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Bombshell (2019)
Bombshell (2019)
2019 | Drama
I had been wildly swaying between wanting and not wanting to see this, but Cineworld gave us an Unlimited Screening so of course I was going to go.

Life in the media spotlight is difficult enough without having to deal with the unwanted advances and comments of those around you. When one of Fox News' ex-employees comes forward with allegations of sexual harassment the whole network is a buzz as it tries to rally. Roger Ailes has a hold over everyone there and it's time someone put a stop to it.

Before I go into the acting I want to mention the style the movie has. There are sections done to camera in news report style, that seems like a given considering the subject matter, and as well as the "standard" on-screen there's some voiceover on scenes. The whole opening is done to camera in the news style and it sets up the story well, but I wasn't sure I enjoyed that later in the film, I like my fourth wall intact unless it involves Deadpool.

Out of our three leading ladies I was most impressed with Margot Robbie, potentially this is because she wasn't constrained by the role of real life person, Kayla's fictional amalgamation of people and experiences allows for more of a range. At times though I did think the role wasn't going anywhere but seeing her interactions with Lithgow as Ailes, and McKinnon as Carr, I was reassured.

The scene between Roger Ailes and Kayla that becomes the pivotal point in the story for her was excellent while actually being absolutely horrendous. That such a short scene can make me feel so much was a credit to both Robbie and Lithgow... and the sound department. Hearing his breathing so prominently was quite effective in the worst way possible.

Something they successfully managed to do throughout the film is show the competitive nature of the world and just a selection of the hideous things that are put up with through fear and ambition. There's one particular montage of moments with women defending their boss that illustrated that perfectly.

There's a very talented cast hidden in Bombshell, and I say hidden because at least half the people that popped on screen made me drop my jaw in surprise. I hadn't realised how many "cameos" there were, I'm sure I could have discovered them all on IMDb, it certainly helped to keep me interested. Though I don't think it necessarily needed that extra help.

Have you ever read a James Patterson novel? The chapters are so short, everything changes perspective so quickly that you're hooked and suddenly you've read half the book, this movie felt like that. As we switch scenes and characters you're constantly moved along at a pace that keeps you engaged, at no time did I feel like it was getting too confusing to follow, it was very well done.

I enjoyed the film but there's part of me that wonders if it did actually hit the mark. I'm left with one moment in particular that felt a little wrong, later in the movie between Pospisil (Robbie) and Kelly (Theron). It was the only moment that really hit me as feeling out of place. By that point we'd managed to get a lot of ideas about both characters and Kelly's behaviour and Pospisil's reaction stuck out like a sore thumb. It felt like a little slip in something that was otherwise a powerful watch.

While I don't think that every note was hit perfectly, overall Bombshell was a good exploration of this subject. With its impressive acting and great pace it's definitely an interesting addition to the conversations happening in the media at the moment.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/01/bombshell-movie-review.html
  
The Shootist (1976)
The Shootist (1976)
1976 | Action, Documentary, Drama
The final film starring John Wayne
Who knew that John Wayne's final film would star "The Duke" opposite Ron Howard? Also great performances by Lauren Bacall and James Stewart.

An notorious aging gunslinger learns he has inoperable cancer and decides to try and live out his final days in peace. Unfortunately, not to be as elements from his past come back to haunt him or just won't let him enjoy his final moments. He befriends a widow and her son as he rents a room from them. He wants to tie up some loose ends in his life before his time on Earth ends.

Still being a John Wayne novice, I thought his performance here was miraculous. He showed his usual toughness and charisma, but also real heart and vulnerability at times. You could see he felt remorse for some of his past actions and wanted to atone for them; however, life had other obstacles for him to overcome and to draw his relationships to their conclusion.

Very pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it.

  
Slayers (a Buffyverse story)
Slayers (a Buffyverse story)
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Spin-off/continuation of the late90s/early 2000s TV show 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', with several of the cast - most noticeably James Marster's Spike and Charisma Carpenter's Cordelia - returning to their roles, alongside some noticeable absences (Buffy, Willow, Xander ...).

