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I, Tonya (2017)
I, Tonya (2017)
2017 | Biography, Drama, Sport
Most people when they hear the name Tonya Harding immediately have images of Nancy Kerrigan holding her knee and crying out “Why?” over and over again come to their minds. They may even think of Harding herself crying to a panel of judges about the state of the laces on her skates during Olympic competition. Her name and image became a point of ridicule and shame. She became the butt of jokes throughout the 90s and a never-ending punchline. People were not sympathetic to her and were not willing to hear her story. She was condemned to being the monster that we convinced ourselves that she was. The film I, Tonya sheds light onto who this woman was in demonstrating the complexities of her upbringing, years of abuse at the hands of her mother and later her husband. Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad, Wolf of Wall Street) stars as Tonya Harding, the disgraced Olympic figure skater.

I Tonya, takes audiences deep into the world that Tonya Harding experiences. We see the heartache, we bear witness to the brutal violence and abuse she suffers. Audiences find themselves rooting for Tonya to break out and become a success. The film, based on interviews, court testimony, and sports and news footage allows us all to have a greater picture of exactly who Tonya was. It points out in a mixture of humor, terror, and realism what the public got wrong about her and how we all became her worst abusers. The public wanted her to not only fail, but to fail miserably as most had fallen in love with her competitor and the victim of an attack committed in Tonya’s name. I Tonya, through brutal honesty shows us how someone who is already flawed due to their appearance, presentation, or lack of polish can quickly become villainized because they do not fit our description of innocent or are seen as someone we want representing us. The true reality of I, Tonya is that the film is a reflection in the mirror. It is one of the most honest representations of what the human, and more specifically, the American experience is. You have successes and failures, but despite this, we are recognized for the worst actions that are linked to our names and images.

I, Tonya takes the best elements of Mommy Dearest, Blades of Glory, Black Swan, and Sleeping With The Enemy in order to create a sports biopic that audiences will not realize they needed until they find themselves walking out of the theater. Margot Robbie, Allison Janney (Mom, The Help, Juno), and Sebastian Stan (Captain America: Civil War) will have audiences angered, elated, and heartbroken as they take audiences on a full tour of their emotions. I, Tonya is an instant classic that will capture audiences with its storytelling and demonstrate that Tonya Harding’s life is much more than a one-liner.
  
Power Rangers (2017)
Power Rangers (2017)
2017 | Action, Sci-Fi
Contains spoilers, click to show
About 85% of this reboot of the popular 90s show Power Rangers is quite a broody and charming enough story about a group of five (mostly outcast) teenagers finding a bond and friendship after discovering that they've be given superpowers. This is spliced with the odd training montage of them all learning how to harness their new found powers.
It pretty straightforward, and thanks the main cast, it's fairly enjoyable.
Lead by Jason (Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery), the five friends are probably the main positive about the film.

As the movie draws on, we are teased with just enough Power Rangers material to keep the intrigue afloat - the presence of Zordon (Bryan Cranston), Alpha 5 (Bill Hader) and Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), glimpses of the Zords and so on, but the narrative never strays too far from this core theme of strength through friendship.
That is until the final act of course...

I'll admit that I felt a swelling of excitement when the Power Rangers finally appeared in full armour, kicking the shit out of faceless CGI henchman, but it's at this point that director Dean Israelite goes FULL POWER RANGERS. We even get the classic theme tune as the Rangers charge towards Goldar (eye burning CGI, but kind of cool) and Rita in their Zords (also kind of cool) but here in lies the main problem with the film as a whole.
The nostalgia is laid on so thick that it feels like a completely different film. With the first 3/4 being somewhat grounded in realism (sort of), with serious themes and relatable human characters, the final act of flat out Power Rangers absurdity doesn't quite gel. I have no problem with either approach, but I feel like maybe the writers should have picked one and stuck with it.
The well developed teenagers that we've spent and hour and half with at this point are suddenly wise cracking and quipping like there's no tomorrow. The big climatic battle looks ok, but it has that really overplayed Kanye West song obnoxiously blasting throughout (which just gave me *shudder* Suicide Squad vibes), and after being built up to be a genuinely threatening villain, Rita is easily dispatched by a big CGI bitchslap into CGI space, by the big CGI hand of the big CGI Megazord (still kind of cool).
It's just a little meh.

I have fond memories of Power Rangers from my childhood, and I realise that this modern retelling is also aimed at a younger audience, and in that respect I'm sure it's very entertaining, and I give credit to the writers for touching upon more adult issues, but overall, I wish it had been better. Power Rangers is silly, but it does genuinely have scope to be an epic franchise.

