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Four's a crowd
Twenty-sixth Godzilla movie (also eleventh Mothra movie, eighth Ghidorah movie and third Baragon movie, in case anyone's counting) recruits director Shusuke Kaneko, helmsman of the brilliant 90s Gamera trilogy; results are (perhaps inevitably) disappointing. A new incarnation of Godzilla threatens Japan, but a young tabloid TV journalist encounters a mysterious old man in an equestrian safety helmet who tells her of three legendary Guardian Monsters who will defend the country against this menace (Baragon is also a Guardian Monster but not famous enough to get his name in the title).

Some interesting innovations: first film to address (even obliquely) issues of Japanese culpability for events of the Second World War, first film where King Ghidorah is a good guy, first film with a scene set in Godzilla's intestinal tract. However, the end result is let down by a fatally uncertain tone - seemingly serious scenes of death and carnage are intercut with knockabout cheesy humour and in-jokes (in the English dub at least). The retro feel of the movie, hearkening back to the 60s films of the series, is not unwelcome, but its take on the formula is just plain weird. Most importantly it lacks the mythic grandeur of the Kaneko Gamera trilogy. Still better than the films which immediately preceded it, though.
  
Just Mercy (2019)
Just Mercy (2019)
2019 | Drama
Exactly what you'd expect
After much deliberation, I decided on watching Just Mercy today - in all honesty because out of my 3 choices, it was on the earliest.

From seeing the trailer, Just Mercy is exactly the film you'd expect it to be. Which in a way was a tad disappointing, but as it's a true story, it would have been a surprise if it had turned out differently. The performances are very good, Michael B Jordan admittedly using the same facial expressions in most scenes but still a good turn. Jamie Foxx excels as you'd expect him to, it's just a shame he's not on screen as much as you'd like and Brie Larson is underused too. There's a lot of feels in this film too, I'd dare anyone not to be welling up by the end and it's also telling a true story that is important and meaningful, yet slightly worrying that this sort of injustice and racism was still happening in the early 90s!

The problem I think is that whilst this is a good film, it is your typical Oscar fodder. Which is odd considering it's lack of nominations. Films like this are far too common nowadays and there wasn't anything in this that made it stand out. But despite this it's still good and worth a watch for the story alone.
  
Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Fantasy
To be clear, I absolutely love the first two Bill & Ted films, and I've been pretty excited to check this out, but now, a few days after finally getting around to watching it, I realise that I'm not, and never was, too sure what I wanted from it.
On the one hand, I have a huge amount of respect for the filmmakers in respect to how hard they commited to sticking to the original tone and comedy style. Unfortunately, for me anyway, it just didn't work. The zany comedy of the first two are perfect for the late 80s/early 90s era, but these days, the whole thing comes across as try hard and occasionally cringe worthy. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some funny moments, but the overall experience left me cold.
I'm sad that I feel this way, as it's an unnecessary sequel that I hoped would turn out to be surprisingly great, but a few days down the line, and I've largely forgotten most of what happens.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is a good natured attempt at recapturing the magic, but ultimately falls flat. I know that a lot of people liked it, so if you are a fan of the series in any way, then certainly check it out, and I hope you find something to love, but it just wasn't for me (sad face)
  
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Colin Newman recommended Sexuality by Sebastien Tellier in Music (curated)

 
Sexuality by Sebastien Tellier
Sexuality by Sebastien Tellier
2008 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"From the 90s onwards French music started to become very interesting. There have been quite a few French artists, especially in the dance-pop arena, who have found their metier when a lot of earlier French music just didn't translate. We lived in Belgium for quite a long time and one of the things I was completely aware of was the fact that as a British person I knew nothing about French music. And that's one good thing that's happened in music over the last twenty years: the increased internationalisation of music. Yes, Sebastian Tellier has to sing in English, but it doesn't necessarily matter as you don't understand what he's singing about anyway. He kind of does it by stealth. People told me about Sebastian Tellier and I was like, "yeah, it sounds quite interesting." And then you hear it, and you hear it again, and eventually you're like "my god, this is brilliant!" It's a combination of music and voice, it's groovy and funky; it's just incredibly listenable and a little bit bonkers. Again this is one of those records that we've listened to a lot. You can just put it on and it's just there, and sometimes it's just so beautiful, what he does. I'm not afraid of things that are just beautiful."

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