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Kane Hodder recommended The Exorcist (1973) in Movies (curated)

 
The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
1973 | Horror

"My all-time favorite. You gotta remember, I’m old enough to have seen it in theaters when it first came out, with all the hype. The fact that it was such taboo material at that time was so incredibly powerful. If you didn’t live through it you can’t really appreciate the fact that there was so much hype going around, that people were saying that, after they watched the movie, they were getting possessed. People were buying into that, so it made it even more scary to go see it, because you were worried about going to sleep. And the movie was so well done. It still holds up. This many years later, I still think it’s a pretty damn good movie. I’ve always liked horror movies, even from the beginning when I was a little kid and saw The Birds. Scared the **** out of me. It was like the precursor to Jaws. Every time you looked at a bird that was staring at you from a tree, you would think, “Oh ****, it’s going to come down and pluck my eyes out.” And I’ve always liked action movies. That’s probably why I went into stunts. I always enjoyed watching the guys perform feats that looked like they were impossible, and I thought, “You know, I’d like to try that.”"

Source
  
Furious 7 (2015)
Furious 7 (2015)
2015 | Action, Mystery
With each passing film in this franchise, I find myself asking more and more "how did it get to this point?" We're certainly a long way from this franchise's humble (?) beginnings. There were multiple points during Furious 7 where I was audibly laughing at how ridiculous some of the action scenes are. Do you like films about street racing? Well fuck you, this film is about sky diving cars out of cargo planes, and then through multiple sky scrapers. Do you like films that accurately portray the mechanics of how vehicles work? Well fuck off, here's Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson flexing his muscles to crack open an arm cast he has on before shooting down a helicopter with a massive gatling gun he wrenched off a military drone. Do you like happy-go-lucky underdog characters that work their way to the top by showing off their drifting skills? Well shut the fuck up, here's Vin Diesel and Jason Statham smacking the shit out of eachother with metal sticks on top of a collapsing building. This series has gone completely off the rails, and I love it.

On a serious note, this film deals with the death of Paul Walker, and pays tribute to him in a very well done and tasteful manner. Massive props for that. Did I she's a tear during a Fast & Furious movie? Yes, yes I did.
  
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Lee KM Pallatina (951 KP) Jun 12, 2021 (Updated Jun 16, 2021)

I agree, the Fast franchise has gone completely off the rails, although extremely over the top and nothing like the good old days, it's still full of fast cars, great characters and storytelling (although the story is like having plot points attached to a buckaroo).

As fun as they are, the last one I took seriously was fast4

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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2097 KP) rated Bear Bottom in Books

May 25, 2021 (Updated May 25, 2021)  
Bear Bottom
Bear Bottom
Stuart Gibbs | 2021 | Children, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Missing Necklace and Bison
Teddy Fitzroy is in Yellowstone with his parents and the McCrackens to evaluate a ranch that J.J. McCracken is thinking about buying. The ranch is just outside of the national park, and the Fitzroys are also using the time to enjoy the beautiful scenery. The ranch raises bison, and they’ve had a couple go missing, so Teddy is asked to try to figure out what has happened to them. Before he can even start on that, the house where everyone is staying is broken into by a Grizzley bear. In the aftermath, Mrs. McCracken’s expensive necklace disappears. Can Teddy solve both mysteries?

Part of the fun of the FunJungle series is the setting and the recurring characters. I’ll admit I missed them. However, this book does have a core cast of regulars, and I enjoyed spending time with them. Both mysteries are intriguing and kept the pace steady. Watching Teddy work is always fascinating, and we got some wonderful action scenes along the way. While the series always tackles some environmental issues, I felt like this book lectured a bit more than the series usually does. It doesn’t help that one thing intended to be funny didn’t come across that way to me; instead, if felt like more lectures. I still did enjoy this book overall. It’s just not quite up to Stuart Gibbs’s usual high standards.
  
