What was the last movie you've seen?

[vash23n]

Killing Fields is definitely worth checking out! Man I have forgotten about that film, I watched it years ago when I was young with my Dad. I think the guy who went through all that hell ended up moving to California and opening a little shop. He was later killed in a robbery. To have gone through all that and be killed by scum bags who have no clue of the horrors that exist outside of their own little sphere... actually this story may be about the actor who played that guy... either way, still a shame.

[Pulsar_t]

Killing Fields is definitely worth checking out! Man I have forgotten about that film, I watched it years ago when I was young with my Dad. I think the guy who went through all that hell ended up moving to California and opening a little shop. He was later killed in a robbery. To have gone through all that and be killed by scum bags who have no clue of the horrors that exist outside of their own little sphere... actually this story may be about the actor who played that guy... either way, still a shame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haing_S._Ngor#Murder



To have survived under the Khmer Rouge only to be murdered by thugs in Chinatown LA. A real shame indeed.

[OldSchool_Boy]

Dead Zone and The Fly

Cronenberg has a strange way to how he ends his films.

[REPO Man]

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I prefer my Sleepy Hollow with Jeff Goldblum and Dick Butkus.



In all honesty, I didn't care for Burton's take on that book - it proved to me that he works much better with more original/novel stories. With the exception of what he did with Batman, his other adaptations of popular fiction have been fairly horrid. I'd put Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and Ed Wood up against Hollow, Alice, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory any day. Basically, all he does now is just Burton-ize a story by adding Johnny Depp, strange effects and settings, and a coaxing a forced/faux creepiness out of the original material.

Maybe, but with each of those three films you mentioned (Hollow, Alice, and Charlie), he provided his own touch to each one and even went beyond the source material.

I mean, in Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane practices early forensic techniques and the Headless Horseman has his own mythology.

In Alice in Wonderland, this represents Alice's THIRD (or second, cuz IDK if they used anything from the second book) trip into "Underland". And Helena Bonham Carter is INCREDIBLE as the Red Queen, and ranks alongside Kathy Bates' Red Queen IMHO. I mean, she's just so freaking gonzo. And we also see that her moat is filled with severed heads. And Alice decapitates the Jabberwocky.

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we get some backstory behind Wonka (his father is played by THE Sir Christopher Lee!) and much better Oompah Loompah songs.

And in all three, composer par excellence Danny Elfman does all the scores. Though Sweeney Todd eschewed Elfman in favor of Stephen Sondheim (duh there, since Sondheim wrote the musical, which in turn was based on a pre-existing stage adaptation of a Victorian penny dreadful). And Sweeney Todd ranks up there alongside my other fave film musicals (Rocky Horror, RENT, Hairspray, Phantom of the Paradise, REPO!, etc).

And the reason that Depp and Burton work together so much... GREAT CHEMISTRY!!!! And Depp always brings his A-game in a Burton film, though he wasn't shabby as Jack Sparrow. Ninth Gate was Depp's B+-game.

Also, what about Corpse Bride? Aside from its respective depictions of the living world (drab and lifeless) and the world of the dead (vibrant and alive), it rivals many CGI films of the time period.

And like I said... the worst of Tim Burton totally outranks the best of many other directors. I mean, given the choice between Alice and Avatar, who chose to turn AWAY from the rabbit hole and prides themselves on it?

[Limewater]

And like I said... the worst of Tim Burton totally outranks the best of many other directors. I mean, given the choice between Alice and Avatar, who chose to turn AWAY from the rabbit hole and prides themselves on it?

I'd hardly call Avatar Cameron's best. In fact, I feel perfectly comfortable saying that it's his worst without having seen several of his films. I haven't seen Alice in Wonderland yet, but I don't see how it could possibly be worse than Avatar.

Incidentally, one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life was an Alice in Wonderland adaptation. It was called "Alice's Misadventures in Wonderland," and I saw it at the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, AL. It was not the enjoyable kind of bad, either.

Also, this is obligatory:

Tim Burton's Creative Process (video)
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1929453

Movies I have seen very recently:

Whip It: It was OK. You can definitely tell this is Drew Barrymore's first time directing, because there were some issues. For example, none of the roller-derby matches have any sort of continuity or pacing. Oh well. As usual, Kristin Wiig steals every damn scene she's in. Alia Shawkat (Maeby from Arrested Development) was also hilarious in the best-friend role. Those two and seeing Marcia Gay Harden and Daniel Stern playing the parents were enough that I came away from the movie happy. Ellen Page was in it, but I don't understand her appeal. At least she wasn't being annoyingly precocious in this one.

