fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Dear 2020
By: Moni Vazquez
Tags: Letters, Year In Review, Life Lessons, Insights, Lessons Learned

Dear 2020

What a gift! I’m still blind to most of it but some light is peaking through… I can see my humanity in a different light, my needs have taken the lead over my wants.

You showed me limits I was unaware of, and strengths I did not know I had.

You knocked me to the ground and made me cry like a child, fearful of tomorrow… until I decided to make tomorrow my today.

You gave all of us the biggest mirror we’ve ever had, left us naked in our guilts, limits, selfishness; you brought light to every dark corner of our life.

You gave us more gifts than we’re able to process, yet I’m confident we will, eventually, see. Awaken from the shock and rest in the knowledge that we can. We can be something different, we can be better, we can become the world we desire to see.

2020 you kicked my ass but hey, I’m just a year older then 20 years ago thanks to you!
CONNECTIVE HABIT Vs CONNECTIVE DISCIPLINE
By: Karl Durrant
Tags: Being, Rapid, Life Lessons, Poetry On Medium, Insights

Internally developing, Community Focused, Movement Explorer,​ Observer, Observed, ​Human Being Not Doing.
A Winter’s Night
Tags: Haikus, Insights, Coincidence, Synchronicity, Jogging

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Data Analytics: Top 10 Definitions
Tags: Definition, Analytics, Data, Insights, Patterns

Data Analytics

“Business Intelligence procedures and techniques for exploration and analysis of data to discover and identify meaningful information and trends.” (DAMA International, “The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management”, 2011)

“A data-driven process that creates insight. These processes incorporate a wide variety of techniques and may include manual analysis, reporting, predictive models, time-series models, or optimization models.” (Evan Stubbs, “Delivering Business Analytics: Practical Guidelines for Best Practice”, 2013)

“A suite of technical solutions that uses mathematical and statistical methods. The solutions are applied to data to generate insight to help organizations understand historical business performance as well as forecast and plan for future decisions.” (Jim Davis & Aiman Zeid, “Business Transformation”, 2014)

“A broad term that includes quantitative analysis of data and building quantitative models. Analytics is the science of analysis and discovery. Analysis may process data from a data warehouse, may result in building model-driven DSS, or may occur in a special study using statistical or data mining software. In general, analytics refers to quantitative analysis and manipulation of data.” (Daniel J Power & Ciara Heavin, “Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence” 3rd Ed., 2017)

“Involves drawing insights from the data including big data. Analytics uses simple to advanced tools depending upon the objectives. Analytics may involve visual display of data (charts and graphs), descriptive statistics, making predictions, forecasting future outcomes, or optimizing business processes.” (Amar Sahay, “Business Analytics” Vol. I, 2018)

“Discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data; and the process of applying those patterns towards effective decision making.” (Francisco S Gutierres & Pedro M Gome, “The Integrated Tourism Analysis Platform (ITAP) for Tourism Destination Management”, 2021)

“Data Analytics describes the end-to-end process by which data is cleaned, inspected and modeled. The objective is to discover useful and actionable information that supports decision-making.” (Accenture)

“Data analytics enables organizations to analyze all their data (real-time, historical, unstructured, structured, qualitative) to identify patterns and generate insights to inform and, in some cases, automate decisions, connecting intelligence and action.” (Tibco)

“Data analytics is the pursuit of extracting meaning from raw data using specialized computer systems. These systems transform, organize, and model the data to draw conclusions and identify patterns.” (Informatica)

“Data analytics refers to the use of processes and technology to combine and examine datasets, identify meaningful patterns, correlations, and trends in them, and most importantly, extract valuable insights.” (Qlik)
The Infamous Truth About Being An Only Child
Tags: Culture, Self, Insights, Inspiration, Family

Education & Career

My parents came here over 20 years ago to seek better opportunities, but it isn’t easy to get a job without sufficient education. I was the first in my family to go to high school, graduate high school, pursue post-secondary education, and graduate with honors.

As groundbreaking as that sounds, my journey was no walk in the park. It’s frustrating and overwhelming to pave the way for your family. Most of the time, you have no idea if you’re on the right track. I chose Computer Science, but I had no idea what university would be like and if Computer Science would be a promising career. I took a crazy gamble, which luckily paid off. I also felt quite lonely because I felt like I had to figure out things by myself.

It’s not that my parents couldn’t help, but they didn’t know how to help. Eventually, they figured out something they could do; they provided an overflowing amount of emotional support. They learned the importance of mental health and tried to apply learned principles into our home.

Caribbean parents can be very short-tempered, but my parents learned patience during the duration of my schooling. My mom tried to be available if I needed to vent my feelings, and my dad held me accountable for poor lifestyle decisions such as staying up late for multiple days or not eating all day.
Worry; Please don’t.
By: Amit Kamlapure
Tags: Trending Topic, Body, Insights, Mental Health, Improvement

Let’s talk about worrying.

Dr. Alexis Carrel, the legendary French Surgeon and Noble Laureate once said, “Business men who do not know how to fight worry, die young”.