In Marvel terms, it's basically a multiverse story, with a large part of the story set in an alternate universe where Buffy was never the Slayer at all, and where the insane (or is she?) vampire Drusilla is still one of the main 'big bad' faced by the - in this universe, sole (unlike in the main universe, following the end of the TV series) - Slayer, Cordelia Chase.

As an audio drama, I have to say I found this to perhaps err on over-explanation of what is going on: lots of characters saying out-loud what they, or their opponents, are doing "I've just dusted a vampire" (for example), rather than the same being suggested by sound effects, or being left to the listener to fill in the blanks. For me, there's a bit too much of the former going on.
  
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Fade to Black (Rojan Dizon, #1)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Imagine a combination of 1984, The Hunger Games, and a James Patterson mystery novel. That is the best way I can sum up Fade to Black. A world so intriguing, mysterious, and exciting that you want to live in it, and yet then again, maybe you don’t. A plot that never stops moving and throwing stuff at you, and with every page you become more and more wrapped up in it. Characters that you want to be, or be friends with, or take a good swing at. I am so excited about this novel, guys. I can’t recommend it enough.

First, the characters/narrator. I love Jake. I love Pacha. I love Rojan. I love them all. I love the way they talk to each other (or don’t talk to each other) and argue with each other. And the narrator, Rojan, is awesome. There are three things that makes Rojan a fantastic character, and a new favorite of mine.

First, he’s different. He’s not the “guy who wants to be a hero,” or the “I want to prove myself” or “I’m looking for my one-true-love” kind of guy. No, Rojan just wants to finish his damn job and get on with his damn life. He doesn’t want to be a hero or a villain: he just wants to get paid, go home, and find a new girl to chase. He’s the reluctant hero.

Second, the word “loyal” is not in Rojan’s repertoire. He specifically admits to enjoying the chase more than the catch, and for some reason, that’s really attractive! And of course, the girl he falls for is so perfect for him that it’s not even funny… in fact, if she’d come to terms with the idea, he might actually manage not to cheat on her. At the very end after he’s managed to kill the bad guys, save the planet, and rescue the girl, the only thing he was focused on was getting into the nurses pants.

Third, his personality is just fantastic. He’s such a pessimist, and admits to being a cynic. He makes the most absurdly snarky comments about everything, to the point that even in a tense scene there’s comic relief because he’s such a clever bastard (as a matter of fact, I think he actually calls himself that at least once).

The ending was wonderful, and left me feeling satisfied and complete, even though I can’t wait for the next book: not because it had a cliff-hanger, but because it was just so good!

Only thing I hate: It’s book 1 in a 3-book series, and the other two aren’t published… This happened to me while reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and The Better Part of Darkness. Gah! So annoying!

Content/Recommendation: Language and violence and dark humor. Mention of rape and sex. This is an adult book, maybe older teens, ages 18+. It’s totally worth the read. It’s also hilarious.
  
Pixels (2015)
Pixels (2015)
2015 | Animation, Comedy, Drama
The new Sony film ‘Pixels’, was written by Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler and Timothy Dowling. It stars Adam Sandler (Sam Brenner), Peter Dinklage (Eddie ‘The Fire Blaster’), Kevin James (President Will Cooper), Jane Krakowski (the First Lady), and Josh Gad (Ludlow Lamonsoff).

The movie opens with scenes straight out of the 1980’s and shows Sam, Eddie, Will and Ludlow all gathering at the arcade video world championships. The championships are being recorded to send in a time capsule to outer space, hoping to find alien life forms. The competition comes down to Sam and Eddie (who has nick named himself ‘The Fire Blaster’) and Eddie defeats Sam. Sam is crushed.

Fast forward about 30 years and Sam is working as an installation technician, and somehow Will has become the POTUS. Ludlow and Eddie are no where to be seen.

An attack occurs, Ludlow mysteriously appears in Sams van, and Ludlow reveals that the attack was perpetrated not only by aliens, but by 80’s style pixelated arcade aliens, who apparently intercepted our space bound time capsule, interpreted it as a declaration of war (????) and sent back pixelated arcade aliens to destroy us (?!?).

