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Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon
Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon
1975 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is such a great record, and it's so overlooked. It's sneered on, too. It's got some really great jazz musicians on it, doing such brilliant, subtle performances. And the lyrics are fantastic. Listen to 'I'd Do It For Your Love': "The sting of reason/The splash of tears/The Northern and the Southern Hemispheres/Love emerges and it disappears." How great is that? 

This record was played a lot when I was growing up, so it's one of those records I've taken with me. I also love the story of what Paul Simon said when it won the Grammy for Best Album: "I'd just like to thank Stevie Wonder for not releasing anything this year."

Source
  
Tell It to the Bees (2019)
Tell It to the Bees (2019)
2019 | Drama, Romance
Acting, especially by Holliday Grainger (1 more)
Sense of time and feel of the movie
Scottish accent in dialogue made it difficult to hear the lines in places (0 more)
A Bee Movie with a sting in the tale
It’s 1952 . Many married men have come back from the war forever changed. Life is financially tough for most families. In particular, attitudes to multi-racial relationships and (particularly) homosexuality are appalling, and never more so than in the small Scottish mill town where the film is set. The film charts a love story of two women thrown together due to a family break-up.

Full review is on One Mann's movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2019/07/16/one-manns-movies-film-review-tell-it-to-the-bees-2019/
  
CBGB (2013)
CBGB (2013)
2013 | Drama, Musical
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Soundtrack (1 more)
Allan Rickman
Pre punk to post punk
As a lover of Punk it was only a matter of time before I watched this and it felt like a compilation album with extended talking in between. Loosely based on Hilly Crystal the owner of CBGS's in New York and the place where punk was formed.

There are appearances from Television, Talking Heads, The Ramones, The Dead Boys and it shows that Blondies did have more fun. The story is nothing too taxing and it's weaved round the music. Some famous faces and a Harry Potter characters bare bum as he proves his natural hair colour out of the cameras beady eye.

So if you like Punk, bare bums and don't mind a young Sting then this could help your life in a small way
  
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
1957 | Drama, Film-Noir
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The Sweet Smell of Success is, I think, one of the best — certainly one of the greatest New York films, for me — ever made. Alexander Mackendrick, great director. Unbelievable script. James Wong Howe, unbelievable camerawork. And Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster — to see those two going at it, and really, you know, the tragedy of corruption and how it infiltrates every aspect of peoples’ lives. There was something so deeply dark and cynical about it. But yeah, there’s this sort of tiny little germ of hope at the end of the film, as Susan walks off with the musician boyfriend that Hunsecker has tried to destroy, and you just feel like, you know, absolute power corrupts but not totally. Still, it has a vicious sting to it, that film. It really affected me."

Source
  
Ready to Rumble (2000)
Ready to Rumble (2000)
2000 | Action, Comedy
9
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Wrestlings not fake!
Before jack black did Nacho Libre
Before john Cena did Legend
Before Mickey Rourke did the wrestler and before the Release of paiges career movie fighting with my family, there was READY TO RUMBLE.
The story follows Sewage workers Gordie and Sean who are huge wrestling fans, as they watch their hero, WCW World Heavyweight Champion Jimmy King cheated out of the title, Jimmy quickly spirals down and hits Rock Bottom (see what I did there)
The boy's decide to embark on a quest to restore their icon's glory.

The road trip includes meeting jimmys estranged (ex?) Wife & son, barnyard wrestling tryouts, wrestling and OAP & a 3 cages of hell match, not to mention all the toilet humour- Literally.

Starring Goldberg, sting, ddp, Booker T, billy kidman, bam bam bigelow and many more
Also starring David Arquette, sean caan, Rose McGowan and Oliver platt.
  
How to Murder Your Life
How to Murder Your Life
Cat Marnell | 2017 | Biography
8
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Compulsively readable, feels more like a novel than an autobiography. At times I found myself able to relate to her or almost feeling sorry for her, at least in regards to her childhood, while other times I found her to be truly obnoxious and off-putting, especially in not accepting responsibility for her actions. However, I enjoyed her style of writing and I commend her bravery in putting her life and her struggles with addiction out there for the world to see, and judge. I imagine that every author dreads the bad reviews but when it's a book about your life that has to sting twice as hard. Hopefully her story will inspire others dealing with the same issues to turn things around. Curious to see if/how she will continue her literary career, perhaps a novel will be in her future (I certainly hope so!) *Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!*
  
Twenty Feet from Stardom (2014)
Twenty Feet from Stardom (2014)
2014 | Documentary, Music
Story: 20 Feet from Stardom starts as we meet different backup singers that have worked with the biggest names in music, Mick Jagger, Sting and Bruce Springsteen to mention a few, we follow these backup singers that have always wanted to sing, but not perform not giving them the fame the lead singer would get, despite the effect their singer put towards the songs.

