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TD
The Dragons of Hazlett
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Eh. I'm trying to be gentle, assuming that this must be a very early effort. The magic system simply didn't make sense to me. The entire society, in fact, seems nonsensical. A world in which magic reigns supreme, and the simplest devices (like wheels and levers) are regarded as diabolical? Nonsense. By the end, it felt like an intellectual exercise carried to an extreme. I can see using the conceit for a short story, but it just can't support a novel.
  
Hooked on this Feeling
Ooga- Chaka, Ooga-Chaka, Ooga-Chaka, Ooga-Ooga...
What else to say? This film was bound to have a great soundtrack, and the fact that it is packaged like the tape in the film, is just the icing on the cake.
With films like this, the soundtrack is a must, since you will have the songs stuck in your head.
The music perfectly syncs with the film, and the two blend together in a great 70s feeling.
  
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Elizabeth Banks recommended Flashdance (1983) in Movies (curated)

 
Flashdance (1983)
Flashdance (1983)
1983 | Drama, Romance

"Yeah. I mean, if I had to pick my first R-rated movie that I was like, “This is the greatest movie I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” it was Flashdance. My mom took me to see Flashdance when we were really young. It was like way underage for R-rated; you know, you had to go with an adult. She was the adult who took us, because to my mom, it was just a story about a ballerina."

Source
  
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Nick McCabe recommended Fun House by The Stooges in Music (curated)

 
Fun House by The Stooges
Fun House by The Stooges
1970 | Punk, Rock
8.9 (9 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It's just dirty rock & roll and it reminds me of good times in the van with The Verve. They were our halcyon days if you like; driving round the UK taking lots of speed and rocking the place basically. It's a good time record. It's a destructive record, but I think we probably felt like that at the time. We felt destructive. It's about not giving a fuck really. When I was digging back into the past, this was one of the treasures."

Source
  
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Hari Nef recommended Mulholland Drive (2001) in Movies (curated)

 
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
2001 | Documentary, Drama, Mystery

"What I love about Mulholland Dr. is its full commitment to and immersion in this world of chaotic femininity that almost seems to loop and has no beginning, middle, or end. It’s my favorite film, and I think it’s the best film about actresses and being an actress. How Lynch destabilizes the idea of what a realistic character is—I find that more true to the chaotic emotional reality that the film is trying to convey than something more linear. This film just plucks away at something deep and dark in the back of my monkey brain, and I can’t get enough of it. The way he uses mood and sound, and the way he has nightmarish visions and images, like the lady behind the dumpster—he just lets that hover over the film and you feel like you’re going to see her again but you never do. I know there have been criticisms of the way he portrays women, particularly white women, and white people. People critique the lack of diversity in his films, and I understand why, but I almost feel as though ideas like whiteness and femininity are characters in his films that he explodes in the way I believe they should be."

Source
  
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Ben Wheatley recommended Blade Runner (1982) in Movies (curated)

 
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
1982 | Sci-Fi
8.5 (75 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I guess I’d start with Blade Runner, which is a film I’ve watched many, many times, and bought many times on different formats, and seen in the cinema many times, and bought books about it and read about the making of it, and watched, you know, all the documentaries that I could get my hands on. I think why I like it is that it’s a film that so transports you to somewhere else. It’s not even just about the story, which is reasonably straightforward, it’s the texture of it — every frame of it, every grain of film, or every pixel on Blu-ray or what not, holds information. It’s so densely packed. You can watch it again and again and see different things in it all the time. That’s the genius of it. I think that period of Ridley Scott, with Alien and all his adverts around that point… I mean, it’s just never dated. If you watch something like Black Hole, which is kind of around the same period, and you look at it, Disney’s Black Hole looks like a films from the ’40s in comparison to Blade Runner. Blade Runner could be made today and it wouldn’t look any different." """

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Holmes and Watson (2018)
Holmes and Watson (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Comedy, Mystery
They can't all be winners
Well...they can't all be winners.

