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Nicky Wire recommended Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole / Lloyd Cole and the Commotions in Music (curated)
Bostonian916 (449 KP) rated McFarland USA (2015) in Movies
Aug 3, 2020
Kevin Costner remains one of the most special actors Hollywood has produced. Based on a true story, a coach is tasked with taking a non existent cross country team from literally Zero to anything, and given little to work with.
After finding a student who can most definitely run, he learns that the boy has other family obligations that prevent him from participating with the team. Overcoming that, coach convinces friends of the boy to join the endeavor. What they are able to accomplish is truly motivating and inspiring.
I feel corny suggesting this, but I wish Disney would focus more resources on this type of movie. They never cease to satisfy in this arena.
After finding a student who can most definitely run, he learns that the boy has other family obligations that prevent him from participating with the team. Overcoming that, coach convinces friends of the boy to join the endeavor. What they are able to accomplish is truly motivating and inspiring.
I feel corny suggesting this, but I wish Disney would focus more resources on this type of movie. They never cease to satisfy in this arena.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2097 KP) rated Bruce Wayne: Not Super in Books
Oct 18, 2023 (Updated Oct 18, 2023)
Fun Middle School Origin Story
Bruce Wayne stands out at his middle school, Gotham Preparatory School for the Really, Really Gifted. No, not because of the wealth he’s inherited from him parents but because he’s the only one without any powers. But when he sees a student bullying another kid, he decides he has to do something. Will he come up with a plan?
This is a fun alternative take on Batman’s origins including cameos from other DC super heroes. The story was entertaining, and I laughed multiple times as I was reading. Be sure to look at the illustrations since some of the jokes are in there. This graphic novel is a very fun read.
This is a fun alternative take on Batman’s origins including cameos from other DC super heroes. The story was entertaining, and I laughed multiple times as I was reading. Be sure to look at the illustrations since some of the jokes are in there. This graphic novel is a very fun read.
Dakota Morrill (17 KP) rated Lady Bird (2017) in Movies
Mar 2, 2018
Simple, relatable, beautiful.
Contains spoilers, click to show
Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut Is truly a spectacular one. Lady Bird is a masterpiece of simplicity. The simply story of a typical teenage girl trying to find who she is and what she wants. The love-hate relationship of Christine and her mother showcasing their struggle to demonstrate of perhaps understand their feelings added a much welcome layer of interesting plot on top of the typical struggles of an awkward high schooler.
If anything, I believe you can learn a few things from this film about forming and maintaining relationships with your parents or child(ren) in hope that when your time with them comes to a close you’ll have no regrets.
If anything, I believe you can learn a few things from this film about forming and maintaining relationships with your parents or child(ren) in hope that when your time with them comes to a close you’ll have no regrets.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Hidden Fire (Elemental Mysteries #1) in Books
Apr 13, 2020
A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mysterious manuscript he's hunted for over five hundred years. He never expected a young student librarian could be the key to unlock its secrets, nor could he have predicted the danger she would attract.
Now he and Beatrice De Novo follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, though the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation hundreds of years in the making.
I really enjoyed reading this! Loved the discovery of witches vibe I got. The characters are brilliant I loved them all.it flowed easy enough and I didn't want to put it down. Look forward to book 2.
Now he and Beatrice De Novo follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, though the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation hundreds of years in the making.
I really enjoyed reading this! Loved the discovery of witches vibe I got. The characters are brilliant I loved them all.it flowed easy enough and I didn't want to put it down. Look forward to book 2.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) in Movies
Oct 7, 2020
Experiment Gone Wrong
Murders in the Rue Morgue- didnt come out in 1971, it came out in 1932. @Smashbomb should fix that. Anways it was a intresting movie. Bela Lugosi as this evil mysterious doctor was good.
The plot: In 1845 Paris, mysterious Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) demonstrates his theories on evolution using his ape, Erik, at a carnival visited by medical student Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff) and his girlfriend, Camille Espanaye (Sidney Fox). Unknown to his audience, Mirakle performs experiments in his secret laboratory that involve mixing human blood with that of Erik's. After three prostitutes are found dead from being injected with a strange substance, Pierre is alarmed when Camille goes missing.
It mixes sci-fi and horror togther.
The plot: In 1845 Paris, mysterious Dr. Mirakle (Bela Lugosi) demonstrates his theories on evolution using his ape, Erik, at a carnival visited by medical student Pierre Dupin (Leon Waycoff) and his girlfriend, Camille Espanaye (Sidney Fox). Unknown to his audience, Mirakle performs experiments in his secret laboratory that involve mixing human blood with that of Erik's. After three prostitutes are found dead from being injected with a strange substance, Pierre is alarmed when Camille goes missing.
It mixes sci-fi and horror togther.
Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Riding the Bullet (2004) in Movies
Sep 24, 2019
Roller-Coaster
Riding The Bullet- is a underrated psychological horror thriller film based off of a stephen king novel.
The Plot: Ever since his father passed away, art student Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) has been hypnotized by thoughts of death. After his girlfriend, Jessica (Erika Christensen), breaks up with him, Alan attempts suicide but is rescued by his friends. The next day, he learns that his mother (Barbara Hershey) has just had a serious stroke, and he sets out to hitchhike to her hospital. Along the way, he meets a series of strange people, including sinister George Staub (David Arquette), who may be Satan.
