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Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) in Movies
Aug 26, 2019
Contains spoilers, click to show
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the 9th film by Quinton Tarantino. Set in 1969 the film follows Rick Dolton, an actor whose career is on it's way down and his stunt double and friend Cliff Booth. Although this is a Tarantino movie it is not an action movie but more of a ‘slice of life’ movie with some action scenes.
Like all Tarantino movies, when there is no action, and there is very little action, the film crawls at a slow pace with lots of set up, dialog and driving meaning that nothing much happens for the first hour and a half. This time is used to set up the characters and the three intertwining time lines; The main one with Rick and Cliff, one that follows Sharon Tate and one that follows the Manson family.
As with most Tarantino film’s the narrative isn't linear with a lot of Rick’s back story being told by flashbacks and clips from films and T.V. shows, both real and fictional.
I have said that this is not an action film but it does have a few violent scenes, including people getting burnt with a flame thrower. The film culminates with the Manson family's murder of Karen Tate and Roman Polanski, however, as with Inglorious Bas****ds the film goes off on a different tangent from what really happened.
There are a few ‘meta' moments in ‘Once upon a time in Hollywood’ including a moment where Rick is reading a book that is echoing his life and other moments where Rick and Cliff interact with other real actors, most of whom don't play themselves (partly because some of the real actors are dead) creating and oddly unreal atmosphere.
Like all Tarantino movies, when there is no action, and there is very little action, the film crawls at a slow pace with lots of set up, dialog and driving meaning that nothing much happens for the first hour and a half. This time is used to set up the characters and the three intertwining time lines; The main one with Rick and Cliff, one that follows Sharon Tate and one that follows the Manson family.
As with most Tarantino film’s the narrative isn't linear with a lot of Rick’s back story being told by flashbacks and clips from films and T.V. shows, both real and fictional.
I have said that this is not an action film but it does have a few violent scenes, including people getting burnt with a flame thrower. The film culminates with the Manson family's murder of Karen Tate and Roman Polanski, however, as with Inglorious Bas****ds the film goes off on a different tangent from what really happened.
There are a few ‘meta' moments in ‘Once upon a time in Hollywood’ including a moment where Rick is reading a book that is echoing his life and other moments where Rick and Cliff interact with other real actors, most of whom don't play themselves (partly because some of the real actors are dead) creating and oddly unreal atmosphere.
Letterman: The Last Giant of Late Night
Book
New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman delivers the definitive story of the life and artistic...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) in Movies
Nov 2, 2021
Off the bat, New Nightmare is a veritable treat for fans of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Six films deep, the cold hard fact is that this series had become so far removed from what it once was, for better or for worse, and this 7th entry into the franchise provided the shake up so sorely needed. It's meta as hell, taking place in the "real world" where ANOES is just a movie. It's a fun slasher that sees the beloved series bleeding over into reality, when an evil entity begins to terrorize the actual Heather Langenkamp, posing as the ever popular Freddy Krueger.
This whole premise is just great. The dialogue can be a bit on the nose sometimes, but it's honestly forgivable, considering that Wes Craven was trying to out-Scream himself before Scream even existed. Craven himself appears alongside the likes of Robert Englund and producer Rob Shaye as themselves. Krueger himself is thankfully a scary bastard once again. This version doesn't have time for quips or shenanigans, instead opting for general terrorising and murder (a particular highlight riffs on the infamous ceiling kill from the original, but adds to it in the best way) and is probably the scariest version of Freddy since the first two movies.
The plot is clever in its way that it connects back to the original 84 story, and deserves all the credit for having the balls to take the series in a new direction. It deserves bonus points for the commitment to using practical effects
New Nightmare is a wonderful example of what a somewhat stale series should do next, and further cements just how important Wes Craven was to the genre. It's an ambitious sequel that earns it status as a fan favourite.
This whole premise is just great. The dialogue can be a bit on the nose sometimes, but it's honestly forgivable, considering that Wes Craven was trying to out-Scream himself before Scream even existed. Craven himself appears alongside the likes of Robert Englund and producer Rob Shaye as themselves. Krueger himself is thankfully a scary bastard once again. This version doesn't have time for quips or shenanigans, instead opting for general terrorising and murder (a particular highlight riffs on the infamous ceiling kill from the original, but adds to it in the best way) and is probably the scariest version of Freddy since the first two movies.
