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Best/Favorite Movies of 2018

dmm5157

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With today being the last day of 2018 and tomorrow being a holiday, my wife and I have been catching up on a bunch of movies released this year. I have been checking Top 20 or Top 50 lists to get ideas for which movies to try next.

Personal favorite movies (not best, just movies that I enjoyed) that I've watched over and over again this year were:
  • Game Night: This one was just really well directed/filmed comedy. This is a movie I have easily watched 20 times (at least in part) this year, mostly due to it being on HBO A LOT this year. Hilarious and love the casting as well.
  • Ready Player One: Really fun, great special effects, loved the nostalgia. I read the complaints about the film, they didn't bother me. I'm a gamer and fan of pop culture of 80s/90s, so it was of particular interest to me.
  • Isle of Dogs: I think I like the stop-motion animation films from Wes Anderson better than his live action stuff. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of my favorites and Isle of Dogs did not disappoint. This one is no where near as light-hearted as TFMF, but it does have that signature quirkiness that Wes Anderson is known for. Not as good as TFMF, but good on its own merits.
Honorable Mention:
  • Searching: Watched this one on a flight and it was tripping me out. Some aspects were a little hard to believe, but it was a creative and innovative approach to story telling. Certainly not what I expected. If story was a bit tighter, I'd have liked it more.
  • The Avengers - Infinity War: This was the only movie I watched in the theater this year (First movie I've watched in theater in 4 years). First time through, I didn't love it. I did watch it again this weekend and liked it much more this time through.
My "best" movie that I wouldn't want to watch again is A Quiet Place. I loved this film. Really struck a cord with me on how smart the family was, how much thought went into their planning. That was the same effect that the Martian had on me as well. That said, it's not a feel-good film, so the 2 times I watched it will probably be it for me.

Here are a few acclaimed movies that I did not enjoy this year or didn't feel lived up to the hype:
  • Hereditary: Watched this one yesterday because it was on a lot of "best of" lists. Just a really hard film to watch, I didn't enjoy the ending and the story didn't make a lot of sense even after reading some explanations online.
  • A Star is Born: Movie started out ok, felt very cliche. The singing was good, but overall the story was a miss for me.
  • Mission: Impossible - Fallout: Watched this one last night, story felt like mostly retread. I was surprised how many lists had this one in the top 20 for 2018. Good, not great. Certainly didn't think it was #2, as is shown on IMDB.com.

The movies I have on queue to watch tonight/tomorrow are:
  • Bad Times at the El Royale
  • Roma
  • The Sisters Brothers
  • Tully
I used the following lists as references to skim through.

Rotten Tomatoes: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-movies-of-2018/
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls021105452/


So what were your favorites? Which did you like/dislike? Any you'd recommend adding to my queue of films released in 2018?
 
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Weren't as many movies as I thought....

Movie I liked:
Bohemian Rhapsody (excellent)
The Catcher Was a Spy (excellent)
Green Book (excellent)
Sicario: Day Of The Soldado (very good)
The Old Man & The Gun (very good)
The Mule (very good)
Molly's Game (very enjoyable)

Honorable Mention:
A Star is Born - liked it more than I thought I would. Liked the first half, dragged through the second half, but the end was very good.

Wanted to see, but haven't:
Tully
Game Night
Bad Times at the El Royale

Movie I thought were 2018, but weren't. Old man time marches on....
Only The Brave
Blade Runner 2049
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
American Assassin
Wind River

Source: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2018&p=.htm
 
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I watched Deadpool 2 on the plane to Germany earlier this year. I liked it a lot. Was that even a 2018 film though? Either way, I think it's the only movie I saw this year. Never realized just how much I don't watch movies until now. I guess I'm much more of a music fan than a movie buff.
 
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Weren't as many movies as I thought....

Movie I liked:
Bohemian Rhapsody
Green Book
Sicario: Day Of The Soldado
Molly's Game
The Old Man & The Gun
The Mule

Honorable Mention:
A Star is Born - liked it more than I thought I would. Liked the first half, dragged through the second half, but the end was very good.

