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Hello Salem, my name's Winifred. What's yours
honestly, it was just funny. appropriate for the thread? no. funny? yes

Aside from this, jrs would you be happy to see a sequel from McG in the Terminator series?
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"The Lodger"


Hitchcock's 1927 silent adaptation of the book of the same name by Marie Lowndes, based roughly around the Jack the Ripper killings.

Someone is killing off blond haired women on the foggy London streets.
A mysterious lodger (the now legendary Ivor Novello) takes rooms at the house of an old couple who have a the pretty,blond, daughter named Daisy.
As the lodger steps out into the dark streets...another murder occurs....


Not remotely in the same class as true silent classics, Hitchcock's first real public success is hampered by many (of course mute) conversational scenes that fall dead without any words bar a few short inter-titles.
Novello's acting at first is also too sinister and overwrought to make us believe he would ever have got through the front door, let alone be taken in as a lodger and there is little incident in the story.

There are positives here though.
We have some fun 'sinister' visuals, most famously the scene where Novello appears at the lodging house, framed in the doorway, with his only his eyes showing above his scarf shrouded visage and with that iconic (though utterly erroneous) Ripper black medical bag clasped in his hand, and a few shots effectively based on German Expressionist cinema.
And the plot is interesting enough to hold the attention (just) as Hitch piles on the fog, Cockney 'salt off the Earth' characters, shocked bystanders, dumbfounded Bobbies on the beat and best of all the angry mob in the genuinely tense and pretty tough finale.
The film needlessly goes on for a couple of sequences after this finale for no good reason though and so the effect of the subsequent 'angry mob' sequence is weakened.

Worth a look from any historical point of view and for those few effective scene, and it's surprising to think that this was in cinemas just 40 years after The Ripper prowled London's streets, this closeness adds to the film's fascination as many of those who may have sat in the audience in 1927 would have lived through the slayings.



"Fear 2: Halloween Night"


Dopey wooden supernatural guy aside, this has nothing to do wth the first "Fear" and stands on its own.
The film is a very slow builder and no red stuff is seen until well passed the hour mark. But the acting is fine, the film is generally well made and the unfolding plot manages to just about hold the attention.

The later killings are pretty weak, but one is quite violent and a few dollops of crimson get splashed around. But it has one of those nonsensical finale frame twists that serves no purpose and really the entire thing is too low key for its own good.
Worth a look if you can get it very cheap (which it is).



"Time after Time"


Amazingly this gem has slipped though the cracks of time (ho ho) and is generally forgotten about now.
This is a travesty that needs addressing.

A great plot has Jack The Ripper (essayed by a brilliantly on form David Warner) turn out to be a Dr Stevenson, a close friend of none other than author H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell in a superb, non-hammy, performance).
With the Police on his heels 'Jack' flees in Wells' very own time machine and ends up (where the machine ended up) in San Francisco circa 1979!

Without a special key, that Wells has, the time machine goes back whence it came and so H.G steels his nerves and goes after The Ripper.
While looking for 'Jack' he meets bank employee Amy (A wonderfully cute, slightly spaced but strong and wilful turn by Mary Steenburgen) and finds himself falling in love with her, even as he reallses the violence of future society makes The Ripper look like a novice. And soon the murdered bodies of prostitutes start turning up in San Francisco...

A cuttingly astute mix of the comic, the whimsical and the deadly serious Nicholas Meyer's film juggles these ingredients perfectly and the move from the 'man out of his time' humour that plays a big part in the first half of the film into straight ahead thriller territory for the tense final third of the movie is seamless.
The screenplay makes much of Wells' being not only from another time but also being English and there are some lovely comedy sequences here to enjoy all perfectly played by McDowell who bounces off Steenburgen wonderfully.
Warner's role is always serious and his strong delivery, voice and presence ensures that we never crucially forget, 70's denim get-up or not, what a dangerous killer his character is and again his scenes with McDowell are superb.

Despite the topic, violence is pretty tame due to the fact that at it's heart the film is as much a fish out of water love story as a hunt for a serial killer flick, but Meyer brilliantly manages to crank up the tension and threat during Jack's brief killings and the occasional splash of blood (and in one case a severed arm on the floor) effectively add much needed darkness to the rest of the movie's lovable lightness of touch.

Highlight of the thriller aspects of the film must be a brilliantly staged, edited and acted (McDowell is simply amazing) extended sequence involving Well's trying to stop Stevenson's next murder but finding himself a prisoner of disbelieving Police as The Ripper closes in on his victim. Cleverly using what we have already learned from a future newspaper about the murder this sequence will stick in the mind of anyone who sees it as we are truly put through the emotional wringer.

