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The Uncommon Reader
The Uncommon Reader
Alan Bennett | 2008 | Fiction & Poetry
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"This novella is wildly imaginative and has one of the best premises I have ever encountered. The Queen of England comes across a bookmobile while walking her corgis on the Palace grounds. She feels compelled to borrow a book and the ensuing infatuation with reading changes her life and the lives of everyone around her. A brilliant, and thankfully prolific, writer."

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Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
1968 | Classics, Horror, Mystery

"It’s the perfect genre movie. It’s brilliant I every aspect. It deals with some very complex subjects and is done masterfully. Even the dream sequences were so advanced at the time, the way [director Roman Polanski] made it surreal like a dream has to be, but very economic. I love every aspect and I watch it over and over again."

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
2010 | Action, Comedy, Romance

" I've seen it a billion times but I don't think it gets the props it deserves. What sucks is that it solidified something about the business - [adopts movie mogul voice] "See? There's no use in making new movies because people don't know them and don't want to see them." That movie is brilliant - it's funny, very interesting and it has got good values."

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Steven Yeun recommended Punch-Drunk Love (2002) in Movies (curated)

 
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
2002 | Comedy, Drama, Romance

"P. T. is awesome. I grew up watching Adam Sandler, but this performance lured me into another side of him and blew me away. You’ve just watched Happy Gilmore and then you’re like, I’m going to watch another Adam Sandler movie, and then you see this and you’re like, whoa, brilliant. I realize these selections are all emotional movies for me!"

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Bill Maher recommended Story of My Life in Books (curated)

 
Story of My Life
Story of My Life
Jay McInerney | 2006 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Romance
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Some say Jay McInerney partied too much and it hurt his output, but the fact that the party produced this brilliant, hysterically funny description of the party makes the partying worth it in my book. That the novel’s narrator is based on a young woman who, I’ve heard lately, grew up to become John Edwards’ mistress of course only makes it better."

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9th Symphony by Ludwig Va Beethoven
9th Symphony by Ludwig Va Beethoven
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I discovered this via Wendy Carlos and it was her version in A Clockwork Orange that just woke me up to that sort of music ever since. It’s just the most amazing song. This is the one perfect pop song and a brilliant piece of music. This is probably my no.1 pop song of all-time as far as I’m concerned."

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The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
1955 | Drama, Mystery
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Charles Laughton’s brilliant introduction (and also swan song) as a film director, which is a terrible loss for all of us. He fearlessly plunges us into impressionism and surrealism, where few in Hollywood have ever ventured. One can only imagine where he would have gone if he’d continued to direct. With a never-better Robert Mitchum, and a drowned Shelley Winters, yet again."

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Mary Ellen Mark recommended Tokyo Story (1953) in Movies (curated)

 
Tokyo Story (1953)
Tokyo Story (1953)
1953 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I had never heard of this film—I only saw it recently. It’s truly brilliant. An old couple from a small town in Japan decide to visit their children in Tokyo, who disappointingly have little time to spend with them. It’s a film about the misunderstanding between generations and the end of one’s life. It’s romantic, realistic, and very poignant."

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The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
1976 | Drama, Sci-Fi

"Along with Lynne Ramsey, Nic Roeg is one of my favorite British directors, and he had a brilliant run of incredible, kaleidoscopic films. Don’t Look Now is one of my all-time favorites, but I love this too. It really gets to the heart of feeling alone in the universe. It’s like Five Easy Pieces, but with an alien. It’s also completely bonkers."

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I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
I Am Not Your Negro (2017)
2017 | Documentary
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"This is a brilliant essay film. It uses some of the tropes of documentary, unearthing and presenting archival footage that cracks history open, drawing connections between previously unconnected historical figures. It also goes beyond that, using other contemporaneous material – ads and cultural artifacts – leading to some trenchant personal reflections. That’s hard to pull off, and very satisfying and throbbing when it succeeds."

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