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Baki
Baki
2018 | Action, Animation, Drama
7
7.2 (9 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Ridiculously Crazy Yet Insanely Hardcore
Baki is the third season of an anime series based on manga series titled Grappled Baki or Baki The Grappled. It is directed by Toshiki Hirano, written by Tatsuhiko Urahata and produced by Kei Watahiki, Yuki Yokoi, and Executive Producer Tetsu Kohima. Baki is made by TMS Entertainment and licensed by Netflix.


Baki is anything but a normal teenage high school student. After becoming one of the greatest martial artists in the world by winning a legendary underground fighting tournament, Baki continues to train with intense focus to become strong enough to surpass his father, Yujiro Hanma, the strongest fighter in the world. He is warned by Mitsunari Tokugawa, ruler of the underground fight arena, that five of the world's most dangerous, violent and brutal death row inmates have escaped and they are all converging on Tokyo. Their unmatched skill and strength have made them bored and their objective is to taste defeat. Tokugawa warns Baki that they are seeking him in hopes of being overwhelmed and utterly crushed. Other underground martial art warriors gather to fight by Baki's side after being summoned by Tokugawa.


This anime is pretty freaking crazy. Whether it's the ridiculous amount of muscles the characters have or the amount of damage they can handle, this anime is over the top. From the beginning they hype up these individuals with the stories of why they're in prison and the impossible ways that they escape. But when they start fighting it really picks up. This series was a guilty pleasure of mine for a bit, I totally binge watched the first season and eagerly awaited the second. That being said it is far from perfect. There is a lot of talking sometimes (a bit too much exposition) and waiting for action but when it happens it rarely disappoints. I mean the fight scenes are really graphic with blood, broken bones, teeth breaking, eye stabbing etc. I really hate that it has CGI at all but it's far and in between. At first I didn't like the art style at all but it kinda grew on me. Also to me the second season didn't live up to the hype of the first one but that's just my opinion. If you're looking for straight up action then this is the anime you're looking for. I give it a 7/10.
  
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Ian Broudie recommended track In My Life by The Beatles in Rubber Soul by The Beatles in Music (curated)

 
Rubber Soul by The Beatles
Rubber Soul by The Beatles
1965 | Folk, Pop, Rock
9.1 (15 Ratings)
Album Favorite

In My Life by The Beatles

(0 Ratings)

Track

"There’s so many Beatles songs that I could have chosen, my entire list could have been made from them and they’ve all meant quite a lot to me. I picked “In My Life” because everyone relates to that one in a way, everyone has experienced that feeling of when they go back to their hometown and the little odd things that spark off a memory. “I think it was John who wrote this one and he was quite young when he wrote it. I grew up in a place called Menlove Gardens and he grew up on Menlove Avenue, so I felt the connection. I was born in Penny Lane in 1958, so it was the ‘60s when I was growing up and a lot of the landmarks were the same. I remember reading a magazine that had a page of the original lyrics, and it was talking about getting the 72 bus at Penny Lane into town. I recognised all of the roads and it was very close to home for me. Even if I hadn’t recognised all of that though, I still think that this song has the power to do that. “It does bring me back, to places that I’ll remember all my life. I go back to Liverpool now and a lot of places have changed. The town is great and always very vibrant, but there’s a park called Calderstones Park and it’s very beautiful and very green and places like Princes Avenue and Menlove, they’re all full of trees and very green and quite lovely really, which people often don’t associate with Liverpool. My memories are mixed with these beautiful parks, greenery and trees, but at the same time the city centre was quite stark, but very vibrant in the ‘60s, it was a bustling city. “I think if you live on planet earth then The Beatles are an influence, even if you don’t know it. Even if you’re Jay Z, The Beatles are an influence. The Beatles, Bob Dylan and a couple of other people changed music into an art form, rather than a commodity. At a certain point in the ‘60s, all of a sudden you had people making artistically fantastic records, breaking the boundaries technologically and emotionally. It turned into something else and although it feels like it’s turning back into what it was right now, I feel like The Beatles and Bob Dylan were responsible for that change"

Source
  
Nobody (2021)
Nobody (2021)
2021 | Action, Comedy, Crime
7
7.8 (20 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A Fun Romp
Any fan of one of the greatest TV series of all-time, BREAKING BAD, or it’s spin-off, BETTER CALL SAUL, know the acting chops that Bob Odenkirk brings to the role of slimey, billboard lawyer Saul Goodman. His fast-talking, fast-thinking con-man is a character for the ages.

So, naturally, one would think “action star”.

But, darn it, if it doesn’t work.

