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Lee (2222 KP) rated Colossal (2016) in Movies

Jul 26, 2017  
Colossal (2016)
Colossal (2016)
2016 | Comedy, Drama
Colossal is written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, who also wrote and directed 2007’s Timecrimes. One of my favourite movies and probably the best movie about time travel that isn’t Back to the Future! So, I’d been looking forward to catching this, his latest movie, for a while now. Luckily, it didn’t disappoint.

Anne Hathaway is Gloria, a 30-something party girl whose life is in a serious downward spiral. Her boyfriend (an underused Dan Stevens) decides that enough is enough and kicks her out of his New York apartment. So, Gloria moves back to the quiet little town where she grew up and moves into her parents empty house in an attempt to try and rebuild her life. After a bad nights sleep on the bare floor (a nice running joke throughout the movie), she heads out to buy an inflatable mattress and on the way back is passed by Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) in his pickup truck, who pulls up and offers her a ride. It turns out that Oscar and Grace are old school friends and as they get talking about old times it transpires that things aren’t so great for Oscar these days either. He takes her to the bar he inherited from his father, only half renovated due to a lack of money, and later on offers Gloria a waitress job. Most of their time in the bar though seems to be spent after hours, drinking away the stock with a couple of other friends/barflies. Gloria is soon back to blacking out from drink and then waking up at some point the next day with vague memories of the night before.

And then one morning Gloria wakes to images on TV of a giant Godzilla-like creature which suddenly materialised and started rampaging through Seoul in South Korea. Furthermore, after a few more appearances by this creature, Gloria comes to the realisation that this creature somehow appears to be copying her movements! And a bit later on, a giant robot appears too!!

It’s difficult to elaborate on this part of the movie much further without going into serious spoiler territory. The whole idea sounds crazy, but it’s surprising just how quickly the whole concept just settles in and this remains primarily a movie about humans, our relationships and our inner demons. Hathaway and Sudeikis are at their best here, with Sudeikis progressing from his usual likeable slacker role into something much more darker and complex. Things become increasingly tense, culminating in a highly original and hugely satisfying final act which I absolutely loved. It’s truly amazing what’s been achieved here with such a low budget too, with only a few occasions where the effects appear a little shaky. Overall though, this is a smart must-see movie. Brilliant.
  
RO
Rule of Law
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Randy Singer's RULE OF LAW is an awesome and intriguing read. As someone who loves to watch, and read, legal thrillers, this book is one of the best I have read in a long time. It played out like I was watching an intense, edge of my seat movie or TV Show. Randy Singer did not leave me wanting in this book. From the start, I was intrigued by the characters and their development, along with the way Singer makes the reader feel as if they are in the center of the action. This is definitely a high rated 5 stars for this reader! It is going on my keeper list and will be recommended to all who love an intense, fast paced, heart pounding legal read. Hats off to the talented Singer on a job well done. 

*Cafinated Reads received a complimentary copy of this book from LitFuse Blog Tours/Tyndale House Publishers  and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.*
  
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
1997 | Action, Drama, Mystery
Umpty-tumpth Bond film rests on the laurels of GoldenEye perhaps just a bit too much. Evil media magnate Carver tries to orchestrate a war between the UK and China so he can sell more papers and grab a satellite TV franchise; British intelligence decides to disrupt his scheme by sending James Bond to have sex with his wife.

Well-mounted set pieces, and plenty of them, plus Michelle Yeoh gets an eye-catching role as the 'Oh, James!' character, but the problem is that the rest of it feels like karaoke Bond, without the self-awareness or attempts to move the franchise on that lifted GoldenEye somewhat - plus, it's just not as well written. The result is a mid-range entry in the series, assuming one overlooks the schoolboy error of Bond not being able to read Chinese (as any fule kno, he got a First in Oriental Languages at Cambridge). This still equates to an entertaining movie, just not an exceptional one.
  
Disclaimer: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest (not necessarily positive) review.

When I read the blurb for this book, I was highly intrigued, so I was excited to be able to read it for review. The story is very interesting, with an exciting premise, and it's definitely pulled me in to where I want to read the second part.

The only drawback (for me personally, not necessarily a bad thing for everyone) was the writing style itself. It comes across as more of a description of something, as if someone were dictating a movie or TV show to someone who hadn't seen it (an episode synopsis, if you will). It doesn't have a very narrative flow, which seemed rather odd to me at times, but it's still a very good story, so I was pulled into it regardless. As I said, I'm looking forward to the next part, so it didn't hinder my enjoyment too much. =)

4 stars
  
Pet Sematary (1989)
Pet Sematary (1989)
1989 | Horror
A good adaptation
Whilst this isn’t one of the best Stephen King adaptations, it’s a lot better than expected.