It is known that the fear causes worry and worrying changes the entire internal body mechanism causing immense damage in a very short period of time. It makes you ill. Think of any disease and it may well be caused by worrying, mostly too much. It destroys your ability to concentrate and thus, our of power of decision.

OK. I’m worried already. Now what?!

Most advisable action is to really question the act of worrying itself. Understand why you worry and get the **** out of that stream!

Worrying about tomorrow? Ask if you have lived today. Until bedtime.

Worried about what has happened? Accept. And you shall release yourself swiftly out of the clutches of worrying.

Worried about a future outcome? Imagine the worst that can happen; it will take you to end of your imagination and only then will you be able to think beyond it.

But, there are times when it hits really hard and you cant fight back. The magic trick is to just remind yourself the cost that you might have to pay for worry in terms of your health. That works. That always works.

So, the next time you start worrying about something, ensure that you are not taking it to your heart, I mean literally.

By the way, is stock market going to crash tomorrow?
Very well written and very insightful I’m glad you posted this on Medium👍👍👍
By: Rod Jones Artist - Writer
Tags: Insights, Life, Life Lessons

Do You Allow Yourself To Follow Your Own Rhythm?

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We’ve moved! Follow us at @heapanalytics
Tags: Product, Analytics, Digital Analytics, Data, Insights

We’ve grown as a company, evolved our logo, and moved to a new page! Follow our new Heap page on Medium for our thoughts on digital analytics.

Latest insights include the point of analytics and why the tool is not the action.

New to Heap? Learn more about us at heap.io.
Read the Docs to Learn Programming
By: Bartosz Konikiewicz
Tags: Paradigm, Myths, Insights, Experience, Programming

Why Read?

I mostly read because it makes me more focused, but it’s solely a personal thing. I think that written tutorials are no different when you have just approached the problem and simply search on how to boot things up.

See, many written tutorials are no different than their video counterparts. They are comprehensive and cover an entire stack and walk you through the building a project start to finish.

Written tutorials can be more convenient. You can’t CTRL + F on a video, just as you’ve said. More so, you are not forced to rewrite the code. Once understood, you can simply copy the snippets. It’s not necessarily a good thing, but it’s worth noting.

I agree with the point that the blogs are easily updated, technology nowadays is truly outstanding and video annotations (at least on YouTube) easily mimic this feature. I miss information on how many people update their articles. For me, it’s hard to believe that authors care for their works for the time being. You probably don’t want to follow a tutorial that has been written more than 3–4 years ago anyway.
One
By: Karl Durrant
Tags: Wellness Coaching, Poetry On Medium, Insights, Inspiration, Mindfulness

Breathe (with ease) Move (with efficiency) live ( with compassion). Our intention is to make a difference. Patience is our test, our isolation is our gift. Minimise plans and expectations. Use what is here now to connect with the world. One moment, one breath, one step at a time.
Take a Step, Find a Trip
By: Karl Durrant
Tags: Fear, Psychology, Insights, Acceptance, Reflections Of Life

Sometimes I feel a bit uncertain of everything, went left to its own devices this uncertainty can over exaggerate inner fears and needs. When scared I feel the need to run, split and, in general, isolate myself from the world.

This fear paralysis needs acceptance before “now” can be seen. When feeling fear, I crave a different past for an alternate future. This craving is the mere illusion, and no evidence exists that my past is creating a future. The only evidence of what I am is here in the now.

Spending a day to I ask some fundamental questions such as ;

What am I lacking?

What do I truly fear?

What tools do I have?

How do I validate myself?

Answering these questions, I discovered I don’t need to be more as that will come; I fear because I am allowed to feel, I am human, be grateful for that. Self Observation, Awareness and ability to take action are the only tools anyone needs; My validation comes when I observe and act, not when disconnected.

Looking within and accepting the internal reaction application of this discovery falls into place with a natural simplicity. Now, Rather than looking at external agendas, I find myself just focusing on my immediate purpose, how I can serve and improve my world with a real connection. What happens, happens, a resistance of fear just leaves the soul in stagnant conflict. Applying acceptance and progression to conflict allows the discovery of beauty to where ever I stand at whatever the time.
The Work
By: Karl Durrant
Tags: Minimalism, Growth, Personal Development, Insights, Wellbeing

There is work to be done, but only in the self. When and how it is done is a personal choice. Please take what you own, halve it. If enough is left, halve it again. Now, with less distraction, the self becomes exposed. New distractions will be tempting, look inward for answers. The self needs to know you, without the external. We distract ourselves as fear grips our hearts. Allow freedom to permeate, and distraction will subside, exposing true purpose and inner contentment.
Limits of the Unable.
By: Karl Durrant
Tags: Psychology, Expanding, Limiting Beliefs, Insights, Acceptance

“Cannot” leaves the ownership of limits at someone else’s feet.

Being “unable” bring limits to the user. When owned permission to reason and explore change comes naturally.

We live in a world where people with no legs can run faster than those with two.

Paralympians take ownership of their inability transforming it to enduring and adaptable ability.

