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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Creepy (Kuripi: Itsuwari no rinjin) (2016) in Movies

Nov 29, 2017 (Updated Nov 29, 2017)  
Creepy (Kuripi: Itsuwari no rinjin) (2016)
Creepy (Kuripi: Itsuwari no rinjin) (2016)
2016 | Drama
9
8.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The title spells it out to a tee
This absolutely stomach-wrenching film from the masters of Japanese cinema, literally blows your socks off. It is understatedly creepy, no dramatic background music and a deeply horrifying body count. For fans of psychological thrillers such as @Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2014) and @Oldboy (2013) (Korean version) this is another expertly crafted movie that leaves you in knots.

It begins with a detective interviewing a psychopathic suspect, who then manages to escape the police interview room and hold a woman hostage. In the process, the detective is badly injured and as a result leaves the force to pursue an academic career in criminal psychology. Shaken by his time as a detective, he and his wife move to a leafy suburb of Japan with incredibly unsocial neighbours. Soon after moving, he is approached by a former colleague asking for help in a particular case, in which three members of a family mysteriously disappeared six years ago, leaving only a daughter behind. The case was never solved as the daughter's constantly changing statements were seen as inadmissible evidence. And soon after he realises that the case is much closer to home than expected.

Sharp storytelling despite a few plot holes which is left to your imagination. Totally recommended for followers of Eastern cinema.
  
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Lenard (726 KP) rated Booksmart (2019) in Movies

May 8, 2019 (Updated May 8, 2019)  
 Booksmart (2019)
Booksmart (2019)
2019 | Comedy
Billie Lourd steals the movie (0 more)
My favorite movie of the year so far
Booksmart is the kind of movie I always enjoy immensely. In a way, I was reminded of Sex Drive even though the two films have nothing in common. I just yelled "Rumspringa" as I left, I felt so free. Beanie Feldman who plays her character like brother Jonah Hill's younger sister and Kathlyn Dever play two high achieving high school seniors who spent all their time studying instead of having fun. They are bullied and made fun of due to their academic commitment. In a pivotal bathroom scene, Beanie overhears a conversation where she is the butt of the joke. Exiting falsely confident, she is shocked to learn that the three dopes all are on prestigious paths (Google, Stanford, Yale). She decides that she and her BFF have to crash a trending party. In a series of vignettes of misadventures, the two girls discover there is more to life than getting good grades. Extracurricular activities look good on the CV too.


My main complaint is the actors play the supposed seniors a little too confidently for adolescents. In this "Say Anything"esque world, there are no mean girls/alpha males. Everyone has a secret moral to their character. Except maybe Ryan who steals the boy crush, but she has a nice chin.
  
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ames_morgan (8 KP) rated Educated in Books

Jun 19, 2018  
Educated
Educated
Tara Westover | 2018 | Biography
10
9.3 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow what a story is all I can say! This book totally blew my mind and at times I had trouble believing parts of it were real and it terrified me even more to know that they were.

Tara Westover never set foot in a classroom until she was 17 years old. Raised by Mormon survivalists in the mountains of Idaho her life was incredibly different than anything I can even imagine. With a midwife/herbalist for a mother and a father who operated a junkyard and prepared for the end of the world and was obsessed with the Illuminati Tara was horribly unprepared for life as she set foot into the academic world.

With no one to make sure Tara and her brothers and sisters had an education or even basic healthcare Tara decided to educate herself. At the age of 17 she had never even heard of the Holocaust much to the shock and disbelief of her fellow students and professor. With determination and perseverance Tara went on from never being in a classroom to receiving a a PhD from Cambridge University.
All the while Tara still struggled with a sense of loyalty to her family yet a desire to recreate herself into something more.

This was an incredible journey and I thank Tara for sharing it with us!