High-Rise Invasion
High-Rise Invasion
2021 | Action, Animation, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
High-Risk Invasion is an anime that starts with with a very dark premises (and I guess should have a trigger warning here). A school girl (Yuri) finds herself in a world that exists entirely on the top floors and roofs of sky scrapers. She soon meets a figure in a strange mask who seems intent on driving her off the roof and to her death. Yuri soon find out that there are a number of these 'Masks' who's sole purpose is to try to drive the none masks to suicide.
After a few episodes, 'High-Rise Invasion' takes a strange turn, surviving the masks is part of a test to find some one who is worthy of becoming the new god.
High-Rise Invasion starts very dark and it's easy to see why it changed tones, it either had to change to something unexpected or become something like 'Alice in Borderland ' and a lot of the story is spent on world building and setting up the main premises.
Viewers need to be aware that 'High-Rise Invasion' contains suicide, violence, threat of rape as well as the anime standards of panty-shots and other clothes being ripped. If you are ok with these themes and a high level of violence then 'High-Rise Invasion' offers an interesting story and plenty of action.
  
Oxygen (2021)
Oxygen (2021)
2021 | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
9
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
There are few films that focus on a single character trapped by outside circumstances, not of their making. The few I can think of are all good in their own right, but I'm not sure they were as captivating as Oxygen, I hope this film is forever added to the top of those lists discussing such films.

I figured out a couple of things early on (that's just the way my brain works unfortunately 🤷🏼‍♀️) but it in no way lessened my enjoyment of the film. I was genuinely intrigued as to how the whole thing would play out, and there were some big surprises still.

Mélanie Laurent is fantastic, some of the scenes could have been really overplayed and dramatic, but I think she was perfect; to carry a whole film being the only actor on screen is nothing short of phenomenonal, her performance had me gripped to the final shots.

The film almost runs in real time, so if you are looking for something fast paced with lots of action or drama, then maybe move along, but if you are looking for something with the feel of a thriller that has its twists and turns, where you figure things out equally as the character does then this is more for you.

Would highly recommend as a must watch whatever you are into!
  
Fast & Furious 9 (2021)
Fast & Furious 9 (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure, Crime
Jesus Christ, this is definitely in the running for the silliest film I've ever seen.
F9 contains everything you would expect from this franchise - big set pieces, defiant feats of physics, obnoxious music intervals, Vin Diesel inaudibly talking about family, increasingly Bond-level villains, a tiny bit of actual racing, a character who is dead not actually being dead, barbeques and Corona, and vague references to what Paul Walker's character is currently up to off screen.
It goes bigger on almost every aspect than it has before, and it's once again a mixed bag. Some of the action scenes are so, so ridiculous, especially a scene during the big finale that involves Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson (no spoilers here), but these moments are bogged down by a whole lot of nothing, providing an unnecessarily padded out runtime that makes the movie feel like a drag on more than one occasion. It overestimates how much the audience actually cares about the characters. But not to worry, at one point Vin Diesel downs a plane by throwing a truck at it, so you know, swings and roundabouts.

There's a whole heap of nonsense absolutely caking what is an enjoyable enough Fast & Furious movie. Nowhere near the best in the series, but a fun time if you can stay awake until the final third.
  
Hers, Times Two (Hers #4)
Hers, Times Two (Hers #4)
Anna Adler | 2021 | Erotica, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Strong female lead...check.
Two, hot, sexy male aliens....check.
Recipe for hot alien sex and action.....Oh hell yeah!!

Hers, times two is book four in what looks to be a cracking series! I've read it as a standalone as I've not read the first three books.... considering I'm wanting to know what happens next I'll be heading off to get the others pretty sharpish.

Liz is cool, confident and feisty, but, like the rest of us, she's fighting her own demons. Demons which put her and her crew in the path of danger. Not her fault but she really takes it to heart.
    I really like her, she's a dedicated friend and is an awesome pilot. She does annoy me a little as she tries to take too much responsibility for things she had no control over and beats herself up for it.....