In any exchange ask….What or who is creating my “cant”? More importantly, can I take that ownership back? Become unable too own and expand what limits.
Foundation
By: Bridget Jones
Tags: Connection, Finroth, Foundation, Insights, Empiricism

By: You guessed it (Bridget Jones)

Trust is the crux of every strong connection. The Chisel family wants you to establish a deeper relationship and shared vocabulary with the founders you love and support. We make that pretty easy to do. With FinRoth, our team does market research (TAM, SAM, SOM, SWOT analysis and deep dive industry insights) for every single startup founder in each program our client supports. Say what? That’s right. Every single startup.

We give the founders templates and tutorials on how to measure churn rates, growth and sales within their business. And we give each startup a score based on progress. Startups can build in stealth mode until they’re ready to be seen. We allow investors onto our platform for a first glance into each startup that makes their startup visible. The ones they like, they invest in on the spot. The ones they don’t invest in will be able to understand how far away they were from funding. FinRoth is packed with step-by-step user guides and templates to place founders in their best possible position for funding.

We get it. There’s more to accelerators than strengthening their portfolios. But our position is to make sure we aren’t leaving money on the table. FinRoth is like Trello meets Hubspot, but for financial modeling.
The Pros & Cons of Analytics and Insights
Tags: Feature, Android, Caller Id, Analytic, Insight

As you’re likely already aware, everything in life has its pros and cons. So when it comes to our analytics and insights feature, we’d also like to share with you both the advantages and disadvantages of this unique new feature we offer our loyal users.

The Pros:

1.The feature helps you better understand where your time is going — offering personalized data about all your calling patterns and behavior, CallApp’s analytics & insights gives you a look into how your phone time is really being spent that you wouldn’t otherwise have. From your longest call to most favorite caller and caller you miss the most calls from, there’s really no insight the feature doesn’t cover.

2.The feature can help you be more productive — by knowing exactly how you’re spending your time, you can learn how to better use it. Sometimes, we’re not aware of how much time we’ve wasted away speaking on the phone to a specific person, or how many calls we’ve really missed that should have been answered. Maybe you’re even speaking too much during work hours without realizing.

3.The feature can help you better self-reflect — by seeing who you’re spending the most time peaking on the phone with, or even who you’re avoiding the most (missed calls), it can be a great way to self-reflect and take a deeper look into your behaviors.

4.The feature can help you save money — while many of us have unlimited calling plans, some of us pay as we go, or make long-distance calls and then are left with hefty bills without realizing how we got to that point. By seeing your calling analytics and insights, you can save yourself from making this mistake.

CallApp offers personalized calling data to each user

The cons

1.You may have to face some harsh realities — looking at your analytics & insights is a look into your behaviors, which also means that you might have to face some realities that you may have preferred to stay ignorant to, such as how many calls you miss, or perhaps the fact that most of your calls are outgoing.

2.You may never want to use another app again- once you use the analytics & insights feature, it’s likely that you’ll realize that you really don’t need any app other than CallApp to serve your daily needs.

3.You may become completely obsessed with CallApp — it’s also highly likely that after using the feature, you’ll fall in love with CallApp and will always be thinking and talking about it too. But hey, there are worse things in life, right?
Wonder Woman 1984 Review: Renouncing — Jennifer’s World
By: Jennifer Zeng
Tags: Movie Review, Wonder Woman 1984, Movies, Art, Wonder Woman

Just finished watching “ Wonder Woman 1984”. Frankly speaking, for me, it is not as good as “ Wonder Woman”. So I don’t feel like writing a formal review about it.

One point is very good, though. You can’t be greedy and ask for something that is not yours.

Another good point is, even if you’ve made a bad/wrong decision, you can renounce it.

I like the scene in the end when everyone is renouncing what they should not have wished for. When that happens, the destruction of the world stops, wonder, peace, and humanity comes back. Max Lord’s love for his son finally saved him.

Actually, when I watched all the terrible things happening when the world is being destroyed by everyone’s greed and ignorance, I didn’t feel that I was watching a movie. I knew this could be happening in our real world very soon.

So what do we need to renounce?

The specter of Communism, which is ruling our world. If everybody or a lot of people can renounce it, the world can be saved.

12/27/2020 *

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Upcoming Fighter Bhi Urdu Full Movie 2021
By: Lqp Action Movies
Tags: Movie Trailers, Movie Review, Movies, Movies To Watch, Upcoming Movies 2021

Latest Lqp Action Movies: Check out the list of all latest Lqp Action movies released in 2021 along with trailers and reviews. Also find details of latest.
Wonder Woman 1984
By: Rayek Reviews
Tags: Movie Review, Wonder Woman 1984, Gal Gadot, DC Comics, Wonder Woman

Full Review: Patty Jenkins is known for making the 2017 blockbuster, “Wonder Woman”. So, when I heard she’s making a new movie called “Wonder Woman 1984”, I was waiting to see another action packed superhero movie. But she really did surprise me with a romantic drama this time! I’ll be honest with you, I did not see that coming!

