list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

I like some, movies that might classify as "Slasher"
Black Christmas (original) amazing!
Sleep Away Camp, absurd, silly and crude
Maniac!,  such a great piece of cinema,

I recently saw The Best Years of Our Lives.  To be honest, I find it difficult to considered this highly-regarded film (among the first to enter into the Library of Congress) as anything but a propaganda film for Washington.  Yet, to my astonishment, I have discovered that the it was on the FBI's list of subversive or pro-Communist films (along with It's a Wonderful Life, a film which I do admire).

Last evening, I viewed Ozu's Tokyo Story, which I enjoyed.  Although it had delayed release (for several decades, I believe) in the US since distributors felt it was "too Japanese", I think it captures themes of a most universal nature:  familial alienation as a result of growth and change.  From a technical perspective, this film was a nice departure from the caffeinated cinematography which presently bombards the modern cineplex: Ozu rarely moves the camera and never cuts away from a speaking character.  In this sense, it is a most relaxing film, despite its piquant themes.

mithrandir wrote: some of the scariest movies in my book are rated PG, Poltergeist and The Haunting(original), just goes to prove that true Horror doesn't have to be graphic, or set out to shock or disgust an audience, good Horror nowadays is a bit of a lost art, I'd like to see some aspiring film makes take a toned down approach to Horror, at the same time I guess that doesn't drive an audience to the theater either, hmph....

You might find yourself nodding in agreement to this essay about how slashers ruined horror.

I watched Charlie Chaplin's City Lights few days ago. Now, as many of you can probably guess, I'm a bit of a Chaplin fan.

^ Well, I for one think the original Saw was a horror classic. It had very in-depth characterization (as all of the Saw movies do, though their plots keep getting dumber), not all that much gore, and was pretty genuine. Its sequels and spawns like Hostel and Turistas all parody and ruin the formula.

Real horror (or scary stuff in general) is probably the hardest movie genre to do successfully. I dunno how many movies I've seen that are truly scary. hmm...Pulse (the Japanese one), The Shining....yep, that's all I can think of now. J-horror has a reputation for being real horror and not sh*tty American horror, but I haven't seen much besides Pulse and Marebito, so I dunno. I'm getting into it though.

^ well, yeah. characterization sucks in monster movies. But the older sister, brother, and father (especially sister) have main roles, but don't do much or even have much of a story.

There Will Be Blood

Very good character study, but the film was fairly shallow beyond developing Plainview's character. Excellent acting, direction, and cinematography, but the story was a bit lacking. 7.5/10

Marebito

J-horror, you silly thing. An uninteresting lead actor finding an underground world in an attempt to understand fear, finding a woman and returning her to the surface. Odd things ensue. Not as gory nor interesting as I thought, it turns into an odd discussion of alienation without being nearly as scary as Pulse. Some plot "twists" are thrown in as either red herrings or undeveloped "what the f**k?"s. Fairly amateur, but fairly watchable with a great above ground and cavernous underground. 5/10

The Host

Excellently shot and fresh monster movie, but the characters were not developed well. The main protagonist is annoying in trying to convey an immature father, and his father is crazy in a bad acting way. No real gore, but some interesting monster attacks. An interesting ending recalls chemical warfare, but is perplexing and not very feel-good, but certainly not as soul-killing as The Mist. Pretty good, but not amazing. 6.5/10

Dead Clowns

Presumably made by a high school film class group, this awful flick somehow made it to distribution and my library. Clowns rise from their watery grave to take revenge on the town that didn't save their sinking train during a hurricane 50 years ago. I guess this was the first hurricane in 50 years... The only thing worse than the acting and pacing is the utter lack of tension, music, or "struggle" when the clowns kill people, which makes it just funny and stupid. Also, in the end basically everyone dies. It's funny. 1/10 (only because I thought a goth chick in it was kinda hot)

Jim Garten wrote: I personally didn't see the parallels seen by various critics

That's because the critics erroneously assumed the movie was sympathetic to Tyler Durden and his Project Mayhem.

TGM: Orb wrote: I just saw Fight Club. With pretty low expectations, I was really surprised. Gripping plot and psychology, powerful  and convincing performances, even from Brad Pitt. Interesting choices for the visuals. Very neat development. Wow. Blown away.

When that came out in the UK, the critics were appalled, one of whom (not usually given to outrage) stated it was one of the most aboninable films ever produced:

"it is an inadmissible assault on personal decency. And on society itself. At its Venice Film Festival world premiere in September, it caused well-justified outrage as a movie phenomenon well in line with the current tentative but threatening revival of Nazism"

I avoided the movie for ages, but eventually watched it, loved it & purchased it - I personally didn't see the parallels seen by various critics - what I did see was a well written, scripted, acted & filmed piece of cinema of which Norton, Pitt & Carter should be proud, as opposed to:

"In any well-adjusted society, its stars would feel a backlash of public indignation well beyond the box-office"

No accounting for taste, eh?

Mongol - the..fictionalized but based on history, account of Ghengis Khan's rise to power. It was awesome. A Love story placed inside a war and triumph of will film. Great score featuring tuvan throat singing by the almighty Kongar Ol Ondar. Epic. 9/10