Wanted to see, but haven't:
Tully
Game Night
Bad Times at the El Royale

Movie I thought were 2018, but weren't. Old man time marches on....
Only The Brave
Blade Runner 2049
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
American Assassin
Wind River

Source: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2018&p=.htm

Liked Sicario as well. The Mule is high on my list to watch as soon as it comes to video. I'll get around to Bohemiam Rhapsody at some point, but not eager right now. The buzz is a bit much, so my mindset isn't right to watch it and give it fair judgement.
 
Loved Isle of Dogs and Bohemian Rhapsody.

Game night was hilarious.

Watched MI: Fallout this weekend. Enjoy it.

Saw Bumblebee last weekend and it was really entertaining. Enjoyed the pop culture references and music. Much like Ready Player One.
 
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Now I do not want to be judged on these titles , as the wife gets to choose what movies we watch as I force her to watch sports ( even though sports are great, but whatever)
We also are On Demand watchers, do not go to theater very often

these are in no order, I just pulled up my on demand purchases
side note
the wife went with a group of friends and watched Bohemian Rhapsody and loved it, but I am waiting for On Demand

1. Night School-awful, predictable, one or two funny moments
2. Blockers-predictable, some funny moments, not a waste of the 6 bucks
3. Tag- heh, ok some funny moments
4. I Feel Pretty-Amy Schumer movie which was beyond awful
5. Overboard- I had to go to the liquor store to buy more liquor to just make it through that awfulness
6. Life of the Party-typical Melissa McCarthy-ok at best
7. The Spy Who Dumped Me- was ok, I love Mila Kunis, so worth watching
8. Game Night-Big Bateman fan, thought it was a good flick
9. Oceans Eight-Heh--ok at best
10. Dead Pool 2- I thought it was very good LOL funny at more than a few points
11. Dog Days-I enjoyed the film. I love doggies and there were some tear inducing moments, worth a watch
 
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Thought Sicario was great, loved the first one and waited for this one. Didn’t disappoint. Same with Jurassic World.

Still want to see The Mule and Bad Times st El Royale
 
Faves this year

A Quiet Place
Annihilation
Leave no Trace
Ready Player One


Overrated imho:
The death of stalin
Black Panther
The spy who dumped me
 
Weren't as many movies as I thought....

Movie I liked:
Bohemian Rhapsody (excellent)
The Catcher Was a Spy (excellent)
Green Book (excellent)
Sicario: Day Of The Soldado (very good)
The Old Man & The Gun (very good)
The Mule (very good)
Molly's Game (very enjoyable)

Honorable Mention:
A Star is Born - liked it more than I thought I would. Liked the first half, dragged through the second half, but the end was very good.

Wanted to see, but haven't:
Tully
Game Night
Bad Times at the El Royale

Movie I thought were 2018, but weren't. Old man time marches on....
Only The Brave
Blade Runner 2049
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
American Assassin
Wind River

Source: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2018&p=.htm
Went to see The Green Book with wifey and two grown kids... Awesome flick that brought me back to many events in my childhood in N. Fla. Doc Shirley apparently was N. Fla. influenced, like other black musicians who later made a mark. His arc was very different and really interesting.
Viggo was a very surprising Brooklyn redneck/tuff guy and Ali as Shirley worked his role to perfection.
 
With today being the last day of 2018 and tomorrow being a holiday, my wife and I have been catching up on a bunch of movies released this year. I have been checking Top 20 or Top 50 lists to get ideas for which movies to try next.

