Movie Tab II

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)



A moving and inspirational prison drama; even if it does feel just a bit cliched. Morgan Freeman's performance stands out as the best, and that's quite a feat considering the entire cast shows great talent.

__________________
"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

Peeping Tom (1960)



The story of a psychopath who films the women that he murders, Peeping Tom has often been compared to the works of Hitchcock, and I can certainly see why. Featuring a nutjob with parental issues and a theme of voyeurism, the movie feels like a combination of Psycho and Rear Window. While the pacing lags a bit at times, Peeping Tom is a chilling and sinister thriller that dares to examine the darkest corners of film.

Just got finished watching Let Me In. It is the U.S. remake of Let The Right One In. I liked it better than the original and even though its another vampire love story, I think it has a little more depth to it than most vamp movies made recently

King Arthur....boring movie

__________________
Special of the day History of the day

The Guard. Haven't laughed so much for ages

Stranger than Paradise (1984)


Stranger than Paradise is a very simple story (or maybe more appropriately scenario) which follows a young New York hipster’s interactions with his recently moved Hungarian cousin.

The entire film is incredibly minimalistic in almost every aspect. The simple lighting and significant use of static wide shots give off a very empty, and lonely atmosphere.

There is very little dialogue (and where there is it doesn’t seem to reveal any necessary information) Jarmusch relies almost soley on the images to convey the theme and story.

Depending on your expectations going into this one you may or may not be disappointed. A lot of the acting seems flat at times, and it certainly isn’t Jarmusch at the peak of his abilities but all in all, for being his first film it’s pretty damn good.

8/10

__________________
Touching from a distance, further all the time.

I thought this was a good flick, however it's chalk-full of nudity.

Would there be any other reason to watch it?

Well Eva Green has a great body, so that's a plus and since I have the Unrated version the nudity was no surprise but nonetheless I liked how the relationships in the movie were passionate and alluring and that's whats in store for the characters.

Kill Bill (2003, 2004)



Uma Thurman plays The Bride, an assassin after her former teammates who have killed her fiance, in this wonderfully stylish action movie (or should I say movies?). Believe it or not, this was my first Tarantino film, and it was certainly a unique one. Tarantino's obvious skill as a filmmaker sets this movie apart from other action flicks, and Uma Thurman's performance is to be commended as well. The movie seems to slow down occasionally, but Kill Bill is nevertheless a true epic.




The Breakfast Club (1985)



The concept of a single set has long been a favorite of mine, but it's normally reserved for suspense thrillers like 12 Angry Men or Hitchcock mysteries like Rear Window or Dial M For Murder. But The Breakfast Club is an 80s teen drama directed by John Hughes, and shares a kinship with Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Sixteen Candles. So it comes as something of a surprise that the movie pulls off the single set very well, and its all thanks to the characters. Each one is interesting, from the brain to the athlete to the princess to the criminal to the basket-case, and it's an entertaining and poignant ride as we see them pour out their hearts to each other. Perhaps the greatest of all high school movies.

Was this your first viewing of Kill Bill then? If so, I'm quite surprised you haven't seen Pulp Fiction yet. It was the movie that got me into films when I was about your age, get it watched soon and let us know what you think.

__________________
TOP 100 | "Don't let the bastards grind you down!"

Yep, it was the first time I saw Kill Bill, and Pulp Fiction is one that I've been meaning to watch for a while. I'll check it out and post my thoughts here very soon

Marnie (1964)



Alfred Hitchcock's most blatantly sexual film; as a matter of fact, I'm quite surprised he was able to release this film through a mainstream studio in 1964. Connery and Hedren have excellent chemistry, and Hitchcock does a great job as usual at directing. "Marnie" lacks the suspense of some of the filmmaker's finest, but few of the master's other films create such a vivid psychological profile.




