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Jonah Hill recommended Small Town Ecstasy (2002) in Movies (curated)
Rowan Atkinson recommended Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr.Hulot's Holiday) (1953) in Movies (curated)
Fantastic, twisty thriller with a heart
Felix Pink enters a home with one goal: to kindly keep a dying man company. But when he flees fifteen minutes later--more quickly than his seventy-five years usually allow--he's on the run from the police. Because Felix has made a mistake, and now his quiet life will never be the same.
"The [words] he needed finally dropped slowly from his numb lips. 'We killed the wrong man.'"
Oh my gosh, this book was amazing. Absolutely excellent. It has a different premise, keeps you guessing, and the characters are beyond superb. Bauer utterly captures Felix, with whom I fell completely in love. Yes, seventy-five-year-old widowed Felix is my new literary love. She also does an excellent job with Calvin, the young policeman who must investigate Felix Pink. These two men--along with the supporting cast--jump off the pages of this thriller. I was completely enthralled.
Even better, somehow this tale is witty despite it revolving around death. Felix has a superb sense of humor and the entire book is just infused with wit and a feeling of tenderness. It's also incredibly shocking, with a couple of plot twists that made me gasp. It's twisty and a total page turner. Rare do you get a mystery that is sweet yet exciting. But EXIT is just that.
Overall, this book is a total winner. Funny and heartwarming coupled with an excellent, intricate mystery plot that keeps you surprised at each turn. Highly recommend this one! 4.5 stars.
"The [words] he needed finally dropped slowly from his numb lips. 'We killed the wrong man.'"
Oh my gosh, this book was amazing. Absolutely excellent. It has a different premise, keeps you guessing, and the characters are beyond superb. Bauer utterly captures Felix, with whom I fell completely in love. Yes, seventy-five-year-old widowed Felix is my new literary love. She also does an excellent job with Calvin, the young policeman who must investigate Felix Pink. These two men--along with the supporting cast--jump off the pages of this thriller. I was completely enthralled.
Even better, somehow this tale is witty despite it revolving around death. Felix has a superb sense of humor and the entire book is just infused with wit and a feeling of tenderness. It's also incredibly shocking, with a couple of plot twists that made me gasp. It's twisty and a total page turner. Rare do you get a mystery that is sweet yet exciting. But EXIT is just that.
Overall, this book is a total winner. Funny and heartwarming coupled with an excellent, intricate mystery plot that keeps you surprised at each turn. Highly recommend this one! 4.5 stars.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2072 KP) rated Something Wicked in Books
May 23, 2021 (Updated May 23, 2021)
Not all the Dead Bodies on Set are Fake
Annie Lawrence and her finance, Max Darling, have landed parts in the local theater’s summer production of Arsenic and Old Lace. Annie loves the play, so she wants to be enjoying it more, but a series of pranks, growing more serious, have dampened her enthusiasm. Just days before the curtain is supposed to open, one of her fellow actors is killed backstage during the rehearsal. When Max becomes the only suspect in the eyes of the law, Annie jumps in to try to figure out what happened. Can she free Max?
As a fan of Arsenic and Old Lace (the play, which is better than the movie), I really got a kick out of the scenes involving the play. While I did enjoy the book, I’m of two minds about it. The plot is complex, yet everything makes sense when Annie confronts the villain. Yet I felt like the pacing was off. The characters are fun and provide some laughs, but instead of growing over the course of the story, they slip into caricature. The plans for Annie and Max’s wedding provide a funny sub-plot that makes me wonder just what their wedding winds up looking like. This book originally came out in 1988, so it and some of the authors name-dropped are dated, but as long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine. This is another case where the flaws are easy to spot, but I still enjoyed the book overall.
As a fan of Arsenic and Old Lace (the play, which is better than the movie), I really got a kick out of the scenes involving the play. While I did enjoy the book, I’m of two minds about it. The plot is complex, yet everything makes sense when Annie confronts the villain. Yet I felt like the pacing was off. The characters are fun and provide some laughs, but instead of growing over the course of the story, they slip into caricature. The plans for Annie and Max’s wedding provide a funny sub-plot that makes me wonder just what their wedding winds up looking like. This book originally came out in 1988, so it and some of the authors name-dropped are dated, but as long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine. This is another case where the flaws are easy to spot, but I still enjoyed the book overall.
