Search
Search results
HI
Honey in Traditional and Modern Medicine
Book
The use of honey can be traced back to the Stone Age. Evidence can be found for its nutritional and...

The Gift of the Gab: How Eloquence Works
Book
A many-faceted exploration of spoken eloquence: how it works, how it has evolved, and how to tap its...

Richard Curtis recommended Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) in Movies (curated)

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated My Bloody Valentine (1981) in Movies
Jan 5, 2021
My Bloody Valentine is an entertaining and somewhat charming slasher that released just as the sub genre was really gaining some traction.
Unfortunately, it suffers from a couple of things - a low budget that shows at times, and secondly, cuts made due to the MPAA in order to secure an R Rating. The wide released cut version loses its edge a little, an edge that really makes this movie stick in your brain.
The uncut version has some truly staggering gore effects here and there. All practical of course, and it's the kind of violence that genuinely adds to the overall experience.
MBV has plenty of positives to shout about - the on location shoot in a small mining town in Nova Scotia really adds a lot of personality to the back drop, and the whole second half of the film was filmed in a genuine mine. It feels authentic and genuine as a result.
The characters are all working class regular Joes as well, and feel relatable.
The killer, [spoiler alert] AKA Harry Warden, has of course earned a place in horror history. The gas mask and jumpsuit get up he wears alongside his humble pickaxe makes for a minimalist yet memorable villain.
There are better slashers out there for sure, but My Bloody Valentine is still a pretty damn good watch, especially on Valentine's Day - it works as a film to get cosy too with someone special, whilst simultaneously being a good tonic for someone who fucking hates everything about it. A stroke of genius in that respect!
Unfortunately, it suffers from a couple of things - a low budget that shows at times, and secondly, cuts made due to the MPAA in order to secure an R Rating. The wide released cut version loses its edge a little, an edge that really makes this movie stick in your brain.
The uncut version has some truly staggering gore effects here and there. All practical of course, and it's the kind of violence that genuinely adds to the overall experience.
MBV has plenty of positives to shout about - the on location shoot in a small mining town in Nova Scotia really adds a lot of personality to the back drop, and the whole second half of the film was filmed in a genuine mine. It feels authentic and genuine as a result.
The characters are all working class regular Joes as well, and feel relatable.
The killer, [spoiler alert] AKA Harry Warden, has of course earned a place in horror history. The gas mask and jumpsuit get up he wears alongside his humble pickaxe makes for a minimalist yet memorable villain.
There are better slashers out there for sure, but My Bloody Valentine is still a pretty damn good watch, especially on Valentine's Day - it works as a film to get cosy too with someone special, whilst simultaneously being a good tonic for someone who fucking hates everything about it. A stroke of genius in that respect!

LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001) in Movies
Nov 15, 2020
So, Wishmaster started off well enough but Christ, this series really dived head first into car crash mode.
This third entry into the not so beloved franchise isn't good-bad, or fun-bad - it's actually a festering shit pile masquerading as a straight-to-video B-Movie.
The effects are terrible and cheap, the dlailogue is laughable. The main protagonist is the least likable of the series, which is saying something. Every character in this shitty fiasco is poorly written. The music cues are intrusive and out of place, the editing is completely bizarre (surely a lot of the crew had to be drunk just to get through this)...
I'm not sure what I expected to be honest, but my expectations were absolutely exceeded.
It doesn't even have Andrew Divoff in it, the highlight of the first, and the only good thing about the second Wishmaster. He's replaced by John Novak in Djinn mode (who is fine by the way, the three or so minutes of full make up screentime is just about passable) and by Jason Connery (son of Sean) when he's in human mode. I don't recall seeing Jason Connery in anything else, and I'm sure he's a perfectly fine actor, but in this, he is literally David Brent. Once I noticed this, I couldn't get past it, and any evil he may have been trying to convey was lost in his Brent-ness. Unintentionally hilarious, but didn't make the film any less shit.
Wishmaster 3 is terrible. Don't do it to yourself.
This third entry into the not so beloved franchise isn't good-bad, or fun-bad - it's actually a festering shit pile masquerading as a straight-to-video B-Movie.
The effects are terrible and cheap, the dlailogue is laughable. The main protagonist is the least likable of the series, which is saying something. Every character in this shitty fiasco is poorly written. The music cues are intrusive and out of place, the editing is completely bizarre (surely a lot of the crew had to be drunk just to get through this)...
I'm not sure what I expected to be honest, but my expectations were absolutely exceeded.
It doesn't even have Andrew Divoff in it, the highlight of the first, and the only good thing about the second Wishmaster. He's replaced by John Novak in Djinn mode (who is fine by the way, the three or so minutes of full make up screentime is just about passable) and by Jason Connery (son of Sean) when he's in human mode. I don't recall seeing Jason Connery in anything else, and I'm sure he's a perfectly fine actor, but in this, he is literally David Brent. Once I noticed this, I couldn't get past it, and any evil he may have been trying to convey was lost in his Brent-ness. Unintentionally hilarious, but didn't make the film any less shit.
Wishmaster 3 is terrible. Don't do it to yourself.