The movie tells the empowering story of a girl named Diana Prince, who had to leave her island country for America, to realize her dream of becoming a renowned archaeologist. And somehow (they didn’t really show the process) she makes her dream come true. She works at Smithsonian, rents a really high-end apartment, wears really expensive dresses to galas, can take leave from work any time she wants. I mean she got it all! And then BAAM! Suddenly her long lost love appears out of thin air! But she’s so happy to see him! And the guy is really great too; a Word War 1 pilot, good looking, really committed to her. Like match made in heaven! So, after some loooong overdue passionate moments, they decide to go abroad for a short honeymoon. But for some reason Diana had to fight some guys and trucks during their vacation. Didn’t really understand why DC added fight scenes in a romantic movie, weird choice…

Anyway, they come back from honeymoon, and obviously the guy starts having second thoughts. He doesn’t wanna stay. Douchebag! But the ever sweet Diana tries to convince him, but he convinces her that his staying here would do her no good. Basically he pulls the classic — “it’s not you, it’s me” move. But she comes to her senses in the last moment. So, she takes off, crying. At the same time, for some reason, the world around them is in utter chaos. My guess is that Pedro Pascal’s character was doing something really shady in the background. Don’t know why though. Anyway, the disgruntled Diana then decides to take it out on Pedro Pascal. But the wind was really strong that day, and she was having a bad hair day. So, she decides to just give an emotional speech and call it a day. I mean, guys, she’s an archaeologist, what more do you expect her to do?!

Oh, forgot to tell you that there was a girl in a bad CGI cat suit in the movie. Probably an extra from last year’s CATS got lost and wandered in the movie set. Don’t know why the director kept her footage in the movie though. To be honest, there were a lot of unnecessary things in this romantic drama. Two “100-cuts per second” fight scenes, an Olympic triathlon scene, the cat, some scenes with Pedro Pascal and his 100% Asian kid, and some other stuff. If they trimmed those fat, it’d have been way better!

Final Score: Gonna watch it on every Valentine’s Day/10
You’re not failing because someone else gets better,
By: Jumardin Taslim
Tags: Movie Review, Motivation, Life Lessons, Contemplated, Korean Drama Review

This part might contain a spoiler-

from My Wife is Having an Affair This Week

Bad luck for him, he found his wife actually met another man in the hotel lobby. Lost his mind, he’s approaching them and asking them several questions with an angry temper. Everything went wrong since that time. Instead of trying to save his marriage, he ruined everything.

Since that, he regularly asks the online community what should he do. Until someday, when he posted about he’s gonna forgive his wife it made someone in the online community went mad. This guy threatening to expose his wife's identity.

“You won’t get better because someone else’s fails. Neither you fail because someone else gets better.”

The community can’t allow this mad person to make everything going worst. Luckily, one of the community guys was an Internet Security Tech and help Hyun-Woo tracked the culprit. What a bit of shock, because it was his own boss who doing the threatening. His boss confesses the reason why he doing that.

Someone who hates you normally hates you for one of three reasons:

They either see you as a threat. They hate themselves, or they want to be you.

The main reason why the boss doing threatening is because he had an issue with his marriage life that made him feels so lonely. This issue makes him hate himself. Instead of seeing Hyun-Woo getting a happy ending with his problem, he wants Hyun-Woo to feel the same pain as he had and doing the threatening.

But in the end, it’s not worked at all. The community hates his action because you never look good trying to make someone else look bad. They stand together helping Hyun-Woo against the boss as known as the culprit.

Remember:

Being negative is a waste of energy.

Blowing out someone else’s candle won’t make yours shine brighter.

Do good and be kind, so people will respect you for a lifetime.
I choose to love WW84 even with it’s imperfections 🤣🤣
By: Douglas Kendyson
Tags: Gal Gadot, Movie Review, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984

I choose to love WW84 even with it’s imperfections 🤣🤣

Let me start by saying, I have very little expectations for superhero movies in general. Like if there was a bar, my expectations for superhero movies are 6ft below that bar. I watch them for the enchantment of it all. I definitely don’t even look for plot in superhero movies. I expect bright lights, beautiful people, and some action, that’s all. I’m content with that.

That being said, I saw WW84 last week, and I was blown away. Ofcourse by Gal Gadot’s beauty first, then Patty Jenkin’s greatness — every part of it was so breathtaking, it was a very beautiful movie. So why are you all bringing plot to this conversation? LMAO Why can’t you guys just be content that it was cute? I remember being like 50% in the movie thinking “hmmm, this is kinda dumb” but Gal Gadot smiled and I forgot that thought.

That being said, I saw WW84 last week, and I was blown away. Ofcourse by Gal Gadot’s beauty first, then Patty Jenkin’s greatness — every part of it was so breathtaking, it was a very beautiful movie. So why are you all bringing plot to this conversation? LMAO Why can’t you guys just be content that it was cute? I remember being like 50% in the movie thinking “hmmm, this is kinda dumb” but Gal Gadot smiled and I forgot that thought.

