Greetings,
Everyone knows I love a good movie about writers. What you may not know is that I also love Lifetime movies. Now what do you think happens when you put those two things together? That's right. You get a very happy ME! So, I decided to pick one of the writer/Lifetime movies to discuss here today, and the winner is . . . Inspired to Kill. Get it? Inspired? Because writing! Also, someone is probably going to die. Let's do this.
Inspired To Kill is a 2017 TV movie about a woman named Kara, played by Karissa Lee Staples. After a personal tragedy, she decides to move far from home to get a fresh start and also pursue a career as a writer. When she arrives, she meets another woman named, Charlie, played Olivia D'Abo (YAY!), who rents Kara a room and gives her a job at her local coffee shop. Kara also meets a myriad of other people, ranging from a nice guy at work named Jason (Matthew Atkinson) to an obnoxious guy at work named Tony (Daniel Booko) to an extremely skeezy professor (Jay Pickett) who teaches her writing class . . . and who wants to teach her other things, apparently. Ick. So, yeah, things are a bit hit or miss with her in the 'new friends' department.
But then one day, by pure chance, she becomes acquainted with a handsome stranger and fellow writer named Paul, played by Antonio Sabato Jr. They immediately hit it off and begin spending all their time together, although, he remains an allusive mystery to all the people in Kara's life. Ironically, at the same time, people start dropping dead around her. Is it a coincidence or is it something more sinister and close to home? Now if there's one thing we've learned in the history of Lifetime movies, it is that we must always be suspicious of the mysterious, handsome stranger and keep him at a safe distance. (And yet, so many Loki fangirls in the world.) But is that answer too obvious? I don't know. I guess you'll have to watch it. Yeah, this is the hard part about reviewing a movie that has a mystery to it. You can only say so much.
I will say, speaking of the plot, I enjoyed the interesting twists, and, whilst variations on said twists may have been done before, I liked the way that they put the whole thing together. I know some people aren't wild about the often predictable conclusions of movies like this, but to be fair, they put in multiple predictable conclusions, so you're constantly going back and forth trying to figure out which one they're gonna use. At least, I was. And the one they chose, I was quite satisfied with.
Along with all that, I also liked the acting here. Everyone did a good job with the material and played their parts well. Obviously, as you can tell by the aforementioned "YAY!", I love me some Olivia D'Abo, and I was really impressed by the young leading lady, Karissa Lee Staples, who I had never seen in anything before, but now I'm kind of interested in seeing what else she can do. Oh, and if these two don't do another movie wherein they play sisters or something, I will be very upset. Because they look SO MUCH alike.
Inspired to Kill is pretty much everything you want in a Lifetime movie. It's fun and entertaining and a bit over the top at moments. But again, that's what we want. And it's about writers, which just adds another sprinkle of awesome. So, if you're into these kind of movies, this is definitely one you'll want to check out.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
Monday, May 14, 2018
Monday, May 7, 2018
Tale Foundry - YouTube Channel Review
Greetings,
There are a million stories out there that have been told a million times over the years, the decades, the centuries. Most of us have heard them all and might have trouble finding interest in them anymore, even if the stories themselves remaining interesting. Therefore, we must rely on the special ones among us to find a new and creative way to relay those stories to the masses and make us embrace them and get lost in them once again. Enter Tale Foundry.
"If fiction were a material, we would be its manufacturing plant."
This quote appears on the Patreon page for Tale Foundry, and I would say it's pretty darn accurate, especially after I've watched and listened to so much of their work. This is another of the YouTube channels that I inadvertently came across whilst I was looking for other things. Probably urban legend stuff and whatnot. Anyway, one of their videos came up on under "Recommended" and I decided to give it a shot.
Well, I am so glad I did that, because I'm so delighted by what I found. I'm always delighted when I find people who embrace creativity and ingenuity the way that this channel has done. And it's hard, especially now, to be so imaginative and original with our ideas, but they have certainly managed to do that.
So, let me explain how things work at The Foundry. They generally do three part series and also some list videos, both on specific subjects. And if you've read this blog, you know I love me a good list. Anyway, they choose a topic, something from literature or a mythos or folklore from a certain country or whatever they want, and they create three videos. In the first two, they tell you and show you all the information they can on the chosen topic of the day, obviously through words and some artwork. In the third video, they share an original short story inspired by said topic. And that is why I love this channel so much.