Its psychological, horrorfying, thrilling, chilling, spooky, terrorfying and super underrated.
I would highly reccordmend this movie.
The Plot: Ever since his father passed away, art student Alan Parker (Jonathan Jackson) has been hypnotized by thoughts of death. After his girlfriend, Jessica (Erika Christensen), breaks up with him, Alan attempts suicide but is rescued by his friends. The next day, he learns that his mother (Barbara Hershey) has just had a serious stroke, and he sets out to hitchhike to her hospital. Along the way, he meets a series of strange people, including sinister George Staub (David Arquette), who may be Satan.
Its psychological, horrorfying, thrilling, chilling, spooky, terrorfying and super underrated.
I would highly reccordmend this movie.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated The Nix in Books
Dec 4, 2017
Glorious, extravagant, epic family saga
It's hardly surprising Meryl Streep has bought the rights to this debut novel by Nathan Hill, which explores relations amongst several generations of a family.
It spans nearly fifty years, with flashbacks to student protests during 1968, from the present day, and the travails of an academic, struggling to engage with lazy and disaffected students, and playing ‘Elfscape’, an online role-playing game that works along the lines of World of Warcraft. The narrative perspective moves around quite a bit in the first few chapters, but a strong theme quickly emerges.
Samuel Andresen-Anderson is the principal protagonist, and is a genuinely empathetic character. Far from perfect, he is beset with irritations, ranging from the cheating and ignorance of many of his students to the family upheaval suffered during his childhood, which still troubles him more than twenty years later.
Behind all this is the story of Faye, Samuel’s mother, who walked out on her family more than twenty years earlier, and who is catapulted into the public consciousness following a sudden impulsive act. This offered Hill the opportunity for some acute observations about the motives and actions of the student rebels from the late 1960s, while also exposing the hypocrisies of the establishment and the cruelties of some of the police during those troubles. In between, the author even delves into Norwegian folklore.
The writing is fine – clear and accessible - and Hill manages the complex storylines admirably. Moving backwards and forwards between the late 1960s, late 1980s and 2011, the plot never flags. This was a long novel, but very entertaining throughout.
It spans nearly fifty years, with flashbacks to student protests during 1968, from the present day, and the travails of an academic, struggling to engage with lazy and disaffected students, and playing ‘Elfscape’, an online role-playing game that works along the lines of World of Warcraft. The narrative perspective moves around quite a bit in the first few chapters, but a strong theme quickly emerges.
Samuel Andresen-Anderson is the principal protagonist, and is a genuinely empathetic character. Far from perfect, he is beset with irritations, ranging from the cheating and ignorance of many of his students to the family upheaval suffered during his childhood, which still troubles him more than twenty years later.
Behind all this is the story of Faye, Samuel’s mother, who walked out on her family more than twenty years earlier, and who is catapulted into the public consciousness following a sudden impulsive act. This offered Hill the opportunity for some acute observations about the motives and actions of the student rebels from the late 1960s, while also exposing the hypocrisies of the establishment and the cruelties of some of the police during those troubles. In between, the author even delves into Norwegian folklore.
The writing is fine – clear and accessible - and Hill manages the complex storylines admirably. Moving backwards and forwards between the late 1960s, late 1980s and 2011, the plot never flags. This was a long novel, but very entertaining throughout.
John Hawkes recommended Harold and Maude (1971) in Movies (curated)
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Countdown (2019) in Movies
Jun 2, 2022
A group of teens are playing a game of cards at a house party when they discover an app which tells you when you will die, they all download it for a bit of fun. Everybody gets dates years or months from now, except one teen who only gets several hours. They all laugh it off and continue with their party. After the party this girl gets into an argument with her boyfriend and ends up walking home alone where she is eventually killed in her bathroom by an unseen force.
Fast forward to a hospital student nurse going about her duty, she speaks to the first girls boyfriend who is due to go into surgery after his car crash. He had downloaded the app and had been given hours to live and was scared he wouldn't wake up from his surgery. The student nurse laughs it off and downloads the app herself which tells her she dies in 2 days. When Evan (the first victims boyfriend) dies right when he was due to, Quinn realises it isn't just an app and sets about how to stop it.
I quite enjoyed the movie even though it was very predictable at times, and sometimes characters were so face-palm stupid! I liked that it has a final destination feel to it, I do think it should have stayed serious though as the scene with the priest was over the top with its silliness, and the way Quinn opens Evans dead body eyes to unlock his phone was laughable. These aside though, it is a fun horror movie which I recommend you watch at least once.
Fast forward to a hospital student nurse going about her duty, she speaks to the first girls boyfriend who is due to go into surgery after his car crash. He had downloaded the app and had been given hours to live and was scared he wouldn't wake up from his surgery. The student nurse laughs it off and downloads the app herself which tells her she dies in 2 days. When Evan (the first victims boyfriend) dies right when he was due to, Quinn realises it isn't just an app and sets about how to stop it.
I quite enjoyed the movie even though it was very predictable at times, and sometimes characters were so face-palm stupid! I liked that it has a final destination feel to it, I do think it should have stayed serious though as the scene with the priest was over the top with its silliness, and the way Quinn opens Evans dead body eyes to unlock his phone was laughable. These aside though, it is a fun horror movie which I recommend you watch at least once.