 

Thoughts on 20 Feet from Stardom

 

Final Thoughts – This is a nice documentary about the people that add something to the songs you know and love with their backup vocals, there stories of how they learned from the more famous performers while also aspiring to become the big names on their own stage. This is a documentary that shows that talent comes from each position on the stage.

 

Overall: Good documentary about the lesser known talents.

https://moviesreview101.com/2018/02/27/abc-film-challenge-oscar-nominations-20-feet-from-stardom-2013/
  
The Avengers (2012)
The Avengers (2012)
2012 | Action, Sci-Fi
Known in the UK as 'Avenger's Assemble' (to avoid confusion with the other Avengers film!), this was the first of the MCUs big-screen cross-overs, bringing Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Bruce Banner/The Hulk (here played by Mark Ruffalo instead of Ed Norton), Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye (and not forgetting Agent Coulson, pre TVs Agents of SHIELD!) all together for the very first time to face off against Thor's brother Loki, returned from the (supposed) dead and at the head of an army of Chitauri - with the post-credit sting revealing, for the very first time, just how is the 'big bad' behind the entire thing!

That 'Battle of New York' at the end of the film would have further ramifications down the line in both the movie and TV side of things for Marvel, with the (not shown here) clean up activities afterwards even providing the impetus for one of the newer (at the time of writing) releases, in Phase III's Spiderman: Homecoming
  
The Sting (1973)
The Sting (1973)
1973 | Classics, Comedy, Drama
On my list of All Time Favorite Films
I'll come right out and say it - the 1973 Academy Award winning film for Best Picture, THE STING, is one of the greatest films of all time. It's well written, well acted, well directed with a memorable musical score and characters, situations, costumes and set design that become richer over time and through repeated viewings.

Set in Chicago in the gangster-ridden, depression era mid-1930's, THE STING tells the tale of two con man who join forces for the ultimate con of a vile N.Y. Gangster who is responsible for killing a friend of theirs.

From everything I have read about it, the script by David S. Ward (who won an Oscar for his work) arrived pretty much finished. He shaped the story of the con men - and the myriad pieces of misdirection - fully before shopping it around to the studios. Universal jumped all over it and tabbed veteran Director George Roy Hill (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID) to helm the picture. Hill - being no dummy - saw this as a vehicle to re-team Newman and Redford (stars of Butch Cassidy) and the rest...as they say...is history.

Newman and Redford are perfectly cast as veteran grifter Henry Gondorff (Newman) and up and coming grifter Johnny Hooker (Redford). They have an ease of playing off of each other - each one complimenting the other one - both giving in their scenes with the other one which makes the scenes more rich and alive. They are joined by a veritable "who's who" of late '60's/early '70's character actors - Harold Gould, Eileen Brennan, Charles Durning, Ray Walston and Dana Elcar - all of them bring their "A" game and they are fun to watch. Special notice should be made to Robert Earl Jones (father of James Earl Jones) as Luther, the character who's fate propels the plot forward.

But...none of this would work if you didn't have a "bad guy" that was interesting to watch - and to root against - and bad guys don't get much better...and badder...than Robert Shaw's Doyle Lonnegan. Shaw plays Lonnegan as a physically tough boss who doesn't suffer failure, but is smart enough to avoid obvious traps. He is a worthy adversary of Gondorff and Hooker's and it is fun to watch Newman, Redford and Shaw play off each other. One other note - it was with this performance that Universal recommended Shaw to young Director Stephen Spielberg for his "shark flick" JAWS.

Edith Head won her 8th (and last) Oscar for the magnificent period costumes in this film and Marvin Hamlisch won for the Music - a surprising hit on the pop charts of re-channeled Scott Joplin tunes. The set design won an Oscar - as did the Director, George Roy Hill. All in all, the film won 7 out of the 11 Oscars it was nominated for (Redford was nominated for Best Actor, but did not win).

THE STING is a well crafted film. One that tells a timeless story and that stands the test of time as a testament of how great of an achievement in film this is. It is one of my All Time favorites.

Letter Grade: the rare A+

5 stars (out of 5) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2061 KP) rated Birder, She Wrote in Books

Aug 18, 2023 (Updated Aug 18, 2023)  
Birder, She Wrote
Birder, She Wrote
Donna Andrews | 2023 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Who Has the Sting of a Killer?
The NIMBYs (not in my backyard) are at it again, this time complaining about the bees that the farmer next to their neighborhood is keeping – something he’s had since long before their subdivision was created. But before Meg Langslow can go over and attempt to play peacemaker, she is going to help her neighbor attempt to find a long abandoned African American cemetery. Their expedition ends when they find a very modern dead body in the area – that of the NIMBY ringleader. Since he wasn’t popular even among his neighbors, the suspect list in long. Will Meg figure out what happened?

It's always a pleasure to drop back into Meg’s world. Her family and friends make me smile, and this book was no exception. The plot tries to work a bit too much into the story; it works, but it could have used a trim. It doesn’t matter because I was along for the ride up until the end. The suspects fit well into Meg’s world, and I got some laughs along the way. This is a book that will please fans old and new.