THX 11/1-30 (a November movie thread)

[Lee G]

also watched: the innocents, a 1961 adaptation of the turn of the screw, starring deborah kerr. shooting is great, ghosts is all creepy, and it holds up really well.

what did not hold up so well was 1971's let's scare jessica to death. it is, however, better than its title, and not without potential. a few bucks and less awkward acting would've gone a long way.

I almost DVRed LSJD not long ago; I did DVR The Innocents, I believe, and am looking forward to seeing that.

The other night the kids watched We Bought a Zoo, and I half-watched it with them. Cameron Crowe must be stopped. And then last night I was flipping around for something to watch for 20 minutes til I fell out and wound up watching all of To Live and Die in L.A.



I'd seen it a bunch, but it's just so entertaining, and entertainingly overdone. William Petersen is just such a dick, and he embodies it in a way that you just know goes straight to the bone. His character here reminds me of Paul Rudd's character in Wet Hot American Summer, except the latter is supposed to be ridiculous. And speaking of Michael Mann, the story that he sued William Friedkin for creative plagiarism is reportedly apocryphal, but he woulda had a good case.

[shady lane]

I almost DVRed LSJD not long ago

i can't exactly recommend it, but i also wouldn't tell you not to watch it. i will warn you that it drags.

[abalene]

the tall man: pascal laugier's american follow-up to the unbelievable martyrs, starring jessica biel. starts out as a horror/thriller, ends up as something altogether different. revelation after revelation, to no real effect in the end. i was on edge the whole time, steeling myself for the worst possible shit, which laugher is setting you up for, but he pulls the rug out in the last 10 minutes.

found it to be sort of stupid and preachy. very forgettable.

[jeffx]

yeah, tall man would've been a monster disappointment if i'd even known of it's existence more than 15 minutes before i watched it.

[Lee G]

It would be inaccurate to say I "loved" Martyrs, but I was pretty floored by it. The director's smug, smirky "introduction" on the DVD made me want to beat him unconscious with a phone book, though, so it's easy for me to imagine him effing up another attempt to bottle that particular brand of twisty wrongness. I will need to see the new one nonetheless.

[mte]

It would be inaccurate to say I "loved" Martyrs, but I was pretty floored by it. The director's smug, smirky "introduction" on the DVD made me want to beat him unconscious with a phone book, though, so it's easy for me to imagine him effing up another attempt to bottle that particular brand of twisty wrongness. I will need to see the new one nonetheless.

yeah, i was affected enough by martyrs that i'm willing to give him some credit for deliberately working against expectations. but i was not impressed with the results of that effort.

[jfm]

I heard Prometheus was pretty dumb, but I watched it anyway.



Yup, it's dumb. Promising beginning quickly gives way to your basic bad-horror-film scenario of idiot characters reacting in terribly unwise ways to ridiculous circumstances. (The self-abortion scene is sort of notable, but it just made me think of Todd Akin...) It also ends with an obnoxious set-up for a sequel. Blah.

[Demitra]

I heard Prometheus was pretty dumb, but I watched it anyway.



Yup, it's dumb. Promising beginning quickly gives way to your basic bad-horror-film scenario of idiot characters reacting in terribly unwise ways to ridiculous circumstances. (The self-abortion scene is sort of notable, but it just made me think of Todd Akin...) It also ends with an obnoxious set-up for a sequel. Blah.

Yea I started it but couldn't get through it. I turned on another show instead.

[Rocky Hillian]

The Wife and I saw Seven Psychopaths this weekend. Not great, but not bad either. I laughed out loud multiple times. It was sorta Tarantino-esque with it's gratuitous violence in places. Which brings me to my next point.

If you can't get a babysitter for the evening, maybe you should choose a different movie when taking your 7 year-old with you. People amaze me, seriously. Hell, the first scene of the movie is two guys being shot in the head, front and center, with the blood splattering directly into the camera.

[spinetingler]

Dark Shadows

It wasn't a darkly-comedic camp romp as the trailer led me to believe.

Every joke/amusing part was in the trailer {which is becoming a regular (annoying) thing}.

Disregarding the errant marketing, it was actually a pretty enjoyable little film (given that I'm a Depp fanboy, as well).