You can pick a few holes in the plot (as is basically the folly of all time travel stories) but that aside, "Time after Time" is a classy, clever, funny, charming, tense, exciting and strongly emotional journey through time that is exquisitely acted and highly memorable.



Let it go jrs. Despite Yoda's intervention, you still going at it?
No, i did nothing in the first place. But it's whatever


jrs would you be happy to see a sequel from McG in the Terminator series?
Depends, Salvation was an alright film and left off to make another film. If they do it right (if it is gonna be made at all) and I se a clip or two, i might see it. Terminator: Salvation had some flaws with continuity of the whole saga so I'm kinda iffy.



Hello Salem, my name's Winifred. What's yours
now now children, play nice

ive only seen one terminator movie and it was the second one but from what i hear thats the only one worth watching. im a bit hesitant to watch all of them for fear of disappointment



Welcome to the human race...
The first one is pretty damned good for a piece of low-budget 80s schlock, and I prefer it to the second one. The third is mostly crap, as is Salvation.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



help me decide what to watch next:

THX 1138 or All That Jazz?

ive never seen either of them, what to do folks?

ALL THAT JAZZ
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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Soylent Green

First viewing. Disappointing but interesting. There's good idea here but its buried in banal storytelling and poor setups.

What about the Eddie G. Finale with the widescreen, flowers and stereophonic sound? That's worth a whole heckuva lot, if you ask me. All That Jazz, I should hope...
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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Watched Nil By Mouth (1997). Gary Oldman's film of thuggery and domestic violence in South London, apparently based on his own life.

At first I couldn't get this to play because Film4 has film ratings and I needed to put in my PIN on skyplus, which I couldn't remember. Oddly, though, if you just exit the screen asking for your PIN and try again, it doesn't ask you again. Handy for me trying to watch the film, but slightly worrying in case children try the same thing...

Anyway, if you are over 18, I would recommend this film. Harrowing and bleak, sure, but so very real. Real in a way that films like Kidulthood and This is England aspire to but don't quite succeed in achieving. Very well directed and superbly acted, particularly by Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke. I feel a little sorry for Ray Winstone being typecast, but he plays thugs so well.



Hello Salem, my name's Winifred. What's yours
What about the Eddie G. Finale with the widescreen, flowers and stereophonic sound? That's worth a whole heckuva lot, if you ask me. All That Jazz, I should hope...
twas easily the best scene but only one good scene a movie does not make



A couple of flicks that I recently watched & really liked:


Michael Clayton
Corporate corruption revealed more in it's ability to constrict the world of business towards it's own needs more than in its services to actually provide to it's supposed clientele.
A "thinking man's" political thriller in that it's suspense is driven more by the consequences of it's story than it is by action.
George Clooney does a capable job, Tom Wilkinson is always fun to watch, Tilda Swinton is always even more fun to watch, and of course, Michael Clayton is one of the last movies to be produced (along with his final acting role) by the late Mr. Sydney Pollack.







The Cooler
I really like William H. Macy. For me, he's one of those actors that seems to make more right decisions than bad when it comes to choosing a part in a film.
And while it's always cool to see him in any movie, when he's the lead character, it's usually even cooler.







The Elephant Man
No, I wasn't disappointed that this movie is not about a guy who gets elephantine-like powers after he gets bitten by a radioactive elephant.
Turns out that it's a movie directed by David Lynch, his first major film after Eraserhead (& no, that movie is not about a guy who gets bitten by a radioactive eraser. Something that I found out the hard way. Superhero flix just weren't that popular back then). Told in a more straight-forward manner than his debut film, but with the same black & white palette that adds an eeriness to the "based on a true story" film. The true story being that of the life of Joseph Merrick, a man so afflicted with a physical deformity, that, after being pursued by a group of on-lookers who have boiled over into an angry mob, he finds himself anguishly reminding them that, despite his severe bestial physical imperfections, he is not an animal, but, in fact, a human being.
I feel for the guy. I hate when that happens to me.







The Grifters
While this movie includes the type of grand grift scheme that makes these types of films appealing, it's also depicts the very dark side that comes along with most actual confidence games.
The characters aren't as endearing as in most other films of this genre, but they are most certainly interesting, adding a sharp & jagged dimension to a theme that has a tendency to sway a little too much on the fluffier side.
Thru all the lead characters, this move reveals that grifters wear their dark sunglasses not so much to look cool, but more to shadow the deceits that lie behind their grifting eyes & their grifting smiles.







