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Butch Vig recommended track In The Sun by Joseph Arthur in Come to Where I'm From by Joseph Arthur in Music (curated)
The Intolerant Gourmet: Delicious Allergy-friendly Home Cooking for Everyone
Book
Food writer and cook Pippa Kendrick revolutionises allergy-friendly food with an inspired collection...
Mark Arm recommended A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die by The Flesh Eaters in Music (curated)
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Grinch (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
After watching The Grinch my heart grew three times.
This is the first time that I've ever encountered The Grinch... yes, ever. Apart from calling people a grinch when they moan about Christmas. Never read the book, never seen previous incarnations. I really don't know how.
I'm really pleased that this film was good. After most of Secret Life Of Pets and all of Sing I was starting to lose faith in Illumination. This is a much better offering and genuinely a nice film. It's funny, it's thoughtful and it's Christmassy all rolled into one.
Despite the film being called The Grinch the stars of the show were Max and Fred. Max shows you just how happy a dog can be all of the time even if they're surrounded by negative feelings, and Fred, well... those puppy dog eyes... good boys! I did also love Cindy-Lou Who. That kids has a fantastic eye for gadgets that must come from repeated viewings of other holiday classics like Home Alone.
There really isn't a lot else to say about this other than it's a great film. Cindy-Lou is a great motivational speaker and the whole film in general fills you with the desire to do good things and take a new perspective on things... well it did for me... this film might have brainwashed me.
As a little extra we also take a step back to the good old days where you got a cartoon before the main screening! Yellow Is The New Black. An amusing diversion. Those poor little minions.
(P.S. The reason this is getting four and a half stars and not five is that the alarm clock. If you've seen the trailer you'll understand my slight disappointment... I suppose what they've done is more in keeping though. *grumpy sigh*)
What you should do
Don't be a Grinch. You should go and see this... kids, no kids, it doesn't really matter. It's brilliant animation with a wonderful story to tell.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'll take a giant portion of Cindy-Lou's ingenuity please!
This is the first time that I've ever encountered The Grinch... yes, ever. Apart from calling people a grinch when they moan about Christmas. Never read the book, never seen previous incarnations. I really don't know how.
I'm really pleased that this film was good. After most of Secret Life Of Pets and all of Sing I was starting to lose faith in Illumination. This is a much better offering and genuinely a nice film. It's funny, it's thoughtful and it's Christmassy all rolled into one.
Despite the film being called The Grinch the stars of the show were Max and Fred. Max shows you just how happy a dog can be all of the time even if they're surrounded by negative feelings, and Fred, well... those puppy dog eyes... good boys! I did also love Cindy-Lou Who. That kids has a fantastic eye for gadgets that must come from repeated viewings of other holiday classics like Home Alone.
There really isn't a lot else to say about this other than it's a great film. Cindy-Lou is a great motivational speaker and the whole film in general fills you with the desire to do good things and take a new perspective on things... well it did for me... this film might have brainwashed me.
As a little extra we also take a step back to the good old days where you got a cartoon before the main screening! Yellow Is The New Black. An amusing diversion. Those poor little minions.
(P.S. The reason this is getting four and a half stars and not five is that the alarm clock. If you've seen the trailer you'll understand my slight disappointment... I suppose what they've done is more in keeping though. *grumpy sigh*)
What you should do
Don't be a Grinch. You should go and see this... kids, no kids, it doesn't really matter. It's brilliant animation with a wonderful story to tell.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
I'll take a giant portion of Cindy-Lou's ingenuity please!
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Thank You for Your Service (2017) in Movies
Jul 11, 2019
The words “Thank you for your service” have gone from a meaningful statement of gratitude to an empty platitude. As a veteran, I cringe when someone says it to me when buying groceries, at the gym, or at an event where there is a casual reference to veterans. The film Thank You For Your Service examines the lives of those affected by the war directly and indirectly. In the movie, Miles Teller (Whiplash, War Dogs, Fantastic Four) plays Staff Sergeant Schumann, an Iraq War vet who is returning to his family and hoping to return to some sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, he and his friends discover that the war and the horrors that they witnessed cannot be escaped.
