I see what you mean especially at the current moment.

I feel like I'm the only one who didn't like Zack and Miri. I didn't like it from Seth Rogen's bearded everyman character to the predictable unfunny gross-out humour, it has the Askew universe feel but it's without the memorable characters, it's awkwardness in relation to 'everyday people making a porno' - oh meh gosh, and I didn't care for it's handling of porn in comedic way or it's attempts of making it more everyday and commonplace.

You should watch The Thing with Two Heads

There is no way that movie actually exists.

I don't remember having any strong feelings either way when I watched Zack and Miri years ago, but I can see where the misogyny allegations come from for sure. Probably wouldn't care to watch it again.

The Life of Pi - 5/5

I really think this is going to be a classic. The storytelling style, the huge visual scope, the sort of playful wit combined with childlike wonder, the sense of adventure and the sense of prevailing triumph - it's very well put together and the sort of twist at the end is powerfully sobering. I really couldn't think of any way this could have been better, as it was an incredibly well put together and complete-feeling film. Tons of memorable scenes and a real vision and epic sweep to it. I'm usually not much for 'abandoned at sea' tales, but I was completely captivated by this. The scenes before he got stuck out there at sea reminded me a lot of City of God with the narration style and overall tone of it - which is a really high compliment for me.

Guardians of the Galaxy - 4.5/5

I don't know if I like this as much as The Avengers or Captain America 2, but it's pretty comparable - just a thoroughly enjoyable movie. It's an action movie with a ton of heart, humor and verve to it. There's just no shortage to the enjoyable things about this, from the retro soundtrack to the sci fi/Egyptian style visuals to the characters, who are all very detailed, well acted and interesting, and you really get to care about them. The story is kind of a silly sci fi thing, but it's well done for all that, and the movie moves along at a breakneck pace and you are never bored. I thought some of the action was a bit hard to make out and shaky, and the main villain I found rather dull, but for the most part I really enjoyed this. I like that it had a different feel to most of the other Marvel movies and actually made all the characters so full of personality and life - interesting as they're basically caricatures of characters who'd be one-off side characters in the other superhero movies. I also really like that this shows there IS a market for superheroes outside of the really well known ones. I hope that brings us more well done, exciting films like this one. Highly recommended.

Just finished Ondskan. What a great film! It's basically a violent coming of age movie in the scandinavian way.
If you mix 'Dead Poets Society' with 'A Clockwork Orange' and 'If....' you'd get this marvelous swedish masterpiece.
Ondskan is the story of a violent and conflicted teen (Erik Ponti) who is sent to a high class private school whose rigid and conservative order is as violent and conflicted as Erik himself.

Glad to see you enjoyed it, too. I was a huge fan of the book, and the idea of Ang Lee directing a film version--of a book once thought to be unfilmable, no less--had me feeling very nervous. But the man delivered and it was awesome and emotionally gripping and that CGI tiger was a work of art.

A timeless classic.

The Life of Pi was fucking shit, one of the worst and most useless movie I've ever seen. So fucking pretentious.

I really didn't think there was anything pretentious about it. I thought it would be before I saw it, but it wasn't really. Pretty down to Earth once you get past the over the top visuals. Straightforward narrative, pretty likable and funny dialogue and scenes that you remembered varying between sad and funny - it had the basics of a good film and did them very, very well.

I'm with Tony on this one. Sure, some of the visuals were really impressive and there were *parts* of the story I liked, but that fucking twist can go fuck itself. Load of horseshit religious propaganda disguised as an adventure movie.

the funny thing is that the movie itself (the whole process of making up a massive and epic story to forget and delude yourself about the crude and harsh reality) worked so great as parallelism of religions, there's even a scene where the guy practically says

I haven't seen the movie, but I remember crap arguments like this from the book (don't ask why I read it, I can't recall). What was the message exactly? That we can learn something from all religions? It seems he tried catering it to appeal to people from all religions and those who are irreligious too. I did like the fact that the tiger was the smartest character with the best personality and had the smartest things to say.

I really don't think the whole "prove God exists" thing was to be taken literally at all - certainly not as some sort of laughing proclamation of arrogance or anything like that. It was a story about survival. The religious stuff in the movie was there, but as the film wasn't really even preaching that hard or judging anyone (which is the real hypocrisy of religion I can never abide), I wasn't inclined to let it ruin my enjoyment of it. A good story is a good story is a good story.