Playing a retired undercover agent with a “certain set of skills”, NOBODY follows “Hutch” Mansell as he gets pulled back into using those skills when he helps a young woman who is being harassed on a bus, only to find out the thugs he went against are connected to the Russian Mob.

You can pretty much fill in the blanks from there. This film does not really tread any new ground…but…gosh…it was a fun watch.

Playing a more comedic hero than Liam Neeson in the TAKEN movies or Keanu Reeves’ JOHN WICK, Odenkirk, nonetheless, pulls off the “action hero” qualities just fine and is a winning enough presence on the screen that he holds your attention.

Christopher Lloyd (yes, Doc Brown from BACK TO THE FUTURE) is along for the ride as Odenkirk’s father, who gets pulled into the action when the Russian Mobsters decide to go after Hutch’s family and he looks like he is having a ball with this role.

The rest of the cast is pretty by-the-book (though a special shoutout needs to go to 1980’s heavy, Michael Ironside, who has a short role in this film - I would have loved to have seen more of him). The head Russian mobster is a bit over-the-top for my tastes, but the action sequences more than make up for all of this.

Credit for that must be given to Director Ilya Naishuller (HARDCORE HENRY) for he gives this film a unique look in the fight scenes while constantly having his tongue placed firmly in his cheek. I’ve seen ALOT of action films, so when a film brings something unique and fun to the screen, I sit up and notice.

And, notice I did. For NOBODY is a fun, popcorn flick. One that will be entertaining for the 92 minutes you watch.

Just don’t expect to see it during Awards season next year.

Letter Grade: B

7 Stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
Love and Monsters (2021)
Love and Monsters (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure, Comedy
9
7.8 (20 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Love and monsters is quite a slow paced film about a journey and a character. Joel starts the film as a bit of a looser, he feels out of place and unneeded so he sets out to find the one person he thinks will appreciate him and, as he movers through the world he begins to find himself, a purpose and the meaning of family.

In some ways, Love and Monsters reminded me of 'Zombie land', we have some one who is just trying to find his place and his way in world that changed, he has to rely on the help of others whilst finding the right rules to help him survive. Of course the biggest difference is that there are monsters instead of Zombies.

Talking of the monsters, the effects are pretty good, the monsters are not all horrific and are pretty realistic. They help set the tone and pace in the film, providing threat, humour and atmosphere and it's nice to see that some of them just want to get on with their own lives.

Another thing that was nice to see was that (most of) the humans were also just trying to live, there weren't any 'Neagan's' or camps of overly aggressive thugs as you get used to seeing in a lot of post apocalyptic movies, which came as a bit as a surprise, I was expecting there to be something odd about the meeting between Joel and Aimee but, even though it doesn't necessarily go according to plan it still works out in a nice way.

And that's the thing, Love and Monsters is quite a nice film. The characters want to survive and even in a world populated by monsters that eat people the survivors find love and purpose, yes there are people who are just out for themselves, who are willing to steal and feed others to the monsters but they are in the minority.

The only really odd thing in this film are the Mav1s', there is not really anything to explain them.

Love and Monsters is no 'Godzilla', there are no monster v monster fights. and it's no 'A Quite Place' the monsters aren't necessarily hunting the survivors for anything other than food and this isn't a horror movie, it's a film about growth, love and family and man eating bugs.
  
Tone-Deaf (2019)
Tone-Deaf (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
As a proud owner of yet another subscription service, the first thing I did was scroll through every movie to create a watchlist. Killer Instinct popped up, and seeing Robert Patrick... *presses play*.

Olive's life has taken an unexpected turn and she decides that a trip out of the city is just what she needs. Peace and tranquillity awaits in the odd home she finds online, but the even odder owner and goings on aren't entirely what she'd hoped for.

I seem to be picking films recently that remind me of other films, and Killer Instinct (also known as Tone Deaf) reminds me heavily of The Intruder from 2019 starring Dennis Quaid... with the slight difference that The Intruder was kind of watchable.

For a film under 90 minutes it feels significantly longer with nothing much happening. The whole idea that Harvey (Robert Patrick) is hatching this plan is poorly set up and once underway I didn't fully understand what the motivation was behind his character. As well as Intruder vibes, I was getting heavy Home Alone vibes too... you'll see.

There felt like two distinct sides to the cast, "serious" and "comedy". But the serious weren't, and neither were the comedy. The way everything was laced together felt like a sloppy attempt to merge Happy Death Day with a serious thriller.

As a lead character, Olive (Amanda Crew), doesn't feel massively likeable, and there seemed like there wasn't really any way to bring that to life as she was. Unengaging characters are also something that's happening more to me in recent film choices, and here, as with others, I found myself getting pulled out of the events of the film because of it.