Thank You For Your Service is able to address an aspect of war that many films overlook; how the men and women who are deployed changed by their experiences. Additionally, it tackles the questions of how their families cope with the changes to them, how they go about living a normal existence, and how people understand how they are harmed by war without any visible injuries?
The film is a testament to the men and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It doesn’t sugar-coat or trivialize their experiences. The emotions are raw. The visual representation of their daily terror is present. With depth, the film shows audiences who may be unfamiliar with veterans or those suffering from PTSD what the world really looks like to them and how they struggle with just existing.
The film takes the statement of “Thank you for your service” and gives it greater meaning in able to connect the problems inherent in the military, healthcare system, and how we as a society view mental health. The film allows for an authentic examination of what servicemembers deal with in their return home from war. It becomes apparent that they themselves may be able to leave the battle, but the battle stays with them, tormenting and haunting them as each day passes. The war they face never ceases. Thank You For Your Service will hopefully help foster substantive discussions about what many men and women deal with in their return from the horrors of war.
Thank You For Your Service is able to address an aspect of war that many films overlook; how the men and women who are deployed changed by their experiences. Additionally, it tackles the questions of how their families cope with the changes to them, how they go about living a normal existence, and how people understand how they are harmed by war without any visible injuries?
The film is a testament to the men and women suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It doesn’t sugar-coat or trivialize their experiences. The emotions are raw. The visual representation of their daily terror is present. With depth, the film shows audiences who may be unfamiliar with veterans or those suffering from PTSD what the world really looks like to them and how they struggle with just existing.
The film takes the statement of “Thank you for your service” and gives it greater meaning in able to connect the problems inherent in the military, healthcare system, and how we as a society view mental health. The film allows for an authentic examination of what servicemembers deal with in their return home from war. It becomes apparent that they themselves may be able to leave the battle, but the battle stays with them, tormenting and haunting them as each day passes. The war they face never ceases. Thank You For Your Service will hopefully help foster substantive discussions about what many men and women deal with in their return from the horrors of war.
Kara Skinner (332 KP) rated Same Time Next Year in Books
Sep 10, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Genre: Contemporary
Word Count: 4,560
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.27/5 stars
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
It’s not often a book can surprise me. But Same Time Next Year totally took me off guard.
Every year, for the past either years, Regina White and Tyler Harrison meet at the same hotel, in two connecting rooms for one night.
The receptionist, Elizabeth, thinks she has the whole situation figured out. But she doesn’t know what this night means to the mysterious couple. And somehow she can’t stop thinking about them anyway.
You can read Same Time Next Year for free on Smashwords.
At first I thought I wasn’t going to like this story. I thought it was about two people leaving their depressing and dull lives to have one night of infidelity and debauchery a year, like some sort of modern day fairy tale. On top of that, the “good” character, Elizabeth, is kind of a bitch who is quick to condemn and judge Regina, but smile and admire Tyler.
It’s one thing to disapprove of adultery, it’s another thing to have double standards about it.
But despite my misgivings at first, I got sucked into the very hot sex scene quickly.
“No, I don’t want champagne. I want you. Naked. And wet. And begging.”
Gotta love good dirty talk. Unfortunately the scene ends abruptly and before the couple gets to the really good part, if you know what I mean. 😉
For such a short story there is actually a lot of character development. We learn that Tyler and Regina met at a conference years ago, when they had those two hotel rooms by coincidence. Tyler loves how Regina’s strong and confident in public, but a little submissive in the bedroom. Regina loves how Tyler still wants her, and how he’s always willing to please her. They have great chemistry together and I love how they’re still attracted to each other after all those years, and always come back to the same hotel.
My only complaint, aside from the abrupt end to the sex scene, is Elizabeth. I get why she’s necessary to the story, but she’s undeveloped and unlikeable, and I wish she was gone.
Word Count: 4,560
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.27/5 stars
My rating: 4.5/5 stars
It’s not often a book can surprise me. But Same Time Next Year totally took me off guard.
