The Social Network (2010)

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"We lived in farms, then we lived in cities, and now we're gonna live on the internet!".

After Fight Club Fincher here comes again with a fascinating film that I think may going to be regard in future as one of the most important films of this era. To some extent it actually defines the log-on & plug-in generation of this age. It's also a morality tale that drives by desire, marked by triumph and tainted by betrayal. What makes The Social Network specially so good is how wonderfully it scripted by Aaron Sorkin. He employs a very effective framing formula...the Zuckerberg lawsuit depositions, which introduce the various characters and lead into "flashbacks" of the events being discussed that helps to intensify the mystery behind the Zuckerberg character and what exactly transpired in his creation of this phenomenon, Facebook.
The accuracy of portraying these real life characters into cinema won't bother you that much as you'll see some definitive works of interesting characterization here. Jesse Eisenberg was marvelous as Mark Zuckerberg with his fast-paced & nerdy attitude. Justin Timberlake pretty nicely played Sean Parker who suggested "Drop the 'the'. Just Facebook. It's cleaner", and also helps in maximizing the networking site. And Andrew Garfield who plays Eduardo becomes a mildly strong moral connect to the audience in a film where you pretty much do not know whose side to take until the end.
It is interesting to consider that the actual content of facebook, with its virtual screen between who we are and how we want people to see us is arguably a result of the lead character who wants so desperately to connect yet somewhat has little instruction on how to do so in his real life.

Overall, it's a remarkable, totally dialog driven drama cum thriller ride that you need to see before log in to 'Facebook' next time (Just kidding!:D). Anyway, highly recommended.

>>: A

The Last Exorcism (2010)

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The idea of the story wasn't bad actually but the idea that ruined it was POV format. I couldn't able to find one single, decent creepy moment in this film for its too much shaky movements of the camera.

>>: C

Frozen River (2008). This bleak and tense drama is a testament of the great American dream as it circles the drain. The first scene is a powerfully slow, almost tedious pan that sets the emotional tone of this flick. This tale of the cultures clashing, in admirable low-rent style and amidst a harsh winter backdrop, takes the crumbs that life has to offer as if they are life-sustaining victuals because they are just that. Of course, there is always a shortcut over to the greener side, and this is where the film's plot comes to tempt warmth in its frozen landscape. The acting was sublime, with Melissa Leo giving the performance of a lifetime. She simply nails the love-driven desperation of a mother put to odds that must somehow rise up to provide. Courtney Hunt's directorial debut was smashing, with enough awards to smother the mantelpiece. The camera worked its magic such that the cold realities of life radiated out onto the viewer. Not a flick for those tending towards despondency, for those of stronger constitutions this might well be worth a go. Merci beaucoup.
Genruk

Yeh he never quite got there did he. I loved Narrow Margin when it came out.

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A big thanks to Elvis for the rec

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lots of stuff I've never heard of....great fun.

now only if I could find a copy of "Turkey Shoot".

Glad you enjoyed it man!

You might have better luck finding Turkey Shoot under it's alias Escape 2000.

ha...thanks bro....found it ...also put "Dead End Drive-In" in my queue

Tarantino's obviously a big fan....maybe he'll put these out on DVD so we can get them in the states.

Yeh I believe there's a few in the pipeline from Synapse.

Umbrella Entertainment have put a lot of them out and are about to release a third oz-ploitation boxset.

My favourite of the bunch is Stone. Which has a really good R1 release from Severin.

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Gotta love those grainy VHS prints! I am sure the DVD transfer looks much better but this gives these 80s films a real nostalgic feel. Sad thing is, my copy is scratched for the last 15-odd minutes, so its time I put it back from where it came.

A very underrated film which deserves much more attention, IMO. Bronson is great and supported well by a great supporting cast. Supposedly based on a true story in Canada. Some of the cinematography shots really blow you away!

If you haven't seen this one yet, be keen to check it out if you can. I ll be hunting down its DVD for sure.

Death Hunt is killer especially since it has Action Jackson himself in it :D

The Day of the Beast (1995)

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>>: A-

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Lesbian kissing was pretty much the only thing worth watching in this one.

Book Of Eli

Recently I had watched , Harry Potter's latest sequel. It was superb movie.

V's recent watches got me digging thru & watching some tapes too:

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Def-Con 4 sounds so-bad-it's-good delicious. Gotta find that one.

