Yeah, Quantum of Solace sucked, but it seems they're taking this in a new direction. It's a stand alone movie unlike how Quantum was a direct sequel to Casino Royale (retarded move for a James Bond movie). I can see Javier Bardem making an awesome villain; he seems like he was born to play a Bond villain.

Saw Sinister this weekend as well and was slightly surprised by it.

First things first, it's horribly predictable. It has an awful "twist" that my sister and I figured out within literally thirty minutes of the movie, and horror buffs will undoubtedly compete to see who can figure out exactly how it ends and what will befall the characters first.

But, the story was actually enjoyable, the occult elements and criminology were excellently combined, and the descent into madness was done with a really good sense of pace, and the jump scares are evenly placed out among genuinely tense situations.

Honestly, the "death scenes" in the movie were freakish, the Super 8 film only made them feel more authentic and intense. They had that eerie grainy feel of bizarro-third-world-internet videos you can find of people dying (which, I never watch) and the lack of any sound to the scenes was phenomenal. There were genuinely disturbing images, and one scene was just brilliant:



The dynamic between the family was a little stilted, and sometimes the husband and wife's relationship comes off as completely phony and overly dramatic. And Ethan Hawke's character makes some of the most inane and annoying decisions ever (TURN ON A LIGHT, YOU DOLT), or justifying his own actions through monetary ends (the whole "he's lost his focus and his original principles!) and blah blah blah. But, the actual drama ain't what we're here for, but how he spirals out of control and into the maw of insanity! Which done really awesomely.

But, on the more technical end, it was shot really interestingly, lots of close-ups, and the lighting was fairly interesting. A lot of black levels, and interplay with movement (i.e the sheet the projector pointed to, the blinds in the windows) and the whole feel was claustrophobic. Ethan Hawke was absolutely dynamite, and really does the whole paranoid maddening writer extremely well. Finally, the soundtrack was FUCKING INCREDIBLE. It was honestly one of the best horror movie soundtracks I've ever heard, Chris Young combined noise/ambient/electronic music in another level. Just perfect for the movie, and contextualized the violence and horror excellently.

So, overall, it was about a 7/10 but there are amazing 10/10 horror movie scenes.

Worth seeing for the context of the music alone. And to help out Ethan Hawke

Huh, well I was on the fence about that one a bit but it sounds like it may really be worth my money. I'll go see it sometime.

The Tall Man - 3.25/5

I went into this expecting a horror movie and came out with something entirely different and way off base from what I expected, as this is more of a slow-burning thriller with some light social themes about living conditions in poor places and especially for little kids. There's a lot of grey-area morality in this movie which, to be fair, is pretty well done, as you're not 100% sure who to condemn and who to root for, as by the end both sides do have their points. But overall there are too many faux-shocking plot twists and turns that just muddle the point the movie is making. If it were done by a more capable director, perhaps this would've been really stirring, but as is, it's just a curiosity.

When I first heard of that movie Emp, I thought it was somehow related to Phantasm. I was disappointed to find out otherwise.
I'm moderately interested in Sinister now that it has my homeboy's seal of approval. Also, Frog, when you say your sister, do you mean your sister, or ''your sistah''?

I watched a LOT of movies recently. Here goes.
Detroit Rock City: This movie was pretty awesome. 4 teenagers will do anything to see their favourite band (guess which band). Straightforward enough, but they have so much fun with it. Some suspension of disbelief is required for some of the gags (like feeding a priest magic mushrooms) but it's easy to just go along for the ride. I like how it branches out into four stories for the kids (each one of which delivers a good performance) and how over the top one of the mothers is about that devil music. See it if you somehow haven't.

Jeff Who Lives At Home: I wasn't expecting to like this very much. I used to like Jason Segel well enough but, having been forced to sit through episodes of that horrible show How I Met Your Mother with an ex girlfriend, I've sort of fallen out of love. This movie is quite short, and not a lot actually happens, but it all builds towards a finale which I found simultaneously fitting and disappointing. Segel is great in a more understated role than usual. Every character is going through a different existential crisis. It's interesting but I felt it was too short to fully invest in the characters. It's still a pretty funny movie though, some Segel moments in particular. See it if you want to see a more indie type movies and aren't super excited about something else.

