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High-Rise (2016)
High-Rise (2016)
2016 | Action, Drama, International
4
5.0 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
This movie wants to be a dystopian drama, but fails to really add any dystopia. It wants to be a satire, but it is largely unclear what it is satirizing, other than a generic "all people are really just animals" theme and some under-explored "the rich live at the top and the poor at the bottom" stuff that doesn't really seem to pan out. It has very little in the way of narrative structure, what the characters are doing and why is never explained. I had a difficult time getting behind the idea of this "state of the art" high rise being some gleaming and beautiful example when it was such a ugly, Brutalist concrete mess to begin with. I'm sure there's some sort of "but the High-Rise looks like a prison because it metaphorically is one!" explanation, but it's just not a good one.

This movie was a slog to get through. It's far too long and feels even longer. Very few of the thematic elements amount to much. It's like it wants to say something about *society*, but isn't very clear on what that is.

The acting is pretty great. The visuals are gripping enough in some sections to keep you hooked and hopeful that the movie will amount to something greater than the sum of its parts, but it simply doesn't.

Also Tom Hiddleston is naked for a couple minutes.
  
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) Sep 15, 2017

I totally agree as I actually prefer the book! The film was a little muddled and it got lost in the cinematography.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
1997 | Adventure, Sci-Fi
Jeff Goldblum (1 more)
Funny
??? (0 more)
Loved it
This is still my favorite in the series, followed closely by Jurassic World and parts of Jurassic Park (original). First let me say I'll watch Jeff Goldblum do darn near anything. He has a dry wit that is so funny to me. I also loved Vanessa Lee Chester as the daughter, but I really appreciated the other characters commenting on the "family resemblance" because I was certainly thinking the same. Julianne Moore and Vince Vaughn also perform really well in this movie.
This is the first time Ingen brings dinosaurs to America, and we see what Dr. Malcolm has been warning us about all along. Dinosaurs+humans= No more humans. Duh. This is the first time Ingen gets mean, too, because it's no longer run by the kindly but stupendously naive old dude. Instead, we get a greedy, quietly menacing but equally naive manager who only manages to bring mayhem and destruction to the States. Aahh karma.
Anyway, Jeff Goldblum IS this whole movie and it's funny and exciting to watch so................watch it.
  
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)
1978 | Action, Adventure, Drama
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The second film that I suggest is called The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, also called The Master Killer. This film moved me so much not only from the martial arts action and the philosophy of Buddhism that was instilled in the movie, but also the overcoming of oppression. Growing up, I knew that I was being oppressed; I knew the black man’s struggle was oppressive in America, you know, reading Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. I knew of our struggle. But I didn’t know that that struggle was all around the world. I didn’t know that struggle was in all time periods. And when I saw this movie, it resonated with me in a way that I was like, “Wow, the government is just oppressing them, coming in and taking their homes, destroying their property. How they gonna win?” And from a single word, which was “Shaolin,” our hero was able to go find himself and find the way to help bring the end to that oppression."

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling | 2014 | Children, Fiction & Poetry
6
9.1 (270 Ratings)
Book Rating
The first Harry Potter book, known in the United States as 'Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone' which I remember first reading well over a decade ago; before even the first (virtually word-to-screen) movie adaptation.

Despite that, on re-reading this I've discovered that while the parts that are faithful to the book are VERY faithful, there's also certain plot-lines that are left out almost entirely.

Framed as Harry's first year at 'Hogwart's school of Witch-craft and Wizardry', I find it impossible to read now without visualising Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role, or Professor Snape as any other than the late, great, Alan Rickman.

The narrative device of allowing Harry to discover the Wizarding world as we do also proves to be a savvy move, in that it allows the reader to identify with the main character while also still allowing the possibility of further surprises in later books: it wouldn't have provided so much of a hook to the reader, for example, if Harry had grown up knowing of his parentage and heritage.
  
Pacific Rim (2013)
Pacific Rim (2013)
2013 | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Going into this film, I thought it was going to be completely horrible and ridiculous. However, I was open to it because it was from GDT. It was goofy, and completely entertaining. I was sucked in by the concept, and it proved that someone should give GDT a Godzilla movie. The acting wasn't the best (Looking at you, Charlie Hunnam), but it completely pulled me in. Ron Pearlman was great for the whole 5-10 minutes he was in the movie. Charlie Day was also great, and one of the only reasons I'm going to see the next film. It made me completely hyped up for some robots to beat up monsters.
  
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
2018 | Biography, Drama, Music
Contains spoilers, click to show
I like some of their music but I’m certainly not the biggest Queen fan even so I still found plenty to enjoy here. It doesn’t do anything particularly new with the music biopic movie formula and it does shy away from some of the darker elements of Freddy Mercury’s personality. Where it succeeds though is in its leading man, Rami Malek is outstanding as Mercury. Charismatic , flamboyant and dominating every scene that Oscar was certainly well deserved. Ending the movie with an exact reproduction of Queen’s iconic Live Aid performance was also a smart move showing the band and Freddy at their best and sending me away to add Radio Gaga to my Spotify playlist.
  
Halloween Kills (2021)
Halloween Kills (2021)
2021 | Horror
Jamie Lee Curtis (4 more)
Judy Greer
Andi matichak
Gore
John carpenters music
Evil dies tonight
Just watched liked it as a sequel but preferred the previous one I will say this straight off this one is the most goreist of all the Halloween the body count in this one is high. Some of the best parts of the movie is seeing the events of the movie thru the townsfolk of haddenfield who were there during the first film who decided to go vigilante on Michael. Also I like the call backs to the first one with will pattons officer hawkins. Overall good sequel bring on the third part and maybe the end of Michael myers
  
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John Bailey recommended Black Narcissus (1947) in Movies (curated)

 
Black Narcissus (1947)
Black Narcissus (1947)
1947 | Classics, Drama, Drama
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"A film that is the cinematic antipode of The Battle of Algiers. Photographed by the great Jack Cardiff, designed by Alfred Junge (both of whom received Oscars for their work here), this film was considered by Michael Powell to be the “most erotic” of all his films. That it takes place within a community of nuns gives his claim a deliciously profane edginess. It is the film that made me first realize how much cinematography can and should contribute to the emotional, dramatic thrust of a movie. It was also a great influence on my own film, the never released Mariette in Ecstasy, a bittersweet experience that made me realize how much more freedom I would always have as a cinematographer than as just another struggling director trapped in the Hollywood system."

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M. Night Shyamalan recommended Rebecca (1940) in Movies (curated)

 
Rebecca (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
1940 | Classics, Drama, Mystery

"Also based on a book. Coming from a super, super anal place as a filmmaker, the idea that the greatest hands-on auteur [Alfred Hitchcock] in cinema history made a movie with his hand buried in there perfectly–a lot of his movies, his hand is on top, and in this one, his hand was buried perfectly in there. Again, I’m not sure what genre it is and I love it because of that. Is it scary? I’m not sure it is. Is it a drama? For sure. Is it a romance? Yeah. And I love it, so elegantly done, I so fell in love with those characters, the performances were amazing. It was epic and haunting, and it was just its own perfect little gem that will never be re-created."

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