The Hitcher (2007)
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I was looking forward to seeing what Sean Bean would make of the role in this remake of one of my favourite 80s movies. Not a lot, it turns out :-(

A watchable film sure, no problem there. Quite nicely done even.

As a remake though, blehhhh. The creepy atmosphere of the original seemed to have hitched a lift elsewhere and the dark humour had wandered off too. The few plot changes seemed pointless and added nothing.

Bean, meh. Neither menacing nor frightening imo.

A Fucking Cruel Nightmare (2010)
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Slice of German "extreme" horror which really failed to impress. The gore fx were like something from Monty Python and the whole thing was just flat and a bit tedious. I wouldn't recommend this to fans of extreme unless like me you just want to have a complete list.

Shame really, there were some good ideas in there. I think it would have worked better as a full-on trippy dream style thing rather than whatever it was they were aiming for.

Mirrors (2008)
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Seemed like 24 with ghosts in places. Can't really put my finger on why this movie failed to impress - interesting story, polished production and all that, but it was as if it all stopped at the back of my eyes and failed to penetrate any deeper. Characters seemed cliched to the point of paint-by-numbers and it had an annoying lack of attention to plot holes as well.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
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Animated adaptation of one of my favourite childhood books. It was very nicely done, charming and entertaining on it's own terms, definitely.

As an adaptation of Dahl's story though it was disappointing. As with most Dahl screen-adaptations the darkness was gone and the story padded out with American and modern culture and "added excitement". Also, Boggis, Bunce and Bean were nowhere near unpleasant and detestable enough.

Crooked House is streaming on Netflix till Dec 1. It wasn't bad in anyway, it just wasn't that memorable. The best scene was from the story that took place in the 1700s where that guy's walls kept growing black spots. That was somewhat creepy.

As for Sunset Blvd, I rewatched that recently with the new blu ray release, I was blown away by what a great film it was. Like you said, flawless. Entertaining as hell. One of the greatest movies from one of the greatest film makers.

Pontypool:

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That film was fucking great, awesome sound, amazing tension for such a small cast and simple setting, and a unique (to me) concept what with using speech to infect the population rather than the standard gas/bioweapon/being bitten/wounded you usually see, definite buy!

The Hollow Crown: Richard II

The last film I saw was Machete Kills...go figure

I loved this film too - get execution of the 'Less is More' concept. There is a very similar movie called Dead Air and though it stars Bill Mosley, it isn't nearly as goo.

The Boondock Saints, the wife had never seen it.

Love that movie. One of my favorites. What did she think?

Im watching The Hunger Games right now with my fiancee in preparations for seeing Catching Fire on Sunday

The Strangers for the 3rd time. :rolleyes:

She loved it, but I think that's because she's such a big fan of Dary... I mean Norman Reedus haha.

Catching Fire was good, better than the first one IMO. Tucci has been great in both and Phillip Seymore Hoffman was a pleasure to watch.

World War Z (2013)

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Oh, and I was thinking these Zombies don't bite bald-headed people.:p Nothing great, just an ok time-waster.

>>: B-

Byzantium (2012)

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As a 'vampire-tale' it was just fine but unnecessarily too long (near about 2 hours!). Specially, found the first half quite boring. Expecting more from this film, so kinda disappointed.

>>: B-

The Colony (2013)

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I'm not referring to The Thing or recent crappy flick Hypothermia, but instead of having this raze-zombies like cannibalistic humans, I think this sort of extreme cold scenario is more suitable for weird-deadly creatures.

>>: C

The Book Thief (2013)

Had to see this for a review I was writing. Garbage trash movie. Stay awaaaaay.

Haha yeah Norman Reedus has really become popular lately. I wonder why? :rolleyes:

Good to know. Both of those actors are great, i really enjoyed Tucci in the first one. He seemed to have a lot of fun with the role.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Having myself a Harry Potter marathon. Will continue it when I get home from work today.

"Kon-tiki" 8-9/10


Beautiful.

Love movies such as Life of Pi and this one.



"Melancholia" 7/10

Not a big Trier fan, but to my surprise i liked most of Melancholia. Especially the last half.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Elaborate...

I only ask because a friend of mine who enjoyed the book said it was AMAZING and I don't usually see reviews that swing so far on the spectrum! I've heard the premise and it sounded interesting but I'd hate to waste my money on garbage.

I didn't know this had been made, I loved the story when I was a kid and the 1950 documentary was good. Looks like this one might have had a touch of hollywood treatment and the cover art's a bit off-putting but I'll give it a go anyway, cheers.

Not seen Pi either but enjoyed the novel. Can't really imagine it being faithfully made into a movie as there's so much internal stuff in it.

I'm pretty new to Trier but I did enjoy this. The production and style reminded me a lot of the Film4 productions of the early-mid 90s that I really loved. Will definitely be finding more of his films.

