Saturday, July 6, 2019

Blu-ray Review: The Big C: The Complete Series


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

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon
I'm mostly clueless when it comes to SHOWTIME as I don't have a subscription to the cable service. Besides from Shameless, Masters of Sex, and Penny Dreadful, I have no idea what programs on air on it. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'd never heard of the series The Big C until it was released on Blu-ray ($54.98; 20 hrs 36 mins) way back in April by Mill Creek Entertainment, featuring all 40 episodes.

Created by Darlene Hunt, The Big C stars Laura Linney as Cathy Jamison, a 42-year-old high school teacher who learns she has terminal (stage IV) melanoma. She's doesn't want to burden her childlike husband, Paul (played by Oliver Pratt), their teenage son, Adam (played by Gabriel Basso), or he unemployed and homeless brother, Sean (played by John Benjamin Hickey).

With little time to live, Cathy or more or less has a midlife crises and temporarily kicks Paul out their home because she's tired of taking care of him. She befriends her elderly widowed neighbor, Marlene (played by Phyllis Somerville), as well as her oncologist, Dr. Todd Mauer (played by Reid Scott) and an overweight student, Andrea (played by Gabourey Sidibe). Besides her doctor, Marlene is the only person who knows about her illness for most of the first season.

Despite knowing she's going to die soon, Cathy decides to live each day to fullest!


 Final Thoughts

Friday, July 5, 2019

Book Blogger Hop: July 5th - 11th





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 Elizabeth @ Silver's Review.


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.

The Friday 56: IT by Stephen King



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.


A zig-zagging bloody fingermark fell away from the second letter of this word - his finger made that mark, she saw, as his hand fell into the tub, where it now floated.

page 56, IT by Stephen King

  My Thoughts

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Blu-ray Review: The Rundown


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

Mill Creek Entertainment; Amazon
Does anyone remember the 2003 action-comedy The Rundown starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson?

Considering it's one of actor's best films, it was actually a big flop when it was originally released; making only $80 million on a $85 million budget. However, over time the movie has become popular with action fans.

The Rundown (PG-13; $14.98; 104 minutes) was re-released to Blu-ray (+DVD) earlier this year by Mill Creek Entertainment. There are no special features or bonus extras.

Directed by Peter Berg, The Rundown centers around Beck (played by Dwayne Johnson), a bounty hunter who is sent to the treacherous jungles of the Amazon to locate Travis Walker (played by Seann Williams Scott) and bring him to the United States to his father, Billy (played by William Lucking). While the job seemed to be pretty simple at first, Beck quickly realizes he might be way over his head because capturing Travis is going to be most difficult job he has ever been assigned.

In order to catch Travis, Beck teams up with a rebel leader, Mariana (played by Rosario Dawson), which eventually leads them on a search for a missing golden artifact called the O Gato do Diabo.

Christopher Walken costars as the movie's villain and Arnold Schwarzenegger has an uncredited cameo.


  Final Thoughts

Monday, July 1, 2019

Sunday Post / It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @  Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Date.


Good Afternoon, Everyone!


How is everyone doing on this Monday afternoon?

I'm doing alright for the most part. I spent the majority of Sunday sleeping as I was under the weather with a sore a throat. Thanks to several Halls cough drops, I'm feeling a lot better today!

After receiving three inches rain last weekend, it hasn't rained a drop since, which isn't a good thing as the temperature with humidity has been 100+ for several days.

Reading wasn't much of a priority for me last week. Several things came up (like always), such as the the water heater which had to be replaced. I had stepped into the downstairs laundry room/bathroom to find the floor flooded. My first thought was the washer machine was leaking, but I was wrong. Then I went into the garage and witnessed water shooting out the bottom of the nearly seven-year-old water heater. The replacement cost nearly $900.

What Am I Currently Reading?

I only read about 40% of Ring of Roses by Sara Clancy on my Kindle last week. To be completely honest, I had just forgotten about the eBook until this morning. Prior to watching Fear the Walking Dead last night, I started reading a few pages of Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. If you don't know, the television adaptation's second season is currently airing HBO. I haven't watch last night's episode yet. I'll watch it On Demand tonight. I read a few more pages early this morning. I'm currently on page 181.

 

  Recent Reviews

The Son by Philipp Meyer
(Summer Reads)

Dumbo (2019)
(Blu-ray Review)

Jury Duty
(Blu-ray Review)

In the Mail

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Summer Reads: The Son by Philipp Meyer


Amazon
For the last ten weeks, I've spent my Saturday night watching the second (and final) season of AMC's The Son starring Pierce Brosnan, which is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Philipp Meyer. The first season (or the first 10 episodes) aired in 2017. I didn't start watching the series until several seeks after it premiered on On Demand. I was addicted to the series after the first episode. It's a shame that AMC didn't have faith in the series and cancelled it several months for the second season began. I bet the two year gap between seasons didn't help much.

Before I had finished watching the first season in 2017, I bought the novel by Philipp Meyer, which is nearly 600 pages with small lettering. Like many other titles, I had intended on reading the book right away, but that didn't occur. Actually, the book was put up and I just forgot about it until final season of the series started, this is when I remembered I owned a copy. Considering the page length, I figured it would take me at least two weeks to read the novel, but I ended up reading the book fairly quickly.

The novel is mostly told in three different point-of-views - Colonel Eli McCullough, Peter McCullough, and Jeanne Anne McCullough. Now I say "mostly" because are there are two others included towards the latter of the novel but I'm not going to mention the names here, as it would give away the twist.

Colonel Eli McCullough's story book begins in 1936 when he was 100-years-old and the rest of his story is told in flashbacks beginning when he was a 13-year-old in 1849 living in Texas with his mother, brother, and sister. Comanches attack their home, they rape and murder his mother and sister, and capture him and his older brother, who later dies. Eli is adopted by the Kotsoteka Comanches and is named Tiehteti. While living with the Comanches, Toshaway (the Indian who kidnapped him) becomes his new father. At first, he is treated cruelly by the other tribe members, but eventually he earns their respect. He spends three years with the Comanches until fate leads him on a different path to become a cattle baron and oil king.

Peter is the son of Eli McCullough and Madeline Black and his story is told from journal entries dating from 1915 to 1917. During these years, his father and sons murdered the neighboring Garcia family in cold blood, took their land, and buried their bodies in a mass grave. There was only one survivor - Maria Garcia, an ex-flame. Peter will do anything to protect her, even if it means leaving his wife, Sally, and their sons behind.

Jeanne Anne is the granddaughter of Peter and Sally. Though she never met her grandfather, she has found memories of her great-grandfather, the "Colonel." Despite being the only daughter out of four children, Jeanne become the inheritor of the family's cattle and oil business. Her story is told through flashbacks beginning when she was ten-year-old up until the year 2012 when her family's past comes to haunt her.

 

Final Thoughts

Friday, June 28, 2019

The Friday 56: Treasure Hunters: All-American Adventure



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.


The gallery was closed when we arrived, so we were forced to spend the night at a hotel.

page 256, Treasure Hunters: All-American Adventure by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein

  My Thoughts