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Kate Mara recommended Lady Jane (1986) in Movies (curated)

 
Lady Jane (1986)
Lady Jane (1986)
1986 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"You know, I haven’t seen the film in a very long time, but because it was another thing that my sister and I, as kids, would watch — the film Lady Jane, with Helena Bonham Carter. And Helena Bonham Carter was, I think she was like, 17. I feel funny saying that’s one of my favorite films, but it really inspired us, and we’re both actors now, and she is, to us, still amazing. When I watched it, I just remember thinking, “Oh my gosh, that’s my dream,” to play that role. I love her. Lady Jane started my love of period films and the British accent, which I’m obsessed with. I just did my first one. I did a medieval film [Ironclad] that… Do you know Jason Flemyng? He’s one of my really good friends. As soon as I heard Jason Flemyng was doing it and that it was medieval, I was like, I don’t even care what it’s about — I gotta do it just for the fun. I was the only girl on the movie. It was hilarious. And yes, I got to do my British accent."

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Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Space ... the Final frontier ...
The latest (at the time of reviewing) Star Trek film - from 5 years ago, so 2016 - this is the third film to be set in the so-called Kelvin Universe (after 'Star Trek' and 'Star Trek: Into Darkness'), still starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho and (the late) Anton Yelchin as Kirk, Spock, 'Bones' McCoy, Lt Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov respectively.

This time around, Idris Elba plays the baddie role as a character who later proves to have a surprising link with The Federation, with the film also apparently including 50 new alien species as it was released in the year of the 50th anniversary of the TV series.

And therein lies part of the problem: that was hardly broadcast at all - indeed, I feel that they missed a major trick in not broadcasting that fact at all!

While the loose outline of the plot deals with ageing, and with a farewell given to Ambassador Spock, this is perfectly serviceable but not as good as the original film in the Kelvin trilogy (IMO).
  
Antebellum (2020)
Antebellum (2020)
2020 | Thriller
A Jordan Peele movie wouldn't have made the third act gore so tame, just sayin'. In fact there's a lot wrong with this movie, including but not limited to tacky dialogue and the fact that there's not really an actual plot that happens. But it's definitely weird, ambitious, attractive, and intriguing enough to suffice. Jack Huston and - in particular - Gabourey Sidibe are great in it too, and honestly listening to her talk about what the film represents and how much it means to her (https://youtu.be/qDDBc1eD0P8 [8:07]) was very powerful and sort of solidified my positive rating for it in the end. Because on the one hand I think what this movie tried to convey is both admirable and depressingly timely - just muddled a ton by its scattershot approach. Though on the other hand I kind of feel as though its bizarre narrative structure gives it some nuance that it otherwise would have missed out on in the age of slow-burn horror indie clones. It's impossible to talk about this comprehensively without blowing its twist - and it's a good one - but just know this is a vastly better Janelle Monáe slave movie than 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵.
  
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
2011 | Action, Adventure
As I write this in the Spring on 2021, the first episode of 'The Falcon and the Winter Soldier' has just dropped on Disney+.

Originally intended to be the first post-snap TV series to be released (before Covid hit, and the release dates were reordered so that WandaVision came first), both series are set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, which - to date - is the last appearance of Chris Evans Steve Rogers aka Captain America.

This was his first (and the 5th released, albeit earliest set, MCU film)

Essentially a retro sci-fi origin story, this is largely set during World War 2 and sees Captain America taking on Hydra and their leader The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), aided by the Howling Mad commandos, Agent Peggy Carter (who would get her own TV show) and his best mate Bucky Barnes.

Speaking personally, I also have to say that - character wise - I don't feel that the Captain America movies really got good until The Winter Soldier, where the MCU really started exploring the 'man out of time' context of the character.

Having said that, this is perfectly pleasant.
  
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Yoko Ono recommended Love Your Body in Books (curated)

 
Love Your Body
Love Your Body
Louise L. Hay | 1998 | Health & Fitness, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"I recently shared this book with my daughter. Now we both read the affirmations daily. Love your body to make it happy and healthy and whole! Here’s an example of how easy it is to practice these ideas: I love to put my feet up at the end of the day and watch them looking kinda good. In my mind I say to them: ‘Thank you for taking me around for so many years to so many places—with happy steps. You’re the best!’ This is a very practical book. Every page just lists a part of your body and one or two lines of blessings you can repeat. Repeat out loud. When you need it quickly – like you had a rough night, your kidney is hurting, your liver is feeling heavy but you have to go into the subway/the tube as soon as you can – go to the pages in Louise Hay and just bless your liver and kidney before your morning starts. Isn’t that great? Don’t feel guilty if you forget to do it! I forget, too, you know. But my liver and kidney seem to understand me by now, that I do care about them."

