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Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Fantasy
To be clear, I absolutely love the first two Bill & Ted films, and I've been pretty excited to check this out, but now, a few days after finally getting around to watching it, I realise that I'm not, and never was, too sure what I wanted from it.
On the one hand, I have a huge amount of respect for the filmmakers in respect to how hard they commited to sticking to the original tone and comedy style. Unfortunately, for me anyway, it just didn't work. The zany comedy of the first two are perfect for the late 80s/early 90s era, but these days, the whole thing comes across as try hard and occasionally cringe worthy. Don't get me wrong, there are certainly some funny moments, but the overall experience left me cold.
I'm sad that I feel this way, as it's an unnecessary sequel that I hoped would turn out to be surprisingly great, but a few days down the line, and I've largely forgotten most of what happens.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is a good natured attempt at recapturing the magic, but ultimately falls flat. I know that a lot of people liked it, so if you are a fan of the series in any way, then certainly check it out, and I hope you find something to love, but it just wasn't for me (sad face)
  
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Graham Lewis recommended ETT by Klara Lewis in Music (curated)

 
ETT by Klara Lewis
ETT by Klara Lewis
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"She's going to represent all the new. This is what we like, new electronic music. Rock music is boring, absolutely boring. How many times have we been bored with it, that's the question. It's really odd, that feeling that you step out of the room. What's interesting about it? Rock music doesn't captivate me. It's faintly ridiculous isn't it? Men with guitars. When we started Wire we thought about how the group would be on stage and how we'd behave. We thought: 'This is a good area to exploit, we can take the piss.' There's got to be a sense of pushing it to almost folly or failure, try again. Now you get things like Inga Copeland, people who are really fucking wilful about what they're doing. It's like: 'Fuck you'. Klara's not like that, but she's very much, 'This is what I am doing, that's it'. She has this manifest confidence, that always helps when you're listening to something. I think because she's processing field recordings and found sound it's got what seems to me to be a very organic feel, in the way she composes things. She deeply understands the importance that things sound right tonally. I've seen her playing in a few different spaces, and her music has translated for all of them."

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Melody's Echo Chamber by Melody's Echo Chamber
Melody's Echo Chamber by Melody's Echo Chamber
2012 | Alternative, Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"You can hear it's making, in the same way you can hear Joni in her lonely love cabin. Just the idea of the moon cast out on the water. That paints a picture. I can hear excitement and new love all over that Melody's Echo Chamber record. When my last relationship ended a few years ago now, I pissed off to New York for a bit, just to sort of gather my thoughts, and I would take to sitting in a cafe with my headphones on, listening to a piece of music and I had put together words to it in a book. And I remember being quite pleased with something I had just written, taking my headphones off, and that music, Melody's Echo Chamber, was playing on the sound system in the cafe. I listened to it, spellbound, you could just feel the excitement in it. I was listening to that, and I just looked away, who is this? And I shut my book and felt like giving up music. It was just so fucking good. And actually at the end of a tune, you hear them all whooping in the studio. It's like when you hear the Kinks whooping during 'Victoria' – when you're hitting a certain level of energy, bang on the nose, you're allowed to record yourself whooping at your own efforts I think."

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An Unlikely Proposal
An Unlikely Proposal
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Let me say this book definitely surpassed all my expectations!!

I know we've all been there... that isle of books at the store with the Harlequin titles trying to decide if we want another feel good, know how its gonna end type of story. LET me advise you. This book IS NOT your typical Love Inspired book (of which I will admit to reading ... almost everyone published). I had to do a double check of the page count with this one honestly. Toni Shiloh managed to fit SO much depth of character, layered background, and faith based elements that I was enamored of the book from the beginning and scratching my head wondering how something so marvelous could come out of such a tiny package!

I loved the plot, a true friends-to-lovers/ girl-next-door/ marriage of convenience story that I have.. uhem already reread. I loved Omar's little ones that Toni Shiloh filled with life and love. Plus, I really enjoyed the circumstance that Toni Shiloh put Trinity and Omar into! Great chemistry and awkwardness between the two of them.

Overall, one of my favorite reads ever in terms of modern character development and storyline. A definite 5 star read you DO NOT want to miss!

*I volunteered to read this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
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Laura Doe (1350 KP) rated Kill Joy in Books

Mar 25, 2021 (Updated Mar 25, 2021)  
Kill Joy
Kill Joy
Holly Jackson | 2021 | Crime, Law, Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Lovely little short book that left me wanting more! I haven’t read A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder, but I got the feeling from this prequel that it was the murder mystery dinner that ignited the passion in Pip to try and solve the murder that happened in her little town 5 years previously.
The murder mystery dinner was written so well that I felt like I was there and solving the “murder” with the characters. There was also the suspense of the environment around the dinner party with the weird noises and lights going out, which really made me wonder whether there was something sinister going on around them or if everything had a genuine explanation. I think it added to the suspense of the murder mystery part and made you more aware of little things, which I guess is why people like murder mystery parties!
I loved the writing style and how the notes were included as though you were reading them off the slip of paper that had been found, which doesn’t very often happen in books. I thought it was a nice addition and really gave you the feel of being a part of the dinner party. <br/>This has definitely made me want to read on and read the next instalment from Holly Jackson.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) Mar 29, 2021

I didn't know this existed--must check it out! Definitely recommend A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Pip is a wonderful character.

