The Book Forums

I found Hotel Beau Séjour while searching for something to watch on Netflix, the premise sounded interesting so I gave it a watch! The plot is very straight forward— it’s a murder mystery. The main character, Kato, had died and is now a ghost trying to help solve her own murder. This is nothing revolutionary but since Kato seems like genuinely caring person, you really get invested in her story and her search for the truth. This leads to the viewer suspecting many of the seemingly random characters who can see Kato as a ghost. The mystery itself was fine, I didn’t really suspect the actual killer, but things lined up once they were revealed. One question I’m still left with is why only specific people can see Kato? Early in the series she makes the connection that they were some of the last people to see her before she died. But later she says something about them being guilty for her death. If that is the case, then what is Charlie guilty about? It’s an interesting thing to ...

I had to sit and think about this one for a day, but I’ve come to the conclusion that it did the book justice. I’m just going to say it now, if you want a 100% faithful adaptation, this is not the one for you. Honestly, a lot is different, but that is not always a bad thing. The main difference is the time line and how that affects certain aspects of the story. The novel takes place over the course of one night with Clay listening to the tapes rather quickly, the movie takes place in at least a week and Clay listens to the tapes really slowly. This extended timeline allows the viewer to see Clay actually interacting with other people on the tapes. It also gives the viewer a chance to see how the tapes are affecting Clay long term. About halfway through the show, Clay looks rough so you really understand what the tapes are doing to him. But the great thing is that you also get insight into how the tapes have affected everyone else on them, since the POV often switches from fo...

ONLY ONE MORE SEASON LEFT! After hearing in summer of last year, that season four of Orphan Black had a focus on the past and learning things about Beth, I couldn’t wait to watch it! Of course, being me, I waited until January to finally sit down and watch the season, but now I think this is my favorite season yet! My favorite element of season four, is the cyclical nature of the plot. Many events are paralleling the events of the first season. This gave the writers to go back and explore more about Beth and introduce characters such as Mika. I loved both of these clones for similar reasons. They were both loners, who kept things to themselves, which sadly ultimately led to Beth’s downfall. They also had a combined brain power to discover things that it took clone club FOUR SEASONS to discover. Throughout Season four Sarah ends up in a similar mindset that Beth was when we first saw her in the first moments of season one. It’s tragic seeing Sarah, such a passionate charac...

I was casually scrolling through Netflix the other day when I stumbled on a Maximum Ride movie. I vaguely remembered hearing about the movie a while ago, but hadn’t hear anything recently so I was curious. Max Ride was a big part of my middle school (I read seven of the many books) and the movie was only an hour and a half so I had to check it out. I wasn’t expecting anything from the movie, and I guess I wasn’t disappointed… but I wasn’t impressed either. As a previous fan of the books, Max Ride brought to light many of the issues with the book series. I have to wonder what James Patterson was thinking when he decided to call the secret experiment lab “the school” and the evil monsters “Erasers”. Neither of those are particularly threatening names for villainous characters and places. Fang failed to live up to his name in the movie. If one’s name is Fang, I feel they need to be the most angst filled person ever, and movie Fang was actually a pretty cool, levelheaded guy— I ...

Netflix updated Season three of The 100 , so you know what that means! Many of you may not know but I’m a huge fan of The 100 . Sadly, due to all the behind the scenes and fandom drama surrounding season three, I opted to wait until the season was on Netflix to watch it. Now that I’ve seen Season three, I understand some issues people have with it, but I’m glad that I waited to watch it on my own. Season three’s plot can be split into two main sections. The first half is mostly dealing with repercussions from Mt. Weather, and disagreements among the sky people. But then Lexa dies, ALIE becomes more of a threat, and things become more about fighting ALIE, than fighting grounders. I found myself more of a fan of the first half the season rather than the second. Octavia and Lincoln have basically swapped positions in society with Octavia being the grounder and Lincoln being with sky crew. I loved the tensions this brought to their relationship as well as to Arcadia. In seaso...

While my entire state was underwater, I spent the past week binging American Horror Story!   A while back I had checked out American Horror Story (by watching one episode) but I promptly decided it wasn’t for me. I remember liking the style but some of the more mature themes threw me off. That was years ago. This past week I was scrolling through Netflix— looking for something to watch— and I thought, why not give it another chance? Turns out I really enjoyed the show and I’m very glad I went back to watch it! My favorite thing about American Horror Story is that each season has its own style. I love the idea of this anthology series where each actor plays a different character each season. It is a brilliant way to be sure the show doesn’t overstay its welcome by tiring out the same characters over and over again. This is also great because, while some might not like one season, they might like another. I personally found myself more of a fan of Murder House (Season on...

