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DJ Muggs recommended Hell On Earth by Mobb Deep in Music (curated)

 
Hell On Earth by Mobb Deep
Hell On Earth by Mobb Deep
2000 | Rap
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"If somebody asked me at the time of this release 'What's it's like on the streets of New York?' I would just put on this Mobb Deep album and tell them to listen to it in its entirety. This album is Queens and it's representative of a whole part of New York City. There's a lot of anger in here – parts of it make you want to punch somebody in the face – but there's also a lot of classic club bangers in there too that just rock. It's a record of opposites and they were really a band all about opposites and differences. They were probably one of the last really different bands of that era who were just great. They always played such banging music."

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Hmm...

I struggled to get my head around a world that is magic half the time/tech the other half. When magic was up I saw the world in some sort of old fairy tale type way but then Hugh'd be in a Lazyboy chair and it would just throw me off completely. I couldn't get myself to see it as some sort of modern world with magic. I just couldn't.

As for the romance between our two leads, I was enjoying the slow build up but now they're at that point where things could become more permanent if they'd just talk about things, like what she is...?I

I wouldn't mind reading the second one and hopefully the world building will sink in next time.
  
The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
1985 | Comedy, Drama

"Breakfast Club. I was actually having trouble because I would say Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and Breakfast Club, but that would be three. Of all three, Breakfast Club is my favorite. But those John Hughes films, with Molly Ringwald and the Brat Pack, those are my favorite grouped films. They’re just so… they’re timeless. I feel like, even when you’re watching them now, they’re so modern, and the characters are so real. They’re just so appealing to me. I watched them with my mom when I was really young. I always would watch things with my mom that maybe other moms wouldn’t allow their kids to watch. I associated with them right away. I just really, really love John Hughes."

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40x40

A.O. Scott recommended Spy (2015) in Movies (curated)

 
Spy (2015)
Spy (2015)
2015 | Action, Comedy

"Number one is a movie that I think I underestimated a little bit when it came out. It is “Spy,” with Melissa McCarthy. A just amazing comedy. And The Academy is notoriously blind to comedies; comedy is very rarely in contention for the Best Picture. And, you know there’s the old saying, “Comedy is hard.” What Melissa McCarthy does, in going from a mousy desk jockey at the C.I.A. — with literal mice in her office — into an international woman of mystery and intrigue and an action heroine, is so incredible. It’s like Peter Sellers, like Inspector Clouseau. You know, it’s at that level of inventiveness, physical and verbal. bsolutely the Best Actress. Like, there’s no question that she was robbed for Best Actress. And yeah, Best Picture too. Why not? Get rid of “The Martian,” you know? Give it to “Spy.”"

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Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (2006)
Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (2006)
2006 | Comedy
Dane Cook always brings an infectious energy. (0 more)
The jokes are a bit dated and resonate with a crowd that no longer really exists (0 more)
I gotta say, I remember liking Dane Cook much more in the 2000s when I was in my 20s. I still like him in films like Mr Brooks and Employee of the Month, but his stand up just doesn't grab me like it used to. I enjoy his energy and how much he enjoys what he's doing. Watching him brings me a feeling of nostalgia that I most definitely enjoy, but most of the jokes just fell flat for me this time around. Sure, some of it is still funny as hell. The guy was talented, but I just don't connect with his type of humor much anymore. It's kinda disappointing. Makes me feel old. It was still worth the trip down memory lane. A lot of these jokes feel dated though as well. Kids today would not understand the type of humor that we engaged in back then. Dane Cook is most definitely for people who enjoyed their 20s in the 2000s. That's definitely me. The only question you have to ask yourself is how much of it do you still connect with.
  
