Weekly Recap #9: Gone Girl, Orphan Black, Dog Soldiers, The Intouchables

This post is linked to Stacking the Shelves (hosted by Tynga Reviews)  and The Sunday Post (hosted by Kimba @Caffeinated Book Reviewer).

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Read

Gone Girl 
I mentioned last week that I was listening to the audiobook. I don't know if the book had a content page but the audiobook certainly had a table of contents with chapter titles and which to me pretty much gaveaway the story. So from that I guess what happen to Amy but not the actual specifics. I understand that the book is popular in part for the supposed twist and the shock value but because of the giveaway and the fact that I feel like I've read or watched a similar story before, nothing in Gone Girl surprised me. Still the dual perspective was interesting, possibly why it made for a appealing thriller for most.

Watched

Orphan Black - Season 2
Some of my thoughts for season 2 which I just finished watching. Beware of some minor spoilers even though I am pretty vague on most of the things.

• Tatiana Maslany is amazing as all the different characters she plays. 
• We get to see Kira's dad, Cal, and I'd love to see how much involved he will be in Season 3 now that he knows the truth.
• Helena! I'm liking her more and more. Her being slightly nuts is what makes her soo interesting. She has no filter too, just says what she thinks.
• Plus I'd love for Gracey and Mark to cross path with Helena again. And Mark, does he know all that stuff that is revealed at the end of the last episode?
• Donnie, Alison's husband, had been such a fumbling fool throughout season 1 and 2 but he had this awesome scene near the end of season 2.
• Felix is like the most loyal brother ever.
• Paul! He has such great chemistry with Sarah! For awhile he looked like he really cared for her. Enough to risk his own life. The he pretty much disappeared and was not as involved? I know that the Dyad has something on him and controlling him but was all before an act? I hope we see more of him in season 3. Plus it would bring some interesting tension especially with how it seems Cal is going to be around.
• I love the first season because it's mostly about the girls learning about themselves and keeping their existence secret. The second season with Dyad playing a larger role, I'm seriously confused what their agenda is. Who's in charge? Who's playing who? I hope it doesn't get even more convoluted?
• That said I like how the season ends. Makes sense the girls aren't the only ones.

Dog Soldiers (2002)

A squad of British soldiers is sent to some remote woodland area for a military exercise. Unfortunately they have just entered werewolf territory and find themselves hole up in an empty country house hoping to survive till daylight as the werewolves circle them waiting for an attack. I've heard of this movie before but never knew it was a werewolf movie. I haven't seen a lot of werewolf movies but this is one of the better ones I've seen. It has a really interesting premise with a routine military exercise gone terribly wrong and the werewolves in Dog Soldiers are really monstrous and vicious. There's a sense of claustrophobia as their shelter and weapons become inadequate, and the werewolves close in on them again and again. Other than the scares I really like the characters, the interactions between the soldiers seem so natural and you do want them all to survive the night.


The Intouchables (2011)
I wasn't really keen to watch this since it looks like it's filled with a lot stereotypes and one of those movies trying to be inspirational. But I gave in to watching this when it was airing on TV recently. And I have to admit it is an incredibly heartwarming movie about the friendship between an aristocrat and his caretaker. It was funny too, which I didn't expect. It is no wonder that this was the most popular film in France the year it was released.

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Around the Blog

Thursday: Thursday Movie Picks #8 was Movies Set Locally. It was interesting seeing everyone's local picks, so do check them all out. I'm not a big fan of sport movies but still next week's theme is Sports Movies. So if you love movies, come and take part in this weekly series. You can read about future topics here.
Friday: Did a photo post.

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Other Stuff

• There's a companion The Walking Dead TV series in the works. I suppose we'll follow a brand new set of characters? Cool. Love to see a completely different landscape than what we've see.
• Bran Stark is not returning for season 5 of Game of Thrones! I haven't even seen season 4 but Bran is one of my favourite GOT character so that's so sad. By the time we'll see Bran in season 6 he's going to be all grown up, probably as tall as Hodor, if he could stand.
• Saw the Gone Girl trailers. Looking forward to this especially since its directed by David Fincher who does thrillers well.
• If you didn't know yet, the 5th Wave by Rick Yancey is being made into a movie with Chloe Moretz in the lead. I'm always mixing up 5th Wave with Angelfall (which seems to be getting an adaptation too but not cast yet) since both are set in apocalyptic world with a teen girl protagonist looking for her sibling. 

• So A Monster Calls is also being made into a movie. Like the above two books, I enjoyed this book as well and it had some pretty illustrations. So I'm definitely looking forward to how they're bringing the Monster to screen who will be played by Liam Neeson. If you've never heard of the book check out the trailer for the book above, which gives a taste of the story visually and tonally. I'm not entirely sure if the movie is going to be animated or live action. Hopefully live action.