I had hoped that Robert Patrick would offer some respite, but Harvey is equally... blah. There's no real explanation about why he is the way he is and it's introduced in such a strange way that his motivations are almost entirely obscured by it.

Killer Instinct tries very hard to be relevant and be a commentary on generational divides, but it's done by breaking the fourth wall and talking to the camera in a way that wasn't at all palatable. Each time it happened I frowned and instantly felt disengaged from the film. Combine that with the oddly comedic mother storyline and you get a film with a constant identity crisis.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/02/killer-instinct-movie-review.html
  
Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (1975)
Deep Red (Profondo rosso) (1975)
1975 | International, Horror, Mystery
9
7.7 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Deep Red (aka Profondo rosso) is a thriller/slasher from Italian writer/director Dario Argento.
When Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) witnesses the murder of the women living in the flat below him he finds himself in a race to find the murderer before he becomes their next victim. The films killer follows a lot of what would become familiar tropes in slasher films, the killer is rarely seen and when they are seen they are covered u, they use a number of different ways to kill their victims and they have a habit of sneaking around. There isn't necessarily a a lot of blood from the kills, that is to say blood is sprayed around but when there is blood it is filmed in such a way that you can't miss it, in fact they eye is drawn to it.
Speaking of eyes there are a lot of them, Dario Argento has his own style of filming, he uses filters and strange camera angles and, in Deep Red a lot of closeups on eyes, sometimes just for scene transitions.
As well as being a Slasher, Deep Red is a mystery, as the film progresses Marcus the protagonist find clues as to the identity of the killer giving the viewer the chance to work out who it is as well. But there are red herrings and a lot of things that don't necessarily make sense. There is a clockwork boy, used only one by the killer, there is a creepy girl with a possibly mad farther, two facts that really don't affect the story.
As I said, Deep Red contains a lot of the Slasher tropes but it predates most of them, even beating Halloween by three years and so you can see that it has a big influence on the modern (well 80's so not so modern now) slashers.
The down side is that Deep Red is slow, there is a lot of talking, although contained in this are some clues as to the killers identity and the level of violence isn't quite as much as some of the more modern films, it does however beat some of it's slasher predecessors such as Psycho.
Over all Deep Red is a good film, slightly more mystery than slasher but with enough kills to keep a slasher fan happy. The story does plod along at is own pace but over all an enjoyable film.
  
An Engineered Injustice (Philadelphia Legal, #2)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
More reviews at https://bbookinspector.wordpress.com

Wow, it felt like watching one of those court TV series, which sucks you in, and you want to binge watch all the seasons at once. 😀

The protagonist in this novel was Vaughn, most probably not a very likable person by the society, because he is a defense lawyer. I really liked him in this book though, he sounded like a hero to me 😀 There were a wide variety of characters to choose from, and all of them were quite diverse and very intriguing personalities. Even though there were so many characters, I didn’t get lost in who was who, the author described them all pretty well, I think. I really enjoyed, that author used multiple perspectives to tell the story, it allowed me, as a reader, to understand the characters way better.

I really like trains and somehow this story felt close to my heart. I loved the narrative of this book, and I really enjoyed all the twists and turns, which author had to offer. The villains were given away throughout the book, and there was no surprise effect there, but the whole finding out process and proving Eddy’s innocence was what kept me glued to this book. It was very amusing to read a book, where author’s confidence and experience just shines through. There is plenty of legal terms in this novel, but for me it was a plus, just showed that author knows what he was talking about.

I personally think that Mr. Myers is a very gifted writer, and I loved his writing style in this book, it seems difficult, but for me, it was pretty understandable and easy to read. I really enjoyed the structure of the chapters, it didn’t drag to me, wasn’t too long and was divided into smaller parts. I really liked the setting of this book as well, it has this American spirit about it, and I really loved that. The ending of this novel rounded the whole story very nicely and I loved the outcome. So to conclude, if you like to watch court dramas, do give this book a try, it has very amusing and interesting characters and quite twisty and unexpected narrative. I do hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. 😀
  
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Appetite in Books

Sep 24, 2020  
Appetite
Appetite
Anita Cassidy | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The main characters in this book were David, Naomi and Matthew, and the whole story was told from their perspectives. Even though this book was told from these three characters views, there were plenty of other, smaller, but very influential characters as well, which should not be forgotten, because I think they shaped the main characters in this novel. I am talking about David’s mom Kerri, Matthew’s girlfriend Polly and Naomi’s guilty pleasure, Mike. I loved that Anita created this very strong emotional bond between all the characters, I think that allowed to understand the main storytellers and the reasons for their actions way better.

