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Lev Kalman recommended The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) in Movies (curated)

 
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
1976 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"A film that seems absolutely tortured by J. C.’s two contradictory impulses: a desire to give the audience and funders what they want, and bitter disdain for the kind of violent, sexualized entertainment that would entail (Cosmo Vitelli vs. Mister Sophistication). I think this is why the gun and fight scenes are so illegible, so badly staged. And while there are bare breasts, they’re never sexy in any way. He can’t bring himself to give us the money shot. Because of this, I don’t know what to do with the film’s moments of pure pictorial beauty. Most of the time, you can barely see what’s going on, but then somebody turns on a light or opens the door, and the light itself is a shimmering, seductive presence. Is the ugliness the price we pay as an audience (or the technical precondition) to get those radiant images? Or is the pretty stuff a brief surrender, an embarrassing concession to the idea movies should be nice to look at? I think both. And it’s a personal question, because we light our films the same way."

Source
  
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Noomi Rapace recommended Raging Bull (1980) in Movies (curated)

 
Raging Bull (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
1980 | Drama
8.2 (15 Ratings)
Movie Favorite Watch

"Of course, I love Raging Bull. And I love The Godfather. [Laughs] Maybe I need to find something a little fresher. But Raging Bull, you can always feel when an actor kind of goes into — I don’t know Robert De Niro, but I kind of get this feeling that he went really deep into it, and that the character and he melded together. I can feel like he’s not pretending. He’s actually living it. That’s always something that hits me, and I forget about the outside world; it’s almost like the movie I’m watching takes over and becomes my reality. I’ve seen Raging Bull so many times and it feels so pure and real. It’s beautiful and sexy and rough, and there’s so much pain in it at the same time. I think it always attracts me, you know, with people struggling and people fighting and people wanting to become something, wanting to change their lives or change who they are; people fighting with their own demons. For me, that’s such a beautiful example of that — someone who was really focused on being something, and becoming something, and how hard it is and how much you need to fight."

Source
  
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Debbiereadsbook (1171 KP) rated Reap This (Oh So Happy Holidays #1) in Books

Nov 21, 2020  
Reap This (Oh So Happy Holidays #1)
Reap This (Oh So Happy Holidays #1)
Rafe Jadison | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
It did not go down the way I thought it would and I loved that it didn't.
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

I was surprised by this book, I really was!

It did not go down the way I thought it would and I loved that it didn't. It doesn't END the way I thought it would either, and, after reading, I thought, "yeah, okay, I liked that ending, even if Seamus doesn't get his full happy ever after"

BUT

Then I read book two straight after this but before writing the review, and now I am mighty, MIGHTY pissed at Jadison!

Read them, back to back and you'll see what I mean!

Back to the book. Only Seamus has a say here, and I would like to have heard from It/Mine as Seamus calls the spectre he summoned, but that's just me being greedy. Its only short, some 70 pages, and I read it in one go. It packs a sexy punch though, and poor Seamus does go through the wringer here!

4 stars, not least because I know what happens in book 2!

**same worded review appears elsewhere**