Sunday, February 28, 2021

{Sunday Post} - Parting With a Bookstore Is Such Sweet Sorrow

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

Good Morning, Everyone!

Holy crap, was I disappointed yesterday!

What I am upset about is that the Barnes & Noble store has closed in Independence, MO. During my teenage years, my parents and I would go to the AMC Theater. Typically we would all see separate movies and, later, meetup at B&N, located right next door. I have fond memories of browsing the bargain book section. Anyway, I was in the city yesterday and noticed the store had closed. It went out of business on February 6th. What's sad is that there isn't another big bookstore in the area, though there are two in Kansas City and two more in Kansas. Some B&N stores were closing due to the pandemic, but I never thought this one would be affected. The last time I was there was back in early November.

What Am I Reading?

I finished reading The Devil All The Time by Donald Ray Pollock last night and don't have my next read set in stone. However, it might be The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis. It was the reason why I went to Barnes & Noble back in November but couldn't find the book. I ended up ordering it from Amazon.

Recent Reviews

Horizon Line

What's in the Mail?

Lionsgate Home Entertainment sent me the Cheer! Rally! Kill! DVD set, which includes five made-for-Lifetime movies. Yeah, there not exactly my kind of films, but I've made it thru three of them so far. I'll get the other two watched sometime today and try to get my review posted tomorrow. I also received a Blu-ray of Vanguard starring Jackie Chan, which I haven't viewed yet. The movie comes out to the public on March 9th, so I'll probably be posting the review on March 8th.

What's New on the Bookshelf?

I've been to two different Dollar Tree stores this past week, and I picked up two hardbacks - Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris and Stone Field by Christy Lenzi. I finished reading Bring Me Back early yesterday morning. Look for my review on it later in the week. I found Stone Field in the city. When I went to the checkout to pay for it, the cashier opened the book, silently read the synopsis, and began to flip through the pages. After what seemed like forever, she finally came out of her reading daze. She commented that she was the one who stocked the books and, for some reason, doesn't remember ever seeing this book.

While running some errands at a Walmart store in nearby county, I checked out the small book section and glanced at a paperback titled Say No More by Karen Rose. It looked interesting, but for some reason I told myself to put it down. Later, I stumbled upon the book at the Walmart in town and talked myself into getting it.

Also, I bought The Desolations of Devil's Acre, the sixth and final novel in Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs. I read the first book in the series after watching Tim Burton's film adaptation but never read the other installments. The series is on my to-do-list for 2021.

Recent titles on my Kindle are Let's All Kill Constance by Ray Bradbury and Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys.

{Book Blogger Hop} - Keeping Track Of Your Books

Billy Burgess book blogger hop ,

Welcome to the Book Blogger Hop!

If you want to schedule next week's post in advance, click here for the future prompts. To submit a prompt, please 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 and communicate with other book bloggers.

What To Do

1. Post an answer for the prompt.

Do you use Goodreads to keep track of your books?

This week's prompt submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver's Reviews.

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

3. Please visit other blogs on the list and leave a comment on their BBH post.

{The Friday 56} - BRING ME BACK - A Vanishing Mystery

Billy Burgess The Friday 56 ,

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.

[Blu-ray Review] - HORIZON LINE (2020) - A Thriller With No Direction

Billy Burgess Blu-ray , movies

Now available on Blu-ray is the low-budget thriller HORIZON LINE (PG-13; 92 minutes) from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. If you have never heard of it before, well, the good news is that you're not the only one, as neither had I until recently. STXfilms released the movie to theaters in Sweden in November 2020. It went straight to VOD here in the USA on January 12, 2020, with little to zero buzz. As of this writing, there are only three critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and you probably guessed - they're all negative. The audience score is currently at 25%, with zero written reviews.

The plot centers on ex-lovers Jackson and Sara (played by Alexander Dreymon and Allison Williams) traveling on a single-engine plane en route to their friend's wedding on a tropical island. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot (played by Keith David) has a fatal heart attack, leaving the former couple alone on a plane with a broken autopilot that's heading into the path of a terrifying storm.

Final Thoughts

How the hell did this movie get the green-light?

HORIZON LINE is one of the stupidest movies ever made. Sure, the overall premise of a pilot suddenly dying inflight and leaving the passengers in a desperate attempt to survive sounds intriguing. However, the filmmakers, should've done their research before attempting such a story. Even though I have never stepped foot on a plane, I know more about flying than them.

The first twenty minutes is a snoozefest, where we're introduced to Sara and Jackson and learn about their past relationship. It's pretty obvious why these two lovebirds broke up - they have zero chemistry! The characters are one-dimensional at best, with some of the dumbest dialogue ever penned. Allison Williams and Alexander Dreymon both give wooden performances. I'm not saying Dreymon is a bad actor because this is the first time I've seen him in anything. So, maybe it was more of the director's fault, or he's just a bad actor. However, I cannot say the same for Williams. I've seen her in two other films, and she's a godawful actress with no emotional depth.

The cinematography was alright in some scenes and horrible in others. The musical score sounded like it was a rip-off from every other movie.

For those who need to know, the picture and sound quality on the Blu-ray are exceptional. Besides a few deleted scenes, there are no special features or commentaries. The included digital code is only valid for iTunes (Apple TV).

Overall, HORIZON LINE is the most empty-headed and lackluster film put to screen in recent memory.

{Monday Morning Madness} - Book Blogger Hop and Midnight Horror Reviews

Billy Burgess Monday Morning Madness , ramblings

Good Morning, Everyone!

I cannot believe it's been nearly five months since my last Monday Morning Madness post. If you've followed any of my Sunday Posts, then you would know I have had many ups and downs over the past year that are not related to the pandemic. I'm not going to go into details here, as I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing me talk about it. However, I want to say that I'm doing well and trying my best to deal with things.

For those who participate in the weekly Book Blogger Hop every Friday, you would've noticed a new look for the logo and prompt image. While I love the previous logo, the cream colors didn't blend well with my blog's design. Therefore, I had to make a change, and hopefully, everyone will like it. If not, feel free to use one of the previous logos or your own.

Speaking of the Book Blogger Hop, I would like to apologize for not posting the prompt questions in our Facebook group. I'm not a big fan of social media, and if I didn't have this blog, I probably wouldn't be on Facebook or Twitter. It's just too time-consuming, and at times it can be a bit stressful.

I'll be bringing back The Midnight Horror Review posts sometime soon. I'm trying to figure out a different way to write the reviews, so they'll sound independent from my regular DVD/Blu-ray reviews. They might be more of a respective than a review, though I haven't made my final decision on it. The one thing I do know is I want to make those posts stand out more.

There will be a few other changes to this blog. It's just small things, such as changing past posts titles and spelling and grammar checking on old posts. The changes are nothing major, and I doubt anyone will be able to notice anything. These things have been bugging me for a while, and I need to fix them to save my sanity.

{Sunday Post} - The Devil All The Time, The Hensley Mansion, and Horizon Line

Billy Burgess Sunday Post ,

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

Good Morning, Everyone!

I hope everyone has been keeping warm from the extremely cold weather we've been having across the country. The winter months are always a drag for me because I hate snow and the cold.

Nothing of importance has happened in my life during the last two weeks, so I'm going to keep this post short and sweet.

[Blu-ray Review] - Let Him Go (2020)

Billy Burgess Blu-ray , movies

For those who don't know, the neo-western drama LET HIM GO (R; 114 minutes) recently landed on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Director and producer Thomas Bezucha (The Family Stone; Monte Carlo) adapted the script from the 2013 novel of the same name by Larry Watson. Focus Features released the film to theaters in November 2020 and grossed just over $10 million.