Final note - the running Krispy Kreme joke got old very quickly 🖕
  
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
2016 | Action, Sci-Fi
Full disclosure, I grew up a huge X-Men fan. As a kid it was one of the few comics that I would try read as often as I could. I would borrow my friends books, convince my mom to buy me an issue every chance I got and like so many growing up in the early 90s, never miss a Saturday morning episode of the fantastic X-Men cartoon.

As such, I have been waiting for the films to capture the X-Men team dynamic while creating interesting fleshed out characters for the mass audiences to appreciate. I felt the franchise was headed in that direction with the last two films, X-Men: First class and X-Men: Days of Futures Past. Unfortunately, X-Men: Apocalypse takes a bit of a stumble in this department when it tries to introduce several fan favorite characters to this X-Men Universe. However it sacrifices solid character development in order to introduce them all in this one story. That’s not to say that this decision makes a bad film, it’s just that the characters are somewhat hollow and we never really connect with any of them. Not even the older characters who we already know. In the 2016 landscape of superhero/comic movies, when you have too many hollow characters the film often feels like we are just going through the motions of fan service, rather than telling a good story though film. This shallow character development makes me wish that instead of making more X-Men movies, Fox would team up with Netflix and produce an episodic series that can really dig down into the story of these characters and the missions they go on to help all of humanity…sigh…one can hope.

As for the rest of this film, it is safe to say that it is a fun popcorn adventure just in time for the summer blockbuster season. The first act suffers from a bit of pacing issues, but once the film starts to pick up steam, it becomes a full action packed adventure filled with all the mutant powers you would expect from an X-Men film. We receive excellent performances we have come to expect from James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and the rest of the standard cast. As far as the new characters added to this film, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) is the stand out as Jean Gery. She delivers one of the few nuanced performances of the whole film and I look forward to her continuing to build on the roll in future X-Men films.
X-Men: Apocalypse is more of what you would expect from the X-Men series. Not terrible but not all that great either. Fans will be exited and enjoy this entry to the series while casual viewers will enjoy the blockbuster elements.
  
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Moby recommended Bryter Layter by Nick Drake in Music (curated)

 
Bryter Layter by Nick Drake
Bryter Layter by Nick Drake
1970 | Folk
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I mentioned Johnny's record store, and as well as Suicide, which is ironic considering he killed himself, he got me to listen to Nick Drake. This is such a perfect record, the songs are perfect, the singing's perfect, the instrumentation (even though Phil Collins plays on the songs) is perfect. It was one of those records that didn't need any explaining. I walked in, it was playing, and I asked 'what's this?', I thought it maybe was a Cat Stevens b-side. He told me it was Nick Drake and that I should buy it and he gave me a discount on the record because he was such an evangelist for it, and thought it was one of the best records ever made and that people needed to learn about Nick Drake. I took it home and fell in love with it. It's been a constant for me ever since. I can't imagine a month of my life that's gone by that I've not listened to it. The funniest experience was the first real tour I did, in 1991, with the band The Shamen. It was the first electronic music rave tour of the States, and at the time I didn't drink, I didn't do drugs, I was a very naive little kid and I was on tour with the Shamen, who were all really partying quite hard. I think we liked and respected each other, but we didn't really have anything in common apart from a shared love of electronic music. One day I was in the back of the lounge listening to Nick Drake's Bryter Layter and the singer came back and you could see his face lit up, and you could see he was a huge Nick Drake fan. We bonded over that. The next tour I did was with the Prodigy and Richie Hawtin, and the one after that was with Orbital and the Aphex Twin. During these tours there was a rave scene in the early 90s, but compared to the UK it was much smaller. It certainly existed. One of the reasons why the rave scene in the States is how it is, is because a lot of the people involved do way too many drugs. You get these DJs and performers who get really into the rave scene and then do more drugs in one night than most human beings should in a lifetime, so the burn-out rate is pretty high. In 1996 I was dating this raver girl, and she had gone out and did three hits of ecstasy, three hits of ketamine, some acid and crystal meth and I just remember thinking 'how can your body handle that?' But I guess if you're 19 years old it can handle it for a little while. Definitely that type of drug use led to a lot of people burning out"

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Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
2019 | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Robert Rodriguez is not a good director. He isn’t an especially good writer or producer either. This is the guy responsible for four Spy Kids films, that start below average and downgrade exponentially into excruciatingly awful. What he is pretty good at is ideas, and seeing the potential of something visually arresting and exciting. That is what led to the success of Sin City, arguably his best effort to date, because he saw how the comic book creations of Frank Miller could become live action and he made it happen.