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Laura Doe (1350 KP) Mar 29, 2021

Ah thank you Kristy! I’m glad that it follows the same character 😊

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Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Guest Book in Books

May 30, 2021  
The Guest Book
The Guest Book
C.L. Pattison | 2021 | Mystery, Thriller
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the first time reading this author and likely won't be the last as this was an enjoyable and easy read.

Grace and Charles are on their way to St Ives to start their honeymoon when disaster strikes and they are stranded in the small seaside town of Saltwater; with there being few available rooms left, they have to book in to the run-down bed and breakfast, The Anchorage, and which is where the creepiness starts.

This is a story that is full of atmosphere which is excellently captured from start to finish. You can feel the weird vibe jumping out of the pages from not only the strange owners of The Anchorage but from the town itself and its inhabitants. You know something's not quite right but you struggle to put your finger on it and this builds the tension however, and it's a big however, it didn't really end as good as it started; it just seemed to fizzle out unfortunately and I didn't get that sense of satisfaction or pleasure when the "twist" was revealed.

Despite the disappointing conclusion, I did enjoy reading it and will seek out more of C.L. Pattison's work in the future.

Many thanks to Random House UK, Vintage and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
  
Oxygen (2021)
Oxygen (2021)
2021 | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
There are few films that focus on a single character trapped by outside circumstances, not of their making. The few I can think of are all good in their own right, but I'm not sure they were as captivating as Oxygen, I hope this film is forever added to the top of those lists discussing such films.

I figured out a couple of things early on (that's just the way my brain works unfortunately 🤷🏼‍♀️) but it in no way lessened my enjoyment of the film. I was genuinely intrigued as to how the whole thing would play out, and there were some big surprises still.

Mélanie Laurent is fantastic, some of the scenes could have been really overplayed and dramatic, but I think she was perfect; to carry a whole film being the only actor on screen is nothing short of phenomenonal, her performance had me gripped to the final shots.

The film almost runs in real time, so if you are looking for something fast paced with lots of action or drama, then maybe move along, but if you are looking for something with the feel of a thriller that has its twists and turns, where you figure things out equally as the character does then this is more for you.

Would highly recommend as a must watch whatever you are into!
  
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
2009 | Action, Sci-Fi
One of the most proudly and spectacularly nerdy things I've ever seen - filled to the brim with seemingly endless gadgetry, weapons, flashbacks, melodrama, underground/hidden lairs, explosions, costumes, and "oh my God I can't believe they're actually doing this" action scenes. And just like that two hours flies right by. I'm usually pointedly averse to this sort of routine guy-saves-the-day-then-gets-the-girl blockbuster crap from this era - but there's such an overload of visual tech-fetish creativity thrown at the screen that you'd really have to watch it twice to even absorb it all, and beyond that something just clicks here. The clear disdain from Tatum - who has never been worse - because he really doesn't want to be here is hysterical, and the rest of this absolutely loaded cast turn in similarly appetizing corniness from Quaid's trademark commandeering to Wayans' canned comedic relief. The tropes feel lovingly recreated rather than haphazardly slapped together, there's a refreshing feeling of sincerity that makes its fun factor way more authentic than other films of the breed. Still a bit on the clean side (more specifically of-its-time) to properly rise to the heights it deserves, but oh baby this is a blast and a half. Really good Michael Bay ripoff junk food that does a helluva lot with that PG-13 rating.
  
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Ed O'Brien recommended Screamadelica by Primal Scream in Music (curated)

 
Screamadelica by Primal Scream
Screamadelica by Primal Scream
1991 | Alternative, Indie
8.4 (8 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Listening to this in Brazil a few years ago was a proper Eureka moment for me. We'd moved to the middle of nowhere for seven months, and I decided to properly have some time properly listening to music, so got a lot of stuff off Thom on a hard drive. I was really into Burial and that side of dubstep back then. Stuff that works perfectly underneath railway arches at 3am strangely enough didn't resonate on the edge of the rainforest, though. What did was Screamadelica. 

I'd first heard Loaded when I was studying at Manchester University in 1990. I remember it coming out after 'Fools Gold' and 'Hallelujah', and seeing Primal Scream on a double-header with Looper. I remember thinking, ah, this is good, a bit different for them, but they're jumping on the bandwagon, aren't they? Later, 'Don't Fight It Feel It' became the ultimate tune of that time for me. But away from that time, this album still stands alone. It's so colourful. It's like gospel dance music. It's got all the euphoria of house music, plus the community and love. It reminded me that that moment in culture wasn't just about the drugs – those drugs were just there to pierce the veil. Music held the ultimate power to bring people up. I want my music to have that joy, that light, that sense of possibility."

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