There are so many places on the internet that you can go and find facts about whatever subject you want, but they can often be a bit dry and cold. Tale Foundry has found a way to do the exact opposite of that, but, by way of the short stories they write, they also are showing us how we can be inspired by what has come before us. And, as a writer, I find that to be an extremely valuable.
Now I suppose I should discuss the visual aesthetics of Tale Foundry, as they are videos to be looked at. They seem to have kind of a steampunk thing going on, with muted, sepia tones and some images of cogs, which I love, by the way. They also have some artwork in there, as I mentioned, which has a bit of simplicity to it at some points, but when you look closer, it can go deeper. Basically, a lot of it is the epitome of the idea that it takes a lot of effort to make something look effortless. And then, there's the robot that we get to see. Yes, I said robot and he's awesome. He tells us the stories from the actual factory that is Tale Foundry, where he works with a few "humans". I think I got all that right, but just to be safe, go and check it out for yourself. Having said that, I'll wrap up this little review.
I love people who love to be creative and who just dive headfirst into it. Tale Foundry is exactly that. They have grabbed hold of their imaginations and turned them up to eleven. You can see how much heart and soul and effort and work goes into what they do, and as a fellow artist, I am so appreciative of that. I think there's a lot of flippancy in the world of content creators, and so many of them seem to not care very much about what they put out. Well, that is not the case with this channel. They clearly care and love what they do. And for this reason, I have chosen to support them in this small way. I do hope that what I've said about Tale Foundry today will inspire you to go and see the amazing work that they are doing.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
Tale-Foundry-Channel
There are a million stories out there that have been told a million times over the years, the decades, the centuries. Most of us have heard them all and might have trouble finding interest in them anymore, even if the stories themselves remaining interesting. Therefore, we must rely on the special ones among us to find a new and creative way to relay those stories to the masses and make us embrace them and get lost in them once again. Enter Tale Foundry.
"If fiction were a material, we would be its manufacturing plant."
This quote appears on the Patreon page for Tale Foundry, and I would say it's pretty darn accurate, especially after I've watched and listened to so much of their work. This is another of the YouTube channels that I inadvertently came across whilst I was looking for other things. Probably urban legend stuff and whatnot. Anyway, one of their videos came up on under "Recommended" and I decided to give it a shot.
Well, I am so glad I did that, because I'm so delighted by what I found. I'm always delighted when I find people who embrace creativity and ingenuity the way that this channel has done. And it's hard, especially now, to be so imaginative and original with our ideas, but they have certainly managed to do that.
So, let me explain how things work at The Foundry. They generally do three part series and also some list videos, both on specific subjects. And if you've read this blog, you know I love me a good list. Anyway, they choose a topic, something from literature or a mythos or folklore from a certain country or whatever they want, and they create three videos. In the first two, they tell you and show you all the information they can on the chosen topic of the day, obviously through words and some artwork. In the third video, they share an original short story inspired by said topic. And that is why I love this channel so much.
There are so many places on the internet that you can go and find facts about whatever subject you want, but they can often be a bit dry and cold. Tale Foundry has found a way to do the exact opposite of that, but, by way of the short stories they write, they also are showing us how we can be inspired by what has come before us. And, as a writer, I find that to be an extremely valuable.
Now I suppose I should discuss the visual aesthetics of Tale Foundry, as they are videos to be looked at. They seem to have kind of a steampunk thing going on, with muted, sepia tones and some images of cogs, which I love, by the way. They also have some artwork in there, as I mentioned, which has a bit of simplicity to it at some points, but when you look closer, it can go deeper. Basically, a lot of it is the epitome of the idea that it takes a lot of effort to make something look effortless. And then, there's the robot that we get to see. Yes, I said robot and he's awesome. He tells us the stories from the actual factory that is Tale Foundry, where he works with a few "humans". I think I got all that right, but just to be safe, go and check it out for yourself. Having said that, I'll wrap up this little review.
I love people who love to be creative and who just dive headfirst into it. Tale Foundry is exactly that. They have grabbed hold of their imaginations and turned them up to eleven. You can see how much heart and soul and effort and work goes into what they do, and as a fellow artist, I am so appreciative of that. I think there's a lot of flippancy in the world of content creators, and so many of them seem to not care very much about what they put out. Well, that is not the case with this channel. They clearly care and love what they do. And for this reason, I have chosen to support them in this small way. I do hope that what I've said about Tale Foundry today will inspire you to go and see the amazing work that they are doing.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
Tale-Foundry-Channel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)