The two childhood friends go to the president with the information, who at first, under the pressure of his advisors, brushes them off.

After another attack occurs, President Will over rides his advisers and enlists Sam and Ludlows help, and also reaches out to The Fire Blaster (currently in prison, and demanding a list of concessions in exchange for his help and expertise.)

The movie didn’t have any dragging points for me, and I did laugh out loud at some portions. My son who is nearly 7 REALLY enjoyed it, and if it had had slightly less obvious (and what felt like marginally unnecessary) curse words I would have liked it better for his age range. There were children even younger than my son in the theatre though, and I found myself cringing at some of the language, and noticed my son looking at me to see if I noticed him noticing that there were ‘bad words’. Since it IS rated PG-13, there’s not a whole lot to be said about it, but it could have been just as good a movie, and therefore enjoyable by a bigger age range, without the cursing.

When I asked him later whether he liked the movie he said he ‘liked it a lot, but it had some bad words’.

Pixels was pretty action packed, and although I found it to be an odd premise for a movie, I did enjoy it. I don’t feel that they made as good a use of the 3D format as they could have. The soundtrack was good. I liked the characters, even though i couldn’t quite make the jump as to ‘why or how’ Will became president, and I had the hardest time dealing with Eddies accent. It just ‘felt off’, most likely because I’ve been watching him most recently on Game of Thrones.

I think kids will enjoy it for the action and parents will like it well enough for the nostalgia factor.

Overall I would give this movie 2.5 out of 5 stars.
  
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Natasha Khan recommended Bad by Michael Jackson in Music (curated)

 
Bad by Michael Jackson
Bad by Michael Jackson
1987 | Pop
8.9 (7 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"My first gig I ever went to, when I was nine, was at Wembley Stadium to see the Bad tour. When he died, I was in my bedroom in Brighton and I heard it on the radio and I just spontaneously absolutely burst into tears. Michael Jackson, when I was little, was just this God-like being. You know when you're little and you're singing in the car with your mum and your brother and the sister, the world is so good, there's nothing more fun and nothing better. I don't think I've ever listened to someone singing something with that much joy, he was channelling something so fucking out there and it's like he constantly had a bolt of creativity running through his body, like the way he danced and the way he moved. A consummate dancer, referencing Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and James Brown and all these people that he channelled but made completely and uniquely his own. I saw a Spike Lee documentary the other night about Bad. Someone else wrote 'Man In The Mirror' but he took and did all of his - [mimics Michael Jackson] "I'm gonna make a change" - and all of that shit. It's just like, who else would do that? Who else would wear plasters all around their jacket? Who wears white socks with loafers and manages to make it look cool? Nobody was telling him to do that. He's just this fucking eccentric one-off. When he died, I thought the climate of music will never be like that again. It was like he was a child and his brain was a playground and anything he could think of, he bloody manifested that in the world; not many people can do that. The arc of music that he lived through, his education and his training all the way through, coincided with all these revolutions in music, music videos and dance. I just think that that was a one-off thing. I'm getting philosophical now [laughs], but I was watching Brian Cox the other day and his astro-physics thing and he put 50 stones all in a row on a desert floor and he was like "each of these stones represents billions of years in the history of the universe and where it's going to go." Then he went "here's one stone" and he showed about a millimetre of that stone: "in this bit, this is where the conditions were perfectly right for mankind to exist, this is this time, we're here now". When you think about culture and popular music from the 50s through 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, it does feel like there has been a bit of a cycle, and I've been lucky that I came in at the end of that cycle. People that were born in the 50s had it amazing, because they got to see fucking David Bowie and punk music, but Michael Jackson was a guy that happened in our lifetime. I get really passionate about music, but music, for some people, it's like a religion and he was like a fucking icon."

Source
  
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
2014 | Action, Sci-Fi
Wow. Just wow. It feels like there are no words that could describe how great Guardians of the Galaxy is. This is the first movie in a while where I walked in with high expectations, and yet they still managed to exceed them. OK. Enough gushing. Time to get to the dirt.