This stays very true to the original book. It’s been a while since I’ve read the book, but there was nothing in this that stood out as being different, which is always good news. This is a typical late 80s film, with some very weak performances and feels very much like a made for TV movie. That said, a lot of the physical effects and make up were very impressively done and the film is a lot bloodier than i ever would’ve expected. There are also some very bad special effects, but fortunately these are few and far between. Watching this has made me intrigued to see how the new adaptation turns out - if they manage to stay faithfully to the story but with a 21st century update on the effects, it should really be one to watch.
  
Deadly Detention (2017)
Deadly Detention (2017)
2017 |
Yes this seems to have a Breakfast Club does horror vibe to it but it's more Dawson's Creek, if Dawson's Creeks writing went downhill and they did murder.

The acting is questionable for a movie but be perfect for a TV teen drama, the plot is paper thin but it's the ridiculous set up I have the biggest problem with.
So a bunch of stereotypes, I'm sorry I mean kids turn up on Saturday for detention but due to, I kid you not, a rabid possum incident at the school they are having detention in a former prison. WTF?!? Are rabid possums a big problem in America? Why are they using a prison? Surely there must be other schools.
So teacher is killed, kids are left with a psycho who wants something.
Murders occur off screen, very little blood and very little scare factor.
Yet somehow I started to enjoy the characters interactions with each other.
More Dawson's Creek then Wolf Creek
  
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Nick Kroll recommended Wayne's World (1992) in Movies (curated)

 
Wayne's World (1992)
Wayne's World (1992)
1992 | Comedy

"I watched [it] just about every day growing up. In like seventh or eighth grade every day after school, my friend Andrew and I would watch Wayne’s World. And I think it’s a great example of a sketch effectively turned into a movie and a story that really works with a good journey. Not easily accomplished but such a good journey. And I’m drawn to it because I watched Saturday Night Live growing up, but also I think the duo of Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, who are both from the same world and yet are such different guys. You know, the sort of confidence and leadership of Wayne and then the understated kind of genius of Garth: very meta and self-aware, which at that time wasn’t all over TV and film yet. It’s like the cross promotion for Pepsi and Advil and all that kind of stuff wasn’t overly present yet, and I think he really nailed it."

Source
  
Barry Lyndon OST by  Various Artists
Barry Lyndon OST by Various Artists
1975
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I’d bought this record years ago and had forgotten about it. But the movie came on TV in America, and I went oh my god and immediately had to hunt it down. I’d left it in London; I went to London just for the Barry Lyndon Soundtrack. There’s a Mozart piece on there that is just stunning. It was different to the usual classical renderings, it just seemed to have more heart and soul and harpsichord. It’s still there now on the top of my pile, it’s one of those albums that doesn’t collect dust. I have a weird association with it because my mother’s maiden name was Barry, and Lyndon is obviously Lydon misspelt. It also reminded me of my mother’s death and all of that. I wanted to play this at my father’s funeral a few years back, but my dad had a specific Irish record that he loved, so we played that."

Source
  
The Banana Splits Movie (2019)
The Banana Splits Movie (2019)
2019 | Horror
3
6.0 (10 Ratings)
Movie Rating
You never meet your heroes
In an alternate universe, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour is still running on TV and the youth of today still watch it. Harley is a huge fan of the chaotic puppet rock quartet. Harley has few friends, his father died, and his brother is turning into a millenial. His mother gets five tickets to a taping of the Banana Splits show for Harley's birthday. Unbeknownst to the studio audience, the network has just cancelled the show. Now all those fans are in danger as the show has nothing to lose so why not oversized Sid and Marty Krofft puppets murdering people. The concept for the movie is absolutely brilliant. However, the child actors in the cast can carry the tone of the film. Some of the campiness is evident, but the filmmakers never really match the surrealism of the Sid and Marty Krofft original to counter out the horror elements the writers have included.
  
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Lee (2222 KP) created a post in Smashbomb Feedback

Oct 11, 2019 (Updated Oct 11, 2019)  
I just had a look at the new Item Description Widget. It's a great idea, something which I'd love to use, but for me I think it would need a few more elements before I fully make use of it. Currently I use an IMDb widget on my blog, which I just pass a unique movie or TV show ID and it generates a box on my page (see attached screenshot). It includes director and writer info, along with runtime. The names of the people are all links so that you can click to see more about them on IMDb.


While I appreciate that you probably can't have links to the people within your widget, and all of that info is reliant on somebody having entered that information into the database in the first place, I do personally think it would be good to include a bit more info as an option. Just my opinion, interested to hear anyone else's thoughts though.
  
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Bird (1704 KP) Nov 1, 2019

Thanks @Lee - this has all been noted, especially if it means you will replace your existing widgets 😊

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Andy K (10823 KP) Nov 2, 2019

Good idea Lee