@darkeningday It's an hour and a half of meandering, focusing on the (poor) character development of some of the most boring characters I've ever seen on screen. When it's not doing that, it's a collection of ''pretty'' shots of forests and road and shit with a soundtrack that becomes super annoying after 5 minutes.

As for Lovecraft adaptations, I really enjoyed the 80's versions of Re-Animator and From Beyond. The former especially did a great job of capturing the camp of that story. The recent black and white silent version of The Call of Cthulhu was also a really cool movie. The same people also did a similar treatment for The Whisperer in Darkness but I didn't think that was quite as good.

What do you think of In the Mouth of Madness? Almost every friend of mine that's into Lovecraft swears up and down by that movie being great.

And yes, that black and white silent version of The Call of Cthulhu is really, really great. It being a silent movie just enhances the mood so much.

This is a good plan. I enjoy Wes' movies but I'm white so I guess that's no surprise. Life Aquatic is probably my favorite of his, Bill Murray does no wrong (we're not going to talk about Garfield).

Very good movie. Plus, Sam Neill (who the fuck doesn't love Sam Neill?)

As far as Lovecraft goes, I thought Dagon was fantastic and it's among my favorites along with Re-Animator and From Beyond. Those that fancy the Jeffrey Combs/Lovecraft combination might enjoy Castle Freak and Necronomicon as well, the former being another Stuart Gordon flick (pretty good) but the latter not being anything to write home about.

Sounds like something he will enjoy a lot!!! I'll check Snow Angels soon, love me some Sam Rockwell!

For Anderson, I didn't quite like Bottle Rocket that much, Darjeeling, Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox are all better movies.

when i saw those Lovecraft adaptions, it (still does) feels a bit comical to me.. when i think of how they should be done, Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood comes to mind.. Lovecraft was a grim and perfectionist in the detail when it came to lacing together the storyline..
i did see In the Mouth of Madness and Sam Neill is always awesome.. still, how to put, 'unexplainable horrors' onto film takes it away. Pickmans Model, now that, that could change the way i have felt lately if they handed the script down to the right people. not saying anyone did not do a good effort here, those films mentioned are not 'shit' by any stretch, just waiting to see if a production crew can truly, bleed out Lovecrafts work..

Watched the 2nd half of Full Metal Jacket last night. Just the Vietnam portion. Such a god damn awesome movie. I can't really decide which is the better Vietnam flick, that or Platoon.

I love FMJ but I feel it is defined both culturally and personally by its boot camp portion, so I tend to look at it as less of a Vietnam movie than something like Platoon. Apocalypse Now is probably my favorite Vietnam movie, because I love the way it uses Heart of Darkness as a storytelling structure. It's really quite unique, at least among mainstream films, in that regard.

I watched 12 Years A Slave the other night. Some parts of it were absolutely magnificent, particularly the steamboat sequence, and I liked the way it avoided cliches (not to say they aren't there) a bit better than past slavery films. I think it gives a deeper and more textured perception of the situation than some other films that involve American Slavery in a significant way. Django Unchained (which I enjoyed based on its own merits) is not a film that is serious about examining slavery in the same sense that 12 Years a Slave is, but it's indicative of the rift that exists in Hollywood between serious films and (the popular) ones that just rely on cliche in order to evoke predictable emotional reactions from audiences. I didn't think 12 Years was a masterpiece by my own standards, but I appreciated the way it made me think about the rather barbaric institutionalization of period - whether in terms of plot or character - stereotypes that exists within Hollywood, and how they are applied in such a carefree manner with so little conscious recognition from the public.

Finally got around to watching The Fountain, and I will give Darren Aronofsky credit for one thing: he did a really good job with The Wrestler! Also...

Kick-Ass 2 - I hated certain aspects of this movie, but somehow didn't mind the overall experience. The parts that bugged me were the Hit Girl retirement subplot, the excessive shout-outs to Twitter and YouTube, multiple uses of what seemed like the same slow zoom-in on the Big Daddy costume, and the action scene where


Seriously, I never want to see that in a movie again.

Yeah, so Kick-Ass 2 wasn't great, but I think Kick-Ass 1 is a bit overrated anyway. So I won't do my "the original was way better!" routine this time.

PS: Jim Carrey was barely recognizable.