Now I’m seeing the commentary online and it’s annoying me lol. You all are making me think about the movie and I don’t want to, yes, a few things (maybe everything) here and there, some things didn’t add up, and the whole point of wishes was kinda dumb, but, but, can’t we just ignore? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I saw a whif of Roxane Gay’s review on my TL and I really didn’t want to read the rest of it because I knew where it was going but I eventually did and LMAOOO

I never saw cats (for obvious reasons), but I did see the screenshots and that did come to my mind when I saw the villian of WW84. Y’all are making me think about this movie for more than a second and “ion like det”. I want to preserve the joy and beauty I saw in the cinema but you haters won’t let me. 🤣

On the bridght side, the movie doesn’t get to “Flop at the box office” because there’s no box office, yay!! I love Patty Jenkins and her career arc so I’m rooting for her. Hopefully, they’ll take all your “unjust” hate and put it in a quality WW3 (not world war 3). 😃

PS: I’m not discussing this movie with anyone again.

In summary:
Steve McQueen’s Small Axe Anthology
Tags: Film, Movie Review, Steve Mcqueen, Movies, British Film

MANGROVE

When Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes) opens up Caribbean Restaurant, Mangrove, in Notting Hill, it becomes a pillar for the community of West Indians who view it as a piece of home.

Unfortunately, the police, specifically led by PC Pulley (Sam Spruell) see it as a symbol of Black people not knowing their place. Pulley rains down raid upon raid putting Frank’s business at risk.

A peaceful protest, Hands Off Mangrove, is arranged to combat the clear discrimination Frank is facing but wounds in nine protestors including himself, and activists Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright) and Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby) being arrested, and on trial, for conspiracy to incite a riot.

What is there to say about Mangrove? It was an enjoyable historical drama movie, and I was glad that, although it featured discrimination and racism — it wasn’t as upsetting and enraging for me as other shows and films have been/are. This meant I could focus on the story instead of being blinded by the hatred. So that’s always nice.

As said, this was a historical drama, the Mangrove Nine (as they are dubbed), existed, and hearing their story, one that took place in London and in a time that still feels so recent was incredibly impactful. These characters, these people who lived the experience made history by protesting institutional racism in the Metropolitan police and went a step further by having this formally acknowledged by the courts.

And this was only fifty years ago.

Whether or not this was the movie's intent, or it’s just an accurate reflection of how things were, the audience felt a unified disturbance with the treatment of Frank Crichlow and his restaurant Mangrove. It enforced existing notions of the unfair treatment of Black people at the mercy of those in power, and typically white.

As most people have reflected online, Mangrove is an important piece of British History that has otherwise gone unknown by many. Even those who live around the corner from where Mangrove was and its resurface couldn’t have come at a more poignant time.

Back to the piece of drama itself — it was incredibly well written, lyrical and moving with stand out performances from the majority of the cast members. It managed to shine a light on the happier moments of living while Black in London in the 1960s, the suffering that was simply unavoidable, and most importantly, the hopeful ones which is something that is still carried through today.
Wonder Woman 1984 is an Abysmal Parody of 1980s Kitsch
By: Maxance Vincent
Tags: Film, Movie Review, Wonder Woman 1984, Culture, Gal Gadot

The “magic rock” in question is found by Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a gemologist who helps the FBI in identifying the stolen artifacts from the mall robbery — Minerva wishes to be “like Diana,” as strong and powerful as her. Little does she know that a corporate magnate named Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) wants to steal the rock to become the wishing rock itself — granting everyone he meets their most precious wish and taking their most precious possessions in return. Lord’s “evil plot” is to hijack the President’s satellites to transmit to the entire world to grant them wishes, which inadvertently causes a nuclear war.

Nothing’s explained as to exactly “why” Lord wants to become the wishing rock itself and what he wants to do with it. Does he want to start a nuclear war? Or he only wanted to use it to take over the world? At first, you believe that Lord is using it for his personal gain, potentially making sense. It would be a clichéd plot, yes, but it would make more sense than hijacking the President’s satellites to grant wishes to the entire world. We never know Lord’s endgame to his far-fetched plot, which makes him an increasingly dull villain.

Pascal’s performance ranges from the over-the-top posture of Donald Trump to a poor man’s imitation of Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Robert Vaughn’s Ross Webster in Superman III. The nuance that he’s most known for is completely gone, as Patty Jenkins and screenwriters Geoff Johns and David Callahan reduces one of the finest actors working today to an absolute joke. Nothing about his performance is memorable or holds any emotional weight, compared to David Thewlis’ Ares in the first Wonder Woman. Some didn’t like him, but he was an ultimately better villain than the two antagonists we have here.

