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Jazzy Jeff (7 KP) rated REC (2007) in Movies

Jan 6, 2018  
REC (2007)
REC (2007)
2007 | Horror
9
7.5 (13 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Zombies (2 more)
Suspenseful
Tense zombie chases
Shaky found footage (0 more)
My favorite horror film
Contains spoilers, click to show
The film offers newbies to the horror genre the kick they are looking for within the horror genre. Suspenseful, intense, scary, and gory, it is without a doubt one of the best Horror movies of the past decade, if not of all time, and one i have remembered. 2007 had not seen a whole lot of found footage movies, or those of memorable ones other than cloverfield and the blair witch project, so this style was relatively new, and it's yet to have been done better. We follow a young reporter and her cameraman (who represents us as the audience) as they become unwillingly quarantined in an apartment with its residents, pleading with the outside for their escape. An outbreak is turning those infected into flesh eating "zombies" carried within the people as a standard illness at first. This film creates the "you are there" experience like nothing you have seen or will see before, and that you are just as desperate to escape as the camera crew. Nothing within this film feels staged, the emotions feel raw and geniune. The scariest moments are things that are happening in the frame but not front and centre, those things lingering in the dark or the corner of your eye. As the story slowly gets revealed, you get more unnerved by the events unfolding. There are brilliant and terrifying scenes that will stay with you for life.

However, the rest of the franchise doesnt give as much impact as this one presents.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Peterloo (2018) in Movies

Nov 9, 2018 (Updated Nov 9, 2018)  
Peterloo (2018)
Peterloo (2018)
2018 | Drama
Inescapably worthy costume drama sheds some light on a half-forgotten landmark in British political history, but in the process kind of comes across as Barry Lyndon as written by Jeremy Corbyn. Decent, heroic, possibly slightly naive reformers campaign to reform society; greedy and self-serving politicians, magistrates and businessmen unite to stop them; in the end the troops are sent in.

Not quite as punishingly didactic as it sounds, but this may not have been intentional: what may also have been an accident is how close the film frequently comes to being actually quite funny. There are some spectacular wigs and hats, startling accents, and very broad performances from most of the cast - it almost feels like a parody of a bad costume drama in places. There's a scene where a family of semi-literate mill-workers pause to discuss the economic effects of the Corn Laws in some detail, mostly for the audience's benefit, while another scene arguably recycles a Monty Python gag. Casting someone from Blackadder as the Prince Regent was probably a misstep, too.

Still, it all reeks with conviction and moral outrage, and in the end the Peterloo massacre itself is staged quite well - though I still think it could have been handled slightly more cinematically. This is the movie equivalent of someone who hands out the Socialist Worker in the street: the intentions are so laudable that you kind of feel obliged to indulge the earnest lack of self-awareness. Looks quite good too.
  
Into the Badlands  - Season 1
Into the Badlands - Season 1
2015 | Drama
In a distant future following a devastating series of wars, the survivors have banned all firearms and have set up a feudal system where various Barons control needed resources and via for power.

This is the setting of the hit AMC Network series Into the Badlands which has arrived on home video from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

The complete first season set contains all of the episodes and loads of bonus features which go into the backstory, filming, characters, and action sequences of the show.
Daniel Wu stars as an elite Clipper named Sunny who has served for years under a Baron named Quinn and has risen through the ranks to become the deadliest and most elite at his profession.
When the arrival of a young boy with a mysterious past and abilities to boot arrives, the delicate and volatile Badlands soon sees Baron against Baron as political scheming, alliances, and betrayal are the name of the game in this world.

The show is filled with great characters and a captivating plot that will keep you entertained but the thrilling action is what really sets the show apart. It has some of the most original, intense, and amazingly staged fight sequences you will find anywhere as there is truly nothing else like it on television. If you did not get a chance to catch the show, I strongly encourage you to pick up this collection so you will be up to date when season two arrives.

http://sknr.net/2016/11/08/badlands-season-one/
  
Dead Body Language
Dead Body Language
Penny Warner | 1997 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Unexpected Body in the Cemetery
Connor Westphal has moved from San Francisco to the town of Flat Skunk in California’s gold country, where she is running the weekly paper she inherited from her grandparents. When Lacy Penzance comes in to place an ad to track down her long-lost sister, Connor readily agrees. Then Lacy takes back her ad. The next morning, Lacy is found dead. The sheriff doesn’t think it is the suicide it was staged to look like. Under the guise of writing an article about Lacy, Connor begins to investigate. Will she find the killer?

What I haven’t mentioned so far is that Connor is deaf. I found this character trait to be an interesting addition to the mystery, and it really added suspense to the climax. Connor is an all-around strong character, and I enjoyed getting to meet her friends here as well. The plot is strong, although I have a couple niggles about who the killer turned out to be. Even so, I have to admire the strong plotting; I missed several major clues. I did find there to be a few more four-letter words than I was expecting, and I think there were timeline issues, although I might have added an extra day in there somewhere as I was reading. I originally read this book close to when it was originally released in 1997, but I never read the rest of the series. I’m looking forward to fixing that soon.
  
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Lee Ronaldo recommended The Ascension by Glenn Branca in Music (curated)

 
The Ascension  by Glenn Branca
The Ascension by Glenn Branca
1981 | Experimental, Rock
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I couldn’t say enough about how important and extreme as the music was, he was never unaware of this dramatic element of what he was doing. It was always staged in a way for maximum drama. There was always maximum drama whenever Glenn was in the building, whether there was an argument, or the music, or a discussion about high art or whatever it was. Branca was so responsible for so much stuff, for energizing this down town scene in a major way. He was one of these artists that you didn’t really experience his music unless you were in front of it. You could hear the records and The Ascension was some of his best work ever and it’s a great record but it didn’t sound anything like what it sounded like to stand in front of it at 110 decibels. He also started his own label and released a couple of the first Sonic Youth records. He asked us to be the first release on his label so there was kind of a mentoring thing going on there as well. It was definitely some of the most important music that was going on in New York at that time, because it was straddling all these worlds. It had one foot in the punk world, one foot in the art scene and then in the Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, Steve Reich kind of world of art music, he had elements of all of that stuff, and beyond all of it, just what he was doing was brilliant"

Source
  
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
1966 | Classics, Drama, War
7
7.4 (8 Ratings)
Movie Rating
This film-maker was unknown to me entirely before I decided to watch this film. In fact, I had only heard of the film itself quite recently from seeing it mentioned as one of the best films in the genre as a commentary on political insurgency and civil unrest. It is so well regarded that even the US military used it to prepare troops for entering Iraq. The main actors are largely unknown and many of the supporting cast and extras are not actors at all. The camera is allowed to wander and wobble, and such is the feel of random chaos at times you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a documentary. Nominated for 3 Oscars, and faultless in achieving its goal of humanising both sides of an argument, you can see the influence on Oliver Stone and Paul Greengrass, to name but two better known directors with a political edge.

It’s not a film I would feel the need to go back to, unless demonstrating to someone how to make something staged feel entirely real. I admire this film very much, but wouldn’t exactly call it entertaining or even rewarding as a story. Its purpose is to reinforce the tragedy of a people facing oppression and to realise the lengths both sides will go to in protecting their ideals and relative freedoms. The excellent hand held photography and score by the always inspirational Ennio Moricone are other reasons to watch it. As a history lesson of North Africa post WWII it also has a lot to offer.