Personal favorite movies (not best, just movies that I enjoyed) that I've watched over and over again this year were:
  • Game Night: This one was just really well directed/filmed comedy. This is a movie I have easily watched 20 times (at least in part) this year, mostly due to it being on HBO A LOT this year. Hilarious and love the casting as well.
  • Ready Player One: Really fun, great special effects, loved the nostalgia. I read the complaints about the film, they didn't bother me. I'm a gamer and fan of pop culture of 80s/90s, so it was of particular interest to me.
  • Isle of Dogs: I think I like the stop-motion animation films from Wes Anderson better than his live action stuff. The Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of my favorites and Isle of Dogs did not disappoint. This one is no where near as light-hearted as TFMF, but it does have that signature quirkiness that Wes Anderson is known for. Not as good as TFMF, but good on its own merits.
Honorable Mention:
  • Searching: Watched this one on a flight and it was tripping me out. Some aspects were a little hard to believe, but it was a creative and innovative approach to story telling. Certainly not what I expected. If story was a bit tighter, I'd have liked it more.
  • The Avengers - Infinity War: This was the only movie I watched in the theater this year (First movie I've watched in theater in 4 years). First time through, I didn't love it. I did watch it again this weekend and liked it much more this time through.
My "best" movie that I wouldn't want to watch again is A Quiet Place. I loved this film. Really struck a cord with me on how smart the family was, how much thought went into their planning. That was the same effect that the Martian had on me as well. That said, it's not a feel-good film, so the 2 times I watched it will probably be it for me.

Here are a few acclaimed movies that I did not enjoy this year or didn't feel lived up to the hype:
  • Hereditary: Watched this one yesterday because it was on a lot of "best of" lists. Just a really hard film to watch, I didn't enjoy the ending and the story didn't make a lot of sense even after reading some explanations online.
  • A Star is Born: Movie started out ok, felt very cliche. The singing was good, but overall the story was a miss for me.
  • Mission: Impossible - Fallout: Watched this one last night, story felt like mostly retread. I was surprised how many lists had this one in the top 20 for 2018. Good, not great. Certainly didn't think it was #2, as is shown on IMDB.com.

The movies I have on queue to watch tonight/tomorrow are:
  • Bad Times at the El Royale
  • Roma
  • The Sisters Brothers
  • Tully
I used the following lists as references to skim through.

Rotten Tomatoes: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/best-movies-of-2018/
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls021105452/


So what were your favorites? Which did you like/dislike? Any you'd recommend adding to my queue of films released in 2018?

Got home early from work today and watched Roma. Well shot movie, beautiful cinematically, but it was depressing and not much happened. I can see why it will win awards, but didn't enjoy watching it.
 
My "best" movie that I wouldn't want to watch again is A Quiet Place. I loved this film. Really struck a cord with me on how smart the family was, how much thought went into their planning.

Except for John Krasinski apparently forgetting to wrap up and Emily Blunt having a baby when the world is under attack by aliens that hunt by sound. But other than that, they were a very smart family.

;)
Kidding... I really enjoyed it too.
 
I just saw Aquaman and I actually liked it a lot.

Loved:
A Quiet Place
DP2
Ready Player One

Really Liked:
Crazy Rich Asians
A Simple Favor

Saw, but can't even remember:
Game Night
Mission Impossible
Incredibles 2 ( I actually fell asleep. Will def catch on rental/NetFlix)

Wanted to see but missed, have to watch for on video:
Bohemian Rhapsody
Meg

A little disappointed:
Annihilation
The Arrival
Infinity War
 
How did Happytime Murders not make anyone’s list? Kidding, that movie was the worst thing I’ve seen.

One that I liked that hasn’t been mentioned is Instant Family. Was expecting a comedy like Daddy’s Home, but it was different and good. The only bad thing was my allergies kicked in a few times and mad my eyes water.
 
BlacKkKlansman
Crazy Rich Asians
First Man
The Kindergarten Teacher
Ready Player One
Roma
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Tale
 
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Anyone seen Overlord? Looked interesting but like The Mule it was a movie that I felt I could wait and watch at home.
 
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I'm pretty sure I didn't watch a movie all year. I think that may be a first for me. I did watch a few documentaries on Netflix but didn't go to a theater.
 
tl;dr

Kidding, so its a book better than movie deal? I have not read the book, and really like the movie.

Yes, sort of. They made some weird/lazy choices in the screen play. Changed song/movie references for no good reason. Changed puzzle solutions to stupid solutions - like driving backwards. Essentially gave it the Michael Bay treatment with lots of car chases and explosions instead of the content that made the book popular.
 