Kristen Wiig is also terribly miscast as Barbara Minerva. The more the film advances, the less her personal choices make any shred of sense. She becomes Cheetah by wishing for it — which culminates in a climax containing the “digital fur” of Tom Hooper’s CATS. The wishing rock's entire premise is as dumb as it sounds, but gaping plot-holes contradict the rules that the “rock” quasi-establishes during its first act. You can’t wish for something more than once, but Barbara wishes to become a Cheetah after wishing to become as powerful as Diana. To gain back what you’ve lost with your wish, you must say, “I renounce my wish!” which leaves an ever bigger plot-hole than contradicting the rules of the stone.
Wonder Woman 1984 POSTIVE MOVIE REVIEW
Tags: Ww84, Movie Review, Wonder Woman 1984, Superwoman, Spoilers

Wonder Woman 1984 POSTIVE MOVIE REVIEW

Wonder Woman 1984 is currently running in Indian theatres. The Patty Jenkins directorial brings Gal Gadot back in the role of the Amazonian superhero. Set in the 1980s, the DC movie pits Gal Gadot’s Diana against Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah and Pedro Pascal’s Maxwell Lord.

The film has received mostly positive reviews, though critics have said it is nowhere near as good as the original 2017 film.

Photo: Warner Bros

In the 1980s, Diana is working as a senior anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institute, where she meets Barbara Ann Minerva (Wiig), an insecure woman who wishes to be as powerful, confident, and stylish as Diana.

Pascal’s Maxwell is a businessman who wants the Dreamstone, the film’s MacGuffin that kicks off the primary conflict in the film. It is the Dreamstone that brings Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back into Diana’s life and that turns Minerva into Cheetah. It grants wishes but also takes back something vital. As Diana gets Steve back, her powers start disappearing. Minerva may have become powerful, but now she is a being of pure rage.

Maxwell eventually acquires the Dreamstone and begins to grant wishes himself. He also becomes an influential businessman, but begins to age and die. He counters this by sucking the life force of others. Barbara and Maxwell team up as she loves her newfound powers too much and does not want Diana to harm Maxwell.

Diana dons the Golden Eagle armor of the legendary Amazonian warrior Asteria (more on that later) and defeats Cheetah. Then Diana confronts Maxwell, who is using a brand new broadcast system to grant wishes to the entire world. He accidentally gives the US even more nuclear weapons and threatens a nuclear holocaust (perhaps the only relevance of the Cold War setting). Diana uses the Lasso of Truth to convince everyone in the world to renounce their wishes, undoing the damage Maxwell caused. Barbara also loses her powers.

Wonder Woman 1984 mid-credit scene:

A mid-credit scene after the movie has a mysterious woman rescuing people from being squashed under a pole. She looks like Wonder Woman. But she is actually Asteria, the legendary Amazonian warrior, who originally wore the Golden Eagle armour that Diana wears in the final act of the film.

Kristen Wiig in Wonder Woman 1984. (Photo: Warner Bros)

Also, the actor who appears as Asteria is actually Lynda Carter, who essayed the role of Wonder Woman in the 1970s’ TV series.

Wonder Woman 1984 released in India on December 24.

Thank you👍☺
In a Better World: A Movie Review
By: Ed Newman
Tags: Revenge, Movies, Life Lessons, Movie Review

MOVIES

In a Better World: A Movie Review

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!” said the Villager.

“Very good. That way the whole world will be blind and toothless,” Tevya replied. — Fiddler on the Roof Ed Newman Dec 26, 2020·3 min read

Photo by Kamal Bilal on Unsplash

I’m sure you’ve had this experience. The very first sequence of a movie produces in you a strong sense that this is going to be an extraordinary film. It happened for me with Run, Lola, Run. It happened with There Will Be Blood. And when I first ot, I knew right off that In a Better World would be a thought-provoking and painfully powerful film to watch, the kind of pain that comes from art. The opening film score and landscape shots alone conveyed that mix of beauty and pain which elevates it to something almost transcendent.

It’s a Danish film directed by Susanne Bier, whom you may know from Things We Lost In the Fire and After the Wedding, films I’ve heard of but have not yet seen. The story takes place in Darfur, centering primarily on two families. It’s a drama that looks at the problem of vengeance from an assortment of angles.

We meet Anton, the first main character, at a small outpost hospital where he is the doctor. A woman is rushed in with her stomach cut open and they begin the emergency surgery that they hope will save her. We hear that the “big man” did this, and the horror of it is this. The “big man” likes to take pregnant women and bet whether she is carrying a boy or a girl child. Then they cut her open to see if he won the bet.

Once you hear this story, you’re almost certain that we’ll be meeting the “big man” later in the film, and indeed we do.

Anton has a son Elias who is victimized by bullies in the school he attends. This son and a new friend named Christian will be a central piece in the story. Christian becomes the new kid in this tough school because his mother has died and father brought him to a new place. Like the bigger world where Anton’s dad works, this bullying situation is a microcosm, with its own “big man”…

Photo by the author.

What is the response to these bullies? What is the response to violence? When Christian sees the school bully corner his friend Elias in a basement bathroom, he chooses violence to subdue the kid, and threatens him with a knife.

In another confrontation Anton attempts to teach the boys that there is an alternative to revenge. By turning the other cheek we demonstrate our strength and the other person’s foolishness. This lesson doesn’t sink home with the boys, however, and they make other choices in response to things going on.