I was thinking of getting this, I thought it sounded pretty good too. It seems to have mixed reviews and I read something about it being a "safe" portrayal of Nazi Germany whatever that means. Well I think I can guess what it means but I don't know if that necessarily makes it a bad film...

Yesterday I watched The Mist (2007)

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Horror sci-fi based on a Stephen King story. I thought it very good - decent plot, great monsters and the whole thing nicely done. The only downside really was the ending which although a good idea I found a bit too contrived and unconvincing to have the impact that it might have done.

I'd read the book as well, but i was pleasantly surprised about the movie.
Imo the best movie of 2012.

Saw Man of Steel (2013) last night. Enjoyed it though, without spoiling anything, they do take some fairly dramatic liberties with the traditional Superman storyline.

Kick-Ass 2 (2013)

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>>: C+

And Toy Story 1 & 2 with wife.

Don't be Afraid of the Dark -

This is almost a perfect horror movie, especially for young kids. The house setting is beautiful, filled with gardens, lakes, and hidden areas both inside and outside. All of the rooms in the house have an old mysterious feel. I like the double staircase with the secret room in between. And the cinematography is nice too. There is a good library scene later in the movie as well with an old manuscripts area. Because of the setting I thought this was England or some European country and not America. I say the movie is almost perfect because it needs a few fixes. Stuff that somehow made it into the movie that I'm sure many see as flaws. And they are mostly character problems like the house worker and caretaker. They are basically the crazy Ralph types but not played as crazy. So when something goes wrong it should be taken more seriously. But it's not. Little things like that happen and you wonder why as it makes the characters look stupid. It's not like the ghost in the house with stupid characters sort of stuff either that lesser movies do. But the people are getting hurt and bad stuff is happening and characters seem to put it off. Also, I didn't like the twist ending that much. It's dark and I don't think it really needed to happen as it didn't fit with the character's development. At least I thought it didn't. I still want to see the original. But I thought this was pretty good.

Europa Report (2013)

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This is another 'found footage' sci-fi, survival-thriller/horror flick but sharing almost a similar premise (moon), Apollo 18 was much...much better. The good cast kinda wasted in this frustratingly slow-burn 'same old' story where an international crew of 6 astronauts embark on a mission to Europa, one of the largest Jupiter's moons and as you can guess, after a technical failure they loses all communications with Earth mission control & then facing a series of deadly crises, the crew still stupidly continues their mission to Europa and encounters something unknown...a baffling mystery...(or who gives a fuck?!)...a bioluminescent predatory creature that's more of a cross between octopus and squid!
Besides, the very usual slow-burn nature of the film with boring 'atmospheric' space ship environment factor & uninteresting characters, another major disappointment comes through the point of disclosure of the creature...there's only a glimpse of it near the very end of the movie. I just don't understand this! If you're making a sci-fi horror flick that's got a mysterious creature, then try to show or reveal it properly...if you got a budget problem, then stop making this. Every unknown/interesting or deadly creature needs a fair amount of screen time in every movie. If you can't make it happen, then that's your off-limit, try something different within your budget, talent or whatever you're capable of showing in a movie.

Not worth your time, IMO. Skip it.

>>: C-

"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" 6/10

Together with The Hobbitt this must be the longest build-up to something happening i've seen in many, many years. The entire story was more dull than entertaining and many of the characters just annoyed me, most of all the pathtic character Peeta, who should've been killd off in the beginning of the movie (The first movie, of course).


"Contracted" 7/10

I'm pretty sure i'm not the only one who was thinking "The Fly" during the entire movie.
Really appreciated the originality of the story (for this genre), and i might be a blind moron,
but i honestly didn't see that ending coming.
Contracted has been blamed by alot of IMDB users for being way too slow paced. Well, except for the first 10-15 minutes i didn't find it slow at all. Found it highly entertaining to see all these terribly gross things happening to this poor girl and i thought it was a shame the movie didn't go on half an hour longer, as it kinda ended in a climax.


"Captain Phillips" 8/10

Started out with terrible shaky camera work and constant closeups of peoples faces
for the first 5 minutes. We don't need that. Ever. Tom Hanks isn't that pretty anymore.

Oh well, when that being said..Highly intense movie with terreffic performances all around.

Nothing more to say. See it.

So he's not on your hotties list anymore?

Can't say that he is, no. Maybe in the 80s.

Yeah, I was surprised by this one too. Thought it was going to be awful, but I was pretty impressed.

Finally got around to seeing World War Z. I had pretty low expectations going in, and the movie only managed to just barely surpass them. Spoilers ahead.

What I liked:

Truly epic scenes of zombie mayhem and some well directed action sequences like the plane infection break out.

What I didn't like:

very bland characters, bland resolution, very little done to address the breakdown of social order or the breakdown of infrastructure needed to keep survivors alive.