My favourite one in this novel was David. I found his feelings and his experience highly amusing and sometimes shocking, but I was looking forward to his parts in this book. My least favourite one was Naomi. I simply cannot justify her behaviour in any way, and I personally do not respect people like her. (I could rant about her for a very long time, but I will try not to, even though she makes my blood boil.)

One thing that really stands out while reading this novel was passion. I could feel author’s passion about the topics she discussed, seeping through the pages of this book. I think it is very well researched novel, sharing plenty of facts with a reader. I am very grateful that author talks about really important topics, such as bullying, obesity, how parents influence children’s eating habits, and how sugar is taking over our society. Even though this topic has been analyzed in many books, I think that author chose a fresh and original way to highlight these issues.

I really liked the writing style of this book, I think it has a very good focus on detail, and it actually left me more connected to this book. (It is hard to describe the feeling…) The chapters are decent length, and overall it didn’t leave me bored, except for Naomi’s part, they kind of dragged for me. The ending of this book rounded the story nicely and left me quite satisfied. I would like to throw in a disclaimer, that there are some graphic sexual scenes in this book. So to conclude, I had very educational experience, filled with very complex characters and their different needs, feelings and emotions. I do recommend this book, I think it is quite relatable, very realistic and thought-provoking.
  
All I Ever Wanted
All I Ever Wanted
Lucy Dillon | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The description of this book is quite accurate, but I would like to outline the different understanding of the book. My description of the book would be something like that: Caitlin, going through divorce from her controlling perfectionist husband. Their divorce really influenced their little daughter Nancy, who stopped talking after their separation. Eva is Caitlin’s sister in law, who, even after 2 years, still suffers from her husband’s death. The only company Eva has is her two pugs, Bumble and Bee. After visits to Eva’s house, Bumble becomes Nancy’s best friend, and helps her find her voice again.

It is a really nice story about two women in opposite situations. I really liked that, all the characters in this publication are really diverse personalities and they are really believable, like ordinary people. If you have children, you will absolutely understand how Caitlin is feeling. There is so much mother’s love in this book. You can really feel it when you go through the book. The problem is, as a person who is not very interested in kids, I found it too much for my liking. I really liked Eva’s character in this novel. She was interesting, and complete opposite of confused and clumsy Caitlin. However, there was so much moping about the same thing over and over again. I found it quite boring to read, because it just plods along, is very detailed and has only few turns in the story. I am great full though, that author gave voice to more than one character, which gave better feeling of the characters.

I liked that author discussed few really interesting themes in this book. She talked about how divorce influences grownups and well as children, the freedom feeling when your other half is not there to supervise you, as well as how it feels when you are in your forties, alone and know that it’s almost impossible to have a child of your own. It was very cute, how her love for dogs’ author shared in the book with the readers, by putting two cute pugs with very detailed descriptions of their personalities and emotions. The ending of the book rounded up everything nicely, but was really predictable. So to conclude, if you have children and would like some comfort reading about family, love and cute kids, then this book is definitely for you.
  
Cruel Peter (2019)
Cruel Peter (2019)
2019 | Horror, International
1
3.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The movie starts in 1908, a young boy named Peter is accused of cutting a girl with a razor, he insists the girl is lying and his mother defends him even though she knows the girl is actually telling the truth. We learn how evil Peter is soon after when he sets fire to a rat and it is implyed that he killed someone's dog. Peter soon gets a visitor from someone wearing a potato sack on their head, who hits him on the head with a shovel and buries him alive, never to be seen again.
We jump ahead to the present day to a dad studying and then randomly going in his daughters room and finding a boof of spirits in his deaf daughters room. We then jump to another scene of him being offered a job in Italy with some bloke on a boat, who I can only assume is a friend or his boss, its never made clear. Then in the next scene, him and his daughter are pulling up in Italy!?! Literally no lead upto it, just job offer and boom, they're there! The dad is even shown talking to some woman who I thought was a tour guide or his new boss, until she asked him if he'd like to meet her aunt! Anyway, we briefly see his daughter Liz walking down the corridor at her new school and then he finds Peters body whilst on a dig, leading to him searching the Internet and Liz summoning a ghost which we later find out is Peter.
To be honest, I knew from the get go that this movie wasn't going to be great, but I always see a movie to the end so I persevered. The scenes were very poorly put together, they seemed randomly placed and very rushed, random characters would appear, have no introductions (apart from one) and yet seem to have known the dad for a while! Speaking of which, I don't recall ever finding out his name as it was never mentioned. The acting was absolutely atrocious and the sound effects even worse, for example when Liz was supposed to be possessed, she sounded more like a dinosaur from jurassic Park rather than a demon. I was glad to see the end of this truly awful movie.