I know that Will Ferrell is an "acquired taste" - either you like the "all in" comedy of this man, or you don't. I happen to like Ferrell, his comedy has aged on me like a fine wine. I find that some of his most recent films like THE OTHER GUYS and THE HOUSE are very funny (maybe not as funny as ANCHORMAN...but what is). I think this comedian still has his fastball.

But, sometimes, wine doesn't age well, it turns into vinegar. And for Ferrell, this vinegar is the comedic dud that is HOLMES & WATSON.

Partnering with familiar on-screen partner John C. Reilly (who paired with Ferrell in films like STEP BROTHERS and TALLEDEGA NIGHTS) this film is a parody of the multitude of Sherlock Holmes films - this time showing that not only is Holmes and idiot but so is Watson. But, somehow, they manage to solve the crime and save the day anyway.

Ferrell is (typically) over-the-top and obtuse as Holmes. Usually, this combination works for him (see ANCHORMAN) but it just falls flat here. Same thing for John C. Reilly's Watson - he is just as over-the-top and obtuse and (I think) that's the beginning of the problem here. The two just bounce off each other without the joke landing on either of them - nor does it land of the audience.

Ralph Fiennes (Moriarty), Rebecca Hall (potential girlfriend), Rob Brydon (Inspector Lestrade) and Kelly Macdonald (Mrs. Hudson) all fair poorly with poor material to work with.

Writer/Director Etan (that's Etan, not Ethan) Cohen (IDIOCRACY) does nothing to help things here with either his writing or his direction. My only thought here is that he thought that Ferrell and Reilly could improvise themselves into a good film.

It didn't happen.

Letter Grade: C (because I guffawed out loud - despite myself - a couple of times)

4 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
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ArecRain (8 KP) rated Blown Away in Books

Jan 18, 2018  
BA
Blown Away
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this book. I generally like second chance romances but it rubbed me the couple’s history rubbed me the wrong way. I know it shouldn’t and that I am close-minded for thinking so.

I enjoyed the concept of this romance. Storm chasing isn’t something we see a lot especially in the romance genre. I felt like it added enough tension and another dimension to Drew and Aiden’s relationship. I felt like they had more going on than just the typical “oh we can’t be together because of her dead ex-fiancé.” I appreciated that. And honestly, they just made sense together.

This is the first novel I have read by this author so I am glad it was such an enjoyable read. Rothert really knows how to tell a love story.
  
Billed as 'The Sharpe of the Civil War' (ever notice how these types of novels always use that character as their benchmark?), it's easy to see the influence of Cornwell's most famous creation on this novel, which (according to the author) is the first in a planned series of 10 books set during the English Civil War.

 This is told from the POV of a soldier in the (doomed) Royalist army: a soldier who has a history with some in authority (like Sharpe and Wellesley), and who is chosen to go behind the enemy lines on a top secret mission (again, like Sharpe), with the beginning and end of the novel taking place during one of the battles of that war (yet again, just like a Sharpe novel ...). Enjoyable enough, and gets off to a strong start, but is just not as polished as one of Cornwells books. Still, an impressive effort for a debut novel, and I may pick up more of the sequels ...
  
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Erika (17789 KP) rated Witness for the Prosecution in TV

Jan 20, 2019 (Updated Jan 20, 2019)  
Witness for the Prosecution
Witness for the Prosecution
2016 | Mystery
4
6.5 (4 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Do not compare this to the original.
Watching the original Witness for the Prosecution (1957), I remember being genuinely shocked by that twist, because it came out of nowhere.This film just didn't build the story up to
This adaptation is alright, it's nothing to write home about. There were too many shots of Toby Jones walking through allies or in his dungeon-like office. I felt like this went on too long, and the added length didn't necessarily add anything to the story.
I feel like with a lot of these modern adaptations of Christie's novels, they're tending to insert sex scenes when they're genuinely aren't needed and just slow up the story. It actually makes it hard for me to suggest the new adaptations to my mother, who hates when Christie's work is altered in that particular way.
Skip this one, and watch the original film with Tyrone Powers and Marlene Dietrich.