Alita: Battle Angel is a similar deal. This time Yukito Kishiro’s early 90s manga creation is the inspiration. With James Cameron as producer, and the considerable talents of Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali onboard, it would have been pretty hard for even Rodriguez to mess this up entirely. Although at times he does seem to try, mostly by doing too much and making certain sections too busy and too confusingly cross-genre, like he is frantically trying to colour within the lines whilst using every felt-tip in the pack. A habit that means every now and again something great happens, but you may have missed it in all the background noise.

Compare this film, that just falls short of qualifying for my Bad Movie Triple Bill list, to Spielberg’s superior yet similarly busy Ready Player One. Both involve high concept future realities that are very tech and AI driven. Both make extensive use of CGI and vivid colour palettes. Both are frenetic and demand an audience pays attention in order to fully appreciate the storyline. The difference is that one zig-zags back and forth in tone and momentum, and one is razor sharp in moving us from one idea to the next on a perfect learning curve towards a satisfying climax and conclusion. Guess which one is which? This is why Spielberg is Spielberg and Rodriguez is… a hack.

That said, Alita as a character and concept is charming, and you do therefore find yourself at least wanting to discover her story. The action scenes are also quite electric, and the visuals are often breath-taking. But the whole is less than the sum of the parts here, and we are left with something that can only really exist in the same box as dozens of admirable sci-fi B-movies aimed at teenagers, such as The Maze Runner, Mortal Engines and The City of Ember. It also continues to prove the point alongside Ghost in the Shell and Speed Racer that Anime / Manga into live action is a very tricky business.

There is definitely an audience out there for this movie, and I dare say at some point I will be tempted to give it another watch. What is definitely worth watching however, is how James Cameron uses this as a stepping stone to perfecting virtual humans on the big screen. I am sure everyone involved learned a lot in that respect, so all is far from lost.
  
San Andreas (2015)
San Andreas (2015)
2015 | Action
As solid as the Rock
Who doesn’t love a good disaster movie? From Dante’s Peak to The Day After Tomorrow, there’s enough city-levelling action in the movie archives to terrify even the most urban of us.

The genre came to a head somewhat in 2009 with the overly cheesy 2012. Directed by Roland Emmerich, aka the disaster movie king, it was a huge box-office success but audiences were turned off by the idea of destroying the entire globe.

After a few years off, the genre returns with San Andreas. But can this earthquake-based blockbuster evoke memories of yesteryear’s disaster flicks?

Dwayne Johnson stars as Ray Gaines, a chief rescue officer with the LAFD and in typical The Rock style, manages to captivate the audience from beginning to end of this exceptionally cheesy yet surprisingly effective movie.

The beautiful Carla Gugino plays Ray’s estranged wife, Emma with Alexandra Daddario taking on the role of their daughter Blake. There’s even a small role for Kylie Minogue, though she is rather unnoticed here.

San Andreas follows the three central characters as they try to reunite with one another after a series of devastating earthquakes along the west coast of America, all of which are predicted by brilliant seismologist Lawrence – a wasted Paul Giamatti.

The film is visually stunning, but as with any in the genre, lacks a defined story with the characters being thrown from one amazing set piece to another. From the very beginning the audience is subjected to gargantuan action sequences including the much-marketed tsunami that acts as a placeholder for the film’s final act – it is absolutely mesmerising to watch.

Johnson proves time-and-time again that he is in the right business. Along with Schwarzenegger he is at his best in films where his brawn is needed the most and it’s certainly the case here. Surprisingly though, The Rock provides a rich emotional undertone due to a horrific past family incident.

Unfortunately, there is such a lack of originality in San Andreas’ story that it’s easy to signpost exactly what is going to happen before it actually does. The reason? Simply because it’s been done to death. Disaster flicks are very 90s with Dante’s Peak having a similar family unit and even in the noughties, The Day After Tomorrow featuring the well-worn reuniting with children plotline.

There are some clever touches however, parts of the film where you would expect generic clichés, it cleverly dangles a red herring and then moves the plot in a completely different direction.

It’s clear to see that disaster movies will always find their audience. Those not looking for a deep and meaningful story and a rollercoaster ride of special effects instead will find much to enjoy here.

Dwayne Johnson is superb in his role with the majority of the other characters falling by the wayside somewhat, and in the end, San Andreas proves to be a solid if not overly original experience.