Jackal and Zaster......the hot, sexy aliens.....and typical idiots that take forever to pluck up the courage to approach the woman of their dreams. I'll let them off though as they more than make up for it and the more we get to know and understand them it's easy to see why they're who they are.

I was entertained from start to finish and I even cried a few times, I'm such a softie haha
  
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
2009 | Action, Sci-Fi
One of the most proudly and spectacularly nerdy things I've ever seen - filled to the brim with seemingly endless gadgetry, weapons, flashbacks, melodrama, underground/hidden lairs, explosions, costumes, and "oh my God I can't believe they're actually doing this" action scenes. And just like that two hours flies right by. I'm usually pointedly averse to this sort of routine guy-saves-the-day-then-gets-the-girl blockbuster crap from this era - but there's such an overload of visual tech-fetish creativity thrown at the screen that you'd really have to watch it twice to even absorb it all, and beyond that something just clicks here. The clear disdain from Tatum - who has never been worse - because he really doesn't want to be here is hysterical, and the rest of this absolutely loaded cast turn in similarly appetizing corniness from Quaid's trademark commandeering to Wayans' canned comedic relief. The tropes feel lovingly recreated rather than haphazardly slapped together, there's a refreshing feeling of sincerity that makes its fun factor way more authentic than other films of the breed. Still a bit on the clean side (more specifically of-its-time) to properly rise to the heights it deserves, but oh baby this is a blast and a half. Really good Michael Bay ripoff junk food that does a helluva lot with that PG-13 rating.
  
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post

May 3, 2021 (Updated May 3, 2021)  
On my blog today, I've got a fascinating interview between Commander Brett Colton, the main character of the science fiction novel INFINITY'S GATEWAY, and its author James S. Parker. Check it out, and enter the giveaway to win a signed copy of the book - two winners!

https://alltheupsandowns.blogspot.com/2021/05/book-blog-tour-and-giveaway-infinitys.html

**BOOK SYNOPSIS**
Every year, all across the planet, people simply vanish, completely disappear and are never seen again. Some areas of the world are well known for this phenomenon. Infinity's Gateway opens with a very famous incident that took place just after the end of World War II with the United States Navy. The story then jumps to the present day with an unexplainable event that occurs off the coast of Florida, an event that cannot be ignored by the military.

The Navy ship Eclipse and its crew are sent to investigate, but after several days come up empty. Two days before returning to port, the event reoccurs, and the Eclipse is caught up in something it cannot escape. The Eclipse and its crew suddenly find themselves completely isolated, all communication lost, surrounded by a terribly hostile environment where each day is a struggle to survive. Infinity's Gateway is an intense, action packed story of survival, self-reliance, and discovery.
     
Madam Tulip and the Serpent's Tree (Madam Tulip #4)
Madam Tulip and the Serpent's Tree (Madam Tulip #4)
David Ahern | 2020 | Mystery, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have to be honest, I miss these characters, they are so theatrical, pompous, but at the same time so realistic and cute. The protagonist of this story is Derry, and the book is told from her perspective. Derry has this “luck” to get herself into craziest situations, involving rich and famous, she knows most of their secrets, and always gets into trouble. I like Derry and her crazy parents, and I enjoy their craziness in every book, including this one.

I was very impressed with the plot of this book, it is funny and entertaining, but at the same time more serious and solid. I liked the way the author unravelled this mystery, it was interesting to read about the music band’s lifestyle, mysterious shaman, and plenty of interesting history of Dublin. The narrative starts quite slow, but it has enough action and intense moments as well. Even though this book is a part of the series, it can be easily read as a stand-alone.

I liked the setting of this novel, the author describes Dublin and surrounding areas very picturesquely and I really liked that. I enjoy David Ahern’s writing style, I think he improves with every single book. The chapters are quite short, so the book didn’t drag for me. I loved the ending of this book, I think it rounded this book really well.