Friday The 13th (2009)



I didn't go into this "Friday" expecting much, but what I really wanted was to see hockey mask Jason on screen. I got that, but not much else. Jason is the saving grace of a film that displays gore for gore's sake, and this half-sequel-half-remake lacks the tense and suspenseful atmosphere of the original. The viewer gets, instead, a stomach-churning exercise in terror.

Coraline - Trippy animated film by Henry Sellick, based slightly on Neil Gaiman's frightening YA novel of the same name. The film sands down some of the sharper edges, but it's a fun, surreal adventure in it's own right, about a blue haired little girl who finds a seemingly perfect "other" world within the crawl space of her new home.

__________________
"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

I finally secured a copy of David Cronenburg's Eastern Promises, and I ended up really enjoying it. The bathhouse sequence is easily one of the best scenes in recent history, and Viggo Mortensen's restrained performance remains chilling and intense. My only complaint is that I felt it was a bit short. Other than that, I very much liked Eastern Promises.

__________________
"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

It was definitely a well made film. but I found a bit to be a bit overrated. The reviews I read praised it to be one of the finest sci-fi films ever made, and I don't think it even makes a dent in that genre. I really liked Alfonso Cuaron's camerawork during the war sequences, and Clive Owen was solid as usual, but I didn't find anything extraordinary about it.

+ (I feel like I'm being a bit generous with this rating).

Note: I saw this exclusively for my best of the year thread.

In Tokyo on a large rubbish pile, there are some hazardous radioactive waste that have been bringing the dead back to turn including turning people into flesh-eating creatures. Enjoyable and sometimes funny Japanese horror-comedy from the writers and stars of the cult classics "Gozu" and "Ichi The Killer". It's not too gory even though there are good gore effects in this movie and the performances by the cast is OK but the movie is like a cartoon brought to life.

Taxi Driver (1976)



Taxi Driver, the story of a New York cabbie's descent into madness as a result of the urban decay around him, is a film that has spent quite a long time on my watchlist. So with high expectations, I finally sat down last night to watch it. To say that these expectations were satisfied would be an unbelievable understatement. I have never in my entire life seen a film that paints such an engrossing character study, or one that so brutally displays the violent effects of alienation. Scorsese's New York is the grittiest rendition of the city I have ever seen, and the director now easily ranks among my favorites.

This is Robert DeNiro's best performance. It is the best movie Martin Scorsese ever made. Considering the other work these two have done, that is no small accomplishment.

The Host (2006)-Joon-ho Bong



Equal parts monster movie/political satire/family comedy-drama The Host is about a young girl who gets kidnapped by a monster and her family who comes together to rescue her. The family reminds me somewhat of the family in Little Miss Sunshine. They're a bit wacky but well intentioned. Her father is a bit of a bumbler and this is both used to comedic value and some of the more sadder scenes in the film. And really there are some heartbreaking moments as well as being laugh out loud funny at times.

I certainly want to check out more of Bong's stuff after watching this. I was really pleasantly surprised at how good it was. B +

Super 8 (2011) J.J. Abrams



It was not my intention to watch two movies so alike back to back. There are a lot of similarities though but I'm not going to compare them other than to say that this is a feel good movie where as The Host is not.

I was really happy watching this. Sometimes you just need the band of misfit kids on an adventure feel good movie and you can only watch The Goonies so many times. Elle Fanning is a really capable child actress and the rest of the cast was good as well. Even if Charles is no Chunk.

As an homage to Spielberg I think it does him justice. While it may lack the magic of some of his films, it certainly is extremely likeable. B

This film is strictly for people who thought "The Departed" was too optimistic. Animal Kingdom makes plain from the opening shot. Once J's mother dies of a heroin overdose, he has nowhere to go but the home of his "Grandma Smurf" (Jacki Weaver) and uncles, a violent group of career criminals. It is a frightening tale of crime and corruption, of one family of criminal sociopaths both pitted against and partnered by the police in Melbourne, Australia. The film is dark and disturbing, I highly recommend it.

4.5/5