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    Vinegar

    Vinegar

    Helen Sudell

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    Book

    This is a wonderful collection of 25 recipes featuring all types of vinegar from balsamic to white...

Moana (2016)
Moana (2016)
2016 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
"You're Welcome" >>> "How Far I'll Go", I said what I said πŸ€·β€β™‚οΈ

Another overly-familiar, word-for-word rehash of *all* the exact same clichΓ©s from the Disney Machine with no real profundity or nuance to back up the convention. I mean even the title character the movie is named after has about as much depth as a piece of blank construction paper. That being said however, this is - what I can only describe as - terminally cute. In spite of all its heavily trod Disney-fying and formulaic cheese it's just so damn irresistible: eye-watering in how visually breathtaking it is with a handful of lively bops from Lin-Manuel Miranda who - politics aside - rarely ever misses a beat in the musical department. Treads water (no pun intended) for the first part with all the parroting of like 10 other movies from the company practically verbatim until the charming Maui shows up, who still represents the same sorts of tropes but complete with a clever design gimmick via the moving tattoos and gargantuan, blocky proportions; plus come on he's voiced by Dwayne Johnson - you can't *not* love him. The last half hour is more or less a wondrous technical showcase for peddling this beautiful, paradise-like animation and let me tell you it's a sight to see. Very funny too. Should hate it but don't, well done. 𝘑𝘰𝘰𝘡𝘰𝘱π˜ͺ𝘒 smokes it, though.
  
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
2012 | Drama
I will defend these pretentiously indie YA movies to my last breath; they're my bread and butter, cringe and all - and this one was forever used as the template for quite nearly every single one of these things from then on. The only reason most of this feels so basic, superficial, and emulative in comparison now is because of how many carbon copies of itself this spawned ("13 Reasons Why" is literally just this in *spades*, right down to the eerily similar lead performance). Of course I laugh heartily at lines like "Let's go be psychos together" and "I feel infinite" (wtf who talks like this lmfao) being delivered with a straight face and zero winking, but I'll once again defend how fake-deep this all is because have you ever fucking met a high schooler? They live in the most overexaggerated, toxic, self-absorbed, pointless milieus ever - so naturally this deliciously campy melodrama perfectly represents/exemplifies that. Sweetly and bitingly captures the essence of that time in our lives when we really thought high school mattered, and our worlds were so so small - but also has a nostalgic youthful energy headlong into the poignant transition towards adulthood. Very bittersweet, those last ten minutes are deliriously weird, bro. As somebody who loathed high school, I love this sillyass, weepy movie - it means every ounce of its cheese. Totally understand why people hate this.
  
Independence Day (1996)
Independence Day (1996)
1996 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Okay but why do you all call this a legendary blockbuster spectacle when there's very little spectacle yet a whole lot of people sulking around in rooms talking about computer code, cigars, recycling, and little else of actual value? Honestly just bar that this is preposterous and nauseatingly corny with a twinge of jingoism (granted, still way less than I expected) and a metric fuckton of characters not the least bit interesting - because of course it is, this is a Roland Emmerich film. Hell, this is the nearly tit-for-tat way less fun precursor to 2012 as it stands. But Jesus Christ did it have to be so goddamn boring? Not even ten minutes into this weightless behemoth and I already wanted the aliens (who, by the way, are barely even used... in this ALIEN movie) to put all these annoying mfs out of their misery. Has some highlights: the whole alien surgery bit is still a winner, can't help but get a sincere chuckle out of the last scene with Randy Quaid, and of course the explosions are... explosive. But it isn't worth it to have to wait like 40+ bloated minutes of nothing between them just to get to some minor diversions. Yes the effects are nice but when do we get to sit back and admire them around all this insufferable exposition and cheese? Hirsch > Smith > Fox > Spiner > Goldblum > Quaid > the kid actors > everyone else > dog shit > Pullman.
  
Molly's Game (2017)
Molly's Game (2017)
2017 | Drama
Objectively horrendous but a ton of fun, pretty much what one of those later MCU entries *should* feel like. A lot of fast-talking verbiage and flashiness which every single one of these stylish, ADHD biopics (which, for the record I enjoy incomparably more than the unbearable, cursory ones that get nominated for Oscars) stole from π˜›π˜©π˜¦ 𝘞𝘰𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘒𝘭𝘭 𝘚𝘡𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘡 - which I was convinced I'd never get tired of but I confess is actually starting to get pretty rote here. Like okay do we really need to halt the already legendarily messy and borderline unfollowable plotline so you can describe what the sticker on the fucking cheese platter says? It's also one of those movies where the acting is nice but nobody actually plays a real human (for better [Chastain, Cera, Strong, Costner] or worse [poor Elba]). The dialogue is, as you can imagine, unadulterated Sorkin which leads to some very amusing cringe without the filter this time around. I like it, pretty much a collection of rousing scenes that look and play nice but don't fit together too well (at all) on the whole. Best part is easily those iconic Chastain outfits. A much better poker movie than it is a true story movie, and a lot of the banter is stilted - but worth it entirely for the title character calling Michael Cera (playing a power-hungry real life Tobey Maguire) a "green-screened little shit".