It’s fair to say though, this film is more than worth the price of a cinema ticket.

https://moviemetropolis.net/2015/05/31/as-solid-as-the-rock-san-andreas-review/
  
Chopping Mall (1986)
Chopping Mall (1986)
1986 | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
9
6.5 (17 Ratings)
Movie Rating
As I sat on my sofa looking for trash to watch I headed over to Prime to see what there was available. I decided to scroll through films it thought I'd like to watch based on my previous viewing habits... and that's how I discovered Chopping Mall, which is a much better title than it's alternative, Killbots... you always have to go for the pun. Amazon may know me a little bit too well with this recommendation.

The latest in shopping mall security is here, robot security guards that patrol the walkways and detain robbers with minimal fuss keeping your stores and staff safe*. [*Disclaimer: Unless there's a technical malfunction, in which case we take no responsibility for the massive loss of life and property damage.]

This is possibly one of the most 80s of all 80s films. Fantastic hair, all those pastel colours and were thankfully lost some time in the early 90s, random nudity, terrific electronic music [that you know what created by someone who also had fantastic hair] and Dick Miller. I don't even know what I have to say any further than that... go to Prime and watch it immediately!

Sure, Chopping Mall will make you never trust a furniture store again but it's still totally worth watching.

There are moments where you want to scream at the screen for errors in common sense and continuity, but in that fun way where you're laughing and telling them they're all going to die because of their stupidity. That alone is worth watching it for. At only one point during the film did I think something was actually bad, and that was during a stunt where they obviously had the actress off screen doing the audio for a stunt double and the two didn't match well... honestly though, that's just nitpicking.

No, you're not mistaken if you thought you recognised the shopping mall in this, it's the same one used in T2, Commando and Fast Times At Ridgemont High as well as others. In fact there's a lot to spot in the film with nods to other films and the director, though I have to admit that most of them passed me by.

The film is an incredibly short (but very entertaining) 77 minutes and it's worth every second of time you spend on it. Turning to the trivia you'll discover that this is a cut down of the original... the one titled Killbots. It was initially released with about 15 minutes of extra footage but performed badly so they cut it down and renamed it to appeal more to the horror fans. Finding this trivia also made me realise that there's actually no chopping in the whole movie, which made me sad, but I still love the pun.

I could analyse this until the cows come home but it's just genuinely great fun. The acting is exactly what I love about these sorts of movies and there's nothing frivolous thrown in, that was one of the best films I've seen in ages and I'm annoyed I never discovered it before.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/02/chopping-mall-movie-review.html
  
My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston
My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston
1998 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Whitney Houston, what a phenomenon! Now that she’s gone even more so, I think maybe the world just didn’t recognise what we had. Maybe in the 80s and 90s people understood, ‘cause she was just this shining star. When I watch her performances – there’s one in particular, where she’s singing to the sailors that’ve come back – and she sings “All The Man That I Need”, I just think it’s the most perfect performance I’ve ever seen! I can’t believe it’s live! “'My Love Is Your Love' is probably one of my favourite songs ever. I heard it once on the radio – I must have been 12 when it came out – and I fell in love with it instantly: the voice, the track, the production. My parents and I went camping in the Lake District, and I went to Woolies and found the CD. I was so excited, but we didn’t have a CD player! ""For a whole week of camping, I remember staring at this CD with the memory of how incredible it was on the radio from one listen, and the excitement of ‘I can’t wait to get back! We have to drive nine hours to get back! We have to finish the camping trip!’ Getting home, I just ran to the CD player to listen to it! ""I love the accessibility of music through streaming, and now everyone everywhere can listen, which I think is a wonderful thing. The one thing I do miss is the anticipation of music, and the listener having to make more of an effort to hear it. For me, the appreciation was more. When you’re a kid, you don’t really have money to spend on anything, so you were investing everything you had on this feeling. I always think back to that every time someone asks me about streaming. I want that feeling back, of really having to make a physical effort to listen. I just remember cherishing music in such a different way. ""It’s a hard one to balance. It is great that we can all hear everything we want all the time, but for me as an avid music lover, I feel a difference. If there’s something I really love, or an artist I really appreciate, I will always make sure I go and buy the vinyl. I’m really excited about my next album – I’ve been told they’re going to make cassettes of it! Just for nostalgia’s sake, I think that’s so exciting! Beyond the physical aspect to listen to it is the maintenance of it. You have to keep your CDs safe; you can’t scratch them! You have to be careful when you rewind the tape! That care is all part of the experience. ""Every artist that I’ve fallen in love with has been because I’ve been able to see all sides of them, and some sides of artists aren’t going to be as popular or as streamable as others! I think it’s important to have a full sense of who someone is. For the artist, to have the anchor of an album is quite stabilising: if you’re thinking in singles that can get quite confusing and go in so many different directions"

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