I'm in the same camp, read the book but haven't seen the movie, and my take from the book at least was that religions weren't meant to be literal, mutually-exclusive truths, but rather an attempt through allegory and symbolism to make sense out of a reality that can often be senseless, brutal, and harsh. The guy's way of living with what happened during the shipwreck was similar. Unless the movie seriously deviates from the book, or seriously bungles the book's message, I don't get how anyone could get "religious propaganda" about that. What I took from it was that religions can be useful even if they're not true. They're stories that help people deal with life.

Yeah that sounds about right, I just can't remember much about it (not even where I read it or how I got my hands on it) except that I found everything after the ship sinking to be boring. I think a lot of us just have a knee-jerk reaction as soon as religion pops up in books or films, the old tried-and-trusted "Oh Jesus not God stuff!" reflex. Maybe the religious propaganda thing also stems from a lot of religious people liking the film from what I remember.

Watched Session 9 last night, not a bad film if you like the 'haunted' abandoned asylum setting (the ending was weak but the atmosphere throughout the film was nice and tense) - more importantly, it had Peter Mullan in it! The same guy who was Joe in My Name Is Joe! Except here his name was not Joe but something else. Same actor though. Not Joe but Joe. Also, it was directed by Brad Anderson, the same guy who directed The Machinist, and he seems to have a knack for creating a good atmosphere in a movie.

That's basically what it was. I mean the movie opens with scenes of the kid "trying out" a bunch of different religions and not getting why people find that such an absurd idea. If anything it's the more positive side of religion shown in the film. I think waiguoren said it best - many of us have a knee-jerk reaction to it being in anything.

I can't even believe Brad Anderson directed Session 9 and The Machinist and later went on to direct The Call - there's some cognitive dissonance for you.

Here's a challenge for y'all. Please suggest a great haunted house movie that doesn't end in the following:

-somebody getting possessed / exorcism
-the main character finds the dead body of the ghost, thus solving the mystery
-It's not a ghost. It's a demon.

I have this conversation with movie buffs all the time. Nobody can name anything outside of The Shining (which I don't consider a haunted house movie, more a 'guy goes insane' story) or Poltergeist...which devolves into demon-like ridiculousness by the 3rd film.

It was a combination of the religious message - i.e. even though it wasn't preachy about a particular religion or anything, it still seemed to be preaching a "religious ignorance is bliss" message - and the broader idea that accepting some fantastical version of events in an attempt to run away from the gritty reality of actual life events is somehow a good or healthy thing to do, just rubbed me the wrong way. Sure, I'm all about fantasy and escapism in general, but the way it was applied in this particular story just came across as offensive to me.

That said there were lots of things to like about the movie, and it didn't *really* annoy me until the very end, of course. Is that a knee-jerk reaction? Maybe so, but I trust in my reflexes.

I didn't really like that film or the (GOD AWFUL) 90s remake. It also treads along the same possession storyline that I hate - creating a link between the protagonist and 'entity' that shouldn't be there.

Someone told me about "Turn of the Screw" but I'm not sure which version. Anybody think those are good?

Why shouldn't it be there? Anyway The Shining and Poltergeist absolutely have possession elements too, if you're being that broad.

The Shining is a haunting story, just not the same way one normally thinks of haunted ___ stories.

I agree. You see this catch 22 with all ghost movies because the writers are always backed into a corner. They can't resolve a film where a ghost is the antagonist without leaning on demon/possession/find the body, etc. So...here's me...loving movies about haunted houses....stuck shutting them off after the 40 minute mark because of this.

@Exisgence although it's set in a hotel, 1408 is close to what your asking and not a bad film required you don't see the director's cut.

The Others by Amenabar has a nice twist and its really climatic, it borrows a lot from fantastic films such as Suspense from 1961 (Exigence, I think this film is the best interpetation of Turn of the Screw ever made) The very concept of "haunted house" implies that some kind of paranormal entity is working there (be it a ghost, a demon or a witch) and if said elements are completely dismissed then it probably is not a haunted house movie.

Theres a Masters of Horror chapter based on one of Lovecraft's short stories;Dreams in the Witch House. The witch is not a ghost, to me she is an entity from another cosmic plane that materializes through the weird angles of the room. The whole maths plot implies that her magic is merely a deeper understanding of the universe or something like that. I like the story better but is a nice adaptation.

