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Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
2019 | Horror, Mystery
Missing the slasher element
Watching this sequel has really made me want to reevaluate & appreciate the first film more than I did originally, as it was actually pretty good. And I dont think the sequel quite matches up to it.

This film takes on a mainly sci-fi theme and whilst this is a smart move to do something different to the first film, I found myself missing the slasher horror. I don't think we really needed this sci-fi based explanation of the events in the first film, like many sequels this definitely suffers from a case of less is more. It's funny though like the original, and there's another fun montage of death scenes to bring in the laughs. There are parts of this story though that are a lot more serious than you'd expect or want, which brings the film down a little. There's no place for seriousness in a film like this!

Overall it's not bad and a refreshing change to a lot of other films that take themselves far too seriously, but it just doesn't quite meet up to the first.
  
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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) Dec 7, 2019

Forgot that this came out this year.

Underwater (2020)
Underwater (2020)
2020 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Entertaining
I tried to into this one with an open mind. I'm not a big fan of Kristen Stewart and I got what I expected from her performance-a pretty bland, non-emotional showing. Having her half naked through a lot of it didn't really save her performance either. The rest of the cast and crew were pretty good, however, so they more than made up for it. The cinematography was good-dark and murky-but what you'd expect from a movie shot under the ocean. The story, however, was pretty fascinating and surprisingly entertaining. Not all entirely believable, but(here's my nerd side speaking), seeing as how we've only explored a mere 5% of the world's oceans-especially what's underneath-the creatures and effects were pretty cool. I watch a lot of animal planet shows and after seeing some of the weird creatures that we DO know about at certain depths, this movie really makes you wonder what we DON'T know about under the earth's oceans. This movie had plenty of creep factor and a few gruesome scenes but nothing that younger viewers couldn't handle. Good one for a scary movie night! Worth a watch!
  
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Baxter Dury recommended Divide and Exit by Sleaford Mods in Music (curated)

 
Divide and Exit by Sleaford Mods
Divide and Exit by Sleaford Mods
2014 | Rhythm And Blues
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I heard a really early demo of theirs that someone sent me once and it mentioned me, a really early demo of theirs. I could never work out what position he was taking on me. He goes [adopts Jason Williamson drawl] ‘Baxter Dury!’ and quotes one of my songs, but then he just disses everybody. I said ‘who the fuck is this guy?! I don’t wanna be dissed!’ And then when someone told me he was a fan, I was like ‘thank fuck’, and I listened to the album that broke them. I was living in the country and I was jogging a lot, I remember thinking it was fucking brilliant. I wrote songs like ‘Miami’ and stuff off the back of listening to that album a lot. We became mates and it became a nice two-way appreciation thing. I used some of Jason’s energy, started being a bit less apologetic, so he was an inspiration. We send little caring texts to each other every now and then. He’s a lovely bloke, I really like him loads. He’s really sensitive. I love that they’re now becoming the darlings of that world. They deserve to be."

Source
  
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Biff Byford recommended Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin in Music (curated)

 
Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin
1969 | Rock
9.0 (4 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I was playing guitar when this came out and I tried to learn all the riffs. I loved that idea of transforming the blues into heavy rock – taking blues classics and giving them a twist. A lot of the music was traditional blues songs, but the Stones had done the same thing in taking them and twisting them. So many British bands took blues songs and made them famous –there are people who think ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ was written by the Beatles, and a lot of people didn’t know who BB King was until Zeppelin made him famous. When I was young my friend’s brother played guitar. He was really into blues, playing Chuck Berry, and he would play all these old recordings, so I knew all of them. All those licks I heard, I would then hear Clapton and all those guys play. I saw Zeppelin at Bath Festival [in 1970] from a long way off – the violin bow solo with the echo chamber went on for hours, but they were great. I’d never been to anything like a festival before, and that was the first real one, I was on awe."

Source
  
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Joey Santiago recommended Album by Public Image Ltd in Music (curated)

 
Album by Public Image Ltd
Album by Public Image Ltd
1986 | Rock
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Jesus Christ, that album is just stupidly good! I didn't know this, but a lot - Ginger Baker, Tony Williams, who played drums for Miles Davis, Steve Vai - it was a supergroup! It's a perfect record, it's like the perfect, cool record. The guitars on it, it just sounds like it's flying! It's like, ""Wooo, there goes Steve!"" There'd be divebombs - he had a Floyd Rose whammy bar - it just tanks - it goes down and then it goes up, up into the stratosphere, and then he'd go really down on it. Jesus Christ - talking about sonics! And it's surprising how many of the drum riffs that I like are by Tony Williams: the first song ['F.F.F.'] on it is just awesome; I would've thought that was Ginger Baker. I guess the producer employed two jazzy drummers! I was listening to this pre-Pixies. I listened to it a lot with my brother, my little brother who's excellent with the guitar. I still lived at home at the time and we would just flip out in my bedroom. He would actually show me [how to play something], because I would be so frustrated: "Goddamn it! What is this?!""

Source
  
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V.E. Schwab | 2020 | Contemporary, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
8.3 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
where to even begin with this. I had high hopes for this one and was expecting to love it but I didn't think I was going to FEEL it this much. I truly am a shell of a person now. This is such an easy five star for me because not only was it filled with beautiful prose (which I love) it also had so much heart and really struck my heart especially. There were so many times I had to set the book down and scream. I felt so seen in Henry's narrative, while I've never been in as low a place as he was the desire to just be loved stemming from always feeling like you are never enough and never the first choice is something that I really struggle with a lot. I cried a lot, it was intense. Everything was just woven together so well and when all the revelations came out and I finally pieced everything together I was so shook (I'm always a little slow with plot twists okay). I haven't felt like this from a novel in a long time.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Cousins in Books

Mar 4, 2021  
The Cousins
The Cousins
Karen M. McManus | 2020 | Mystery, Romance, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
7
7.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Easy-to-read twisty teen thriller
Cousins Milly, Aubrey and Jonah Story barely know each other, and they don't know their grandmother, Mildred, at all. Wealthy Mildred disinherited their parents before the cousins were even born. But now Mildred has requested the cousins' presence at her seaside resort. All the parents want their children to go, hopeful that being inherited again is back on the table. But when the three arrive on the island, it's pretty apparent that Mildred isn't keen on meeting her grandchildren. It's also clear that there are a lot of secrets and lies swirling around the Story family and history.

This is a quick read and an easy thriller, if that makes sense. It's a fun story with some good twists and several crazy surprises. There's not a lot of character development or in-depth plotting, but the tale kept me guessing and engaged. I'm always a sucker for inheritance stories and giant houses filled with secrets perched on islands.

Overall, this is fast read and a twisty thriller. It would be a great starter mystery for teens. 3.75 stars.
  
Silence (Hush, Hush, #3)
Silence (Hush, Hush, #3)
Becca Fitzpatrick | 2011 | Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult (YA)
8
9.3 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well first off let me say that it must have been a good 5/6 months since I read Crescendo, book 2 in the Hush, Hush series and with the number of books I get through in a month, I'll admit I'd forgotten a lot of what went on in the first two.
 
However, this book was kinda perfect in that respect since I felt like Nora with her amnesia and got to relive a lot of the first two books as she did.
 
I still love Patch and think he's one of the best things about the series. There's just this bad boy/kick arse vibe going on with him that I find a little...hot?
 
And let me tell you, some of the scenes in this between him and Nora are scorching and getting hotter, especially now she's aged a year.
 
I'm going straight onto Finale so I don't have the same problem I had between books 2 and 3 as I don't think the last book will be as co-operative plot wise.