I remember seeing The Slayer a long time back. One of the more notorious video nasties. Some pretty cool deaths in that.


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Really surprising to see how many good sci-fi films of the 70s and 80s went under the radar, while their more illustrious brothers (Star Wars, Alien etc.) basked in the limelight. Shame, really. These films are collecting dust in shelves everywhere and modern crap keeps getting the rental hits.

Harvey Keitel really shines as the brains behind the mad robot. There are some really fantastic shots of Saturn and it's moons and the landscapes, plus the nail-biting climax adds to the tense atmosphere throughout the film which is complimented by a stellar background score. My only gripe would be that the climax was a bit hurried and short for such a wonderful plotline. A pretty gripping script, neat direction and fabulous performances - this one has it all.

What it doesn't have, is some much-deserved popularity. People, go find Saturn 3 and watch it.


* * * *

I had recently seen Coach Carter movie and truly inspired with it..

Just Before Dawn (1981)

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>>: B+

Chatroom (2010)

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>>: B-

Cued up...

La Strada (1954). A classic masterpiece of epic proportions, La Strada is a simple tale of romance without love. But simple is a deceiving notion, for the deep symbolism, the depth of the characters, and the emotional elements captured by this near perfect flick are far from simple. With obvious parallels of life's journey, this story is of brutality and moral innocence, revealing the paradoxical marriage of the two, daring to question fate itself, only to ask if it is fair to face the mountains of despair that fate piles up onto mankind. The acting was brilliant, with Anthony Quinn's performance stunningly boorish. It was Giulietta Masina's Charlie Chaplin-esque, playing the angelic thief hearts, that stole the show. Her child-like expressiveness and curiosity with all that life has to offer, be it intriguing or mundane, intimated that romance can be found in all corners of existence. This rightly has been noted as Fellini's first masterpiece, an auteur that dwarfs other legendary directors. The score questions whether the imagery inspired the music, or maybe the other way around. Even the camera work and lighting were impressive, with techniques used whose outcomes defied Newtonian logic. For those with patience for a master to sneak in the magnificence of his genius, this Federico Fellini masterpiece offer rewards unbounded. Merci beaucoup.
Genruk

King of California: I absolutely loved this movie. Pretty funny and quirky. Michael Douglas plays a mentally disturbed old guy rather well.

30 Days of Night: Dark Days: I made it about 25 minutes in and had to turn it off. I heard it was bad, like really bad so I had to see for myself since I loved the original. God it was painful. Avoid at all costs.

I enjoyed this too. Quite a sad film but really good.


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Pulled out another old tape last night:

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I have the first 3 or 4 series of NAM.

I love it - I could only watch it in short doses as I get flash backs for days later...THE HORROR....THE HORROR...

Hav e you seen the episode with Ving Rhames in it?

Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)

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Another well directed, fascinating, atmospheric and intense Spanish masterpiece from N.I. Serrador (the director of La residencia aka The House that Screamed...one of my favorites!). At least it deserved to rank on a high spot in the sub genre of Evil Children films. Absolutely loved it. But the most surprising part stroked me at the very start of this movie. It doesn't begin right off with its story. Instead, along with the opening title & credit it presents images of dead or dying children in concentration camps and war zones. A voice over tells us that in war and in disasters caused by humans, children are the greatest victims.
There, just after the WWII concentration camp report, comes some footage of Indo-Pakistan War of 1971...which also known as 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War! The war that gave our nation independence from the Pakistanis after fighting for the freedom for 9 months and losing lives of more than 3 million people including the terrible & unforgettable loss of those families & children. The footage used in the film were shocking, true & devastating and I wasn't expecting at all that I'd see them in a golden 70's horror film from Spain.

>>: A-

Evil Aliens (2005). This one comes out of the gate with the bar set pretty low, dropping even further with a porno-esque, audibly poor, and horribly acted set-up, which it turns out was simply masked brilliance. The movie then lurches forward in its campaign of utter hilarity punctuated with, or should that be colored with, pulpy red splatter galore. Seamlessly moving between fun and the squishies, Evil Aliens was a fabulously entertaining piece of work. Emily Booth helms the acting of this top-notch comedy horror which is sensibly replete with homages to horror past. Written, directed, and edited by Jake West, Evil Aliens accomplishes the impossible, which includes references of some of the greatest of genre flicks out there. Added to this was the camera dudes' contributions, with scene after scene striving towards optical glory. If your looking for a serious and scary movie then look elsewhere, this film is for those that are simply looking for a bloody good time. Merci beaucoup.

been watching old biker movies as of late

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mindless corny fun

Man I love biker flicks! The Glory Stompers is great.

