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Songs From The Second Floor (2000)
Songs From The Second Floor (2000)
2000 | Comedy, Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"I guess I’ll have to start with Songs from the Second Floor, which is a film by Roy Andersson, who is a brilliant Swedish filmmaker who basically… He made a feature in the ’70s called A Swedish Love Story that is a really wonderful, strange, funny, acerbic commentary on Sweden that became this huge hit. I think it was the biggest hit ever in Sweden. And then he delved into making commercials for a long time, and he developed this new style over the course of something like 300, 400, 500 commercials. Then, in the early 2000s, he came out with this film that took him several years to make called Songs from the Second Floor, which is like a parody of obsessive perfectionism. He’s very similar Jacques Tati in that he works primarily with stationary wide shots, and he’s always building sets. All of the sets in his films are built from scratch, and the reason his films take so long to make is because each each vignette is one shot, and the set for that shot tends to take a month to build. There’s just like these gorgeous paintings, and there’s this really singular, dark, dry, sad wit driving everything he does. Since Songs from the Second Floor he’s come out with two other films that play like spiritual sequels, You the Living and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, which I think you can see on Netflix. But Songs from the Second Floor remains the most perfect of the films, in my opinion."

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Fast & Furious 9 (2021) in Movies

Jul 9, 2021 (Updated Jul 9, 2021)  
Fast & Furious 9 (2021)
Fast & Furious 9 (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure, Crime
'We'll be fine as long as we obey the laws of physics,' says Chris Bridges' character at one point in F&F 9. Well, obviously they should all end up dead, then; but perhaps this is an example of a knowing self-awareness which doesn't quite sit well in this most earnest of empty-headed popcorn movie franchises.

Anyway: Dom and Letty are raising their child off the grid in some rustic idyll or other, when their friends appear asking for help with a problem; not having seen Avengers: Endgame and how things turned out for all involved on that occasion, they agree to pitch in for another exercise in hunt-the-coupons plotting, with overblown stunt sequences linked by a (at this point) mind-bogglingly byzantine backstory.

The sizeable gap left by Dwayne Johnson is filled by cameos and return appearances by virtually everyone who's ever appeared in an F&F ensemble (no idea what young Eastwood did to get left out); virtually everyone comes back, even a couple of the dead ones. Of course, this just makes the film's gymnastics in dealing with the absence of Paul Walker all the more obvious (and a bit uncomfortable by this point).

Decent stunts and action, but all a bit slick and ridiculous even by F&F standards, and showing real signs of sliding into lazy self-parody; this series was effortlessly breezy entertainment for a long time, but it's definitely starting to look like it's running out of steam.
  
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken (2017)
Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken (2017)
2017 | Documentary
Absolutely hysterical, through sheer commitment and idiosyncrasy achieves the once impossible task of turning 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘥, 𝘐𝘯𝘤. into a comedy. I do have a few gripes, one of which being that - since this is objectively more 'professionally-made' than most of his other works, it sort of lacks some of that personal quality which made a lot of Spurlock's docs so distinctive. But overall that's such a minor quibble because this is still just as eccentric. Also gets a bit deceptive towards the end, though even then the base claims it sets out to make are still objectively correct so not a huge issue. Certainly not the first film to tackle this subject and won't be the last either, but it's definitely the most enjoyable - still ripe with enlightening information (if not nearly as much as the first) and insane charisma. I find it endlessly intriguing to see Spurlock create this morbid pitch-black comedy/doc hybrid that acts as this absurd birthing video showing him help raise the monster (faux-healthy fast food hysteria) that he helped create. Also the parody restaurant he makes at the end is hilarious. For anyone else I'd say this "imagine (company)... but honest!" filmmaking is an easy target that sort of has no meaning anymore but naturally Morgan delivers the goods with his ever-watchable personality and trademark filmmaking so here it seems admittedly different. Really good. Better than Where in the 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘖𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘉𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘯? and 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦, not as good as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘥 or the original 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘔𝘦.
  
Freaks Of Nature (2015)
Freaks Of Nature (2015)
2015 | Comedy, Horror
4
5.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Verdict: Silly Sci-Fi Horror Comedy

Story: Freaks of Nature starts as we head to Dillford, where humans, vampires and zombies leave side by side, we follow three high school students, Dag (Braun) who doesn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps, Petra (Davis) that has been crushing a vampire, hoping to get turned into one herself and Ned (Fadem) a school geek that is destiny for better things, but is tired of his parents dreams in his brother, deciding he wants to become a vampire.
When aliens arrive in the town, the vampires and zombies go on a feeding craze, where Dag, Petra and Ned, must stand together in an attempt to survive the alien invasion even if they are different species now, they must put these difference behind them to survive.

