthearted fantasy adventure.

 

 

Movie Review: Predestination

Predestination

Seen on Red Box

Rating: 4 Fangs

Predestination is your standard time travel regulation movie. Ethan Hawk plays a retiring time agent who has been chasing his “White Whale” for many years but has been unable to capture the elusive bomber. Now I immediately suspected that Ethan and the bomber were one in the same. I will not spoil if my suspicions were correct or not. Where the movie takes the bulk of the story's turn is how Ethan recruits a new agent to replace him. The new agent retells his story in detail and then accepts his offer. This is where most viewers will lose it as the true story unravels. It was an unbelievable twist at the end that still leaves me in shock as I think about it. Brilliant story telling that has time travel essentially as a backdrop. I highly recommend this movie if you are into surprise twist endings and time travel.

Movie Review: JOHN WICK

John Wick

Seen on Redbox

Rating: Four Very Bloody Fangs

I truly enjoyed this film. It was a little slow at the start, but this pace of story telling builds the story up and places you firmly on John Wick's side. once the story got going I couldn't wait to see what Wick was going to do to his enemies.

The action was incredible and believable. The Gun-Fu performed by Keanu reminded me of John Woo Films and Equilibrium. The hitman back story and world building were easy to pick up on. They spend just enough time on it for most to just "get it."

For a great ride, and a great time, I do recommend you watch this film. Sit back and watch the carnage. I am looking forward to a sequel, but like most movies I fear a second movie won't have the depth and emotional pull that this once did. If the writers go the route like the Bourne films did I am sure they can achieve several more hits.

Go rent it now, or pick it up on CD or Blue-ray, it's definitively worth owning.

Game Time: Castle Crashers

I picked up this game from The Xbox Marketplace for $14.99. I was looking for a multi player game simple enough for me and my 8 year old daughter to play.

This game is awesome! a simple side scroller beat em up game with many re-play options and unlockables for hours and hours of Daddy Daughter time.

RATING:  4 FANGS

Movie Review: LUCY

Seen on: Red Box

Rating: 1 Fang

Where do I start? This movie was especially disappointing for me. I am a fan of Luc Bessom and look forward to everything and anything that he has a hand in. This is now the 2nd moving in a row that has left me less than Bessomed. I sat thru Three days to Kill and wondered what happened, but even that movie was leaps and bounds better than LUCY.

The movie starts of slow and starts to job a little and gain speed, but never achieves that heart-pounding pace I have come to expect from his films. It felt like he was trying to branch out into a sci-fi psychological thriller, but failed miserably. The acting was droll, the action was laughable, the car chase scene was amusing, but even for a Luc Bessom film, too many cars inexplicable flipped over for no reason other than "let's flip that car".

The entire plot was sound, but the conclusion to the story left me unfulfilled.  I was left just wondering, "Was that it?" I do not recommend this movie to anyone. There were some good points and the concept for the film was intriguing, but it simply did not pack enough of a punch to make me not feel like I had wasted 90 minutes of my life. Skip it.

Tour Schedule: The Guardians of Man Guest Post

Tour Schedule Here

Challenges of creating the setting and/or world building for your novel?

Response:I really don't have too many problems with this, because I tailor the location to match the movement of the story. For instance, I created a make believe country for my story called Tres Cruces. The history of the place is a hodge podge of events that took place in two different Central American countries, but the main thing was that I wanted this place to be a country that was not conquered by the Spanish at the same time that many other countries in that part of the world were. So I created a long history of magic and sunken ships that kept the Conquistadors from penetrating the coast.

 

The Guardians of Man by Connor Titus
In the valley of Mt. Empyreal, the fight for humanity has already begun.
In the mountain community of Fate's Keep, the global power outage and the onset of winter are only the beginning of what is yet to come. Along with the first snowfall, an ancient evil has come. With time running out, will the Guardians be able to save mankind?

Buy the Book: Amazon

About the Authors

Lori Titus
Lori Titus is a native Californian with a penchant for stories that are twisted, scary, or both. She also enjoys a dash of romance in her storytelling when she can get away with it! She is the author of Hunting in Closed Spaces (The Marradith Ryder Series, Part 1). She is also half of the writing team known as Connor Titus (with author Crystal Connor) and has co-authored two novels, The Guardians of Man and The End Is Now. Lori has authored many short stories and two novellas, Lazarus and Hailey's Shadow. Some may know her as the Managing Editor at Flashes in the Dark. Upcoming work for 2015 includes a novel called The Bell House and the second installment of the Ryder Series.


The Darkest of Lore Blog | Twitter | Goodreads |
Amazon Author Page  
 

Crystal Connor

Washington State native Crystal Connor has been terrorizing readers since before Jr. high School and loves anything to do with monsters, bad guys, rogue scientific experiments, jewelry, sky-high high heel shoes & unreasonably priced hang bags. She is also considering changing her professional title to ‘dramatization specialist’ because it’s so much more theatrical than being just a mere drama queen. Along with inducing insomnia within her readership Crystal also reviews indie horror and sci-fi movies for HorrorAddicts.net

 

GIVEAWAY

1 winner will receive their choice of an all new Kindle Fire HDX 7" (US Only - $229 value) or Amazon Gift Card ($199 value/ International) Ends 12/17/2014. Open only to those who can legally enter. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kisha from Indie Hoopla Services & Promotions, http://indiehoopla.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
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