Steve Vai recommended Mule Variations by Tom Waits in Music (curated)
Allison Anders recommended A Woman is a Woman (1961) in Movies (curated)
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Parker (2013) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
So this is the type of shit we got right before 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘤𝘬, huh? Front-to-back wretched, wouldn't even pass as middling DTV fodder these days. Statham is so much better than such chintzy tripe, and I think he knows it judging by this sleepwalk of a performance - which the entire rest of the cast (except for a crackling Micah Hauptman) matches. Society has progressed past the need for more ignominious, generic 90s actioner-with-little-action ripoffs which basically only exist to fill up midday slots on the Starz channel. You'd think this premise would be intrinsically fun - just having Statham (in numerous disguises and funny accents) hunt down and kill the rest of his former team - but I guess it isn't in this piece of shit. It's a shame too, because the characters look good doused in blood and being shot and/or impaled with various items but the already tame R-rating is utterly wasted by overcutting and shaky-camming the flow completely out of the few fights there are. That might have been marginally less of an offense if it wasn't also seriously sexist towards its female characters. Lopez has no reason to trust this guy yet she badly wants to fuck him the second she sees him even after he assaults her, demeans her, and forces her to de-clothe in front of him - which they then try to spin into some gross romantic moment. Less than trash, somehow even worse than 𝘔𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘤: 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.
Moses Boyd recommended Breathe Into Me Oh Lord by Fred Hammond in Music (curated)
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated For a Good Time, Call... (2012) in Movies
Sep 19, 2020 (Updated Nov 26, 2020)
Started out a little worrisome but thankfully this is every bit as funny, progressive, breezy, joyous, and woefully slept on as its cult supporters make it out to be. Miller and Graynor's chemistry is out of this world; and Nia Vardalos, Mark Webber, and of course the man Justin Long are smashing in their respective supporting roles. This was right around the start of that era where these raunchy sex comedies started to get not just really fucking obnoxious but also formulaic and near intolerable - so it's more than refreshing to see one that gives its characters an insane amount of both agency and dignity, setting up a commendable amount of their intricacies and quirks without ever pandering on the former nor judging them for the latter. The whole thing just has this infectiously delightful verve and bright personality about it, and it never seems like it's making any of the topics it finds humor in the actual butt of the joke. I admit that I'm sick of seeing just random montages of the city in opening credits sequences like this though, it adds nothing to the experience other than to remind you that this takes place in New York - and it does show its clumsiness in other areas too sometimes, but it's a damn good time as well as a reminder in how far some thoughtfulness and authentic care can go in elevating an experience like this. Ends a bit suddenly but otherwise the realization of that last scene is simply perfect.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2006) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
At its best a celebration of life, people, and all they have to offer - which also acts as one of countless reminders why Lauryn Hill is such a force to be reckoned with. At its worst - I confess - rather dull, and when it makes you begrudgingly want to admit that charity-stealing P.O.S. Wyclef Jean is actually one hell of a talented musical artist (that piano rendition of "If I Was President" is so great it's actually chilling). Not what I expected, seems to be content with just being chill rather than being the powerhouse of fun and emotion it could have been - and that's okay - still has some good musical numbers, funny moments, and a whole truckload of talent as well as some essential and incredibly timely words of wisdom that are just as potent (if not, maybe even moreso) today than they ever were in the 21st century. Has a certain calm energy about it that feels like a nice warm stroll along your hometown, but that's all it ever really feels like. Obviously the words, ideas, lives, enjoyment, talent, and music are important, relevant, and absolutely crucial 100%. But I can't mistake powerful presences/material for the memorable and amazing execution this wasn't really given. Make no mistake, I still definitely dig it and the feelings expressed throughout I will not soon forget - but as a film watch it sort of treads water. Though I can't dislike any film which features a live Kanye rendition of "Jesus Walks".