Well I was going to be productive yesterday… but then I started watching Stranger Things and watched the entire season in a day. I had been hearing things about Stranger Things for the past few days but I hadn’t really payed attention until yesterday when I finally just decided to check it out and I’m really glad I did! The tone and feel of Stranger Things really reminded me of the movie Super 8 (does anyone remember that movie? XD) because it has a big focus on these kids and them getting in over their head while trying to find their friend.  The focus on children gives the show a very adventurous feel and adds a more lighthearted tone to be contrasted with the suspense. Stranger Things actually has a lot of suspense but it is never too scary. I can see a lot of people enjoying the show due to its adventurous tone and ability to still get serious and suspenseful when necessary. Many people like to say that child actors are not usually good but the child actors ar...

Now I’m almost caught up on this series! If you don’t know, I have spent the past two weeks watching Seasons nine and ten of Supernatural on Netflix. I had originally watched up until season nine a few years ago but I stopped watching when Season nine aired. I had kept up with the show a little bit over the past year but hadn’t watched it, so it was interesting coming back to the show after all this time. The most interesting thing about coming back to Supernatural was seeing how my preferences changed. I used to not like the one off episodes and basically always skip the vampire episodes, but watching seasons nine and ten I really loved the one off ghost episodes and I felt some of the vampire episodes brought new ideas to favorite characters. I believe this change happened since I wasn’t as invested in the overall plot of the season. I just didn’t care that much about the angels and their drama from season nine and the issues with Dean in season ten were definitely inte...

This show was surprisingly enjoyable and addictive.   I gave MTV’s Scream a shot for two reasons— I needed something to watch, and Sean Grandillo is on it. You may not know but I am a HUGE fan of Deaf West Spring Awakening so when I found out Grandillo was in Scream, I had to give it a shot (sadly he doesn’t come in until season two). I went into the show not expecting much but I actually found the show very entertaining and addicting. The good thing about doing a slasher in a TV format is that the writers are able to give more depth to the characters and allow the audience to feel for them before they start dying. I did start to get attached to some of these characters as the season progressed, but not to the point of crying if anything happened to them… I’d only be mildly upset. I also didn’t care much throughout the season about who the killer was. I got the feeling that I was supposed to be trying to figure it out myself, but I simply didn’t care that much. With that s...

GUESS WHAT I FINALLY  FINISHED  WATCHING! This is going to be a little different of a Netflix Adventure, and let me tell you why! I started Season four of Once Upon a Time back when it was airing live and I kept up with it weekly. I thought it was okay but confusing. Then, for some unknown reason, I stopped halfway through. When it finally came on Netflix I never caught up on Season four, but had the bright idea to move onto Season five. This also ended with me stopping hallway through. Now I have FINALLY gone back and finished watching Season four, and I mostly enjoyed it. My issue with Once Upon a Time (and this is more of a personal issue) is that you can’t multitask while watching it. I have to pay full attention to the show or else I get lost, and this is unfortunate because I usually do homework while watching TV. This is why I tend to not keep up with the show on a weekly basis— it becomes a chore. Once Upon A Time is more of a Netflix show for me, when I ...

Hello! Come continue on My Netflix Adventure with me as we discuss two 80s movies… The Shining and Blade Runner . I went into this movie with very different expectations than what I got. For some reason I was expecting this to be a more straight forward story of a man’s decent into madness, and while you get parts of that, you also get a completely different experience— a more confusing experience. I didn’t expect The Shining to have so many layers and be so confusing. While I still really enjoyed the movie for its atmosphere and brilliant score (it’s seriously amazing), I found plot points hard to follow. But these layers add to multiple viewings and theorizing about the movie. I will definitely be looking up more information about the details that I might’ve missed and maybe even rewatch The Shining in the future. I recommend The Shining for any horror or suspense fans or just anyone who wants a great atmospheric movie. It’s also just a great classic that more people sho...

The next stop on my netflix adventure brings us to the wonderful world of Hell’s Kitchen to visit characters such as Matt Murdock, Karen Page, and Foggy Nelson. That’s right, it’s time to discuss season two of Daredevil ! I went into season two with pretty high expectations after I enjoyed both season one and Jessica Jones — I even rewatched season one a few weeks before season two came out, so it’s safe to say that I was excited and ready for season two, and it mostly lived up to expectation and I can definitely see myself rewatching it before next season comes out. Season two was full of all of the great characters that you loved from last season plus great new ones. I loved the chemistry between Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), and Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson) back in season one and while the relationship between these characters this season is much darker and gloomier, they still work extremely well as a team. Other character such as The Punisher...

