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The Hopkins Manuscript
The Hopkins Manuscript
R. C. Sherriff | 1939 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Powerfully moving, surprisingly obscure British SF novel. Eerily prescient in some ways: written in 1939 but set from 1945 onward, the story is told by Edgar Hopkins, a retired schoolteacher and champion poultry-breeder who is one of the first men in the country to learn of an impending cataclysm - the moon has been knocked from its orbit and will collide with the Earth in a matter of months. Hopkins' ability to tell the story is impaired by his own pompousness, powerful sense of self-regard and unerring ability to miss the significance of anything going on around him.

Initially it reads like a very black, absurdist comedy, but as the book progresses it becomes genuinely poignant and moving - almost a eulogy for an idea of England soon to be wiped away forever. I have no idea how much the author was motivated by fears of the coming Second World War, but its presence hangs inescapably over the book. The actual science in the book is rather risible, and (like much other mid-20th century British SF) the film also contains race-related elements that some modern readers could find problematic, but the core of the book remains as significant and thought-provoking as ever.
  
The Dead Don't Die (2019)
The Dead Don't Die (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Horror
Adam Driver (0 more)
Hilariously Self-Aware
Zombie-comedies are the only kind of zombie movies I enjoy, and this was no exception.
Bill Murray (who was previously in Zombieland), and Adam Driver are the main characters, as cops in a small town (maybe in NY?), and their chemistry is deadpan and hilarious. Driver mentions multiple times throughout the film that 'This is going to end badly', finally Murray's character asks him why he keeps saying that. Driver's character responds that he read the entire script. Murray proceeds to call Jim Jarmusch an a-hole, since he didn't get the whole script. I about died of laughter over that.
Tilda Swinton's character is completely whack-a-doo, and cuts off zombies' heads with ease with a samurai sword. Because, as everyone knows, kill the head.
The entire movie is absurdist, and the humor might not be for everyone. It's gotten really bad reviews from a lot of critics, so I may be in the minority. Chloë Sevigny's character was the only one that completely annoyed me.
It's ultimately an homage to zombie films and, of course, an allegory of modern times, with people being absorbed in their mobile phones, unaware of the real world around them.
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) Jun 15, 2019

Can't wait to see this!

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David Zellner recommended Robocop (1987) in Movies (curated)

 
Robocop  (1987)
Robocop (1987)
1987 | Action, Sci-Fi

"I was thirteen when I saw this on opening weekend, and I remember leaving the theater walking on air. This had everything I’d wanted in a film. I was expecting just another fun action movie, and it was so much more. I was blown away by Verhoeven’s skillful hand with bleak absurdist satire, action, and genuine pathos. Somehow the film’s ludicrous extremes were able to make a perfect in-the-moment statement about the Regan-era eighties without the benefit of hindsight. Amazing script, amazing cast, and Peter Weller should’ve gotten an Oscar. So many memorable lines. Rob Bottin’s iconic designs of Robocop and the nuclear waste victim. Phil Tippet’s brilliant stop-motion wonder ED-209, so hilariously anthropomorphized through its beastly sound design and hurky movement—and I’ve yet to see something like that executed as perfectly with CGI. Some truly great, subversive physical comedy. When this was first released on Criterion I was so excited it was getting the reverence it deserved among the other classics. I believe it’s on the commentary track where Verhoeven talks about the sequel he pitched that was inevitably turned down. Instead of simply repeating himself, he proposed a love story with RoboCop falling for a cyborg that was little more than a floating brain in a jar. I would love to see that."

Source
  
K-12 (2019)
K-12 (2019)
2019 | Drama, Fantasy, Musical
At a mesmerizing crossroads between 𝘈 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 and 𝘓𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘥𝘦, didn't know what the fuck I was watching half the time and I think that's precisely why I loved it. Blurs the line between sick and sweet exactly the way it wants to. Point of note that I've never been a huge Melanie Martinez fan, so this is my first 'real' experience with her. I think her passion (she co-wrote, directed, starred in, and costumed the thing) clearly shows in this endearingly clunky phantasmagoria of absurdist gore, demon cringe, political hostility, and demented babycore. The type of product where there's people throwing bowls of cockroaches at others, vomiting up orange liquid, then tearing out their eyeballs and swapping them between blunt critiques on American exceptionalism and musical numbers about body image and identity reclamation. The photography, sets, and costumes/wigs/makeup is seriously next level and it helps that the acting - shockingly - doesn't suck. The back half of the album has some clinical bops. For sure the one of these album-long music videos that feels closest to an actual movie, if this were any other artist you all would have adored it 🤐

Strawberry Shortcake > Class Fight > Lunchbox Friends > Fire Drill (should have been on the album) > Teacher's Pet > Detention > Orange Juice > Wheels on the Bus > Recess > The Principal > High School Sweethearts > Drama Club > Show & Tell > Nurse's Office.