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Post by Denethor on May 5, 2009 8:13:36 GMT -5
I made a minor mistake in the watching movies realm last night, and I'll take the opportunity to re-start our "what movies are you watching?" thread. ;D Minor mistake: re-watching The Grudge just before going to bed, in a creaky house that is slowly sliding down the hill. Meaning, lots of "nightly noises". Ouch. When we saw that film in the theater, one of my housemates couldn't sleep for three days. One thing I noticed this time though, that I'd forgotten about and that is (currently) dear to my heart about it, is that in this flick the Realtor gets it. He gets drawn into the "curse" too! Any more detail would be spoiling, but, do you know how frickin' rare that is in a haunted-house movie? The Realtor is usually a bad guy - he knows about the murder or the mysterious disappearances or whatever and he sells the house to the nice family anyway, saying nothing, because he wants to unload a bad listing and/or wants his commission - and he usually gets off scot-free, to the audience's frustration, presumably to sell the house to the next unsuspecting victim and create a sequel. I've long noticed this pattern, because the haunted-house subgenre is one of my favorites (so shoot me, I'm Anglo-Saxon. What is it about us and creaky old houses? LOL) Anycase, I give The Grudge an A- for jolty scare value, a B for general horror-movie quality (meaning no character development is ok and plot is optional, so bear that in mind), and a C- for "re-seeing" value, with the grade a bit inflated for me due to the aforementioned. "Jolt" movies just don't usually hold up to a second viewing, because you know what's coming; for most people, it'd probably get a D in that area.
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Post by blackrose on May 5, 2009 8:44:05 GMT -5
I really liked the Grudge on first viewing. For weeks I had to brace myself when I opened my closet because I half-expected creepy blue kid to meow at me... I even liked the Grudge 2. But I agree, it doesn't have muchreplay value. Either does The Ring. I really liked The Ring first time. It was well and truly creepy... especially the whole coming out of the TV thing. We watched it while living in my first apartment, when the laundry room was downstairs, by the boiler room, which is a generally creepy place anyway... and I made Darkk come down and get my laundry with me. *grins* The second viewing just kinda sucked, tho...
A good movie that I liked that was billed as horror but was really more of a paranormal romance thriller sort of thing was The Return.
Anyway, last movie we saw was Fracture on DVD. It's the one with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Goslin and Hopkins killed his wife but he's all smart and shit and sets the whole thing up so they can't prove it... It has some tense moments, some decent actings, but overall it was rather predictable. I guess I'll give it a B-
We're planning on seeing Wolverine tomorrow, depending on how we feel...
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Post by Denethor on May 5, 2009 9:19:04 GMT -5
Grudge 2 didn't do it for me. They kinda-sorta explained too much. Things are creepier when they're more mysterious.
I don't remember any Realtors getting it in Grudge 2, but that wouldn't have mattered to me back then anyway, I mighta missed one. Mostly just the film was, as sequels tend to be, not as good as the original.
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Post by E on May 5, 2009 15:56:35 GMT -5
We watched "Amusement" last night.
What a piece of crap. F's all across the board.
The premise is a "sick and twisted" kid grows up and hunts down 3 of his female grade school acquaintances, to kill them. The only scene in the whole movie that was in any way decent was when the lead girl goes to babysit for her aunt and uncle who are out of town. The girl shows up and the two little boys (6-8 ish) say the sitter left them alone *snicker snicker to each other*. She gets them wound down for the night and goes into the guest room to bunk. It is filled with every type of clown you could imagine, including a man sized creepy one sitting in a chair (did you guess yet) she goes to bed and the clown is still, she keeps looking at it, she rolls over and .... it moves it head to look at her.
I could have yelled "Are you stupid?!" at the screen.
Than the aunt calls and the girl runs down the hall to answer, she complains about the "big one, the one bigger than me" and the aunt calmly says "we don't own anything like that".. dun dun dun.. She turns around and he's gone.
That was okay.
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Post by blackrose on May 7, 2009 8:21:48 GMT -5
So we went to see Wolverine - it was pretty good. The acting was good, the story line was decent, and the action was cool. There were a few weird CGI moments. Darkk reckons they might've crossed the threshold of "Uncanny Valley". That's when something looks so realistic that it's jarring, because then you notice all the weird little flaws that make it look less real, in a way, than if it were more clearly animated. (It was originally a term for robots that looked too human, but has now come into usage for CGI effects and whatnot).