The Sitter: This movie looked horrible. I watched it mostly because I'd run out of modern comedies and I'm one of those people who find Jonah Hill funny (face it, the man can ad lib). The fact that it was directed by the guy who made Pinneaple Express didn't hurt either. While it wasn't terrible per se, it's definitely the weakest movie Hill has been in so far. A lot of the jokes fell flat and I just couldn't possibly bring myself to care about the kids. It had some pacing issues too. Most of the things that made me laugh came from Sam Rockwell, the movies saving grace.

Ghostbusters: Yeah, yeah, I know. I probably saw this as a kid and saw parts here and there when it was on tv, but I never sat down and saw it front to back. I liked it, but I wouldn't list it as THE NUMBER ONE COMEDY OF ALL TIME. The humour is subtle and some of the jokes are understated. It's a charming movie and Bill Murray plays a loveable dirtbag better than anyone else I can think of. I was surprised to see how mature it was, as I thought it was geared towards children. All in all, very quotable film. If someone asks you if you're a god, you say yes!

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol: This movie was awesome. Tom Cruise is absolutely insane for actually doing the stunt where he climbs the tallest building in the world. That scene was so tense, it had my palms sweating. I was really glad that the action wasn't the quick cut bullshit we see in a lot of modern action movies and was actually well shot and interesting. The story was so-so, and it's kind of disappointing that we didn't get a compelling villain this time around, but the pacing was good, the gadgets were awesome, and asses were kicked. Also Tom Cruise drops a hundred feet in a car onto concrete to stop a dude from nuking the US.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil: Simply put, this was the best music documentary I've seen. The relationships were compelling, real, and raw. You really get a sense of everything they've put into the band, their sheer dedication through the years for nothing but modest success. They made good music and they were handed a raw deal. Through bad timing and less than ideal record deals. Funny, sad, interesting. See it.

Three O'Clock High: This was added to my definitive high school movies list almost instantly. A do good kid accidentally offends the most intense bully ever (seriously, this guy knocks out a teacher with one punch just cause the guy touches him, damn man, how is he not in prison?) and the bully challenges him to a fight at 3 o'clock. What follows is the kid's day. Trying to get out of it, trying to escape, trying to pay another bully to fight for him, and three chicks being into him despite him being average in every way (fuck yeah, underdog). It's all very painful and hilarious to watch.

Just watched Candyman one last time (for a blog review), maybe thinking I overstated its worthlessness the last time, but nope. Fuuuuuck that shit. I really can't comprehend people actually getting anything from this crap. The Friday the 13th movies had more atmosphere and substance.

I thought this movie sucked ass. I wasn't expecting much going in, but god damn, do they have to make action movies so utterly ludicrous these days? Every action sequence (ie every scene) just ended up escalating into something ridiculous beyond belief. I guess that's part of the appeal of the series, but I just couldn't follow it at all. Can't even remember what the hell the movie was even about.

I'm totally with you on The Story of Anvil, though. Probably the best music documentary I've seen, too.

You know, I can completely understand where you're coming from, and it's a valid criticism. But the fact is I enjoy well made balls out action movies and it's been a while since one has been released that was this well shot and exciting. You actually got to SEE what happened (seriously, fuck that quick cut shit where you can barely follow anything, it's lazy.) As for Anvil, it's the best but a close second is that Rush documentary.

THE HUMAN CENTEPIED 2

this was soo much better than the first one,full on sickness the hole way through 7/10
human centepeid 3 is supposed to have 500 people ,bit ridiculouse

THE CORPSE VANISHES

not laugosi's best,but not bad

ROSEMARYS BABY

pretty good,not amazing but good

Personally, I'd have to say I like the Rush one more actually, but that's only because I'm a ridiculous Rush geek. I think the Anvil movie is more remarkable, though, since it really captures a whole story of the band (the documentary almost ends up having a plot) and it's so entertaining to watch.

The House of Long Shadows. The movie itself is okay. Just a murder mystery basically but the cast was fucking amazing. Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, John Carradine, and Peter Cushing. I was having a nerdgasm(the first and last time I will ever use this word) throughout the whole movie. If only Paul Naschy could have been there it would have been perfect.

