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The Craggus (360 KP) rated Aquaman (2018) in Movies

Dec 18, 2018 (Updated Dec 18, 2018)  
Aquaman (2018)
Aquaman (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
Is the DCEU better down where it's wetter? #Aquaman (2018) #Review
Imagine, ten years ago, if someone had told you the future of the DC cinematic universe would rest on the shoulders of…Aquaman. Yeah, that Aquaman, the character who had only really made it into pop culture consciousness as a fish-wrangling joke. Fresh from the, if not triumph, then at least plummet-arresting crunching gear change of “Justice League”, the DCEU looks to rise once again from the depths with this Māui-ised incarnation of Arthur Curry....

FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusAquaman
  
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Smashbomb (4683 KP) created a post in Friends of Smashbomb

Mar 4, 2020  
The Wasteland

We are excited to announce our latest Publishing Partner: 'The Wasteland' run by Smashbomber @Kirk Bage

You can visit the blog here: http://thewasteland.art.blog/

'The Wasteland' is a brand new for 2020 movie review blog that also reviews all sorts of entertainment, like music, TV and loads more! The reviews are great to read and are very entertaining! This blog is recommended for anyone into to pop culture and indie music/cinema!

Social links:
Smashbomb: @Kirk Bage
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewasteland.art.blog/
  
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019)
Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé (2019)
2019 | Documentary, Drama, Music

"Homecoming tells the story behind Beyoncé’s 2018 Coachella show, which makes a huge statement about the importance of African American education and the college experience. It cuts through the idea of pop stars just arriving into culture, being presented to the world as if they’re just naturally talented and what they do is absolutely no effort. Beyoncé works so hard! She’s on top of every detail – the choreography, the costumes, the lighting, the staging – and it’s so great seeing a woman so much in charge of her ideas. It makes you want to work harder."

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Charley (64 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books

Jan 26, 2019  
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.9 (161 Ratings)
Book Rating
Could not put it down
My boyfriend made me read this as it's his favourite book. I was a bit sceptical as it didn't seem my thing but I couldn't put it down.
It's about a kid who spends his life in the virtual reality oasis on the search for an Easter egg that will grant him the keys to the game he plays and lots of wealth.
Full of pop culture references and lots of action it is the perfect books for all the nerds out there. Don't bother with the film. As usual the book is miles better.
  
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.9 (161 Ratings)
Book Rating
<2021 update>

Have also seen the movie mentioned below. It was just OK; not great.

<original 2016 review>

Prior to reading this, I'd heard good things about it, and was aware that - like seemingly nearly all of the current Young Adult Dystopian novels - there was a movie for it in the pipeline, by none other than Spielberg himself.

Set in the near-future, I found this to be like a cross between the Bruce Willis movie Surrogates (in that nearly everybody seems to live their life vicariously through other means), The Matrix (cyber reality) and maybe even a bit of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the MacGuffin that gets the plot rolling). it probably helps that - unlike the characters - I actually *was* a kid in the 80s, and so get plenty of the various pop-culture references made.

Plenty, but not all - this, remember, is set in America, so leans more towards the American or Japanese spectrum of popular culture than European.
  
Bad Feminist
Bad Feminist
Roxane Gay | 2014 | Biography
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A mixed bag of essays
Roxane Gay is a gifted writer no doubt, but like a lot of her more prominent work, there are huge amounts of autobiographical information that didn't seem completely relevant.

Her essays on the intersection of feminism with misogynistic pop culture was incredibly on point, exploring E.L. James' infamous BDSM novel Fifty Shades of Grey, as well as other popular novels such as Twilight. She briefly mentions rape culture and how all of the above feeds into this notion.

Similarly her discussion on how race is portrayed in major Hollywood motion pictures is accurately disturbing - showing how African Americans are used in plots as a way to prop up white protagonists (The Help, Django Unchained).

Some of her other chapters seemed disconnected as if they were put in the book because there was no other place for it. This appears in the chapter on Scrabble. (Playing Scrabble doesn't make you a bad feminist).

There were a lot of haphazard thoughts that didn't quite thread together with the rest of the book ie. abortion rights, and male politicians' views on body autonomy. Gay was pretty adamant on her views on this, which appeared to showcase her opinion that she truly is a feminist.

The underlying message was that you may have flaws by enjoying aspects of pop culture, but as long as you are aware of how important it is that women receive equal rights, you can be any kind of feminist. But the book does feel as if she's trying to prove it to herself and to the world which seems rather unnecessary. We believe you Roxane.
  
Ready Player One
Ready Player One
Ernest Cline | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.9 (161 Ratings)
Book Rating
The story (2 more)
The characters
The '80s pop culture
A little to much '80s information dumping (0 more)
So Totally Awesome
At this point I've read this book four times and can see myself reading it another ten times and I would still find it such a breath of fresh air.

The plot is interesting and fun and honestly you gets so invested in the story and it wonderful characters that it's almost impossible to put the book down.


On top of all the '80 nostalgia you have a truly wonderful and heartfelt story where you can't help with root for the underdog Wade throught the whole thing.
  
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Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Swing Time in Books

Jul 24, 2017  
Swing Time
Swing Time
Zadie Smith | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Soul-moving realism
This is probably my favourite Zadie Smith novel, deeply touching with characters bursting to life out of the pages. Hitting on themes of racial identity and pop culture, it is a brilliant contemporary take on what young adults are currently experiencing. From cultural appropriation to the effects of globalisation all summed up in the relationship of one young woman and her peers.

Her relationship with her mother is one of generational divide while with her friend Tracy is one of class divide. The protagonist's character is the epitome of confusion and attempting to find a place in the world. Well worth the praise.
  
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
1979 | Family, Musical
It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, it's time to raise the curtain on The Muppet Movie's 40th Anniversary tonight!
If you were born between the 1970s and 1990s, it’s almost impossible to imagine a world without “The Muppets”. From “Sesame Street” to “The Muppet Show”, they formed one of the cornerstones of childhood pop culture and while they have endured, they’ve yet to recapture the dizzying heights of their late 1970s/ 1980s dominance. That’s thanks in large part to the irresistible amiability and boundless charm of this, their first full-length movie, released in the UK 40 years ago today...

FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusTheMuppetMovie
  
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Keegan McHargue recommended Eating Raoul (1982) in Movies (curated)

 
Eating Raoul (1982)
Eating Raoul (1982)
1982 | Comedy, Crime
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"This is just one of those movies that leaves you feeling queasy all over. Eating Raoul plays on all the stereotypical shock/schlock clichés typical of so-called B culture, which at the time (the early 1980s) was also being probed by Paul Bartel’s fellow Angelenos Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw (and perhaps further up the coast by the Kuchar brothers), who were also fascinated with and inspired by the prudish 1950s. Is there a moral here? Does there need to be? Why, exactly, is this film in the Criterion Collection? All questions better to put out of your mind when you pop it in."

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