Definitely In The Mouth Of Madness.

You really never actually contribute anything, do you?

I watched In The Mouth Of Madness again recently, and it's not as good as when it first came out. It just feels dated but it's an okay watch, neither here nor there but it's not cringe-worthy. As for The Prophecy, I remember enjoying that when it first came out, too. It is cheesy though. Thanks for the reminder, should watch it again I think, along with Event Horizon.

As for movies I've watched recently, one I can recommend is Elling from Norway (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279064/). From start to finish it moves along nicely, and is a great 'feel-good' movie. Despite the main character's annoying voice, he's still a loveable little fellow, and everything just clicks with this film - it's quite funny actually.

And then there is Gangs Of Wasseypur (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954470/). Don't let that high rating fool you, I went to a midnight screening and after two hours I had to leave. Walking out I noticed that more than half of the people present were sleeping. It's two films, so something like five hours in total for the story, but I'm not too sure what the story is about. Bad action scenes, actors that you want to bop in the nose, random singing, a vague storyline - avoid this one. I think it got a good rating on IMDB because it's Indians pumping it up, same as all the 'views' Gangnam Style on youtube, loads of Koreans sitting at their comps hitting F5 over and over. Best to avoid this stinker.

Not necessarily. I can now reasonably assume that In the Mouth of Madness is a good movie.

(This post was written in response to Necro, by the way)

It is good, with lots of interesting elements. Plus, Sam Neill. While it's far from the best horror movies, it's one of the best Lovecraft inspired ones, which is what Ancient_Sorrow was asking for. Made before John Carpenter started releasing duds.

I've got In the Mouth of Madness sitting here, and I really want to watch it. I'm just waiting for my roommate to feel like it. =\ Concerning Event Horizon, I'm one of the few people on the planet who really likes that movie. It scared holy hell out of me when I saw it as a super-religious teenager in the theater, and I avoided it for years thereafter. When I finally did watch it again, I thought it was damn fun and enjoyable. I now own it. =] I love the idea of mixing science fiction and horror, since space is such a vast unknown, ripe for lurking terror.

Event Horizon is actually quite bad. It took a third viewing for it really sink in, but it's mostly stalk and slash with predictable jump scares, which is unfortunate because the start of the film is smart and promising. The characters are killed off before you even care about them and the ending feels rushed due to several scenes being cut from the finished film. There's such a build up to something spectacular, like a literal hell on earth, but it never eventuates and climaxes far too predictably. Sure, the ending is uncompromising and gives a lasting impact but there's ultimately very little depth. However, the visuals do look amazing and the score by Michael Kamen & Orbital is one of my favourites. In The Mouth Of Madness is vastly superior if we had to compare the two. I don't understand how you can view it as dated, is it the book element?

I think you're spot on about Event Horizon, mate. Those visuals though! I just watched John Carpenter's Vampires and I'm surprised at how much I liked it. Yeah, James Woods played the same character he plays in every movie, but it worked here for some reason. Maybe it was the fact that the take on vampires actually added a bit of fearsomeness back into the mix. It's a rather cliche story, you can predict almost everything, but damn if it didn't have personality.

Oh and speaking of Carpenter, I re-watched They Live a few days ago. What a fun movie. Memorable lines everywhere, an awesome alley fight scene that seems to last forever, and just a dash of social commentary (that's all it is really, it's not like the movie is all about it's message. It's really only there to set up a badass story.)

I liked In the Mouth of Madness better when I first saw it than I do now, but it's still a solid flick. Surreal and twisted, bit cartoony, but not in a lighthearted way...it's like a rather dark, otherworldly cartoon than anything.

Taken 2 - 3/5

Pretty much just a sillier, slightly less sharp version of the first one...where the first one was a high energy blast of fun that surprisingly took off in fame, this one is a response to that fame with a more bloated and calculated version of what made its predecessor successful, with a rather campy plot about the relatives of the dead terrorists from that movie coming back for revenge against Liam Neeson's character. Suddenly a lot less visceral when it's a revenge plot as opposed to a more realistic kidnapping and trafficking plot, isn't it? But the movie takes it in stride and delivers a silly, over the top and explosive action movie. It is about exactly what you'd expect. I still had fun in spite of that.

Event Horizon was great, though I agree about the comments on the rushed ending.
As for In the Mouth of Madness...I thought that was great too. I love Sam Neill (as does everyone) but I don't find him to be that great of an actor. I just think he's an awesome person.

If you want a great faithful adaptation of Lovecraft's work, Dagon is one of my favorites. I realized just how shamelessly Resident Evil 4 ripped that movie off when I watched it.