Thoughts on Freaks of Nature

Characters – Dag comes from a normal family that sees him being in the middle of the high school hierarchy, he gets picked on by the jocks and just wants to be something more, waiting for the day he can be with his dream girl. Petra is dreaming of a vampire party, which sees her getting turned into one, looking for a chance to learn about her new blood lust. She hasn’t always fitted in, which has never bothered her. Ned is the smartest kid in school, his parents are more interested in their jock son, which sees them ignoring him more often than not, making him want to become dumber like the zombies. We do meet a host of other characters that are different a mix of humans, vampires and zombies each with their own stigma.
Performances – Nicholas Braun, Mackenzie Davis and Josh Fadem in the leading roles do bring out the colourful side of their characters even if they fit the generic types for a high school movie. We do have some big name comic actors that get their moments to shine too.
Story – The story here follows three high school kids growing up in a world of humans, vampires and zombies when aliens visit causing chaos as the three unlikely friends must come together to save themselves and the town. This is meant to be more of a parody, more than a serious story, which for the most part is fine, it plays out like a zombie survival story when the outbreak just starts, finding a hiding place before figuring out what to do, while trying to deal with high school problems the three are facing. It isn’t as clever of a story as it thinks, which does leave parts of it feeling flat by the end.
Comedy/Horror/Sci-Fi – The comedy is meant to be more parody, which tries to poke fun at the invasion genre, while the horror is meant to be about the creatures in horror, rather than being scary in anyway, with the aliens being the sci-fi side of the film, which is the biggest threat, but not focused on enough.
Settings – The film is set in a small town which does bring the characters together through the problems they will be facing, how certain stories around town bring them together.

Scene of the Movie – Opening attack.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Doesn’t get enough laughs for a comedy.
Final Thoughts – This is a comedy that just doesn’t get enough laughs and ends up feeling flat by the end of the film.

Overall: Flat Comedy.
  
Dakota and the American Dream
Dakota and the American Dream
Sameer Garach | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
"Dakota was tired of playing catch with his mother at the park," so he rested on a bench but was soon distracted by a peculiar talking squirrel. Chasing after the strange creature, Dakota finds himself in a fantasy world full of anthropomorphic animals. Before he knows what is happening, Dakota finds himself working for Corporate America with its odd rules and unhappy employees.

The fantasy world of Sameer Garach's Dakota and the American Dream is a satire of modern-day America. From a ten year old's perspective, the short story covers the corporate ladder, hierarchy, racism, discrimination, career success and an extreme love of coffee. Whilst all this is humorous to the adult mind, there is an alarming amount of truth that paints the "American Dream" as a corrupt society.

From the very start, Dakota's experience feels remarkably like Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and could almost be said to be a 21st-century version of the classic children's book. Most of Dakota's story will go over the heads of young readers, however, adults will enjoy the humour and childhood innocence as well as appreciate the connection with their favourite books as a child.

As a parody of both real life and fiction, Dakota and the American Dream is a clever story that entertains and makes you think. Although sometimes extreme, it is amusing to read about everyday life being acted out by squirrels, mice, rats, a cowardly lion, an 800-pound Gorilla and many more bizarre creatures. If the humour and satire was stripped away, we would be left with a child's confusion about the way America works with many things appearing stupid or unfair.
  
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Louise (64 KP) rated Horrorstör in Books

Jul 2, 2018  
Horrorstör
Horrorstör
Grady Hendrix | 2014 | Horror
6
7.6 (13 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was super excited about reading this book, when I first read the synopsis of a haunted Ikea style superstore I was instantly intrigued and couldn’t wait to pick it up. I showed my friend the book and she too wanted to read this book on the synopsis alone. There is something quite thrilling about a superstore being haunted especially as I have an Ikea around the corner from where I live.

Lets talk about the design of this book first of all, when I picked it up it looked and felt just like a shopping catalogue,the book also had french flaps and on the inside of the cover there was a layout of the store and list of areas, such as kitchens, bedrooms, wardrobes etc etc. Every chapter had a product advertisement that become more and more sinister throughout the book.

