Movies – Night Owl Reviews

In October I read six books and watched two movies. I was around this time that I got very busy and posting just wasn’t happening so now I’m catching up.

Books:

The first book I read was The Curse of Moonseed Manor by D. Lieber which is a gothic mystery story set at a possible haunted house in the same vain as Rebecca. I do have a full review already posted and feel like that if you like mysteries and haunted houses you would enjoy this.

To Sleep In A Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini follows Kira who accidently finds an alien relic during a routine survey mission and is launched into events to save Earth and all of Humanity. This is Paolini’s first adult science fiction work and while I loved the characters and enjoyed most of the concepts I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if it had been split into two books.

The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life’s Final Moments by Hadley Valhos is a nonfiction book about her interactions with patients that have impacted her the most so far while being a hospice nurse. While a hard topic with is a memoir that shows hos caring for others can change one’s life and how one deals with grief.

A Fire Born of Exile by Aliette de Bodard is a sapphic Count of Monte Cristo inspired story set in space. I do have a full review posted as well but this is perfect for those that love science fiction with a romantic spin.

Britney Spears memoir The Woman in Me is Britney sharing her story in the music industry and the conservatorship that she was forced into. While at times sad, this memoir allows one to get a glimpse into who Britney Spears really is and how things have affected her over the years.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein is a science fiction book about Michael Smith who is a human raised on Mars and has returned to Earth. Interesting concepts but you and can that it was written in the 60s and I didn’t enjoy reading it.

Movies:

I watched two movies this month the first was Grave Encounters. Grave Encounters is a found footage horror movie where a team of Ghost Hunters lock themselves into an abandoned asylum that is supposed to be haunted. As the night goes on it starts to become clear that the asylum really is haunted and the team is in danger. Not bad for a found footage movie but the effects could have been better in some scenes but a good horror movie overall for the Halloween season.

The only other movie I watched was Resident Evil: Death Island. This is the newest Resident Evil animated movie to come out and its set in the same universe as the video games. While not a bad movie its made for fans of the games but it was cool seeing fan favorite characters working together.

Jurassic World Dominion is the last movie in the Jurassic World trilogy and it feels like the last movie that is going to be made for the Jurassic Park franchise. This was the first movie I’ve seen in theaters since February of 2020 so I had a great time going back to a movie theater.

The movie is set four years after Fallen Kingdom and the dinosaurs being released onto the main land. I initially thought that this movie would be more about the world learning to cope with dinosaurs being in the modern world. The company Biosyn now has a nature preserve for the dinosaurs and might be genetically engineering crops and locusts to control the food supply. At the same time Maisie Lockwood is being hunted because she is a clone and Blue, the raptor, has a baby without a male raptor. When Maisie and Blue’s baby are kidnapped Claire and Owen plan to rescue them. While that part of the plot is happening Malcolm has been working at Biosyn and contacts Dr. Sattler who also brings Dr. Grant to help expose what Biosyn is doing.

This is one of those movies that if you focus too much on the plot or the “science” your not going to like it but if you treat it like a fun action/popcorn movie I think you will enjoy it. The only things that I didn’t like is how they portrayed Biosyn’s CEO as an evil tech guy as it felt a little on the nose, and how Dr. Wu some form of redemption when he was very much portrayed as a villain in the pervious two movie and there is no explanation for the change of heart. However, I did love all the call backs to the original Jurassic Park movies and it feels like a good send off for the series. I liked the movie overall and I loved seeing some of the original actor come back.