
The Living and the Dead in Winsford
Book
Winner of the Rosenkrantz Award for Best Thriller of the Year From the bestselling, award-winning...

KyleQ (267 KP) rated Halloween (2018) in Movies
Jul 20, 2020
Oddly enough, comedian Danny McBride was a writer, while director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) directed.
I blame much of my distaste on their overhyping it. They said this would be a slower movie focused on creating suspense ala the original.
In reality, this more than tripled the body count, even surpassing Rob Zombie's remake which was 10 minutes longer.
From the get-go, Michael just wanders about killing people, at one point we just follow him walking down a street randomly killing people. This has more senseless violence then Zombie's outings.
Another thing I didn't like was that, with this only following the original in which after escaping, he killed 4 people. It doesn't make sense that he would be this popular legend still talked about 40 years later.
Also, victims are idiots, it's no shock who gets killed. Honestly, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) was the only likable character, and even she pushed it a bit.
For positives, Carpenter's score was great, I liked some of the camera work. Intro credits were cool, throwing back to the original. And Curtis was good returning as Laurie Strode.
I really wanted to like 2018's Halloween, but it lacked suspense, characters were dumb, it felt more like a senseless action/comedy than horror. This would've fit the Friday the 13th franchise better. I really hope that the sequels are better.

Cartographic Japan: A History in Maps
Karen Wigen, Fumiko Sugimoto and Cary Karacas
Book
Miles of shelf space in contemporary Japanese bookstores and libraries are devoted to travel guides,...

Terry Crews recommended The Thing (1982) in Movies (curated)

Martin Carr recommended track You Trip Me Up by The Jesus and Mary Chain in 21 Singles 1984-1998 by The Jesus and Mary Chain in Music (curated)

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) in Movies
Jan 14, 2021
Every single character is a walking cliché. The introductions to all these people go on for waaayy too long, and I found myself pretty much immediately wanting them to die, but we're not even allowed to enjoy that aspect. The little gore on display looks awful, nothing done practically, and instead with CGI that looks like deep fried turd, CGI that is draped liberally all over the movie.
Then there's the titular cube itself. Gone are the intricate and Hellraiser-esque aesthetics of the first film, to make way for a clinical white series of Cube rooms (with a grey trim just to spice things up a bit). It just looks terrible.
The narrative isn't too compelling either, with twist after twist thrown at the viewer, but none which have any impact. It even throws in one at the very end which just isn't explained in any capacity. A lazy script with a lazy plot.
I'm pretty sure I had even more negatives to say about Cube 2, but honestly, I'm getting bored just thinking about this film, so yeah, it's poo.

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) in Movies
Aug 24, 2019
After walking away from a relationship, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) ends up in a car crash and is knocked unconscious.
She wakes up shortly afterwards, apparently rescued, but chained to the wall in a closed off room.
She has been rescued by Howard (John Goodman) and is being kept in his nuclear bunker.
Whilst she has been unconscious, there has been some kind of attack and Howard claims that the air up on the surface is unbreathable.
As Michelle adjusts to her new life underground, she becomes suspicious to Howard's claims and starts to believe he's hiding something.
10 Cloverfield Lane is absolutely dripping with tension for the majority of the runtime.
John Goodman is absolute fantastic and unpredictable. His character is both caring, and dangerous simultaneously.
Mary EW is also great in her role, and the two of them alongside John Gallagher Jr, make up a pretty solid trio of well fleshed out characters.
As the movie reaches it's climax, you'll be on the edge of your seat.
The connections to Cloverfield become more apparent near the movies finale, and do feel a little tacked on (this movie did start out as a non-Cloverfield related thriller called The Cellar) but it actually works in a neat sci-fi way.
It would be nice though, to see it all tied together a little tighter in future installments.

Zombieville USA
Games and Entertainment
App
Zombieville USA - one of the biggest hits on the app store! Over 1.5 million players and counting! ...

Dashboard for Apple Health App
Health & Fitness and Lifestyle
App
Your fitness and health dashboard, designed and based on Apple Health app (a.k.a. HealthKit) on...