Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Big Eyes:

This is probably the most restrained that I've ever seen Burton, and for the most part it works. Amy Adams has a stellar performance, and the pacing is very good after a slow first 10 minutes. It was frustrating to have such a passive protagonist. Adams' character really has no interest in being in a movie, yielding to everyone she can, refusing to stand up for herself where she obviously should. Great score by Danny Elfman. My favorite non-Tarantino performance from Cristoph Waltz.

John Trent: This book is going to drive people absolutely mad!
Jackson Harglow: Well, let's hope so. The movie comes out next month.

And thus the Apocalypse Trilogy comes to an end, with the end of days descending upon your local cinema.

Before the tamer Stranger Than Fiction came around to toy with meta-fiction, there was this little gem. It's not as disturbing as I had hoped it would be, but it does provide a somewhat fun time, as long as you don't take it too seriously.

The idea of people going mad from the revelation of the truth is a great concept to tackle. It's a concept often involving a truth that's so bizarre or deviant from normalcy that our limited mind couldn't comprehend the strangeness of it and thus go insane. Unfortunately for Carpenter, In the Mouth of Madness is neither a bizarre or haunting movie, and neither is Lovecraft's archaic stories of Cthulhu anymore, I'm afraid. We as human beings have seen it all, so there's barely anything that would scare us into insanity any more than Clive Barker creature effects would. Though I must commend the creature effects nonetheless, for I'm always a sucker for creepy monsters... no matter how uncreative the design is.

But like I said, try not to take the movie too seriously. This was supposed to be a fun movie scratching the tip of the iceberg on Lovecraftian fiction, not a horror movie tackling human psychology. The journey which our hero travels on is formulaic and humdrum. No wonder people went mad from watching the film in the movie - mad from boredom, I would say.

(Eh, average. Nothing we've never seen before.)

In the Mouth of Madness definitely isn't too scary unless you already have a tendency to worry about unreality and whatnot - in any case, it gets more mileage out of its reality-bending than it does out of any horrifying Lovecraftian creatures (which I think are kept hidden for a reason). It's better at being a black comedy - Sam Neill's performance is wonderfully exasperated and some of the scenes play out better due to absurdity. I think that's borne out by the magnificent ending (which I liked so much that I used it as my profile banner). Good stuff and I'd make a case for it being the last truly good Carpenter film.

Last movie I saw...

Gattaca -

The original Ethan Hawke sci-fi B-movie (I think - check me if I'm wrong about that).

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Yes, I did sense the comedic aspects of it, or at least, I did sense its futile attempts at making me laugh with ironic humor. :/ Oh well.

One thing I was rather disappointed about was that I had hoped it had used more of Lovecraft's style of frightening you with what you could not see rather than what you could see. As soon as the monsters came out, all chills and frights are gone. Shame, really. Lovecraft's stories might be archaic, but it does have potential people haven't really tapped into yet.

And those people are called idiots.
She's a keeper. You, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about.

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His Girl Friday (1940, Hawks)



Screwball comedy that's actually funny and has good character and tells a story = automatic high rating from me.

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There are lots of parts that make me think of The Thing (mostly in the 2nd act). I just think that the 1st and 3rd of The Thing are far superior.

Coming to America (John Landis, 1988) -

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7/10

Like your rating here...I think Coming to America is Eddie Murphy's most overrated film.

La Haine



This was amazing, always liked the look of it and thankfully i wasn't disappointed. First of all it was amazing idea to give a troubled youth a gun who makes a choice that if a friend dies he will take the life of a policeman, i really feel like everything took on a different meaning as soon as it was revealed he had the gun; it was so effective at making me concentrate on Vinz demeanor and mental state throughout the film. Even when they are talking crap about candid camera or causing trouble at an art exhibit or whatever you can still feel him cracking from the weight this gun represents as long as it is in his possesion, his "gangsta" image seems to be the most important thing to him so in his mind he has no other choice but to follow through with his threat despite his fellow "gangstas" advising him against it. Vincent Cassell was truly phenomenal; one of the best performances in the 90s in my eyes. There were just so many amazing scenes throughout this that watching it was an amazing experience, the scene in Snoopys house with russian roulette, the end from the skinheads onward, even the aforementioned candid camera discussion was great. The writers really made me see into the characters world which is a rare achievement, both the ghetto and the nicer parts of the city where Vinz and co stuck out like a sore thumb.

Fantastic film can't wait to watch it again.

Also watched Young Guns which i posted about in the Westerns HOF.

Young Guns



First of all the opening and final shootout scenes were the cheesiest things ever, couldn't make something more 80s if you tried . I thought this was a pretty fun film i do feel i would have liked it a lot more if i had watched it when i was younger, seems like it would be a good film to introduce someone to Westerns at an early age. One thing that made it hard for me to fully enjoy this was the acting especially Lou Diamond Phillips who was really awful his big "emotional" scene about his dead family was tough to sit through, i think Estevez was probably the best i'm not exactly sure what i think of his performance either though. Another thing i noticed is that there were some really horrific sound effects particularly when they were spinning their guns around or the punching noises during the fist fight at the dance. Also got no idea what Keifer Sutherlands subplot was all about it felt weird and out of place, like some really unnecessary filler. I know this sounds like i really hated this but i actually found it quite fun i really liked the cheesy soundtrack and dialogue and wouldn't be against watching it again at some point.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) - Dan Tratchenberg



After getting in a car accident, a woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is held in a shelter by two men (John Goodman and John Gallagher Jr.), who claim the outside world is affected by a widespread chemical attack. Winstead is great in this film and I think this might be the best thing I have seen from her. Goodman is kind of weak I thought and tried a little too hard to be creepy, which didn't really work for me. If your gonna go see this movie this weekend you need to know this film isn't a blockbuster, it's an indie. Another thing is this isn't a Cloverfield and in fact the parts that have to do with Cloverfield are the worst parts of the movie. The most redeeming thing about this movie is that the characters themselves are ripe and their share some great moments together. Another thing I enjoyed was how the director was able to pull tension out of these scenes. Another warning about this movie is it, for me at least, is very slow; not much happens. It's more of a character drama/thriller about figuring out what exactly is going on outside and who is telling the truth. Why this film disappoints me ultimately though is because it doesn't capitalize on the premise in the best way I thought it could. It's a great idea turned into a semi generic thriller, but still enjoyable. The last 15 minutes of this film kind of come out of nowhere as well and it's pretty bad. Overall, fun movie that had a lot of good ideas and if it wasn't shoehorned into Cloverfield could've been a lot better.

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Eddie Murphy himself is overrated.


The Great Escape (John Sturges, 1963) -

Think he was in the 80s/90s but now he seems to be almost as hated as Adam Sandler as a comedic actor. If anything i'd say he is a bit underrated since most nowadays know him more for stuff like Norbit than IMO great comedies like Trading Places.

Great review! I agree, I like La Haine so much that I had Vinz as my avatar for a good while.

Great film, not a great review or a review at all though. More like a random collection of thoughts

A group of people race down to their apartment buildings basement during a nuclear attack, in order to seek protection from the radiation and whatever other dangers. Michael Biehn was such a stud in The Terminator and Aliens, but now is just about the definition of a has-been actor. He's the super of the building, and the one in charge, at least in the beginning. He hams it up a bit and is fun to watch. Of course what we get is everyone turning on each other, and with the same director as Frontiers, there's a good amount of brutality. I liked this movie well enough, but it's at least 20 minutes too long.

It finally came out in Mexico & I got to see for myself why this "should be Oscar-bait" has been ignored. Not great...

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The Big short : 7/10 good actors !