This inadequate summary is meant to simply hint at the variety of ways violence is examined in this film. The acting is top-notch, the pace is good, the story remarkable.

This is not the kind of film you will balance a checkbook to. Besides, much of it requires reading subtitles. It is the kind of film that will move you if you engage it. We live in a broken world. How do we respond to the violence that is tearing us apart?
2020 ‧ Comedy/Drama ‧ 1h 36m (Review)
By: Blake'S Movie Reviews
Tags: Review, Film, Movie Review, Movies, Halfbrothers

Half Brothers



PG-13 | 2020 ‧ Comedy/Drama ‧ 1h 36m



(Review)

“Half Brothers” is half amazing







So, I just finished this film last night and I loved the message it was trying to send, half Brothers is a road trip\Bromance movie that sends two brothers on a road trip tracing the path their father took as an immigrant from Mexico to learn about his story and hardships in a new country.







When the Economy crashes Flavio (Juan Pablo Espinosa), flees to America and never returns, leaving his son to grow up without a father. The now grown-up Renato (Luis Gerardo Méndez) gets a call from his dying father’s new wife and it brings his rage to the surface, and when he goes to America to say his goodbyes, he instead learns he has a half brother, Asher (Connor Del Rio), and now has to solve his father’s riddle to find out the truth behind his life’s story.







While the message of the film is beautiful, unfortunately, that message is tarnished by the unbalanced story, while the film is funny, even hilarious at times, it takes away from the main message this film is trying to send. I wish we could have just seen Flavio’s (Juan Pablo Espinosa) story I feel like the Two brothers going on a road trip was a creative but worse way of telling their father’s story, but even with all of that said I would still recommend this movie to my family and friends who like comedy and Drama. Even though this film does not fully come across as a Drama there are still moments that tug the heartstrings!







⭐️⭐️⭐️➕
Comedy, Horror, Thriller
By: Blake'S Movie Reviews
Tags: Honest, Review, Movie Review, Movies, Freaky 2020

Freaky (2020)

R | 102 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller

(Review)

“Freaky” isn’t so freaky







So, I just finished watching “Freaky” and I have to say Vince Vaughn (Blissfield Butcher) and Kathryn Newton (Millie Kessler) made this film. It’s hard to believe that Vince can play a better teenage girl than an actual teenager and that Kathryn can go from a sweet girl who is trying to find herself after losing her father to a brutal serial killer. It’s amazing what these actors can do, just switching their emotions on and off.







The movie takes the viewer on a thrilling chase when Millie Kessler (Vince Vaughn) wakes up in a serial killer’s body after she was attacked the night prior. Now it’s a race against time to try to stop The Blissfield Butcher (Kathryn Newton) before he kills more of the kids in her school, and take her body back before it’s too late!







This movie has some of the best acting in a body swap movie I’ve ever seen. And the soundtrack (by Bear McCreary) For this movie is impressive, it immerses the viewer in the action. The only real complaint I have is that the movie isn’t really that much of a horror movie, it’s just a little bit gory and they call that “horror” while it might be ok for some people it’s not for a true Horror fan, it didn’t really scratch the horror itch I had going into the film, but despite its lack of Horror or what I believe to be true Horror, I would still recommend the movie to my friends and family who like suspense and a good laugh.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️➕
“Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square” Movie: An In-Depth Love Analysis
By: Sara Knick
Tags: Movie Review, Love, Christmas, Analysis, Heartbreak

I visited my dad’s side of the family yesterday and my cousin put on a movie that had just come out this year. It was called, “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.” It was filled with a lot of twists and turns. The main character in the movie, Regina, got pregnant when she was younger and the baby was given up for adoption. She was not accepted in this town. She was originally going to sell the town to profit off of a business opportunity. She found out who the baby grew up to be and there was a happy ending.

She desired career success, money and wealth. There was a lot of unresolved conflict from her past that disconnected her from feeling a connection with people in the town. She didn’t get to be with the man that she loved and this caused her sadness that she buried inside of her.

She couldn’t feel empathy for any of the town members because she was already feeling that she was not accepted in the town to a large degree. She was going to sell the town because it did not mean anything to her. There was no connection or meaning that she valued from it.

When we feel hurt, we can either choose to heal ourselves or choose to hurt others. This main character, Regina, was not fully healed from the past. There was no resolve about what had happened in her younger years. She continued to hurt others emotionally by being disconnected from them, showing a lack of empathy and acting for her own selfish gain.

Regina wanted to sell the town. This was what she came to the town to do originally. The angel and the angel-in-training in the movie helped her to change her heart and her mind. She connected with her son, who was the pastor of the town, and decided not to sell the town after all. The town had meant something to her by the end of the movie because she reassigned new meaning to it.

Regina kept having flashbacks to these feelings of being alone and unaccepted in love during her high school years.

The movie had shown that when we get hurt, we can continue hurting ourselves and others if we don’t get resolve. In love, she was hurt and disappointed. She knew that she was not accepted and acted in ways that were not heart-centered. She used control so that she could obtain power, money and wealth. She did not consider her own happiness until the angel in the movie brought it up.