Bottle Shock: My wife and I tried to watch this a few months ago on Netflix watch-it-now. However, the sound mixing was terrible on the streamed version, and we couldn't understand the characters during scenes with a lot of background music, so we gave up. Alan Rickman is fun to watch as always. The story is a highly fictionalized account of a wine tasting. It had some pretty funny moments, despite the main characters being mostly unlikeable, in my opinion. It's hard to root for a guy who's a selfish, whiny slut.

[SpaceBooger]

Half Baked

Right after college my friends and I would always watch this movie after coming home from the bar. None of us smoked, but we always watched this movie after a long night of drinking and therefore found it hilarious.
Anyway, the wife and I were flipping through channels tonight and saw it on VH1 and she said she never heard of it. So I made her watch the edited version. It was still funny - Dave Chappelle & Jim Brewer at their best.

[Pulsar_t]

Neon Genesis Evangelion OVA.

Very awesome especially those last 2 episodes

Good, now watch End Of Evangelion!

To appreciate Evangelion it seems one would need some prior knowledge of mythology and/or psychology. I believe Hideaki Anno to be the David Lynch of anime, his stuff just doesn't make sense and is perpetually open to interpretation. I think he ought to stop regurgitating the Evangelion franchise and do something new for a change.

[dsheinem]

Here’s a few more reviews. The movie binging has actually slowed down a bit since last Tuesday’s update, but I don’t know that I’m ready to ease off just yet. Here’s what I’ve seen in the past few days.

Altered States (1980) – Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for professors as protagonists, because the film felt like a cross between early Michael Crichton writing and early David Lynch filming, or because I found the premise so damn interesting – but I thoroughly enjoyed this cerebral sci-fi thriller. William Hurt is fantastic in the lead, and his internal struggles are palpable. The supporting cast is adequate, and aside from a somewhat cheesy scene late in the film (the one that ends at the zoo), I felt that film really holds up well for modern audiences. The directing is usually good – especially when any of the characters are “tripping” – and some of the imagery is downright harrowing. Recommended.
Grade: 4/5

The Man With the Golden Gun (1974) – I enjoyed this much more than Live and Let Die, as everything that was awkward there seemed to fall into place here. For one, Moore seems much more comfortable in the role and while still no Connery, plays Bond with an authority fitting the character. He delivers witticisms better, looks like he knows what he’s doing in most of the action sequences, and is just generally better at being Bond. Outshining Moore, however is Christopher Lee – who is great as always in his role here as a Bond villain. The story itself has some interesting twists and turns, and like most good Bond films some are predictable and some are not. The strength of the last film – the sound – is the only thing that I felt took a hit here. Otherwise, a much better 007 movie.
Grade: 3.5/5

Hellraiser (1987) – So sue me. I’ve never seen any of the Hellraiser films before, even though many consider them a staple of the horror genre. Having watched the first one the other night, I can’t yet see why. The film starts off well enough with some supernatural elements and occult imagery, but then seems to spend more time focusing on the less interesting parts of the plot (the lead who brings back Johns, the relationship between the daughter and her boyfriend, etc.) than the more engaging horror stuff. Still, the film is not without merit – some of the effects are nicely put together for a film from the mid 80s, some scenes do offer up genuine scares, and some of the characters are memorable (despite generally wooden acting). I’m bumping this a half letter grade from where it should probably be because I had a Hellraiser-related nightmare the day after seeing it. Nonetheless, I’m hoping the first few sequels take it up a notch. They've made 8 of these?!
Grade: 3/5

eXistenZ (1999)– I’ve become more of a fan of Cronenberg over the years, and decided it was finally time to get around to seeing this gaming-centric film. It’s not as good as his best films (The Fly, Eastern Promises, etc.) but it stands up pretty well on its own. Jude Law here is quite good – much less annoying than he can be on occasion – but the supporting cast/bit characters are the real stand outs (excellent turns by Dafoe and Holm, for example). The tense and organic feel of the film is nicely created by the effects, the careful editing, and the score. I was thoroughly pleased with the psychological games going on at the end of the film as well – they aren’t necessarily original, but they are a lot of fun.
Grade: 3.5/5

Next Up: Moonraker, and more sci-fi and horror backlog including some John Carpenter…

[fastbilly1]

In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we get some backstory behind Wonka (his father is played by THE Sir Christopher Lee!) and much better Oompah Loompah songs.

I thought the parts with Christopher Lee were worthless. The story is about Charlie not Wonka, establishing Wonka as a tragic figure is the earmark of a Burton film, and frankly I got tired of it after Edward Scissorhands. I am not a big Burton fan, but I think if he made an Antihero film it would be amazing, his style is perfect for the genre.

I havent seen Alice yet, since Alice is one of my favorite stories from childhood I am very hesitant to see it. Because no matter what, it wont be more twisted then American McGee's Alice.

[JohnBaxterly]

Primal Fear. I'm currently staying at a hotel, it was on HBO... you see where this is going, right?