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Stone Roses by The Stone Roses
Stone Roses by The Stone Roses
1989 | Rock
A Timeless Masterpiece
Every so often, an album comes along that feels like it was born out of pure magic, and The Stone Roses is one of those rare gems. From the opening notes of “I Wanna Be Adored” to the euphoric closer “I Am the Resurrection,” this debut album is a flawless journey through shimmering guitars, hypnotic rhythms, and an aura of defiance and mysticism.

What sets this album apart is its ability to transcend genres. It’s a perfect blend of jangly indie rock, psychedelic flourishes, and danceable grooves, creating a sound that feels fresh even decades later. John Squire’s guitar work is nothing short of genius—each riff and solo feels meticulously crafted yet completely effortless. Ian Brown’s vocal delivery, while unconventional, perfectly captures the swagger and yearning that permeates every track.

Tracks like “She Bangs the Drums” and “Made of Stone” are anthems of pure joy, brimming with melodies that seem to be pulled straight from the heavens. “Waterfall” is a blissful, sun-drenched escape, while “I Am the Resurrection” is a sprawling epic that perfectly captures the band’s rebellious energy. Every song feels essential; there’s no filler here.

Listening to this album feels like stepping into another world, one where everything is drenched in sunlight and possibility. It’s no wonder it became the defining soundtrack of the late ‘80s Madchester scene, but its influence stretches far beyond that. Bands like Oasis and Arctic Monkeys owe much of their sound and success to this record.

For me, The Stone Roses isn’t just an album—it’s an experience. It’s bold, timeless, and utterly captivating. I can’t think of a single way it could be improved, and for that reason, it’s a perfect 10/10.
  
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HerCrazyReviews (247 KP) rated Super Size Me (2004) in Movies

Sep 8, 2019 (Updated Sep 8, 2019)  
Super Size Me (2004)
Super Size Me (2004)
2004 | Comedy, Documentary, Drama
Fast Food May Be Bad But Most Points Made In This Documentary Are Worse
We had to watch this film in school when I was younger and I remember agreeing with most of his points. After re-watching this though, I agree with a few of his statements but what mainly puts me off is how he conducted his thirty day challenge. He went from exercising every day (more then the average person) and eating extremely healthy to not exercising at all and ordering RIDICULOUS sized portions. After ordering these portions instead of saving some for later (you know, like most people do) he decided that he had to eat it all which caused him to constantly throw up. He did this over and over! His doctor also recommended to drink water instead of constantly drinking pop. Even told him that this would help him out a lot but he still didn’t listen. Like, DUDE, listen to your freaking doctors. Instead, he decided not to put his health in peril. I don’t get why he wouldn’t because obviously McDonalds serves water and not everyone gets pop.

This could have been a great documentary talking about how bad fast food is. Which I mean, most people already know about, but he still could have made serious points. And I will admit there were point in here that were good. Such as the Super Size portions are not necessary and when he interviewed that doctor whose family founded an ice cream business. When the doctor was describing the connection between his family’s severe health problems and their eating habits I felt like that was an excellent point! Other then that though most points aren’t proven in the best way possible. Plus, he was adding in bits that didn’t even connect to the fact that fast food is bad. For example, when he showed a child a card with Jesus on it and was surprised that the kid didn’t know Jesus but knew Ronald McDonald. Dude, there is more then one religion out there and not everyone is even religious! (This just upset me a ton!)

I’m just going to jump straight into it and say this documentary pisses me off. While, yes, some people may be obese it isn’t always because they eat too much fast food. There are other reasons why they may not be societies perfect skinny ass version of the normal weight. I do understand though that he is focusing on people being overweight because of fast food not because health reasons or why the BMI index is wrong. I just think that he is going to extreme lengths on purpose which showed an inaccurate representation of what fast food does to the normal consumer because most people don’t eat fast food everyday like Don Gorske.
  
Session 9 (2001)
Session 9 (2001)
2001 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
7
8.1 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Gordon Fleming specializes in removing asbestos, but is having a hard time finding work while him and his wife just had a baby. That is until he's contacted by Bill Griggs, the owner of an abandoned mental hospital. The hospital needs a lot of work and Gordon brings his second, Phil, along with him to check it out. What is originally a three week job gets negotiated down to one week that includes a $10,000 bonus for every man involved. Gordon leads a five man team that will have to work their hardest to get the job done on time, but what starts out as a great job slowly snowballs into the most horrific thing any of them could have imagined. The crew begins turning on each other as heated arguments seem to escalate as quickly as they began. Each man begins to act strangely and differently than when they first arrived. Something that used to be in the hospital still resides deep within its darkness infested corridors and is beginning to plague Gordon's team. Some would even say that fear isn't a feeling or an emotion. It's a place that preys on the weak and the wounded.