The Last Emperor
The end of not just an ancient & epic era in Chinese history, but probably in world history, also. Depicted through the life a young boy, then man, born into the role of monarchy, yet powerless but to sit on a thrown & watch it happen in front of him.
Told with expansive & colorful scenery, The Last Emperor is an almost quiet yet sweeping story of a life that begins royally in a dynastic palace & yet ends most modestly in a humble garden.



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Right now, all I'm wearing is a mustard-stained wife-beater T-shirt, no pants & a massive sombrero.



Cirque Du Freak:Vampires Assistant
An enjoyable we romp that sets up the franchise well. John C Reilly gives a really good and understate performance which may help give him some respectability back. Willem Defoe appears as a cameo and wonderfully hams things up





Surrogates
Jonathan Mostow 2009

So this is from the director who massacred Terminator 3. The b*st*rd. And guess what, hes at the helm of another movie about robots who look like people.. he has some range. I didn't expect much of this and there wasn't much to be had. Surrogates is a cliche robot movie and resembles other robot movies. I'Robot first and foremost, it even stars James Cromwell as the creator who has gone off the deep end.. exactly as he does in I'Robot, that is just weak. There are a few Terminator style chase scenes, the director is really stretching himself. I refuse to compare this to Blade Runner even if there are some similar themes because it just it just doesn't deserve it.

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This year, more than any other, for almost the whole month of October, I've been watchin' just a crapload of "Halloweenesque" type of titles, to help enhance the spirit of the season for me.
Of the bunch, here are the ones that I've liked:


Zombieland
I've never been really big into the horror-comedy genre. It always felt to me that the comedy sorta cancels out the horror aspect of the film. Fortunately, Zombieland seems to focus more with the comedy area of it's premise, & the story centered more on the main characters dealing in world with few human survivors than it does on these characters battling their way thru flanks upon flanks of zombies (though, there are enough of those scenes to warrant the name of this movie). So, even though I'm not a big fan of zombie apocalypses, I found that I was able to sit thru this one with a bit more of an appreciation not only for the sub-genre itself, but more importantly, with an appreciation for a certain actor* with the initials BM. And yet, even more importantly, with an appreciation for the fact that I live in a time when I don't have to worry about life's little Twinkie gauge going on empty.


*Kind of a spoiler if I mention the actor's name.


The Orphanage
An orphanage-turned-family-household begins to show signs of a haunting after an adopted orphan dissappears, leaving his adopted mother on a quest that will result in either solving the mystery of her son's disappearance, or lead her down a cryptic road to madness.


A film that's so Guillermo-Del-Toroesque, that it comes off almost exactly like a Guillermo Del Toro film. And surprise, surprise, even though it was neither written or directed by Señor Del Toro, he did pick it up as producer (the script was from the hand of Sergio G. Sánchez & the film was directed by Juan Antonio Bayona). However, let it be known that making such a comparison is not any kind of accusation of imitation, but more of a compliment to all those involved in making this creepy entertaining ghost tale which gears itself towards those viewers who are armed with a decent attention span.





Da Devil's Backbone
"What is a ghost?
A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again?
A moment of pain, perhaps?
Something dead which still seems to be alive?
A emotion suspended in time.
Like a blurred photograph.
Like an insect trapped in amber.
A ghost.

That's what I am."

Guillermo Del Toro's tale of how an orphanage-turned-temporary safe-haven begins to show signs of a haunting after one of the orphan boys disappears (can you see why I stressed the comparison to Del Toro on my Orhanage entry?).
A story that may seem somewhat simplistic at first,
but when combined with the background dramas of both the lead characters, along with those hinted at of the supporting characters, along with the blatant "not-so-blatant" metaphors that are the director's strong-suit (that is, it's his strong-suit only if he isn't directing a Hellboy movie),
The Devil's Backbone turns out to be a satisfyingly rich movie that goes more for creepy metaphysical melodrama than it does for in-your-face scare tactics.





Paperhouse

What dreams may come from the imagination of a little girl. Especially when those dreams can become reality. First on paper, then into the world of the awakened.
This is a movie that I don't actually recall when it first came out, but whenever I mention it to anybody around me, most of them tend to respond with "Oh that's right, I remember that....". Paperhouse turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me & a good example of the best thing that can happen when going about these types of movie-viewing marathons.
Though the ending doesn't seem to come together as well as a majority of the first part of the story, over-all, I really liked the sparse fantasy element of the film, the way the sleep sequences are interwoven with the main character's life situation, & the slow build-up that starts out from a young girl's dreams & then leads into the fears of her nightmares.