Corey Taylor and his Haunted Super 8 (aka Sinister): Very surprisingly underwhelming. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting a ton out of this one, and it fell totally flat. To its credit, the movie leaves nothing unexplained, but that's because it explains everything in the first twenty minutes. The foreshadowing was really clumsily handled, and after twenty or thirty minutes the film basically just meanders around, acting as its own checklist, just ticking the boxes that it laid out for itself while I just sat there unimpressed. I can't even really rant at length about it. The atmosphere didn't work, tension didn't build, it was really just a few cheap jump scares and loud orchestral hits when something pops out. Very disappointed. Also lightswitches don't exist in this universe and whenever Ethan Hawke was setting up the Super 8 it used the same action shots of him putting the reels in place and such and all I could think of was Hot Fuzz.

One question though, why the hell was this rated R? There's no nudity or sex, very little blood or gore (apart from ), and there isn't even any coarse language apart from one argument where they say "shit" a few times, but that's all. Was it really just because of the occult themes? Is this the fucking '50s?

Well, I think the majority has to do with the Super 8 footage "disturbing images". Are You Afraid of the Dark was similar like that.

I just read about the Paranormal Activity 4 ending and....I dont see how it can be filmed like it has in the previous ones. A brief summary:

I met somebody who liked MacGruber today. He tried to tell me his opinion on comedies was more valid than mine.
I think that if I had facepalmed harder, I might have caused some serious damage.

Pot, meet kettle.

MacGruber the movie is pure garbage, that is true. It's painfully obvious that no one had a clue how to really adapt the "source material" into a feature length movie. Nor did anyone try. Nor was the sheer concept ever a good idea. I think there's not a single even remotely funny gag in there. It's embarrassing to watch.

I like the original sketches, though.

Go watch an ''art film'' darkeningday. Pretty much, Azmodes. It was truly painful to watch and I rank it amongst the worst movies I've ever seen.

The film was an original take for its day, granted with some inconsistencies. Different villain, different setting, its own rules to govern, memorable score, some atmosphere and gore to shock overtop a slasher-esque format. Not much more, not much less outside of tapping into horror themes. I'd still say it was one of the more effective of its genre in '92 for stirring up the senses. Honestly, don't see how it warrants that kind of vitriol or how any more would put that into light. It seems somewhere in the exaggerated tone you lost perspective on this one, man. Like in an overcritical, personal tirade kind of way.

Most of the review was a normal review for me. The two things that make it worse are the wasted potential of the opening sequence as the film degenerates into something quite one dimensional and poorly done, and two, simply the awful overly serious, self-important tone the film has - it thinks it is so much better than your usual horror movie when all it does is the usual Clive Barker formula (despite not being directed by him) of gratuitous gore and pretentious deep-voiced monologues from really boring killers. That shit sucks.

The early 90s had other great horror movies though, albeit more of a psychological stripe...Jacob's Ladder and In the Mouth of Madness spring to mind.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/be ... 12_update/
This makes me wonder...why is it that all the most critically-acclaimed horror movies are about as scary as a wet sock?

The only genuinely creepy, atmospheric movies in that entire list are The Shining and The Exorcist, and they're obvious as obvious can be. No Paranormal Activity? The Innkeepers? The Changeling? The Legend of Hell House? Insidious? Pet Sematary? The Haunting?

Jesus Christ, people!

I remember watching Near Dark with my brother-in-law and sister and it was a super campy, horror-themed b-movie. The "horror / vampire" aspect was implied. More like a semi-serious movie about douchebags that wanted to kill. What an atrocious list.

The Shawshank Redemption. I finally saw this movie today, and it was excellent. It wasn't quite how I expected it to be (not sure what I really expected, mind you), but it deserves its acclaim. I'm sure everyone's already seen it, so there's no need to analyze it in depth. I'm just glad I saw it.

Full Metal Jacket. ... I don't understand the praise for this movie. The first part was entertaining, sure, but it really dropped off after that. I just... didn't care what happened to any of the characters, and I got the feeling that Stanley Kubrick thought he was way cleverer than he actually was. It's worth watching once, but I doubt I'll ever want to see it again.

Prometheus. Didn't see it in theaters (although I wanted to), so as soon as it came out on Blu Ray I bought it. I know a lot of people didn't like this movie, but I enjoyed it. I didn't go into it with any preconceived notions on what I thought it should be, so as to avoid disappointment, and I think that's the right way to approach this movie. I will say that I didn't expect it to be as horror-oriented as it was. This is neither praise nor criticism; just an observation. Actually, this movie didn't provoke any strong reaction from me one way or the other, which might be its biggest flaw. I liked it, but I wasn't amazed. *shrug*

If you ask me, the first 45 minutes is one of the best short films ever made, but after boot camp it's really dull and the message doesn't resonate as strongly as I feel like it should. I mean, it isn't actively bad or anything, it's just kinda boring. That first half though, woo man I've seen that like a bazillion times.