There were only a few movies that made much of an impression on me at all this year. Not to say that I didn't enjoy anything else, but nothing more than a passing diversion. That said, I haven't seen the end of year awards bait movies yet.

Top Two - these are the only two movies I saw that made a significant impression on me and would enter my personal canon of movies I really like and would repeat watch (watched them both twice now). While I don't feel like I saw a ton of great movies this year, adding two to my personal all-time favorites (of I don't know...30? 50?) is actually pretty amazing.

American Animals - loved it. Loved the unorthodox structure, the writing, the acting, the moments of humor, and above all the tension. Only movie I saw this year, maybe in many years, in which I physically felt the tension. I'd call this the best movie I saw this year.

Bad Times at the El Royale - I have a hard time separating how much I liked this movie with however good it might be objectively. If you scientifically designed a movie by algorithm to ping on my most enthusiastic interests...you'd have this. Watching it literally feels like it was made for me, or by me (if I had that talent)...it was literally ticking off boxes one after another of things that I'm really into and interested in. To see those interests, relatively obscure individually, combined into something I liked so well was really amazing. That said, I do think it was a good movie objectively, although maybe not great, and even I thought it could lose about 8-10 minutes in the climax. I thought it was a little better objectively than the critical consensus, but can understand everyone not loving it as much as I did.

Third place, a good deal down from those, for BlacKKKlansman. Probably the third best I saw this year. Short of being a personal all-timer, but definitely a standout for the year.

I liked other stuff, but wouldn't consider anything very notable...maybe honorable mention to Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Into the Spiderverse, and A Simple Favor.

It's funny...looking through the best of lists, there are plenty I haven't seen yet, because they're either too obscure to have come across them yet, or too new, or I just haven't gotten around to it. But I have seen a lot of the movies that have made the best of lists that don't come close for me, while my favorites are nowhere to be seen. I guess that's the norm for most of you cinematic philistines, but my movie snobbishness normally tracks a little closer to the "best of"s I thought.
 
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Into the Spiderverse for me. I was blown away by the style....it was unlike anything I have seen. And the story and pacing were amazing. For a movie trying to look like a comic book, it’s oddly the first animated movie I have watched where I stopped thinking it was animated.
 
Saw Holmes & Watson over the weekend. Pablum for the masses? Yes. LOL all the way through? Absolutely.

The ads for this had me amused, but I heard on NPR last week it had a zero score on Rotten Tomatoes for a time (but was about how rare that ‘accomplishment’ is).
I enjoy Will Farrell being over the top. Closest thing to Robin Williams we still have.
 
The ads for this had me amused, but I heard on NPR last week it had a zero score on Rotten Tomatoes for a time (but was about how rare that ‘accomplishment’ is).
I enjoy Will Farrell being over the top. Closest thing to Robin Williams we still have.

When the trailers came out for that, it was one of those things where to me, if they can't find one even mildly amusing thing to put in a trailer, it's a no hoper. I was almost in awe of how bad the trailer looked, as if you put those two guys in line at 7-11 and it's got to be funnier than that.

Reviews seem to indicate its as I surmised, so I won't be partaking, but to be truthful, those guys are generally just kind of comfortable to watch, even if it's not actually funny.
 
tl;dr

Kidding, so its a book better than movie deal? I have not read the book, and really like the movie.

Same, although I did read this "disappointed" write-up. That's about on-par with what I'd read from others who griped about the movie. That's pretty typical with any movie based on a popular book. I had never read the book, so all of it was new to me and I thought the execution and chemistry was actually really good. I love Mark Rylance (he was outstanding in Bridge of Spies), so I had no complaints with his portrayal as Halliday.