Chocolat (2000)
Chocolat (2000)
2000 | Comedy, Romance
Chocolate is like some ancient Mayan magic that cures bigotry delivered by globetrotting, all-knowing hooded messengers… or some shit? Lol idek just imagine taking any of this dumb shit seriously, couldn't be me. Spoof level of this sort of pure sap Oscar bait, like the full product of one of Kirk Lazarus' 𝘛𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 trailers. Binoche is beyond annoying as one of those one-dimensional, overly-effervescent 'Mary Sue' (I shudder to even use that term after the Star Wars fanboys sucked it of all its meaning) types - I'm truthfully shocked they didn't cast Julia Roberts here lmao. Part unintentionally comical (Alfred Molina brutally murdering a chocolate assortment display with a letter opener), part irresistibly sweet - much like a confectionary itself (kudos to Dench and Depp), all brainless silliness (just have to wade through a lot of inauthentic syrup to get to the good stuff - which still ultimately isn't enough). Why was this genre of film ever an unironic fad? Still convinced the only reason this was made was for Peter Stormare to be able to successfully use every accent known to man in movies. So it's such a shame that with all this considered it ends up being just watchable.
  
Speak (2004)
Speak (2004)
2004 | Drama
8
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
I loved this film. I think it's one of the better film adaptations that's been done. My favorite scene is when Melinda shows Mr. Freeman her closet and all the trees she's ever done. I know it's not in the book, but I almost wish that it was. I think that would've really added to the story.

I think Kristin Stewart was a great Melinda, for the most part, but I wish there was even more emotion. I know that she doesn't talk much in the film, she actually talks even less in the book, but there were moments where I felt the emotion could've been more. Her facial expressions were just blank at times and that can definitely cause the film to lose its believability.

The other thing that I didn't like about this film was the ending. What I loved so much about the book was how open-ended it was - you aren't really sure what happens to Andy, you don't know if Melinda ever tells her parents, we don't know what happens with her friendship with Rachel, there's a lot of unanswered questions. I think that's what makes the book so good. I hate that there's a push in movies for everything to be wrapped up, for all the conflicts to reach some kind of conclusion, and for this film, it was telling Melinda's parents, but I wish they didn't. I wish they would've just ended the film with her walking out of the school after Andy attacked her in the closet. I think that would've held much more meaning than her telling her mom.

Regardless, I think this film is great. I appreciate that it actually felt like high schoolers and not just adults playing 16-year-olds, and I like that the story was the focus and that's what shined through in the end.
  
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
1980 | Action, Comedy, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The first movie I ever saw in my life, interestingly enough, was The Gods Must Be Crazy. It was a South African movie. It’s ironic that years later, the next most commercially successful film from South Africa after The Gods Must Be Crazy is District 9. The effect was kind of an early imprint that South Africa belonged in motion pictures. Because there was nothing else for years, as I became an adult — or even a young man — I kind of realized it didn’t. Everything that South Africa made was terrible that I subsequently saw. Usually I was just ashamed of it. I was like, “Oh God, we make terrible television, we make terrible movies.” And even with Marius Weyers doing the South African accent — something that was uniquely South African and African could be commercial was just imprinted in my brain."

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Daft by The Art of Noise
Daft by The Art of Noise
1986 | Electronic, Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Could listen to this on repeat forever and ever. It’s slightly nostalgic and melancholic but still really groovy. It doesn’t take me back to a specific memory but it does remind me of being a kid – there’s a warm fuzzy feeling that hits me when I hear this song. When I was growing up it was all about singles because that’s how my mom listened to music – she’d never buy the whole record. I guess that’s how I grew up. I’m just starting to get more into DJing and singles are pretty key to that. As of late, I’m listening to Sirius satellite radio, and there’s this channel called 1st Wave that plays rarer new wave and dance songs – not just the hits. I’ve been using that to collect songs for my sets – the stuff that gets overlooked. Stuff like this."

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Divergent
Divergent
Veronica Roth | 2012 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
9
8.1 (140 Ratings)
Book Rating
4.5 stars.

I have this thing where I have to read books before the films are released, i.e. twilight, mortal instruments, and when I heard this was going to be a film, I just had to read it.

That being said, I wasn't entirely sure what the book was about before I bought it yesterday, just that it was a young adult dystopia story with romance in it.

Either way I was hooked from early on. I think it was when it came out that she didn't fit into any faction, that she was Divergent. Then we met Four, and, the sucker I am for any hint of romance, I was a goner. Hooked.

I really enjoyed this. It had a bit of everything that I like in a story and I can't wait to read what happens next in the series.