It's kinda cheating on the 3rd point (because the nature of what's happening is left ambiguous), but Oculus. There's no possessions, the mystery doesn't get solved, and it's got a goddamn huge downer ending.

I have to echo Volutetheswarth's mention of 1408. Insane, over the top supernatural horror with no bullshit cop outs about demons or something or other. Anyone else here like that one?

Divergent - I was all set to dismiss this as a poor man's Hunger Games, and complain about its 139 minute running time. But somehow I liked it. The main actress did a good job, the romantic stuff wasn't as prominent as I'd feared, and - even though the studio was clearly already planning the sequel - it still built to a decent climax.

I'm actually looking forward to "Insurgent." (Not so much "Allegiant" though. Heard the book sucked.)

I liked it a lot but I still need to read the story. I'm curious what themes the director left out. But yeah, that's a good one, and it also fits the criteria mentioned earlier. Obviously without reading it I can't really be sure but thinking back on it now it seems to me the concept of the room was similar to King's concept for the hotel in The Shining, in that the room itself almost seemed like a character with its own soul.....its own very twisted soul. No demons, no Satan, no ghosts of the people who've died there. Just a hotel that likes to fuck with people in some of the most horrifying ways imaginable. For 1408, it just happens to be one particular room in a hotel that likes to fuck with people.

1408 is pretty cool, yeah. It's actually pretty impressive in terms of how little plot it manages to have, after the setup it's essentially just a series of scares with John Cusack reacting, and then it's the end.

The Changeling is really great, it does have a body towards the end but that isn't the big payoff at the end, so I wouldn't say it leans on that as much. Also seconding failsafeman's recommendation of The Haunting.

1408 is a riot. I remember reading the short story and it's completely different, but the movie was a shitload of fun.

Alone With Her - 3/5

Colin Hanks' practice for being the worst serial killer ever on Dexter. Some guy stalks this girl and somehow puts cameras up in her apartment - I guess he's just a magical camera fairy, as it's never explained how. The film is creepy despite how implausible it gets as it goes along, which is impressive I guess. It does tend to turn into a generic thriller as it goes along, which is disappointing. I get the idea the director/writer (it's the same dude) wanted to make a modern update to John Fowles' The Collector, but it isn't coming off as well as he'd like.

For some reason I find Colin Hanks kind of impossible to enjoy.

He's pretty awful in Dexter, but I haven't really seen him in a lot frankly.

I thought he was okay in the Fargo TV show, but I haven't seen him in anything else I think.

Watched The Guard last night, really fun movie. It has Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges!), Liam Cunningham (Davos!) and Don Cheadle (Hamburger Hill!) in it, so the acting was solid all around. Pretty much an FBI fella goes to a small town in Ireland to investigate some drug smuggling ring, at which point it becomes very Irish with a dash of American, but the performances (especially Gleeson) were great, and there were actually a few Laugh Out Loud (really wish there was a way to shorten that expression) moments. I shall even take the liberty of posting the IMDB link, such is my generosity and unrelenting kindness:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540133/

I did love 1408 but some of the CG effects in the hotel room look dated even now.

I also liked the Changeling.

I know the word 'haunted' implies it could be ANYTHING inside the house...but I've always understood it as 'ghosts' so everytime I got handed a demon, I felt ripped. You can throw all these powers to a demonic figure. I wanted the horror deceased people to be the terror fueling the film.

Also liked The Others, no idea that it was a version of "Turn of the Screw". A lot of movies have used that twist since, though.

What about the movie The Skeleton Key. Granted, it's not a brilliant movie, but has a different take on the "ghost" premise.

Vaguely remember TSK, probably would have to re-watch it. I don't remember liking it. A lot of 2000s 'ghost' movies play on the same bad digital effects. Stuff from the 60s, 70s and 80s has aged way better.

so Guardians of the Galaxy was pretty legit. A solid, entertaining 8.5-9/10 summer blockbuster. It was probably heavily focus tested, as it seems to throw something for everyone in there. It's funny, the characters and acting are solid, the CGI is great (even if some of the designs aren't. A lot of the ships, for example.) It's basically Star Wars for 2014, and is probably better than the new Star Wars movies will be. Basically the only glaring problem is that the villain is pretty boring and his motivation doesn't go beyond RACIAL CLEANSING. But even then, he functions.