This book was definitely intense and got very creepy and definitely scary in parts but I didn’t feel any connection with the characters, This could be that it was told from a third person perspective or that none of them had personalities.All of the characters were just boring. The reason why it was haunted was quite interesting and I really liked that aspect of the story. The ending, I think is a bit 50/50 you are either going to love it or hate it and I didn’t like it.When I finished this book there was one question on my mind WHY? This book is described as a parody/humor which I found wasn’t the case at all and I perhaps sniggered once.

Overall I enjoyed the book and loved the aesthetic side of it but it just didn’t blow me away. I recommend this for people who want a quick read with elements of horror.

I rated this 2.5 out of 5 stars
  
Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019)
Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019)
2019 | Drama, History
A painful watch
I have to admit, I’m a little undecided about this. On one hand I found it informative and amusing, but on the other I found it such a difficult and painful thing to watch.

The performances in this were great, especially Benedict Cumberbatch and Rory Kinnear. There were some hilarious takes on some of the politicians, it didn’t shy away from allowing them to come across as conceited a-holes, and the impression of Boris Johnson wasmost notable. Yes it was probably verging on parody, but it brought some much needed humour to the film. It’s well shot and scripted, and it is undoubtedly very smart and has obviously picked up a few pointers from the likes of House of Cards. It was interesting to see the story of someone I’ve never even heard of (politics isn’t my strong point I’ll admit) and to see what happened in the background of Brexit - or at least this film’s version of events... I am concerned that this has tried to summarise Brexit in the space over 2 hours and doesn’t seem to include as much detail as it should.

My main issue with this though is that as a Remainer, this is a painful thing to watch. Considering Brexit is still very much ongoing and fresh for anyone in the UK, it raises the question of whether we really needed to see this film right now. It’s not exactly putting our minds at ease, and instead seems to be raising more questions and causing more ructions. But then conversely, I can see the reasons why it would be the perfect time to release this, because we haven’t even left yet. It’s very divisive, and I honestly can’t quite decide exactly how I feel about this. It’s definitely informative and well made, just very difficult to swallow.
  
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Andy K (10821 KP) Jan 12, 2019

Is it on Netflix? I'll give it a shot.

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Sarah (7798 KP) Jan 12, 2019

It was just on a normal tv channel over here. It may be on Netflix in the US though?

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Ariel Pink recommended Faith by The Cure in Music (curated)

 
Faith by The Cure
Faith by The Cure
1981 | Rock
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"The Cure were just coolest band. They somehow completely hit the nail on the head, and they’re still relevant. They still manage to not put a bad taste in your mouth. They were never pandering to their fans too much. The greyness, the starkness, the boringness of Faith, the minimal-ness, the pathetic emptiness, the bleakness is perfect. They’re perfectly smudged images Robert Smith creates and you can’t make anything out. This record came before they were properly The Cure; at this point they were still a pop band. They were like a pop group; a three-piece that were seen as not really having an image. They were a bit too dapper, and not really punk enough. And then the next record and the record after that were bad. He was basically in the process of killing off his band. Those were very unpopular decisions he was making when he slowed it down and made it very minimal for the second record, which seemed pointless to the critical mass. It was seen as a mistake. And his hair wasn't even grown out at this point. This is a time in Robert Smith’s life before he had decided to come out as a parody of his former self. He was a serious guy but he decided to come out as a mockery. It’s all a caricature of the serious brooding twenty-year-old that was making bad decisions and sinking his band into the ground. After this came ‘The Lovecats’, and that was the worst thing he could possibly do. So my point is what you’re seeing is the evolution of a person. When you look back at that early stuff there is nothing funny about it, it’s completely sincere."

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Black Dynamite (2009)
Black Dynamite (2009)
2009 | Action, Comedy
9
5.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
One of the most absurd, ridiculous, awesome, and hilarious action comedies ever. Highly recommended for kung fu, blaxploitation, and comedy fans. (0 more)
After his brother is killed, Black Dynamite decides to take matters into his own hands. Just who is Black Dynamite? He's an action legend, a one-man army, and anyone who gets on his bad side is going to wind up dead. Other than struggling with trying to figure out who's responsible for his brother's death, Black Dynamite also has other matters to attend to. There's that new smack being distributed on the street that's even somehow reaching the orphans at the local orphanage and there's something screwy about that Anaconda malt liquor that just doesn't sit well with him. Black Dynamite will do whatever it takes to find out who killed his brother and clean up the streets even if it means going all the way to the Honky House.