In the Mouth of Madness. Suffice it to say that I was heavily medicated when I watched this last night. It seemed to go well with the movie, which I liked. Unfortunately, it also means I can't give you good folks much of a review. =P Sam Neill was terrific in the lead role, performing equally well as a suave wheeler-and-dealer and as a desperate man holding on to the last shreds of his sanity. Very interesting plot too. It handled the whole 'what if a book were real?' thing quite nicely. Lots of hallucinatory sequences in this movie too. Recommended.

Just came back from seeing Seven Psychopaths with a friend and HOLY FUCK! That movie was in a league of awesome that's undescribable without a Tarantino-esque string of expletives. Super original, darkly hilarious, sharp dialogue, and a performance by Sam Rockwell that would be scene stealing if every other actor didn't bring it. What are you still reading this for? Go see it!

Hahahahahahahahahaha

UCB film professor Eileen Jone's take (which almost always mirrors my own): http://exiledonline.com/seven-psychopat ... -reviewer/

And if that doesn't convince you to avoid this cinematic cumstain, there's always Rex Reed's equally-thrasing review.

Disclaimer: While Martin McDonough utterly fails at feature films, his hilarious, finely-tuned plays and utterly brilliant short film are still some of my favorite individual works of all time. I guess the concept of "three act structure" causes his brain to malfunction.

Yeah, In Bruges was sooooooo shitty, man!

God, you're an hipster!

I hate going to the theater, but I think I'll make an exception with Seven Psychopaths, the cast is awesome, fuckin' Waits, Rockwell and Harrelson and Farell is not THAT bad when he's surrounded by great actors (see In Bruges)

I'm not going to read that. Every single one your posts in here reeks of pretention without actually adding anything, just being a particularly irritating negative nancy. Time to try the ignore list for the first time.

Yeah because I really want to form my opinion solely by reading reviews and not by going out and actually watching the movies; holy fuck you're an idiot darkeningday.

It's true; I haven't seen Seven Psychopaths myself, nor will I. In Bruges was such a foundational betrayal of everything McDonough had once stood for (who, up to that point was basically my idol), that I absolutely refuse to put either my money or my time down for anything else he does ever again. Fool me once...

Both of these reviews (coming from two film literate, finely tuned reviewers who I and many others interested in film as an art form tend to agree with) simply confirmed what I expected from the pre-release hype/trailers/spots/interviews/dishtowels for the film.

I doubt I'd have uttered so much as a peep if Necro, M-A's ever-present champion of what's wrong with film today hadn't trotted out, contentedly bandying vacuuous baseline buzzwords like "super original," "darkly hilarious" and "sharp dialog" to this revisionist, anti-cinema bullshit which is anything but original, Jesus. Christ.

Granted, it's probably still better than Cabin in the Woods...

What the hell? In Bruges and The Guard are amazing movies (The Guard might even be better, funnier at least). What didn't you like about In Bruges, and how on earth was it 'a betrayal of everything McDonough once stood for'? What are you talking about?

Haven't seen The Guard, although I do want to. Remember that this one is different from this one, though.

If you're familiar with MM's goddamn motherfucking amazing plays (esp. The Pillowman and The Beauty Queen of Leenane), and his not-quite-as-great-but-still-very-good Oscar winning short film with Brendan Gleeson, you'd probably be able to see why In Bruges gave me such a bitter reaction.

All that piercing cultural satire, all that hysterically tragic banter, all that... (for lack of a more fitting artfag term) "magic", gone, and replaced entirely with dime-store Tarantino emulation. Yuckgasm.

This is particularly hysterical coming from him.

I haven't read/seen his plays (but I'd like to), but I have seen Six Shooter. It's good, but In Bruges resonated with me a lot more. See The Guard, I'd be surprised if you didn't like it, but then again, maybe I wouldn't.

After reading the following "review" from RedBox:

I will definitely be picking it up ASAP. Review to follow.

Something cool about The Guard is that it was filmed in Galway, which is where I used to go to school. I recognized pretty much every location when I first saw the movie.

You make some good points and I can't argue against any of the things you bring up. I guess this kind of mirrors my own general "hmmm, there could have been more" feeling at the end. I suck at reviewing things, but I think what redeemed the movie for me and made me overlook the shortcomings you described is that it's just so goddamn unsettling on a level that transcends the regular hell-on-earth stuff. Cosmic horror, I guess, although I have never read any Lovecraft. I think the fact that the "hell dimension" concept is a bit understated, never fully realised and swiftly, desperately smothered in the end works in favor of the film and the strong feeling of menace in particular. Anyway, the atmosphere is great and the central plot point, while it may not be totally original (basically a form of this), made a huge impression on me the first time I saw it on TV, I must have been 15 or 16 then. I still think it's a good to great movie at what it does. Also, Sam Neill fanboy here.