Every year, for the past either years, Regina White and Tyler Harrison meet at the same hotel, in two connecting rooms for one night.
The receptionist, Elizabeth, thinks she has the whole situation figured out. But she doesn’t know what this night means to the mysterious couple. And somehow she can’t stop thinking about them anyway.
You can read Same Time Next Year for free on Smashwords.
At first I thought I wasn’t going to like this story. I thought it was about two people leaving their depressing and dull lives to have one night of infidelity and debauchery a year, like some sort of modern day fairy tale. On top of that, the “good” character, Elizabeth, is kind of a bitch who is quick to condemn and judge Regina, but smile and admire Tyler.
It’s one thing to disapprove of adultery, it’s another thing to have double standards about it.
But despite my misgivings at first, I got sucked into the very hot sex scene quickly.
“No, I don’t want champagne. I want you. Naked. And wet. And begging.”
Gotta love good dirty talk. Unfortunately the scene ends abruptly and before the couple gets to the really good part, if you know what I mean. 😉
For such a short story there is actually a lot of character development. We learn that Tyler and Regina met at a conference years ago, when they had those two hotel rooms by coincidence. Tyler loves how Regina’s strong and confident in public, but a little submissive in the bedroom. Regina loves how Tyler still wants her, and how he’s always willing to please her. They have great chemistry together and I love how they’re still attracted to each other after all those years, and always come back to the same hotel.
My only complaint, aside from the abrupt end to the sex scene, is Elizabeth. I get why she’s necessary to the story, but she’s undeveloped and unlikeable, and I wish she was gone.
Sworkit Kids
Health & Fitness and Education
App
Turn Fitness into a game with your children with customizable workouts for Strength, Agility, and...
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Last Shark (1981) in Movies
Aug 15, 2020
An oldie... but a goodie?
A large great white shark is interested in taking part in a seaside town's regatta but the major would rather it stayed away so that paying visitors can go about safely spending their money.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that The Last Shark was actually Jaws 2, evidently Universal thought that too and sued the life out of them. With such a familiar feeling to the whole affair it felt like it went fairly quickly, at times, too quickly. More than once I noted down that the scenes just left out the "boring bits" of filler and went straight to the nitty-gritty of moving the story along... this is what we always wanted right? In practice, it's not all that great.
When I started my notes with "what is this, windsurfing porn?" (I started writing watersports fun but quickly changed that.) I felt confident of daft enjoyment ahead, and with a great transition from music over the scene to music in the scene... well, it won me over. Then to throw in the classic line "absolutely nothing is going to happen!" Wow!
Being serious about this review feels a little over the top, so let's just say it's exactly what you'd expect from a film ripping off another film when both those films are shark films... there were corners cut obviously and it tries to keep to the action side more than anything else but that works pretty well considering.
My note taking highlight (after windsurfing porn) was the fact that the local butcher must have been doing a roaring trade, forget all those BBQs, he was selling slabs of meat for bait hand over fist. At least someone came out of all of this better off!
You've got teens in peril, people hunting the shark, a local politician with bigger things on his mind, and that's what makes Jaws... sorry... that's what makes Jaws... DAMNIT... The Last Shark! That's what makes The Last Shark an amusing watch.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-last-shark-movie-review.html
A large great white shark is interested in taking part in a seaside town's regatta but the major would rather it stayed away so that paying visitors can go about safely spending their money.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that The Last Shark was actually Jaws 2, evidently Universal thought that too and sued the life out of them. With such a familiar feeling to the whole affair it felt like it went fairly quickly, at times, too quickly. More than once I noted down that the scenes just left out the "boring bits" of filler and went straight to the nitty-gritty of moving the story along... this is what we always wanted right? In practice, it's not all that great.
When I started my notes with "what is this, windsurfing porn?" (I started writing watersports fun but quickly changed that.) I felt confident of daft enjoyment ahead, and with a great transition from music over the scene to music in the scene... well, it won me over. Then to throw in the classic line "absolutely nothing is going to happen!" Wow!