Drácula (Spanish-language version)(1931)
As anybody who knows me knows, the Universal Movie Monster Trio of Dracula, Frankenstein & The Wolfman are perennial favorites on my TV set every Halloween. Therefore, I had meant to watch this Spanish version of Dracky for awhile now, especially since TCM tends to show it every once in a while, back to back with it's American counterpart.
Filmed at the same time (literally) as the Bela Lugosi version, this one features the same energy & enthusiasm as it's originator, seems even crisper in appearance (at least, to my eyes), & has more creative camera work than was allowed to the original version. Yet the best part of it all, is that this one is longer in length, but without any sacrfice to it's story quality.
Though, the actor playing Dracula doesn't seem to have the "weight" in his presence that Bela Lugosi did,
over-all, this is still a version of the "rey de los vampiros" that, after finally watching it, makes me feel like I just struck some big time cinema gold.





Paranormal Activity

Even though I find myself surprised at how much I've been consistantly entertained by the majority of those movies that have been made with the handheld-cam method of filmmaking, I thought for sure that by this point in time, we've pretty much reached the point of exhausting the genre.
Then comes along this movie & shows that in a style of cinema that should've been drained of life by now, when entering the realm of the paranormal, there can still be some signs of activity.





Trick 'R Treat
What do you get when you pack in a coven of werewolves, a group of misfit zombies, a serial killing neighbor & a mischievious trick-or-tricking imp all into one script?
A Jack 'O' Latern filled candy-collection of quality, modern campy Halloween tales of the escapist-fare variety done right: With more focus on the quality than on the camp.
This movie, for me, has got the feel of all those big budget horror flix released during the late 80's & thru-out the 90's. The kind that always frustrated me because their scripts rarely reached the level of their budgets.
Trick 'R Trick comes closer to the type of fun onscreen fearfest that I would've like to have seen during that particular time of the horror cinema.





Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

While I respect George Romero's horror/comedy zombie flix & I understand that there's an audience out there for it, the truth is, I myself have little patience for this specific brand of subgenre.
Therefore, when Zack Snyder came along & redid Dawn with a budget more substantial than what Mssr. Romero is used to, & with a more solid storyline, along with the shlock gage turned down a couple of notches, I found myself actually enjoying watching a film about a subject that beforehand, I had no interest in: a mallful of zombies searching for something to munch on beyond the barriers of the food court.





Session 9
A small group of professional asbestos removers find out what can be even scarier than having a job as asbestos-removers:
"cleaning out" an old abandoned mental state hospital, where the walls have a tendency to whisper out your name & old patient session tapes that reveal the darkness that lays not only within those same walls, but also the darkness that dwells within your soul.
Ooooo....
scary....





Dog Soldiers

What do you do when the werewolves begin to attack systematically & in packs?
Send in the troops.
And then just sit back, and enjoy, as the bullets, blood, big booms & British accents fly.





The Descent
Neil Marshall follows up his directorial debut, Dog Soldiers, with The Descent, a movie that goes about disproving the current popular idea that in order to make a really "good" horror flick, it has to have an incredibly limited budget.
In this one, a group of hot ladies go deep exploring into some dark, damp holes & then go about gettin' themselves eaten.
Believe me, it's not as sexy as it may sound.





Stuck

Okay, this film is what I'm talkin' about.
To be honest,
I don't really regard this movie as a "horror" or "Halloween" flick, but I was parusing through an article about underrated & little known horror movies, & this one came up. I had never heard about it, but then again, I have a bad habit of not paying attention to what's going on in the world. (Blasted attention span. Despite what I said in the movie entry for The Orphanage, mine isn't as long as I like to claim. Probably due to all the hours upon hours I spent as a youth in front of the T.V. watching cartoons, playing Nintendo, & being totally hypnotized by the onion-booty porn that I kept sneaking outta my dad's so-called "secret" stash. Anyways....)
A story about a homeless guy who gets imbedded into a young woman's car windshield after she hits him with said car, and then, after weighing the consequences of the incident, she decides not to really do anything to help him. She doesn't even bother to try & at least squeegee him off.
And yeah, believe it or not,
they were able to extend this idea into the length of an entire movie.
Goes to show just what humankind is capable of.
No wonder we were able to put a man on the moon.