In Bruges was great, still have to see The Guard.

I always thought the The Prophecy movies were rather goofy, not bad though. I only know the first two or three.

Continuing my whole watch every John Carpenter movie journey, I watched Assault on Precinct Thirteen. It was an alright movie, but I can't say I enjoyed it all that much. It takes too long to build up tension (pretty much a bit more than half the movie). The performances are okay, if a bit wooden from the criminal characters. It's well shot though, and you can see Carpenter's still developing style already at play.

I also re-watched the first Halloween and found that it's still one of my favourite horror movies. The tension is palpable, the score is almost perfect, the shots of Micheal stalking, bidding his time and waiting to strike are great, and Donald Pleasance has some really classic speeches. The kills also manage to be very brutal while utilizing very little gore or blood. I don't remember Micheal doing that deep, loud breathing thing, sort of grunting too, in any of the sequels.

I dunno, gotta disagree that it's dated. I mean, it is cheesy, but that's exactly the point - *SPOILERS* the protagonist is literally a Stephen King (uh, I mean, Sutter Kane) character. What makes it for me is the whole meta element, the utter hysterical despair the Sam Neill character feels at the end when he's in the theater, the tragic irony he experiences in watching himself assert that he knows what's real. The whole movie is just a sick joke, basically, in that the character realizes his entire existence has been nothing but a cheesy spectacle for mass consumption, and the same goes for Armageddon too. It's a very interesting twist on the whole Lovecraftian "the entirety of human existence is cosmically unimportant" thing - not only is the entirety of human existence cosmically unimportant, but all of our philosophical struggles, our deepest desires, our very humanity are no better than cheesy, mass-produced, second-rate entertainment. It'd be easy for that conclusion to come off as pretentious or just poorly executed, but I think Carpenter pulls it off, in large part thanks to Sam Neill's dead-serious acting.

SKADOOSH. That's basically it. That's my problem with tons of "aware" movies these days. Ugh. Just fucking awful. 7P was no exception.

I just imagine darkeningday typing furiously at his computer, with a smug smirk on his face, every so often stopping to deeply inhale his own farts. "Hmmm this post isn't pretentious enough, I must revise it"

Oh yeah, and on topic, how bout them movies eh?

Red band trailer for Evil Dead remake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceBXUyuv4Q0

Seems accurate enough, Marty. As for Evil Dead, the trailer is decent. Seems like they're going for a lot of gross out moments. But after Cabin in the Woods was brilliant (and it's main scenario largely inspired by Evil Dead) I strongly question the need for a remake.

Still not sure how I feel about the remake, the original has such an unique style and from the looks of things they're not actually trying to capture that at all. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least they seem to be trying to make it its own movie. On the bright side, at least the tree rape scene and spirit cam seem to be in there.

Volute and Failsafe, I should clarify - I just meant dated in that it seems so different than when I first watched it, as if from a different era (which it is, of course). for example, I loved Thundercats as a kid, so I downloaded them all, besides the Mongor ep I struggled to sit through most of them (and no, I did not watch them all). Perhaps my use of the term 'dated' was misplaced.

Also, I tried watching The Cabin In The Woods last night, and failed. What a pile of crap. If this is what modern horror satire with an edge is, I want nothing to do with it. Very poorly executed up until I gave up on the thing. I'm starting to think I'm too old for these types of movies, or that they're too American for me and I can't relate to that type of humor. There was one good part that went something like:

"I was in the war."
"Which one?"
"You know which fucking war!"

That part reminded me of, well, me when teaching kids.

Evil Dead remake is unnescessary, like most remakes. Not sure if this was mentioned here already, but wasn't Evil Dead II a remake of the first one in any case?

Depends how you look at it, I guess. It was essentially the same plot, but I figured it was just meant to add the intended campiness. I wasn't so sure about a remake, but I must admit that the trailer has me intrigued, and Bruce Campbell is behind it, so I'm gonna give it a chance for sure.

THIS... IS MY BOOMSTICK!

It's written by Diablo Cody....

I haven't been around much to keep up, but Frog, please tell me you're fucking joking.

No Sir!

I'm actually not nearly as upset as I ought to be, because the kitschy dialogue could work. I mean, Sam and Bruce are still both involved....so maybe it's not that bad.

The remake is supposed to be what the original was supposed to be. A straight up horror gore flick. IIRC, the original ended up becoming a campy film and the next two films went in a horror comedy direction.

Ash isn't even in the remake, so I doubt there will be sequels involving shotgun+chainsaw action. I heard rumors that a female character will take his role though.