The atmosphere in this film is just brilliant. The setting puts you on edge to begin with since it takes place in an abandoned mental hospital, but even deserted there's just something about the building that doesn't seem right. It's like something has infected the structure down to its core. The setting seems to rely heavily on luminescence or the lack thereof. Even when a room in the hospital is illuminated, it still feels dark. Darkness still overwhelms it like it's hiding something. In addition to that, there's the Mary Hobbes subplot that makes the film that much more disturbing. But the less you know about that going into the film, the better.

While the film has a fantastic atmosphere, it seems to be lacking something to make it a superb film. Everything seems to be there as the script is good, the writing is top notch, can't complain about the acting, there's a bit of a twist in the ending that's really well done, and the film stays with you long after you watch it. The best explanation is that it had all the elements of a superb film, but it dropped the ball slightly in its execution. The pieces of the puzzle weren't put together in exactly the right way, but were put together in a way that still resulted in a good psychological horror film.

Session 9 is the perfect horror film for people who like films that mess with their head. It gets beneath your skin and stays there. While the film is practically a cult classic and contains all the elements of a great horror film, it seems to be lacking something. The best way to explain it is to say Session 9 is a superb psychological horror film that just wasn't as good to this reviewer as it is to others, but that could always change with repeat viewings of the film.
  
TC
To Conquer Mr. Darcy
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The thing that makes Pride and Prejudice so great is the fact that Elizabeth disliked Mr. Darcy so much, and rejected him. Then he did so many wonderful things for her, and she fell in love with him because of the love (action) he showed her.

But in this variation of Pride and Prejudice, the love (action) is gone. It is more like an every-day romance, not one of those new classics. It’s cute and sweet and romantic, but it’s not P&P.

The writing and the style feel like Reynolds has read P&P many times. For the first time in a long time, I fell like I’ve found a great romance writer, the word writer being used literally. She’s a good writer, her prose and her vocabulary, her sentences… I liked it a lot. The characters—up until about the middle of the book—felt very much like the original. That pleased me.

With that in mind, I liked it… up to the point they slept together. That’s when I stopped reading. I just couldn't see Mr. Darcy doing that, no matter how much he desired her. And even when Mr. Darcy came back for her in the beginning… even after getting inside his head, I couldn’t see why he loved her. It was the same with reading from Elizabeth’s perspective… I didn’t know why she loved him. It was all emotion and chemistry, and no reason for love.

Please check out some other reviews for To Conquer Mr. Darcy.
  
Ready Player One (2018)
Ready Player One (2018)
2018 | Sci-Fi
Visual effects (1 more)
action scenes
Script (2 more)
Exposition
Casting
Ready Player Bomb!
I understand certain decisions and changes have to be made when adapting a book for the screen but with this one i just didnt understand or agree with 90% of them. For the most part the changes underminds the actual story the book was telling.

However, trying to be objective the best i can and looking at it just as a movie - i still didnt like it. For me it felt like the structure of the whole move was fractured. Everyone was totally miscast for my liking, leaving all the characters un-charismatic and un-endearing, leaving the story without a heart or a soul. I felt like the exposition was clunky at best, leading to the relationships between characters to either feel forced or not given them enough time to grow naturally, especially the "love interest" story. Also I felt it glossed over some key elements of the plot at the beginning, mainly due to the aforementioned clunky exposition, but also with its eagerness to go straight for throat with high octane action, which although brilliantly staged and choreographed through the camera, left me feeling like it was pointless, due to lack of context or feeling of any real threat. I never really felt like it got any of this right until the final battle in the climax of the film, but by then id given up the films ability to win me back.

Add to that the changes/difference from the book that failed to make any sense to me, or understand why they choose that direction to take - my frustration only grows and grows. The only real big change that i liked was the car race at the beginning which does not feature at all in the book...because it would be visually more exciting than what was actually written in the book. Some of the changes i felt like they were taking the safe option and lacked the balls of the book, such as the film choosing to let some character(s) not die, and pretty much totally ignoring the social commentary the book was making about big corporations, media influences, economic status of the world etc..... all things that i felt made the book as popular as it is in the first place. Popular enough that Spielberg wanted to turn it into a major motion picture.
  
City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5)
City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments, #5)
Cassandra Clare | 2012 | Fiction & Poetry, Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
10
8.2 (27 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow!
So I don't know how she does it but, Cassandra Clare manages to make each new installment in the Mortal Instruments series better than the last. And this latest novel did nothing to change that trend! It is very rare that a series keeps getting better & better but luckily for all the fans of these books, it does!
I was truly worried about Jace & Clary's relationship in this book. The way Jace was changed was awful, but it works so well with the plot. Clary is a wonderful female character...strong, smart, beautiful...there need to be more leads like her in books. I just couldn't put this book down! I even blew off some things I needed to get ready for my classroom before the school year starts up again just so I could see what was going to happen next. Now I dread that I am going to have to wait for the next novel in the series. The ending was great, but it is a cliffhanger. Not the kind that piss you off, but the good kind that leaves you dying to know what's going to happen next.
I love these books!
  