Being serious about this review feels a little over the top, so let's just say it's exactly what you'd expect from a film ripping off another film when both those films are shark films... there were corners cut obviously and it tries to keep to the action side more than anything else but that works pretty well considering.
My note taking highlight (after windsurfing porn) was the fact that the local butcher must have been doing a roaring trade, forget all those BBQs, he was selling slabs of meat for bait hand over fist. At least someone came out of all of this better off!
You've got teens in peril, people hunting the shark, a local politician with bigger things on his mind, and that's what makes Jaws... sorry... that's what makes Jaws... DAMNIT... The Last Shark! That's what makes The Last Shark an amusing watch.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-last-shark-movie-review.html
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated The Brood (1979) in Movies
Sep 4, 2020 (Updated Sep 4, 2020)
They're Waiting For You
Man i love David Cronenberg, his horror films are disturbing, disgusting, gory, burtal, horrorfying and terrorfying. All of those words describe this film.
The plot: follows a man and his mentally-ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered by a psychologist known for his controversial therapy techniques. A series of brutal unsolved murders serves as the backdrop for the central narrative.
Conceived by Cronenberg after his own acrimonious divorce, he intended the screenplay as a meditation on a fractured relationship between a husband and wife who share a child, and cast Eggar and Hindle as loose facsimiles of himself and his ex-wife. He would later state that, despite its incorporation of science fiction elements, he considered it his sole feature that most embodied a "classic horror film".
Written in the aftermath of writer-director Cronenberg's divorce from his wife, The Brood has been noted by critics and film scholars for its prominent themes surrounding fears of parenthood, as well as corollary preoccupations with repression and the treatment of mental illness in women.
The Brood is my version of Kramer vs. Kramer, but more realistic." —Cronenberg commenting on his concept of the film, 1979.
In retrospect, Cronenberg stated that he felt The Brood was "the most classic horror film I've done" in terms of structure.
The Brood had cuts demanded for its theatrical release in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Eggar conceived of the idea of licking the new fetuses that her character Nola Carveth has spawned. "I just thought that when cats have their kittens or dogs have puppies (and I think at that time I had about 8 dogs), they lick them as soon as they’re born. Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick…," Eggar said.
However, when the climactic scene was censored, Cronenberg responded: "I had a long and loving close-up of Samantha licking the fetus […] when the censors, those animals, cut it out, the result was that a lot of people thought she was eating her baby. That's much worse than I was suggesting.
Its a distubing film but a excellent film.
The plot: follows a man and his mentally-ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered by a psychologist known for his controversial therapy techniques. A series of brutal unsolved murders serves as the backdrop for the central narrative.
Conceived by Cronenberg after his own acrimonious divorce, he intended the screenplay as a meditation on a fractured relationship between a husband and wife who share a child, and cast Eggar and Hindle as loose facsimiles of himself and his ex-wife. He would later state that, despite its incorporation of science fiction elements, he considered it his sole feature that most embodied a "classic horror film".
Written in the aftermath of writer-director Cronenberg's divorce from his wife, The Brood has been noted by critics and film scholars for its prominent themes surrounding fears of parenthood, as well as corollary preoccupations with repression and the treatment of mental illness in women.
The Brood is my version of Kramer vs. Kramer, but more realistic." —Cronenberg commenting on his concept of the film, 1979.
In retrospect, Cronenberg stated that he felt The Brood was "the most classic horror film I've done" in terms of structure.
The Brood had cuts demanded for its theatrical release in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Eggar conceived of the idea of licking the new fetuses that her character Nola Carveth has spawned. "I just thought that when cats have their kittens or dogs have puppies (and I think at that time I had about 8 dogs), they lick them as soon as they’re born. Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick…," Eggar said.
However, when the climactic scene was censored, Cronenberg responded: "I had a long and loving close-up of Samantha licking the fetus […] when the censors, those animals, cut it out, the result was that a lot of people thought she was eating her baby. That's much worse than I was suggesting.
Its a distubing film but a excellent film.