slow blessing of the heart

Den of Thieves - Hyakuren - Kevin Smith
pop culture daily @ weekly 045

... here we go:

Den of Thieves

[Christian Gudegast]

There are a number of past movies that I heard of in the past that I haven't got the opportunity to give it a go but when it comes out conveniently on the local streaming service, it won't be appropriate for me to just look past this and not give it a go. I know this is a crime thriller but I do not expect it to be this slow burn character piece as it focuses quite heavily on the latter to complement the former. Please be cautioned that the action sequences are definitely few and far between and the opening and the ending sequences are the highlights for all the pulsating action but as heart-pounding as they are, I believe the character-building are mostly quite effective as we begin to get acquaintance to both the main protagonist and antagonist, learning their motivations and what makes them tick. It's not a conventional action flick, for better and worse. At least it's different from the usual boring norm.

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Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria

[Yukisan x EMT Squared]

Since I haven't been keeping up with anime at all for the past few years other than just a couple of extremely popular entries, here I was choosing randomly anything I can find on the web and it had a decent premise that just went straight into it. Animes now have their own distinct tropes that might be just artificial and on the surface if applied without any substance behind them at all, and unfortunately the market there have been filled with fan service works and this was just one of them. The time travel mechanic is great if used effectively and using the technology to the main protagonist's benefit is a great approach and I can see some potential here but there is essentially not enough here to keep me around. On to the next one!

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Kevin Smith: Silent but Deadly

[2018]

Despite being mostly known to the general public as the silent part of the Jay and Silent Bob duo but to those who are familiar with his Smodcast empire, you know that he is a master of storytelling and will not stop when he is in the groove. With that particular gift, he uses it to his benefit every chance he gets and this is no exception either. I only learned later that he suffered a heart attack after the first recording of the day but his infamous smoky tendency thankfully helped to save his life in the end. Since I'm so familiar with his voice after listening to his podcasts for years now, this stand up special sounds just like any other episode with the exception of him standing up of course. He always provides a window into his personal life but I have to admit even to his standard he goes that much further in this hour special to the benefit of the overall experience of course. It all feels so natural to me the transition from one anecdote to another and the time really flies by for me. It is such a breeze for me and if you're in tune with his distinct style, then you are in for a treat if you give him a try. He almost die for the craft for Pete's sake!

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Well, that's all folks! Thank you for your time and please do come back for my future posts! :-)