Agreed completely. As much as I love Kubrick, his films always start so much better than they finish...

There's plenty of good stuff on that list, did you go through it all? Nosferatu (1922)? Re-Animator? Near Dark (which I disagree with Ozzy on; fantastic vampire flick)? Halloween and Rosemary's Baby and the original TCM? Night of the fuckin' Hunter? Lots of great stuff there already. Paranormal Activity and The Changeling don't even deserve a place on there at all.

Not sure why that piece of shit Drag Me to Hell is on there so high, though...or at all...

Finally watched Prometheus, and didn't care for it at all. Tried to cram too much crap into two hours, answered like two questions and left a ton unanswered. God I hate those kinda endings that just set up for another movie to follow. The c-section scene was just about the only part in the movie that I found entertaining even if it was pretty tacky and all I could think about was The Fly (1986) while I was watching it. I think Noomi Rapace did a good job in the film but overall I thought the whole movie was one big fat dud.

I meant that the movies on that list aren't scary at all. Nosferatu is funnier than it is scary.

Hobo with a shotgun.

I have to say pretty damn good. I love Hauer in this movie and there's a ton of great lines.

"You're crushing my smokes !"

Deadgirl: Not-Joaquin Phoenix and Henry from Kablam's wacky misadventures featuring a zombie chick tied to a table and Matthew Lillard from Scream (he seriously uses a few of the most memorable lines from that movie). Basically it was terrible and likely written a misogynistic Nice Guy (aka virginal sociopath who doesn't understand why girls don't like him). Also the 17 year olds all look like they're pushing 30. Fuck this movie with a rake.

I hope to go see Paranormal Activity 4 soon. Heard some pretty good reviews so far........

Good reviews? Not only is it getting panned by professional critics, The Cinema Snob and Spoony, both fans of the other 3, slammed it hard with the latter shitting on it for over an hour.

I reviewed that back in June or so. Truly terrible...in fact it was so inept, it couldn't even really offend me with how misogynistic and hate-filled it clearly was. Hollow Man pissed me off with its woman-hating message but Deadgirl just came off as silly and incompetent, so laughably bad in every aspect that it truly became a spectacle on par with stuff like The Room or something for bizarro-world wackiness. Terrible fucking movie though, either way.

Ugh , absolutely. Couldn't stand that thing. A mate loaned it to me, he hasn't had a GF in like 10 years. Probably karma for owning that piece of shit

It's been a few years since I saw Hollow Man, but

I also can't get over the fact that that actually is Henry from Kablam! I watched that show every morning in 2nd/3rd grade, I still recite the Action League Now opening monologue for laughs, this is was my personal equivalent of catching Pee Wee Herman jerking off in a movie theater.

Heres the ending:
http://youtu.be/bI7BbbBfWQI
With a death scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iojGd4ko ... ojGd4komgc

Its really sad how people were screaming at this stupid shit.

With a perfect review:
http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/review- ... activity-4

My theory is that Paramount realized October was 3 months away, didn't have anything planned for the story, and just rushed it out to buy them more time.

EDIT: Also, if Katie was just going to pump-kick the door down and obliterate fucking everything, why didn't she do that on Day 1? The movie would probably be far more interesting if it were a series of different families who happened to catch Katie roflstomping them on video over the course of several months. If the Paranormal Activity series isn't going to even try to build atmosphere anymore, then just throw everything else out.

The Prophecy. Ridiculous. Entertaining, but ridiculous. It's always fun to watch Christopher Walken be himself, and Viggo Mortensen was pretty good too, but the movie didn't amount to much other than that. I didn't think The Omen was that good either though, so maybe I'm just getting tired of this kind of plot. But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Virginia Madsen. I... love... Virginia Madsen. So hot.

This sounds like something I need to review. I've heard about that movie since I first started watching horror movies in general but never checked it out...

Can anyone recommend some films based on, or portraying, H. P. Lovecraft's works? I know plenty exist, but what are the essential ones, the ones which are well-made and worthwhile?