Guardians, while a movie about a group of people, follows Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) as he loses his mother and then is suddenly whisked away (kidnapped) by an (at first) unknown space ship. Then we fast forward 26 years later and we see what the young kid who couldn’t handle the death of his mother has become. A quick-witted, sort of goofy, outlaw who likes to refer to himself as Star Lord. He double crosses the same people who have helped raise him to be the man he has become, and so sets off a series of events that brings Star Lord, Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and Drax (Dave Bautista) together to go an insane adventure in an attempt to save the galaxy. In order to do this, they must stop Ronan, a Lieutenant in Thanos’ army, from obtaining a mysterious orb. The gang comes together through unlikely circumstances, and ultimately work very well together as a team, but do they have what it takes to get the job done?

This movie is all around genius. While I did have high expectations for the film, I was a little reticent about James Gunn directing. He has not had anything on this scale in the past, but man did he knock it out of the park. Every element of this world was working together perfectly… the soundtrack and score helped set the quirky, adventurous tone of the film. The cinematography combined with the visual effects was captivating. The acting was superb, with the standout being Dave Bautista as Drax. Who knew he had it in him? Apparently James Gunn did. But every actor played their part as if it were meant for them specifically. If I have one gripe in the department, it’s that Nebula (Karen Gillan) did not have as much screen time as she should have. You also some surprise supporting cast in their too with the likes of Michael Rooker, Djimon Hounsou, Glenn Close and Benicio Del Toro, the movie is definitely Gunn-ing for gold. (I am so sorry. That was cheesy I know).

We saw this movie in 3D. I am not a big fan of “everything has to be 3D”, and typically space-based movies tend to overdo the 3D effects. However, I think that the 3D in this movie was slightly understated, which is a definite good thing. Sure, there were scenes that you could tell were made specifically because it would be shown in 3D, but they didn’t make you sick of the effect 5 seconds into the scene. It was very artfully done, and not too overwhelming for a space film.

This is definitely the film to see this summer. Great action, good story arch, great setup for the next movie, and a multitude of tie-ins to the other Marvel universe films. I am definitely going to be seeing this in theaters again, especially since we did not get the bonus scene at the press screening, and it will be a definite buy on Blu-Ray. Even in 3D.

I also wanted to address the rumor of Nathan Fillion being in this film. No, he is not Nova. However, he is in the film. But blink… and you will miss it. I am curious to see if anyone else can find him in the film. Please let us know in the comments!
  
The Elis James And John Robins On Radio X Podcast
The Elis James And John Robins On Radio X Podcast
Comedy, Music, Society & Culture
10
7.7 (3 Ratings)
Podcast Rating
Banter (3 more)
Humblebrags
Made Up Games
The championing of "e-mail"
Nothing (0 more)
I am a PCD
Two friends chatting about music, life, love, veganism and social media on Radio X. Excellent features such as "Humblebrag of the Week", "Made Up Game", "Abbatoir" (where some of the biggest bands in the world are debated and listener votes either put them safely in the paddock or consign them to the abbatoir) and "Winner Plays On".
Both comedians in their own right, Elis James is a football-mad Welsh mod and John Robins is a Queen-obsessed stickler for the rules. Both have enough in common and enough different opinions to make the show hilarious and something of a cult. Listen to all shows from the start to become a "retro-oner" and a "Podcast Devotee" (PCD).
  
12th of Never (Women's Murder Club, #12)
12th of Never (Women's Murder Club, #12)
James Patterson | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am a huge fan of James Patterson. The Women's Murder Club is my favorite series. This book did not disappoint at all.

This time, Lindsay Boxer is having a baby. She and Joe Molinari successfully got married in the last book and now baby makes three. Lindsay is just getting back to work and boy does she have her hands full. A body has been stolen from the ME's office. An old case she helped the FBI on has resurfaced and there is a professor who is dreaming about murders before they happen.

All of this is a lot for a regular cop to handle, but add in the emotions of just having a baby and trying to catch a killer and will Lindsay be able to handle it all.