The only reason this movie managed to surpass my expectations is because it managed to do at least one thing right, and I expected nothing to be done right. The scenes in Isreal and the plane flight out of Isreal were pretty spectacular and well-staged, I have to admit. It had a few other nice touches here and there, like North Korea's solution to the zombie outbreak. The soundtrack wasn't bad either.

The problem was the screenplay- in an effort to make the characters likable, the screenwriters robbed them of personality or plausibility. Particularly bad was the protagonist's wife, with no disrespect to the actress who played her, who did what she could with such poorly written role, emotionally supportive but physically dependent. What an albatross. There is also the standard lapses in logic like, why is there still electrical power? Where is all the food and water coming from? How can professional television broadcasts still be produced after most of the civilized world has been destroyed and the bulk of its population killed?

Reportedly the original third act was to take place in Russia, and it involved the protagonist being conscripted into an army to fight against the zombies which stretched over a time period of months. I think this would have been a more dramatically satisfying ending than the trite solution found at the W.H.O. A brutal slog would have been more plausible and interesting than a magic bullet. All in all, I would say the movie is worth watching as long as you manage your expectations and don't take it too seriously.

A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH with Brendon Fraser. Liked it. Nice blending of original story in new framework.

"Holes" 7/10

Must be the most advanced Disney story to date.
Didn't even feel like a Disney movie most of the time, which is a good thing in my book. :)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
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I wasn't a fan of this book so i thought i would end up not liking the film but i have to say, that i really enjoyed it. Despite the fact that i wasn't crazy about the book, i was glad they kept it true to it. There was one part they left out that i was disappointed that they did but for time reasons, i can understand why they did. The pacing that i had such a problem with in the book wasn't an issue here and Katniss didnt come off as whiny and annoying as she did in the book either. Ultimately i thought it was fun, exciting, and well acted especially by Woody Harrelson and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Inside
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From what i had heard about this movie prior to seeing it, i expected this to be one of the most disturbing movie's i've ever seen. After watching it, i gotta say i didnt really find it all that disturbing. It was brutal and graphic but it didnt leave me with that deep feeling in my gut and it didnt bother me afterward at all. If i was a woman, it would've probably bothered me a lot more especially a pregnant one.

As for the movie itself, it was ok. It seemed to rely more on its blood and subject matter then the actual plot and performances. The movie is flawed by its less than likeable lead, the most inept police force i've ever seen and one of the things i hate most about heroes.

SPOILERS
Having the chance to kill the villain, our heroes morality kicks in after seeing her burned and pitiful form and it is here mercy that ultimately gets her killed by the villain in the end. Thats one thing i hate about heroes, its like they can't be the good guy unless they want to spare the villain. It's pathetic and weak. I know it's honorable and good hearted and all that Superman crap, but if someones trying to kill you, you should try your hardest to kill them right back unless you want to end up dead yourself. It's probably why i like Villains so much, at least one reason why.
END OF SPOILERS

Throw in a brain damaged "zombie" cop and you have some serious issues with the movie. Besides that though, if you're looking for violence, it's there and there's even some creepy moments before the blood starts flying and if a gory violent flick is what you're looking for then give this a watch.

Brian Keene's Ghoul
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This is one of my favorite Brian Keene books so i was interested in watching a film adaptation of it. Unfortunately this was terrible. The acting is painful and the movie itself is boring. Really disappointing.

I also have been watching some Christmas movies. A lot of the animated classics as well as The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2

Last night I watched Olaf Ittenbach's "Beyond the Limits" and unfortunately, didn't find it as strong and scary as it was expected for me (because of the things I've read about this flick). It's rather some kind of dark fantasy stuff than the horror movie.

the christmas box great story

The Messengers.

Pretty predictable haunted house story with a good cast. Very average.

Just saw Hunger Games last weekend and LOVED IT.

I'm a big fan of the books and while I remember liking the first movie when I saw it in the theater, I don't think that it really lived up to repeat viewings.

With the second movie, however, I thought it was really fantastic - It was emotional, but really well-done (I cried a few times!). The action was also well-done but I'm mostly impressed with how they carried the anti-government story without sounding too preachy. I also think that from an acting standpoint, everyone upped their game.

Absolutely loved it.

...

Haven't seen Inside for a while, but I remember really enjoying it when I originally saw it. I agree on the disturbing elements; it's definitely more gory than your average slasher fare, but not as disturbing as, say, Martyrs, which I think it might have been compared to because, I don't know - They're both French I guess?

Triangle

I wasn't expecting anything from this flick but I ended up really enjoying it. The plot had holes but all in all it was a fun ride through time.

"Open Grave" 7-8/10

Well made, but with a very slow build-up. The story was interesting tho
so it didn't really bother me that much.

Could've been a sequel to The Crazies.

^I must say I really enjoyed it.

I watched Dear God No. Typical exploitation horror, but nothing more than that.

Insidious 2 - Loved it. Very creepy and some good scares as well.

All the boys love Mandy Lane - Nothing special about this at all. Ending was stupid and acting was terrible.