Hello lovely people! Time for me to continue My Netflix Adventure with an amazing movie musical that I rented from Amazon, Sweeney Todd . Prior to this, my only experience of Johnny Depp was in the Pirates 0f the Caribbean movies, which is a good performance for the first movie but goes downhill fast. Recently I had been hearing a lot of people saying that Depp was good in other movies such as Sweeney Todd ; then as I became more interested in musicals, people told me I had to watch Sweeney Todd . I put it off for a few weeks before finally giving in and renting the movie from Amazon and I’m so glad I did! The music in Sweeney Todd w is brilliant! Stephen Sondheim’s music works amazingly throughout the movie and the cast sounds perfect in their roles! The Score adds greatly to the atmosphere of scenes and enhances the viewing experience greatly. Definitely check out the soundtrack— it’s AMAZING! The plot of Sweeney Todd is a great revenge story that reminded me of T...

Imagine me just scrolling then Netflix, when all of the sudden I see Parks and Recreation Season Seven... WHAAATTTT! This season came out of nowhere for me; I had no idea that they were coming out with a new season! I had actually finished season six last May and really enjoyed it. The short thirty second nature of the episodes made them quick and easy to watch, allowing me to finish all six seasons in about a two weeks. Then, during this past week, I was able to get through season seven quickly by just watching two episodes a night before I go to bed. Parks and Recreation is a great show to pick up and put back down at random times and still be able to understand what is going on— check it out if you haven’t already! Going into season seven my greatest worry was wondering if it was going to stand up to the quality of the other seasons— mostly it does. Season seven brings in the interesting idea of having a time jump between the last episode of season six and episode one of ...

Now to continue my great Netflix Adventure with two acclaimed movies that I’ve been hearing about for a while now— The Babadook and Inglorious Bastards . The Babadook is a movie that I heard a lot about last year but I never actually watched until recently. I had high expectations due to all of the hype surrounding the film last year and it definitely fulfilled those expectations. The Babadook is a truly unsettling movie due to its use of music, great acting, and portrayal of its character’s decent into madness. The movie’s main character has a slip into a dark place that is just creepy and unsettling for viewers to watch but it just adds to the great atmosphere in The Babadook! I recommend this one for fans of atmospheric films, horror, or intense and gripping movies. Inglorious Bastards was my first Tarantino movie (I don’t know why, but it just seemed like the one that I would like the most), and I really enjoyed it! The movie being mostly subtitled is something...

My Netflix saga continues with a show that took me a while to find! I actually had to watch it on Amazon because Amazon Prime exclusives (blabla legal stuffs) and of course it took me forever to realize that it was an Amazon Prime exclusive, but I’ve seen it know and I’m here to discuss seasons one and two of Orphan Black ! I had heard a few things about Orphan Black before I decided to check it out but I mostly went in blind and without many expectations. I was hooked from the first episode, and could not stop watching. Orphan Black does not waste time with pointless scenes of exposition about character backgrounds but instead throws the audience into the story and lets them figure things out as the story progresses. Viewers are introduced to Sarah’s character and history through dialogue between characters in early episodes. Through these early interactions in early episodes viewers can also pick up a things about Beth’s character and the people in her life. Both of these ...

Hello! Welcome to the next stop on my Netflix movie watching adventure! If you don’t know what I’m talking about then click HERE and find out! This weekend I watched two very different movies, The Bourne Identity and 2001: A Space Odyssey . I actually only finished watching The Bourne Identity this weekend since I had started it the weekend before; I really enjoyed it! The action was great and intense and the story was interesting and immersive. I knew basis of the story going in so it makes me wonder how my viewing experience would have been different if I hadn’t known about the Bourne character going in. Overall, I recommend for everyone; especially fans of action, or someone who wants to watch a more grounded spy movie. I had been eyeing this one on Netflix for a week or two just out of curiosity and because it’s directed by Kubrick. This was my first Kubrick movie and I actually enjoyed it! I was worried going in that I would have trouble picking up on the plo...

Netflix is a magical thing— most people will agree with that! At the moment I’m using Netflix to catch up many movies that I haven’t seen before and want to watch now (whether it be because I was too young when it came out, or I just missed it in theaters). With that said you can be expecting some shorter movie reviews for these movies that I’m watching on Netflix. Below will be reviews for the movies that I have already watched on Netflix up to now. I have seen a few of M. Night Shyamalan’s later movies but I had never seen The Sixth Sense so I decided that it was time! I highly enjoyed the movie which was full of suspense and shock. I recommend it for EVERYONE! I watched this movie immediately after The Sixth Sense and it was everything I expected and more! It was full of intense action, with commentary mixed in throughout. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time since I actually grew to love some of these characters. I recommend Snowpiercer for EVERYONE (...