Black Dynamite has quite a reputation as just about every article or review that mentioned the film gave it high praise. Is it possible for a film to be incredible while paying homage to the films that inspired it? Sure it is. Directors like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez make a living doing just that. With Black Dynamite, however, you may not know what to expect. Expect it to parody the blaxploitation films from the 70s, pay homage to classic kung fu films, have ridiculous dialogue, a storyline that hilariously doesn't make sense, and have a funky soundtrack with lyrics that are just as awesome as the rest of the film.

Michael Jai White is really the selling point of the film since he is Black Dynamite and you're with him the entire film. I hadn't seen much of White's work before this, but I'm definitely wanting to see more now. His fight scenes are top notch and from what I could tell, it looked like he did the majority of his own stunts. The word I've been hearing is that he's a fairly impressive actor overall, but has just never really picked the right roles and never really broke into the mainstream. Maybe after playing Gambol in The Dark Knight helped him out a bit because he definitely has a bright future as not only an action star, but an actor as well. Other than his superb martial arts work, White's comedic timing is also really important in a film like this and it really pays off. There's a scene where a boom mic is noticeably in the shot while Black Dynamite is giving a big speech. He draws attention to it by repeatedly glaring at the mic throughout the scene, but doesn't miss a beat of the dialogue. Ridiculous scenes like that were crucial in the overall enjoyment factor of the film.

The dialogue is laugh out loud funny at times. There's a scene where the CIA show up at Black Dynamite's house and Agent O'Leary says to Black Dynamite, "We heard about your brother's death and we don't want you running around turning the streets into rivers of blood." Black Dynamite responds with, "Then tell me who did it and I'll just leave a puddle." The storyline is just as absurd, as well. Other than the film missing scenes that were shown in the trailer and things not fully being resolved with Vincent "The Don" Rafelli, the scene where Black Dynamite and his crew figure out what Anaconda malt liquor's true purpose is is both hilariously long-winded and confusing.

Black Dynamite may not be for everyone, but it will be hilariously awesome for most who actually get to see it. The film somehow manages to blend comedy as absurd and ridiculous as films like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy or Zoolander and have hard hitting action scenes that are noticeably a tribute to classic Bruce Lee films. This blaxploitation parody comes highly recommended, can you dig it?
  
Holmes and Watson (2018)
Holmes and Watson (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Comedy, Mystery
They can't all be winners
Well...they can't all be winners.

I know that Will Ferrell is an "acquired taste" - either you like the "all in" comedy of this man, or you don't. I happen to like Ferrell, his comedy has aged on me like a fine wine. I find that some of his most recent films like THE OTHER GUYS and THE HOUSE are very funny (maybe not as funny as ANCHORMAN...but what is). I think this comedian still has his fastball.

But, sometimes, wine doesn't age well, it turns into vinegar. And for Ferrell, this vinegar is the comedic dud that is HOLMES & WATSON.

Partnering with familiar on-screen partner John C. Reilly (who paired with Ferrell in films like STEP BROTHERS and TALLEDEGA NIGHTS) this film is a parody of the multitude of Sherlock Holmes films - this time showing that not only is Holmes and idiot but so is Watson. But, somehow, they manage to solve the crime and save the day anyway.

Ferrell is (typically) over-the-top and obtuse as Holmes. Usually, this combination works for him (see ANCHORMAN) but it just falls flat here. Same thing for John C. Reilly's Watson - he is just as over-the-top and obtuse and (I think) that's the beginning of the problem here. The two just bounce off each other without the joke landing on either of them - nor does it land of the audience.

Ralph Fiennes (Moriarty), Rebecca Hall (potential girlfriend), Rob Brydon (Inspector Lestrade) and Kelly Macdonald (Mrs. Hudson) all fair poorly with poor material to work with.

Writer/Director Etan (that's Etan, not Ethan) Cohen (IDIOCRACY) does nothing to help things here with either his writing or his direction. My only thought here is that he thought that Ferrell and Reilly could improvise themselves into a good film.

It didn't happen.

Letter Grade: C (because I guffawed out loud - despite myself - a couple of times)

4 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)