My biggest complaint about the movie (which does irk me) is how dated the idea of VR with omidirectional treadmills is. Reminds me of Virtuosity every time I see it. Today, we'd be looking at more of a "matrix"style immersion, or even Black Mirror "Playtest" type of connection for the Oasis. I understand why they used it the way they did, as they wanted the physical world to impact the virtual player. That said, it annoyed me to see Grandma playing a boxing game wearing Boxing gloves in her kitchen in the movie and a guy surfing on a surf board. I would have liked to see that aspect made to seem a little more plausible, but again I understand why they did it: It's more entertaining to see people's bodies mimicing what they're doing in the Oasis, even if it's impractical in reality.
 
There were only a few movies that made much of an impression on me at all this year. Not to say that I didn't enjoy anything else, but nothing more than a passing diversion. That said, I haven't seen the end of year awards bait movies yet.

Top Two - these are the only two movies I saw that made a significant impression on me and would enter my personal canon of movies I really like and would repeat watch (watched them both twice now). While I don't feel like I saw a ton of great movies this year, adding two to my personal all-time favorites (of I don't know...30? 50?) is actually pretty amazing.

American Animals - loved it. Loved the unorthodox structure, the writing, the acting, the moments of humor, and above all the tension. Only movie I saw this year, maybe in many years, in which I physically felt the tension. I'd call this the best movie I saw this year.

It's funny...looking through the best of lists, there are plenty I haven't seen yet, because they're either two obscure to have come across them yet, or too new, or I just haven't gotten around to it. But I have seen a lot of the movies that have made the best of lists that don't come close for me, while my favorites are nowhere to be seen. I guess that's the norm for most of you cinematic philistines, but my movie snobbishness normally tracks a little closer to the "best of"s I thought.

Probably should have included American Animals on my list, but forgot all about it.
 
Agreed, I was more impressed with Haunting of Hill House than just about any movie released this year.

Yeah, while I'm not really of the position that "movies suck these days compared to (whatever year I was 15)" looking back for this post, I didn't see a really deep year. Any year that gives me two all time favorites is unusual, but I had a hard time pulling together a few just plain excellent movies.

I suspect it's somewhat because I've become inured to the superhero thing, and maybe action blockbusters in general. I'm really spoiled (and have told my kids they are spoiled) by the general quality of action blockbusters compared to my youth, when you went in assuming any action movie was crap in terms of quality, and were pleasantly surprised if a movie like Timecop was a solid C movie in addition to be an action movie.

Heck, I think you could say the same thing for any genre film...horror, sci fi, etc. The idea that you can go into one of these and expect an actual quality film, instead of just counting the amount of blood or explosions is remarkable.

That's actually a great thing overall for movies, and super underappreciated, and it's opened up a ton of quality movie experiences in previously schlocky genre pictures. But I know that I just viscerally don't seem to be able to generate the visceral "wow that was GREAT" from most of them. Marvel movies, Mission Impossible, horror movies like Quiet Place...I guess I go in expecting them to be pretty good, and when they are pretty good...that's about it. I move on easily. I don't know if I can have the same reaction to a Marvel movie that I would get through the first Avengers movie, or maybe Guardians 1. I don't think a horror movie can imprint on me as an all time favorite the way Let The Right One In did a few years ago.

Like, I love Silence of the Lambs, but when you revisit something like that or Aliens, the few genre movies that "crossed over" in to critical and general audience consensus back in the day, you realize just how pedestrian they would appear today. Still good, but not remarkable. Like a lot of other people, I thought Ready Player One was just ok...it was fine. But if something like that came out in the 1980s or early 1990s, it would be a generational film just for being relatively coherent. The bar is higher.

But even with that excuse, the mainstream general audience drama/mystery/smart thriller genre seemed a bit weak this year. I really liked BlacKKKlansman and El Royale obviously, but otherwise, pretty weak. Maybe it's unfair because it's too stacked, but 2007 had No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Gone Baby Gone, Zodiac, Eastern Promises, and Before The Devil Knows You're Dead. I'm just not seeing much depth there this year. I didn't think last year was THAT strong, and this year seems worse.

Maybe it's because the resources (financial, but maybe even more so TALENT) are being diverted into superhero and genre movies that don't thrill me like they used to.

Like you, I kind of feel like my TV appreciation did kind of bounce back this year, with some stuff I really loved, and a lot of stuff I liked. I don't know if I have my TV watching well bifurcated by year like we do with movies, but it does seem like TV has gotten a little more creative and interesting in the last couple years.
 
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My biggest complaint about the movie (which does irk me) is how dated the idea of VR with omidirectional treadmills is. Reminds me of Virtuosity every time I see it. Today, we'd be looking at more of a "matrix"style immersion, or even Black Mirror "Playtest" type of connection for the Oasis. I understand why they used it the way they did, as they wanted the physical world to impact the virtual player. That said, it annoyed me to see Grandma playing a boxing game wearing Boxing gloves in her kitchen in the movie and a guy surfing on a surf board. I would have liked to see that aspect made to seem a little more plausible, but again I understand why they did it: It's more entertaining to see people's bodies mimicing what they're doing in the Oasis, even if it's impractical in reality.

In the book, Cline describes the OASIS as being introduced in 2012 and representing a significant step up from the contemporary technology, which would have been the Oculus Rift and the Novint Falcon. It was a consumer product on par with other consumer electronics. Matrix-style immersion VR is still a long ways away today and would not have been even close to viable in 2012. We aren’t anywhere close to the type of brainstem jacks used in the matrix or play test. From a consumer perspective, I think we are closer to the technology of San Junipero and transferring consciousness to an artificial neural network than to VR immersion technology that connects directly to the sensory vortices.
 
In the book, Cline describes the OASIS as being introduced in 2012 and representing a significant step up from the contemporary technology, which would have been the Oculus Rift and the Novint Falcon. It was a consumer product on par with other consumer electronics. Matrix-style immersion VR is still a long ways away today and would not have been even close to viable in 2012. We aren’t anywhere close to the type of brainstem jacks used in the matrix or play test. From a consumer perspective, I think we are closer to the technology of San Junipero and transferring consciousness to an artificial neural network than to VR immersion technology that connects directly to the sensory vortices.

Right, but the movie says Oasis was first created in 2025 (makes sense how it's just advanced VR for that time) and the movie takes place in 2045. I suppose they could have had a reversal in technology with the famines and wars, riots, etc.

Seeing people running on omnidirectional treadmills just seemed like old tech, not futuristic. We're a lazy culture, so it's oddly in conflict with what one would expect over time.

The other thing that was odd was Nolan Sorrento's rig. Doesn't explain how he moves if he's laying down.

But I digress, that was one aspect that bugged me.
 
2025 is only six years from now. There’s no way a matrix-style immersion system could be viable for even research deployment, much less a consumer video game system by 2025. A visor and haptic feedback system that is accessible to the impoverished, like the one in the movie? That is plausible. Regarding the tech/economy context, according to book, by 2045 the US is into the third decade of the Great Recession following a complete collapse of global energy markets and infrastructure. People are living in doublewides and airstreams and using old car batteries and exercise bikes for electricity.

The haptics of the gloves and treadmill are primarily user feedback, rather than input. They can provide input to the system to control their avatars via hand movements, if they only have gloves, or they can use the treadmills, haptic suits, or immersion bays, like Sorrento’s, to provide input. This is demonstrated in the movie during the final battle in which thousands of people are shown fighting in the streets using only their visors and gloves.

In the book, Cline describes the haptic chair and sphere of the immersion bays as molding to and flexing with the body’s movements, stating that “While you were logged in, you could walk or run in any direction and the sphere would rotate around and beneath you, preventing you from ever touching the wall. It was like being inside a giant hamster ball.”

Wade also acknowledges in the book that his movements in the simulation are essentially the only exercise that he or anybody else gets. Given how people play with Wii controllers, Rockband instruments, and DDR mats; I don’t think it’s unrealistic to portray people using haptic gloves and visors as they do in the movie/book.
 
I'm guessing the Locker Room would really enjoy, A Quiet Place, The Purge, Leave No Trace, Before I Vanish, and You Were Never Really Here. They're all from 2018, but they still feel relevant today.
 
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