Insidious : The Last Key (2018)
Insidious : The Last Key (2018)
2018 | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Another unnecessary sequel
I have to admit that I’m one of the few people that hasn’t jumped on the Insidious bandwagon. I didn’t think much of the first one, can barely remember the second one and I don’t think I’ve even seen the third one. I put this on purely because I was hoping it would be an easy watch, and to be honest it actually was.

I think my problem is that these films are a little bit far fetched and my belief in the supernatural doesn’t stretch very far. Whilst I know this fiction, it’s just a bit too silly and ridiculous. And to make it worse I didn’t even think this one was particularly scary. The demon/villain is definitely very creepy (until you see him in full that is) but there isn’t enough of him like this to make the film scary. The acting is alright and I see how they’ve tied it into the earlier films, but for me this is just a completely unnecessary sequel going into a back story on a character that wasnt needed. And what’s worse, they’ve left it open for yet more sequels.
  
Show all 3 comments.
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Karica Truebenbach (156 KP) Sep 30, 2018

I haven't watched this one yet, and after the third one my hopes aren't too high.

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Ross (3284 KP) Oct 1, 2018

I liked the potential of the first one, was disappointed by the second one and the third one was dog shit, pardon my French. Again, this one looks to have potential and I will watch it but am not expecting great things.

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Britt Daniel recommended track Bring It to Jerome by Bo Diddley in His Best by Bo Diddley in Music (curated)

 
His Best by Bo Diddley
His Best by Bo Diddley
1997 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I first heard this one in 2000, or maybe 2001. My girlfriend at the time, Eleanor, had a Bo Diddley compilation that I think she got from her brother. I was grown by then so it wasn’t like I was listening to Bo in the crib, you know? But I came around to it. ""For a long time, I wasn’t a fan of the blues, because my limited understanding of it was cover bands on Sixth Street here in Austin - that version of the genre was just white guys trying to imitate Stevie Ray Vaughan. I think Bo transcended blues though. There’s so much more going on; there’s pop elements, there’s pure rock and roll elements. ""What I love about him the most is that he’s all about the maracas. That’s something that I’ve snagged, for sure, they’re the coolest percussion instrument. He went on The Ed Sullivan Show with a four-piece band, and one of them was just there to play maracas - that’s how essential it was to the sound. On this song, Jerome himself is the maraca player and he’s singing the response vocal - singing his own name. I love that."

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Roger Corman recommended Avatar (2009) in Movies (curated)

 
Avatar (2009)
Avatar (2009)
2009 | Action, Comedy, Mystery

"You know, I would pick Jim Cameron’s picture, Avatar, as a fifth. It’s the only new picture, I think, that can be up there in that group. Jim Cameron, one of our graduates — who started making low-budget science fiction pictures for us — went and jumped ahead and here’s Avatar, the most expensive science fiction picture ever made. Jim’s a technical genius, and the fact that he single-handedly brought back 3D — which had been up there, in and out a few times; in the ’50s and then forgotten — and he used it beautifully and sensitively. So many times when a director’s working with 3D you have the shot of the arrow coming out of the screen, shooting straight at the audience, and effects like that; he deliberately stayed away from that type of effect and just showed you the 3D world. And the use of computer graphics, green screen, motion capture and so forth for the blue-skinned people on the planet — I just thought it all came together as a brilliant film, both technically, in the way he used 3D, and in the beauty of the picture itself."

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Alex Proyas recommended The Godfather (1972) in Movies (curated)

 
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
1972 | Crime, Drama

"Well, you know, it’s interesting because my favorite films are ones that I keep watching. I just don’t think there have been many great science fiction films made. I mean, 2001 is genius, there’s no question it’s a masterpiece, but I’ve already picked a Kubrick film. I find Dr. Strangelove a more user-friendly and enjoyable film to look at and watch repeatedly. I can watch it endlessly. Blade Runner is a masterpiece, but I don’t know that I would put it in my top 5 at this stage. Maybe at some other point in my life, I would’ve. I picked a Hitchcock film. Kubrick, Hitchcock, and Tarkovsky are my absolute Holy Trinity, you know? I’ve picked one from each person now. Oh! Okay, here’s a curveball. Um, no, I don’t want to say that one… I was going to say The Wizard of Oz, which I really like, but I don’t know that I’d put it in my top five, but in my top twenty. [Long pause] Godfather, I’d say. Just a flawless film, something that’s so beautifully crafted and so perfectly structured and designed, that I can watch it endlessly and enjoy it every single time."

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