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Faris Badwan recommended Pilgrimage by Om in Music (curated)

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Wild Wild West (1999) in Movies
Nov 10, 2020
I hate the late 90s blockbuster, man... I really do. This era's tongue-in-cheek manufactured spectacle coated with pause-for-laughs cringe 'jokes' and standard-to-crappy action makes my skin crawl. This is actually much, much better than ππ―π₯π¦π±π¦π―π₯π¦π―π€π¦ ππ’πΊ but otherwise they're the exact same formula in tiring popcorn slogs though this one dared to actually have a bit of fun sometimes unlike ID so truthfully I have no idea why this one is more reviled - it just seems random to me. Yeah I have no idea why this source material was turned into confusingly sexual, boring one-note tripe but the last twenty minutes is actually kind of exciting and the effects are top-notch. Don't even lie, you think that giant steampunk spider is fucking cool too and the gadgets/costumes/sets/makeup are eye-catching too - I only wish they were all in a better movie. The two perfunctory performances from Smith and Kline are canceled out by the religious scenery-chewing of Ted Levine and this movie's MVP Kenneth Branagh but besides the title song that I'm tired of pretending doesn't slap -because it *does* - that's about where the positives end. Its only personality traits are being dumb, looking cool sometimes, and misogyny.

Debbiereadsbook (1437 KP) rated Seduced by the Handyman (Cougars & Cubs #2) in Books
Apr 28, 2021
cute read, but not one for me.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.
This is book 2 in the Cougars & Cubs series, but it is not necessary to have read book one to enjoy this one.
As much as it pains me to say so, I found this a niceβ read. Ya'll know how much I hate using that word, but it's stuck with me for 2 days since I finished the book, and I can't shift it!
I liked that both Cate and Mitch have a say. I liked that Mitch does what he does to keep Cate's job safe, and they can continue their relationship.
I liked the heat level. It's not scorching, by any means, but it a pleasant heat, like sitting in the April sunshine. Not too much, but enough to feel the sun, you know??
I liked that both Cate and Mitch's friends were positive about their relationship.
I liked that there really isn't any great angst, and no break up/make up.
What's here is well written, and it reads well.
I likedβ it!
But something about it doesn't quite work, and I have no idea what.
a GOOD 3 stars
same worded review will appear elsewhereββ
This is book 2 in the Cougars & Cubs series, but it is not necessary to have read book one to enjoy this one.
As much as it pains me to say so, I found this a niceβ read. Ya'll know how much I hate using that word, but it's stuck with me for 2 days since I finished the book, and I can't shift it!
I liked that both Cate and Mitch have a say. I liked that Mitch does what he does to keep Cate's job safe, and they can continue their relationship.
I liked the heat level. It's not scorching, by any means, but it a pleasant heat, like sitting in the April sunshine. Not too much, but enough to feel the sun, you know??
I liked that both Cate and Mitch's friends were positive about their relationship.
I liked that there really isn't any great angst, and no break up/make up.
What's here is well written, and it reads well.
I likedβ it!
But something about it doesn't quite work, and I have no idea what.
a GOOD 3 stars
same worded review will appear elsewhereββ

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Hocus Pocus (1993) in Movies
Mar 16, 2021
A full-tilt ball, I tend to be averse to anything ruminating with *this* much untamed theater kid energy - but Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, and of-fucking-course Bette Midler are 110% off the chain. I admit that the odious 90s stereotypes in this are hard to stomach, but I miss when Disney's live action allowed for such sublime scenery-chewing like this trio of perfect performances instead of Will Smith and some dude tepidly talking about jelly for what feels like an hour. I hate to be that guy, but something this lively just couldn't be recreated from the company today; Kenny Ortega's knack for brilliant practical effects and super impressive CGI for the time today is replaced by plastic visuals and flat soundstages where any sense of fun all but evaporates. Make no mistake, this is still not much more than pure fluff at the end of the day - but Lord it's such a blast. One of the few millennial-worship films I can fully understand the hype for, a delightful cross between ππ©π¦ ππͺπ΅π€π©π¦π΄ π°π§ ππ’π΄π΅πΈπͺπ€π¬ and "The Three Stooges". It's also consistently funny. "I Put A Spell On You" is a bop, and maybe I'm just getting old but the stuff at the end had me genuinely choked up.