Frost/Nixon - 4.25/5

Just a well balanced, well made film. Frank Langella kills it as Nixon and Michael Sheen is pretty much just as good, if a bit more understated, as Frost. Chronicling the series of interviews between the disgraced president and a boisterous, flamboyant talk show host, this movie moves along quite swimmingly and remains entertaining through the old faithfuls of moviemaking - just simple acting and storytelling. No bells and whistles to it and no gimmicks. This isn't an outstanding timeless film, but it is really, really enjoyable.

Frozen

Pretty much just a kids movie. Really, egregiously well done in terms of its animation, music and what not, but the story is pretty simple. I had fun with this, but I doubt I was really its intended audience.

This Is the End - 4/5

A bunch of comedic actors, and Emma Watson, get together at James Franco's house while the world ends around them. Stupid, over the top fun. I really enjoyed the first two acts of this, as they were quite shameless and hilarious through that. The fact that the actors were pretty much just playing silly versions of themselves made it funnier, and there were a lot of scenes you just rolled along with and didn't care how dumb they were - because it's fun. The last act was pretty weak though, except for the turn Danny McBride's character makes.

The Last Stand - 2.5/5

So stupid, but so funny at times. If this wasn't about twenty five minutes too long it'd be way better. Arnie is fun, although he doesn't get enough screentime. The action scenes in the climax make the movie, and the ending is campy fun. First 40 minutes were pretty droll though.

Also tried to watch 42 - not my thing. Just way too sappy, too hammy.

EDIT: Currently watching Prisoners and it's an agonizing (if I had kids I probably couldn't even finish it) but unquestionably spellbinding watch. It's a really minimalist movie, with virtually no flashy editing, meretricious photography or even non-diegetic music. Kinda feels Herzog-y, but good Herzog, not "My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done" Herzog. Really refreshing for a Hollywood flick. At the same time, I can't help but feel that some scenes could be slightly accelerated with no deleterious effects and in some rare cases, they could be dropped entirely. Still, I'm enjoying it immensely, and I can't wait to finish it. I'll write a full report after I've finished and properly digested it.

I definitely felt The Last Stand was about neck and neck with Collateral Damage, one of Arnie's most lacklustre films, only the latter had a more noteworthy villain, interesting setting and better acting. Ultimately, the jokes felt too forced and often at times awkward (possibly due to 1st takes), it definitely dragged at points with too much screentime on one-dimensional Gabriel Cortez, while the memorable action that saves it came way too late into the picture.

darkeningday, yeah, Prisoners was pretty damn good.

So I'm like 27 years late to the party, but Big Trouble in Little China was amazing. I have no idea why I hadn't seen this movie earlier. I absolutely loved Kurt Russell being a total badass yet also completely incompetent and almost inconsequential to the storyline.

I loved The Last Stand. OTT craziness with Arnold just doing what he does. I watch whatever he does. It just feels familiar.

Finally saw Oblivion and finished it. Actually wasn't terrible.

I watched Prisoners at the cinemas with my sister and she's got kids, they weren't there of course but it still felt a little inappropriate. It's totally heart-wrenching drama and brings out important questions without being preachy. It doesn't share many traits with a normal Hollywood crop, and the lack of music made it much more confronting I feel. I liked the use of still camera shots, that seems to be a rarity these days, everything has to be panning or moving around in case the audience might get bored, combined with minimal editing and it's hard not to feel immersed.

Watched Thor, hated it. Crap plot, lame greenscreen, shoe-horned romance subplot, setting stunk, etc.. During the earth sequences, Thor acting like a musclehead at an Amon Amarth show was the funniest thing about the movie. Rest of it sucked.

Iron Man 1 I watched again and THIS is how you pull off a superhero film. Nothing bad to really say about it since, for what it is, it nailed all the points.

I'll never get why people really like Iron Man that much. Personally I thought it was OK, but eh, not really anything I'd watch very often. Hits all the boxes but is also pretty uninspiring while doing so. Decent though.

Dude, compare it to Thor. IM's got some holes - some real big ones, but Thor is a travesty in comparison. Maybe I just like my heroes to have snarky personalities in blockbuster films. Could also be my elation having watched it right after Thor.

It came out the same year as The Dark Knight, is all I'm saying. There was no comparison for me. Thor was definitely pretty sucky though. Second one was a huge improvement.