I honestly can't recall hadn't seen any of them since they came out. Do your versions of the series have the original music?

and it continues


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at least there were boobs in this one.

Unfortunally not :(

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

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Fantastic trail court drama. Besides the awesome cast, liked the very humble & kind performance by that real life lawyer who nicely portrayed the judge.

>>: A

Those original ones are pretty elusive to find these days. Totally sucks how they've done that to a bunch of the old shows. Married With Children's theme was totally butchered with some elevator music :mad:

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Neat little sci-fi thriller that grows on you with repeated viewings. Fantastic background score by Jerry Goldsmith which adds a ton to the suspenseful mood of the film.

A must-watch for all folks here in HDC.

* * * *

Gomorrah (2008). This loosely stitched canvas of intertwining victims of post-Roman misery is cinema verite at its finest. The initial confusion as to the plot and other elements of story-telling requires a heavy element of patience, but patience here is rewarded with a rich cinematic experience. In essence, this film revolves around the decay of an empire built upon corruption, an inescapable reality which precludes virtue in one's efforts to get ahead. This is a world where vocational morality will lead to a dead end job in a pizza palace, and even then the boss man will likely be tainted with the filth of corruption. The film is shot with a drab essence that hints of a culture bled dry, and we get to experience this snapshot of the inevitable exsanguination and decay of Italy. The documentary feel of Gommorah only adds to this dismal reality, with the camera work leading the way in a flick whose intention is not so much to entertain as it is to move. The end is epic in its denial to allot for an authentic denouement, a bravado that will leave the viewer with an empty sense of have been cheated, a feeling no doubt frequently felt by those that its characters depict. Merci beaucoup.
Genruk

changing it up a bit...different genre...same grindhouse feel

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I actually saw this on its first run at the drive-in.

Bad Ronald 1974.....creepy as fuck..

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Just watched the trailer on Youtube. SOLD!!

Great movie - I think its just been released on Warner DVD too..

The Backwoods (2006)

The ending was a disappointment that didn't clarify properly a major point of the story.

>>: B

Despicable Me (2010)

>>: B+

The Town (2010)

It's well made with good cast & story but still...typical Bollywood material.

>>: B

Devil (2010)

A pretty decent "stuck in Elevator" horror thriller. I think Mr. Shyamalan decides well to just share his idea/story only and saved it by letting others do the screenplay & direction job. Like to see its sequels when they'll come out. 2nd one sounds daring...A horror treatment of 12 Angry Men!? but don't sure about the final one..."third installment of The Night Chronicles is actually going to be taken from the unplanned sequel of Unbreakable"!

>>: B+

Monsters (2010)

It's well made but weird! Don't expect any usual sci-fi monster movie at all, it's kinda road movie in a post-monster-attack apocalyptic settings where 2 people at the end fall in love after watching 2 monsters making contact (love?) with each other!

>>: B

I watched "Survival of the Dead" last night. I think it is probably the weakest installment in Romero's Dead series, that being said, it's worth a watch for fans of the series, but other than that, it doesn't offer much.

-6/10.

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How I love atmospheric period horror flicks! The bleak countrysides, the mist-covered ominous forests, the brooding and terrifying silence interspersed with close-up shots of a brilliantly incandescent full moon...and the low snarling growl of a hidden beast suddenly turning into a full-blooded roar of merciless evil.

So much atmosphere dripping through the film, which made me really nostalgic and reminded me why I absolutely love films like Sleepy Hollow, Brotherhood of the Wolf and all the Corman-Poe adaptations of lore. Some minor flaws aside, this is as enjoyable a modern horror film as one can hope to be.

Fantastic. I ll be revisiting this soon...very soon.

(loudly howling at the full moon)


* * * ½

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"Haunting of Winchester House" 7/10


Despite the rather bad script, the below average acting from all involved (except the black dude) and even worse dialogue, i actually thought this was a quite good haunted house movie.

Lots of ghost moments. Some better than others.

Animal Kingdom

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This was excellent. Put it on your "must see" list especially if your into gritty crime dramas.