Tom Chaplin recommended Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles in Music (curated)

David Hudson recommended Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) in Movies (curated)

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Half Baked (1998) in Movies
Jul 4, 2021
Ironically, not even that much better while high. I liked this for the majority of the runtime but that third act really tried my patience - falls into the exact line as other late 90s/early 00s buddy comedies in vein of ππΆπ₯π¦, ππ©π¦π³π¦'π΄ ππΊ ππ’π³? and the like that I just fucking hate, where the film completely gives up and a bunch of tiring 'wacky' stuff happens until it abruptly ends. Pretty typical hit-or-miss stoner comedy of the era but easy to forgive when the thing isn't even 85 minutes in length. It's agreeable enough with some seriously funny shit in it every now and again, mostly only holding its own in the sea of other similar movies due to its trio of three sharp, exuberant lead performances - Jim Breuer's final boss tie-dyed pothead steals the show with extreme prejudice (seriously, has anyone else in a movie ever exuded *more* stoner energy than this guy?). Can be lumped right in with ππͺπ΄π΄ ππ’π³π€π© in the "kind of funny, semi-decent films written by people who are clearly above such work but also maybe that was the point of it to begin with?" pile. But Bob Saget's "I used to suck dick for coke!" bit remains as iconic and effortlessly hysterical as ever.

Justin Hawkins recommended Exile on Main St. by The Rolling Stones in Music (curated)

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Slumdog Millionaire (2008) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
A once again astounding Dev Patel sells otherwise sulking, superficial melodrama. Don't you hate when the framing device is more interesting than the actual story? If not for the calamitous π π¦π΄π΅π¦π³π₯π’πΊ then the stuff when they were kids here would be some of the worst moments of Boyle's entire career - overedited to smithereens, fetishistic of plight, and vaguely offensive. Even when this gets good I'm convinced this movie is much more concerned with dragging these characters through the mud and inflicting pain to wring synthetic sympathy rather than fleshing them out beyond one-note characterizations and abrupt turnarounds. Still pressed this brilliant premise didn't get the justice it truly deserved but the last hour of this is executed about as engagingly as it could have been, for what it ended up being (which only makes the transition from the older stuff to the newer stuff more jarring) and randomly gets super entertaining, if not much less simplistic. Score is pretty decent, too. It's alright but not sure why this shook everyone's world back in the day, you guys do know Indian cinema exists too, no? Way better than ππ¦π’π΄π΅π΄ π°π§ π΅π©π¦ ππ°πΆπ΅π©π¦π³π― ππͺππ₯ but way shittier than ππͺπ°π―. The "Jai Ho" segment is as cringey as it is memorable.

LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Onward (2020) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
This could have been the whole game, instead just feels like a fetch quest. Gotta say, (sarcasm incoming) really love the idea here to get two once-charming actors who have since had most of their personality sucked dry by the Marvel beast to lend their hardly descript vocal talents to a hardly descript movie of hardly descript characters. Did we just collectively decide against actual voice acting anymore over dry celebrities practically voicing themselves? Ends with a complete cop-out and its breathtaking animation is clouded by either murk or oversaturation seemingly deliberately. Not to mention the character design is ass-ugly. Can't entirely hate it though, not without some charm and handful of okay moments - but whose idea was it to set up this gold mine premise of magic being systematically pushed out of the world by technology for nothing more than simple convenience... and then do fucking nothing with it while setting it in this bland suburbia of normalcy? Potential brilliance in storytelling through an epic, gorgeous video game-esque Disney film is squandered for another antiseptic, indifferent retread of the most basic themes from the company. Not even funny, either. Had more fun with it than I'm probably letting on but I simultaneously loathe what this represents.