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

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Transformers (2007) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
In retrospect - this essentially becoming the template for the modern blockbuster and all - it's crazy to me how bonkers this was considered back in the day despite being almost entirely held back by its simplicity and formality. You've got almost two and a half hours to make a movie about alien robot vehicles who come to Earth and fuck shit up... and you decided to go with making most of it a rigorously exhausting expository bore? Yes it's racist and sexist and jingoistic and all that too, but that's a given with Bay. What isn't - however - is how much the action lacks any pop or clarity. There's a ton of impressive (for the time) CGI and no shortage of practical effects either but it's too shaky and overcut to really enjoy any of it. The first hour where this is a weird sci-fi/action comedy about a car that really wants to help Shia LaBeouf (who is excellent in this, btw) fuck Mega Fox is no joke worlds better than the flat action - which is tepidly amusing at best. And it's of course shameful how obviously oversexualized Fox's character is, but that's only made like 100 times worse by the fact that she's supposed to be like 16/17 in this. Not to mention the robot designs - and I realize I'm in the minority here - are ass ugly imo. Yes they're 'realistic' but they don't lend themselves to being very watchable especially during the fights. As a Bay defender, this was hugely disappointing. At least a lot of the jokes land?

Karl Hyde recommended Inside Out by John Martyn in Music (curated)

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Pan (2015) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
Huh? … what? H-how? Why..? I'm not even sure what like 80% of this crackpot, drug-fueled children's fever dream even was but I'm pretty sure I loved it. Everyone sings "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Blitzkrieg Bop" to hype up a grisly-looking, scenery chewing pirate Hugh Jackman for no reason at all. You're also able to witness a severely miscast Garrett Hedlund give one of the worst performances the screen has ever seen as Rooney Mara pulls an Emma Stone in 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘩𝘢 and the fairies savagely murder an entire ship full of people one by one. In all seriousness, perhaps my allure bias for these cockamamie box office bombs is showing but this isn't even a quarter of the disasterpiece it has been dubbed. The visuals are lush, varied, and colorful with Wright's lifeful eye hard at work - and it has a lot of fun with its setpieces, while taking fine care of its effects. My biggest complaint is that this nutty curio has to be stuck within the confines of those obnoxious kids' films where the bland protagonist (here at least acted exceptionally by Miller) who obviously has some arbitrary, special talent spends the whole movie claiming they don't have said arbitrary, special talent only to find out completely unsurprisingly that they did have the aforementioned arbitrary, special talent all along. This would make an awesome PS2 game, if I didn't know any better you could have effortlessly convinced me Luc Besson directed this. Rushed through plot but who cares, it's mostly a blast.

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The House That Jack Built (2018) in Movies
Sep 19, 2020
One of the singular most disgusting, depraved, downright inhuman pieces of genre filth I've ever laid eyes on - try to think the 𝘚𝘢𝘸 movies' gore porn meets 𝘈 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘍𝘪𝘭𝘮 levels of twisted and shockingly grotesque subject matter. Not perfect: at times this feels more like a defense than an apology (not that he doesn't answer for a lot nor are the defenses always unwarranted), but it's rigorously complex and as a piece of provocation this is simply exquisite - almost unparalleled. Over two and a half hours of unforgettable novelistic madman monologues and some of the most cruel, savage violence you will ever see in a motion picture. I'm seldom ever less than fully impressed by Lars but the fact that this is so twisted and animalistic yet the humor is still so on point is only another testament to why he's one of the greatest living directors. Bats for the fences and rubs your noses right in all its slime, plus it has some of the most haunting effects work you're likely to ever see. Matt Dillion gives not only the ultimate performance of his career, but one of the defining of the decade in what can only be described as blood-curdling, remorseless but totally eccentric work. Screamed and shrunk into my own body numerous times. I've seen a metric ton of vile, uncomfortable cinema and I'm not unsettled easily but this was truly terrifying - as well as 110% unique. My jaw was dropped the entire epilogue well through the credits. RIP - Bruno Ganz.