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Olivier Assayas recommended Nashville (1975) in Movies (curated)

 
Nashville (1975)
Nashville (1975)
1975 | Classics, Drama, Musical
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"For the four years between 1971 and 1975 one could say that Robert Altman didn’t touch the ground. I am strangely less sensitive to his previous work, including M*A*S*H, and what followed (too baroque for my taste), but Thieves Like Us, California Split, The Long Goodbye and McCabe & Mrs. Miller are the great successes of a cinema free of all constraints and carried by the best of the spirit of their time. It is hard to believe today that these films were actually financed by a studio and were even popular successes. Nashville is the culmination of this rather miraculous cycle. And even its transcendence – being a sort of “total-film” – its timelessness grasps the American spirit in a way that few films have. One feels at times it veers toward caricature that is a little cynical – Geraldine Chaplin, a very young Jeff Goldblum – which gives a glimpse of what will follow it; but for the most part, the film is in a state of grace, at once funny, cruel, profound and always seeking human and social truths – with a scalpel."

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The Killing Fog (The Grave Kingdom, #1)
The Killing Fog (The Grave Kingdom, #1)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Thanks to NetGalley and 47North for letting me read and review this incredible story. I'm already anxiously awaiting the next book in this series! I love and have read most of Jeff Wheeler's works and he never disappoints with his stories full of adventure, intrigue, romance, life lessons and so much more. It's always one wild rollercoaster ride with my emotions when I read one of his books, but I always learn or take away something and enjoy the stories immensely.
I always find myself easily lost and immersed in the worlds he creates and invested in the characters and the stories they have to tell. This story is very unique and different from others that Jeff Wheeler has written and just as amazing and engrossing as the others I have read.
In this story, we find ourselves following along with this story of an orphaned girl named Bingmei, who is with a group of mercenaries that serve a local ruler. They are sent on a mission to find and retrieve what treasures they can that are in a lost palace buried and preserved in ice. But when they get there, they find more than they bargained for and when they upset the tomb, they unknowingly cause havoc.
Bingmei unknowingly brings Echion, Dragon of the Night back to life, waking him from his tomb and now is meant to fulfill her part in the legendary prophecy. She has to destroy Echion before he takes over all the kingdoms and he has to stop her from destroying him. Bingmei knows what she has to do, but she doesn't know if she can do it.
This is in a world of ancient myth, legend, magic and is a story about love, loss, grief, balance, duty, honor and what people do when faced with difficult choices in heart-rending situations and so much more. You definitely want to have this one on your list, preorder it and read it as soon as you can.
  
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
2017 | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Hulk smash plenty (2 more)
Jeff Goldblum
More cameos than an Edwardian garden party
Weird effects on Cate Blanchett (0 more)
Having suffered through the first Thor film, given up on the second one, and detested him in the Avengers films I wasn't expecting to enjoy Thor all that much and was really only in it for the Hulk. However I was pleasantly surprised. Chris Hemsworth seems to have learned to act in the last few years, and seems to have developed an awareness of comic timing.
The film sees Thor team up with Loki, Hulk and a former Valkyrie to defeat Thor's sister Hela and avoid Ragnarok as she looks to lead an army of the dead throughout the galaxy.
There is a great deal of comedy throughout the film but also top notch action sequences, most notably Thor vs Hulk and Hela's assault on Asgard.
Having been disappointed with the absence of Thor and Hulk from Captain America: Civil War (Huffy Cry-baby) I had hoped this film would make amends, and it did indeed.
Of particular enjoyment was the theatrical interpretation of Loki's death where Matt Damon and the other Hemsworth act out Loki's apparent death, overseen by Sam Neill's Odin.
  
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)
2018 | Thriller
Promising but fails to deliver
I had really high hopes for this film, but sadly I really struggled to like it.

The major issue with this film is that virtually every scene is far too long and drawn out, which means it gets dull and boring very quickly. They could have cut a lot of dialogue and unnecessary actions out of most scenes without having it impact on the overall plot. The run time of the entire film could've been reduced by well over 30 minutes, making the whole thing a lot more enjoyable and brief.

It's a shame really as if it wasn't so drawn out, the film would've actually been quite good. The plot was interesting, dark and gritty although not as funny as I'd hoped, and there are some great actors in this. Admittedly some of their performances weren't as impressive as I'd hoped - both Jeff Bridges and Chris Hemsworth were okay, but neither put in the stellar performance I'd been expecting. Cynthia Erivo was very good and has a stunning voice, but I do think the singing was very overused. The stand out performance for me was Lewis Pullman, his character Miles was both adorable and slightly disturbing, and he made the end of this film a lot more worthwhile.
  
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John Cho recommended The Big Lebowski (1998) in Movies (curated)

 
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
1998 | Comedy

"The Big Lebowski is like a bowl of noodles I could eat every single day, and it would be endlessly emitting new flavors. It’s just incredible. There is like an academic reading of Big Lebowski that you could go about on forever…this polemic about war, maybe specifically World War II, and then it’s like this commentary on Hollywood, like a spoof. Then, it’s just a great weed movie. And then the performances are just ridiculous. Jeff Bridges is doing, I mean, Olivier level acting. It’s ridiculous that there’s a monologue in the limousine… he comes out of the limo that Maude sent him, and then another driver immediately – ­which is just the most hilarious visual, just going from one limo to another limo. Then, he gets in there holding his White Russian, and then has to explain himself, and he stammers, and each thought is so clear, but leads nowhere. There are no scenes that aren’t fun. Also, I don’t understand the movie, which is kind of a great feeling to have. I don’t fully understand the plot, and I’ve seen it 100 times. It’s a very unique movie in the sense that I don’t know what’s going on every time I see it."

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Yard of Blonde Girls by Jeff Buckley
Yard of Blonde Girls by Jeff Buckley
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The album I got into most from Jeff Buckley was Grace and I listened to that loads. I've listened to that back to front, but more recently I got into Sketches For My Sweetheart which this song is on. I think that this album is all demos and the fact that it still sounds so complete, the message is still so strong, the energy’s still there. Something about that particular song just really felt like church to me I can’t explain it, maybe it’s the chord progression. It was like grunge church, I'm into that. I'd love to go to a sermon where it’s grunge church, that's me. But more so how he kind of created a world in this song where I don't really get what he’s chatting about but I’m with him, I’m on that journey. I love things like that, that I can’t explain, and I think Dark Matter is very much like that, I don't want people to try and explain it. I want people to try and feel it, have that relationship. And then maybe one day find out why it makes you feel this way. I haven't found the answer for this one yet but that's definitely the vibe."

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