The plot is clever in its way that it connects back to the original 84 story, and deserves all the credit for having the balls to take the series in a new direction. It deserves bonus points for the commitment to using practical effects
New Nightmare is a wonderful example of what a somewhat stale series should do next, and further cements just how important Wes Craven was to the genre. It's an ambitious sequel that earns it status as a fan favourite.
HTML Egg Website Creator
Business and Productivity
App
Create beautiful websites right on your iPhone and iPad! "If you don’t know or don’t want to...
ClareR (5542 KP) rated Ayesha At Last in Books
Apr 4, 2019
A book that deserves to be read A LOT!!
I absolutely adored this book. If I could unread it and then read it again for the first time, I would!
It’s Pride and Prejudice set in modern Canada with a Muslim cast. Ayesha wants to work to pay her Uncle back for all the help he has given her and her family, but her real love is poetry, not teaching High School. She is asked by her rather spoilt cousin, Hafsa, to cover for her at a mosque event meeting under the guise of being Hafsa. There, she meets Khalid, and finds herself falling for a devout, conservative Muslim - something she doesn’t want to do - who is also shy, kind and handsome. However, when Khalid’s controlling mother organises marriage between the real Hafsa and Khalid, knowing the identity of the Hafsa that Khalid has met, both Khalid and Ayesha realise that they haven’t necessarily got what they want.
There was so much heart in this story - I particularly loved the characters of Nani and Nana. They acted as the voice of reason on more than one occasion. I also loved the Shakespeare quotations: Nani always had the right quote at exactly the right time (and it was all very meta - Shakespeare quotes in an Austen retelling!).
Even the more unsavoury characters were written in such a way that I felt sorry for them - life and experiences clearly making them the way they were.
I read this on The Pigeonhole app (one section, or stave, per day for ten days) and I can honestly say that I looked forward to every single stave. If I’d had the book in my hand, I would have read it in one sitting. So I’m actually glad that The Pigeonhole forced me to savour and enjoy this gorgeous book for longer. It deserves to be savoured, and it deserves to be read a lot too!!
I really do highly recommend this book!
It’s Pride and Prejudice set in modern Canada with a Muslim cast. Ayesha wants to work to pay her Uncle back for all the help he has given her and her family, but her real love is poetry, not teaching High School. She is asked by her rather spoilt cousin, Hafsa, to cover for her at a mosque event meeting under the guise of being Hafsa. There, she meets Khalid, and finds herself falling for a devout, conservative Muslim - something she doesn’t want to do - who is also shy, kind and handsome. However, when Khalid’s controlling mother organises marriage between the real Hafsa and Khalid, knowing the identity of the Hafsa that Khalid has met, both Khalid and Ayesha realise that they haven’t necessarily got what they want.
There was so much heart in this story - I particularly loved the characters of Nani and Nana. They acted as the voice of reason on more than one occasion. I also loved the Shakespeare quotations: Nani always had the right quote at exactly the right time (and it was all very meta - Shakespeare quotes in an Austen retelling!).
Even the more unsavoury characters were written in such a way that I felt sorry for them - life and experiences clearly making them the way they were.
I read this on The Pigeonhole app (one section, or stave, per day for ten days) and I can honestly say that I looked forward to every single stave. If I’d had the book in my hand, I would have read it in one sitting. So I’m actually glad that The Pigeonhole forced me to savour and enjoy this gorgeous book for longer. It deserves to be savoured, and it deserves to be read a lot too!!
I really do highly recommend this book!