At the beginning of the movie, she was determined to sell off the town. She associated this town with negativity and hurt because of her past. Throughout the movie, she reminisced over memories of the town and what the town meant to her so that by the end of the movie, she decided to not sell off the town after all. In love, we should strive to connect to our true selves and our authenticity as well as act in ways that are heart-centered. This is where we will find happiness.
Coolie No. 1(2020)- Review
By: The Couch Review
Tags: Sara Ali Khan, Varun Dhawan, Movie Review, Amazon Prime Video, Movies

Coolie No. 1 (2020) is a comedy film, remake of the 1995 film Coolie No. 1 starring Govinda and Karisma Kapoor in the lead roles. It starts with Jeffery Rozario (Paresh Rawal) who wishes to marry his daughter, his only criteria is choosing a boy who is extremely wealthy. Soon he gets acquainted with Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh (Varun Dhawan), who is a billionaire, has a slew of cars, and dines with famous cricketers & film stars and has phone calls with Trump & Modi. Sounds way too good to be true right? That is because it isn’t remotely true. Kunwar Raj Pratap Singh is in reality Raju a coolie. In order to get married to Jeffery’s daughter Sarah (Sara Ali Khan), Raju is portraying the persona of being ultra-rich, after he is convinced by pundit Jai Kishan (Javed Jaffrey) to do so if he wishes to marry Sarah. Jai Kishan has an ulterior motive of bringing the pride of Jeffery, after he was balefully insulted by him. Raju, in trying to keep up the ruse of being rich gets tied down in his own spiral of lies, which creates supposedly funny situations.

The story is what one would expect, not logical but giving out hilarious content. At the core of it, it mimics the original film with a few variations applying modern touches to it. Varun Dhawan puts good effort in his portrayal of Raju, but it seems too much effort as at times it feels like he is over acting. Due to Dhawan’s similar acting style across most of his movies, the character of Raju & its portrayal seem very much like the main character played by Dhawan in ‘Main Tera Hero (2014)’. Raju’s recurring mimicry of famous actors & dialogues can get annoying after a point of time. The film surely tries to cast actors famed because of their comical prowess namely Paresh Rawal, Javed Jaffrey, Rajpal Yadav & Johnny Lever, but even with these, the film does not meet the expectations of the viewers. Particularly Jaffery’s portrayal of Jai Kishan & him being casted in that role can be questioned.

From time to time Bollywood has proved movies can be funnier even with its absurd & illogical story line, but this movie’s story is not even remotely backed by a funny movie to the level one would expect. The fight scenes seem redundant and unnecessary with the story line. The soundtrack has a good set of artists creating it with fairly good songs, but the songs seem forced in the context of the movie and try to stretch the movie for no apparent reason. The movie does not even give time to build up to the story or get familiar with the characters, rather delves directly in it within a few scenes.

Overall the movie isn’t extraordinary or indulging. No one would see anything different from similar types of existing movies. You will not miss out on much or actually anything if choose not to watch the film. The movie is at most worthy of your sparest of spare times, surely not one for which you should be making time for.

Acting- 6

Casting- 6.5

Cinematography- 8

Dialogue- 6

Directing- 7.5

Editing & Effects- 6

Sound & Music- 7.5

Story- 4

Storytelling- 4

Rating- 5.5
Space Travel Sci-Fi Movies -Top Picks
By: Rajesh Shah
Tags: Space Travel, Movie Review

Below is my pick for space travel Sci-Fi movies. These are the movies by the top Hollywood directors and actors in the last decade. VFX in these movies is fun to watch and story telling and performances is extra ordinary. So grab some pop corn and enjoy the show!

Interstellar (2014)

This Christopher Nolan movie, is my top pick for space travel science fiction category. The movie intelligently bends the definition of time with regard to space travel. Stunning VFX , musical score and sound effects makes this movie delight to watch. Strong performance by Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Micheal Cane — this movie is must watch.

The Martian (2015)

This feel good movie by Ridley Scott is one of the realistic space travel movie which builds on human desire to colonize Mars. Matt Damon is at his best performance surviving against all odds. VFX and story telling will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Gravity (2013)

This movie builds on a space accident and human spirit of survival. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney playing main characters. I like how the story is developed around real human space achievements like “Hubble Telescope” , “International Space Station” and others.

Passengers (2016)

This movie is mix of space travel sci-fi combined with romance and relationship. Directed by Morten Tyldum stars Jennifer Lawerence and Chris Pratt as two passenger on 120-year voyage to colonize a remote galaxy. VFX for this movie is enjoyable.

Ad Astra (2019)

This Brad Pitt space travel thriller explore his relation ship with missing father(Tommy Lee Jones). Directed by James Gray, this movie takes you into vastness and surprises of the space travel.

The Midnight Sky (2020)

This is a new release produced and directed by George Clooney, based on the 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. It stars Clooney as a scientist who must venture through the Arctic Circle with a young girl to warn off a returning spaceship following a global catastrophe.

Happy Holidays!