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Faris Badwan recommended Accelerator by Royal Trux in Music (curated)

 
Accelerator by Royal Trux
Accelerator by Royal Trux
2012 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Royal Trux are a band I maybe got into four or five years ago. I think me liking them has a lot to do with just how good a guitar player Neil Hagerty is, but I like Royal Trux a lot more than any of the other bands he was in. It's just that feeling of when you're making music with the right person, a whole genre might evolve from it. They are completely unique and I think that he couldn't have done it without Jennifer Herrema - it could have only have ever been the two of them. That's what's so great about so many records I like... they often have a partnership of two people and their music couldn't have happened any other way. I feel The Horrors are like that a bit because we've seen so many bands come and go in the ten years since we've been a band. It feels like such a lottery whether a band stays together or not. But, on the other side of that, for us it feels like we could never actually break up. I guess that's an odd thing to say. That's about as optimistic as I get, probably."

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Woody Woodmansey recommended track Five Years by David Bowie in Stage by David Bowie in Music (curated)

 
Stage by David Bowie
Stage by David Bowie
1978 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

Five Years by David Bowie

(0 Ratings)

Track

"This one was one of my favorites because it was the opening track to The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust. What was wanted was a drum beat to introduce the song itself and to set an atmosphere for the whole album. The idea of the song is that the world is ending in five years, so it was about finding a drumbeat that got that across – which was quite a challenge! I remember going through drum rolls, cymbal crashes and I kind of thought: 'Well if it's the end of the world… I can't be bothered! Haha!' You wouldn't be excited and you wouldn't feel like doing a lot. So, that beat came out of sort of despair and apathy, and then when the band comes in and David starts singing, it just feels right. It felt like a really good beginning, so I was quite proud of that. I nailed the brief by all reports! It's been a lot of people's favorite bit of drumming, which is always nice to hear. They'll say: 'Oh when 'Five Years' starts, it gives my spine a tingle when I hear it!' Well my spine was tingling when I played it!"

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The Bonds of Blood (DI Dani Stephens #4)
The Bonds of Blood (DI Dani Stephens #4)
Rob Sinclair | 2021 | Crime, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the fourth instalment in the DI Dani Stephens Series however, the first that I have read. For me, I don't feel I have missed out too much not having read the previous three in the series, maybe on a bit of the backstory, but nothing that ended up being detrimental to my enjoyment of The Bonds of Blood and just makes me want to go back and read more.

This is a great story - it starts pretty brutally with the murder of a husband and wife in their bed so be prepared - and one that follows DI Stephens and her team's investigation into the brutal murder which is far from straight forward.

Full of lies, deceit and secrets, this is a tricky one to try and work out who did it which makes it all the more enjoyable. It's full of great characters and is written at a good pace and I would definitely recommend to those who love a police procedural where it's not obvious who the perpetrator is until close to the end.

Thank you to Canelo and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
  
The Devil's Own (1997)
The Devil's Own (1997)
1997 | Action, Drama, Mystery
I don't know what's worse: a film that's underwritten and knows it, or a film which sets up such thought-provoking themes only to immediately ditch them by the wayside (which this one is). It's so frustrating how this had most of the elements just on principle alone to be really, really good and it still wasn't. Seemingly intentionally unexciting, so much so that Brad Pitt's middle-schooler-impression-of-Daniel-Day-Lewis-from-𝘐𝘯-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦-𝘰𝘧-𝘵𝘩𝘦-𝘍𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 accent is actually the best part of it. Gets semi-engaging in the last 45 minutes if only because it finally gets some of the right look + feel for what this wants to be, but even then it's got no bite and is disgustingly pro-cop (a cop who shot dead an unarmed victim multiple times then tried to force everyone to cover it up and doesn't regret it can be redeemed without doing anything!). Poises itself to go over issues of oppression, nationalism, trauma, violence, and what happens when they all intersect - but never does. Harrison Ford is so bland here, too. Doesn't even care about its own story, what a fucking shame. This really coulda been something.