Dpaint43 (16 KP) rated Codenames in Tabletop Games
May 29, 2019 (Updated May 29, 2019)
Let the right ones in
In this party game of abstracted espionage, you have the task of using clue words to have teammates figure out who they should let in and who they should keep out. There is a 5×5 grid of "codenames" that are on the table. Common words like fish, key or skipping. As the speaker for your team, you know which codenames are meant for your team and which are for the other team by using a grid representation only the two team speakers could see. 8 of the codename agents are for your team and 8 for the other (the grid also has a color around it which adds an additional agent for one team but then they get the privilege of going first). There are also 8 neutral citizens that end the turn if chosen. Then there is the dark agent. If he is chosen by the team, that team loses. Once each turn the speaker will give a one word clue (something that correlates with one or more codename cards) followed by a number (how many codename cards it correlates to). Your team has to pick at least one card on the table from the clue. Get it right and they get to choose again (one number more than the number you gave after the clue is the amount of guesses they can get a turn) or choose not to push their luck and stop. Get it wrong and that might let an agent for the other team in, a citizen or worst of all the dark agent that loses the game. This keeps going until a team successfully gets all their codename agents in. A great party game for unlimited amounts of people breaking into two teams. Laughs and accusations fly. Maybe the best party game in years and available in many forms that keep growing (basic, adult words, Disney, pictures only, marvel...etc)
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health: A Practical Approach
Peter Muennig and Mark Bounthavong
Book
The field's bestselling reference, updated with the latest tools, data, and techniques...
LegendSmith - for League of Legends
Games and Entertainment
App
LegendSmith is the most powerful counter pick and champ build tool available anywhere! Building...
Bloons TD 6
Games
7.5
Rate It
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The Bloons are back and better than ever! Get ready for a massive 3D tower defense game designed to...
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Scream (2022) in Movies
Jan 16, 2022
Creepy telephone calls, a will-they-won't-they romance between Gale Weathers and Deputy Dewey, a killer that falls over a lot, on-the-nose meta dialogue, and copious amounts of stabbing and blood, can only mean one thing - Scream is back and dammit, it feels good.
The key to the quality of the franchises 5th entry is balance. For a start, it tickles that nostalgia button just the right amount. It's certainly a chronological sequel to all of the 4 movies that came before, but it mainly serves as a love letter to the first. Saying too much could be considered as spoilers, so all I'll say is, the obvious call backs to the original don't feel forced, and make sense in a narrative manner. It doesn't feel like a cash grab. It feels like a film made by fans, for the fans.
Another noticeable balance is found in the characters. With a new Ghostface comes a new set of doomed teenagers. They're just about tolerable enough, but are well written, and aren't over reliant on the legacy characters to get by. Seeing Sidney Prescott, Gale, and Dewey all back together again is, of course, a delight, like a warm embrace from an old friend, but they're utilised in a precise manner. They don't stifle the new cast but their presence is unmistakably notable throughout.
The horror is well realised. Scream is a whole bag of fun, but is also suitably tense. The violence on display is quite brutal and unflinching. Ghostface once again feels menacing and threatening, and the mystery of their identity ticks along until the final moments. Like all of these movies, the reveal is a "I knew it!" moment before realising that you could have said that about anyone. Everybody is a suspect after all.
Radio Silence have done a cracking job of bringing a beloved horror series back to the big screen. I've seen plenty of people saying that Wes Craven would be proud, and I completely agree. Long live Scream.
The key to the quality of the franchises 5th entry is balance. For a start, it tickles that nostalgia button just the right amount. It's certainly a chronological sequel to all of the 4 movies that came before, but it mainly serves as a love letter to the first. Saying too much could be considered as spoilers, so all I'll say is, the obvious call backs to the original don't feel forced, and make sense in a narrative manner. It doesn't feel like a cash grab. It feels like a film made by fans, for the fans.
Another noticeable balance is found in the characters. With a new Ghostface comes a new set of doomed teenagers. They're just about tolerable enough, but are well written, and aren't over reliant on the legacy characters to get by. Seeing Sidney Prescott, Gale, and Dewey all back together again is, of course, a delight, like a warm embrace from an old friend, but they're utilised in a precise manner. They don't stifle the new cast but their presence is unmistakably notable throughout.
The horror is well realised. Scream is a whole bag of fun, but is also suitably tense. The violence on display is quite brutal and unflinching. Ghostface once again feels menacing and threatening, and the mystery of their identity ticks along until the final moments. Like all of these movies, the reveal is a "I knew it!" moment before realising that you could have said that about anyone. Everybody is a suspect after all.
Radio Silence have done a cracking job of bringing a beloved horror series back to the big screen. I've seen plenty of people saying that Wes Craven would be proud, and I completely agree. Long live Scream.