Anyway... it wasn't without flaws. There are definitely some consistency issues between it and the X-Men trilogy - particulary the relationship between Wolvering and Sabertooth never being addressed in the first movie, which is explained on the part of Wolverine, but not on the part of Sabertooth. Not to mention that Liev Schreiber has a *totally* different physicality than the guy they got to do Sabretooth in the first movie...
And I was a little upset that they touted Gambit's debut to the movies - finally - but the part was so small. I mean, I like how they handled the character... he looked good and acted the part, mostly... (except his accent was kind of out and in) - but Gambit is one of my favorite characters, and I would like a movie where he actually has a main part.
There were some other consistency things they handled well, tho, like explaining how Cyclops could be in the camp that Wolverine saves people from but not recognize him in the first movie...
Sort of like Star Wars in that way - they tied up some loose threads, but created others.
Anyway, overall it was enjoyable and the action was pretty intense. We give it a B/ B+.
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Post by blackrose on May 11, 2009 15:22:33 GMT -5
Premonition on DVD
It was incoherent, inconsistent, and a snooze-fest. And that ending... Ugh!
C-
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Post by Denethor on May 11, 2009 16:01:40 GMT -5
Next time I get a weekend, which ought to be this one or next, or maybe on a night before a work from home day, which shouldn't be too far out either, I'd like to see either the Wolverine movie or the Star Trek one. Anyone out there seen both, and can make a recommendation?
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Post by E on May 12, 2009 1:28:49 GMT -5
Religulous
A documentary with Bill Maher about the crazy things that people will say or do to rationalize their religion. Some really funny with some rather sad and some offensive.
B
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Post by blackrose on May 12, 2009 8:07:01 GMT -5
Haven't seen Star Trek yet, but will have done by next week...
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Post by MsAriel on May 12, 2009 11:15:24 GMT -5
I saw Woverine, and agree that Gambit needed a bigger part.... However, rumor is he's in the next X-men movie called "first class" due out 2011, and Young Magneto is due out 2010.
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Post by blackrose on May 19, 2009 13:26:19 GMT -5
Went to see Star Trek on Friday. It was pretty cool. I thought the actors were picked well, and most of them really suited the role they were taking over. Karl Urban was really good as Bones, imo, especially - though Zachary Quinta was really good as Spock, too.
I wasn't bothered by the time-travel thing like I know some other people were, but, then I knew about it for ages, so I half knew what to expect. It also opens up the door to whole new movies and adventures, since we're now operating on the basis of an alternate time-line.
I would say, over-all, it was well acted with some nice little homages to the original, but also some nice tweakings to give it a fresh spin. The plot was a little thin but, then, none of the Star Treks are really what one would call thick on plotting... I was bothered by the convenience of how Kirk, old Spock and Scotty met - but, other than that, there weren't any huge gaps.
And the action was exciting and well done...
So, all-in-all, B+/ A-
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Post by Denethor on May 19, 2009 15:52:22 GMT -5
Heh...nothing says Star Trek like goofed up time travel! I may consider that then, since I might actually have some time this weekend.
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Post by blackrose on May 26, 2009 9:01:24 GMT -5
Prince Caspian on DVD
Pretty to look at... but so boring. Not well acted, way overlong, and no real drama or connection with the characters...
C
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Post by Denethor on May 29, 2009 22:18:09 GMT -5
Re-viewing of the third Harry Potter movie, my favorite (hey, it has werewolves! ;D ). Makes me want to exercise, since I used to watch it when exercising a lot. Yeah, that would have been a good thing. But I didn't. I just sat there and watched the movie like a dolt.
Oh well, at least now I know what the Boggart would turn into. *sigh*
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Post by blackrose on May 30, 2009 10:20:16 GMT -5
I think the third and fourth HP movies are still my fave, 'cause they're my fave books. I liked parts of the fifth, but I didn't like some of the weird changes they made. (The whole weird black/white smoke battle - what the heck was up with that?)
Anxiously anticipating and half dreading the next...
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