Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer

Friday, November 15

Book Blogger Hop: November 15th - 21st

Instructions: Select all code above, copy it and paste it inside your blog post as HTML

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!

If you want to schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

The Book Blogger Hop now has its own Facebook Group! Please join the group to get all the newest Book Blogger Hop updates. Also, you can communicate with your fellow book bloggers in the group.

What To Do

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

This week's question is submitted by Maria @ A Night's Dream of Books.

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below. Please enter your Name/Nickname @ Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Here's an example: Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer

3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading a few posts and possible become a new follower. The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

Rules

Grab a book, any book.
Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader.
Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it).
Post it.
Add your (url) post below in the Linky at: www.fredasvoice.com
Add the post url, not your blog url.

Don't you know how many women's lives, how many women's bodies, the tanks had to roll over just to get that far?

page 156, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

My Thoughts

DVD Review: Pan Am: The Complete Series

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are my own!

Mill Creek Entertainment; AMAZON

Does anyone remember the television drama Pan Am airing on ABC in 2011?

Hopefully, I'm not the only person in the world that had never of this series. Well, that is until Mill Creek Entertainment released Pan Am: The Complete Series on DVD back in August, featuring all 14 episodes on a 2-dsic set.

Created by Jack Orman, the series is set in the 1963 and centers around around four stewardesses - Maggie, Laura, Colette, and Kate - who all work on international flights coming from New York City.

Maggie (played by Christina Ricci) returns to work as a"purser" after being suspended for not wearing a girdle. Kate and Laura are sisters. Kate (played by Kelli Garner) helped her sister become a stewardess after Laura (played by Margot Robbie) had left her fiance at the alter. Just prior to her first assignment, Laura is featured on the cover of of Life magazine wearing her Pan Am uniform, which instantly makes her a celebrity. Lastly, Colette (played by Karine Vanasse) became an orphan during the German occupation of France and now, as an adult, works as a stewardesses.

Final Thoughts

Blu-ray Review: The Swan Princess: 25th Anniversary

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

AMAZON

For a very long time, it seemed Disney was the only studio releasing animated films. However, that changed in the '90s, many thanks to direct-to-video releases, as well as a few theatrical releases from other studios. One of these films happens to be The Swan Princess, which is an adaptation of the Swan Lake ballet.

Directed by Richard Rich, the film was originally released to theatres in 1994, featuring the voice cast of Michelle Nicastro, Howard McGillin, Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, Steve Vinovich, and Sandy Duncan.

Sony Home Entertainment recently released The Swan Princess on Blu-ray (G; 89 minutes) to celebrate its 25th Anniversary, featuring a brand-new featurette and archival features. The film is also available on in 4K HDR on digital.

The Swan Princess centers around Odette, a beautiful princess who's turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer, Lord Rothbart. She can only turn back into a human when the moonlight touches the swan lake, which is when Rothbart tries to persuade her to marry him. Of course, she rejects him every time, thus, she becomes a swan again. Her only friends are Jean-Bob the frog, Speed the turtle and Puffin the bird, who are determined to protect her. Then there's also Prince Derek, who's in love with Odette and will also do anything to protect her.

Special Features include:

Looking Back at 25 Years of the Swan Princess
The Swan Princess: The Original Making of
5 Sing-Alongs

Final Thoughts

Monday Morning Madness: Decaf for the Dead and Paperbacks From Hell

Good Afternoon, Everyone!

Yes, I'm well aware it's way past noon. Originally, I wanted to have this post published earlier but I got distracted by several other things. Once again, I'm combining this week's Sunday Post (hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer) with today's It's Monday! What Are You Reading (hosted by The Book Date).

What Am I Currently Reading?

Tomorrow, I'll be reading Decaf for the Dead by Sandy Lo, who nicely sent me a review copy. I posted an interview with Sandy Lo on Saturday, which you can read right here!

Last week, was a reread week for me with The Shining and Doctor Sleep. I'll probably be writing reviews for them sometime later in the week. I never got around to reading Rise of the Gorgon by Galen Surlak-Ramsey so it'll probably be next read after Decaf for the Dead. Then I'm going to start reading the books I have lined up for this year's Holiday Gift Guide.

Recent Reviews

47 Meters Down: Uncaged

(Midnight Horror Review)

The Institute

by Stephen King

(Fall Reads

Goosebumps SlappyWorld: Revenge of the Invisible Boy

by R.L. Stine

(Fall Reads)

The Thing

(Midnight Horror Review)

What's in the Mail?

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

Mill Creek Ent.; Amazon

For those of you who don't already know, The Thing was re-released to Blu-ray on Oct. 29th by Mill Creek Entertainment.

No, I'm not referring to the John Carpenter's 1982 classic scifi-horror flick, which is a remake of the 1951 classic The Thing from Another World and an adaptation of the 1938 novella Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr., but instead I'm referring to the 2011 prequel film of the same name. Confused yet?

Directed by Matthijs Heijningen, the prequel was originally going to be titled The Thing: Begins. However, due to producers and behind-the-scenes drama (more on that later), the film was released as The Thing, which made moviegoers believe it was a remake of a remake.

Set in the winter 1982, the prequel centers around Kate Lloyd (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a paleontologist who is sent to an isolated Norwegian research station in Antarctica to investigate a possible buried alien spacecraft. The expedition is lead by Dr. Sander Halvorson (played by Ulrich Thomsen) and his assistant, Adam Finch (played by Eric Christian Olsen). After excavating a body frozen in the ground, they accidentally release a lifeform that takes control and mutilates its victims. The movie also stars Joel Edgerton, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Kristofer Hivju.

The director shot the prequel in 35mm film so it would have the same look as the 1982 film. Animatronic special effects were used for the creatures to match the 1982 effects. However, studio politics interfered and all of the traditional effects were replaced CGI. Add in additional reshoots, which changed many scenes (especially the ending), as well as the title change, the movie ended up flopping at the box office.

Blu-ray Bonus Features include:

Feature Commentary with Director Matthiijs van Heijningen and Producer Eric Newman
The Thing Involves
Fire & Ice
Deleted/Extended Scenes
Trailer

Final Thoughts

Midnight Horror Review: 47 Meters Down: Uncaged

*This is a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% mine.

BEST BUY; WALMART

Once upon a time ago, there was only one big shark movie - Jaws, minus the unneeded sequel (though Jaws 2 was pretty good). Fast forward to the present day, there are tons of shark flicks and almost of all them are horrible.

In 2017, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures released the low-budget horror shark film 47 Meters Down, which wasn't half bad. Due to its success, naturally there was going to be sequel. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged was released to theatres in August 2019 and took in $38.9 million against a $12 million budget.

47 Meters Down: Uncaged is arriving on Blu-ray (+DVD + Digital) on Nov. 12th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. Co-written and directed by Johannes Roberts, the film stars Sophie Nelisse, Corinne Foxx, Brianne Tju, Sistine Stallone, Brec Bassinger, and John Corbett.

The plot centers around teenage stepsisters, Mia and Sasha (played by Sophie Nelisse and Corinne Foxx) and Sasha's two friends, Alexa and Nicole (played by Brianne Tju and Sistine Stallone), cut classes and travel to a secret saloon that holds the entrance to a submerged Mayan city, which was discovered by Mia's father, Grant (played by John Corbett). The girls put on their diving gear and dive into the saloon to explore the Mayan city. They were just wanting to see the sunken ruins but what they find is pure terror!

Living in the submerged Mayan city are blind great white sharks with an appetite for anything living. Low on air, the girls are trapped in the underwater labyrinths of caves and claustrophobic tunnels with no way to escape.

Special Effects include: