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2.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"So intent on finding the shortest route to the essence of the book that it never discovers its own soul."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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4/4 |
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(2009) |
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"The film has a renegade attitude but is also clearly respectful of the purpose of children's stories -- to entertain, to teach, to imagine -- and it's a joy to experience."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Because Bella does a half-hearted attempt to understand Jacob's lycanthropy compared to the half-assed job she did trying to comprehend Edward's vampirism, it has less than half the intrigue of the first movie."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"The movie has little ambition to the creation of its world and even less when it comes to the humor."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Works in its own simple way because we believe and connect to these characters."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"There's so much ambitious spectacle, but it's surrounded by so many lazy contrivances that one would want to gasp in astonishment if one weren't chuckling and groaning in aggravation so often."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"The closest the movie comes to a rebellious statement is in naming one of its British government officials "Twatt." Forgive me if I don't want to throw on the Who and start ranting against the Establishment after that bit of scathing criticism."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"The cinematic equivalent of foreplay. It's all about building mood, teasing us, and, in between the lines, promising an eventual payoff."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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4/4 |
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(2009) |
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"So honestly written, so vividly directed, and so brilliantly performed we are transported to a psychological nightmare of despair, insecurity, only the slightest glimmer of hope, and the smallest, most bittersweet rewards."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Hilarious and also sobering."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1/4 |
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(2009) |
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"A lot of nothing happens in The Fourth Kind."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
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(2009) |
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"This is easily [Kelly's] most accessible movie, but it's also his least involving."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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4/4 |
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(2009) |
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"In spite of its holiday trappings, A Christmas Carol is an incredibly bleak look into the deepest and darkest human fears, but it is also a vibrant celebration of our better natures."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"The lesson, I guess, is that it really sucks being a mom, but it's also incredibly unrewarding."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
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(2009) |
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"A darkly funny and fun macabre fantasy that constantly winks at itself and expectations."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"If ... you have completed a third grade social studies class, this biopic will only tell you what you already know then tell you a third time but not before telling you a second time."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Does indeed deserve admiration for its loving actualization of Sendak's world ... but the movie's dissertation-like expansion of the story never truly comes together into anything meaningful."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
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(2009) |
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"A frustrating example of an intriguing premise and skillful execution gone formula."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"A living, breathing, affectionate look at all the possibilities and pitfalls of growing up."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Undeniably scary."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Joel and Ethan Coen show how good they are at collecting their esoteric ideas and putting them on display in a meaningful way."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Doesn't have either the guts or wherewithal to follow through with the humor and stick to its setup."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Has a few flashes of genre-bending inspiration ... but the rest is a little too low-key and obvious to really set this zombie comedy apart."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Manages to make a sport about women on roller skates beating the crap out of each other tedious."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Its later digression in tone and reliance on formula are alternately incompatible and lesser than what comes before it."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Considering the vast spread of the subject matter of Capitalism: A Love Story, that the film works as well as it does is an accomplishment."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
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(2009) |
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"The whole affair is surprisingly dialogue-heavy, in spite of the fact it has nothing meaningful to say."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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0.5/4 |
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(2009) |
|
"It's all terrible, ugly ... and not funny."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
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(2009) |
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"There's no time taken for their individual progress, so we don't care about these kids as individuals."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Comes so close to defying formula and expectations only to conform to them."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Wants a lot but doesn't manage to achieve any of it."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3.5/4 |
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(2009) |
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"We'd love to sympathize with Mark Whitacre if he weren't such a crook."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
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(2009) |
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"Bright (although that brightness is quite diminished if you see it in 3-D), cheery, and at times flat-out hilarious."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Arriaga's affinity for the humanistic ... propels The Burning Plain."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
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(2009) |
|
"We do wish you the best in your future endeavors and that you do manage to find a warmer climate."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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0.5/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Takes itself far too seriously, saying nothing of timeliness or value in a banally overblown fashion."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"A visually striking piece of work from first-time feature director Shane Acker."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1/4 |
|
(2009) |
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"Which of these characters is even recognizable enough in the sphere of human existence that we might be able to think, yes, I get him/her[?]"
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Moments that add up to a bit more than incoherence ... and an overall sense that Zombie has a clear idea of what he's trying to say but is without the skill to say it."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"A quick, cheap cash-in."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2.5/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Despite setting itself up as a behind-the-scenes, insider's look at the making of the Woodstock Festival, Taking Woodstock tells us nothing new about the 1969 event that defined a generation."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Ah, the problems of twenty-somethings in the Real(ly Fake) World."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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4/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"There are no pure heroes or villains in Tarantino's vision of WWII, just varying degrees of the dredges of humanity in a time and place where the shadows have free reign."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"It's breaking [its own] rules in half, stomping on them, tossing them in the stove, and then throwing them right out the window."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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4/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"We are truly dealing with a master."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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2/4 |
|
(2009) |
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"Its early allegory may be blunt, but its second half begs for something even as heavy-handed as that to keep it involving."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
|
(2009) |
|
"Twohy constantly dares us to guess, only to throw the scent elsewhere, get us accustomed to our new idea, and then throw it back right where it started."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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3/4 |
|
(2008) |
|
"Actually has half a brain in its head."
[movie review] |
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Mark Reviews Movies |
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1.5/5 |
|
(2008) |
|
"Cares about poker just a bit more than it cares about the characters, and the movie doesn't give a shit about its characters."
[movie review] |
|
UR Chicago Magazine |
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| |
3.5/5 |
|
(2008) |
|
"A really sweet film about growing up weird."
[movie review] |
|
UR Chicago Magazine |
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|