Glad to know the second one is better. Will be seeing it soon. I get what you mean about TDK, too. Maybe I should tell you now that when I saw both IM and TDK for the first time I was in basic training / AIT so 4 months without seeing any films even made Never Back Down kick ass for me. Well, not that far.

Yeah I love the second half of that film too, seems like most people just outright disregard it in light of the infamous boot camp scenes. A bit of a shame, really.

Watching Elysium right now.... I will post later on what I think of it, but right now I'm at the scene where they just drilled the machines onto his head and arms

Edit: Since no one posted under me, I'll just edit this one in a spoiler.



My final verdict: Good story and interesting concept (if overdone already at this point, with Hunger Games and all), but completely unbelievable ending.

Haha, now I feel like a real dick for even arguing with you about it...

Saw Fruitvale Station and The Butler last night, really enjoyed both. They'll both be on my top 10 of '13 anyway so I'll just do the actual reviews then! Going to see Prisoners tonight.

I just watched Totoro for the first time, my reaction while watching it was something on the likes of "This movie might be to happy for it's own good!". But when the scene where Totoro first showed up, I laughed my ass off like few movies had made me. Almost nothing important happens in the movie in terms of story and plot, but the characters are lovable and you really care about their problems. Probably the most charming movie ever.

Hah, as much as I like Totoro, I still can't rate it super highly because it feels like it ends far too soon. Almost as though it ends before the story really even gets going.

As much as I love Thor in the comics, the Dark World was absolutely terrible and awkward.

Just watched Don Jon and I thought it was impressive enough for Gordon-Levitt's writing/producing/directing/starring debut. Has the elements of a cheesy millennial romantic-comedy but quickly veers away from any lame stereotypes and has a decent ending.

I watched "Prisoners" myself too. That was indeed a brilliant film, very minimal, VERY tense, extremely well-acted and for a 153 minute movie, pretty well-paced.

Good thing I followed up with that after "Hell Baby". Aside from some assorted funny lines and gore gags, this flick sucked. It had way, WAY too much of that "let's make this scene silly awkward and just strrreeeetcch it out" type humor in it. Kinda ok, mostly sucked.

Yeah Prisoners was a good one. Ending was a bit lame though.

I finally got around to watching Django Unchained. Held out for ages , I can't really deal with tarantino these days. But it wasn't too bad. I mostly say this is due to Christoph Waltz. That cunt can act. That QT cameo, ugh.

Watched Taken last night. What the fuck was this? Sooo fucking laughably bad. Pretty sure it was written and directed by a senile second-year film student.

Meh. It was a good turn your brain off action movie that didn't pretend to be anything it wasn't and had well choreographed fight scenes. Still haven't seen the sequel though.

Late on this one, but Iron Man 3 was really bad. Starts out serious and at least interesting then becomes ham-handed by Hollywoodness. Terrible kid sidekick, plot holes piling higher than before, cop-outs for plots, and an infuriating twist. I went in really wanting to like this but it sucks. 1 and 2 are gems compared to this.

Yeah, I didn't like Iron Man 3 too. It doesn't get better than the first part for me. I get that since it's an origins movie, it has that novelty factor, but the sequels were terribly disappointing.

The first Iron Man is one of the precious few "sit down, shut up, and eat your goddamn popcorn" action movies we've had in recent years that doesn't suck ass through a straw. Of course it got shown up by the vastly superior The Dark Knight that same year, but it, too, belongs on that very short list.

Iron Man 2 was okay. Nothing special, but nothing horrible.

I haven't seen Iron Man 3, and I don't really have any reason to, really.

Prisoners was the best crime movie in years. Right up there with The Pledge, Mystic River, etc.

Big surprise. I, Frankenstein has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That new Hercules movie is also doing horribly, with a 3% based on even more reviews.

Don't you just love the January dumping ground?

Just saw Her.

I'm almost speechless. Total sadguy movie, but utterly emotionally gripping. The best movie I've seen in years, maybe ever.

Just put together my worst of 2013 list on the blog; check it out in the sig. Best of 2013 coming tomorrow!

I don't think I'll ever understand your hatred for The Conjuring. It's iterative, yes, but so is The Vision of Escaflowne--just because it does nothing new doesn't mean it's not awesome.