Okay,
these next couple of flix are films that I've already seen, but haven't given a view in quite a while. So their respective rewatches served more as a reminder to me of just how much I like each of 'em & probably should dust the cobwebs offa them more often:



The Sixth Sense
Okay, saying that this is M. Knight Shyamalan's best film (by far) may sound overly obvious (by far),
but,
it is (by far).
A very good from-the-beyond-yarn that starts out by depicting the debilitating effects of being able to percieve ghosts. Then, almost completely, turns it around to show how this paranormal ability can be more of a help than a hindrance, if we just gave the spooky spectres a chance. Maybe seeing dead people ain't so bad.
Though when I really think about it, if I wanted any kind of communication with lost wandering spirits, I'd rather just stick to commiserating online with all of my fellow MoFos on this site.




Creature From The Black Lagoon

A group of scientists go out on a South American expedition in search of a missing link to help them fill in the void of evolution.
However, once they find it,
the no longer missing link begins on his own quest, in search of a mate to help fill in the void within his heart.
Or maybe his dorsal-finned butt is just horny.
Either way,
the female crew member of this expedition ends up getting wet & screaming alot.





Nightmare Before Christmas
I grew up at a time when animated features shown during prime-time were not the norm.
Therefore, holiday specials like It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown & Santa Claus Is Coming Town were usually an event, not only in that they were a rare moment to watch a cartoon at night, but also because they enhanced the feeling of the holidays. Of which, my faves were, obviously, Halloween & Christmas (free candy & free presents!).
I remember that when Nightmare Before Christmas first came out, I initially liked it. But, now, I find that this Burton-produced feature seems to age really well for me. As each All Hallow's Eve goes by, & I continually find myself liking it even more than before.
Not only because it manages to successfully merge my two fave holidays as a kid, but also, because it's macabre look & atmosphere are the type of traits that I would've died for (pun, not all that much intended) back then.
Not to mention that whenever I listen to tunes like "What's This?" or "This Is Halloween", I am reminded of hearing "Put One Foot In Front Of The Other", or "We're A Couple Of Misfits", songs that, as corny as they are, now with a grown-up's perspective, my hardcore, hairy pimp-ass' has to humbly admit, will always be a part of my childhood holiday memories.





Thirst

Actually, this isn't so much a rewatch as it is a no-watch.
I haven't been able to see this latest effort by Korean director Park Chan-wook. Why? Because, even though I live near a major metropolitan area, it still never made it to any of the theatres around the area where I live. And as someone who really enjoyed all three films from his Vengeance Trilogy, particularly Sympathy For Lady Vengeance, I consider that to be a crime.
Therefore, I'm posting this entry as a sign of how this list should look like. There is no reason why this film should've been so unavailable for the movie-viewing aspect that makes up the entertainment craving half of my brain.
I swear,
we can put a man on the moon,
but..........

(no rating .... yet....)


Happy Halloween, everybody!



GREAT work 'Celestial'!


"Aenigma"


Oohhhhh....Oohhhhh....Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.
What the hell ever happened Lucio Fulci?
What went wrong?
What?

Completely, utterly, numbingly tedious drivel. When the best scene in the movie involves a rubber slug and snail ****, you know you have real problems.

Jared Martin teams up with Fulci again 3 years after "Fighting Centurions" to far lesser success as Lucio bores us to tears with that old chestnut the 'revenge while in a coma' plot.

Virtually goreless this plods from tedious dialogue scene to tedious dialogue scene (with crap dialogue) until a stupendously weak and bloodless death scene arrives......then it's back to the tedious dialogue again.

We have some unattractive breasts and a colossal bit of writhing booty to give us at least something to stare at and the famous 'death by snail 'n' slug' scene works on a gross-out gonzo level as (rubber slug in the mouth aside) these are indeed tons of real snails really oozing and dripping and crapping their way over the actress's body.
But hey! Anyone with a camcorder, lots of snails and a very forgiving female friend could make that scene work! So not much praise for Fulci there either.

OH boy...Can this really be the same Fulci that gave us such magnificent Gothic Gore Gems as "City of the Living Dead", "House by the Cemetery" and the truly iconic "Zombi 2"??
Hell, this makes "Door to Silence" look like "The Beyond"!

Lay down the slug pellets and kill this monstrosity!! Never let this festering sore of a film anywhere near your precious eyes!
Save your brain and indeed your very soul and walk away...no, run away...if you ever see this thing cluttering up a DVD shelf.